The Maasai village

We arose in time for our 7am breakfast, feeling well rested after another very comfortable sleep. Showers were had, and the bags packed ready for our return journey. Our meal was slowly consumed, and Judy was again amazed with the care that I put into constructing my breakfast. We then loaded the van with our gear and decided on which vehicle to take. Logan and I ended up in the safari truck, much to the approval of Judy (surrogate Mama Logan).

Logan and I saying farewell at Aruba Camp

A line of ostriches feeding on the plain

I just had to take another acacia tree photo!

There were many further animals to see, but we quickly traversed the park and headed towards Sekenani - a Maasai village. What an experience!

The boys were invited to join the celebratory Lion Dance, and then the jumping competition. Those Maasai warriors could seriously jump! Of course, the women then had their opportunity to dance later.

Logan and Rodney join in the Lion Dance

Ariana, Abbey and Gillian join the women dancing

We then had the opportunity of entering the village of about 320 people. All of them are family members, and their cattle are all protected inside the ring of houses and fences. It is very biblical seeming; however their diet is animal blood, milk and meat - they do not eat vegetables. Children eat eggs. Logan found the flies somewhat difficult to deal with, but the flies are not surprising given that the interior area is covered in animal dung. They also use dung for cooking, and for mixing with soil for their mud houses. 

Village houses - made of sticks and mud

We then saw some of the young men start a fire traditionally by spinning soft wood in cedar. They took a couple of tries to get there, but it was impressive watching them. Logan was then gifted the fire lighting materials.

How many Maasai does it take to light a fire?

We have fire!

The firelighting was followed by a tour of Brian's house, and I had the fortune of meeting one of the midwives with a child.

I was very surprised at how small and dark the houses are. There are no chimneys so the smoke from the cooking fire fills the house causing one to spend the whole time crouching. The smoke keeps the flies away, but it was also incredibly hot and in no time everyone was sweating profusely. 

The cooking hearth

After leaving the house, we entered the market and searched for treasures, then we said our farewells and left the village and the park. 

The drive home was long, as we were trapped by trucks and other slow vehicles. We stopped a couple of times for toilet breaks, chai and gift shop perusal; but the driving itself took a lot longer when there were so many more vehicles.

Some of the driving was just scary - we saw matatu vans overtaking trucks with oncoming traffic. At times there were three lanes of traffic on the two lane highway!

We swapped vehicles again at the turnoff to Julius and Judys' road and crammed into the van for the final hour of driving.  

Max and Gillian ordered dinner at Venus cafe, while we were still half an hour away - and we were preparing to eat dinner at 9pm - closing time! The order repeated back was concerning, and we really had no idea what we would be eating when we arrived.

Dinner was great, but before long we were home and I was in bed thinking about the next day.

Logan at Venus cafe waiting for his dinner