5/1/07 - early morning
Last night, after dinner, Joel and about 7 or 8 of his Maasai warrior buddies came to the lodge to chant and jump. These guys can jump 18 inches to two feet off the ground from a flat footed stand. They were great. Afterwards, we talked to another warrior, Ole Kuya (son of Kuya), who told us a lot about Maasai culture -- he gives a daily lecture about Maasai culture. We said that we would come tomorrow. He and Joel told us that all the chanting and jumping was developed when they were still raiding other groups of Maasai for their cows, they were egging each other on...it was a kick.
After we were done last night, Alex said, we'll leave tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. That meant we needed to get up at 5:30 a.m. Ohhh. I did not sleep well the first night, either. Coffee was the first item on my agenda.
Once we were out, though, it was gorgeous and beautiful. This morning, we headed in a different direction, towards a little plateau (or a pla-too, as the Kenyans call them) -- we saw giraffes (lots), zebras (more) and a lone wildebeest hanging out with the gazelles. He must have been left behind because in June and July, they have huge herds of wildebeest that migrate from Tanzania. I guess it is really an astounding sight, and many people go up in the hot air balloons to watch them. Apparently many Americans come in those months to see the migration. According to Alex, this is a bit of the "off "season, but you could have fooled me. We still saw huge numbers of all different types of animals...Today we saw many elephants all day long -- there was a small herd of different ages that hung out around the elevated boardwalk area -- Norm was fascinated and spent most of his time out there before we went out again in the afternoon. Other animals and birds this morning -- dik dik (a very small gazelle), Grant's gazelles, Gray-crested Crane, Yellow-throated Longclaw (like a meadowlark), Egyptian goose, Wattled Plover and the Lappet-faced Vulture (very ugly).
Last night, after dinner, Joel and about 7 or 8 of his Maasai warrior buddies came to the lodge to chant and jump. These guys can jump 18 inches to two feet off the ground from a flat footed stand. They were great. Afterwards, we talked to another warrior, Ole Kuya (son of Kuya), who told us a lot about Maasai culture -- he gives a daily lecture about Maasai culture. We said that we would come tomorrow. He and Joel told us that all the chanting and jumping was developed when they were still raiding other groups of Maasai for their cows, they were egging each other on...it was a kick.
After we were done last night, Alex said, we'll leave tomorrow at 6:30 a.m. That meant we needed to get up at 5:30 a.m. Ohhh. I did not sleep well the first night, either. Coffee was the first item on my agenda.
Once we were out, though, it was gorgeous and beautiful. This morning, we headed in a different direction, towards a little plateau (or a pla-too, as the Kenyans call them) -- we saw giraffes (lots), zebras (more) and a lone wildebeest hanging out with the gazelles. He must have been left behind because in June and July, they have huge herds of wildebeest that migrate from Tanzania. I guess it is really an astounding sight, and many people go up in the hot air balloons to watch them. Apparently many Americans come in those months to see the migration. According to Alex, this is a bit of the "off "season, but you could have fooled me. We still saw huge numbers of all different types of animals...Today we saw many elephants all day long -- there was a small herd of different ages that hung out around the elevated boardwalk area -- Norm was fascinated and spent most of his time out there before we went out again in the afternoon. Other animals and birds this morning -- dik dik (a very small gazelle), Grant's gazelles, Gray-crested Crane, Yellow-throated Longclaw (like a meadowlark), Egyptian goose, Wattled Plover and the Lappet-faced Vulture (very ugly).
We also saw an interesting tree with large sausage-shaped fruit hanging off it, apparently the locals make beer from these pods. I don't think the giraffes like them, because they are not eaten up to giraffe neck level like the acacia trees are (the "lollipop" trees). Alex also told us a lot about Kenyan politics -- the current president is very popular because he has made elementary school free for everyone. He also says that most Kenyans like Americans -- we certainly have felt welcome here.
We finally returned to a great breakfast (as all the meals were). I learned more Swahili -- "Asante sana" means thank you very much and "Caribou sana" means you're welcome, very much!
While we were looking for the hippo in the pool at the "Hippo Bar", Joel and Ole Kuya came to find us. We found that they really enjoyed talking with us and when we were just "hanging out", they would show up! I think many of the tourists treated them as "exhibits" but we were all very interested in them as people and they in us. They mentioned that they really did not like all the posing for pictures so I only took one of them (see above) -- they were enjoying Gloria's MP3 player -- Ole Kuya (on the left) wanted her to send him one! They really liked the Latino music she had and were fascinated by the whole thing. They had never heard most of the different kinds of music she had on her player.
While we were looking for the hippo in the pool at the "Hippo Bar", Joel and Ole Kuya came to find us. We found that they really enjoyed talking with us and when we were just "hanging out", they would show up! I think many of the tourists treated them as "exhibits" but we were all very interested in them as people and they in us. They mentioned that they really did not like all the posing for pictures so I only took one of them (see above) -- they were enjoying Gloria's MP3 player -- Ole Kuya (on the left) wanted her to send him one! They really liked the Latino music she had and were fascinated by the whole thing. They had never heard most of the different kinds of music she had on her player.
Kerry was teaching them American idioms, expressions such as "I could eat a horse!" and "I'm stuffed!" and I told them about "Out of the frying pan, into the fire!" for getting oneself into worse trouble than you are already in, they liked that one as I guess it made sense to them.
Another meal! Lunch! I'm starting to feel like the lioness in that picture!
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