Tuesday - The Wild Day

What an awesome day today was! It was such a treat that we had the opportunity to go on a safari ride and see so many beautiful animals. It was an adventure that we will never forget.

Our day started very early this morning because we had to make it to the airport to catch a 7am flight down almost to Tanzania where we would visit the Mara area that is home to the Masai Tribes. We were about 1000 feet above sea level and the entire property was nearly 300 kilometers.

Once we arrived to the Masai Mara, we were greeted by 5 drivers waiting with their Land Rovers to take us on the safari. We had no idea what to expect but everything went well and everyone had lots of fun. I think for the most part, we all saw the same animals but everyone has lots of pictures since we weren’t always together in a group. The area is a natural habitat for all the animals we saw so we got to witness groups of animals feeding together, see the zebras migrating, watch some animals hang out by the water, and even see a real kill!

It was absolutely unbelievable. We were able to pull up to a pack of lions and watch them from no more than 50 feet away. It was a group of females and their cubs since the males are resting during the day. Actually, it is the females who are responsible for hunting for food and so they go to find something to eat and sometimes, the cubs follow along. Today we saw two female lions literally creep through the tall grass over the course of no more than 15 minutes. They were working together because one of them would stop and the other would slowly keep moving to the other side of the zebras they were after. I have to admit, it was sad to see the lion eventually sneak up to a zebra, pounce on it, and strangle it to death but it was such a Lion King moment and just gave everyone a real glimpse into the circle of life.

Some of the video we took is disturbing but it was the highlight of the day since it’s not often that a group gets to see a live kill. It was amazing to watch the animals interact with each other and work together. The lions actually ate the zebra right in front of us and then we were told that they wouldn’t eat for at least 3 days since they would be so full. I don’t want to go into too much grueling detail but the lions eat every single part of the zebra except for the bones, head, and legs-they are kindly considerate and leave those remains for the hyenas. How nice of them!

Among the lions and zebras, we also were so lucky to see elephants, giraffes, baboons, birds, antelope, mongooses, vultures, crocs, buffalo, impalas, gazelles, water bucks (huge deer), warthogs, hippos, wildebeests, cows, sheet, goats, ostriches, hyenas, and the remains of both a hippo and the horns of a buffalo. It was such a great day and the only safari like animal we didn’t see was a cheetah but overall, we could not have asked for a better trip.

The guides we were with were so knowledgeable and proud of their country. They were so happy to teach us about each animal and did everything they could to make our trip a success. The Kenyan people are some of the most genuine people I’ve ever met. They make you feel right at home from the second you meet. We all shared a lunch out in the wilderness and then went to see some more animals before we had to catch our plane back to Nairobi.

Around noon this afternoon, we were so fortunate to visit one of the Masai tribes. We were welcomed by the male leaders of the tribe and then all the women danced out to meet us and sang their tribal welcome song. They handmake everything they own from their clothes to their jewelry. No one wears shoes and they carry their young children with them all the time. At the end of our visit, they were offering some of their beautiful jewelry and other items for sale. We got to bargain with them and some of us even traded what we had for something of theirs. It was awesome to learn about them and try to help them by buying their things.

They were so kind and let us visit their village which was basically a huge circle of huts made out of cow dung to keep out the rain and in the middle, they have big fires at night since there is no electricity. If you remember from a few days ago, Nick, the little boy who was brought to the ABC Center is from the Masai tribe and so his living conditions were just like the ones we saw today except he wasn’t from this exact area.

In Kenya, everyone comes from a certain tribe. There can often be conflict between people because of their differences in the tribes. Not everyone lives in a tribal village but there are still many many people here who do live this lifestyle. It is so completely different than anything one could imagine.

They have very specific guidelines regarding power and leadership in the tribe. There are many things a man must do in order to be a leader. We met one today who is respected as the leader since he was the first one in his age group to spear a male lion. In the Masai culture, the male can go out at 20 years of age with others who are the same age and whoever can spear the lion first, becomes the new leader. They must skin the lion and wear it’s mane on their head as a headdress. It was wild!

We learned many things about the Masai culture and considering how they lived literally in the middle of no where, we were surprised to learn that the children do go to school many miles away. And, they walk there. The same goes for the women when they go to get water. They must walk miles and then carry it back to their camp. Many of the people there have never had a bath and their diets are so strict as they only eat beef from cows and drink milk and cow’s blood! There wasn’t a tasting today but they did in fact invite David Wesley to spend the night with them with the promise that they would give him a goat and some cows blood! Sadly, he turned them down because we have yet another busy day tomorrow.


The Masai people are very friendly and talented. The young girls learn to work with beads at a very young age and the women are in charge of making the jewelry and most of the utensils they have. Since people can only marry when they reach the age of 24, every person who is “dating” another person must wear matching wristbands. It is a way of marking territory until marriage. And, once a man is married, he has children with his wife and then finds another wife and has children with her. It is their culture to do this and a typical man will have about 13 children that he will raise in the village.

The tribe worships the cows they have too. Each tribe has roughly 800 cows that they allow to graze during the day while the men keep an eye on them. At night, they bring in the baby cows to each hut to sleep and let the larger cows sleep in the middle of their village. Without their cows, they claim they would have no worth as a tribe.

To sum it all up, the Masai people are very nice. They live a completely different life that does not consist of TV, music, and video games among many others. It is just indescribable to have the chance to experience something like we did today. Everyone is so thankful for the wonderful opportunity we had.

Tomorrow is our last full day here. We will be distributing 1700 pairs of shoes and socks at another school in a slum. We will also be helping with the feeding program and then splitting up into groups to go and visit the homes to talk to the people who live there. Later, we will visit the new property that will soon be the home of the new ABC center. This one in particular will be a trade school where the older kids at the ABC center will go to learn how to sew, carpentry, mechanics, etc. It will hopefully enable them to learn how to make a living and a life for themselves.

Then, we fly out tomorrow night at 11:30 Kenyan time. So, we may not be able to update until we get back to the states. Thanks so much for checking in on our journey here. We have learned so much and cannot wait to share more stories and pictures once we get home.

Peace,
The FTC Team
Written by: Meghan Marbuger, Photos Copyright J.P. Wilson 2008