Safari - 8/23

August 23rd

SAFARI
So this is my last big horra! I have decided to squeeze in one more vacation. I have always wanted to safari. I went to safari in Kenya (Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru). The tour company gave us a good price, so why not. The car was your typical chityy chitty car. At times the car couldn’t go faster than 30miles per hour on a nicely paved highway. Patience.

We drove to Masai Mara which is in the far west side of Kenya. It took about 6 hours which was okay time. We spent 2.5 days there. The valley’s and hills are really beautiful. I don’t think I could quite capture the vastness on the camera. It went on for miles and miles. The interesting thing was not just that there were animals, but that they were roaming freely and we could get so close to them. It was clear that we were the visitors and everything was according to their rules. There were hundreds of thousands of wilder breast (like antelope / buffalo). It’s like the old western movies of the wild horses. And we get to experience them as they move from one plain to the other, crossing rivers, sometimes getting eaten on the way. And there was no trash! It was sooo free from plastic bags, tin cans etc. I loved it.

We also got to visit a Masai village. I don’t really enjoy “people watching” in their homes. But I did want to meet the locals and experience their life. They did a dance for us and my friend Marty, got to do the “Masai jump”. It was quite funny watching an american from Mississippi in a group of Masai men. He was a good sport. One thing to know, Masai are good business people. They take you for a tour inside and when you come out, the trinkets are out there waiting for you. It’s hard not to buy anything. They also showed us how the make fire from rubbing a soft wood on a hard wood (video below). Very cool.

One of the Masai men took us for a hike to the mountains on the hill. It’s a bit dangerous to walk around by oneself because of all the wild animals, but I felt safe with the Masai. They really know how to live in the wild. He had an actual spear, as u can tell I was very impressed by that. We went to Lake Nakuru and were able to see the pink flamingos. It was also pretty, but a lot smaller. It took us about 8 hours to get to Lake Nakuru from Masai Mara. Apparently is should take 4 hours. It was quite difficult to sit in the car that slow. But patience is a virtue, so I practiced.

MOMBASA

We then went to Mombasa which is on the far eastern part of Kenya. I actually found a holistic yoga retreat center by chance. Quite funny. So I had yoga almost every morning. The teacher was actually pretty good. And they told me that they have been getting most of their clients from Sudan. I’m not surprised; all the expats in Sudan are exhausted. We stayed right off the ocean. One of our friends didn’t know how to swim, all took turns trying to teach.. all very earnest… but vastly different styles and instructions. But she pulled through and was able to swim to the deep end! The little things. We even had some monkey visitors that ransacked the honey and food stash. They were quite bold, not afraid of us at all. But we finally shooed them away. I lost my phone, forgot my wallet in Nairobi, lost my earring which I have been wearing for 10 years. I wondered if I was being prepared for something hugamungus. I decided to just enjoy my remaining days. Easy to do in mombasa.