Masai Mara, Kenya

A Journey Through the Masai Lands


Masai conviviality
Francis, the young chief of Mkama's village and friends, chat affably.
royal home
Young lion rests on a small termite mound with vegetation on top.
Danger of death
Decorative and organic warning warns of the danger of approaching the banks of the Mara River without qualified guides.
Reciprocity listed
Zebras scratch each other over the Masai Mara savannah.
audacious shepherdess
Masai leads a herd of cows into territory probed by several of Masai Mara's predators.
feline fury
Young lion displays his displeasure at the unauthorized approach of another.
giant bustard
A specimen of Africa's heaviest flying bird assumes a strange graphic pose subsumed in the tall grass of the savannah.
At the fire, indoors
Head of the Masai village of Mkama, Francis Ole Timan watches one of his many wives brewing tea over a fire inside his hut.
run high
Giraffes herd to a pool at the foot of a parched slope.
guardians of the river
Baboons at the entrance to one of the bridges that cross the Mara River.
Masai Adomu dance
Masai youth perform a welcome dance at the entrance to Mkama village.
On full alert
Impalas alarmed by the possible approach of predators.
Savannah News
Kenyan guides meet at a particular point in the Masai Mara National Reserve.
no end in sight
Vehicle travels through the vast savannah of Masai Mara on one of its dirt roads.
African flora
Small acacia trees disseminated in the semi-dry savanna on the southwestern edge of Masai-Mara.
old fashioned fire
Young Masai people display the ease with which they generate fire using only one of the prehistoric techniques.
bovine prosperity
Masais among the herd of cows in Mkama village. Cows are still the most prized form of wealth for the Masai people.
Twilight Time in Mara
Topis graze next to a solitary acacia tree at the end of the day in the Mara savannah.
The Mara savannah became famous for the confrontation between millions of herbivores and their predators. But, in a reckless communion with wildlife, it is the Masai humans who stand out there.

Nearly three hundred kilometers and seven hours after leaving Nairobi, we finally arrived at the Sekenani gate, one of several entrances to the Masai Mara.

John Mulei leaves the jeep. Take the papers for verification of rangers.

We go out to unwind our legs. We see ourselves as victims of a first attack. A bunch of Masai women surround us. Try to foist us jewelry and artifacts.

“Look here, look here! Very pretty for your lady!" they shoot with obvious mastery of tribal marketing.

As soon as they can, they pull the trick of romance and chivalry. "How about this?" They inquire as a resource solution, to show us rungu, the massive wooden sticks that the warriors of their tribes use.

We hadn't even been terrified of the trip. Stressing ourselves with shopping was the last thing we wanted. Faced with this obvious reluctance, sellers notice our cameras. Suggest us your images. “Take us pictures. It's only five dollars!”.

By this time, we already knew by heart that recording any non-stealth Masai image without paying was impossible.

And it was much more difficult for us to resist the exoticism of their slender figures, shaved heads, gaudy clothes and the panoply of jewels that adorn them.

We had just entered your domain. Other opportunities would appear.

Vehicle travels through the vast savannah of Masai Mara on one of its dirt roads.

John returns to the jeep. Women stick their hands through the windows. They hit the glass.

More than used to that pressure, the guide sends them a mouthful in the Masai dialect that – apart from his native kamba. swahili, from English and other languages from those parts of Africa – also learned to use.

A lost lodge in the Masai Mara

We left towards the lodge.

We had lunch late and in a hurry. Only after did we settle in the refined and welcoming tent, but something far away that we had come to.

“A little while longer, we would stay in Tanzania” we play with two employees who see us arrive at the room. "If they got there alive!" one responds, in good spirits, pointing to the electrified fence that prevented animals from visiting the hotel.

On the way out again, we came across a couple of dik-diks, fleeting samples of antelope that we could barely make out in the shadows of the dense vegetation.

They would be the first of several specimens of the antelope family that we would see in the next few days.

Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, impalas

Impalas alarmed by the possible approach of predators.

Pitch-black clouds cover the sky. A wind rises that foreshadows a storm.

The Monsoon Rain that Moves the Great Wildebeest and Zebra Migration

In a flash, the only rain falls that, in more than three weeks after the end of the dry season, we felt irrigate Kenya and Tanzania.

Although still distant, in the lower and southern lands of the adjoining Serengeti, the wildebeests had already begun their annual migration to the Masai Mara.

Without expecting it, just a few days later, we came across its hyperbolic, dusty and messy herds.

Aware that the weather was changing, the lions yearned for the capture of the wildebeest, easier and more assured than that of the other species they prey on. Lethal zebras, for example.

Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, zebras

Zebras scratch each other over the Masai Mara savannah.

Visitors to the Masai Mara, in turn, were eager to locate groups of lions.

John tries it his way. It starts to descend a slope in circles that the tall vegetation makes almost imperceptible. We stopped without warning.

The guide scans the surrounding meadow. “Well, it seems to me that we found them”, he tells us with unusual calm. Look right here beside us." In fact, a couple slumbered subsumed in the tall grass.

O male lion gets up. Move to the top of a mound of termite mound.

Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, lion

Young lion rests on a small termite mound with vegetation on top.

From there, he contemplates herds of buffaloes, giraffes and elephants in the vicinity, prey that, by themselves, the pair did not have the power to defeat.

The light soon fades away. Visitors collect at the lodges. Predators indulge in their nocturnal hunts.

Visit to the Masai Village of Mkama

We wake up at sunrise, devour breakfast and head towards Mkama, one of the many Masai villages around the Masai Mara reserve.

Francis Ole Timan – his young boss – welcomes us with an eloquent speech in English.

At this time of morning, elders would herd the village cows – their obsessive wealth – to lead them to pastures. We followed them for a few hundred meters among the animals.

Returning to the fenced village core, Francis invites us for tea in the dark, spartan interior of a hut made of gorse and dried cow droppings.

Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, Masai Bonfire

Head of the Masai village of Mkama, Francis Ole Timan watches one of his many wives brewing tea over a fire inside his hut.

We sat with you, one of your eight wives and two babies.

Francis ignores the crying of one of the children. Explain to us as much as you can about the day-to-day life in those huts built only by the women of the village.

After the masala tea, we returned to the outside.

Adumu: the Dazzling Masai Jumping Dance

The chief and the other young people group together. Secure them with a Masai welcome dance.

Side by side, William, Moses, Ole Reya, Oloshurua, Moseka, Mancha, Luka and Francis inaugurate a fascinating guttural chant.

Packed by the song that follows, alone or in pairs, they stand out at the same time as the lineup. They carry out a long sequence of impressive jumps.

Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya

Masai youth perform a welcome dance at the entrance to Mkama village.

After the exhibition, we asked them which one jumped the highest. “Ah, that's always Mancha”, they confess almost in chorus.

We analyze the boy more closely and notice his unique footwear. “Uhmm, you all wear Masai sandals (with tire soles), Mancha is the only one to wear crocs. Doesn't that make you suspicious?” we provoke them.

Francis and William, who had a better command of English, understand the intrigue and pass it on to their friends. The challenge generates a communal laugh that we all enjoy.

Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, Masai Convivial

Francis, the young chief of Mkama's village and friends, chat affably.

We still go around the small artisanal market in the village, an essential additional source of income for the ever-changing Masai mercantilists.

Soon after, we said goodbye and resumed exploring the surrounding Mara.

Back to the Wilderness of Masai Mara

Along the way, caravans of giraffes head to a small pond. They indulge in an eccentric gymnastics to sip water.

Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, Giraffes

Giraffes herd to a pool at the foot of a parched slope.

Impalas, gazelles and huge eland appear scattered in the green expanse. also searched by woodcocks and voracious ostriches.

In the immediate and distant, zebras and the occasional stray wildebeest dot the vast savannah until the horizon line, which, with the end of the afternoon, turns red again.

Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya

Topis graze next to a solitary acacia tree at the end of the day in the Mara savannah.

And it generates graceful silhouettes of spaced acacias and some more voluminous animals, such as topis.

We stop to admire a cheetah that slumbers, indifferent to our presence.

A few miles further on, Masai herdsmen lead a huge herd of cows.

Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, cows

Masais among the herd of cows in Mkama village. Cows are still the most prized form of wealth for the Masai people.

They walk wrapped in their red cloths and carrying spears.

Keep an eye out for the threat of predators. Although the Masai manage to steal freshly captured prey from lion flocks, some Masai, with quiet pedestrian incursions.

Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Trip, Kenya, Daring Pastoral

Masai leads a herd of cows into territory probed by several of Masai Mara's predators.

Before the next dawn, we started the trip to the Serengeti.

We crossed a large part of the Mara and were dazzled by the beauty of the African scenery we passed, paying attention to the profuse fauna.

We watched huge flocks of weasels move like creeping storms, hyenas ambush water antelope and giant bustards – the heaviest flying birds in Africa – in strange vector poses.

Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, Great Bustard

A specimen of Africa's heaviest flying bird assumes a strange graphic pose subsumed in the tall grass of the savannah.

