Grand Theft Safari

by Precious McKenzie

  “The rainfall changes slightly throughout the year,” Mom said as she interrupted my musings. “Parts of Kenya will receive huge amounts of rainfall in April and May. It even causes flooding. But the rest of the year, it’s very hot and dry. Hard to survive, I imagine.”

  After our photo session at the equator sign, Nigel wanted to push onward to reach Lake Bogoria well before dark. No one liked driving through the wilderness once the sun set.

  Rough roads took us northeast to Lake Bogoria, one of Kenya’s most famous soda lakes in the Rift Valley. It was called a soda lake because it has high levels of alkaline. This lets green algae grow. Mom was more than excited about the green algae because the lesser flamingoes devour green algae. She knew she’d find the birds at Lake Bogoria for sure.

  “We have some time. Let’s drive around Lake Bogoria before we set up camp,” Nigel suggested. “I’m sure you can’t wait to see the flamingoes.”

  Mom nodded and said, “Now I can really start my research.”

  Nigel drove us to the shoreline of the lake. Hot water shot high into the air.

  “What’s that?” yelled Tomas as he pointed to the plume of water in the air.

  “It is a geyser. Lake Bogoria has geysers and boiling hot springs that pour into the lake,” Nigel told us.

  “Can we touch the water or jump through it, like at a water park?” Tomas asked.

  “Oh no,” Mom shook her head. “You would be burned to bits in seconds.”

  A squawking flock of hundreds of pink flamingoes soared across the sky. Mom jumped up and down, “There they are! There they are!” She fumbled in her backpack for her camera.

  Mom rushed to the lake’s shore just as the flamingoes skidded to a landing in the water. The water was shallow and the birds walked easily through it.

  “Noisy bunch, aren’t they?” Dad joked. He was right. Hundreds of birds were anything but silent. They swept their hooked beaks through the water, feasting on microorganisms. They danced, jumped, and played with one another.

  Mom took more photos. She turned around and smiled at us. “I have so much work to do here. Collect water samples, feather samples, record flight patterns. I can’t wait to get started. But,” she paused, “you all look like it’s time to set up camp and cook dinner.”

  We climbed back into the truck. Nigel drove us away from the lake and the boiling hot springs, to drier land near the shady trees. Like we did in Maasai Mara, we set up our new tents in a circle around a fire pit. Nigel built the shower shelter off to the side of our camp for privacy. We unloaded our food canisters, water canisters, and research equipment. By the time we unpacked, we were sweaty and exhausted.

  “I’ll cook dinner tonight, Nigel,” Mom offered. “You drove all day. I’m sure you could use a rest.”

  Nigel willingly let Mom take over dinner duty. Mom boiled water, noodles, and canned beans. It was not fancy but it was almost well balanced. It filled our stomachs.

  After dinner, Mom planned out her next week at Lake Bogoria. She organized her research tent, with labeled vials and empty charts. Dad planned our days. We’d get to exercise and explore in the morning while it was still cool out. In the afternoons, we’d do our school work with Dad. Nigel and Elea would go where they were needed most. But, after the crocodile attack in Maasai Mara, Dad told Nigel he’d like it if he and Elea would stay close to Mom at the lake.

  In the mornings, Tomas and I walked along the lake, mesmerized by the noisy pink flamingoes. We stayed close to Mom. We even helped her collect vials full of lake water. She wanted to measure the chemical levels in the lake to learn more about the flamingoes’ natural habitat. A few years ago, hundreds of lesser flamingoes were found dead near the lake. Scientists aren’t sure what caused it. Mom was hoping to get to the bottom of the mystery.

  One afternoon, after our school session with Dad, he gave us some free time.

  “Dad wants some peace and quiet. I think we drove him wild with all that algebra today,” Tomas joked.

  “You know it.” I giggled. Tomas and I had Dad all figured out. Dad is a historian. He likes books and literature. Math, not so much. A tough algebra session filled with tons of questions from two twelve-year olds pushed Dad to his wits’ end.

  Dad padded off to our sleeping tent, with a novel in his hands. Tomas elbowed me in my ribs. “See, I told you so.”

