Into the WILD

Madhurima Chakraborty is the author of the cultural travel blog, orangewayfarer.com. She lives and is a banking professional in New York. She has been to 20 countries and 20 states in India. She travels the world in a saree!

To witness the annual migration, July to October is the apt time.

Nairobi to the legendary Great Migration of the Masai Mara reserve, Kenya is a thrilling adventure.

One of Africa's most cosmopolitan cities, Nairobi is Kenya's beating heart, an exciting and vibrant city where the untamed wilderness and the famed African wildlife is never far away. It's the gateway to the country of forest reserves, private conservancies, national parks and marine national parks! However, it's the Great Migration that draws the maximum number of tourists to Nairobi. Listed as one of the natural wonders of Africa, the Great Migration is a unique phenomenon when thousands of wildebeests move from Serengeti to the green pastures of Masai (Maasai) Mara in search of food. Hungry predators including lion, leopard, cheetah, hyena, wild dog and crocodiles make sure only the strongest survive in this natural spectacle. The thundering grooves of the mighty beasts shake the Earth as majestic hues of the setting sun paint the sky red. Dramatic images of wildebeests at the Mara river bank are widely circulated and photographers flock in large numbers to catch a glimpse of the crumbling mud bank and splashing water as the animals make the move.

W hile Masai Mara is the usual apple of the eye for every tourist, a few other sites in Kenya are worth a visit.

A MBOSELI NATIONAL PARK

L ook out for huge elephants and impalas. Also, this park offers the best view (from Kenya) of the dormant volcano Mount Kilimanjaro.

T SAVO

NATIONAL PARK

K nown as the home to black rhinos.

H ELL' S GATE

NATIONAL PARK

Explore wildlife, stunning geological wonders and the O bsidian caves here .

F or a relaxing beach vacation, head to the beach town of Lamu, with crystal clear water and white sands.

But before you step out into the wilderness, spend a couple of days to explore Nairobi. Start with the Nairobi National Park, Kenya’s most accessible safari experience. Located on the outskirts of the city, it is one of Africa's smallest national parks. While it boasts abundant wildlife, it's a little discordant to see giraffes and rhinoceros grazing unperturbed against the backdrop of city skyscrapers and planes landing and taking off! The park also has a healthy population of lions and hyenas, and is home to the rhinos as well. Do visit the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust that's has been working towards sheltering orphaned elephants and rhinos. Watching handlers bottle-feed baby elephants is a heart-warming sight! If kissing a giraffe is on your agenda, stop at the Giraffe Centre, which protects the highlyendangered Rothschild’s giraffe! Explore the zoos and outlets run by NGOs that employ women who produce impeccable beaded handicraft. In the evening, enjoy the city's vibrant nightlife.

For most tourists, the final destination is Masai Mara National Reserve, around six hours away by road. Masai Mara shares its border with Tanzania and is known for its dense wildlife population. Inside the park, hire a guided vehicle for a sunrise to sunset tour. In July and August, the migration of wildebeest is at its peak but you need to be patient to see the legendary river crossing. The first sight of thousands of wildebeests and zebras rushing across the river in massive herds, often trying to evade the big cats in hot pursuit, is thrilling. Although the numbers vary every year, around 1.5 million wildebeest, close to a million zebra and a large number of others animals undertake the long and arduous journey. Their journey is fraught with danger as they cross the crocodile-infested Mara and Talek rivers along the way.

Ugali (a type of corn meal), nyama choma (roast meat) and fried fish are some of the most popular dishes in Nairobi.

But it's not just the migration. Masai Mara is all your wildlife adventure dreams come true!

Watch as zebras run along your vehicle; get up close with the wildebeests; wait as deer and elephant babies take their first steps while the mothers watch out for the big cats and be surprised as you unexpectedly spot a pride of lions perfectly camouflaged in the tall grass. It's best to keep at least five days to experience Masai Mara in its prime.

On the outskirts of the park, a number of luxury tents or glamping options are available for discerning tourists. At sundown, once the forest guards whistle you out of the park, sit by a bonfire and share stories of the day as the moon shines in a starlit sky! As the night deepens and human conversations die, listen carefully as the jungle whispers its mysterious tales.

Spend time exploring the Masai culture. A little away from the reserve, near Narok, is a local market bustling with Masai villagers. The nomadic Masai tribe, until recently, used to engage in barter with cows and goats. Even today, they live as a part of the Savanna, and their symbiotic relation with nature reflects in their food practices, their costumes, jewellery and even their homes. Enjoy traditional Masai dances and try their iconic jump! It's said the man who jumps the highest wins the heart of the women!

But don't take the land for granted and follow the rules. Our lodge on the outskirts of Masai Mara was surrounded by a moat, which, we learnt later, was to keep the lions at bay. In many instances, herds of buffaloes used the walkaway to reach a nearby waterhole and we would get naively excited to get closeups only to be warned, “Buffaloes are scarier than lions. The lions, we shoo them away but the buffaloes, we can not do much!”

So rich is the forest of Masai Mara that you wouldn't have to look far away from the dirt track of the safari vehicle. Ours drove about a foot away from a resting lioness; followed in the footsteps of a gigantic African bull elephant and gave us a firstrow view of a fight between a hippo pod and an aggressive bull. One dawn, we heard the frantic cries of a cheetah mother looking for her estranged child and on the last day, we were bid adieu by a friendly eland (antelope)!