Safari Day 3 - Amboseli

We woke up the next day for our first full day of game drives in Amboseli National Park.  I should clarify that I was already awake, having stayed up most of the night with a very sick husband.  Scott was suffering from a stomach bug and was pretty miserable for most of the night.  The Cipro proved effective and so he was able to spend most of the day recovering (although staying in the tent).

Meanwhile, I went out with Sharon and Dave for our game drives.  Our morning started out by seeing a good group of giraffes fairly close to the road.  Fun fact about giraffes: they are one of few animals that can see colors.

One of my favorite safari moments happened on this day.  We watched a herd of elephants walking from quite a ways away, and when we realized they were walking right towards us we stuck around to see them closer.  They walked right around our jeep!  It was very cool to see mothers and young elephants (this is how they group themselves, bull elephants sort of roam around on their own).  One notable thing about elephants is how quiet they are. We could not even hear footsteps as they walked by.

Elephants surrounding the jeep!

Mother and Baby Tembo (Swahili word for elephant)

After our game drive seeing many more animals, we got to visit a local Masai village.  The Masai people are one of the largest tribes in Kenya/Tanzania (they're nomadic).  They are often noted when speaking of East Africa, because while the rest of the tribes still exist, they are more modernized, while the Masai continue to adhere to their traditional ways of life.

We were greeted at the village by Masai women doing a traditional welcome dance.  They even asked Sharon and I to join in.  It involved a lot of jumping up and down.

The village is actually one extended family, so we would see several Masai villages scattered throughout the landscape.  Each village is built in a circle surrounded by thorny bushes that the people collect to form a sort of natural fence.  This is meant to protect the people, but mostly the cows and goats, from predators at night.

The Masai people thrive on livestock.  Very wealthy = many cows. Young boys herd the cattle and goats throughout the land, searching for green grass wherever they can find it.  Older boys undergo a long process to become "warriors" and eventually the leaders of the community. The women take care of children and are also responsible for building homes.  The homes are made out of cow dung.  We even got to go inside one. It was warm and cozy, but pretty small.

This was a wonderful insight into the culture of the Masai people, which we would experience several more times in the days to come.

The day ended with a trip to the Amboseli Elephant Research Project, where learned about how they keep track of all of the elephants in the park, and even know them by name. Very interesting.

Scott's health update:  The Cipro had worked its magic and while he was still recovering from the dehydration, things were looking much better.  This news was definitely the best event of my day.  He was even able to join us for dinner this night and we looked forward to our return to Tanzania the next day!