We were barely away from the resortand we saw these Giraffe!
We had thought the road yesterday was horrendous...but this one was a very slow haul...total areas of pure rocks, potholes, David did GREAT!
Meanwhile, the roof was raised and we were up and looking for animals. And animals we did see :-)
a hippo heading back to it's pool after
Meanwhile, the roof was raised and we were up and looking for animals. And animals we did see :-)
a hippo heading back to it's pool aftera night a grazing on the grasses...
another gorgeous sunrise...
the Mara at dawn...
lots of hot-air balloons sailing over the savannah...
$445 each for 1 hour & champagne breakfast...
lots of zebras...
warthogs...
We'd seen a lot of warthogs, but none touched
this guys tusks! He was one mean looking guy!
Gorgeous helmeted guinea fowl. The early
sun caught the brilliant colors in their feathers.
It was a short trip but we were all most grateful to David for taking us! We saw lots of gazelles, baboons, birds and even an elephant. It was a stunning morning. We headed back up the road and ate breakfast and got ready to go to Sabbath services in a small church about 1/2 a mile away. It was a beautiful walk with our Maasai guide.
beautiful flowers...
past herds of cattle and goats...
red-necked agamas...
past homes of Maasai families...
We arrived while they were still having Sunday School so sat quietly in the tiny Kawai Village church while they finished. It was a small mud/dung construction with two doors and a few small windows. After they finished Sunday school everyone moved benches outside so there would be plenty of room for everyone. It was a wonderful service. It was in swahali and one of the gentlemen translated to English. Fred had been asked the day before to deliver the sermon and did a fine job subtly suggesting more fruits and vegetables in their very limited diet of meat, milk and cows blood.
a few faces during the service..
The women's choir got up to sing the final song.
Following the service two gentlemen got up to speak. They had both wandered into the service late. It turned out they were both elders in the community and had been the ones who donated the land for this Seventh Day Adventist Church. They spoke of their joy in doing this and the difference the church was making in their community. Neither of them attend this church and had just been walking by when they decided to come today. No one had announced that the first foreign visitors to the church were attending today.
Note the church in the background.
It was very touching seeing these two
hands greet in thanksgiving!
Then the service ended and everyone went to shake the Pastor's hand and the elders and on down the line. When they reached the end of the line they joined it so in the end, everyone had shaken everyone's hand. Reminded me of the Christmas Train we used to have at St. Luke's!
As the ladies were standing in line, Maasai women shared some of their jewelry. Jean is getting her necklace now. When it was all over I tried to return it, thinking it was just part of the ceremony, but the Pastor told me it had been given in friendship.
My new friend, Pricilla. We had a good laugh
trying to figure out the name Pricilla!
April had new friends also.
It was a wonderful experience for all. We took a shorter way back to Mara West and arrived just in time for lunch. We had some time after wards to wander or relax and mid-afternoon we headed out to a viewpoint on the Escarpment. It was one of the locations for the Out of Africa movie. The young man who had guided us to church lead us on this hike.
We're off with cameras and binocs at the ready!
Quite a contrast there!
WOW! It sure is a big savannah!
Can hardly wait to get down there tomorrow!
Can't miss those Kodak moments!
John and our guide having a chat.
These ladies were doing laundry in
the river on our walk back.
On our return walk there were a lot of animals wandering, like this giraffe. The Maasai are wonderful environmentalist and leave most of the animals to wander. They only confront animals who are threatening their herds. Consequently, we saw many animals in all the time we were on Masai land. Giraffes, Zebras, Gazelles, baboons, impala and many others were grazing as we wandered by. Many of the other tribes use any animal for food so there were areas near Lake Victoria where we saw no animals.
We had some free time for showers, pictures etc following our walk. Just before dinner time we had this lovely sunset view from our tent.
We had a delightful dinner of vegetarian pasta. The after dinner entertainment was Masai dancing, so we saw many of the young people from church. It was a very fun evening.
The Jumping Dance
Demonstrating the tools they carry with them when herding.
another gorgeous sunrise...
the Mara at dawn...
lots of hot-air balloons sailing over the savannah...$445 each for 1 hour & champagne breakfast...
lots of zebras...
warthogs...
We'd seen a lot of warthogs, but none touchedthis guys tusks! He was one mean looking guy!
Gorgeous helmeted guinea fowl. The earlysun caught the brilliant colors in their feathers.
It was a short trip but we were all most grateful to David for taking us! We saw lots of gazelles, baboons, birds and even an elephant. It was a stunning morning. We headed back up the road and ate breakfast and got ready to go to Sabbath services in a small church about 1/2 a mile away. It was a beautiful walk with our Maasai guide.
beautiful flowers...
past herds of cattle and goats...
red-necked agamas...
past homes of Maasai families...We arrived while they were still having Sunday School so sat quietly in the tiny Kawai Village church while they finished. It was a small mud/dung construction with two doors and a few small windows. After they finished Sunday school everyone moved benches outside so there would be plenty of room for everyone. It was a wonderful service. It was in swahali and one of the gentlemen translated to English. Fred had been asked the day before to deliver the sermon and did a fine job subtly suggesting more fruits and vegetables in their very limited diet of meat, milk and cows blood.
a few faces during the service..
The women's choir got up to sing the final song.
Following the service two gentlemen got up to speak. They had both wandered into the service late. It turned out they were both elders in the community and had been the ones who donated the land for this Seventh Day Adventist Church. They spoke of their joy in doing this and the difference the church was making in their community. Neither of them attend this church and had just been walking by when they decided to come today. No one had announced that the first foreign visitors to the church were attending today.
Note the church in the background.
It was very touching seeing these twohands greet in thanksgiving!
Then the service ended and everyone went to shake the Pastor's hand and the elders and on down the line. When they reached the end of the line they joined it so in the end, everyone had shaken everyone's hand. Reminded me of the Christmas Train we used to have at St. Luke's!
As the ladies were standing in line, Maasai women shared some of their jewelry. Jean is getting her necklace now. When it was all over I tried to return it, thinking it was just part of the ceremony, but the Pastor told me it had been given in friendship.
My new friend, Pricilla. We had a good laughtrying to figure out the name Pricilla!
April had new friends also.It was a wonderful experience for all. We took a shorter way back to Mara West and arrived just in time for lunch. We had some time after wards to wander or relax and mid-afternoon we headed out to a viewpoint on the Escarpment. It was one of the locations for the Out of Africa movie. The young man who had guided us to church lead us on this hike.
We're off with cameras and binocs at the ready!
Quite a contrast there!
WOW! It sure is a big savannah!
Can hardly wait to get down there tomorrow!
Can't miss those Kodak moments!
John and our guide having a chat.
These ladies were doing laundry inthe river on our walk back.
On our return walk there were a lot of animals wandering, like this giraffe. The Maasai are wonderful environmentalist and leave most of the animals to wander. They only confront animals who are threatening their herds. Consequently, we saw many animals in all the time we were on Masai land. Giraffes, Zebras, Gazelles, baboons, impala and many others were grazing as we wandered by. Many of the other tribes use any animal for food so there were areas near Lake Victoria where we saw no animals.We had some free time for showers, pictures etc following our walk. Just before dinner time we had this lovely sunset view from our tent.
We had a delightful dinner of vegetarian pasta. The after dinner entertainment was Masai dancing, so we saw many of the young people from church. It was a very fun evening.
The Jumping Dance
Demonstrating the tools they carry with them when herding.This Sabbath Day turned out to be a real treasure of Masai culture and contact. What a blessing!
