Day One -En route

Our tour operator was IntoAfrica with Samuel as driver, Patrick as cook and William the garrulous guide! The company operates a Fair Traded Policy and we had selected their East Africa Explorer which offered a mixture of Cultural visits plus the excitement of game drives.

The first glimpse of the Rift Valley was impressive although quite misty but William explained a great deal about the valley and the formation.

En route we stopped at a colourful market and Patrick made some food purchases for supper.

A picnic lunch gave us the opportunity to stretch our legs and to learn more about our traveling companions. Leanne is a young student from California and Liv and Stein are Norwegian.

Samuel, the driver, impressed me with his working knowledge of Spanish and we quickly became good friends.

We then traveled to our camping site for the night and immediately the lads set to work getting the camp site prepared.

William the took us off on a short trek to the little Maasai Village and introduced us to Jonathan the leader. Before making contact with the Maasai, William explained a few things about when we could take photos and how to greet. It was delightful to be made aware that the children came up and bowed their heads for a gentle pat and greeting of ´sopa´ (probably got the spelling incorrect but I could remember it because of the Spanish word for soup!) I quickly became ´Mama´which I learnt is a term of great respect and is usually used to address older women. As the matriarch of the group this name stuck and I grew quite fond of it. We took lots of the photos of the children and they were enchanting.

We left the ladies with Spanish fans and children with Yo-yo´s . It brought so much fun and laughter.

Jonathan proudly showed off his new young son and then kindly invited us into his home ´boma´. That was quite an experience and we felt very privileged, especially when we learnt they shared it with a bee´s hive! (considered very lucky!)

Back to camp and Patrick had put on a great spread . We dined under a magnificent star lit sky and sat around a huge fire telling stories and comforted by the fact that we were well protected by the Maasai .

View a slideshow of photos from my web album

Under the Stars

Jun 12, 2006 - 17 Photos