Saturday - Full Safari Day

Saturday was our full day out in the park so we were up for breakfast at 7am and in the vans by 7:30. We headed out to the park and that’s when the fun began.

Alexa and I are ready to go...safari hats and all!

We drove around searching for the animals. The vans had radios in them so if someone would find one of the animals they could let some of the others know where to go look for it. It was weird since it wasn’t like a zoo. There is no map that tells you where to find the lions. They are really just in their natural habitat so we have to drive around the little trails looking for them. Our driver told us that there were many to see, but gave us two lists to start checking off on. There were the “Ugly Five”: Warthog, Wildebeest, Hyena, Vulture, and the Crane. There were also the “Big Five”: Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhino, and the Water Buffalo. When the trip was done the only one we hadn’t seen was the leopard, which was common apparently. We found all five of the ugly group and four of the big five plus many more. Check out some of the animals we saw!

 

            About half way through the day we were driving along looking for some more animals, when we came to a valley in the road that had been covered with water. We had three vans total and the first van took a run at it and made it through the water and up the steep hill that followed. We were next in line and our driver started in and we made it through the water and started up the hill…then we slid back down…right back into the mud and water. Then we were stuck. Our driver took a look at in and then instructed us to get out of the van. Into the deep water and mud?? Umm…no! So we took an alternate route! We all made it out of the van dry and mud free. Another van came back and pulled our van out of the valley and we were back on our way again. It made for a good laugh!

            We found a few more animals before stopping for lunch. We went out to a remote area of the park near the river and sat down for a picnic under a tree. The campground had packed us sack lunches that were surprisingly pretty good.

Picnic lunch at the park

 After lunch we had one more area of the part to discover. The river was at the very edge of the park and makes the border between Kenya and Tanzania. The hippos and crocodiles lived down there and we got to see a few of each.

            We made our way out of the park with the intent to be back to the campground by 4pm to go a small village that wasn’t too far away. Two men from the Masaai Mara Tribe came to pick us up at our campground and walked us back to their village. When we arrived they explained to us that we would here the men’s welcome song, the woman’s welcome song, tour their homes, and see where they kept their livestock. A handmade fence made of sticks surrounds their entire village, but they intertwine the sticks to make the fence so thick you can hardly see through it. It serves to protect the people and the livestock from the dangerous animals that live around them. The village consists of about 120 people that all have the same grandfather. We entered the fence and all of their houses were arranged in a circle with two more fenced in areas in the center of all of the houses. The men explained that one of the corrals was for the adult cows while the other was for the adult goats. The baby goats and cows stayed in the house because they were too vulnerable to be left out for the lions. First the men showed us their welcome dance and had our boys learn it and join them. Then they explained that this dance is also used when the men go out to kill a lion. As part of their becoming a man, they must go out and hunt a lion, and the one to kill the lion brings back his skin and wears a hat made of the lion’s fur. They also wear the lion claws around their neck for luck. The men of the village also showed us their “Jumping Competition.” The men hold a jumping competition to determine how much they will pay for their wives. A wife cost ten cows. If the man wins the jumping competition he only has to pay seven cows for his wife and if he kills the lion then he only has to pay five cows for his wife. Their diet consists of only goat and beef meat, chicken eggs, goat milk, and cow milk mixed with the cows blood (why? I’m still not really sure).

He is wearing the hat made out of the skin of the lion

Showing us how to make fire

            When the men finished their dancing and jumping, the women came out to teach us their welcome dance. It was quite simple (just standing and swinging your arms back and forth) and we all caught on pretty quick. We didn’t get to participate in any jumping competition, but we were informed that the women of the village cook, clean, care for the children, and build the houses. After the guys with us found out that the women do most of the work while the men follow the cows around grazing all day and kill lions for fun, they all wanted to know how to join the tribe.

When we went in for a tour of the home, I asked what they made the walls of and the man said, “you touch!” So I felt the walls as he proceeds to inform me they are made of “dung.”….Splendid….hand sanitizer please! Their houses are made of a stick frame then filled with cow dung. The roof is grass and dung so it doesn’t leak. It takes a woman about four months to finish a house and it lasts for nine years. After nine years they have to rebuild everything because the termites eat the sticks out of their homes. In side there are four main rooms to the house. The first room as you walk through the front door is the room for the baby cows and goats to stay in at night. The main part of the house has a small living area (four people could stand in a small circle around the fire pit and that’s it), a bedroom for the parents, and a bedroom for the children. There were no windows, just small holes to let the smoke escape. It was so dark that the man let us just sit in there a few minutes to let our eyes adjust. When we were finished touring the house, we headed to a little area where they had some of the handmade things that they sell. It was fun to see all the beading work that the women of the village make.

Masaai Village Houses

 As we left the village, the Masaai people thanked us for coming to visit them, and we headed back to the campground before the sunset. We had dinner and once again turned in for a pretty early night when the lights went out at ten. They had a very early morning in store for us.