Shortly thereafter, we ascend to Loldopai Hill.

We contemplate the landscape full of patches formed by vegetation and the shadow of the clouds, designated by the Masai term “mara” which inspired the region's name.

Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, Savannah

Small acacia trees disseminated in the semi-dry savanna on the southwestern edge of Masai-Mara.

When we reach the homonymous river, a flock of lions patrols the viewpoint where the road leads, so we can't go out to enjoy the views.

Dozens of irascible hippos vie for the meander of the river ahead.

And, before crossing the bridge over the Mara, we came across a bunch of bully baboons.

Masai Mara Reservation, Masai Land Travel, Kenya, bridge

Baboons at the entrance to one of the bridges that cross the Mara River.

After we chase them away, we check out the reserve and migrate to the Serengeti.

On the same route as the endless shuttles of wildebeests and zebras from these parts of Africa.

NP Gorongosa, Mozambique

The Wild Heart of Mozambique shows Signs of Life

Gorongosa was home to one of the most exuberant ecosystems in Africa, but from 1980 to 1992 it succumbed to the Civil War waged between FRELIMO and RENAMO. Greg Carr, Voice Mail's millionaire inventor received a message from the Mozambican ambassador to the UN challenging him to support Mozambique. For the good of the country and humanity, Carr pledged to resurrect the stunning national park that the Portuguese colonial government had created there.
PN Hwange, Zimbabwe

The Legacy of the Late Cecil Lion

On July 1, 2015, Walter Palmer, a dentist and trophy hunter from Minnesota killed Cecil, Zimbabwe's most famous lion. The slaughter generated a viral wave of outrage. As we saw in PN Hwange, nearly two years later, Cecil's descendants thrive.
Miranda, Brazil

Maria dos Jacarés: the Pantanal shelters such Creatures

Eurides Fátima de Barros was born in the interior of the Miranda region. 38 years ago, he settled in a small business on the side of BR262 that crosses the Pantanal and gained an affinity with the alligators that lived on his doorstep. Disgusted that once upon a time the creatures were being slaughtered there, she began to take care of them. Now known as Maria dos Jacarés, she named each of the animals after a soccer player or coach. It also makes sure they recognize your calls.
Saint Lucia, South Africa

An Africa as Wild as Zulu

On the eminence of the coast of Mozambique, the province of KwaZulu-Natal is home to an unexpected South Africa. Deserted beaches full of dunes, vast estuarine swamps and hills covered with fog fill this wild land also bathed by the Indian Ocean. It is shared by the subjects of the always proud Zulu nation and one of the most prolific and diverse fauna on the African continent.
Lake Manyara NP, Tanzania

Hemingway's Favorite Africa

Situated on the western edge of the Rift Valley, Lake Manyara National Park is one of the smallest but charming and richest in Europe. wild life of Tanzania. In 1933, between hunting and literary discussions, Ernest Hemingway dedicated a month of his troubled life to him. He narrated those adventurous safari days in “The Green Hills of Africa".
Amboseli National Park, Kenya

A Gift from the Kilimanjaro

The first European to venture into these Masai haunts was stunned by what he found. And even today, large herds of elephants and other herbivores roam the pastures irrigated by the snow of Africa's biggest mountain.
Iberá Wetlands, Argentina

The Pantanal of the Pampas

On the world map, south of the famous brazilian wetland, a little-known flooded region appears, but almost as vast and rich in biodiversity. the Guarani expression Y bera defines it as “shining waters”. The adjective fits more than its strong luminance.
Serengeti NP, Tanzania

The Great Migration of the Endless Savanna

In these prairies that the Masai people say syringet (run forever), millions of wildebeests and other herbivores chase the rains. For predators, their arrival and that of the monsoon are the same salvation.
Savuti, Botswana

Savuti's Elephant-Eating Lions

A patch of the Kalahari Desert dries up or is irrigated depending on the region's tectonic whims. In Savuti, lions have become used to depending on themselves and prey on the largest animals in the savannah.
Okavango Delta, Botswana

Not all rivers reach the sea

Third longest river in southern Africa, the Okavango rises in the Angolan Bié plateau and runs 1600km to the southeast. It gets lost in the Kalahari Desert where it irrigates a dazzling wetland teeming with wildlife.
Chobe NP, Botswana

Chobe: A River on the Border of Life with Death

Chobe marks the divide between Botswana and three of its neighboring countries, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia. But its capricious bed has a far more crucial function than this political delimitation.
Mount Lamjung Kailas Himal, Nepal, altitude sickness, mountain prevent treat, travel
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 2th - Chame a Upper BananaNepal

