We had awake up call and a tray of tea at 6.00am. We dressed and arrived for the game drive half an hour later however there was no sign of a driver. We met member of staff arrived and asked us to bear with him for five minutes. As I was interested I asked her if they lived with their families in the staff Quarters? “No” she replied it would not be viable. The girls work for a month and are then bussed up country for a one week holiday, the men work two months straight and have two weeks leave. As we were chatting we mentioned that we were interested in the Wildebeest annual migration, she said it was an all day safari starting at 8.00am. Thus it was arranged, a picnic lunch organised and we went to have a breakfast of bacon and eggs.
We set off with Richard, our driver/guide and found the cheetah from yesterday with the month old cubs and we passed 12 giraffe feeding from the tops of trees. We were in the Masai Mara and saw a few villages and herds of cattle, goats and sheep, minding them were the men sitting under trees wearing their traditional blankets worn across one shoulder. Richard told us the women walk miles everyday to collect the water. We drove for approximately three hours passing zebra, topi, Thompsons gazelle and the odd wildebeest. We then crossed into the Mara Game Reserve and found buffalo. They have huge broad horns, they look mean and are very dangerous. Several times we sighted elephant in small family groups, jackals, a hyena with two cubs, a cheetah with cubs, eight lion cubs, four months old, quite grown up, lying in long grass near fallen tree trunks. Then we turned towards the Mara River near Governors Camp, crossing the track were three baboons, one male and two females. The spread out in front of us were thousands of wildebeest ready to cross the river.
In the river were several bloated bodies of casualties that hadn’t made the crossing and resting, replete, on the banks were a large number of crocodiles and standing on the river bank were a large number of vultures waiting, like undertakers at a disaster site, to clean up the bodies. We sat in the vehicle for a very long time waiting for one animal brave enough to lead off and cross the river. It seems no one had the appetite to cross that day then one by one they all dispersed into groups and began to graze. Richard then took us to a pleasant spot overlooking the river and whilst we were eating our picnic we watched the hippos in the middle of the river, a crocodile with its mouth wide open releasing heat from its body another croc eating the carcass of a wildebeest. Another crocodile selected his meal, flung it effortlessly from side to side because crocodiles do not have tongues hence this behaviour.
After lunch we headed back to the lodge and encountered a male lion sleeping under a Proton Tree to keep the flies off him. In Zanzibar we had been told the leaves of the tree are used in insect repellents. We visited a Masai Village we had passed earlier on the outward journey. All the houses are built around a central compound and surrounding the village is a thorn fence forming a corral. At night the cattle and goats are brought into the compound with all exits closed to protect the animals from wild animals, specifically lions. There were a few dogs which we were told were their friends because they alert the inhabitants of danger.
We were greeted by a young Masai Warrior named Kennedy. His father had had him educated but, Kennedy wanted to live the village life of his forebears, he was the village teacher. We were asked for 800Ksh entry. The women were standing in a line across the compound singing us welcome. Around the edge on the ground were crafts spread out for sale. Having paid an entry fee all the money we had left could only by a bead bracelet. Embarrassing!! Kennedy then explained the diet of the Masai which consists of meat and blood mixed with sour milk, they do not eat vegetables because we don’t know how to grow vegetables and then he went on to say that the women walk 10-15 kms a day to collect water and wood, the women build the houses, made from wood and mud, because the men don’t know how to. Then Kennedy showed us his house, it was very small, as you walk in through the door on the right is a pen to keep the calves in. To the left a small area for a fire and to the right and left of there are two sleeping places on a raised piece of the ground covered with cow hide, on one side the wife and the girls and on the other the husband and the boys. There were ventilation holes in the sleeping quarters and the area where the fire was.
The men take the animals out to graze every day and don’t seem to do much else. As the Masai are polygamous, the men can take seven wives.
We expressed an interest in seeing Rhino to Richard so after our visit to the Masai Village we were taken to a Park Ranger’s house to see three white rhinos. The black rhinoceros had died out in the Mara and a pair of white rhinos was imported from South Africa. The pair had two calves sadly however the original female died after ingesting a plastic bag!!!! The animals were not at all aggressive and just walked around munching grass.
Finally, back at the lodge we met the girl we had spoken to this morning having tea in the lounge with friends. She asked us about our day and after giving her a brief résumé we went off to have a coffee in the tent, a shower to remove the dust and dress for dinner. Back at the lodge there was a lecture being given by the Resident Naturalist on the animals in the Mara. After the lecture I asked him how the Masai managed to conceive children because of their sleeping arrangements. “They do” he replied because when they want to be alone the warrior sticks his spear in the ground outside the door. We then had dinner and went to bed early.