The African Safari

Growing up within a consulting firm which is known for its risk management practices, I have come to know myself as a risk-averse person. I mean I do enjoy the returns, but I also like to limit the risks that come along with them. Perhaps that’s why risk management as a concept seems like an obvious extrapolation of my own outlook. So I did surprise myself when I said yes to going for a two-week safari trip to Africa. What could possibly go wrong (besides being mauled by a lion or falling in a lake full of hippos or contracting a life threatening disease)?
They say in order to escape a lion, all you need to do is to not be the slowest runner in the group.
So as part of my risk mitigation measure, I picked a group of four (three of whom were from Oliver Wyman, by the way) in which I was one of the faster runners. And that is how I agreed to this trip to Kenya.

Our group in Kenya

We covered a lot of ground in those 2 weeks – started off with a few days in Samburu National Reserve, then to Lake Nakuru, followed by a hike to Mount Kenya, game drive in Masai Mara, an evening in Lake Naivasha and finally back to Nairobi.

Masai Mara and Samburu are huge reserves spread across thousands of square kilometers, and it can get a bit tough trying to spot the big cats which are invariably chilling out (lazy bums!) under shade during the day. However, the wildebeests, zebras and giraffes are of course spread all over the place like chevrons on a consultant's process map slides. We also sporadically saw the white and black rhinos – impressive beasts weighing 2-tons each, but not without their share of fitness issues :)
The lakes and rivers served as excellent spots to find many of these beasts. They served as calm spots
where we had our comfortable lunches while watching the elephants, giraffes, hippos etc. play
in the mud.

A group of giraffes near a small river patch in Samburu

The rare black rhinos

I am not much of a bird watcher, but at Lake Nakuru and Naivasha we witnessed a large number of bird species. From the phenomenal ostriches to the mean looking vultures, the pink flamingoes, the noisy woodpeckers and the impressive pelicans, cormorants, egrets, herons, guineafowls and kingfishers, all birds seemed to revel in the glory of living freely in a place as beautiful as Kenya.

Group of pink flamingos at Lake Nakuru

View from the top of Lake Nakuru

One of the highlights of the Masai Mara trip was watching a cheetah family (a mom and her cub)
stalk a gazelle (an African antelope), hunt it down and then eat it. While some of us did feel a little
offended at the lack of veganism on the part of the cheetah, we enjoyed the majestic manner in
which she completed the task. It was like watching Discovery Channel or Animal Planet in super-HD.

A cheetah and her cub eating a gazalle

Sometimes we would come across ethnic Kenyan tribes, like the Masaai people. The Masaai are a friendly tribe that invited us into their villages and spent time describing their various customs and showing us their homes (all at a fee of course). They have a typical jumping warrior dance that they happily invited us to join.

With the local tribal people

Kenyans have this saying called Hakuna Matata. At first, we thought they had stolen it from the movie, but our guide was quick to point out that the Swahili language from which this phrase comes is at least a thousand years older than Lion King. Hakuna matata means don’t worry – I tried to focus on this phrase especially at night when while sleeping in our camps, we would hear the roar of lions from close proximity. It did work, I must say.

After our days spent wandering through the unknown wilderness, at night, we would come back to our camps and tents to sleep under such clear skies, where we could see thousands (or perhaps millions) of stars. At night, a gentle cool breeze would blow, as we would hear the sound of a rapid river knocking against the boulders nearby. Somehow in the midst of the animals and forests, you get re-acquainted with your humanity – and I continue to reminisce that feeling to this day, more than 2 months after the trip.
After an adventurous 2-week stay we returned – with more memories, fewer regrets and an unchanged number of limbs. Like a good consultant, I finished my trip with some next steps:

• Tell others about the awesomeness of Kenyan safaris
• Learn to identify at least 10 new variety of birds
• Spend more time with wildlife and exploring nature across the world while the wildlife still exists on our planet (TBD)

Until the next adventure. Kwa heri!

Credits: Original post authored by Satyam Saxena!

Some other clicks from the trip; for more pics, check out my facebook page!

Group of cheetahs at Samburu

Atop Mt Kenya

Group of young lions lazing around

The ugly hyena

A pelican in flight

A large group of hippos in Masai

Another group of playful lions

A young cheetah cub

The rare white rhinos in Lake Nakuru

A sweet squirrel which decided to pose for me :)

Feeding a giraffe