Day 1 started with meeting new volunteers that were in George's house for their first night in Kenya, just as we did 3 weeks ago. They were 3 girls from Costa Rica and Venezuela. And of course… we waited for Patrick. He is VICDA's driver. And he is almost always late. We waited for 1h ad finally when he arrived we said goodbye to the over volunteers and head west.
First stop was at a viewpoint to the amazing Great Rift Valley. There were some shops with art crafts. At the beginning I was excited, and actually regretted not having bough anything there, being afraid that I wouldn't find those things anywherelse… But soon I realized that lots of shops like that one would come in our path… After taking enough pictures, we headed to Narok. A typical African town with street shops, donkeys, music and lots of banks… We had lunch and then went to the bank so we could do some shopping before entering Maasai Mara National Park, 'Food inside is much more expensive! Try to buy some water and snacks here so you can save some money', said the guide.
After a long wait for Patrick (again…) to return from the office where he would take care of our authorizations for entering the park, we were finally on our way to the first (camping) lodge where we would spend the first 2 nights and from where we would do many game drives. Though, by the time we got there, the day was almost over, but we still had time to go for a short drive and try to spot some cool african wild animals. We could see a storm coming in the distance, and that explained the fact that we saw few animals (most of them were sheltered somewhere). This day ended with dinner, short conversation with tea.
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| Toyota Hiasse as a Safari vehicle. |
Day 2 started really bad! It wasn't even 5am when the lodge's water pump started working, and not bad enough, it was right next to our rooms… After the first 1h, you get used to the loud engine sound, so you are able to eventually fall asleep… During breakfast, everyone was grumpy, especially the french group that had arrived the previous night, because their cars got stuck on the mud and they were forced to spend the night at the closest lodge.
Well, after that, we went to a game drive and Aaaah! Much better! We saw lots and lots of animals! Our car was a Toyota Hiasse with a roof ready for safaris (see photo), and believe or not, I was standing from second one! I wanted to absorb each and every single moment and piece of landscape of that land. Also I wanted to be the first one to spot the animals eheh. We had a picnic lunch by a river, where 2km upstream we had a walking safari to watch the hippos and crocs chilling on the water. Patrick was in charge of scaring away some naughty monkeys that wanted to still our precious meal, while the four of us enjoyed sitting on the grass, eating. After lunch we drove back, and before going to the lodge, we went to the Maasai Village. As we entered we met Brian. He is a maasai ad he was dressed like one. Also he would be our guide for the 2h of touring inside the village. Each of us payed 1500KSHS to enter and hat money went to helping the village children getting to school.
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| Maasai people and their jumping competition (the one that jumps higher, gets more girlfriends) |
By this time, Brian told us that some guys would like to perform a dance and sing for us. So they did. It was a little scary, since they were singing with sounds and jumping really high and getting really but really reallyyyyyy close to us! We experienced the village at 100%! We sat with Brian at his house, we met children, women, goats and cows, we also visited the market, saw them making fire, blowing a horn (for communication with other villages), saw the women dancing and singing, drank some Sausage tree beer and played football Maasai style. It was a beautiful day, starting with game drive and finishing with these amazing people with an unique culture.
Day 3 started with a morning game drive. This means waking up before the sun shines and go to the savannah to see some animals. We saw lots of giraffes, elephants and others, but the most astonishing was a male lion walking out of the fog. Each step was given with power and you could feel the strong and spooky presence of this exemplar animal. After this drive, we headed back to the lodge, packed everything and started driving again. We passed by Narok but only stopped for lunch near Nakuru, a town by Lake Nakuru (hence the name). When we reached the town, we went for a boat safari. That was truly amazing. Seeing zebras grazing in the shoreline, hippos chilling and abundant birdlife is an unique experience. Finally we went to the hotel, but not before some traffic. Oh it took us 2h to get to the hotel, and it wasn't that far away… Well, we did the check-in, had an amazing dinner and had a few Tuskers with Patrick before heading to our rooms.
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| The spooky lion. |
The last day started perfectly: THE BEST BREAKFAST EVER. Scrambled eggs and toast with butter, and on the side fresh fruit and juice. Perfect. After that, we went for another game drive. This time Patrick took us to a drive by the water. Again it was amazing. The landscape was breathtaking! The water and the mountains and the animals and the smells and the sounds and… Everything! Again, perfect. Until Patrick told us that we had to get out of the park because there was a part of the van that broke and need to be replaced before going back to Nairobi.
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| View to Lake Nakuru. |
We stopped at a shop and had lunch. The shop was just the same as all the other we had visited the pst few days… The same paintings, the same sculptures and the same speech 'Hello! Would you like to buy this? What about this one? Ohhh The one is beautiful don't you think? What about this now for your loved one?'… Eventually Patrick came back with a new part for the car and we were heading to Nairobi. Daniel and Sonya stayed at George's place, while Patrick drove me and Chelsea back to Rongai.
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| P-Man! Patrick. |
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