Safari Part 2

I woke up Saturday morning with my mosquito net halfway covering my face, which explains why I have seven or so bites only on the right side of my body.  One thing that I can always count on to remind me that I am in Africa is having to crawl underneath a mosquito net as I prepare for bed.  I untangled myself from my net and went to go get breakfast. It was probably one of the best breakfasts I’ve had since being in Africa.  I had toast, sausage, and eggs.  After breakfast we loaded up the vans and headed out to safari.  We were on the safari from 7:30am to 4:00pm.  It seems like a long time but it was incredible and flew by.  We saw so many animals including giraffes, lions, cheetahs, elephants, and a rhino which is incredibly rare.  After seeing all the animals on safari I don’t know if the zoo will cut it anymore. Haha! Throughout the morning we drove through the game reserve until we reached a problem.  It had rained and there was a u-shaped hill that we had to pass through to get to where we were trying to go.  The first van powered through it but when my van attempted the dip, we got stuck.  We rolled up the hill and then back down into the mud.  We had to evacuate our van so that we could be pulled up the hill.  Instead of getting our shoes all muddy we climbed out the top of the safari van and slid down the hood to a less muddy area.  It was quite the sight.  After being in the van all morning I had to go to the bathroom badly.  I found a nice looking bush along with some of the other girls and relieved myself in true wilderness fashion without getting eaten by any wild animals.  We all piled back in our vans and continued looking at animals until lunch.  At lunch we found a tree in one of the approved areas of the park and sat outside and had a picnic.  Our camp had provided lunch and it was very interesting.  It consisted of an unidentifiable meat sandwich, a chicken leg, chips, an apple, banana, and juice.  Despite the mystery of the lunch we were all hungry and it tasted delicious.  We loaded back into the vans and made our way to the river on the game reserve.  It separates Kenya from Tanzania so we got to see another part of Africa! In the river we saw crocodiles and hippos.  After seeing the river we made our way back to the camp.

                                                us on the safari van

                                             lunch time!

Once we got back to the camp we had the option of going to the Masaai Mara tribe’s village.  They showed us where they lived and they also talked about their lifestyle.  It was very interesting.  All of their houses make a circle and they have a fence made of sticks surrounding the outside.  Inside the houses is where they keep their goats and cows.  They danced and sang some of their traditional songs for us.  First, the men did a dance which consisted of skipping and jumping. In their tribe, the men had multiple wives and when they were married they would do this dance.  The higher one could jump indicated that the man would be able to pay less of a dowry for the woman.  Typically a woman would be 10 cows, but if the man could jump high it could be as low as 7 cows.  Next, the woman did a dance which was actually really simple.  It consisted of swinging their arms back and forth.  The men talked about what each gender did which was also really interesting.  Men were in charge of protecting the village from wild animals.  Once a boy killed a lion he would be considered a man.   The women were in charge of building the houses in the village.  The houses only last 9 years so once the 9 years are up the village moves.  The village we saw was 120 people and the only thing they ate was blood, milk of the cow, and milk of the goat.  We got to go inside the houses as well.  The women each had houses while the men would go from house to house to visit their multiple wives.  The houses had a couple rooms tops, one of them usually being for the baby cows and goats.  Chelsea and I were inside one of the houses and they asked if we had any questions.  Chelsea asked what the houses were made out of.  The man replied, “oh! You like? Touch it.” So Chelsea and I proceeded to feel the walls of the house until he says “It’s made of sticks and cow dung.” Needless to say we sanitized our hands afterwards.  We left the village feeling very informed and blessed.     

                                                    inside the village with the Maasai Men

That night we had dinner which was again the usual, and went to bed.  In the morning we woke up very early to go on Safari before the sun rose.  It was beautiful to see the purple and pinks behind the zebras and giraffes.  After exploring the park for a couple more hours it was finally time to leave.  We ate breakfast then proceeded back on the bumpy road to our hotel in Nairobi.  I promise I will update the last portion of the safari soon, there is just so much to say! I know some people don't know how to comment on my blog so my dad suggested putting my email address as well.  If you want to contact me for questions, comments, or even just to say hello my email is alexa.walker@jacks.sdstate.edu Thanks! :)