10-2 The Masai Mara

It was a brisk morning, around 60 degrees, and we went to the dining room to meet Lemaron. I almost didn't recognize him because he was all bundled up and wearing a knitted cap. He thought it was terribly cold ; it must have been about 60 degrees. After breakfast, we started out at for our all day game drive. He is a Masai and knows the Mara like the back of his hand – lucky us! He knows which territory belongs to which animals making it easier for him to track them. The first animals we spotted were, a mama elephant and baby. We watched for a little while but I could tell that Lemaron was itching to deliver the big cat experience. The Mara is similar to Samburu, in that it’s mostly very dry and brown. A good thing, because there is very little tall grass in which animals can hide. Bad for the prey, good for the tourists.

A bit further on, we saw a couple of hyenas, then found a group of lionesses that had just made a kill. We must have just missed it. We sat there and watched them tearing the buffalo apart, with the occasional snarl between sisters.

From a distance we caught sight of a jackal. He was so far away that the shot I got was a bit blurry.

We passed a secretary bird doing her high-heeled walk.

The Masai Mara is pretty vast, so there's always a lot of driving involved in find game. Lemaron doesn't use the CB radio type thing that many drivers do and doesn't rely on looking at where other vehicles are heading. He really knows the territory. After a while, he stopped and pointed out to the side. "See that?" Um, no. "It's a cheetah. And her cubs."

She walked away from the cubs and suddenly started prancing in the what must have been the direction of prey. The cubs followed for a short distance, then huddled in the grass. The cheetah kept going till she was out of sight. We never saw her break into a run so the prey must have been a very long way off.

We found another kill, this one attended by a lion.

We passed by a warthog family. As prevalent as they are all over Kenya, I didn't

get many pictures of them because they're always running, usually with their tails straight up like little antennae. They are notoriously dumb. They forget things. So when they are running away from a predator that's chasing them, they suddenly stop because they've forgotten why they were running. Bam! Warthog for dinner. Their Swahili name is pumba, which means stupid.

We passed by a couple of elephants, then drove up to a vehicle that was stopped on the road.

As we approached we saw that there was a big lion resting in the shade of the cruiser.

Nearby we spotted the female. The lion got up to follow her. Lemaron said that they were ready to mate. Can’t say we saw that, but we did watch her rolling around on her back like a little kitten, then saw them stroll away, perhaps to find a place with a little more privacy.

A bit further on we saw another cheetah, resting near a tree. She was surveying the area, but I guess nothing looked good because she just stayed there.

Like the warthogs, hyenas are ubiquitous but I heard them at night far more often than I saw them during the day. We did manage one pretty close sighting though.

A bit further on we found three lionesses resting under a tree. So beautiful!

So comfy.

We then ran into this handsome fellow and his herd.

Is this an elan? Not sure. Maybe Christine or somebody else can help identify him for me.

Lemaron found anothr jackal, then a hyena sleeping under a bush.

Then it was time to find a place for a picnic. Lemaron, of course, knew the perfect spot near the river. He parked, then told us to wait in the car while he he checked. "Check for what?" "Leopard. If there is one, the keys are in the car." Happily, no leopard, so the chairs were brought out along with the enormous boxed lunch put up by the lodge. We walked around the picnic area to look at the river and were warned not to venture down the river bank unless we were looking for an encounter with a crocodile.

We packed up the remains of lunch and a bit further down the river, passing a giraffe and a huge marabou stork.

Skirting the river, we found some hippos. The river is much shallower than the lake was, so we could see much more of their massive bellies. We even saw a hippo baby.

We had asked Lemaron if we could visit a Masai village, so we made our way across the mara, passing an elan family and some dwarf mongooses on a termite mound. I kept calling them mongeese, but was corrected.

We passed another lion kill, minus the lions. This was a scavengers' holiday: Vultures and Marabou storks and at the end, a couple of hyenas.

Finally, after traversing a series of bumpy roads, we arrived at the Masai village. Our Masai host greeted us and invited us to "step into my office" which turned out to be a spot in front of a small tree. It is here that he collects the 3,000 Kenyan shillings (roughly $21 dollars) per person for the tour of the village.

That done, the festivities began with the village singing and dancing a welcoming song for us. I then walked to the village with the women, Bruce with the men. We were given a demonstration of how the Masai start fires with straw, stone and a piece of wood with the texture of sandpaper. The we were treated to a song to bless us which segued into a traditional Masai jumping competition. The clumsy American men were invited to participate. Bruce didn't jump the highest, but he did jump higher than the guy in the NY Yankees cap, and that was all that mattered.

The houses of the village are made of sticks and a mixture of mud and cow dung. When a man marries, it's his wife's responsibility to build the house. She doesn't do it alone, however, all the women of the village help. The women have to do the building because they are the ones with the skill to weave the sticks into a strong frame. This is a talent that is passed down from mother to daughter. The houses are arranged in a circle and the cows are kept inside the circle of houses at night. They are the most important possession of the Masai. We were invited to visit one of the houses. It was quite small and very dark, as there are no windows, just a small opening for the smoke of the cooking fire to escape. One thing I found interesting is that each house has a guest room. Lemaron told us that sometimes when he is walking to his village he'll pass another village and drop in to say hello to someone he knows. Invariably they tell him to come in for a meal and stay the night in the guest room. He said that even if they have very little, they want to share what they do have with their guests; it's a very important part of the Masai culture.

Out in the back of the village is a market. It's a square shaped series of shelters with tables where all of the Masai handicrafts are sold. The Masai don't make all the components used in their crafts, but trade for them. These components are then used to make elaborate jewelry, boxes, coasters, etc. They seem to be able to find a way to take the smallest scrap or discarded item and make something useful. One example of this is their sandals, the soles of which are made from discarded tires and leather. We made our way around all the tables, our Masai holding our "maybe basket" which contained things we thought we maybe would buy. At the end of the circuit of tables, we went into another office, this a small depression in the dirt, and bargained for the items. It is considered insulting to accept the first price you're given. I am rubbish at bargaining, so Bruce did the honors and we left with a few items for which we probably overpaid. We returned to the cruiser and drove back to the lodge. When we got to our room, our room attendant came by to see when we planned to leave the next morning so that she would know when to be there to carry our bags. We got to talking with her and discovered that she, too, is Masai. We talked about the experience we had had at the village and I asked her if she had built a house. She said no, she wasn't married, but her mother had told her all about it and she was so excited that one day she would be able to do it. She said she wore the hotel uniform when she worked, but she couldn't wait to get home after work every day to change into her country clothes. She worked in the lodge for the money, but she really preferred the life of the Masai.

After a shower to remove all the dust we had accumulated, we met Lemaron in the bar. He doesn't drink alcohol, so every time we met in the lounge, he ordered a Fanta orange soda. Since we were to drive to Tanzania the next day, this would be our last dinner together. We were really sad about that because we had had so much fun with him and felt like we had really become friends. At dinner there were more birthday celebrations to the tune of Mambo Bwana. Then the lights dimmed and a group of Masai, mostly employees - including our room attendant - came out and danced and sang. They wove their way around the dining room and finally surrounded our table. Lemaron arranged that for us. We got up and danced with them and generally made a spectacle of ourselves, but it was fun! We went back to our tent and took the time to stare up at the night sky. It was so beautiful. That night we were treated to more sounds of crickets and hyenas. This place is heaven.