The Masaii Mara

We have arrived in the Masaii Mara, the great plains of southern Kenya that extend to the Serengeti in Tanzania.  Yesterday we drove about 4.5 hours to get here. The first two hours were on pavement and the rest was on a very rough road, but well worth it!  It always amazes me that as we drive through these areas in the middle of nowhere, there are still people walking.  The great thing about this area is that many of them are wearing the beautiful Masaii clothes.

Our lodge is a beautiful tented camp.  The "tents" are first class with huge, tiled bathrooms.m at night we can hear all of the sounds of the Mara.

After we had lunch we departed for our visit to a Masaii Village.  This is such an amazing experience, as this is the real McCoy, these people actually live like this.  We were treated to a dance and some jumping by some young Masaii men and then we got to try out our dancing skills.  We had a tour of the village, which consists of about 10 mud huts in a circle with a bramble fence around it.  They had all of the cows corralled in the middle of the huts.  I got too busy looking at things, rather than looking down and before I knew it, I was "slip sliding away" in the cow sh*t!!!! Luckily, I didn't fall, so the group didn't get to laugh at my expense! (Their favorite pastime).

The houses are tiny shacks with a bed or two and tiny area where they cook, with fire!!!  The kids are adorable!! The ladies also did a dance for us and then we got to join in with them as well. They also did a fire starting demo for us.  Of course, we got to "shop" for some of their handmade goodies!!  It just wouldn't feel right without a few high pressure sales!!!

From the village we went on our game drive.  At first we didn't see many animals and then suddenly, there were animals everywhere!!!  The highlights were a small group of elephants And a pack of hyenas with fresh blood on their faces.  Our guides were focusing on finding us some"cats" and they
didn't disappoint!!  Three of the groups found a pride of lions with an adult male, three adult females and four Cubs.  Our group and the leopards were lucky enough to see a black maned lion on the hunt.  It was amazing to watch, even though he didn't make a kill while we were there.  It is unbelievable how these animals just go about their business while we watch, they totally ignore us!  We also got to hear him roaring and he was right beside our vans!!

Everyone was exhausted when we got back but the place was buzzing with everyone sharing stories and photos!!  This is an experience like no other!!!!

We all went to bed early as the days are full!!!