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A Rare Storm in the Dry Season

AUGUST is meant to be the driest time of year here in East Africa, with only the occasional shower to keep things green and alive. Storm clouds rolled in at sunset. I was in my tent relaxing after the Masai walk when the tempest hit quite suddenly. There was almost no wind but the rain fell very heavy. Fortunately the tent was solid with a permanent wooden structure built around it and a corrugated iron roof keeping it dry despite amplifying the sound of the large rain drops.

The storm passed and the rain eased off about half an hour before dinner, so I walked along the gravel path back to the main hut. There was a pool of water collected around the entrance to the service area, but I managed to get around it. The hut itself was quite dark inside and I could hear the bees still buzzing around the sofa. Obviously they hadn’t worked out what to do with it yet. I walked through and sat on the large veranda to watch the next phase of the storm rolling in.

Dinner was finally ready. It was very dark inside the hut. The storm had returned to full swing as Joseph and I ate. Later I returned to my tent when the rain had eased off. Exhausted I went to bed straight away knowing tomorrow was going to be a very big day.

I was awoken at around one o’clock by several large animals stomping loudly outside. It wasn't raining, so the quietness of the moonless overcast night accentuated their noise. They did not made any vocal noises, so I couldn't work out whether they were wildebeest, elephants, or lions. Either way, I’m sure the tent was strong enough to resist them if they had wanted to shelter under the overhanging veranda at the front. That meant there could very well be one of them lying on my porch right now. Thankfully I had locked the tent with the supplied padlock, but if it were a hungry predator, then I’m sure they would have found a way to claw their way in by now.

I woke up at three thirty in the morning with heavy rain falling outside again. There was no way that I would be able to fall asleep again with it all falling like this so loudly. The air was cold and thick with humidity. If there were still animals outside, they were not moving, or if they were, the rain drumming on the roof was preventing me from hearing them. The rain fell relentlessly until starting to ease off at five o’clock. By now I needed to get up and pack everything for today’s safari. The first thing in my mind was whether we were going to even make it there given all the rain that had fallen and the poor condition of the roads.

Amazingly the heavy rain had completely stopped falling by the time I left the tent to go for breakfast at five thirty. Fortunately there were no large animals outside, and certainly none sitting on my porch waiting to eat me for breakfast. Breakfast was eggs on toast cooked by our hosts in the almost total darkness of the main dining hall. Fortunately I had my head lamp to see the food in amongst all the cluttered paraphernalia put out onto the small table we shared. Joseph and I were both a bit nervous about being able to get out of here this morning, but we decided to leave anyway just before six o’clock while it was still dark.

Following breakfast I hurried back to the tent, collected my cameras and returned to the van where Joseph was already waiting. I sat in the front seat with him.

Joseph drove the minibus out of the compound and along the dirt road, which was by now a continuous pool of soft sludge as expected. There was a very serious risk of us getting bogged, and the van slid precariously from side to side as we travelled the road in total darkness. Rain was beginning to fall again. Suddenly this road was a whole lot longer than the two kilometres we had easily breezed along yesterday. I crossed my fingers and clung to my seat in the hope we would make it out without becoming bogged in one of the many huge puddles or tipping over as we precariously went around one of the many bends.

After what seemed like an eternity, I could see the main road ahead. The bumpy free massage road with more pothole than seal suddenly appeared very appealing to me. We were not out of the woods yet though, we continued slipping and sliding between the puddles as the van slowly approached, then with one final push of the accelerator, we rose up out of the mud onto the sealed road. We were now safe. Joseph was now confident we will now be able to reach the park.

Now we had a firm grip on the road, we were able to make good progress without any slipping or sliding. The road was a lot rougher than the road we had travelled yesterday though, and we were soon not able to travel at any more than twenty kilometres per hour over the enormous potholes. The rain stopped falling, and the sky began to lighten. Could it possibly clear up for the day?

We could now just see through the darkness the areas on either side of the road were semi barren lands of scrub and acacia. Occasionally a wildebeest or gazelle would jump on the road in front of us and bound across it. No wonder I had seen a couple of dead carcasses on the road yesterday.

The road got bumpier and bumpier as the sky lightened revealing a range of hills to our left. There was now the occasional farm, and the occasional small group of Masai farmers herding their goats or cows along the side of the road open to the elements and in danger of the predators that may be lurking here.

We reached one vehicle parked along the side of the road. It had a driver and several tourists in it. The vehicle had broken down overnight on their way out of the park and they were stuck there until help arrives.

The road then became so rough that we occasionally drove completely off it to follow a dirt track along the side of the road. Fortunately none of these dirt tracks were muddy or slippery like the one we had come out of the eco lodge.

Finally we arrived at a building and large gate across the road which was obviously the gate to Masai Mara – the Sekenani Gate. It reminded me of the gate into Jurassic Park, but obviously not as dramatic. Joseph pointed out the toilets to the right hand side of the road, so I went whilst he processed our tickets with the staff at the counter and raised the hatch of the van for me to photograph the animals from the top.

When I returned, he said all was okay for us to proceed. I saw how muddy the van was from the initial drive along the dirt road. It was plastered almost up to the windows from where the wheels had kicked it up on the dirt road coming out of Ilariak. Joseph mentioned the staff at the counter had been amazed he had managed to get us out of there without getting bogged. I had been amazed as well, and thankfully he was a very good driver.

Now that the top had been popped, he suggested I sit in the back seat from where I would be able to see everything. It was a little untidy in the back seat with several chilli bins containing our lunch.

We drove through the entrance and into the park. My two cameras were ready. The big one had my telephoto lens on it as I knew most shots I will be taking today were going to be close ups. My old camera had my main lens on it for taking wider angle shots. I also had my credit card camera as a last resort backup.

Being the only tourist in the van, Joseph told me I could ask him to stop any time to photograph the animals. He mentioned his CB radio which he will be keeping in touch with all the other drivers. If they spot something of interest or something rare, we will drop what we are doing and head over to the point of interest. This sounded like a great plan. I was ready for action.

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