Blogs from Rift Valley Province, Kenya, Africa - page 47

Well our journey in Africa begins...... The first day of our tour started with a long and very bumpy journey to the Masai Mara National Park. We travelled throught the Great Rift Valley and the scenery was spectacular! We went on our first game drive into the Masai Mara and were lucky enough to spot 3 of the "Big 5" - Elephant, Buffalo and Lions (which included a pride with three cubs!) We also saw zebra, gazelles, giraffes, warthogs and many more. Following this we went into a traditional Masai village to learn how the locals live. It was fascinating to learn that their stable diet consists of milk, blood and meat from cows! The men have many wifes and the going rate for a wife is ten cows - so my dad could have quite ... read more

Well, not quite. Last week we took friday off and headed up to Lake Naivasha which was about an hour's matatu ride from Limuru. Naivasha town is alot like Limuru except a nicer version with a better atmosphere. After buying our food for the next 3 days, we hopped onto another 45 min matatu to Fisherman's camp right on Lake Naivasha. The camp ended up being alot better than we had expected - flushing toilets, showers, boats, shops and a bar and restaurant. All of us realised that we had come totally unprepared as we all had hardly any money that we could spend. We wondered around the nearby town, bought some avocadoes, bananas, a pineapple, and our dinner - chapatis and mandazis (type of sweet bread). That night was horrible as we couldn't get ... read more

Lake Nakuru Day 6 So we left really early like usual and it’s really hard to see in the dark when you’re trying to break down the tents. That morning we found a cheetah on the side of the road looking at the Impalas/bambi across the way. After we let all the other vans get ahead of us we spotted a pack of 6 cheetahs looking for breakfast. We must have sat there for like 10 minutes waiting for them to eat and the kept inching closer but nothing happened. And our driver said that it could take all morning and we needed to get going. Our next destination was Lake Nakuru and we still had a long drive ahead. So I know this will sound stupid to some of you but it was very ... read more

Two weeks ago we'd left Mbita for the Rift Valley and what adventure ensued! We experienced our first true African storm in Kisii, Kenya where we were staying overnight. Cleverly thinking (or so we thought), we'd set up our tents in the early afternoon to air out from the last use. After spending several hours away at the soapstone quarries we returned to an absolute minefield. Everybody's stuff was soaked, tents had been blown halfway across the fields and our mats had been reduced to nothing short of humongous sponges. It was a wet, cold night. On a brighter note, I bought some really nice dark-violet soapstone statuettes! A great proportion of soapstone sold the world-over comes from the Kisii quarries making it a multi-million dollar industry in Kenya. It's pretty fragile though, particularly in thin ... read more

So its midnight and I'm talking with the Maasai warrior outside my tent (don't all good stories start that way?)... Seriously...He's the camp askari or security and I feel safe from the predators and hyenas and charging rhinos because he showed me his bow and arrow, his poison, his small sword, and his rungu or heavy wooden club. Evidently Maasai men are known around here as fierce warriors. They seem so graceful and mild-mannered but I guess they pack a wallop. This Maasai was nice and we chatted a bit but we mostly just looked up at the vast milky way above. There wasn't a city for a 100 miles so the night-sky was crystal clear. The half-moon was inching its way upwards. Gorgeous. Then he went for the midnight special: he offered to sell me ... read more