Saturday, April 30, 2016

GE 2016: Out of Africa


We have spent the last 4 days in the world of Karen Blixen (author of "Out of Africa" and yes, visiting her house was a scavenge).  I've never been to Kenya before and I thoroughly enjoyed our time here (minus the HORRIFIC traffic in Nairobi... which makes you tear your hair out).

The worst part was that - because Wendy and Georgia have knocked it out of the park with their travel skills and are now competitive for the first place - we had to split from them for most of this leg.  And Bill put a new rule in place that we could only do one bonus scavenge with any team, so we had to pick wisely which one we did with Chris, Chloe, Savannah and Bop. We chose a two day trip on safari in the Masai Mara reserve ... very wise selection. We also added another team (Slo Folks) to our group for some of the trip.

We started out early because it was a 6 1/2 hour long ride to the safari camp and more than half of the time was on "jumpy-jumpy road" which describes precisely the level of pot-holes on the mud paths.  But we arrived in time for a late lunch at our tented camp.



And then straight out to an afternoon / dusk safari


We saw so many animals.  It was incredible.


Aren't zebra butts so cute?


The elusive cheetah


And stand back National Geographic... look at the shot I got of the lions.


Herds of white-tail-bobbing Impalas


Mommy and cuddly baby baboon


At the end of the safari, we visited a Masai Mara village and danced with the women, got to see inside their stick-and-cow-dung houses and learned about their traditions.  Fascinating.  And what we really learned is that virtually all of the jobs are done by the women. The men go out into the fields every day and gossip and watch over the cows and sheep, while the women do all of the chores.





Their houses have no windows, just a few small holes poked in the wall, so they are dark, filled with smoke from the fire and smell of cow manure.  Makes you really consider : "There but for the grace of God go I."


Masai warriors showed us how they start a fire using two sticks and a handful of twigs.  These men would be true stars on "Naked and Afraid." They had flames within 30 seconds flat.


They even brought out their ceremonial lion mane headdress... for us to admire and touch. Creepy. And yet you feel compelled to stroke it.


Plus goat milking for dinner


We had an early supper at the lodge and turned in because we had a 5AM wake-call for a balloon ride over the Serengetti / Masai Mara reserve plain.


Seeing everything from the balloon changes your perspective as you realize the true vastness of the plains.



Once we landed, we got a full champagne breakfast, cooked and enjoyed on the plains.


On our way back to town we very politely "invited" ourselves to our driver's home for dinner.  Actually, we started talking about where we might stop to eat and Simon asked us if we'd like to eat at his house.  For 200 points we said "Heck Yes."  Simon has 4 kids, 3 older girls and a 3 1/2 year old son called Troy.  Simon's wife is a journalist and travels all the time so we only got to meet Troy and Simon's maid / babysitter. But Troy made the whole trip to Kenya. What a character.  As Simon opened the door to his apartment, Troy started dancing and he did not stop until we told him we were leaving (when he promptly started crying).


Troy has charisma aplenty and is smart as heck.  Wouldn't be surprised if he grows up to be the next president of Kenya.


The second day, we mapped out a whole set of things to do.  Since we could only complete five scavenges with the Bajan teams we decided to do those first and then split up.  Because Simon had asked us to his house for dinner the night before, we invited Troy to come with us to visit an elephant orphanage and feed giraffes.  Here is Troy's face when we told him we were taking him to see elephants and giraffes:


The baby elephants at the conservatory were cute and naughty and learn quickly how to hold their own bottle of formula.



At the Giraffe Center, you could feed and pet the giraffes.


Bop got "intimate" with one.


We split up from the Bajans just as the skies opened and a thunderstorm started.  Rainey and I spent the second half of the day working hard,seeing stuff and laughing our butts off in the pouring rain.  We were quite the spectacle.


Here is an interesting scavenger:  Talk to young women about the traditions of dowry.  I spoke to a Masai woman (wife of the village spokesperson), a Kikuyu girl and these two Banta teenagers.  Dowry is still measured in the price of cows and goats.  The Masai wife had been bought for 7 cows.  The girl on the left below told me she was only worth 3 cows and 2 goats because her family was modest.  What a world we still live in!!


Last scavenge of the night, after a 3 hour drive in traffic to cover maybe ten miles (so frustrating), we ate at Carnivore restaurant. Carnivore is similar to a Brazilian churrascaria except it also offers game meats such as crocodile and ox balls.



This is the last leg with Chloe and Chris as they have to leave early to go back to work (sad face).  The trip will not be the same without them.  Not sure where we are going next as Bill has given us a few hours off before our next check-in.  So packing up now... but where are we heading??? Stay tuned.

4 comments:

Derek Maingot said...

We read about the rains over here... looks like all are having a great time! Hugs!

Beverly said...

You did so much in such a short time. wow
did you meet our baby elephant Dupputo. we adopted her in Sept when we were there.
when we met her she would rock for hours.
Had a traumatic life but now going strong.
enjoying the blog and pics.....

april said...

this looks like one of the coolest ever

Chloe said...

I am re-reading these blogs now and feeling very sad and nostalgic that it's all over. I think we are going to contact Simon and get his address so we can all send some post cards to Troy. Will share the address when we have it.

Let's plan a trip back to Kenya/Tanzania ASAP! :)

 

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