The image of Africa from my primary schooldays was always embedded in my mind as the “dark continent”. Why it was referred to as such was beyond me, but tales of lurking danger, darkness, and mystery conjured up wild images in my imagination. Although I have travelled extensively, Africa was never on my bucket list.
That changed when I received an invitation to the Sai International Conference in Nairobi, which included a tantalising safari to the Masai Mara National Reserve before the conference. My interest was further fuelled by the fact that Africa was the only continent visited by my guru, Sathya Sai Baba. So, 11 of us devotees set out with great excitement to this far-off land known for its rich, diverse wildlife.
Upon reaching Nairobi, we were astounded by the numerous Indian restaurants and temples. On our first day, we enjoyed a sumptuous lunch of delectable Indian vegetarian dishes better than any I had tasted in India. After a day’s rest, we set out on the safari, but no one had prepared us for what was to follow: One of the longest and bumpiest drives we had ever experienced.
It rattled every bone in our bodies, but surprisingly, the tummy ache I had before the journey just disappeared! On the way, we caught our first glimpse of wild animals – the huge African buffaloes and the common eland. Dressed in Masai attire, the writer’s husband Dr Hari Dass is flanked by the writer and a Masai tribesman. Photos: Chandrika Nair When we reached our resort, we were welcomed by the Masai – the aborigines who were colourfully dressed – with a “ Jambo ,” which means hello in Swahili.
We were thrilled to see our makeshift bedrooms – tents with beautiful furniture carved out of wood. We had dinner under the hanging foliage, with a spectacular view of seemingly gentle hippos squirting water on each other in the meandering stream nearby. Later that night, we were escorted by the Masai to our rooms.
When we told them there was no need to take such trouble, they warned us that the “gentle” hippos could actually be quite menacing at night and might charge at us. Armed with long sticks, the Masai advised us to stay in our tents from 9pm to 7am to keep out of harm’s way. The loud grunts from the hippos just outside our tents gave us trepidations throughout the night.
On our first day at the resort, we were lucky enough to witness the post-copulation behaviour of an old “royal couple” – a lion and his mate. They were unperturbed by the crowd of tourist jeeps and whirring cameras surrounding them, as they had apparently eaten their fill. There were several other encounters with lions and their cubs in the ensuing days.
We even saw cubs relishing the remains of a baby giraffe! A lioness yawning. There were also elephants nonchalantly crossing our path, not even batting an eyelid at us as if we didn’t exist. Zebras, hyenas, giraffes, rhinos, gazelles, topis, and baboons were all roaming freely, with lions just 3ft (0.
9m) away from us! What was particularly interesting was seeing many of them living in harmonious cohabitation with smaller creatures. I was especially amused to see a bird gingerly perched on top of a hippo, which was nonchalantly flipping its tail. Thoughts of “what if” did cross my mind.
What if a lion suddenly became less complacent and set its eyes on us, for after all, we were easy bait in jeeps with open windows? What if an elephant decided to change course and charge at us? What if the wild buffaloes stampeded in our direction? Such anticipation of danger disturbed me initially, but I consoled myself that we were in Nairobi for a higher purpose, and that sincere intent, I felt, would protect us from all harm. Feeling reassured, I enjoyed the rest of the pre-conference safari to my heart’s content, knowing that an unseen Divine Hand was protecting us from above..
