Tuesday 15th – Thursday 17th April 2008

We left Masi Mara around 7am bound for a tea plantation in Kericho. It only took 8½ hours. The moment we jumped out of the truck ready to put our tents up for the first time the skies opened up and it absolutely bucketed down for an hour This area has been affected badly by the recent political violence and many people have been made homeless after having their homes burned to the ground so when a very sad looking local man approached our group with his little carved chess set saying “please buy this. I give you best price. I have no food and 3 children and no business today.” I had no choice. I now have a very nice stone chess set and a tear in the eye. We eventually got our tents up and hit the sack for a 5am start in the morning. Another all-dayer, this time back to Kampala in Uganda and yes, another 5am start on Thursday to get to the western side of Uganda where the gorillas are. The kids played cards most of the way which made the time fly. We arrived after a 14 hour drive in a little town called Kisoro completely wasted but fortunately we were able to upgrade out of our tents and into a room for free! I will be off to see the gorillas in the morning while Kaz looks after the kids and then she will go see the great apes the next day. As for me it’s another 5am start! Yawn. Pete

Elijah at the tea plantation

Monday 14th April 2008
Today was a early start waking up at six o’clock. Another game drive but this time with a bigger group and van. We saw: 11 lions, heaps of zebra’s, Thompson’s Gazelles, topis (deer), wilder beast, cranes, water bucks (deer), ostriches, impala (deer), monkeys, warthogs, hippos, crocs, lizards, elephant and a serval cat.WOW. Mum was chased by two monkeys, you can just imagine what the rest the family were doing. Dad was taking photos and us kids were laughing. What else could we do??? MahaliaJ

Sunday 13th April 2008
We walked to church this morning for ½hour through lion & hyena infested bush. It was worth it. I videoed some of the worship because their singing is awesome. The keyboard player, however, was totally feral and played a different tune in a different key for every song. I think we were the only ones who noticed. The service went for about 2½ hours and pastor Samuel invited me to share greetings from Broome. The rest of our Safariers arrived around 6.30pm. Pete.

Saturday 12th April 2008

Veg day. Lots of good ‘ol Maths. The kids are getting very good at it! Elijah learned to shoot a Masi bow & arrow and throw a spear. He is totally hooked and wants to be a Masi. Pete

Friday 11th April 2008
Zebras – Black with white strips or white with black strips? Chomping on grass for breakfast we saw zebras with impalas in the morning of our game drive. Elijah’s favourite animals are zebras, he was stoked. Very cool...

Wildebeests – Big leathery looking things aren’t they? Sitting there in the sun not scared of the car at all. ‘Awwww can I have one as a pet?’
Jackal – Little cutie! Took a photo then he ran off!
Lionesses - All breath-taken by the fact that yet again they were only meters away from the car, in the wild, and we had only been driving for 10 minutes. There was also impalas nearby that we THOUGHT were soon going to be breakfast when we saw the lionesses one by one wake up, have a yawn and walked in a line towards the poor ‘on-the-menu’ impalas. Our guide just giggled and said that lions always hunt with strategy and these ones were clearly not interested in our impala friend. All laughing at ourselves thinking we were ‘lion experts’, just watched amazingly not wanting to blink and eye.

Giraffes –Mahalia’s favourite animal was spotted in the distance by Dad, eating leaves. Very gorgeous, no two patterns are the same!

Baboons – Crawling across the road we saw a family of baboons, the little ones were sooooooooooo cute!
Hippos – They’re HUGE... We hopped out of the car and walked to a close murky river, there were about 40 hippos, all making weird noises! We also spotted a baby croc swimming nearby, but don’t worry it certainly didn’t bother the hippos because our guide said crocs know who’s boss! The hippos were so close to us!!! WOW, what’s next?


Ostriches – You know. They’re the second fastest animal in the world, next to Mum being chased by a lion! He he. They were all lined up dancing around to celebrate the rain that was softly spitting down. The grey-feathered females sit on their eggs during the day, while the black males who absorb the heat sit on the eggs during the night to keep the egg warm.

Giraffes – We saw a Dad and Mum with their baby, this time they were closer to us than the last giraffe. Did you know, Male giraffes and female giraffes both have two small horns, but the males have hair on the top and the females don’t.

Elephants – To finish a perfect day of animal spotting we saw a herd of wild elephants, again just meters from the car with their big tusks. It was an absolutely amazing day full of wild animals. I loved it! Maddi.
Before heading back to camp we went to a Masi village for a tour. They showed dad how to make fire with a stick and showed us inside one of their mud huts. Apparently when a Masi boy turns 15 he is circumcised and then sent out into the bush with about 15 of his mates for 3-5 years! No adults, no help. Just a spear and the clothes on their back (and a sore willie). They return after the aforementioned 3-5 years after they have KILLED A LION and celebrate their entry into manhood with a big feast and a much needed hair cut. They also marry when they come back. Quite an incentive to kill a lion heh? Next the women sang a welcoming song before showing us there local bead work and other decorative stuff. I discovered that the authentic elephant hair bracelet I bought yesterday was made of grass and the words of my 9 year old son echoed in my ears, “Dad, I can’t believe you really think that’s elephant hair!” Needless to say I bought the real thing this time, cut from the tail of an elephant by a real Masi and then went the whole hog by buying a genuine lion’s tooth and claw and a cheetah’s tooth all 3 of which were taken from animals that were killed personally by the Masi guys selling them to me. The night was capped off with a traditional Masi dance around the camp fire complete with the classic Masi jumping. Pete



Thursday 10th April 2008
We met Steve and Kelly from Lismore area our tour buddies! Drove to Masi-Mara, an area of Kenya approximately 1500sqkms to the acacia camp site near a genuine Masi village, where we will stay for the next three days, before we join the safari. Off at 9:30am and arrived at 5pm. On the way we stopped off at a curio shop as we looked out over the Great Rift Valley. Dad bought an authentic elephant hair bracelet. The Curio shop overlooking the Great Rift Valley
Before we even got to our camp site we saw...> zebra, impala, wildebeest, jackal, vultures, hyena, giraffe and for the grand finale four male lions crossing the road just meters in front if the car!!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing, in the wild right there! Settled in at camp with two Masi guards outside the tents to ward off any hyenas, needless to say mum said her bladder control will be exceptionally good tonight. Maddi