March 2007 © Janet Davis
Mount
Once again, our group was divided into three small planes
chartered by Micato to take us northeast from the Mara’s airstrip over the
I had come to enjoy our scenic flights over the Eastern Rift
Valley with its fertile farmland, volcanic craters and ridged escarpments. In fact, I sometimes wished I could ask 
the pilot to veer a little closer to a
volcano or fly along a valley wall. It
was fascinating to get a bird’s eye view of one of earth’s finest examples of plate
tectonics, or continent-building.
I came home wanting to know a little more about the geological
beginnings of this place we’d been. So
-- in an oversimplified African nutshell -- this is roughly how it goes. (If you’re not interested, please skip the
next six paragraphs).
Once upon a time, about 150 million years ago, Africa was
not a separate continent but part of a supercontinent geologists call Gondwana which also encompassed what are
now the land-masses of South America, Antarctica,
Of course, land-masses do not just “drift” or “rift”
magically away from each other. Their
movements come as a result of boundary interactions between the the planet’s tectonic plates. These plates make up earth’s lithosphere and are composed of the
outer oceanic or continental crust
and the uppermost part of the mantle. The lithosphere ranges in thickness from a
few miles to more than 200 miles under stable continental shields. It floats on the weak, warm mantle region
below, the asthenosphere, where
temperatures can melt rock and magma can be released upwards from deeper in the
earth. According to 
very,
very slow-moving liquid, whereas the lithosphere is a buoyant solid. So the plates are like icebergs floating in
an ocean, i.e. the asthenosphere.” (For
more on the earth’s lithosphere and asthenosphere, see
this page.)
When plate boundaries meet, violent events sometimes occur,
including earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis. An example is the
2004 Asian tsunami caused by buckling at a subduction
zone on the ocean floor during a powerful earthquake 19 miles below sea
level. The earthquake occurred when the
edge of an oceanic plate slipped suddenly below a continental plate. (For more
on tsunamis and earthquakes, see this page
from PBS.) The Rift Valley’s Crater
Highlands in
Once the African
continental plate finally stood alone, large parts of it anchored with
stable Precambrian bedrock (like those granite outcrops or kopjes in the Serengeti), it became subject to its own tectonic
forces, splitting or “rifting” along the unstable African Rift Zone
into two sections, the Nubian subplate in the west, and the Somalian subplate
in the east. The crack between the two
eventually widened into the 4000-mile-long Rift Valley, which begins in Turkey
and extends south and east through Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania to
Mozambique. The East African Rift
System consists of western and eastern segments. The western is called The Albertine Rift and
goes through 
Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Dijbouti, from
the “old” African continent. Needless
to say, this is exciting researchers who believe they are
witnessing the birth of a new ocean.
Technically, the Rift Valley is a graben, defined by the U.S. Geological Survey as “a
down-dropped block of the earth’s crust resulting from extension or pulling of
the earth’s crust”. But looks are
misleading; even though this “valley” appears low and verdant beneath its high
walls, much of
Therefore, Professor Culshaw concludes, plate tectonics are
really responsible for the supremacy of
On to the
After landing at the airstrip in the little town of
On arriving at the Mount Kenya Safari Club, we were served refreshing drinks and picked up our room keys. If Micato thought we’d appreciate a luxurious finale at the end of our whirlwind safari through five game parks in two countries, they were absolutely right. Our suite in a cottage near the bottom of the club’s grounds was lovely. But I was keen to learn more about the various trees and plants on the property, so I booked a late afternoon walking tour with Simon Mureitha, one of the club’s naturalists. In the meantime, we ate lunch in the club’s light-filled dining room.
Mount Kenya Safari Club has a storied
history. Currently owned by Fairmont
Hotels, it was founded in 1959 by actor William Holden and two partners who bought
2000 acres around the old British hotel, the Mawingo (est. 1939), re-opening it
as a private club and wildlife sanctuary.
Founding members included Conrad Hilton, Bob Hope, Clark Gable, John
Wayne, Walt Disney, Joan Crawford, Lord Mountbatten and Sir Winston Churchill. More recent members include the Aga Khan,
the presidents of
My nature walk with Simon around the club’s current 100-acre
property took us down into the area around the
Sunbirds flitted around the club’s cannas and aloes,
demonstrating an interesting botanical fact:
most tropical plants with long, funnel-shaped orange and red blooms have
evolved to be pollinated by birds, rather than bees or butterflies. Bird vision tends to be 
most acute in the orange-red light spectra,
allowing them to find such flowers easily.
