We got up entirely too early . . . again . . . and headed out toward the Mara. One bright spot was that we stopped for gas at a place that had several convenience stores. One of which had chocolate and biscuits. Mmmmmm. Unfortunately it did not open for another 15 minutes. No problem, we would just wait. And pester the clerks until they opened. I filled a bag full of various Cadbury chocolates and was a happy person.

After that we drove and drove and drove. We stopped at a gift shop for a bathroom break and to buy anything that didn't move, too fast. The prices were high and I decided to wait until we got to the Mara.

Before entering the park itself we stopped at one of the Maasai villages. One of the young women (at right) told us about her life there. She had gone to school for eight years, something of a feat for any of the Maasai and much more so for a woman. When she returned from school she was married off, as is the Maasai custom. She wanted to travel abroad but felt she owed a duty to her tribe and her family.

All of the women shaved their heads. Many wore steel ankelets with nuts, bolts and washers on them. Very few wore shoes but they all tended to wear colorful clothing. Several of the villagers wore western, often American, T-shirts and clothing. The village was surrounded by a wall of sticks that blended well into the landscape. Inside were a dozen or so huts made of sticks and mud. The ceilings were about 5 feet tall and there were no windows, only an open door. The huts were about 8' X 10' and subdivided into three or four rooms. The Maasai only really slept inside. They also keep all of their animals in the village at night which meant the place smelled . . . a lot. And you had to be careful where you stepped.

The villagers had a bunch of souvenirs and I bought a spear and a few necklaces as gifts. Next we headed off to the park. As the picture to the left shows, we had a couple of little problems. One of the buses hit an impala . . . the animal, not the car. The impala did not survive but the bus escaped with only superficial wounds. Apparently it is fairly common for the impala to be in mid-bound when they are hit and come through the windshield. Our bus broke a ball joint on the front axel about 30 minutes before we arrived at the hotel and we all had to get out and go to other buses. Another bus got a flat tire. Have I mentioned that the roads weren't that great? Well the roads in the Mara were the worst we encountered. We were fortunate that no buses ever completely failed. Our little accident was the worst of the trip and only put the bus out of commision for about 30 minutes to an hour.

As we crossed a bridge we looked back and saw several dozen hippos lying on the bank. We finally made it to the hotel and after a welcome including fruit juice and warm towels we headed to our rooms. The rooms are post-modern looking in design. They go out in a line following the contours of the hill. They make something of a crecent shape. They look vaguely like huts. The place is crawling with rock hyrax.

After lunch we headed out on the afternoon game drive. There were Wildebeest everywhere! They migrate up from Tanzania with the zebra. Basically the wildebeest go whereever the zebra go. They tend to all walk single file and wear trails across the plains. We also saw lots of Topi, a large variety of cat food that looks like it is wearing blue jeans. We wandered around the park for awhile and there were tons of animals. More maasai giraffe, the first we had seen since our very first giraffe at Aberdare, and common zebra. Lots of thompson's and grant's gazelles and elephants.

Finally the call came in over the radio. We started racing toward the hills on the Tanzania border. Several other vehicles can be seen heading in the same direction. What could it be? Why am I asking you since you have been looking at the picture of the cheetahs for the last several minutes? Well it was indeed the three young cheetahs to the left with their mother. They were really cool. The mother didn't seem overly pleased by the crowd of vans but didn't seem too upset. The young ones played a bit, batting each other or giving a big stretch and yawn. They walked right past the van and then lay down on the other side for awhile. Before heading out on the game drive I had promised myself that I would stop taking so many pictures as film was starting to run low. Well, about forty cheetah pictures later it was time to go . . . thankfully.

We headed back to the lodge and had a pleasant dinner. The food was very good . . . buffet style! They had several yummy desserts, although for some reason their chocolate is not particularly sweet. Ah well, fortunately I am adept at overcoming hardships in the bush.

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