Kenya do it?

Manila is a concrete jungle with very little natural flora and fauna left. Most of its trees have been mowed down for roads and the only wild predators left are those in Congress or in uniform. For a change I got a chance to hop on a quick flight to a far greener and wilder place, via Philippine Airlines and Kenya Airways, the pride of Africa.

Kenya, on the eastern coast of Africa, was the goal of my safari, which is Swahili for "journey." The first misconception that should be corrected about most of Kenya and indeed other major parts of Africa is that it’s all hot and tropical. Despite straddling the equator, Kenya is actually a cool place – literally cool. Baguio cool, even colder, to be more accurate. Nairobi, its capital, and most of Kenya’s national parks, are between 4,000 to 6,000 feet in elevation. Bring a jacket.

Not only does the country have a pleasant temperature, its air is clean! Kenya is three times the size of the Philippines with roughly one third the population. There are no black-smoke belching buses or jeepneys and trees are treasured as much as their wildlife. I’d go back anytime just for the clean air. Nairobi smells of pine trees (which is more than I can say for Baguio).

The safari I joined was with company. The party was composed of several tour agents, party people all, led by Greenie Dee of GSA-Kenya Airways Manila, who came to familiarize themselves with the many destinations and diverse experiences Kenya had to offer. Also with us was renowned and multi-awarded TV journalist Howie Severino and his production team.

All You Can Meat

The first day was spent acclimatizing ourselves with Nairobi. A visit to their National History Museum was like a warm-up to the culture, landscapes and wildlife we were soon to see firsthand. That we did almost immediately after lunch, with a trip to the nearby Giraffe Center where we fed and came face to face with these rubber-necked creatures. Awesome!

We also dropped by to meet with Ambassador Rosalinda Tirona and a small but warm group of ex-pat Filipinos led by former UN consultant Rob Ortega. There apparently are lots of opportunities for Filipino expertise in Kenya. Engineers, accountants, teachers, architects and IT professionals seem to be in demand.

We were homesick for Filipino food on the first day, but that was soon to change. Before dinner that day we dropped by the country home of Karen Blixen. No, she’s not the mother of one of Santa’s reindeers but that famous lady in the Hollywood film Out of Africa. Her home, which looks exactly like it did in the movie, has been turned into a museum, lovingly maintained by Kenyans who have adopted her as one of them. The whole district, which is now a suburb of modern Nairobi, is named after her – the Karen District.

Back to food, dinner was at Carnivore restaurant. By its name, the most popular dish in Kenya is meat! All throughout our stay we would come back for lunch or dinner to an orgy of protein – in all its forms and origin of species. We had beef, pork, chicken, lamb, ostrich, deer, crocodile (like chicken) and much more, which I’ll leave for you to discover. The grilled meat came in great skewers and was sliced right in front of you. Tasty! Acrobatic and cultural dancing was the night’s entertainment, a prelude to our rambunctious range roving for the next few days.

The Equator And A Night At The Ark

Our first sojourn into the wild was the Aberdare Mountains. On the way we crossed the equator and stopped to make some scientific observations. The way water twirls in basins on either side of that imaginary line differs. (That’s why typhoons move counterclockwise above the equator and clockwise below …or vise versa … I was too busy looking at souvenirs).

Our convoy trekked steadily into the bush while we all kept lookout for wildlife from our van-top observation posts. Giraffes, cape buffalo, zebras and baboons came to view as we reached our first stop, the Mount Kenya Safari Club. This very chi-chi lodge, established by Hollywood legend William Holden, is actually a posh resort with a championship golf course and lovely views of snow-capped Mount Kenya (the second highest mountain in Africa). We had tasty meat dishes for lunch, what else?

That afternoon we made our way to the equally beautiful Aberdare Country Club (also with a great golf course — watch out for the baboons) for a short stop before proceeding to our night stop — the Ark.

The Ark looks like Noah’s creation but instead of animals we were the passengers. The boat-like building is set in the middle of wild country right beside a waterhole in the middle of Aberdare National Park’s forest. No one is allowed outside. We were inside animal territory and there was always real danger that a person would turn into dinner instead of having it if one ventured out.

Guests stay overnight and come out to several decks of the ark when darkness falls to view animals drinking at the waterhole from three deck levels. It’s absolutely fascinating to be able to get this close to elephants, bushbuck, rhino, bongos, suni, hyena and leopards. The captain of the Ark gives everyone a checklist and keeps people informed of sightings via a buzzer system in the rooms. Needless to say we slept little but saw things we’ve never seen up close before. For dinner and breakfast we had delicious bacon, ham and assorted meat.

The next morning we headed back to the Aberdare Country Club for a short jaunt to see more giraffe and buffalo. The club also offers horseback riding and nature walking treks (with guides of course) to get personal with less ferocious species. From there we sped away a few hundred kilometers to another National Park and Lake Nakuru.

At Lake Nakuru we had our first real rough-riding safari tour. After a scrumptious lunch of delicious meat we headed down to the soda-based lakes. I rode with Howie Severino and his adventurous dynamic duo, executive producer Ella Evangelista and champion cameraman and engaging raconteur Egay Navarro. Dodging tree limbs and Howie’s environmental humor we managed to finally get to the lake’s edge. Thousands of pelicans and pink flamingo painted the landscape, a surreal image unbroken but for sounds of our digital cameras whirring and the birds themselves chatting away in their clicks and clacks. I suddenly thought of Bayani Fernando and his pink pissoires. Maybe he should look at the traffic situation in the Serengeti.

On the way back we encountered more animals, gazelles, impala, more buffalo and other trekkers in their land rovers camera-hunting for more game. Although game na game pa kami, we had to call it a day and motored to our rest stop, the Lake Nakuru Lodge. For our evening’s pleasure we had cocktails and another prodigious protein feast with some nice pastries for dessert. Now we had started to swap adventure stories for no two groups saw the same animals and the same sights. I felt like William Holden but without the pipe… and without the bush jacket… and without the sexy leading lady. But never mind, feeling macho Bwana pa rin. Hakuna Matata!

Next week – the second half of our Kenyan Safari featuring, the Masai, bloody milkshakes, more animals and Mombasa, the Boracay of Kenya. Jambo!

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For more Kenya watch GMA 7 on Monday, June 28 for Howie Severino’s I-Witness report on Kenya. For more information on Kenya and tours, call Greenie Dee of Kenya Airways Manila at 522-2095 0r 522-4869. Feedback is welcome. E-mail the writer at citysensephilstar@hotmail.com.