(I) Eminent Annapurnas

We woke up in Chame, still below 3000m. There we saw, for the first time, the snowy and highest peaks of the Himalayas. From there, we set off for another walk along the Annapurna Circuit through the foothills and slopes of the great mountain range. towards Upper Banana.
by the shadow
Architecture & Design
Miami, USA

A Masterpiece of Urban Rehabilitation

At the turn of the 25st century, the Wynwood neighbourhood remained filled with abandoned factories and warehouses and graffiti. Tony Goldman, a shrewd real estate investor, bought more than XNUMX properties and founded a mural park. Much more than honoring graffiti there, Goldman founded the Wynwood Arts District, the great bastion of creativity in Miami.
Passengers, scenic flights-Southern Alps, New Zealand
Adventure
Aoraki / Mount Cook, New Zealand

The Aeronautical Conquest of the Southern Alps

In 1955, pilot Harry Wigley created a system for taking off and landing on asphalt or snow. Since then, his company has unveiled, from the air, some of the greatest scenery in Oceania.
Moa on a beach in Rapa Nui/Easter Island
Ceremonies and Festivities
Easter Island, Chile

The Take-off and Fall of the Bird-Man Cult

Until the XNUMXth century, the natives of Easter Island they carved and worshiped great stone gods. All of a sudden, they started to drop their moai. The veneration of tanatu manu, a half-human, half-sacred leader, decreed after a dramatic competition for an egg.
white pass yukon train, Skagway, Gold Route, Alaska, USA
Cities
Skagway, Alaska

A Klondike's Gold Fever Variant

The last great American gold rush is long over. These days, hundreds of cruise ships each summer pour thousands of well-heeled visitors into the shop-lined streets of Skagway.
Meal
Margilan, Uzbekistan

An Uzbekistan's Breadwinner

In one of the many bakeries in Margilan, worn out by the intense heat of the tandyr oven, the baker Maruf'Jon works half-baked like the distinctive traditional breads sold throughout Uzbekistan
scarlet summer
Culture

Valencia to Xativa, Spain (España)

Across Iberia

Leaving aside the modernity of Valencia, we explore the natural and historical settings that the "community" shares with the Mediterranean. The more we travel, the more its bright life seduces us.

combat arbiter, cockfighting, philippines
Sport
Philippines

When Only Cock Fights Wake Up the Philippines

Banned in much of the First World, cockfighting thrives in the Philippines where they move millions of people and pesos. Despite its eternal problems, it is the sabong that most stimulates the nation.
Devils Marbles, Alice Springs to Darwin, Stuart hwy, Top End Path
Traveling
Alice Springs to Darwin, Australia

Stuart Road, on its way to Australia's Top End

Do Red Center to the tropical Top End, the Stuart Highway road travels more than 1.500km lonely through Australia. Along this route, the Northern Territory radically changes its look but remains faithful to its rugged soul.
Karanga ethnic musicians join the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe
Ethnic
Great ZimbabweZimbabwe

Great Zimbabwe, Little Bira Dance

Karanga natives of the KwaNemamwa village display traditional Bira dances to privileged visitors to the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. the most iconic place in Zimbabwe, the one who, after the decree of colonial Rhodesia's independence, inspired the name of the new and problematic nation.  
Portfolio, Got2Globe, Best Images, Photography, Images, Cleopatra, Dioscorides, Delos, Greece
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

The Earthly and the Celestial

Traditional houses, Bergen, Norway.
History
Bergen, Norway

The Great Hanseatic Port of Norway

Already populated in the early 1830th century, Bergen became the capital, monopolized northern Norwegian commerce and, until XNUMX, remained one of the largest cities in Scandinavia. Today, Oslo leads the nation. Bergen continues to stand out for its architectural, urban and historical exuberance.
Victoria, capital, Seychelles islands, Mahé, Capital Life
Islands
Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles

From Francophone “Establishment” to the Creole Capital of Seychelles

The French populated their “Etablissement” with European, African and Indian settlers. Two centuries later, British rivals took over the archipelago and renamed the city in honor of their Queen Victoria. When we visit it, the Seychelles capital remains as multiethnic as it is tiny.
Passengers on the frozen surface of the Gulf of Bothnia, at the base of the "Sampo" icebreaker, Finland
Winter White
Kemi, Finland

