Aug24

On this day, we planned to a game drive in the morning and then back to Crater Lodge for lunch so that we could go to a nearby Masai village after lunch. I wanted to get down in the crater early, so I went in one vehicle with our guide, Charles, and driver, Mohamed.

We left the lodge a little after 7:00 and were down in the crater well before 8:00. The skies were a little overcast so the light was fairly low for the first hour or so. We stopped by a watering hole to watch some birds for a few minutes, and before we knew it, several other animals came by. I shot a couple rolls of film or birds, zebras, wildebeest, and a hippo that all wondered by.

I was hoping to see a male lion so we headed out away from the picnic areas and rest of the crowds. Charles spotted a small flock of cranes ahead on the road so I asked him to stop so that I get my big lens ready. Just as we started up to move closer, the flock took off and I snapped the photo at the top of the page.

We drove around for a few hours looking for a male lion with no luck. On the way back, we stopped at the watering hole where I had shot the hippo yawning the day before. A heron was standing on the back of one of the hippos waiting to catch a fish. I was hoping to get some photos of him taking off and diving in the water. The heron was so tense that I'd swear he was going to take off any second, so I kept waiting. We stayed there for almost an hour and finally gave up when we were running late for lunch. The heron was still there as we drove away.

As we drove up the exit road from the crater, a Serval Cat ran across the road. Since these cats are so rarely seen, I wasn't even hoping to see one during our safari. I guess it was fortuitous that I had waited for the heron for so long. This was a rare treat.

My most frustrating photographic experience happened here, though. As we watched the Serval, it was clear that he was hunting for rodents. Servals will jump in the air and pounce on their prey. He looked like he was about to do this, so I switched the motor drive on my camera to rapid shooting (five frames per second). I checked to make sure I had plenty of film. Sure enough, as I peered through the lens, the Serval pounced on his prey. I pushed the shutter release ... and nothing happened. I looked at the LCD display and the low battery indicator was blinking. Well, at least I'd seen him.

After a great lunch at Crater Lodge, we headed about 20 minutes down the road to a Masai village. Normally, the Masai do not like to have their photographs taken because they feel you are stealing from them. But this village is one of a few where they allow visitors to take photos in exchange for cash payment. We paid them $50 per car and were allowed to take as many photos as we wanted. It was clear though, that some of the people in the village did not like having their photo taken.

When we first arrived, the Masai performed a dance and sang some songs for us. The Masai men have this dance where they bounce into the air. They can easily get a couple feet off the ground yet they barely seem to bend their knees as they bounce. There is great honor in how high they can jump. It's quite fascinating to watch.

I was most interested in photographing the children. Most of the younger kids paid no attention to me as I walked around.

We were all most struck by the flies that were buzzing around. I suspect this is a result of the mud and dung that is used for the Masai huts. The children had flies all over the heads, which can be seen in the photo to the right (click on it to get a larger view).

We went into one of the huts which are made from sticks, mud and dung, and covered with a thatch roof. There are a few small holes in the huts for light and ventilation, they were were quite hot and musty inside. The huts are each about seven to eight feet across and twelve to fifteen feet long. Inside are four rooms separated by stick walls. One room is the kitchen which has a fire on the floor in the middle - the fire was still smoldering in the hut I was in. Two rooms were used as bedrooms - one for the man, the other for the woman and children. They sleep on low beds made from leather. The fourth room near the entrance was where the goats and baby calves spent the night. It must get fairly cozy in there at night.

In the center of the village was a pen where the cows are kept at night. The huts surround the pen to ward off the lions. The lions have become deathly afraid of the Masai warriors since in the past the warriors killed many of them. Whenever a lion sees a Masai warrior on foot (wrapped in his traditional red kanga), the lion will take off in a run away from the Masai.

The village we visited had many beads and other trinkets on display around the outside of the cow pen. The Masai were very anxious for us to buy from them.

We also went into their school house which is a stick structure (without the mud and dung) covered with a thatch roof. The middle age children were learning their letters and numbers in both Swahili and English. The older children go to a different school.