Maasai Mara

The end of our trip was just as fantastic as the the rest. Thursday we headed to the Maasai Mara National Reserve. While there, we had a tour of a Maasai village. Each person going on the tour paid 10 US dollars - money that went to pay for a school the Maasai were developing.

During the tour we saw the men and women each do their own dance. They would walk in unison, jump, and make quite scary noises with their mouths. It was definitely incredible. Afterwards, the men showed us how they made fire out of two pieces of wood. I was able to try this out with them which was pretty cool. I contemplated just buying them a few bic lighters to save them a lot of hassle in the future...

After the fire making, Tommy and I were taken by 3 Maasai men into one of the huts. Their huts are completely made out of cow poop. Inside the hut it was completely dark. The huts were filled with smoke which quickly began burning our eyes. As we walked in we entered a room which had a fire being used to cook milk mixed with blood from the cows, something the Maasai drink each day. A few children, as well as a female Maasai sat around the fire. As we sat around the fire the Maasai encouraged us to take pictures with them and the children. They then showed us necklaces that had lions teeth on them. We were told that before a male Maasai is able to get married, it must kill a lion. The teeth from the lion are then worn around the neck of the man. The Maasai wanted to sell us a couple of necklaces with the lion's teeth, an offer I could not refuse. I know that many people may think that the killing of lions and the wearing of their teeth is cruel, but the Maasai live with and respect the animals of their region more than you could imagine. They only kill when necessary. I did not feel bad at all buying these lion's teeth.

After leaving the hut, a couple Maasai showed interest in the binoculars that Tommy and I had bought at Bass pro shops. They offered to trade us their Maasai clubs for the binoculars. This was another offer I could not refuse. Not only did I have very little use for these binoculars anymore, but I think it is the coolest thing ever to know that there is a Maasai out there using binoculars from Bass Pro Shops that I traded to him.

That night after leaving the Maasai village we went on a game drive. Entering the park we saw zebra, antelope, gazelle, etc. However, after not too long our van and driver noticed a bunch of other vans grouped together not too far away, a sign that something was going on. We drove up to be told that a leopard was in the bushes but could not be spotted anymore. Our driver, Patrick, drove around to get a better spot. He pulled right into the bushes and immediately we saw the leopard walking about 15 yards from our van. It was incredible. It moved so stealthy and showed immense power. It was amazing.

That night we went back to our camp, had dinner, and went to bed in our tent. The tent had 4 beds. Tommy and I had been paired up with two girls from the US that were also volunteering and staying at the hostel. We told them fake stories of relatives and friends that had been attacked by leopards while camping at similar camps around the area. We told them about Tanzanian tribes that came to the Mara sometimes to attack tourists. Tommy also told them about some spider from Kenya that embedded itself into people's skin. They bought everything and freaked out. Pretty hilarious.

The next day we went on a game drive through the park from 8-5. We saw every animal imaginable as well as had our first lion encounter. I lion had recently hunted a wildebeest. The lion stood eating from the wildebeest carcass while 20 or so vultures waited to get the leftovers. As soon as the lion left, the vultures made the move, but the lion came back to scare them away (Greedy lion...). Finally, the lion left and the phrase about eating like a vulture made complete sense. A pile of vultures converged on the carcass.

That same day we also saw two cheetahs sitting on a hill, elephants, and giraffes. Before lunch we drove by a heard of hundreds, possibly thousands of wildebeest, part of the annual wildebeest migration. We ate lunch by the river they must cross, dodging crocs in the process. We saw hippos and gigantic crocs in the river after we ate.

After lunch we drove around some more and then headed back for dinner. After meeting a kid from California, multiple heated political discussions, including the legalization of marijuana, we went to bed. We woke up at 6 to go on our final game drive. This game drive was only a couple hours long but we were able to see one of the coolest things during this time, a pride of lions. 15 or so vans parked on the grass as 4 female lions and 2 males walked right by us. At one point Tommy and I could have practically have bent down and pet one of the lions. Surprisingly, they do not even bother looking at the people around them, they just continued on with their business.

After that game drive we headed back for Maziwa. It was already Saturday. We went to visit our host family one last time and then were picked up by Ian and Ethel to be brought back to the hostel. It was really sad to leave Maziwa. We knew that we would probably never be back there, or at least for a very long time.

We stopped at a market on the way home and bought the last avocados we would eat in Kenya. We brought them home, cut them open and put them on our dinner, which was my favorite meal, chapati.

Before we knew it, it was Sunday afternoon and we were being brought to the airport. We said goodbye and were dropped off.

The 5 hours flight from Kenya to Dubai was not bad. I was able to watch a movie, 12 Rounds, which sucked but passed the time. We arrived in Dubai at 2:30 in the morning, spent about an hour figuring out what we were going to do, and then finally got a hotel at 4 in the morning.

Oh ya, by the way, it was 41 degrees Celsius in Dubai. When we left the airport I thought I walked into a sauna. It was ridiculous, and it was 4am!

The next day after sleeping from 5am until 2pm we were able to check out Dubai. We walked through the incredible heat to a mall where I ate at a sweet fast food place. Afterwards, we paid a boat driver 20 dollars each to take us on an hour long boat tour along the river/bay. In the distance was the tallest building in the world, among one of the coolest skylines I've ever seen.

Dubai is a great city. It is very rich and very clean. Everyone is very kind and as a customer you are treated ridiculously nice. Tommy and I discussed that unfortunately it is a place that people are either unaware of or are afraid to visit because it is nearly completely Muslim. This is not something that should be of concern as westerners received very hospitably.

After the boat ride we headed to the airport and got on our flight to Atlanta. After 15 hours, Tuesday morning Tommy and I arrived back in the United States. I can easily say that I have never been so happy to be an American. The trip was great, I loved every second of it (even when I was sick and puking), but we really do live in the best country in the world with a lot of things we definitely take for granted.

One blog left.

-Kevin