What Happened to Meru Mulika Lodge?

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Mary

Part two of Meru National Park’s demise, then revival as an exquisite tourist destination.

The author at Meru Mulika 1982

I’ll never forget Meru Mulika Lodge – not for the usual reasons like five-star accommodations or gourmet meals or eco-friendly, but for the multitude of mishaps created by my clients. 

Although some of the incidents were pretty hilarious, the lodge soon became synonymous with trouble.

At the time, Meru Mulika was the only full service lodge in the park and considered a grade A, luxury property per Kenya standards.  Leopard Rock Lodge existed only as self-catering accommodations as well as a few camp sites.

The main building was rustic, partially open-air and covered with makuti thatch. Most everyone hung out in the lounge since it was cool and offered overstuffed lounge chairs – perfect for collapsing in with a cold beer after game drives.  

Rondavel huts also topped with makuti, branched out from the main lodge and housed two double bedded rooms. Accommodations were basic but clean.   

Meru Mulika Lodge 1982

During my first visit I learned how fragile generators can be, and how vital a good working relationship with management is, so when something goes awry as a result of one’s client, the damage is easier to repair.

After a hot, dusty game drive my clients disappeared to get ready for dinner, and  I ended up in the lounge chatting with the manager over a couple of ice cold beers.  About halfway into the beer,  I commented to the manager that the normal hum of the generator didn’t seem as loud.  He just shook his head.  About that time the generator emitted a loud whine, lights flickered and went out, then silence.   

The manager looked terrified, said something in Swahili and ran off. As I walked back to my room, I dreaded all the complaints that no doubt I would hear at dinner. 

I rounded a corner and literally ran into one of my clients. She stood there with stress etched across her face, towel wrapped around her head, wearing a wet t-shirt.

We gaped at each other and she started apologizing profusely.  I tried to ask very calmly, “are you talking about the generator by any chance?”

“Yes,” she said and practically burst into tears.  She had been blow drying her hair and, “something happened.”  The manager forgave her, and staff managed to repair the generator just in time for dinner.

Life at the lodge didn’t get any easier.  With each successive visit, along with my client disasters, the place fell apart.

Brown water spewed from faucets,  toilets wouldn’t flush,  showers dripped, hot water didn’t exist, food tasted old and they turned off the generator earlier at night.  Game drives became a futile search for any kind of wildlife, and just prior to our last visit a brush fire almost took out the lodge.  Consequently my group was greeted by the smell of acrid smoke, which wrapped around us like a shroud during our entire stay.

After that, Meru Mulika continued its steady decline along with wildlife numbers.  Now reportedly in the process of renovation, the lodge will hopefully be upscale and eco-friendly to coexist with two exquisite lodges in the area – Elsa’s Kopje and Leopard Rock. 

Now that Meru National Park is resurrected and wildlife is back, it’s time to pack my bags!

Next week – how the park was revived and its future.

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Meru National Park’s Demise, then Revival as an Exquisite Tourist Destination

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Mary

The generators had just turned off.  Rhythmic sounds of the African night tried to lull me to sleep. I thought how blessed I was. Not everyone gets to travel to Kenya’s Meru National Park where George and Joy Adamson once lived and raised Elsa the lioness of “Born Free” fame. The movie had been my favorite when I was a kid – it’s when  my fascination with Africa began.

Grevys Zebra

It had been an eventful day.  Our drive took us through Meru’s breathtaking diversity of grasslands, verdant swamps, areas of thick scrub and Acacia trees.  We drove near the Tana river and through riverine forests with periodic doum palms.

We visited the cairn that signified the grave of Pippah, Joy Adamson’s cheetah.  We saw reticulated giraffe, grevys  zebra, the usual antelope, a few elephants, a multitude of birdlife and rhinos.  But we did more than just see the rhinos, we sat on them!

Near the end of our game drive, our guides took the group to a small enclosure where several  AK-47 armed rangers stood guarding three white rhinos.  The rangers told us that if the rhinos didn’t have 24/7 guards they would be poached.  That was 1983, by the mid-1990s the poaching war had obliterated Meru’s rhino and massacred  90 percent of its elephant population.

The rangers said the rhinos were docile and that we could pet them.  I stared and could only think how hot it was, and that these magnificent beasts looked lethargic perhaps from the heat. 

After leading us into the enclosure, the rangers motioned to us with their AK-47’s that we should sit on the back of one of the rhinos that had been laying down.  Some of us obliged while others hung back batting at flies.

The rhino’s back was hard and unforgiving.  He didn’t even flinch.  I patted him, and wondered sadly if he felt used and if he would still be alive in another month.  

Now in the darkness, under cool sheets, I thought, what a wonderful place this must have been during the 1960s when wildlife flourished.  Yet today when I walked where the Adamsons no doubt had walked, I felt this park was still very special.  I smiled to myself, and as I started to drift off to sleep, a lion roared. 

In retrospect, this has to be one of the weirdest experiences I have ever had in Kenya.

Next week  Meru National Park’s journey continues…

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Marsabit National Park in Northern Kenya will be on the mend thanks to the French

Posted on May 19, 2011 by Mary

Now that the French Development Agency has resurrected Kenya’s Meru National Park they are taking on another ambitious project – Marsabit National Park.

Marsabit's King Ahmed on display at the National Museum

The mid-1960s book and subsequent movie “Born Free”  about Elsa the lioness rescued by George and Joy Adamson, gave Meru National Park fame and tourism fortune, then in the early 1980s, when I first started traveling to Kenya, I personally witnessed the decay of magnificent Meru. Poachers and robbers plagued the park creating massive decline in wildlife and tourism until the French financed a variety of projects to revive the park. My next blog will be all about what happened in Meru.

