MAASAI MARA TO THE WORLD COURTSEY OF TOUCH WILD TOURS

What clicks to your mind the first time you hear the word Mara? Is it the Shangri-La of fauna and flora? Is it the magic of the hospitality? is the originality and  cordiality of the locals ? I call this `last minute’ MARA . The festivities were still on as I was just parlaying    binge eating glued on a couple of travel vlogs, cronies calling asking me if am down for new year`s mbuzi  when I got an urgent phone call. It was my buddy  Nito so unreluctant venting how he had been looking for me the whole day. It was one of those days where you just wanna put your phone on flight mode and spend some time indoors. The next phone call is Saitoti the nguruman  warrior and what he tells me is a  rather euphoric and same time edgy. But  for bunduzman anytime we go, am being briefed of my trip to maasai mara on Thursday at 0530 hrs  time of briefing being 0700hrs the day before. Like my mantra `adventure's my nature’, am on and I agree to guide the tourists.

Everytime I have a safari I tend to get sleepless lest everything is in check so am up packing, gathering my essentials- maasai shuka , binoculars, guide books, mosquito repellants,  am checking my 3 days weather expectation to even a week’s. After a couple of hours am off to bed but nevertheless not an ordinary night sleep , the tossing and turning checking if my alarms are on check. By the time i catch some sleep it`s past mid night and sooner or later i get a rude awakening from my first alarm.

without slacking am up and ready since i know the old adage `you snooze you lose', Rona is still around so i wait for the curfew hours to end as i do my double check and next am requesting my uber  to the capital. Am welcomed to some light precipitation which  i  have embraced thanks to my weather updates. On my arrival to the city in the sun am glad am a bit early so i decide to mobilise everyone from my driver and my colleagues.Am early and as i am walking around Hilton Nairobi i bump into my buddy Rajab as he is also moblising some tourist for an excursion, a little catch up as he insist on how our Ngare ndare trip was superb when am interupted by the sight of the overland so we pat ways since i wanna brief and make sure everyone is on board.

Willy lets keep it that way is my captain a great soul indeed and after getting acquinted i introduce my self as the guide since i know i will be working so close with him. couple of minutes and my tourist begin to flock in and the sight of the uk registered overland just reveals the elation on their visages . Do you mind taking a pic is next and of course i don`t mind as i usher them in to the begining of something unforgetable.

soon am up and down with my crew packing the overland , as mother nature offers a down pour but my tourist are in and next is `hit the road Jack! as Nairobi gallops in the morning showers.it`s 0630hrs and after and hour fifteen minutes i vividly spot my first stop over through the blurry windows. I break the silence with my first briefing as i explain one of the world`s phenomena that runs from the middle east to mozambique, `THE GREAT RIFT VALLEY' approximately 7000km.

 We take a glance as some capture the vast terrain and take photos , attend the curios and grab warm refreshments as we proceed down to Mahi mahiu. my next briefing is over at the `Travellers chapel' also known as the italian church , the smallest built in 1942 by Italian prisoners of war as we enroute to Mahi mahiu.

Am aware of my 227 km jaunt so i proceed my next stop over being Narok town for lunch. we beat the semi arid vegetations of suswa and the up and down hill terrain my tourist now amped and lively as i approach `EOR EKULE' as sights of the men in red is emminent which assures me of a twenty minute drive to Narok town passing landmarks like `wembley' renowned from their savory nyama choma.

It`s noon as i spot the  town scape`s panorama as i am ushered in by sights  of tourists vehicles , goat meat joints, maasai`s on their daily chores, curio shop attendants , artefacts vendors .First impression you will know this is a tourist town for any first timer.    I brief my tourist as i lead them to various eateries and shopping facilities , one priority i remember my tourist telling me is ` freshly cut nyama choma  goat steaks '...i remember Kayla qouting `you haven`t been to Narok if you haven`t sampled the meaty affair' as we catch up over some sumptous guacamole.

Narok town from my perspective is convinient for all bush going essentials so i encourage my tourist to grab every neccessity as it is has malls and bush related essentials.An hour after am pursuing the terrain to sekenani myriad of flora, fauna , culture and adventure.

we pursue the newly tarmacked road  to the ewaso ngiro, a sigh of relief i must say ! if you knew the old untarmacked road to sekenani then you harbour lots of campfire stories from getting stuck, mechanical breaksdowns , the long road ever to mara not forgetting the adversities but for me an adventure and real bunduz experience! The rains are hear for a while an impression i get from `SURAJ botanicals as we proceed luckily on my arrival as i spot the sekenani hills it`s dry.

i harbour nostalgia everytime i  pop up in this my philocalist and aesthete nature is catalized by the setting of the locals in their daily endeavours .we manage to reach our camp by good time as i check the aspect since i know it`s a camping experience and how rains and tents can be a wet blanket- no one wants that! with my crew we help our clients pitch the tents as  we assure camping tenderfoots of safety and open mindedness to new experiences.