In fact, while I was at the pool the next day, I stood quietly in the
hot sun trying to photograph a sunbird flitting about in a tall aloe
plant. (And it occurred to me for about
the fiftieth time during this trip that it would have been great to have a
longer lens than my 75-300 telephoto for all those tiny birds high above me.)
Wednesday, March 7th would be our last day on safari and we had two stops on our morning game drive, the Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary and The Rhino Sanctuary. Both are contained in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy, a 90,000 acre wildlife reserve which was extended in 2004 to include the 24,000 acre Sweetwaters Animal Reserve and the luxurious Sweetwaters Tented Camp. Sweetwaters was once called Ol Pejeta Ranch; it was founded by Lord Delamere of Colonial fame and went through various owners including the infamous Saudi industrialist, playboy and arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi. The Ol Pejeta Conservancy is now owned by the conservation body, Fauna & Flora International.
The Sweetwaters Chimpanzee Sanctuary was established in 1993
by renowned primatologist Jane Goodall, along
with Lonrho Africa and the Kenya Wildlife Service. It started with three orphaned chimpanzees
who were relocated from the Jane Goodall
Institute (JGI) in 
interest in the higher primates. She was hired in
Upon entering Ol Pejeta Conservancy, we completed our giraffe-spotting hat-trick when a third sub-species of the common giraffe – the beautiful reticulated giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata) – crossed the road in front of our van. The reticulated giraffe is also nicknamed the “crazy-paving” giraffe because its reddish coat resembles paving stones separated by white mortar.
Our group gathered in an elevated structure where we could
look down into the sanctuary over a tall electrified fence built to keep
elephants out of the chimpanzee habitat.
We listened to guide Charles Musasia as he told us about the 41
chimpanzees now cared for on the JGI’s 247 acres at Sweetwaters, including
three that were born there. Generally,
he said, breeding is not allowed and female chimps are given the Norplant
contraceptive vaccine. But ‘accidents’
have happened, including one sweet baby chimp we saw 
riding on the back of an adult across the
river, when we took a walk through the sanctuary later. The river serves to separate two populations
of chimpanzees within the reserve. The
aim of the JGI is to rehabituate chimpanzees to life in the wild; to that end,
the sanctuary is only open 1-1/2 hours in the morning and 1-1/2 hours in the
afternoon so the chimps don’t become too accustomed to people. The life expectancy of chimpanzees in the
wild is 30-35 years; in a protected environment they can live 50-60 years. In my later reading, I found that according
to research being
done at
As the day grew hot, we headed to The Rhino
Sanctuary nearby. Here, we met
a black rhinoceros named Morani (Maasai for
warrior) whose life story was rather poignant.
He was born in 1974 at
The population of black rhinoceroses (Diceris bicornis) in 
conservation issues and anti-poaching
legislation. We finished our stay at
the Rhino Sanctuary with a short visit to the excellent little museum at the
entrance to Morani’s reserve.
As we drove out of Ol Pejeta, we passed a group of oryxes standing at a salt lick. Driving back towards the hotel, we saw small school children heading home for lunch and asked Nathan to stop the van so we could hand out pens and pencils. They eagerly held up their hands to grab the goodies with big, happy smiles on their little faces.
After lunch, some of the group elected to play golf on the
9-hole course, others to visit the animal sanctuary Holden established on the
hotel grounds. I changed into my bathing
suit, grabbed my book and headed to the pool where I ordered a gin-and-tonic
and retreated to a chaise lounge.
Although the sun was hot, the water in the pool was freezing but taking
a swim and lounging in the sun made me feel that I’d at least had a few hours
of traditional holiday down-time.
However, anyone who’s been on safari will tell you that you don’t go to
Our last night held some nice surprises. After cocktails, group photos and speeches on the club’s terrace, we all loaded into our vans and headed down by the Likii river. Here, we found a buffet table, barbecues, dining tables and a bar – all set up in a dirt-floored clearing. We clinked our glasses to toast a fabulous safari, new friends and fantastic memories that would stay with us forever, then we filled up our plates at the buffet. My own little surprise was a CD I’d brought along containing “golden-oldies” from the 50s and 60s -- our vintage -- and when the background music stopped and Bobby Darin came on singing ‘Dream Lover’, the party got going in earnest. We laughed and sang and kicked up our heels on the dirt dance floor under the stars until Philip announced it was time to call it a night.
On Thursday, March 8th, we checked out, drove back to the
airport at Nanyuki, hugged Nathan goodbye one more time, and flew back to
So, farewell for now,
Nairobi Amboseli Tarangire Ngorngoro Serengeti Maasai Mara
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