The White Masai in Tanzania

The internet hasn’t been working very reliably the past week so I’m sorry to have left you on the edges of your seat. This past weekend we went to the Masai Mara (a national park) in southwestern Kenya. This is the northern tip of Serengeti National Park found in Tanzania. This savannah is one of the best world-wide and was absolutely amazing. I can’t begin to describe how wonderful it was so, as a preface, my writings may sound lame…

This trip will always remain so magical to me and I’m unsure any vacation could ever trump it. If anyone has the chance to take a 16 hour car ride through Sub-Saharan Africa I recommend it without reservation. Watching Kenya fly by the car window was quite an event. The topography changed so fast and so frequently it was hard to believe we were still in the same country. We started out in Eldoret, which is located at the edge of the Rift Valley. From there we passed through the mountains which are covered in tea fields which are such a bright, beautiful shade of green it felt like we were driving through a painting. We left before 6am, so the sun was rising as all the workers were busy picking tea leaves with large baskets on their back in the midst of the acres and acres of fields in the morning light. Gorgeous.

My personal favorite part of the trip was when we stopped to fill up the gas tank at a station and the four of us ladies used the restroom. Ashley and I went into our respective stalls (with walls and doors from ground to ceiling) and we each heard a click, a moment of silence, then Ashley saying, “uhm, I think I’m stuck” She was stuck alright. The door knob fell off and there she was. Sarah, Johanna, and I tried body slamming the door and at one point I pulled out a Tae-Bo kick (we’ve been doing these workouts periodically since we’ve arrived) but the dang door wouldn’t move. Eventually I had to go get our driver who saved the day by pulling out some contraption from his pocket and easily flipping the door open like this happened every day. It was pretty entertaining.

From there, we passed through the dessert-like area where the Masai tribe live. Talk about living in isolation. There was nothing there, and I mean nothing…no visible trees, animals, water. Nothing. And these Masai lived in the middle of it. It was so dry and dusty and every so often there would be a cluster of dried mud huts surrounded by brush where numerous families lived. It seemed like such a desolate life, but I suppose if you don’t know anything else, it wouldn’t seem so strange to you. The Masai are beautiful people. They dress in the most brightly colored fabric. They don’t really wear clothes so much as they wrap this cloth around them to make elaborate outfits. Their favored color is red as lions are said to be scared of it and thus shy away from the people. One of their main traits for women and men alike is to stretch out their earlobes. This is seen as beautiful in their culture so all the elders have stretched their earlobes almost to their shoulders. I’m pretty sure I saw a couple earlobes I could put my fist through. (which reminds me, Camille, you’ve been wanting your ears pierced…) They decorate themselves with brightly colored beads which stand out beautifully against their skin and cloth. Their diet mainly consists of meat, milk, and blood (yum). I wasn’t able to take any pictures as the Masai reserve the right to stone you for a photograph. Not a risk I was willing to take. If you’re interested in seeing some info on them (and I highly recommend you do) google “Masai” and read up. They’re very interesting.

Upon passing through the dessert area, we entered the Savannah and eventually came to the Masai Mara. It is named this as the land was unfortunately taken away from the Masai people to form the park. They are generally nomadic people so I suppose when the land was taken away, they just moved to the desert. The savannah is so beautiful, and this is where all the animal action happened! We were told not to expect much as we came during migration season and a majority of the animals move to Tanzania for the dry season. Our driver was great and seemed to have a sixth sense for where the animals were located. He said the animals left in the Mara were Kenyan residents and not allowed to cross the border. Haha! Everyone talks about the Big Five when you go on game drives. This consists of elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos, and water buffalo. We were told it is very rare to see leopards, rhinos, and cheetahs in the mara so we didn’t get our hopes up too much, but we made these animals our goals.

We went on four game drives while there. Two sunrise and two sunset. Our first game drive was Saturday evening and what was the first thing we saw? A giant leopard! Not only that, but he had drug a huge antelope into a tree and was eating it for dinner! We were so close we could hear the bones crunching. I know this sounds morbid, but it was so fascinating that we couldn’t turn away. Apparently this is so rare that even our guide was excited and taking pictures! Beyond the leopard we saw elephants and babies, monkeys, baboons, GIRAFFES, wildebeest, hippos, crocodiles, lions, lionesses, cheetah (four grown cheetah and two baby cubs!! – also rare!), impala, antelope, gazelle, secretary birds, meerkats, warthogs and babies (they look just like Pumba!), zebra, ostriches, antebeasts, hyenas, and basically every other animal you could think of except a rhino. It was a pretty fruitful trip! The best part was that we went down into Tanzania (my second African nation!!!). This is supposedly illegal to do without a visa, but our guide liked us so much that he took us down. (shhh, don’t tell anyone). We also got so close to some lions that I could have reached out and petted them if I wanted to. They’re so cute and fluffy it was kind of hard to resist the temptation. At one point though I locked eyes with one and, while we were staring at each other, I imagined his cat-like reflexes jumping up and snagging me. I closed the window after that.

Ashley and I decided that everything from the Mara can be related back to some Disney film. Mainly The Lion King, but we also found The Rescuers Down Under, Dumbo, and many others being played out in front of us. Luckily we encountered Rafikis, Nalas, Mufasas and Timons rather than Scarface, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed. I was, however, slightly disappointed we didn’t get to visit Pride Rock.

Our lodge, Keekorok, was another experience in itself. For being in the middle of nowhere it was absolutely amazing! It reminded me of a five-star resort and they served three gourmet buffet meals a day. The best part was that it was not a gated lodge so the animals wandered freely amongst our cabins. We would wake up in the morning to impala outside our door or zebra just outside our window. That would never happen in the states. We had to ensure our doors were locked when we left as the monkeys were quite mischievous and loved to come in and cause trouble. Another best part was the hippo bar! Below our house was a lake where hippos lounged 24/7 and there was an enclosed veranda on the shore where we could sit and watch hippos. They’re such funny, pudgy creatures. We were there for three days/two nights and sadly returned to Eldoret Monday night. It was such a great time and I would love to go back again to relive the magic.