Section Design by Ana Curbelo Photography by Miguel Curbelo
Exploring abroad: Working in There’s always that initial thought when someone tells you they live in Africa that just maybe, they have lions in their back gardens. For once, I can’t deny it.
3 weeks of tent-bound adventure awaited me in the Maasai Mara in Kenya. Situated in the south-west, this national reserve spills into Tanzania and is a cherished part of Kenya. Here camp was found, trees encroaching around the tents and dwarf mongoose’s scuttling around in the bushes. There were no fences. No boundaries. No defence from the wild. The Mara famously plays host to the thick furred cast of the Big Cat Diaries, and these beautiful beasts never fail to impress in real life. However, it’s not just these cats that hold the dangers of the Mara. Leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, buffalo and elephants are just some of the majestic yet
deadly creatures that roam the plains of the Mara. The hippo may give impressions of being a fat slob, but, in reality this immense animal can run you down and bite you in half with one swift crunch.
I’m originally born and raised in Kenya, even so this was still a huge step away from my comfort zone. I was there working at a luxury tented camp, helping with management and general camp maintenance. 4:30AM at camp. All the staff are already awake preparing breakfast for guests going out on their morning game drive. It’s an early start from everyone, the day won’t end till midnight and the nearest city is five hours away on roads that are annually washed away by heavy rains. Add to this the extensive wear and tear on cars used to make the journey and you’ll find that running any kind of business out here is tough. Despite
the long hours and hard work the staff receive a pitiful salary, some only earning £70 a month.
Night six and sleep was hard to come by. Hippos and elephants are making their way through camp, not taking as much care as they should. So whilst they rubbed themselves up against the tent and broke all the trees around me, I silently feared for my life. The river ran heavy and fast only a few yards away, the banks plummeting down to the river that was strewn with dead wildebeest from the yearly migration, a sight that can be seen nowhere else in the world. The annual movement of these antelopes who cross the crocodile infested Mara River to find greener pastures is a tense and exhilarating experience and a photographers dream. Evening approaches and the horizon is framed by the red-orange hue of