Among the Maasai People

Thursday morning we went to visit a Maasai village. The visit was very interesting. It is strange to see people who still live more or less as their ancestors did hundreds or thousands of years ago. Their villages have no electricity, no running water, no air conditioning -- in short, none of the modern conveniences we now assume are vital for life. Instead, they live in houses made of straw and branches, sealed with cow dung.

Most of us could never live that way, but perhaps neither could they live as we do. (I asked if many of the young people leave for Nairobi or other big cities. They claimed that very few leave...)

The Maasai Mara

The Maasai Mara is one of the most famous game reserves in Kenya. It is named after the indigenous people, the "Masai." More about them later.

We saw quite a few wildebeast and zebras. Apparently they often stay together because they both like the same type of grass -- the zebra eat the tops of the stalks, and the wildebeast eat the bottoms. The wildebeast were in the midst of their annual migration, and we saw them often lined up single-file.

It is not so clear to me if the zebras were migrating too, or were just hanging around the wildebeast.

Mt. Kenya

Today we are in the mountains near Mt. Kenya, at an elevation of 7000 feet. We are staying at a lodge that is built around an animal watering hole, so there is no need to go on game drives - the animals come to us, and we can watch them from the comfort of our rooms. The watering hole has an island in the middle in the shape of Africa.


Here are Tim and Erica at a viewing window, with a stork in the background.