Magic of Masai Mara – a 3-day weekend trip

Safaris, nature and animals as mentioned earlier are close to my heart and this past weekend I got all that. The team went to safari in one of the most significant National Reserves in Kenya – the famous Masai Mara in the southern boarder of Kenya, on the boarder of the Tanzania who has the similar park –Serengeti- next to Mara.

"King of the jungle" with a lady, Water buffalo couple
Cheetah having an afternoon rest, Zebra family

What can I say about Masai Mara other than it is really amazing and breath taking. When in the park and looking around, it seems like time had suddenly stopped. If you ignore the other cars (which there are too many occasionally unfortunately) and all you can see are the grass plains, hills and many grazing animals you can not figure out what year it is. And I find it very calming in its timelessness and pure beauty of the nature. That surrounding is very much needed in today’s hectic lifestyle. When motor is not running and you can only hear wind in your ears and see the peacefully moving packs of wild African animal, it is like being in the middle of National Geography documentary.

Downside of this paradise is that many other in addition to us think it is a “must see” resulting too many people coming to the park and tour cars lining up to see some of the more rare animals. Not very natural I think. And also animals do not seem to be bothered with the cars. Real untouched places are more and more hard to find. Also currently it is pretty dry so it was rather yellow and was wondering if animals find enough to eat. Although for example wildebeest are migrating from Serengeti to Mara around these times to find more food. Hmm…I hope they do after all that running across the plains.

Combining both Lake Nakuru National Park and Masai Mara we have seen the big five ie. lion, elephant, water buffalo, rhino, and leopard. Just thinking what was the most memorable thing we saw during the weekend…handsome male lion with his pack. So beautiful! Or massive hippos lying on the beach like big rocks. All in all the entity and scenery made a big impression.

In addition we got a refreshing cultural exposure to a tribal culture of Masai people. We camped just out of Mara, next to the Masai village. They worked in the camp as guardians and also took us for a long walk to the nearby hill. It was incredible to hear about their life style. Even if I knew kind of what to expect after our Eastern African tour almost 11 years ago it still caught me by surprise. They live in manyatta which is a group of very low Masai houses made of cow dung and some wood. We got a great tour in the village and were able to go into a Masai home. As there is now electricity in the whole village the houses are very dark even in the day time as they windows (or rather holes in the wall) are not done as the mosquitoes might come in otherwise (no, there are not window glass). Most shocking was the size of the house which I saw: 2 adults and 4 kids live there and some animals as well. Tiny, a few rooms little hut...Wow…how different can it be compared to what the Europeans and citizen of more developed countries are used to. I do not have enough words to describe it…We enjoyed their hospitality when the village people kindly performed some tribal dances and showed how to lit the fire without matches. When in the village I kept on thinking how different our lifestyles are and still both can be equally happy. Masais do not have running water, electricity, many of the aids of modern society and men and women are not even close to equal, they eat milk and blood twice a day (even the kids) and meat only a few times a month...many of the things that would make it difficult for me to adjust to that culture. Having seen that world really opened my mind that there are so many different life styles that we do not even understand that in our daily life.

Me and the Masai warriors in the camp, Masai women dancing and singing

Masai men and a house, A boy with a snack

What was really funny on Sunday was that I was asked to stay in the Masai village by this lovely young Masai warrior. He was so cute! When he heard I am married he was not too happy and said no to my question whether he would be ok for me to have two husbands similarly as Masai people can have more than one wife. ;-) When that was not enough on marriage market…on our way back on stop a sales person offered 50 cows for me!! (obviously joking but I found it funny topic to discuss!) Had a good laugh! My son commented the incident by saying they want more than 50 cows for me. Heh, I do not think I would leave my boys even for 5000 cows. So that’s it!

All in all, what a wonderful weekend. One of the best here.