Masai Mara

Having conquered the mountain, it was now time for the biggest tourist attraction in Kenya: Masai Mara, the famous national park on the border to Tanzania (changes name to Serengeti in T) where the Masai people live. This time our visitor was Ingeborg's father. We arrived Sunday evening, just in time to visit a nearby Masai village. The Masai people are world famous for their nomadic life, cattle, lion hunting and bright red/orange clothes that they wrap around themselves. Not so famous outside Kenya are the Masai's disregard for Kenyan laws; they still openly practices female circumcision, keep many children out of school and marry off the women at a very young age. Still interesting to see how they live, very differently from any other village I've visited in Kenya. On the picture are three masai warriors who dance the welcoming dance - in this part they prove their strength by jumping as high up as they can while making grunting noises.

On Monday we had a full day of game driving in the park, a great day! The landscape is breathtaking, just like being in one of those movies you've seen. Masai Mara is maybe most famous for the wildebeest migration that takes place every year as millions of wildebeest cross rivers and walk miles in search of green grass. We didn't actually see them crossing the river, but the thousands we saw were still quite impressive. Many og them had crossed the river a few days ago, dead wildebeest lay in the river, others were half eaten by crocodiles.

Apart from wildebeest we saw several lions, two cheetahs, a leopard, many elephants, hippos, giraffes, crocodiles, a number of different gazelles, monkeys, zebras, birds - we were lucky! Yesterday we had a drive in the morning before we drove to Nairobi.