Christine gave us the news the night before that we had a very early morning ahead of us... We were going on a balloon ride!!! We arrived at Little Governers' Camp at around 6 and were warmly met by our pilot, an eldely VERY english man. We were then given a safety briefing and the balloons were inflated. We were in the air just in time to witness an incredible sunrise! We were flying for roughly an hour spotting various animals and all the time looking over the Masai Mara Plains. Xaver and I were hoping for an exciting landing, we had been told that on occassion the basket can be tipped over and dragged for many meters along the ground hitting anything in its path! However our landing was extremely smooth and we soon head through the long grass to the champagne breakfast. The champagne breakfast was a once in a lifetime experiance, we sat there surrounded by game with a 360 view of the plains. Panic struck the staff when a tourist attended "the call of nature" a bit too far into the bush, where he could of been easy prey for any of the big cats lurking!
On the drive back we detoured for a bit of safari managing to catch a male lion guarding a fresh kill. We arrived back at Sanctuary Olonana at around ten thirty just in time for a day's work!
Caitlin
Monday, April 25, 2011
The Masai Villiage Wedding
Last Wesnesday a Japanese couple staying at Sanctuary Olonana had taken the unique opportunity to celebrate their marriage the Masai way. Xaver and I were lucky enough to attend, Masai weddings are a rar occurance. As we emerged from the jeep we were engulphed by an all singing and dancing Masai tribe. They quickly made us feel at home with them by adding traditional face paint to our outfits! In the village, the soon-to-be husband and wife were appointed families and sent to their new homes to be dressed in traditional Masai wedding outfits. We then all headed to the elder's hut to negotiate the dowry, this "negotiation" dragged on as we discovered the turbulant and some what disturbing history between the two families - cats had been murdered and punches apparantly thrown! They eventually settled on 5 goats to calm the feud and then 10 cows and some crucial tobacco for the husband in waiting to recieve his wife. The newly weds then happily headed to their new home where further traditions were to be had, such as the sharing of a cup of goat's milk between not only the couple but also all the village children - this was to ensure their future fertility! This day in the village was a great opportunity to get to know the local community a bit better.
Caitlin
Caitlin
week two in the kitchens
Hello! It's my turn this week to write the blog and before I start I'm afraid I can't promise the same "wit and charm" as Xaver's entries last week. Again we spent the week in the kitchens, however I was now it the hot kitchen and Xaver was trying his hand in the pastry room. On the first day in the hot kitchen I definately felt a little lost, it was a lot more manic, I had less than an hour to peel 66 potatoes! An hour later I sadly discovered William correcting my 66 mistakes, I was not aware there was such an art in potatoe peeling. William over the next couple of days became a big brother figure in the kitchen, guiding me through various techniques and kindly teaching me some Swahili on the way . I soon began to find my feet, triumphantly bringing a smile to Big John's face with my presentation skills at service. Xaver yet again quickly decided he had mastered all the skills needed in pastry after a few hours! However I think Lucy might tell a different story! This week the number of guests has slowly depleted to a grand total of zero on Easter Monday. To pass the time in the kitchen we invented many games from aiming pebbles at various targets to egging on our co-workers to question both Xaver and mine future Masai marriage prospects - the popularity of this particular game rapidly plummeted as we realised our co-workers were taking this matter a bit too seriously (they had started saving up their cows)!
Caitlin
Caitlin
Sunday, April 24, 2011
PHOTOS!
24/04/2011
We have finally managed to upload some photos to accompany this blog! They can be view on the following link: https://picasaweb.google.com/l249403&target=ALBUM&id=5599180171643362273&authkey=Gv1sRgCJikstbI28CZXw&feat=email . We will upload some more later on but for now these will, hopefully, be sufficient to give you an idea of what's happening out here. Enjoy!
