It’s all nature, Miton likes to say. When we set out on a game drive whether it’s 6 am or 4 pm, what we see is dependent on what nature has to say. Knowing the habits and habitats of the animals is Miton’s strength, not to mention his incredible eyesight. (He can spot big animals more than three kilometers away.) But still, he says it’s all nature. On my last morning at the Big Cat program in Maasai Mara while…
As my time in Kenya comes to an end, I’ve been thinking increasingly about my friend and mentor Kurt Luedtke. It’s not solely because this is the location of “Out of Africa.” It’s because if it were not for Kurt, I likely wouldn’t be here. Laura Berman called Kurt the provocateur. I’m not speaking out of turn because she said so in one of her Detroit News columns of the time. When I met Kurt, weeks before he won his…
When we arrived at Wildlife Tourism College (WTC) we were treated to a burst of color and music and dance in the outdoor arena. Young girls and boys, students from nearby schools were rehearsing an elaborate welcome performance for President William Ruto. He was scheduled to come to WTC the following Saturday, five days away, for the college’s formal dedication. (Unfortunately, he postponed to a date later in March.) Though I will miss the official celebration marking WTC’s opening, the…
If yesterday was quiet on the plains, today returned us to heart-thumping wildlife adventure that you’d expect in Africa. Queen Elizabeth and Kofi Annan are two healthy adult southern white rhinos living in a sanctuary in the Maasai Mara. Sanctuaries are not uncommon in the rhino-care world. In fact, some conservation organizations credit them with bringing back southern white rhinos and back rhinos from near extinction in Africa. But you can read the stats as you’re so inclined and support…
Maasai Mara, Kenya It was a quiet day on the savannah. The animals went about their business without excitement. No hysterical hyenas. No gazelles running for their lives. No lions fighting to protect their kill. No kills. At least none that we saw. No worries, no troubles. It truly was a hakuna matata kind of day. (No groaning, you knew this was coming.) And the colors. An orangier sunrise I can’t imagine. And find one with a tower of giraffes…
We saw seven lions today. Not together, all in one sighting, but throughout the day. Two males, four females and a cub. One of those females in a dramatic show of strength and survival showed us what it is to live in the Maasai Mara. The drama started with a couple of adult hyenas chasing a two-month-old gazelle. They appeared to have lost it into the heavy bush. But then they ran into the bush and started whooping and squealing,…
The sky was still orange and slightly dark. Dawn. We pulled up between two Land Cruisers carrying tourists. Behind us, a caravan of vehicles. When the vehicle engines stopped, there was silence except for the shutters of real cameras. Walking unfazed — like the leopard from the day before — was a magnificant adult male lion. He looked straight ahead. He could care less about us. So many emotions ran through me. I felt blessed, excited, a bit sad. And…
We received a PowerPoint presentation on our first night at the Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservation Project in Karibu, Kenya. There were names of organizations: The Mara Predator Conservation Program, The Mara Raptor Project, The Wildlife Conservation Program. There were acronyms: SELU (Spatial Ecology and Land-use Unit), WTC (Wildlife Tourism College). There were statistics: 64,000 acres, 850 landowners. I won’t lie. It was hard to sit through. It took me back to my days at Ford Motor Company when I not…
Four years ago, my good friend, Marti, and my sister, Barbara, stood at my dining room table with me in front of an open suitcase. My flight to South Africa was the next morning, and I was not ready. They started picking from the various stacks of clothes and gear and forcing me to make decisions. This week, as I packed for my upcoming trip to Kenya, I thought a lot about Marti, my dear friend of over 40 years….
July 20, 2021 By Anne Marie Gattari For Zawadisha.com In sub-Saharan Africa where poverty rates are among the highest in the world, NGOs and non-profits are working tirelessly to raise women up. They do this not through charity, but through change. The change agent comes in the form of small household loans. These no-collateral, low-interest micro-loans are used to purchase safe and eco-friendly appliances and home repair equipment to help make the women’s daily lives healthier and more efficient. The…