Hakuna Matata

July 21

We loaded into a safari van early this morning with Sam and our driver, Rony, and we headed out on a six hour adventurous drive to our camp in the Masai Mara. 

We made one stop to take pictures at an overlook on the Great Rift Valley, which is a geographical feature that runs from Mozambique to the Red Sea in Israel. 

Everyone shows you their pictures on safari but no one tells you what the drive there is like. The term “road” should be used  VERY loosely. Part of it was nothing but a rocky path. Honestly, the journey was so bumpy that my watch recorded it as exercise. Imagine trying to riding a bronco for three hours. But while driving through the savanna we were treated to many instances of seeing animals in their natural habitats. We saw zebras, warthogs, hyenas, wildebeests, giraffes, Thompson’s gazelles, and antelope. We also saw many farmers and children herding sheep, cows and goats- none of which were in any hurry to get out of the dirt “road” (for lack of a better term).  We arrived at the Royal Zebra River Safari camp and was greeted by Napthali, the manager of the camp. We had an excellent lunch and a brief rest before visiting a Maasai village. 

There we were greeted by a group of Maasai men who performed a welcome dance. As we entered the village the women performed a dance and blessing that ended with a high five. We were lead around the village by “Edward” - not his real name- but a lot of them seem to use English names with the visitors. He told us about the jumping demonstration we witnessed and said the young me do it to attract girlfriends. 

After that we saw a traditional fire making demonstration using sandpaper wood and red cedar. They rub the sticks together in a machete and then use the ember to light a fire in dried elephant dung, which they gather for this explicit purpose. He took us into a hut and explained how women were in control of everything that had to do with the household, including the construction of the huts. The huts are made of cow dung mixed with clay. The roof support is a soft wood and the inner house structure is made of a hard wood. He talked to us about the practice of polygamy among Maasai men before taking us to the Maasai market where we purchased some of their traditional beaded crafts. 

                

Word of the day: hakuna matata- “no worries”