It's No "Love Boat". Breaks the Ice since 1961

Built to maintain waterways through the most extreme arctic winter, the icebreaker Sampo” fulfilled its mission between Finland and Sweden for 30 years. In 1988, he reformed and dedicated himself to shorter trips that allow passengers to float in a newly opened channel in the Gulf of Bothnia, in clothes that, more than special, seem spacey.
Kukenam reward
Literature
Mount Roraima, Venezuela

Time Travel to the Lost World of Mount Roraima

At the top of Mount Roraima, there are extraterrestrial scenarios that have resisted millions of years of erosion. Conan Doyle created, in "The Lost World", a fiction inspired by the place but never got to step on it.
São João Farm, Pantanal, Miranda, Mato Grosso do Sul, sunset
Nature
Fazenda São João, Miranda, Brazil

Pantanal with Paraguay in Sight

When the Fazenda Passo do Lontra decided to expand its ecotourism, it recruited the other family farm, the São João. Further away from the Miranda River, this second property reveals a remote Pantanal, on the verge of Paraguay. The country and the homonymous river.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Walvis Bay, Namibia, bay, dunes
Natural Parks
Walvis Bay, Namíbia

The Outstanding Shoreline of Walvis Bay

From Namibia's largest coastal city to the edge of the Namib Desert of Sandwich Harbour, there is an unrivaled domain of ocean, dunes, fog and wildlife. Since 1790, the fruitful Walvis Bay has been its gateway.
Campeche, Mexico, Yucatan Peninsula, Can Pech, Pastéis in the air
UNESCO World Heritage
Campeche, Mexico

Campeche Upon Can Pech

As was the case throughout Mexico, the conquerors arrived, saw and won. Can Pech, the Mayan village, had almost 40 inhabitants, palaces, pyramids and an exuberant urban architecture, but in 1540 there were less than 6 natives. Over the ruins, the Spaniards built Campeche, one of the most imposing colonial cities in the Americas.
Earp brothers look-alikes and friend Doc Holliday in Tombstone, USA
Characters
tombstone, USA

Tombstone: the City Too Hard to Die

Silver veins discovered at the end of the XNUMXth century made Tombstone a prosperous and conflictive mining center on the frontier of the United States to Mexico. Lawrence Kasdan, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner and other Hollywood directors and actors made famous the Earp brothers and the bloodthirsty duel of “OK Corral”. The Tombstone, which, over time, has claimed so many lives, is about to last.
Baie d'Oro, Île des Pins, New Caledonia
Beaches
Île-des-Pins, New Caledonia

The Island that Leaned against Paradise

In 1964, Katsura Morimura delighted the Japan with a turquoise novel set in Ouvéa. But the neighboring Île-des-Pins has taken over the title "The Nearest Island to Paradise" and thrills its visitors.
Religion
Annapurna Circuit: 5th - Ngawal a BragaNepal

Towards the Nepalese Braga

We spent another morning of glorious weather discovering Ngawal. There is a short journey towards Manang, the main town on the way to the zenith of the Annapurna circuit. We stayed for Braga (Braka). The hamlet would soon prove to be one of its most unforgettable places.
On Rails
On Rails

Train Travel: The World Best on Rails

No way to travel is as repetitive and enriching as going on rails. Climb aboard these disparate carriages and trains and enjoy the best scenery in the world on Rails.
Replacement of light bulbs, Itaipu watt hydroelectric plant, Brazil, Paraguay
Society
Itaipu Binational Hydroelectric Power Plant, Brazil

Itaipu Binational Hydroelectric Power Plant: Watt Fever

In 1974, thousands of Brazilians and Paraguayans flocked to the construction zone of the then largest dam in the world. 30 years after completion, Itaipu generates 90% of Paraguay's energy and 20% of Brazil's.
Saksun, Faroe Islands, Streymoy, warning
Daily life
Saksun, streymoyFaroe Islands

The Faroese Village That Doesn't Want to be Disneyland

Saksun is one of several stunning small villages in the Faroe Islands that more and more outsiders visit. It is distinguished by the aversion to tourists of its main rural owner, author of repeated antipathies and attacks against the invaders of his land.
Crocodiles, Queensland Tropical Australia Wild
Wildlife
Cairns to Cape Tribulation, Australia

Tropical Queensland: An Australia Too Wild

Cyclones and floods are just the meteorological expression of Queensland's tropical harshness. When it's not the weather, it's the deadly fauna of the region that keeps its inhabitants on their toes.
Full Dog Mushing
Scenic Flights
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

It's almost 30 degrees and the glaciers are melting. In Alaska, entrepreneurs have little time to get rich. Until the end of August, dog mushing cannot stop.