October 2003 Newsletter
East Africa
 Powerful images remain from the seven weeks of my summer
in Kenya and Tanzania. While exploring the incredible diversity
of East Africa, I saw Kenya as rarely before. The trip centered
around climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro with a group of seven clients,
and a professional photographer from the USA. Joining us were two Maasai
safari guides, Godfrey Kinyaga, from Lewa's tented camp, raising money for
Lewa, and Jackson Looseyia, a safari guide and old friend, from Rekero,
raising money for the Mara Conservancy. It was truly a privilege
for all of us to join these two men on their spiritual journey
to the "Great
White Mountain." Although born and brought up
in Africa, I have never before felt so touched by the continent's
history.
Kilimanjaro's dust of millions of years clung to my socks, gloves
and wind-burned face. At Koobi Fora, everywhere around us lay the two-million-year-old
fossils of crocodiles, hippos, elephants and oysters that shared this once
lush region with ancient man. In a scene seemingly straight from the Bible,
lines of camels trailed behind colorfully-clad Gabbra women many miles to
water, ignoring our little Cessna plane parked under a tree at Kalacha,
a Chalbi Desert oasis.
 In
August the wildebeest migration - the greatest yet - returned late
to the Maasai Mara. This roaming biomass lives, breaths, throbs,
bleats, ebbs and flows like the tides. Managing the plains west
of the Mara River that wildebeest and zebra favor, the Mara Conservancy
represents a new community-based paradigm. Just two years old,
this private management group has arrested 200 poachers and seized
over 2,000 snares. They have been widely praised for creating a
near-perfect infrastructure of roads, game-viewing tracks, and
tourist facilities and for instituting an accountable revenue collection
system. Never before has there been available funding for essential
community development projects.
 Avoiding a black-bellied bustard's egg freshly laid on our dusty
tracks, I worried about the fragile future of wildlife for which we all
must be responsible. On Central Island in Lake Turkana, the sulphuric steam
of a two-month-old fumarole burned my face with heat from the earths core,
indicating powerful shifts of the earth's energy yet to come. Vast
amounts of laval scree have already replaced much of Kilimanjaro's
dramatic ice palaces that impressed me so much when I last climbed as a
teenager. Scientists now predict that they will be completely melted by
2020.
 In a pristine African night sky, through tent flaps and mosquito netting,
we watched Mars travel towards Earth and then retreat on its journey of
many millions of years. Back in America, as I try to comprehend it all,
I am reassured that while Kilimanjaro's white cap will go forever,
the mountain's mass, and power for its peoples, will survive. I know
that, unlike Mars, I am drawn to return to Africa again soon - and so should
you!
Some Details
The Mara Conservancy: This two-year-old organization is crossing international
borders to work with Tanzanian rangers to halt poaching. Maasai rangers
ensure that tourism does not disrupt animal behavior patterns; administrators
are working with local Maasai to implement revenue-sharing development projects.
The volcanoes of Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Longonot and Lake
Turkana: After training
hikes up Mt Longonot, I spent 5 days in Tanzania climbing Kilimanjaro
to stand for a few short minutes on the roof of Africa.  We were
all encouraged by the Maasai proverb that Jackson Looseyia shared
with us during our ascent: Imeengolon epoiyeki nguaat epoyieki - Success
comes not by might, but by determination! Going pole pole - slowly we
slurped through the deep mud and medicinal plants of the rain forest,
marveled at glades of giant senecio, trudged in the thin air past stark
lava towers, and followed the stars up to the rim of Kibo Crater
- and celebrated attaining 19,341' at Uhuru Peak.
The Chalbi Desert, Omo Delta and Lake Turkana: In Kenya's Northern
Frontier District the Gabbra and Rendille people walk for water from their
manyattas across the desert three days out of every five - as they
have done since the days of the New Testament. A must see aerial perspective
amplifies the harshness of their lives. Lake Turkana, the jade sea in this
desert, simmers with mirages and sulphuric fumaroles. Once plentiful, Nile
perch, crocodile, grevy zebra and ostrich are now harder to find due to
increasing population pressures. The tribal people of this area, still colorfully
honoring their traditions and rituals, struggle to balance the conflicting
values brought in by today's satellite media, tourists, relief agencies,
and missionaries.
Wonderful camps and lodges I visited on this trip:
- Shompole - A community lodge near Lake Natron on the Nguruman Escarpment.
- Peponi Hotel - Lamu on Kenya's unique Coast, (and other private homes for rent in Lamu).
- Ol Malo, McKennas Hills, Mukutan Retreat -
Laikipia Plateau, on the edge of the Northern Frontier District.
- Wilderness Trails - Lewa
Downs, Il Ngwesi and Namunyak - community lodges - Northern Kenya
- Rekero Tented Camp, Rekero Cottages, Governors Il
Moran Camp, Saruni Camp - The Maasai Mara region
- Mundui - Rift Valley - Naivasha
- Lobolo Tented Lodge Lake Turkana Kalacha Goda - Chalbi Desert
- Ol Kanjau Camp - Amboseli
- Rivertrees Country Inn, Ngurdoto Lodge, Marangu Hotel - Northern Tanzania, near Arusha.
For four weeks this fall I will be in ARGENTINA to check out our safari destinations there:
Iguazu Falls, Tierra del Fuego, The Valdez Peninsula and Patagonia's Andes Mountains!
**New**
We have three fixed departure KILIMANJARO trips in 2004, timed to coincide
with the full moon, finishing with an "off the beaten track" safari
week in Kenya (starting 3/1, 7/24, 8/23). Get more details here.
To view and buy wonderful photos of Africa, visit Allison Jones Photo |
