Days 38-43: Entering Kenya during election time, saying goodbye to much of the group and cheetah spotting in the Masai Mara

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<strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Days 38-43: Entering Kenya during election time, saying goodbye to much of the group and cheetah spotting in the Masai Mara

Arriving in Kenya, Nairobi we were straight away hit with hot weather, stopping for lunch on the side of the road in ‘Kenyan shade’ – under the pull out side compartments of the Tucan truck. We were arriving in Kenya at a very interesting time, as the first elections since 2007 were taking place. Josh, our Kenyan truck driver, had told us of his inability to cast his vote two days earlier, due to voters having to queue for hours. The country was on standby and nervous as the 2007 elections had resulted in post-election killings of hundreds of people, and thousands left homeless, after many Kenyans believed the result was tampered with. The man defeated in that election, Raila Odinga, was running again this year and he was determined for a fair and democratic election, particularly as the country’s constitution had been amended recently as well, stating elections should be fair and democratic. The results of the election were meant to be released 48 hours after voting started. Electronic voting had been brought in. The results were released five days after voting started, with Odinga again coming runner-up. The electronic voting system had failed on day two and the votes were tallied manually instead. There were reports of changes in the number of voters before and after the electronic system failed, in favour of more voters for Kenyatta, and requests for the votes to be reviewed by a panel were rejected. It all seems very dodgy again and Odinga has stated he is challenging the election result in the Supreme Court. The difference to 2007 is that there currently has been no major reports of violence. It will be interesting to see what happens when it goes through the courts. Also, Kenyatta who has just been elected, is awaiting trial for encouraging violence in the 2007 elections.

The next day after a quick yoga session, we set out to the elephant orphanage which had close to 20 young elephants between the ages of 1-5 years. Sadly, most of these elephants had been left orphaned as their mothers had been killed by poachers. We spent 40 minutes watching them feed and play as, well as learn about the good work that this company was doing with rescuing elephants and other wildlife from poachers and snares and reintroducing them back into the wild when they were ready. After this we moved on to a Giraffe enclosure which allowed you to get up close and personal with these interesting and incredibly long tongued individuals. Feeding these endangered species of Rothchild Giraffe was quite an experience. Hand feeding them grassy pellets, the texture of their tongue and stringiness to their saliva made everyone squirm yet still be in awe of these beautiful, long eye lashed inquisitive creatures. It was a cool thing to do. That afternoon we visited the flip flop factory, which is an environmental organisation that in its attempt to clean up the beaches, has collected millions of rubber flip flops and has then recreated into artwork, ornaments and clothing out of the rubber. I fell in love with a lovely vibrant frilly dress and although I wasn’t supporting the cause as it’s not rubber, it called me to purchase it anyway!

That night and the next morning we said goodbye to the majority of the tour group, which was very sad as we had met some fantastic people who we will hope to keep in contact with and we hope they all returned back home safely. The famous five- Gary, Keisha, Christine, Simon and myself, plus Sarah and our tour guide Moses set out for the Masai Mara.

The Masai Mara National Reserve patrolled by the locals and the Masai people, covers an area of 1800 sq km and lies in the Great Rift Valley. The reserve is world renown for the Great Migration as mentioned before following a 600km route via the Mara River. Our tour guide Moses was very informative and a great driver. There were not as many rules regarding staying on road in the Mara which enabled us to go off road and get right up close and personal with the animals. However, we all agreed that although it made for great photography we found it quite invasive and it did at times impede on what the animals were doing. Day 1, on our sunset safari drive we saw lots of elephants, giraffes and a pride of lions with baby cubs which we were satisfied with for a 2 hour drive. The next day we were the first ones in the reserve before sunrise incredibly eager to see a cheetah and we were not disappointed. Before our Cheetah encounter Gary spotted five little lion cubs playing in a tree. They were so cute jumping in and out of the tree with their mother’s vaguely watching them whilst they wrestled with each other. Not long after this, we got the shout out from Moses to sit down and hold on tight as there was something up ahead. We quickly obliged and before we knew it we had the most amazing male cheetah before our eyes. Once again we were the first to arrive on the scene to spot the spotted creature and got to enjoy a good 5 minutes of it roaming around without another safari jeep insight. We had the sense the cheetah was on the lookout for prey, however it didn’t eventuate. We were all incredibly happy and very content with our game drive and it was only 8am. We drove out to the Mara River which is on the border of Tanzania and Kenya and was guided to the river crossing where the migration occurs. With our guide, holding an AK47, we were walked along the river, with numerous crocs and hippos in the water. Simon found it quite unnerving and was on the heels of the guide. Later that afternoon, we crept up to a tree that was shading three sleeping lions that Moses said were brothers. They were enormous and being less than 1.5m away from them with the window open, it was no wonder Simon practically leapt out of the truck, shut the window in record breaking time and squealed like a girl when one of them stood up suddenly and walked towards him. I assured Simon that the lion was only checking out his fellow lion man and was envious of his thick red mane! (I didn’t get any laughs).

That afternoon we had the opportunity to be shown around a Masai Village. We had observed many tall red-robed males with their herds of cattle over several days and were keen to learn a bit more about their culture and traditions. The Masai people traditionally follow a semi-nomadic lifestyle, driving their cattle to grazing and watering areas. They source almost everything from the land to survive and despite the urgings of the Tanzanian and Kenyan Governments to settle in a fixed area, the Masai people these days stay in any one location for up to 9 years. Their houses are made out of cow dung and the males are polygamous. The village we went to had roughly 160 people in it and that village was one of nine in the area, as well as a school. They explained that the holes in the ears were for decoration purposes but only the first male in each family was allowed them. The males of the tribe showed us there traditional dance which basically consisted of jumping the highest on the spot. This style of dance suited Simon, proving that white men can jump.

We met the truck and Josh (who we felt like we hadn’t seen in weeks) on the side of the road and headed to Eldoret for the night. Eldoret is the area in Kenya where all the famous runners are from and the training camp was only 50km from where we were staying. We got talking to the owner and have expressed our interest in visiting the camp on the way back from Uganda. Fingers crossed.

So that is us to date, we will probably not have internet until the trip is over and we are back in Nairobi. We are very excited about our upcoming trekking with the Gorillas and white water rafting/river boarding tomorrow, so we will update you soon on our final leg.

We hope all is well at home

Love to all

Simon and Alex

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Comments

[Luke vanson]

Thanks Guys
Sitting here I bed with my new little rug rat sleeping on my chest reading about your adventures and reminiscing about our own jess and I feel like we are right there with you! Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences and thoughts with the rest of us. Be careful white water rafting and enjoy! L, J &Z

[Kym]

white men can jump
Great to see the shaggy man meet his scarlet leader :) Utterly amazing stories guys Stay safe Kymbo