The team is super b as we do a team building exercise to shake off the overland lag and culture shock to some and in a few am briefing my tourist on a maasai village visit to acclamatise . On arrival at the maa village am quite familiar as i catch up with the local maasai warriors of course in pursuit of a rapport as  they usher my guests with heart throbbing renditions of folksongs as i not new to the lingo so i explain to break the grandoliquency if there be .

culture is  the antidote of propaganda and my tourist attest to this as they immerse themselves to folk songs and jumps and it seems even the grandiose know what they are here for.One of the elders shares about maasai culture, their `boma' set up and rituals before  matrimony as we have a tour . The best part is seeing the tourists interact with the locals buying regalias, ornaments, souvenirs all in a euphoric mood as they all smile for pictures .

considering my itinerary, i promised my tourist an evening game drive so after a while around 1700hrs we leave for sekenani gate welcomes by beautiful maa women selling their crafts.I feel am at home just by the interaction as i head to the myriad of savannah wonders first sightings being equus quagas grazing  as the vast endless savvannah harbours surprises.we do an hour to one and half drive , just a sneak peak of the next day`s pursuit as we embeark to the camp to freshen up , meals and rest.

Nature has it`s course and lest embraced being aloof means harbours dissappointments. Just after guests had their sumptous bush buffet ,torrents engulf sekenani more than six hours that means everyone rushed to the tents and deep slumber was inevitable perharps a way of relaxing the perky type and nocturnals.

 The next morning am up early with the team in preparation of a full day game drive .Breakfast is served as we experience some plight with the terrain but necessity is the mother of invention so i talk to my maa elders and we come up with a way the overland truck leaves without getting stuck.

A promising day indeed with first sight of tuskers on my way to mara river , krokuta krokuta ( hyena) as maasai girraffes tower the serene savvannah.

my guest are impressed as they hardly sit , experiencing the magic of mara . I spice up their day with a vast bird watching session inclusion for avian enthusiast spotting both lifers and normal joes like cocky francolin, kori bustard, secretary bird , lilac chested roller - the national bird of kenya looking stunning in the new plumage , ostriches, common bulbuls and trees identification as we engage lively with the `panthera leo' eager souls'. The sight of a wild olive colony as olive baboon troops man the vicinity alerts me of close proximity to mara river and in a few i see the kenyan -Tanzanian border near mara river.The guards usher us to the destination of world phenomena, here wildebeests cross from neighbouring Serengeti into maasai mara to look for food despite the vicious starving community of crocodile infested water awaiting them to make it into the mara. the migration has already happened in July but we manage to spot hippos and crocodiles basking as we enroute to the game station as we hog our sumptous `burger in the bush and chicken and down some refreshments'.

As i catch up with my fellow guide from `BONFIRE ADVENTURES ' , am told of `vichwa nane' swahili to mean eight heads of lions that just passed to a hunting mission when the driver had passed us on his way to Mara river. we embark on our afternoon game drive as i am determined to spot cats for my guest as i head from mara river to treetop sides. Amidst my pursuit am alarmed by an awkward sound as i alarm my driver.The overland has punctures and it`s the wheel against time as i know my rescue is outside sekenani gate.

we are on the new year`s eve as bid 2020 goodbye looking forward to a great night as my visitors pursue sekenani with me as the overland is fixed . At 1800 we are at the camp as i mobilise my morans who never disappoint and after dinner the rage of a little fire is calling everyone to a bonfire.And far and wide, in a scarlet red tide, the bunduz bonfire spread . Fam spreading the goodvibes and bonding .

Nature harbours it`s magic , amidst the ambience something blissful was cooking as we refrained , one gentleman decided to ask for her hand in the future. heavens were happy i bet despite the surprise and the ecstatic mood it brought and she said `I DO'. Times i pour a river of liqour as dances and euphoria engulfed the bonfire both young and old as a maa elder chanted his blessing. i harboured a very optimistic feeling of the new year as we embarked the city of Nairobi with tales of the bush and clear perspectives and satisfaction waiting eagerly to write this read.

Mucho appreciation to everyone who came through as i look forward to more jaunts with you and the great team. 

BY SAITABAU CASTRO.

( The writer is a wildlife manager, conservationist, bird watcher and professional tour guide. email- dialnpick@gmail.com or call +254707678809 for travel related assistance)

CASTRO/ BUNDUZMAN`S SOCIALS