Marsabit’s issues are endangered wildlife, and lush forests at risk from burning and timber usage. Per the Kenya Wildlife Service, studies are being conducted to determine funding needs. I suspect the one lodge in the area will be renovated even though the park has never been a huge tourist destination.

I’ve never  had the opportunity to visit Marsabit during my off time, because I was told never to travel north alone. The park has always been portrayed as unsafe and out of reach since security in the area is tenuous and roads treacherous. It’s also in the Northern Frontier, close to the Ethiopian border where tribes are not exactly friendly. Those are pretty good reasons why the park is not on the usual safari itinerary, but considering it’s the epitome of elephant habitat and a verdant mountain paradise with historical significance, it’s sad indeed.

If the mountain could share secrets, tales would be told of the time during the 1920s when Martin and Osa Johnson, American filmmakers and adventurers, lived at the edge of Lake Paradise filming their first elephant documentary “Wanderings of an Elephant”  for the silver screen. The film was renamed “Trailing African Wild Animals” and eventually released. Their books and some movies can be found at the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum.   

Another famous resident was Ahmed, elephant king of Marsabit. He was so laden with mammoth tusks that President Jomo Kenyatta declared him a national treasure, officially protecting him from poachers with a 24/7 security detail until his death in 1974 from natural causes. 

With such a fascinating past and promising future, Marsabit is high on my list of intriguing places to visit.  I can’t wait!

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London Heathrow’s Yotel is Your Answer for Lengthy Layovers

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Mary

What the heck is a Yotel? I found out when the price of my cheap ticket to Kenya  came with a ten hour layover in London.

Yotel's premium cabin

I had my layover planned – I would shove my carryon luggage in secure storage, catch a bus to Hampton’s Court Palace, take in the sights, then make it back to the airport in time for my connecting flight.

But I didn’t count on miserable weather and feeling ill, so I located the Yotel in Terminal 4 and was lucky enough to book a cabin at the last minute.

Yep!  They call the rooms cabins.

I chose a standard cabin, and as I walked down the hall toward my room the design of the place made me think I was on a cruise ship or on a train’s sleeping car, and half expected to feel the hall sway or hear the clatter of train tracks.

When I opened the cabin door, bluish-purple mood lighting illuminated the space that was about the size of a very large walk-in closet.  I had concerns the space was too small, but it was light and large enough to keep me from a claustrophobic bolt.

A single, built-in bunk was on one wall opposite the bathroom and a pullout table was anchored to the far wall. If colorful mood lighting is not your thing, a dimmer switch controls the intensity, which can also be switched over to normal lighting.

Besides the standard cabin, three other types are offered:  a premium – the largest with a double bed, a twin that holds two large single bunks and a wheelchair accessible room.  All cabins are furnished with flat screen TV’s, entertainment systems, free Wi-Fi and en suite baths with rain showers.

Amenities such as converters are provided free of charge from the front desk, plus light meals and snacks are available through 24-hour room service.

Yotel is a great layover option for the convenience and relaxation. Prices are reasonable for London and well worth it to assuage the effect of jet lag. They accept reservations through their web site and require a four hour minimum stay.

In June, Yotel is coming to New York City, and with it all sorts of innovative surprises such as a Yobot that stashes your luggage. The eclectic property is located at Times Square West. They will have 669 cabins with rates starting at $149.

Here’s a great video of the New York property – makes me want to pack my bags!

You Tube video

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A Kenya Safari’s Five Unexpected Treasures

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Mary

Five treasures to ponder that can enhance any safari experience, depending on your itinerary.

1. The perfect rest stop.  In this case the ideal choo – Swahili for toilet. Horrific tales are told of holes in the ground,  commodes sitting like islands surrounded by suspicious stinky gunk,  toilets in various stages of decomposition, and odors so toxic, a gasmask would be needed.  So when I visited two perfect potties during  one safari I was giddy.  Both facilities located behind curio shops near Mt. Kenya, were spotless, smelled fresh and offered plenty of soap and towels.     

2.  I love Serena  Mountain Lodge that’s perched on the slopes of Mt. Kenya.  Built for nocturnal game viewing, it resembles a gigantic tree house and offers a nice diversion from the usual plains game.  Since the nights are cold and the lodge sans insulation, turndown service tucks a red flannel hot water bottle  under the sheets.  A comforting way to drift off.

3.  Nakumatt Junction Shopping Centre at the intersection of Ngong and Dagoretti Roads in Karen, and Nakumatt Crossroads on Langata Road make shopping easy.  I can exchange dollars, drop off film for processing, browse the boutiques, stock up on Imodium, replenish bottled water and snacks, then head out on safari. Fantastic!

4.  In Maasai Mara National Reserve one expects to view an assortment of wildlife accompanied by carnivores, not a cell phone tower.  Into our third day without cell phone usage, excitement was palpable when we spotted the mega tower.  By the time we were within close proximity, all of the occupants of my van, including moi, had their phones out, busily checking messages and texting.  

Maasai Mara Cell Phone Tower

5. The Yotel. This little hideaway isn’t in Africa, but it’s on the way and contributes to your sanity, so that once you arrive in Nairobi you might be able to keep your eyes open all day. Tucked inside terminal four at London’s Heathrow Airport, the Yotel is a clean, reasonably priced place to regroup and snooze between connecting flights.  Next week’s blog will have all the latest Yotel details.

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