We have finally managed to upload some photos to accompany this blog! They can be view on the following link: https://picasaweb.google.com/l
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Work Begins
15/04/2011
Alas our short holiday has ended and we looked upon King, the manager, with a certain sense of dread at what type of work he had in store for us. As it turns out our first job for the next two weeks was one that we openly said we wouldn't mind; working in the kitchens. Because I, personally, have been gorging myself on two amazing 3-course meals every day since we first arrived, I was happy at the prospect of learning the secrets that made the food at Sanctuary Olonana so delicious. The only down-side is the start times (6:30 a.m.) and work hours which, depending on the nationality of our guests, can drag out to over 12 hours (at the moment we have a large amount of spaniards who traditionally like to eat late into the evening at a slow pace; our breaks are naturally hindered by this, annoyingly).
But at least there are plenty of colourful characters in the kitchen to keep us entertained. There's Ambrose, the Sous-chef, who is my mentor and has a surprising amount of patience with me as I try to adapt to the large kitchen. There's John, a Masaii kitchen cleaner, who loves to sing and take full advantage of my eagerness to learn Swahili by mis-informing me about the true meaning of the words he is teaching me (I immediately suspected something was wrong when, after proudly repeating my new vobulary to other workers, they laughed in my face). I now refuse to learn any Swahili from him. There's Emmanuel, the king of starters and salads, who has been teaching me delicious, secret Olonana salad dressings and is always ready with a song and dance. His sister, Lucy, also works in the pastry room with Caitlin and has managed to create some amazing deserts. Then there's James the other pastry chef, a cheeky football enthusiast who constantly tries to arrange a marriage between Caitlin and Masaii warrior. Finally there's Big John who, needless to say, is big. He's also the head-chef, and his avid desire for perfection at rush hour in the kitchen sometimes clouds his amicable personality. Only when the kitchen is quiet does his true character show and fortunately he is just as kind as everyone else.
Xav
Alas our short holiday has ended and we looked upon King, the manager, with a certain sense of dread at what type of work he had in store for us. As it turns out our first job for the next two weeks was one that we openly said we wouldn't mind; working in the kitchens. Because I, personally, have been gorging myself on two amazing 3-course meals every day since we first arrived, I was happy at the prospect of learning the secrets that made the food at Sanctuary Olonana so delicious. The only down-side is the start times (6:30 a.m.) and work hours which, depending on the nationality of our guests, can drag out to over 12 hours (at the moment we have a large amount of spaniards who traditionally like to eat late into the evening at a slow pace; our breaks are naturally hindered by this, annoyingly).
But at least there are plenty of colourful characters in the kitchen to keep us entertained. There's Ambrose, the Sous-chef, who is my mentor and has a surprising amount of patience with me as I try to adapt to the large kitchen. There's John, a Masaii kitchen cleaner, who loves to sing and take full advantage of my eagerness to learn Swahili by mis-informing me about the true meaning of the words he is teaching me (I immediately suspected something was wrong when, after proudly repeating my new vobulary to other workers, they laughed in my face). I now refuse to learn any Swahili from him. There's Emmanuel, the king of starters and salads, who has been teaching me delicious, secret Olonana salad dressings and is always ready with a song and dance. His sister, Lucy, also works in the pastry room with Caitlin and has managed to create some amazing deserts. Then there's James the other pastry chef, a cheeky football enthusiast who constantly tries to arrange a marriage between Caitlin and Masaii warrior. Finally there's Big John who, needless to say, is big. He's also the head-chef, and his avid desire for perfection at rush hour in the kitchen sometimes clouds his amicable personality. Only when the kitchen is quiet does his true character show and fortunately he is just as kind as everyone else.
