After our morning game drive Robert took me to visit the local Masai village. We see the Masai everyday on our game drives herding their cows and goats around the Mara in their red tribal clothing. Their huts are made of cow dung and the entire village is called a boma fenced in with thorny bushes and branches to keep the wild animals out at night. After touring the village and even the inside of a hut, I tour the "market" inside the boma where they sell their hand-beaded wares. Yet again when we are negotiating the price of the items I chose at the market, the bidding begins at $300. I ended up with a beautiful, rather large necklace and a couple of trinkets for $30. Since they don't have paper or pencil they use a white pastey straw and write the numbers on their forearms.
I did find out during my tour that they still practice polygamy. I also learned from one of the girls who works at our camp that they still perform female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM).
Below are more awesome pictures taken on our morning and late afternoon game drives. Right away on our morning drive we came across 2 lionesses and Robert tells us they've been hanging around our camp for 2 weeks.
We are having another incredible safarai drive/day and come upon a leopard sighting in a lone tree. We also come upon our first and only traffic jam in the Mara. Once we saw this leopard, we'd seen the "big 5."
Paula, I haven't forgotten the significance we placed on this leopard sighting.
Great pictures and stories. Been waiting for them.
ReplyDelete