On our way home

Hi, Paul here. I just wrote a nice long post and erased it all by mistake, so I'll have to start all over again. :(

I'm writing this post on my Blackberry as we fly home to JFK. This is how I'd planned on doing all my posts until I couldn't get the service working in Kenya. But this was probably a good thing as I wasn't tempted to look at any work e-mails. I owe Benny and Wayne big time for covering for me for the last 2 weeks. Thanks guys.

No e-mail, no phone calls and no TV for 2 whole weeks. Now that's my idea of heaven. But news did sneek into camp that Jacko and Farah died, so we can't totally get away from civilization.

In Sue's last post she mentioned that we went to a Massai market on Friday and I wanted to expand on that a bit since I found it so fascinating. The first thing that happened is when we stopped for a picnic breakfast in the bush on our way to the market, 7 young Maasi girls were walking by with plastic water jugs on their way to the well when they sat down in the grass about 60 yards away. Our guide, Dixon went over to talk to them and when he came back he said they had never seen white people before and were hoping to catch a glimps of us. Of course we volunteered to go meet them after breakfast. We introduced ourselves and they told us their names. One girl said she knew a few words of English but when asked she was too shy to say anything. They giggled and laughed just like American teeneagers. They wanted Sue to try to carry their water jug on her head with a leather strap the way they did and when Sue tried she could barely stand up. And yes, I have pictures.

The market is held every Friday from 10:00 till 4:00. It's organized by the local governemnt council and people will walk hours to buy and sell goods. We stopped at a pen where the men bought and sold cattle. It's surreal lisdtening to them barter back and forth wearing Notre Dame football jackets, Vermont bicentennial t-shirts and UC Berkley fleeces. Dixon said while they all might wear their traditional clothing much of the week, many will wear their western clothes to the market for some odd reason. We went to the "women's market" where they bought and sold food (potatoes, maize) clothing (western and traditional) hardware and handicrafts (jewlrey and carvings) a few of which we bought. We walked by the makeshift stone and timber buildings that functioned as cell phone stores, butchers, and pubs (Magnificent Pub II, Florida Paridise Pub) and past the shade trees that functioned as bicycle and motorcycle repair spots.

Besides all the wildlife that I'm sure you all are tired of hearing about (164 bird species including 21 raptors and 8 different types of eagles) I've loved learning about the Maasi culture from those that live in it. Our guides were all Maasi and they were articulate, learned, intelligent and spoke almost perfect English (with a British accent) yet some still lived with their wives and children in traditional mud and stick Manyattas and practiced polygomy. I learned a lot about their rights of intitiation to Junior Warrior and on up to tribe Elder, their beliefs, myths, sayings and family relationships.

On Saturday morning we went on our last game drive and we were not dissapointed. Within about 2 hours we saw Hippo, Crocodiles, Jackles tearing up a small antelope called a Dikdik that they'd stolen from a Marshall Eagel, a leopard up a tree with an antelope he'd killed the night before, and 2 lions mateing. Now I know why he's called the king of the jungle and yes, once again, I have pictures.

And then, just like that, it was over. We bid a sad farewell to the camp owners and to Dixon and our spotter Lolly before we were on a plane back to Nairobi for dinner (which got me sick, first time all trip) and the flights back home.

Now, while Sue and I have been describing Kenya as a paradise, everyone should know they have their share of troubles. There was tribe-on-tribe violence last year spurred by government elections that killed hundreds and drove away the tourists, there is a severe drought in some parts of the country that are threatening people's food source including the Maasi cattle, they are having to deal with millions of refuges from the war and famine to their north in Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia, and female genital mutilation is still practiced despite international efforts to put a stop to it. Yet I can't imagine a better place for a safari, although I'm sure people who've been to South Africa, Tanzania and others would have something to say about that. However, the trip exceeded all our expectations and Sue and I are already dreaming of coming back some day.

Please check back in a few days when I'll illustrate our posts with some photos and post a link to a photo sharing site where I'll upload these pictures I've been bragging about.

And now I'll end with a few things I've experienced these past 2 weeks that I hope I'll allways remember.

- being invited to participate in a traditional Maasi jumping dance where the warriors try to out-jump each other to impress the ladies. Suffice it to say, I didn't win, place or show, but Sue chose me anyway.

- Sitting around a campfire on the top of a bluff, drinking a gin and tonic and watching the setting sun illuminate the snows of Kilimanjaro. Then watching the stars come out and seeing the Southern Cross for the first time.

- Petting a baby Rhino while another guest bottle fed it. I think Sue told you about that one.

- Sitting in a vanishing pool and sipping, oh, probably another gin and tonic, while watching Elephant and Giraffe in the ravine below.

- Tracking a herd of Elephants on foot, and sneaking to within 30 yards to take pictures when the wind shifted and we berat a quick but silent retreat.

- Laying in our four-poster, mosquito-net covered bed on the top of a cliff and watching the sun rise over my toes.

- meeting a young Maasi girl who had never met a white person before and realizing that she was wearing t-shirt that said "Curves- Fitness for Women"

- Waking up at 4 in the morning and hearing lions roar, seemingly a few hundred yards from our tent, and realizing that the only thing that stood between me and them was 1/16 inch of canavas and a Maasi Warrior standing guard outside our tent. With a spear.

- Putting my belt back on after 2 weeks and having a hard time making the same hole I had it in when I arrived. And it was the last hole on the belt.



Look forward to seeing you all soon, thanks for reading.



Sue and Paul