There was a rumour going around the tour industry that there will come a time when all visits to any park will be done on a 4X4 vehicle. This monsters cost a fortune. But to show my clients that I was prepared for such an eventuality should the rumours be confirmed truth, I hired one.
My clients were singing elephant songs in the vehicle. They wanted to see an elephant so bad, yet we only had Lake Nakuru as the only park that we were to visit as the itinerary was not for touring but visiting projects. There are no elephants in Lake Nakuru National Park. This meant whatever we saw there would not make a difference to the mood of the clients, which I guessed was worse than mine. Here I was, the best guide that these people knew. I was in a bad mood because I could not buy myself this monster. My clients were in a bad mood because I could not think of a place to see elephants and still be on course for our trip to Nyahururu. Life can be truly unfair.
I was about 3km from Nyahururu township, where we had spent the night. It was about 9am in the morning and we were passing through a small bushy area surrounded by small farms of maize and beans, the staple food for small scale farmers in this area. Some people were on the road walking to town, others were riding bicycles, while others drove their small cars. Suddenly, the car ahead of me stopped. The occupants came out in a hurry and pointed to the right of the road, inside the bush. I also stopped and followed their gaze. Right there, barely 20 meters from the road, was a herd of elephants!
I am not religious but sometimes I feel it in my veins. This was the least of my expectations. Talk of miracles! We were miles away from any park. And here, a walking distance from a major town, and only metres from people walking on the road and working in their farms, was a group of 17 elephants! I was indeed a very happy guide, and a lucky one at that. Even if I was not the first to see them, they were elephants and my clients were busy clicking away. I took the credits.
Something else drove a shiver down my spine. A bicycle rider, who had taken a shortcut from town, was headed towards the group. From our point on the road, we could see him well, but he could not see the elephants. I knew he would be too close to them when he finally hit the bend that was obstructing his view. As he came up the final curve, he found himself right in the middle of the elephants! I think everyone watching the scenario unfolding was in shock. No one had had the voice to shout at the cyclist to stop. Now, everyone was silently praying for this unfortunate man who had his shortcut route, cut even shorter by a deadly wall of dangerous beasts.
The abrupt appearance of a man on a bicycle right in their midst did not go well with the elephants. The matriarch picked him off the bicycle with her trunk, like a piece of light luggage. He did not bother to shout at all. I guess he was also in shock, or he had just realised there was no need for that. Hiswas a sealed case.
The elephant brought the cyclist down roughly and invited a younger elephant to finish him off. The juvenile, happy to oblige, tossed the man in the air, let him fall on the ground and started juggling him like a football. Another elephant joined in the game, tossing the poor man between them. It was so unreal to watch a man dying like that. Up to that time, not a shout had been heard from the crowd that had gathered to watch this very unfortunate incident. Why were all the people silently watching one of their own being killed by animals that had strayed from the government park? It did not make sense at all. Why then? Because, I was only imagining!
People were silent because nothing was happening. They were watching the elephants feeding peacefully. But it can happen. KWS, please do something before these farmers learn the trick from their brothers in Kajiado.