One of the Scariest Moments in My Life - Part II

This is part two of the story of a day when I was probably more scared in my life than at any other time. If you haven't read part one of this story, I do advise clicking here and reading this to get the full scenario, before continuing to the climax.

I have to apologize to those of you who read the first part yesterday and were left hanging when I ended prior to reaching the most scary moment in my life. I felt obliged to do this, because I would either have had to cut the story short to fit it into one article, or to make it so long that I would have lost the attention of many of my readers. I therefore decided to split this into two parts (and at this point you had better start hoping that I don't keep prolonging it further... no it's ok - I won't do that...) and to give you the full story.

The first part of the story saw me in Kenya back in the early 1990's, doing a job for one of the oil companies, and taking two long weekends off to see the game reserves in Amboseli National Park and Masai Mara.

Having arrived back to my hotel in Nairobi from by trip to Amboseli, I was tired and dirty, but I was also really excited about my trip to Masai Mara the following weekend.

Saturday same around fairly fast, and as I had done the week before, I walked down to the safari company, and boarded the mini-bus along with my companions for the weekend, and we set off for the game reserves at Masai Mara.

I should add that the mini-bus that we rode down to the reserve in is also the same transport that is used on safari, 4-wheel drive vehicles, and these are necessary since once you get off the main roads, you need this on the dirt tracks, especially if it's rainy season or you have to go up a steep incline.

The journey from the Kenyan capital of Nairobi to Masai Mara is about 140 miles, and takes close to 4 hours. Once out of the city, you start the descent into the Great African Rift Valley, and the road conditions deteriorate, ending up as single lane dirt tracks running across the wilderness that makes up much of the country.

Arriving at the campsite, which was similar to the one at Amboseli in facilities, but having a stream at one side, we organized ourselves into tents, and set out to enjoy the weekend.

My companions for this trip included as the previous weekend, various Americans, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders, and in addition an East German and an Asian girl. The latter two and I became very friendly over the weekend, as we had plenty of time sitting around the camp fire in the evening to talk.

The East German (this took place several years before the Berlin Wall came down) was working in a bank in Cairo, and had flown down to take the trip. He told me how he had several months before climbed to the top of the Great Pyramid at night, and watched the sun rise. I can tell you now that there is no way that anything I have done can match that, and during our correspondence over the next couple of years he actually sent me photos that he had taken from there. The Asian girl worked for Cathay Pacific Airlines, and the three of us just got on really well, it made the weekend even better.

Similarly to the previous weekend, the sky at night was perfectly clear, and the stars shone so brightly, without the interference of any light from surrounding towns or villages, and on the campsite we had neither electricity or running water. I noticed that several people had commented on my previous article about how they wouldn't have managed without showers. Well I love my morning shower too, but to fore-go a shower and to be able to see such wonderful sights as these - I would do it any day!

I don't remember in detail so much of the excursions around the park, except that one morning we had followed a Leopard that was stalking a Gazelle. The victim fell prey to the predator eventually, and when we returned to that section, was feasting. We managed to get fairly close and got some good photographs and video. On returning there in the evening, there must have been over 200 huge Vultures taking care of what the Leopard had left, which was an equally impressive sight.

One slightly unnerving episode happened late on the Saturday afternoon, when we came up behind another mini-bus that had got a wheel stuck in a rut on the track, and they could not move it. We pulled up behind the bus, piled out, and got wood etc to try and wedge under the wheels so that we could help push and get the vehicle moving again. Since we were in Lion country, and all standing around in the open, I kept my eyes open for any movement in the bush, but none appeared, and within about ten minutes we have the bus cleared and moving again. I had visions of capturing a photo of a lion in full leap, just as it was about to hit me.

The weekend passed all too quickly, and soon we were back on the road and headed towards Nairobi.

Well, I bet a lot of you are by now starting to wonder about the most scary moment of my life, but have no fear, I am just coming to it now, as I promised.

Having eventually got off the dirt tracks leading out of the game reserve and back onto the main roads, every vehicle that came towards us flagged us down and told us not to go into the city. Apparently there were riots, with cars being stoned, looting, and all sorts of violence taking place.

The roads were not busy, hardly anything on them, but it wasn't long before we realized that the cars and trucks coming towards us had cracks in the windscreen and other windows. Everyone flashed their lights, and stopped and spoke to our driver, telling him of the situation in the city, which was not good. Apparently things were very bad, and there were stories of tourist buses being stopped and looted, with the passengers losing everything, even the clothes off their back.

We started to come across stones in the road, evidence that rock throwing had taken place there, and the driver decided that rather than take the main road into the city, we would head up into the hills on a back road, and try to avoid the main trouble spots.

So, we turned off the main road, and headed up and down hills, with the terrain becoming rather hilly, the road in dire need of repair, and after some miles we came into a small village, where it looked like the whole population was out lining the narrow road.

They blocked the road and started asking the driver questions, with people 3 or 4 deep surrounding our mini bus, who started banging on the windows and the sides of the vehicle.

My life flashed before me there and then, and I wondered if I would lose my precious cameras and photographs, and had a dire fear of losing my clothes as well, not to mention the fear of losing my life.

For what seemed like five minutes, but might only have been two, the crowd banged on the sides of the mini bus, and then they started rocking it, which was terrifying. It was like being in one of those movies or news reports where you are so glad that you are not there. But here I was, in the depths of Kenya, off the beaten track, being rocked about, and petrified.

I don't remember anyone screaming though, which is amazing. I think we were all in a state of shock, rather like those movie scenes where someone is viewing what is happening around them, but in a state of complete silence.

With the rocking still going on, by some miracle the driver managed to get the minibus moving, and with people trying to hang on the front and sides, and throwing sticks and stones after us, somehow we were able to get away, and drove out of the village.

I don't remember anything else of that journey, other than the utter relief that we all felt, and by the time we got into the city, maybe half an hour later, we could see the damage that had been done, broken glass, rocks everywhere in the roads, dented cars and in several cases burning ones too. However the troubles had subsided fortunately, and we arrived safely back at the safari office and I went back to my hotel.

The trouble had brewed up for some reason outside the Parliament buildings, which were only just around the corner from my hotel, the Intercontinental, but fortunately everything there was safe, and so was I, but I had a good story to tell.

Well I apologize for taking so long to recount this story, but would you have really preferred me to have summarized the whole thing into five paragraphs?

I was just reminded of several other scary incidents, one in Guatemala and one in El Salvador. I might tell of those later too. It was definitely interesting working for the oil company, as I got to travel to some amazing places, many of which I could not have visited just as a tourist.