Well the music seemed to drown out Mr or Ms Snore". I was up at 6AM, because Lucky wanted to be on the road by 7AM. Our drive to Maasai Mara was to take over 4 hours, and that was with no traffic on this Sunday. We back tracked back up and then down the mountain that overlooked the Great Rift Valley. We then took a road that took us southwest from there, also west of Nairobi. The road for the first two hours was pretty decent. I noticed along the way women/girl's dressed in very colorful attire, something that hasn't happened since I've been in Kenya. Lucky explains to me that females have about two fancy dresses: one is worn for church and one for visiting/parties. The attires were very colorful mostly pinks, purples and greens.
Our last two roads were again unpaved and more bumpy and treacherous than yesterdays roads. I didn't think they could get worse. The last two hour drive was through a very desolate desert and brush terrain. It reminded me a lot driving west to east in western Arizona and New Mexico. There were a few signs of green but not much. This area had its own version of cacti, that looked similar to the Joshua Trees found in Northern Arizona. There were a few small villages, but very uninhabitable. This was the poorest of the poor in Kenya. The last hour we started seeing very large herds of mostly goats being shepherded by young men dress in very colorful wraps of red, orange and purple. Unlike the highway Bedouins from yesterday, these young men took there herds out every morning and returned them back to their villages at night.
Lucky knew of a village of Maasai tribes and asked if I wanted to stop and visit. He said the Maasai villages were very happy to have visitors, they too would have things to buy. I was ready for a break, so 30 minutes from our lodge we stopped and visited one of these tribes. I have some very goof video that I will share on FaceBook. I was met by the men of this family location. All family members live in one place. In this particular instance there were about 8 male members, 14 female members and I counted about 15 children. I was told 2 of the male members were out with their flock. The family lives in a small circular camp made of large strong sticks and are covered with a muddy soil. Once you enter one of these camps the first thing I notice is the amount of cattle dung and flies. You can barely walk without stepping on mostly hardened piles. I find out later that the dung is a very important resource for making there homes, making pots and carrying materials. After exchanging pleasantries I meet a very tall young man, Amos, about 18 years old that spoke very good english. He is the grandson of the chieftain of the camp. I did not meet the chieftain because he was in his dung built home very ill. After all the pleasantries of meeting each of men, a parade of about seven women ranking in age I would say 15-70, all very tall. They perform a welcoming dance, which I am lead to join in on. I am never introduced to the women. I find out later that the Maasai tribes are extremely patriarchal. Women, especially after being married and have children, are very sub servant to the men in the tribe, bit just their husbands. I also observe a traditional "jumping dance" that men perform as not just a dance but a competition to see who can jump the highest. Again, I get to participate in this activity. I think I jumped maybe a foot in the air, hey I had my hiking boots on! Next they teach me about how they start fires using two sticks and dried cow dung. I remember in Boy Scouts trying to do this, but it never worked for me. They took turns doing the rolling the primary stick against a small plank of wood. It only took them about 3 minutes to get a flame going. Okay, my turn, and for five minutes I tried to perform my best. During this time, I believe there was some joking going on at my expense. Failure, I'm going to have to stick to matches. Next, Amos took to show me his home. The homes are made from very large thick sticks, cattle dung, water and sand. The smell of dung is prominent, but i don't think it is a problem for them. The home is square and as you enter there is a small room with a door made of straw. This is where small calves stay when they are small. The children take care of the small calves until they are large enough to graze with the other cattle. The daily ritual is putting the cattle out to graze in the morning and and brought home in the evening. The cattle stay in the camp at night with the villagers, thus all the dung in the camp. Cattle and children are considered the measure of "wealth" for a family. A man and their mate are duly responsible for mating of both animals and having children.
The main room combines as a kitchen (a hole in the floor where the fire for cooking is built) and a sitting area of cattle skins on the dirt floor. There are two separate "bedrooms" for the wife and husband, they do not sleep together. There is one more large bedroom where all the children sleep. When they have mike children they just make the room larger.
The last thing to do before I leave is look at all their crafts. I'd love to take it all. These are items made by this expanded family. I buy a few things and negotiate with their "accountant". The last question I had was the different colors of the wraps they wear. Apparently, most tribes use them as "identifiers". I ended buying one of the wraps, that is used by the camps "teacher". He has several responsibilities but the primary job is home schooling the children. He also serves as trip and party planner. We leave the camp and get handshakes all around, but not the women,they have already been excused to go back to their daily chores.
Now we are on our way to the Lodge at Maassai Mara Hill. It is a high security area that we had to go through three check points. We had a late lunch and then an hour siesta before heading out to the plains of the Serengeti. The Serengeti is spread over two countries Kenya and Tanzania. We do venture some into Tanzania but it doesn't seem to matter. We come across a slew of animals: zebras, gazelles, elans, hyenas, water buffalo, giraffes, elephants, Malibu storks and a lion and lioness. We were "lucky" to find them. Lucky had noticed some shrubbery moving and thought it might be lions sleeping. Bingo, there the two lions were sleeping. As we moved toward them the female continued to sleep, while the male popped his head up and gave us a look. I had a booked van with a pop top. I was ready with the camera and got a couple of good head shots, since the rest of his body was covered by the shrubs. Quite a long interesting day.
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