Xav
Checking the Competition
13-14/04/2011
As part of our introduction to the Masaii Mara, King decided to take us on a magnificent sweeping tour of virtually all the Masaii plains (with a hidden agenda of checking out the surrounding competition). In total I think we were toured around 10 Masaii camps/sanctuaries so we are now clued up on the accommodation that's good and those that are bad. The whole process took roughly 2 and a half days to complete and during that time we were bogged down in a river-let and it looked as though we would have to radio for help since half the car was basically submerged in the water. I did my part of helping to rescue the land rover with the help of our other guides while Caitlin took the very selfless and noble decision to remain in the car under the shade, wrapped in a blanket and making futile comments. Instead of showing concern that I nearly fell in the water and got covered in mud when the car was finally liberated taking with it half the Masaii river, she just laughed! (She actually did offer to help, many times. What I wrote is just an attempt at a humourous retort to compensate for the emasculating feeling of nearly falling head first into a muddy river) The only slightly positive outcome for me was that a 'Mad Fish' got caught up in the gallons of water that splashed onto the ground. True to its name the fish became very irate when I picked it up to look at it before mercifully throwing it back into was was left of the river-let.
Needless to say, the Mara planes were magnificent and after these long 2 days of traveling our holiday was nearly up for the next day King would give us our jobs to do in camp.
Xav
As part of our introduction to the Masaii Mara, King decided to take us on a magnificent sweeping tour of virtually all the Masaii plains (with a hidden agenda of checking out the surrounding competition). In total I think we were toured around 10 Masaii camps/sanctuaries so we are now clued up on the accommodation that's good and those that are bad. The whole process took roughly 2 and a half days to complete and during that time we were bogged down in a river-let and it looked as though we would have to radio for help since half the car was basically submerged in the water. I did my part of helping to rescue the land rover with the help of our other guides while Caitlin took the very selfless and noble decision to remain in the car under the shade, wrapped in a blanket and making futile comments. Instead of showing concern that I nearly fell in the water and got covered in mud when the car was finally liberated taking with it half the Masaii river, she just laughed! (She actually did offer to help, many times. What I wrote is just an attempt at a humourous retort to compensate for the emasculating feeling of nearly falling head first into a muddy river) The only slightly positive outcome for me was that a 'Mad Fish' got caught up in the gallons of water that splashed onto the ground. True to its name the fish became very irate when I picked it up to look at it before mercifully throwing it back into was was left of the river-let.
Needless to say, the Mara planes were magnificent and after these long 2 days of traveling our holiday was nearly up for the next day King would give us our jobs to do in camp.
Xav
Masaii Village Visit
11/04/2011
At 2:30 p.m. we were warmly greeted by the chief of the local Masai village; magnificently dressed in his royal attire, complete with his colourful chieftain walking stick and his metal coated club. His name was Richard Olekamuye and has two wives but was very excited about his imminent third marriage. His wonderful smile made us feel immediately at ease and with that he walked us to his village in the afternoon sun. On the way he gave us a very detailed, interesting account of the traditions of the Masai Tribes which I'll now reveal to you:
I could go on and on but these were the points that I found most interesting.
Upon arriving at the village we were greeted by the wives performing a traditional welcome dance, dressed in their flamboyant, multi-coloured robes and wearing equally ornate jewellery... needless to say we felt very welcome and humbled by this experience. After the dance we were given a tour round the village by Richard and we were very kindly invited into one of the houses. It took sometime for our eyes and posture to adjust to the darkness and size of the huts but after a couple of minutes it felt incredibly homely.
This was then proceeded by a demonstration in how the Masai men kindle their fires without the use of a lighter. The process involves lightening quick movement and callousness of the hands, as I was soon to find out, because after this presentation I was invited to have a go. I'm proud to say that I did manage to kindle a fire but at the expense of my hands which, as I'm now typing, are still a tad raw... but at least I'd proven myself in front of the warriors and that's the important thing. Finally we were taken to their mini-market full of enticing little trinkets and souvenirs that we couldn't resist indulging in.
Hopefully we will encounter the people from the village again in the future... every single person; man, woman, and child had a contageous smile planted on their face when we met them and leaving the village we couldn't help but smile too.