  Nigel, Mom, and Elea were still by the lake, studying the flamingoes. They wouldn’t be back to camp for hours.

  “What do you want to do?” I asked Tomas.

  “Let’s go for a drive!” he said.

  Tomas’s eyes twinkled mischievously.

  “One problem. We don’t know how to drive,” I reminded him.

  “I’ve been watching Nigel for the past month. He may have let me drive once or twice. I’ve got it figured out,” Tomas reassured me. “Besides, there’s a strand of trees about five or six miles away. I want to check them out.”

  I gave this idea some thought.

  “Oh come on, Marisol. There’s not another car around for miles. It’s not like we’re going to run into anyone!” Tomas was practically begging me now.

  “Oh, fine. You win. But I get to drive first.” I said.

  “Mari! No! I get to drive first!”

  “Well you better hurry then before Dad realizes the truck is missing!” I said to him as I ran to the truck.

  Tomas and I ran through the tall grass, jostling each other to get to the driver’s side first. Tomas shoved me and I fell face first into the grass. Tomas let out a “Ha-ha!” and sprung into the driver’s seat. I scrambled to my feet, threw Tomas an angry look, and stomped over to the passenger’s side.

  “You better start the engine quietly. Then drive slowly so Dad doesn’t hear us leaving,” I ordered him.

  “Maybe you should go over to the tent, just to see what Dad’s doing.”

  “Oh, okay,” I grumbled.

  I got out of the truck and crept silently to the tent. I peeked into the small mesh window, hoping Dad would be listening to the radio, with headphones on. Instead, I saw Dad lying on his back with an open book on his face. He was snoring so loudly he sounded like a freight train.

  I crept back to the truck.

  “Dad is sound asleep,” I said.

  Tomas fist pumped the air. “Yes! Let’s get out of here.”

  He cranked the key and the engine started.

  “Here’s the gas pedal. Here’s the brake,” he said to himself, pointing his right foot to each one.

  Tomas eased the truck past the camp. We were going in a straight line, straight away from the lake.

  When we got out of earshot, Tomas felt braver. He pushed the gas pedal down, a little too firmly, and we picked up speed. The valley was rough and unpaved. As we sped across the grassland, we bounced out of our seats.

  “Whoa! You better let off the gas!” I yelled at him.

  He started to slow down but then we plunged down a hill, nose first.

  “Tomi!” I screamed as I reached out to grab his arm. Tomas jerked the steering wheel to the left and right.

  Luckily, the hill was small, and only bumped us around and slowed us down.

  “Tomi, watch where you’re driving!” I shouted and punched him in the arm.

  “It’s no big deal. Calm down,” he barked at me.

  He picked up speed again across the flat land. The strand of trees was getting closer and closer to us.

  “Look! We’re almost there!” he said excitedly, pointing to the trees.

  “What’s the big deal with the trees?” I asked.

  “Oh, you’ll see,” he smiled.

  As we got closer to the trees, Tomas slowed the truck down. He pulled the binoculars out from the backseat.

  “Scan the tree branches,” he said.

  I held the binoculars and stared into the trees. Under the dark branches, I saw a pair of cheetahs.

  “Cheetahs!” I gasped.

  “See, I told you it would be worth it,” he sa
id.

  The lean spotted cats lounged in the shade, grooming each another. Two cubs popped up out of the grass. They chased and tumbled over one another.

  “How did you know cheetahs were here?” I asked Tomas.

  “Nigel told me Elea was barking like bonkers on their morning walk. He found cheetah scat not far from our camp. He also said that cheetahs like shady spots on hot days.”

  “This is awesome,” I told him. “I’ve seen cheetahs in zoos before but I never thought I’d see them in the wild.”

  Tomas checked his watch. “We better get back to camp so we make it back before Mom and Nigel do.”

  “Or before Dad wakes up,” I reminded him.

  Tomas started to rev the engine. “Hold on there, twin brother. It’s my turn to drive,” I reminded him as I climbed over him and pushed him out of the driver’s seat.

  I adjusted the truck’s mirrors, buckled my seatbelt, and hit the gas. We lurched forward, toward the cheetahs. The big cats sped away.

