Thursday, August 2, 2007

The other side of Kenya

Typical Masai village house - cow dung, straw and mud- built by the women

Masai Warriors


Masai Jumping contest
leopards
Masai women singing
Airplane at landing strip

Water Buffalo
Melissa and Carla standing in the Land Rover
Leopard spotted in the tree
Lioness' and cubs resting

You can't talk about Kenya without talking about Masai Mara. This is the natural land where the Masai tribe lives in harmony with animals. While I have been several times, I like to see the reaction of those going for the first time. I did not tell Kristen or Melissa that this was a place where you encounter the awesome creativity of God. Once you see it, a zoo means nothing to you. This land and all its inhabitants allows you see why God said what He created was good!


As typical with most groups that I have been with to Kenya, they start out looking at the schedule and wondering why is there a need to go to Masai Mara when we could spend that extra day doing more mission work. They forget that its okay to take a few hours to see another part of the land. After traveling 8000 miles and staying for a month it would be ashamed not to see the natural beauty of Kenya. This time was no different. But as usual I stayed silent about the issue until they were able to see it for themselves.


To get to this land you have to take a long drive or go by small plane (which is what we did) and be ready to land on an airstrip (okay it was a dirt road). When we landed we were greeted at the terminal (I mean thatch and metal covered sheds) by our drivers. It appeared like we were in the middle of nowhere. But we were in the perfect place to encounter God's creations. We loaded up in the Land Rovers(the best way to travel on safari) and took an hour long drive down winding dirt roads to our accommodations. We saw elephants and giraffe's along the way and the excitement began to build about Masai Mara.

Once we arrived and checked in we were lead to our room - a luxury tent. You have to be there to really enjoy it but it was as nice a staying in hotel. Yes, it had a restroom and shower attached. I'm not a camping kinda girl, but I enjoyed staying in the tent.


By now it was lunch time and we were ready to eat. When Melissa saw the variety of food and fresh vegetables she came over, hugged me and said "thank you".


After lunch we went back to the land rovers and headed out for our sunset safari. This safari meant we were taking a drive, about 4 hours, to see animals in their natural habitat. The next morning we headed out about six am for a sunrise safari before breakfast. During the morning safari we were taken to a Masai village where we got to see the tribe up close and personal.


The Masai are a people have always lived on this land. Most of us know them because they are the tribe that wears the color red. The pictures that you will see are only a glimpse of we saw. I will post others at a later date on a website for pictures.


We really needed to get away from the city for that 24 hour period. We were now refreshed and ready to go for another 2 weeks of ministry

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