Masai Mara, Kenya
The punishment for poaching an animal on a reserve in Kenya is death - on the spot. We learned this and so much more on our last day of safari in Masai Mara.
We were up before the sun for an early morning game drive. We watched a beautiful sunrise and shortly after stumbled upon three female lions and brand new baby cub.
The lionesses were taking turns eating a wildebeest they had killed while the cub played and nursed from his mom. We were able to get some incredible photos thanks to Leonard getting us a great spot and the early morning lighting.
We were back to camp in time for breakfast and around 10:30 we set out to visit one of the surrounding Masai villages. I had talked with Leonard on our way in from Nairobi about being interested in seeing a village and he said he could arrange something. As it turns out, most of the Masai villages near the Masai Mara Reserve open their doors to visitors and offer a guided program of sorts.
The going rate is $30 a person and the funds go to support the village. Leonard said we just drive around to different villages until we seen some Masai men standing outside and that tells us they are open for visitors.
It didn’t take long at all for us to find a village and the Masai men were very welcoming! They immediately dressed us in their traditional brightly colored shaw (we learned today that their clothes are so brightly colored in red and orange and pinks so that they stand out to lions who will see them and go away). They insisted we take photos with the warriors and then the warriors (all men over age 15-16 become warriors) preformed a dance. Typically they would do this dance before hunting a lion. They chanted and took turns jumping high in the air.
Masai men take pride in their ability to jump high and our Masai guide even told us that they have jumping contests in which the highest jumper is exempt from paying a dowry. Dowry for marriage is approximately 10 cows. Most men have multiple wives. Our guide said his father has 4 wives, but he only had one right now but plans to get another one soon.
The Masai men have to kill lions and hyenas when they enter the camp trying to steal cattle - which happens more often than one would think. If you kill the lion you keep it’s neck as a hat.
Our guide brought out his lions neck hat for us to see. I had been very nervous at camp knowing there was no fence and only a couple Masai guys walking around with sticks and machetes. But after learning how frequently these guys have to kill lions, I think I’ll sleep a little better tonight.
The village we visited was very small and had about 200 people living there. This village is actually just one big family through the patrilineal line. Masai boys grow up and stay in their village. The girls are married to men in other villages (sometimes they are promised for a marriage while they are still babies in anticipation of when they are old enough to move away and marry).
The houses in the village are made of mud and cow dung. The cow dung helps keep the mosquitos away. Our guide let me and josh go inside his house and take a look. It was so small and dark. He explained they only have very small windows to keep the mosquitos from coming in. He lives there with his wife and their three children.
After touring the village, our guide asked if we would like to see the local school. Of course we did, so we walked about half a mile to the Oloolaimutia Primary school.
Our guide’s brother, Sam, was one of the teachers there and he welcomed us into his 1st grade classroom. The school has around 1000 students with class sizes of 90+. Sam said most children walk about 4 miles to school. The school date runs from 7:30 to 5:00 pm the students in first grade learn math, reading, social studies, English, Swahili and science.
This school is the only school in the area that offers free lunch to all its students which is why it so popular with so many students. Usually, children would have to walk home for lunch and then walk back to school. This school keep kids from having the make the trip to and from school twice and allows them to spend more time in the classroom by serving beans and ugali (a filling cornmeal mush) daily with a kitchen staff of 5 people.
Sam encouraged us to interact with his students, which I quite enjoyed. They were curious about my name and how old I was. They asked how many babies I had and were shocked (one little girl gasped) when I said zero. They thought I was very old to have no children!
We also got to visit the 2nd grade classroom next door, which also had 90+ students and a young teacher named Peter.
I quite enjoyed the visit to the village and the school even though I left feeling overwhelmed and guilty for ever complaining about anything in my whole life. It was an eye opening experience and one I intend to remember humbly and with gratitude.
We made it back to camp in time for lunch and even a littler nap in our tent while the rainstorm poured through and cooled everything off.
Our evening game drive started at 4:30 and Leonard found the same cheetah brothers we saw with a kill on our first day.
They were devouring a wildebeest when we arrived and we watched them for quite sometime. We also saw the elephant family - a mama and 3 babies all different seizes/ages - we had seen before near a watering hole.
Tonight we’re back in our tent early because we need to finishing packing. We’ve got a long drive tomorrow, but Leonard thinks we will have time to stop at a lake with a bunch of hippos on the way to the airport.
This safari has been on the best experiences I’ve ever had and I can’t wait to get back and share all my photos with family and friends.
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