  “Mari! You need to put it in reverse!” Tomas yelped.

  “Whoops!” I laughed. I flipped the handle into the reverse position.

  I pushed the gas pedal and we jerked backward.

  “Step on it lightly. Don’t stomp it!” Tomas laughed. He thought it was funny that I was messing up.

  I tried it again, lighter this time. We cruised slowly backward. Now that we were away from the cheetahs, Tomas told me to turn the steering wheel, to head back to camp.

  I turned and turned the wheel. It was hard to get the truck through the tall grass and the dirt. Soon we were turned around, pointed in the right direction.

  I drove slower than Tomas did, careful not to hit any ruts in the savannah.

  “Hurry,” Tomas said. “We’ll never make it back to camp before they catch us.”

  “Shush,” I said, “I’m trying not to cause an accident.”

  “You drive like a granny,” Tomas snapped.

  “Be quiet! I can’t concentrate!”

  That’s when we saw them. Mom, Dad, Nigel, and Elea. They stood facing us, near the camp. Mom had her hands on her hips. Dad had his arms folded across his chest, with a scowl on his face.

  “It’s too late,” I said, a sinking feeling in my stomach. I took my hands off the steering wheel but, in my dread, I forgot to take my foot off the gas and we plowed into their path. They dove out of the truck’s path, screaming.

  The truck jerked to a stop at the base of a tree. Tomas looked up and over the dashboard.

  “Uh-oh,” he moaned.

  Dad was at Tomas’s door, yanking him out of the truck by his shirt collar. Mom was at mine, pulling me out of the truck. Elea ran away from all of us, barking like crazy.

  “How dare you take the truck! You are not old enough to drive!” Dad yelled at us.

  “You could have been killed!” Mom screamed. “You could have gotten lost out there! We’d never know where to find you!”

  I knew there was no way we could talk our way out of this one.

  Tomas spoke up. “I wanted to show Marisol the cheetahs.”

  “The what?” Dad asked angrily.

  “Cheetahs. Nigel and Elea tracked them this morning. I wanted to see them up close before they moved on to a new spot,” Tomas explained.

  Mom relaxed a bit. Dad still looked angry.

  I came to Tomas’s aid. “It’s true. We found them.”

  Dad looked at Nigel.

  Nigel said, “I did track cheetahs this morning. But I didn’t see any.”

  “Well, we did,” Tomas said.

  Mom took Dad by the hand and they turned away from us, so we couldn’t hear what they were talking about. Mom waved her hands around as she spoke. Dad shook his head and rubbed his forehead.

  Several long minutes later, Dad turned back to us. He said, “No one was hurt. But neither of you are to go near a steering wheel until you are sixteen years old. Got it?”

  “Yes sir,” we answered in unison.

  “Go to the tent and be quiet until I finish speaking with your mother,” Dad ordered.

  Tomas and I practically ran to the tent.

  “What do you think they’ll do?” Tomas asked nervously.

  “Tie us to a tree and let the ants eat us?” I suggested.

  “I’m serious. This is no time to joke,” he said.

  “You should have thought of that before you stole the truck,” I said.

  Our parents left us in our tent for another hour. We couldn’t hear exactly what they were talking about, although we had our ears up against the tent panel the whole time, hoping to catch their conversation.

  Mom came to get us.

  “You may come out now,” she said sternly.

  Tomas and I followed her to the fire pit. “Here it comes,” I whispered to Tomas. He nodded.

  “Now, we have two days left at Lake Bogoria. As your punishment, you will spend the next two days collecting flamingo poo with your mother.” Dad smiled like this was the best punishment ever.

  Great, I thought. For the next two days, Tomi and I would climb around the lake’s shore, scraping up poo and sliding it into glass vials. Wonderful.

  Tomas and I argued for the next two days as we collected the samples. Mom, Dad, and Nigel seemed to think our punishment was amusing. They would check in on us, smirk, then go sit under an umbrella.