Xav & Caitlin
At 2:30 p.m. we were warmly greeted by the chief of the local Masai village; magnificently dressed in his royal attire, complete with his colourful chieftain walking stick and his metal coated club. His name was Richard Olekamuye and has two wives but was very excited about his imminent third marriage. His wonderful smile made us feel immediately at ease and with that he walked us to his village in the afternoon sun. On the way he gave us a very detailed, interesting account of the traditions of the Masai Tribes which I'll now reveal to you:
- The Masai Men fully engage in poly amorous activities before marriage (no difference there then). However polygamy is by no means frowned upon. In fact the more wives you have the greater your status is amongst society.
- The men are not allowed to marry until they are 25 years old and have successfully completed the warrior stage.
- For every 15 cows you own you may have a wife. Richard had 32 at the time we met him but was close to completing a purchase of 13 more thus making it 45 cows; allows him to choose his third wife.
- The first wife is chosen by the parents, the second by the first wife, and from then on the husband may choose as many wives as he wishes so long as he has a number of cows fully divisible by 15; fractions, sadly, are not possible.
- The women of community are the chief engineers and architects. They are responsible for the fabrication of every building in the village and each one is surprisingly spacious considering that from the outside they appear no larger than the average sitting-room.
- The huts are built entirely from sticks, soil, cow dung, and cow skin.
- Every village has a 'town hall' where meetings are held every Monday morning to discuss various complaints.
- When boys turn 15 years of age, they attend a circumsition ceremony (without painkillers) where they are then pronounced warriors. Fortunately they didn't go into too much detail.
- Only the men are allowed to kindle fires.
I could go on and on but these were the points that I found most interesting.
Upon arriving at the village we were greeted by the wives performing a traditional welcome dance, dressed in their flamboyant, multi-coloured robes and wearing equally ornate jewellery... needless to say we felt very welcome and humbled by this experience. After the dance we were given a tour round the village by Richard and we were very kindly invited into one of the houses. It took sometime for our eyes and posture to adjust to the darkness and size of the huts but after a couple of minutes it felt incredibly homely.
This was then proceeded by a demonstration in how the Masai men kindle their fires without the use of a lighter. The process involves lightening quick movement and callousness of the hands, as I was soon to find out, because after this presentation I was invited to have a go. I'm proud to say that I did manage to kindle a fire but at the expense of my hands which, as I'm now typing, are still a tad raw... but at least I'd proven myself in front of the warriors and that's the important thing. Finally we were taken to their mini-market full of enticing little trinkets and souvenirs that we couldn't resist indulging in.
Hopefully we will encounter the people from the village again in the future... every single person; man, woman, and child had a contageous smile planted on their face when we met them and leaving the village we couldn't help but smile too.
Xav & Caitlin
Game Drives 1 and 2
Barely 2 hours after arriving at our luxurious home away from home we were whisked off for our first of many game drives. Bonnie, our eagle-eyed driver who has an unnatural ability to spot rare animals from several kilometers out, was our driver, guide, teacher, and friend. With a big smile, and a cheerful 'Jambo' (Swahili for hello) we were on our way down the beaten track towards the famed spotted plains of the Masai Mara.
Now either it is just coincidence or we are, in fact, very special people, but we had the most unbelievable amount of luck on our side that even Bonnie was impressed. On the first game driver we were blessed with fortune in that we ended up a mere 6 metres away from a 1 year old leopard cub who was very shy to reveal himself at first (fortunately our patience payed off as other game-drivers became bored waiting for him to appear out of the bushes). The next day of game driving was to bring us even more luck. Not only did we get to see the famous BIG 5 (elephants, lions, rhino, buffalo and leopard) all in one day but we managed to view them in the most brilliant of poses - except for the rhino which we obliged to stay roughly 30 metres away from her for fear of angering her. These poses include a proud cheetah surveying the plains for potential food; a lioness and her cub up a tree which according to Bonnie is rarely seen; Lions in middle of mating; and a 2 week old baby Rhino chasing after its mother. So all in all an incredible first couple of days in the Masai Mara.
