We booked a four day three night safari leaving at 8am. The first night was supposed to be 'Cultural' and was at Shells request. The next two were on safari at my request. In theory these are so wildly different i think i should split them up into separate posts....
We set off promptly at 9am and immedeatly hit the Kenyan traffic. After about an hour we made it out of Nairobi and into the countryside only to stop for undesputibly stunning views of the Rift Valley and a hard sell. We set on our way with some stunning photos and two Masai heads.
We made it about 4 hours later to the last village known as Narok to stock up on supplies which in our case accounted for eight bottles of water and 2 bars of rum and raisen dairy milk. The bare necessities according to Shell!
We arrived at camp at about 1430 with 8 bottles of water and two melted chocolate bars. When they descirbed it as basic i thought they meant basic amenities Not no amenities! It was just scrub, really hard to describe it as much else it just went on and on. They said there was a river running through it but even that was dried up.
We started to set up camp - I say 'we' in the loosest sense as it was more our guide Justice and our cook Joseph who put everything together and made the baren bit of waste land our home for the next 24hrs while we stood around a little adrift.
Our slightest grasp of civilization (the jeep) left proptly along with the driver Teto who promised to be back later for tea. Whether this was said not to startle us is unsure but we did not see him again until the following morning along with Shell warmest jumper which was in the back of the jeep. In hein sight me thinks he knew what that evenings sleep would entail and therefore decided to return to the nearest town (or should i say shacks with a bed).
After Shell had had a lie down and i had chased some gazelle we were met be a few of the Masai elders including the chief (Josephs dad). I think they were actually checking we were still alive.
Anyway, after some pointing and laughing (by them) Justice took us up to meet the family. On the way he told us about the different plants and their medicinal uses which was very interesting but not as interesting as the reponses i had to which animals could eat which.
The village was very basic and consisted of two circles, an inner and an outer, the inner held the animals and the outer held the people they seemed to regard the animals as more important than humans. This seemed to lead to a serious fly problem. This aside they met us in full garments and danced for us and then with us.
After this Justice took us on a walk to see the cattle being herded by a group of children no older than five! This kids i am sure are more survivalist than us and have to deal daily with real issues like lions and lazy goats. Justice then showed us his parents house which obviously had no electricity and was literally a dark room with shit for walls, it was incredible that they could live like this. They do genuinely seem happy though.
We walked back to the campsite just as it was starting to get dark for everyone to tell stories and for me to quiver like a girl waiting to be eaten. The six warriors there for my protection didnt seem to allay my fears particulalry as they only had sticks and a solitary bow and arrow.
Joesph served a wonderful dinner of lamb and mash whilst they ate sheeps blood and we retreated to our rooms/tents at about 9pm.
To keep ourt western roots alive i watched some Alan Partridge and Shell watched some Sex in the City. I woke at about 2am to what thought was a roar. I managed to convince myself that this was just my mind playing tricks and after about an hour of cowering in the corner I fell asleep. At 4am i ws awoken by some snoring - being rugged was not going well - and eventually fell asleep still convinced about lions being close as i thought i could hear growling.
I woke to the news that their had been a male lion about 20m from the tents. Justifiying my fear the previous night. The snoring which i had heard was a group of zebra by the tent! We could tell this by the fresh poo! Overall i was pretty glad i had decided not to go for a pee.
Our breakfast was unexpectedly a full english which we enjoyed by the fire before heading back up to the village to say our goodbyes. In the village we noticed kids copying us putting anti bacteria stuff on our hands so we gave them some to play with which they immedeatly put on their heads?!?!
We set off promptly at 9am and immedeatly hit the Kenyan traffic. After about an hour we made it out of Nairobi and into the countryside only to stop for undesputibly stunning views of the Rift Valley and a hard sell. We set on our way with some stunning photos and two Masai heads.
We made it about 4 hours later to the last village known as Narok to stock up on supplies which in our case accounted for eight bottles of water and 2 bars of rum and raisen dairy milk. The bare necessities according to Shell!
We arrived at camp at about 1430 with 8 bottles of water and two melted chocolate bars. When they descirbed it as basic i thought they meant basic amenities Not no amenities! It was just scrub, really hard to describe it as much else it just went on and on. They said there was a river running through it but even that was dried up.
We started to set up camp - I say 'we' in the loosest sense as it was more our guide Justice and our cook Joseph who put everything together and made the baren bit of waste land our home for the next 24hrs while we stood around a little adrift.
Our slightest grasp of civilization (the jeep) left proptly along with the driver Teto who promised to be back later for tea. Whether this was said not to startle us is unsure but we did not see him again until the following morning along with Shell warmest jumper which was in the back of the jeep. In hein sight me thinks he knew what that evenings sleep would entail and therefore decided to return to the nearest town (or should i say shacks with a bed).
After Shell had had a lie down and i had chased some gazelle we were met be a few of the Masai elders including the chief (Josephs dad). I think they were actually checking we were still alive.
Anyway, after some pointing and laughing (by them) Justice took us up to meet the family. On the way he told us about the different plants and their medicinal uses which was very interesting but not as interesting as the reponses i had to which animals could eat which.
The village was very basic and consisted of two circles, an inner and an outer, the inner held the animals and the outer held the people they seemed to regard the animals as more important than humans. This seemed to lead to a serious fly problem. This aside they met us in full garments and danced for us and then with us.
After this Justice took us on a walk to see the cattle being herded by a group of children no older than five! This kids i am sure are more survivalist than us and have to deal daily with real issues like lions and lazy goats. Justice then showed us his parents house which obviously had no electricity and was literally a dark room with shit for walls, it was incredible that they could live like this. They do genuinely seem happy though.
We walked back to the campsite just as it was starting to get dark for everyone to tell stories and for me to quiver like a girl waiting to be eaten. The six warriors there for my protection didnt seem to allay my fears particulalry as they only had sticks and a solitary bow and arrow.
Joesph served a wonderful dinner of lamb and mash whilst they ate sheeps blood and we retreated to our rooms/tents at about 9pm.
To keep ourt western roots alive i watched some Alan Partridge and Shell watched some Sex in the City. I woke at about 2am to what thought was a roar. I managed to convince myself that this was just my mind playing tricks and after about an hour of cowering in the corner I fell asleep. At 4am i ws awoken by some snoring - being rugged was not going well - and eventually fell asleep still convinced about lions being close as i thought i could hear growling.
I woke to the news that their had been a male lion about 20m from the tents. Justifiying my fear the previous night. The snoring which i had heard was a group of zebra by the tent! We could tell this by the fresh poo! Overall i was pretty glad i had decided not to go for a pee.
Our breakfast was unexpectedly a full english which we enjoyed by the fire before heading back up to the village to say our goodbyes. In the village we noticed kids copying us putting anti bacteria stuff on our hands so we gave them some to play with which they immedeatly put on their heads?!?!
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