Notes from Stephen, Wan, Kweilin, and Li

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Nazareth, Masai Mara

Jay and I couldn't sleep from 3 am to when we finally got up at 6. Still jetlagged.

Drove to Masai Mara in pop-top minivan with driver, cook, and mother and son. Beautiful descent into plains ("Mara").

Dropped camera and broke it at lookout. Lesson: be careful exchanging camera; bring extra.

Ate tasty roasted corn at lookout.

Ana is single mother to son Mandela. She's 32, he's 11. She never married his father, which is common in Kenya. "Don't rely on them," she said, "because they will disappoint you."

It's hard to distinguish Kenyans. While we were having lunch in Narok, Daddy called his friend "William" and asked him to come see us. Daddy met him downstairs and brought him up to where we were having lunch. "This is William," said Daddy. Mommy introduced herself: "I'm Wan. You are William?" "No, I'm Daniel," he replied. A "Who's On First"-like exchange ensued. It turned out that this guy was a complete stranger! He had lent his cell phone to William to call Daddy, which is why Daddy thought he called William. Daniel kindly came out to meet us even though he had no idea who we were.

Kenya has 50 % unemployment. And that's just counting the people looking for work.

We stopped in a tiny village and played with the Masai children. My camera and Jay's video camera (both digital) fascinated them.

We went on an evening game drive and saw gazelles, lions, wildebeest, giraffe, and buffalo, but no leopard. We drove through terrain that you wouldn't expect a two-wheel-drive minivan to go, but the leopard eluded us.

The "Big 5" that people like to see in the Mara are: lion, giraffe, rhino, leopard, and buffalo. We have yet to see the leopard and rhino.

In the evening we sat around a fire and talked with a few young Masai males. They are the security for the camp. They patrol at night for lions.

We had spaghetti for dinner and slept in two tents--the semi-permanent kind, like in Yosemite Housekeeping Camp.

Bright, full moon at night.

posted by Li at 11:08 AM