Masai Mara Day 2

June 30, 2009
Today we started the game drive at 630am...what a game drive it was!
We saw many lions, some just posing and relaxing, others devouring a
dead wildebeest. There was another killed wildebeest nearby, but the
lions were too full to eat it! At the same time, we saw part of the
wildebeest migration. Thousands of WB's come up from the Serengeti
after the rainy season there. This year the rains ended early, so
they were getting to Mara early. Its incredible to see all of the
animals moving along together in lines...similar to birds flying
south, but way more impressive!

Amazingly, the lions were eating the WB not far from where the
migration was happening, amazing!

So while it seems that it would be gross, it wasn't. I guess it just
seemed natural, and the lions were calmly eating...they weren't going
crazy. We did notice that Karen enjoyed seeing this by far the
most...hmmm.

So all this, and we were back for breakfast at 9. After breakfast
(good food, typical breakfast fare), we went to the masai village to
learn about them. They hold on to their way of life from thousands of
years ago, with some alterations, but not many. We were greeted by
the chief's soon, who brought his group of men out to meet us. He
told us some history, and led us in. The men did a simliar dance to
welcome us, as the night before. The area was quite dirty, and we
were struck by the number of flies around, mainly because there was
cow dung everywhere. That being the case, the children and adults did
not seem malnourished or sick. They showed us their huts (sticks,
strw roof, with cow dung cement). It was quite an experience to see.
The hut was more spacious than expected. It housed a section for
kids, adults, grandmom/dad, a kitchen, area for baby cows, and
kittens. Very dark, but we got used to it. Seemed much cleaner than
outside.

The men either go to school, or are trained to defend the village/take
care of animlas. The women cook, clean, take care of kids, and build
the houses. Didn't seem like the men did much, because there is not
immenent threat. The girls get educated too, and married of at 17 or
so. They are either bought for 7 cows, traded for a sister, or go to
the highest jumper, per the previous discussion, about the dance.
Interesting that men have to give dowry for the women, not the other
way. The men are married at 25.

Most of the children (girls, and boys who aren't farming) go to school
through the 8th grade at least. We saw a nice solidly built school
with lots of student (too few teachers). The students were excited to
see us, and well behaved.

We believe that most of the men now go work in the towns around their
village, but they didn't tell us this.

So by this time, we had seen/done a lot (walked back to the lodge from
village), so we ate, rested, and read by the pool.

After lunch, we went for another drive. We saw 4 cheetah's eating a
dead gazelle, with vultures all around. They were standing at
attention (or so it seemed) waiting their turn, it was amazing! We
saw more zebras, wildebeests, ostriches, and other small birds.

Then it started to rain...as we drove back, we found that the animals
stood perfectly still in the rain. It was very interesting, and
pretty universal, very few moved eveb a little. Also, the gutters
that were bone dry in the am, were now little fast moving streams!

We got back, had a nice dinner, and releaxed. I hag tried a tusker
beer in the afternoon, so I had pilsner this time. Both were good, a
little sweet.

Later, Karen and Anna did a great job of helping me learn about our
education system. We had some great discussion, and I got a chace to
learn about some of the problems. The biggest issue Karen had was
class size for her students, its hard to give individual attention to
younger students, who probably need it the most. Also, in poorer
communities, its needs to be a wider approach than just school.
Education/social support is needed for abuse, lack of health care,
basic food needs...its a bigger problem than just schools.

Anna was bothered by the amount of required classes that high school
students have. There is very little room for electives, and learning
something you want to learn. In the hunt to improve test scores, we
are making less well rounded students, or forcing them to get burnt
out.

We also discussed matrurity of students, and them learning to interact
with adults and the business world.

On 7/2/09, Mitesh Parikh <mmparikh79@gmail.com> wrote:
> June 29th
> We had a 530am flight to Nairobi, so we were up and out to the airport
> very early. We had some breakfast at the airport...notably Karen
> enjoyed roasted chicken and fries at 330am! The flight was nice, we
> actually had the former president of Tanzania aboard, kinda crazy. Of
> course, he had plenty of security getting on and off.
>
> Nairobi was beautiful driving in. Great landscape and clear air going
> into city. We did hit a big traffic jam, and sat in smog of cars as
> we got closer to the city. Evebtually we got to the safari office,
> and were on our way. Our guide, David, was quite nice, and we had a
> late, but promising start. As we drove, I was struck by how
> everything was similar to India. City, small towns, countryside, it
> all was how india was in 2000, last time I went.
>
> As we drove to the Mara, we saw many Masai people along the way. They
> were dressed in the bright red scarves of the pictures we seen. Many
> had their ears stretched and pierced. We later learned that those
> with the pierced ears helped with the herding and catlle raising,
> while boys who were to be educated head their two front teeth (lower)
> pulled out.
>
> Another thing, parts of the road were extremely rocky! We got used to
> being jostled around as soon as we got out of the city. If you have
> back problesm, be very careful on safari.
>
> We got to the park and lodge about 2pm. The Mara Sopa lodge was
> incredibly beautiful. The room, the view, the pool, dining area, main
> lodge, gardens...all were spectacular.
>
> I thought about the rapid change from relative poverty to the richness
> of the lodge we just experienced. As in the past, I'm always reminded
> that wealth does not equal happiness. So many of the people we passed
> were poor, but most seemed content. The balance between the need of
> "stuff" and being happy is difficult, but poor here seem to be ok with
> their basic needs being met. This doesn't mean we shouldn't share,
> only that we should think about what we are doing, and truly need.
>
> Also, along this trip, I've been reading Yunas's book, creating a
> world without poverty. He talks about the huge percentage of the
> world that lives on less than $1 a day. While the numbers are
> truthful, the meaning isn't quite clear. He doesn't account for the
> difference in standard of living. When you don't need much, money
> isn't important. Its not important, the poverty is still there, and
> help is needed. The only point is that we have to be careful of not
> ruining poeples happiness as we help.
>
> Ok...sorry for the digression, back to the safari...so after a very
> nice lunch, we got onto our first game ride...at 4pm. AMAZING! We
> saw impalas (with many wives!), topis, giraffes, a leopard in the
> bushes, cheetahs, elephants, wildebeests, water buffalos, ostriches,
> and other small animals. The scenary was great, and seeing the
> animals in their natural habitat was awesome! They did not bother us
> or the other safari goers, which was neat. Also, we had a very lucky
> start...some people, see no animals at all during a safari, we saw so
> many on our first game drive.
>
> We wnet back to the lodge a few hours later, and had a nice dinner.
> The food was buffet style, and they had a variety, with a lot of
> indian food. I had a drink called dawa, which was vodka, lemon, and
> honey, quite good!
>
> After dinner there was a masai cultural dance which was quite
> interesting. About 10 men chant and skipped around (similar to simple
> garba), and they lined up and jumped up and down, one at a time. They
> got really high! We later learned that this is a traditional dance,
> and the highest jumper gets a "free" wife (he doesn't have to trade a
> sister or cows...seriously).
>
> At night we walked around the grounds a bit and found ourselves a bit
> out of breath after stairs...we decided to" blame it on the
> ah..aaha..alta...altitude!". We were about 1 mile up.
>
> So ended our first day on safari!
>
> --
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>

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