6h drive to Masai Mara. Felix is our driver & guide. We're on a typical 9-seater van, old but functional. First stop at the petrol station. Tank filled up with the car engine running!?! Welcome to Africa!
Cities and villages are as seen in documentaries and the news. Small houses build with a combination of cement bricks, wood and tin, finished with colourful paints. The gutters full of rubbish and only main roads have tarmac.
Passing through the mountains (Kikuyu land) we have a wonderful view of the Great Rift Valley (Masai land). The rift land is dry and vegetation is short and far apart which makes for a good contrast with the mountain terraces full of houses surrounded by green patches. Here, instead of gardens, houses have vegetable plantations. Crops are more useful than flowers! Felix tells us the Kikuyu people are farmers.
On the mountains we pass roads with domesticated animals grazing on the side land turning it into a perfectly manicured lawn. Plenty of sheep and donkeys but also cows and goats. Flimsy road side stalls selling vegetables and fruits, cow and sheep's skin and also birds (chicken, ducks, turkeys). You couldn't get fresher meat!
Locals dressed with their finest Sunday outfits walking on the side of the road, possibly going to the church. Plenty of people walking on not very comfortable shoes in very dusty roads crisscrossed by muddy holes. Some random groups of people sitting on the side of the road on what looks like informal bus stops (no signals). Buses are also 9-seater vans.
The Great Rift Valley is a geographic fissure (crack) in the Earth's crust extending 6000km from Lebanon in the north to Mozambique in the south. It 'passes' through Kenya.
Down the mountains and through the rift valley we see the Masai people. Driving their cattle from pasture to pasture with that typical look of arms held on a stick behind their head. Majority are children, few wear the traditional red cloth. Masai are cattle people, they do not farm the land.
Locals dressed with their finest Sunday outfits walking on the side of the road, possibly going to the church. Plenty of people walking on not very comfortable shoes in very dusty roads crisscrossed by muddy holes. Some random groups of people sitting on the side of the road on what looks like informal bus stops (no signals). Buses are also 9-seater vans.
The Great Rift Valley is a geographic fissure (crack) in the Earth's crust extending 6000km from Lebanon in the north to Mozambique in the south. It 'passes' through Kenya.
Down the mountains and through the rift valley we see the Masai people. Driving their cattle from pasture to pasture with that typical look of arms held on a stick behind their head. Majority are children, few wear the traditional red cloth. Masai are cattle people, they do not farm the land.
However, we see many golden fields of wheat and corn. Felix explains that the Masai rent the land to farmers.
Stop at Narok for some groceries, aka fruit and biscuits, and for lunch, a buffet of rice, potatoes, cooked vegetables, beef stew and watermelon. We had to wait a bit for the meat. It did come in the end and it was tasty!
As we reach the outskirts of the Masai Mara, Felix tells us the usual road is impassible due to heavy rain yesterday and we need to take an alternative road, a private road. What this means is that the Masai that own the land put barriers at different stages of the road and demand a toll to let us pass. Masai people have an eye for business! I think there were around 6 barriers and it took us another 1h30 to get to our camp. Felix wasn't happy with the money loss...
As we get closer and closer to the heart of the Masai Mara, Masai villages are now more what I expected. A couple of mud huts and an animal enclosure made of sticks and barbed wire. Animals need to be kept safe overnight, Felix tells us, as lions and hyenas try to get them. The Masai now wear very colourful garments, strong reds, oranges, yellows. The women full of beaded jewellery.
Stop at Narok for some groceries, aka fruit and biscuits, and for lunch, a buffet of rice, potatoes, cooked vegetables, beef stew and watermelon. We had to wait a bit for the meat. It did come in the end and it was tasty!
As we reach the outskirts of the Masai Mara, Felix tells us the usual road is impassible due to heavy rain yesterday and we need to take an alternative road, a private road. What this means is that the Masai that own the land put barriers at different stages of the road and demand a toll to let us pass. Masai people have an eye for business! I think there were around 6 barriers and it took us another 1h30 to get to our camp. Felix wasn't happy with the money loss...
As we get closer and closer to the heart of the Masai Mara, Masai villages are now more what I expected. A couple of mud huts and an animal enclosure made of sticks and barbed wire. Animals need to be kept safe overnight, Felix tells us, as lions and hyenas try to get them. The Masai now wear very colourful garments, strong reds, oranges, yellows. The women full of beaded jewellery.
This road isn't for the faint of heart! Huge craters, holes with washed away trees, mud and more mud. I have a new appreciation for these vans, no 4x4 but definitely able to cope with a lot of crap!
A tourism van in front of us got stuck in the mud. Felix tried to help unsuccessfully. With 4 more vans stuck behind us, one of them finally managed to pull the van out of the mud hole with a chain. Watching all the show, as if an afternoon matinee it was, the local Masai, offering no help.
Arrival at the camp was later then expected so we only got 20min rest. Out we went for a sunset game drive. We had already seen wildebeest, zebras, gazelles and some very photogenic giraffes.
It started raining. Proper rain. Within 10min the previous dry land became dotted with puddles and the sides of the road became rivers. Another 15min and the whole road was a river. We saw some more gazelles and also impalas and wildebeests. Someone spotted a lioness, she was as appalled with the rain as we were, trying to seat under a bush for some shelter. Behind the bush we could see 1/3 of a lion's head.
The rain was relentless. We are supposed to be in the middle of the dry season!
We headed back to the camp for shower with water heated up by a makeshift boiler/lightening rod. Delightfully warm it was!
We headed back to the camp for shower with water heated up by a makeshift boiler/lightening rod. Delightfully warm it was!
Dinner was more of the same or lentils. I had the lentils. No wifi and tired from the long drive, to bed we went.
Sim senhora!!!! Parece que a coisa vai tomando forma africana. A chuva é uma benção e logo seca , só os sapatos demoram mais. Belo sistema de aquecimento, se funciona , é BOM !!!! Vimos o Jorge , lá longe, perto da carrinha.As comidas vão ser muito, muito iguais, mas é melhor de que muitos por aí têm.Os Masai já devem estar muito poluidos, sinais dos tempos. Beijões nossos MaPa
ReplyDeleteEH LÀ !!!!!!! Só agora demos pela falha no teu aniversário ! A desculpa é que estavamos nos CAMINITOS , muito distraídos , enfim , desculpas . Já fora do tempo - MUITOS PARABÉNS DIANA !!!!!!!!!!
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