Lions, Leopards, and Maasai

This past weekend I went on my second african safari. I'm really not one for african wildlife outside of watching the Lion King, but our volunteer organization gave us a huge discount to go to one of the world's most famous game parks in the Maasai Mara. I felt obligated to at least give it a chance, so I set off for a 3 day safari with other volunteers. The experience greatly exceeded my expectations. The thing that sets game parks apart from national parks is the animals can come and go as they please, so its a real possibility that you may not see much of anything during your safari. Luckily for me, that wasn't the case. Throughout the weekend I saw elephants roam the fields together in packs, leopards sleeping in trees, and male lions come right up to our van and stare at us with curious eyes.

 

The safari wasn't perfect though. While our kenyan tour guides were very cool and had no problem sharing a beer with us at night, they had a difficult time keeping their vehicles working. The two vans we went in broke down constantly and we had to get out a number of times to help push the van until it started. Then again, we were paying a fifth of the price the other tourists were to go on the same exact safari.

The third day in the Maasai Mara was my favorite. We took the day to visit the Maasai Village, where some of the volunteers work. The Maasai people are similar to what the Native Americans were to us (except Kenya hasn't killed almost all of them off or given them casinos). They are all very dark, tall, and skinny. Their body is wrapped around with a large blanket and nothing more. One of them took me around his village; not surprisingly they have no running water or electricity. Their huts are very small and bring in hardly any light, so its almost pitch black even during the day time. It's amazing that these people have lived the same way for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years. To be considered a man, a Maasai must go out into the wilderness and kill a lion. Kenya has outlawed the killing of lions now so it's illegal, but it still may happen.

Their diet is far from extravagant, they usually eat just potatoes, rice, and on rare occasions will eat the goats they own. If they don't have food, they will generally drink cow's blood. They asked us if we would like to drink some while we were there, and I was one of the few that accepted. I watched as they punctured the cow, and filled up a jug with its blood. I grabbed it and began to chug (you were only supposed to take a sip, not chug.. Woops). It wasn't awful, but I don't think cows blood will become a normal part of my diet. It was crazy seeing people live a life so differently from what we're used to. I really do hope that the Kenyan government continues to leave them alone, and never tries to make them adapt to the way we currently live.