  Chapter Nine

  GOODBYE AFRICA

  Nigel helped Mom pack the scientific crates and load them on the train in Nairobi. From there, the crates would head to the airport to be shipped back to Mom’s university laboratory in Chicago. We would spend two nights on the coast before returning to Nairobi to catch our plane out.

  Diani Beach, on the coast, was completely different than our time in the interior of Kenya. The town sat on the Indian Ocean. I’d never seen such turquoise waters before. Tomas couldn’t resist it. He rented a snorkel and flippers. He splashed around, cruising just below the surface, watching for exotic fish. Mom and Dad played a round of golf on the golf course. I stretched out on the sandy beach, soaking up the warm sunshine and reading a book.

  After two days of acting like lazy tourists, we needed to head back to Nairobi. During our last night in Nairobi, Nigel said goodbye to us. He was heading back to his village to spend a week with his own wives and children before embarking on another safari with a wealthy English family.

  “I didn’t know you had wives and children,” Tomas said to Nigel.

  “Oh, Tomas, some things are private. Men don’t talk about private things,” Nigel said.

  He smiled down at Tomas fondly.

  After weeks in the African bush, a night at a hotel with running water felt heavenly. Tomas and I fought over who would get to shower first. We both lost the fight. Dad got to shower first.

  Mom sent our clothes out to be cleaned thoroughly for the first time in weeks. We’d been washing them by hand at camp and hanging them to dry on a simple clothesline.

  “I’m ordering room service,” Dad declared as he stepped out of a warm, steamy bathroom. “We’re back in civilization, baby. And I feel like celebrating.”

  “Room service!” Tomas cheered. Tomas loved room service. Just the idea of sitting around in pajamas and having people bring you food was Tomas’s idea of a perfect day.

  “What shall we order?” Dad asked as he looked through the menu.

  “Steak!” Tomas voted.

  “Steak it is!” Dad said eagerly.

  An hour later, freshly showered and wrapped in hotel bathrobes, we feasted like kings on thick cuts of steak.

  Dad smiled at Mom and said, “What do you think sweetheart? Would you say it was a successful research trip?”

  “Well,” Mom answered, “I’ll know for sure when I run those samples through the machines in the lab, but it sure was amazing.”

  “Kenya is spectacular,” I agreed. “I never thought I’d ever see cheetah or elephants face to face in the wild.”

  Mom leaned over and kissed my c
heek. Then she leaned over and kissed Tomas’s cheek.

  “I’m glad you came along. I’m glad you got to experience Africa,” she said.

  “Thanks, Mom,” Tomas said.

  “Who wants to help me put the flamingo poo in the machines when we get home?” Mom joked.

  “Marisol does,” Tomas giggled.

  “Oh, no I don’t. I’m sick and tired of flamingo poo,” I said.

  MARISOL’S TRAVEL JOURNAL

  August 20

  Elea, our friend in Maasai Mara

  Maasai village

  Our reason for visiting Kenya, so Mom could study the lesser flamingo!

  Kenya!

  Make one of my favorite Kenyan foods: Ugali

  Step 1: Bring some amount of water and a teaspoon of salt to a boil.

  Step 2: Slowly add cornmeal. Begin with a 2:1 ratio of water to cornmeal, adding more if you need it.

  Step 3: To prevent lumps, stir. Keep stirring until the ugali thickens and pulls away from the side of the pan.

  When your ugali is ready, roll it with your fingers into a round ball shape. Press down on the center, to make a little bowl, and pour soup or stew inside.

  Country Facts

  Republic of Kenya

  Capital: Nairobi

  Language: Swahili, English, and other native languages

  Population: 45 million

  Climate: Hot and dry with seasonal rainfall; tropical climate along the coast

  Famous residents: Ngugi wa Thiong'o, writer Wangari Maathai, activist for the environment and women’s rights

  Kip Keino, Track and Field athlete, Olympian

  Significant Events

  1895: British start the East African Protectorate and open lands for white settlement

  1920: Kenya officially becomes a British colony 1963: Kenya wins independence from Great Britain

  Holidays

  New Year’s Day

  Easter

  Ramadan (June – July)

  Mashujaa Day (October 20)

  Christmas

  Landmarks