This is my second Christmas at beautiful Sarara camp. (See the yoga photo of me above on the rim of the infinity pool - and don't miss the elephants below me at the watering hole!) My family tradition growing up couldn't be further from this new way of spending Christmas and so it has been surprising for me to see just how much I've come to love it. Instead of a big family gathering (which is hard since all of my family are in California), I now pass Christmas with my beloved and quite a few "strangers". At Sarara Camp, in the dramatic Matthews Range of Northern Kenya, the soul is nurtured in any season: elephants roam freely and comfortably, ancient cycads as old as Christ grow in steep, orchid-filled ravines and Samburu tribesmen dig wells in the river bed and sing special songs from beneath the earth to call in their cattle, camels and goats to drink from tree trunk troughs.
This year, I arrived in the trusty four-seater Cessna 182 I fly with James and prudently landed at the nearby Namanyak strip since the Sarara strip has a somewhat nasty reputation and is not recommended for a new pilot like myself. From Namanyak, it is a 25-minute game drive through dry bush filled with Acacia trees and oh so many beautiful birds - for which I often yell "Stop!". We settled into our tent which has a private plunge pool made of natural rock that invited us in immediately. The temperature at Sarara is pleasantly warm both day and night. It is hot under the sun and the pool is welcomed but at night there is a nice coolness to the air that lends itself to an after-dinner tea or drink under the stars with at most a light sweater.
From our plunge pool that first morning, we watched a big troop of baboon come in to drink. A female baboon had lost all of her hair and was completely naked in a very human sort of way. It was a first to see this and quite fascinating - especially because she didn't seem to be unhealthy at all and because the rest of the troop took special care of her, making room for her to drink and treating her with respect.
It was Christmas eve that day so we decided to go for a long walk in the afternoon and end up somewhere nice to have a cold bottle of champagne while the sun set. Mark, our Samburu guide who we know from previous trips and who is truly a lovely and knowledgeable man, guided us through the bush, pointing out footprints and birds and the way an elephant had dragged its trunk along the sand in playfulness. We also had an "askari" or guard who carried a rifle in the unlikely event that we surprised something and had to fire a warning shot. (In all my many walks in the African bush I am insistent that an armed guard accompany for safety and yet have never even come close to needing him.)
As the sun faded and the stars came out, the three of us entered into discussions that really covered all areas of the meaning of life. Mark told us about the Samburu belief that the dark sky is the skin of God and the stars are God's light peeking through to us. He explained that it wasn't always like this - that God didn't used to hide behind his skin but that one man thought he could build a ladder and climb up to God and in his hubris caused God to retreat. - An Adam and Eve type myth in Samburu form.
Mark also explained that the planet Mars (whose flashing reds and greens are TRULY amazing to watch in this pitch black African sky) is a planet that Samburu are not aloud to look at when it is directly above them or else wars and strife will come their way. (I don't think they even knew that Mars was the god of war when they established this.) They can look when the planet is ascending or descending in the sky but not when it is directly overhead. Looking at the stars with my absolutely fantastic Swarovsky binoculars was a big treat for Mark who had never had such a close look before.
After our discussions we found ourselves sitting in the complete darkness and decided to drive home, arriving for dinner with the others at 9 p.m. It was a beautiful and soulful Christmas Eve.
The following morning, oh so early to beat the wind, the manager of Sarara and I went back out to the Namanyak strip to get my plane and try flying into Sarara. Piers is a pilot himself and so he sat next to me and gave me all the good advice he could about how to land on this tricky uphill strip with a tail wind and no chance of going round in case of error. I did it and when I shut down, Piers said, "Happy Christmas". It was a good way to start the day.
After a morning swim, James and I went to open our presents at our tent. Just as we began, two elephants walked up just in front of our little wall and began drinking from the water hole. We sat smiling in silence until they ventured onwards to the big watering hole where they could have a bath as well as another fresh drink (and probably scare off some insistent warthogs).
Before Christmas lunch, we all gathered under a shady tree and had a Samburu ceremony. The camp guests (about 6 of us) and the staff (about 20) all prayed and sang and clapped together. Amongst the staff were members of the Samburu tribe and the Kikuyu tribe and songs were sung in each of their languages as well as in Swahili and English.
English tradition took hold after this tearful and beautiful ceremony which one must really experience for oneself to grasp. We had Pimm's by the pool and then a full roast turkey lunch complete with trimmings, crackers and even some fun stringy spray that the four-year old American guest from New York City really loved.
Naps, a bit of yoga, reading and chilling filled the day until we all gathered again for a walk in the cool hours of the afternoon. We came across a big bull elephant just across a dry river bed that was working very hard to eat a vine off of a tree - not easy! It seemed he might just fell the tree to get the vine in the end! The poor eyesight of elephants only calms you a little when you are standing on your own humble legs just feet away from the largest land animal. The wind was in our favour (i.e. blowing towards us and not towards him) so he didn't smell us but he did raise his trunk a few times to check us out. We walked on to find the rest of the herd, about 25 bulls all calmly drinking in the riverbed. Just beyond them we came across a roaring campfire with chairs all around and a full bar set up and we all had our surprise Christmas drinks just down river from the elephants having theirs.
It was a glorious Christmas day.
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