After breakfast , we were on the road again. A 2.5 hour drive got us to odluvai gorge - where they had discovered the first footprints of homo sapien ancestors many many years back. A walk through the museum told us about the first man to cycle around the world on a bicycle over a period of 9 years. His bicycle and shoes were on display for good measure. So were the footprints of our ancestors , the 3 toed foal and the various bone tools that our ancestors the handy man used to survive back in the day. To think about people who spent their lives studying fossils and archeology to understand the evolution of manning from the Lucy era to the current homo sapien 1500cc brain man.
After that, we visited a Masai village. Masais are a local African tribe who are quite tall , thin, cover themselves in bright beautiful checkered shawls and lots of jewelry. They live in round thatched roofed huts surrounded by thorny acacia branches to keep the wild animals away. We had a traditional welcome dance - separate for guys and girls. Following which we were shown into one of the huts staged especially for visitors from the looks of it. And got to ask the village chief some questions. We learnt that he was 32, had 2 wives he bought in exchange for cows , the guys were warriors who hunted for food and had blood and milk for breakfast. The women built the houses, cooked, cleaned, raised the kids and all the stuff.
We were then shuffled to the market where different things were shoved in our face for purchase. The prices of which were not to be discussed till later - man, they are a tough bunch to negotiate with.
Onward to our trip's highlight - Serengeti national Park. We saw some giraffe, zebra, Impala/gazelles, ostrich but were psyched to see some real game. And it seems that our driver Roy or the lion king heard our wishes and we came upon a pride of lions(lionesses really) lazing out amongst the grass trying to evade the afternoon heat. They seemed so lazy, lethargic and tame compared to the wild, dangerous reputation they have. I couldnt believe Roy didn't even think it necessary to roll up his windows and he was like 10m from the lions!!
We ended the day with a beautiful sunset, some wild mongoose(mongeese?) and a lovely dinner followed by some conversations with a Swedish guy who was a soldier and got a day off for everyday he was on the field. Now ain't that something!! He had 2 months of summer vacation and some fantastic plans including fishing, sailing, arctic hiking that made me envious - even while
I was vacationing. It's never enough, is it??
After that, we visited a Masai village. Masais are a local African tribe who are quite tall , thin, cover themselves in bright beautiful checkered shawls and lots of jewelry. They live in round thatched roofed huts surrounded by thorny acacia branches to keep the wild animals away. We had a traditional welcome dance - separate for guys and girls. Following which we were shown into one of the huts staged especially for visitors from the looks of it. And got to ask the village chief some questions. We learnt that he was 32, had 2 wives he bought in exchange for cows , the guys were warriors who hunted for food and had blood and milk for breakfast. The women built the houses, cooked, cleaned, raised the kids and all the stuff.
We were then shuffled to the market where different things were shoved in our face for purchase. The prices of which were not to be discussed till later - man, they are a tough bunch to negotiate with.
Onward to our trip's highlight - Serengeti national Park. We saw some giraffe, zebra, Impala/gazelles, ostrich but were psyched to see some real game. And it seems that our driver Roy or the lion king heard our wishes and we came upon a pride of lions(lionesses really) lazing out amongst the grass trying to evade the afternoon heat. They seemed so lazy, lethargic and tame compared to the wild, dangerous reputation they have. I couldnt believe Roy didn't even think it necessary to roll up his windows and he was like 10m from the lions!!
We ended the day with a beautiful sunset, some wild mongoose(mongeese?) and a lovely dinner followed by some conversations with a Swedish guy who was a soldier and got a day off for everyday he was on the field. Now ain't that something!! He had 2 months of summer vacation and some fantastic plans including fishing, sailing, arctic hiking that made me envious - even while
I was vacationing. It's never enough, is it??
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