Don't be deceived, the Masai people are tough businessmen!

We are now officially in Kenya and have witnessed first hand, the persistent nature of the Masai people. Imagine the street solicitors we have for different nonprofits collecting signatures on the street back home in the States; then multiply that "assertiveness," we can call, it by a thousand, add in a few adorable babies and you have the Masai people. They are very kind people, but man, I was not prepared for our encounters with them yesterday or this morning!

So let's catch up! Yesterday morning, we woke bright and early to head out of the Serengeti to Kenya. We left our gorgeous Bilila Lodge around 6:15am and headed through the plains to a teeny tiny airstrip in the middle of the park. All 25 of us hopped on two planes - the largest being ours, an 18 seater - and headed back to Arusha. Admittedly, the flight was not as bad as I thought it would be, but I did have the feeling that the plane was not exactly flying level. Nevertheless, our pilot who was female and could not have been more than 25 years old or so, got us to Arusha in one piece. Phew, one step down. Then, we boarded the buses and headed to the Tanzania/Kenyan border. This was an interesting experience, as we had to "check out" of Tanzania and file exit papers before crossing over a "no man's land," which was literally about 50 meters wide of land that was neither Tanzania or Kenya. We then went through customs in Kenya. Seemingly simple, right? Well, remember, this is a HUGE border crossing. So there were tons of trucks carrying cargo that literally had to be taken off of each bed and inspected. Then there were the Masai. For those of you not familiar with the Masai, they are local tribe warriors in east Africa who wear red fabrics which they once thought would keep the lions away. More on their traditions later, but essentially, wherever you see the Masai they immediately bombard you and try to sell you their jewelry, carvings and other "homemade" goods (jury is still out as to whether or not they actually make these items). So at the border, they literally were banging on our windows, screaming "ten for ten" which meant ten bracelets for $10. I did try to grab some, but unfortunately my bartering skills were not up to pair - I tried to get ten bracelets for $10 but they kept giving me 7, or 8. So they either thought I couldn't count... or have no idea how many ten actually is!

After we finally made it over, we traveled into Amboseli National Park, which is where we are now. The area is much different than any of the other parks we have been to, as there are very little trees (so unfortunately no giraffe) and miles and miles of swamps. Elephants are in abundance here, as are the standard wildebeest, lions, gazelle, etc. It was interesting driving around because this was the first time when it felt like we were surrounded by other safari vehicles - it is MUCH more crowded in this area! Both yesterday and today we are doing afternoon game drives, so while there are not as many animals out and about, the sunsets are absolutely gorgeous. I caught a few pictures of the sunset last night, but hope to get the quintessential shot with an acacia tree tonight.

Now this morning was an entirely different experience - since arriving,  the majority of our time has been spent on game drives, but today we went to see a boma, which is another word for a Masai village. This village was made up of 4 families, and included 119 people. Now you do the math :) The Masai culture is polygamist, so man can have many, many wives. Though interestingly enough, they are smart enough to keep the wives separate. So each woman has a house (do not call it a hut, as they WILL correct you!) where her children live. Her husband then moves around from home to home "visiting" his various wives. The houses are made out of straw and elephant dung, though amazingly do not smell. We actually were able to go in and see what it was like in the houses - they were very short (which I found odd because the Masai people are quite tall!), and they had "mattresses" made out of cowhide. Now admittedly, I do not know if these houses were authentic or not, as this was an organized tour, but it was very interesting to see how they live. We learned about their diet, as well, which includes milk and cow blood, and met the "medicine man" who has different natural prescriptions for various aliments, including a root based Viagra - I guess something had to be done to keep all the wives happy! We then were able to "shop" their goods. And by this I mean they set completely insane prices for items and they we had to bargain down. I've learned I am no expert at bargaining - I had one bracelet, one necklace, a cow horn bowl and a beaded bowl - and the medicine man (who was my group's guide through the village) had a starting price of $80. I started at $25, which is more likely what everything was worth. In the end, I only walked away with one bowl and one necklace for $25, which honestly was a bit more than the two pieces were worth, but hey, maybe my $25 will help those little children buy some school books, right?! As we drove away in our cars, we estimated that the little boma of 4 families probably came away with over $2,000 from us - both in the money Tauck paid for us to visit and the money we paid for our goods. Not a bad day for the Masai people!

Tomorrow we head out for our next stop - hopefully will be able to access the internet there for a more timely update! Hope everyone is enjoying these posts, even though they are few and  far between!