Xav
Now either it is just coincidence or we are, in fact, very special people, but we had the most unbelievable amount of luck on our side that even Bonnie was impressed. On the first game driver we were blessed with fortune in that we ended up a mere 6 metres away from a 1 year old leopard cub who was very shy to reveal himself at first (fortunately our patience payed off as other game-drivers became bored waiting for him to appear out of the bushes). The next day of game driving was to bring us even more luck. Not only did we get to see the famous BIG 5 (elephants, lions, rhino, buffalo and leopard) all in one day but we managed to view them in the most brilliant of poses - except for the rhino which we obliged to stay roughly 30 metres away from her for fear of angering her. These poses include a proud cheetah surveying the plains for potential food; a lioness and her cub up a tree which according to Bonnie is rarely seen; Lions in middle of mating; and a 2 week old baby Rhino chasing after its mother. So all in all an incredible first couple of days in the Masai Mara.
Xav
Monday, April 11, 2011
Introduction
Welcome to our blog site. If you're reading this you probably have time to waste so we'll try to make it as interesting as possible so that you'll want to keep reading it the more it's updated and possibly to entice you to come out here as well.
Our aim for this blog is to recount our experiences here at the Kenyan Masai Mara National Park over the next three months with lots of semi-decent pictures (we hope) and entertaining stories. The opportunity to work for Abercrombie & Kent and participate in all their organised activities is something that's seldom offered to anyone in the world so it would be a shame if we kept all our memories to ourselves; memories which will no doubt fade as the years go by. Thus on a personal (and selfish) level this blog will enable us to remember with clarity 30 or 40 years from now everything that happened here at Sanctuary Olonana over these next 3 months. We will attempt to update this blog regularly every week or when something has happened that we cannot wait to tell everyone else about.
In the short time it has taken to set this blog up since we arrived (9th April) we have already encountered nearly every single type of wild animal possible (both rare and common). This includes a rare sighting of a leopard cub, lions up a tree (which never happens), lions in the middle of mating, a Black Rhino with her 1 month-old child (the rarest mammal in the whole Mara - only seen briefly every 3 months). If this is what we've already encountered then we cannot wait to see what else is in store. There have been rumours of community projects, hot-air balloon rides, treks over the Masai Mara, and a traveling safari to name but a few. So relax and hopefully you'll enjoy reading this blog as much as we have enjoyed being here.
Many Thanks,
Xav & Caitlin.
Our aim for this blog is to recount our experiences here at the Kenyan Masai Mara National Park over the next three months with lots of semi-decent pictures (we hope) and entertaining stories. The opportunity to work for Abercrombie & Kent and participate in all their organised activities is something that's seldom offered to anyone in the world so it would be a shame if we kept all our memories to ourselves; memories which will no doubt fade as the years go by. Thus on a personal (and selfish) level this blog will enable us to remember with clarity 30 or 40 years from now everything that happened here at Sanctuary Olonana over these next 3 months. We will attempt to update this blog regularly every week or when something has happened that we cannot wait to tell everyone else about.
In the short time it has taken to set this blog up since we arrived (9th April) we have already encountered nearly every single type of wild animal possible (both rare and common). This includes a rare sighting of a leopard cub, lions up a tree (which never happens), lions in the middle of mating, a Black Rhino with her 1 month-old child (the rarest mammal in the whole Mara - only seen briefly every 3 months). If this is what we've already encountered then we cannot wait to see what else is in store. There have been rumours of community projects, hot-air balloon rides, treks over the Masai Mara, and a traveling safari to name but a few. So relax and hopefully you'll enjoy reading this blog as much as we have enjoyed being here.
Many Thanks,
Xav & Caitlin.
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