Africa- Part One

It's taken us a while to update our blog as we have been in some pretty remote places in Africa over the past couple of weeks and the opportunities to use internet which actually works are few and far between. We have finally found a place in Jinja in Uganda (where we currently are) where we can do some blogging but unfortunately the network is so slow that we won't be able to post any pictures at this stage. We will try and put together an African photo album later on in the trip as we move further south and the connections get better. But for now here is a summary of what we have been up to.....

It was with a sense of excitement but also trepidation that Tom and I boarded our Qatar Airline flight bound for Nairobi, Kenya via a short stopover in Doha. We were embarking on a seven week overland camping safari from Nairobi to Livingstone with Absolute Africa - the African tour company that had been recommended to us by several of our friends. Having never been much of a camper myself, I wasn't too sure how I would fair - but I was about to find out.

Given that between us, Tom and I were carrying roughly $5,500 US in cash when we landed in Nairobi we were relieved that our prearranged ride met us at the airport and that we were safely transferred to our hotel "The Heron". The hotel was basic but perfectly nice and after smothering ourselves in tropical strength deet we enjoyed a drink in the garden bar and then a pretty decent meal in the hotel restaurant.

That night however Tom and I awoke to the sound of torrential rain hammering on the roof of our hotel room. It was then that it dawned on us that we would be under canvas the next night and for many more nights to come - possibly in similar downpours as we had just found out it was the rainy season!

The next morning we got up very early and met our tour leader, Moses (from Kenya) and our truck driver, David (from Uganda). We also met our 14 other fellow travellers who were all very nice and from, England, Australia, Ireland, Spain and New Zealand. We will post a picture of our truck "Wiley" later. But to give you an idea it is an enormous and high, bright yellow contraption with tarpaulins for windows which you can roll right up - this is great when it is really hot and on our many game drives.

Our first day on the tour was spent exploring the sights in and around Nairobi. We went to the Giraffe Centre (a conservation centre for the endangered Rothschild giraffe) where we hand fed giraffe which was pretty cool. Some people fed them mouth to mouth - Tom and I were not keen even though apparently their tongues are antibacterial! After the Giraffe Centre we visited the David Sheldrick elephant orphanage where baby elephants who have been orphaned are rehabilitated and then released back into the wild. Some of the elephants were only a few months old and were absolutely gorgeous.

After a short stop at the expat shopping centre to pick up supplies (absolutely chocca with security) we arrived at our first campsite for the night. We were taught how to erect our tents which are fairly basic three man tents shared by two people. We were also split into groups for the purposes of carrying out the four main chores on the trip (cooking, cleaning, truck security and truck cleaning) which each of the groups rotate through.

We were enjoying a quiet drink with our first meal when it started to rain - and I mean rain! It didn't stop all night and the patch of lawn where our tents were pitched became water logged very quickly! Needless to say our very first night under canvas was not at all pleasant as we had water pooling inside at one end of the tent - oh yeah and the loudest frogs imaginable who were clearly enjoying the dowpour as much as we were hating it. We didn't sleep much at all.

The next day we packed up our soggy tents and belongings and got on the truck bound for the Masai Mara Game Reserve. We had a great drive to the Reserve with the windows up as the sun was shining. It turns out that the rainy season isn't that bad after all. There are a few serious downpours but in between these the weather is typically hot and sunny. Our drive took us through the stunning scenery of the Rift Valley which extends all the way north to Jordan. All along the way, little kids would spy our big yellow truck and come running out of their houses (which are typically tiny huts made from a mixture of mud and cow dung) waving frantically at as and screaming "Mzungu, Mzungu!" (translating basically as "white person").

We did an afternoon game drive in the Masai Mara Reserve which was awesome. We saw loads of animals including herds of elephant, giraffe, zebra, warthogs, gazelle and the big highlight a lion and lioness mating! All pretty amazing.

That night we stayed in a bush camp on the edge of the Reserve - there are no fences around the reserve and the wildlife wanders in and out of the bush camp at night so we had Masai warriors with spears guarding our campsite all night. I did get the fright of my life when I got up in the night to go to the loo (which was a pretty nasty long drop) and stumbled across a rather menacing looking man with a black cloak and an enormous spear squatting just a few metres away from our tent. He gave me an enormous smile though (which glowed in the dark against his black skin) and so I knew he was friendly. Quite an experience though and there were some very strange animal noises all throughout the night!

The next day we did another great game drive in the Reserve and then spent a couple of hours in the afternoon visiting a traditional Masai Village. The Masai people are one of the most recognisable tribes found in Kenya and Tanzania because they still largely wear traditional clothes and retain their traditional cultural practices. The young men (known as Masai warriors) wear brilliant red clothing or blankets. They shave most of their hair off but leave a long section across the top and down their backs which they braid and then dye red using cow's blood. The front section is braided out from their faces at a right angle so that it acts as a sun visor. This comes in particularly handy when they are out hunting in the Reserve. A Masai man's right of passage into adulthood involves him having to kill a lion, skin it and wear the head and skin back to the village. The women all seem to shave their heads and were brilliantly coloured kangas and jewellery. Most of them (many as young as 13 or 14) were pregnant and typically one of a large number of wives all married to the same man.

The men welcomed us into their village with a very boisterous dance and a jumping competition - the Masai men are the ones who can jump ridiculously high. Some of the boys in our group, including Tom, had a go but paled in comparison. It did make for some great photos though - to come later.

Luckily for us we didn't stay at the village for dinner. The Masai delicacy is a mixture of cow's blood and milk with a bit of maize thrown in for good measure. They do not kill the cattle for their blood but rather drain the blood from their necks whilst they are still alive (although I think they do anaesthetise them somehow).

After purchasing a brilliantly coloured Masai blanket (which we still suspect may actually be made in Taiwan) and playing a bit of football with the village kids we set off for our camp in Narok.