Maasai Mara

Tim next to the geographical information sign for Crayfish Camp
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This is the location that we met up with our tour leader, truck driver and the other members of our tour that we were going to go onto Vic Falls with.  The lake was alright.  It wasnt fantastic.  The roads to get there were THE worst roads i have EVER been on!  There were more potholes than road.  Half the time we were driving in the gutters rather than on the road, making a steady 20kph.

At the lake we saw some hippos and bird life.  It wasnt really that exciting as the hippos were someway offshore.  It was a good time to really start to get to know the people on our tour.  So we talked to them and went down to the lake with them.  That night we went to the bar and got a little destroyed.

The Jetty at the Camp
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The next day we were up again and had to get ready to leave.  Those that were coming with our tour group said their goodbyes (there was only 2 of them) and we left for the Maasai Mara.  The roads were just as bad, if not worse and prgress was SLOW!  We got to the Maasai Mara at about 2pm.  We saw a few buffalo, zebra, warthogs and birds.

On the way to the Maasai Mara we went to a Maasai Village.  The houses are made of mud, sticks and cow crap!!!  Lovely.  They are also terribly small and stink quite bad of cow manure.  So we went for a tour through one of them and they sang us a song and then showed us how they live.  They sleep 2 adults and 5 children in one of these houses and half the house is dedicated to calves (baby cows), which they keep in there so that Lions etc dont eat them.

Us on the jetty with a few of the guys and gals from our tour group.
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The Maasai people also eat goat and drink cows milk and cow blood (mixed together).  So incerdibly ferral.  Anyway they live quite poorly but made quite a lot of money when we came through the town.  It cost us 500 Ksh (Kenyan Shillings) eat, which is how much you buy a cow for, and cows are sacred.  They used to be able to sell a cow for about 18,000 Ksh however bceause they have been in draught they have been only able to sell them for 5oo Ksh.  So they made a fair bit of money when we came through.

Myself and Tim with the Maasai Warriors
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So on we went to our campsite.  The roads here are TOTALLY shocking.  In the country they are composed of pot holes with random bits of roadbase scattered throughout it.  Anyway we finally got there and setup our tents.  We then jumped back on the bus and went out for a sunset game drive.  We were all quite excited because in the Maasai Mara they have Lions, Hippos, Rhinos, Giraffes, Elephants, Zebras, etc.  They are all there.  However we only saw GIraffe, Zebra, Wilderbeest etc.  The best bit was that we got bogged 5 times!!!  The first time wasnt so bad, but we had to get out and dig the front and rear tyres out, plus dig the diff out, coz w3e had sunk so badly.  Anyway, in the end the other truck came (because there was like 2 truck loads of people) and they towed us out.  The mud here is slippery but also is very hard to dig through.  We then jumped back onto the bus and continued on.