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Today we got back to Nairobi after our two night stay in the Masai Mara national park. Our guide, Josh, picked us up on the first morning from our hotel and we set off on a drive across rift valley, which is one of the most spectaculr landscapes I've ever seen. We arrived at our camp in the early evening, and during dinner Josh regaled us with stories about local customs- particularly about the fact that men have to pay for their wives with cows (they provide the dowry rather than the other way around). He told us about a friend of his whose father died recently, who was then visited by the village elders who told him his father still owed one cow for his mother, and then took his mother away. He had to go and buy a cow, to buy her back from them! The following morning we set off early for our game drive. Pretty early on we saw two lionesses lying in the sun, as well as herds of zebra and a few giraffe. We also saw a male lion, who had been expelled from the pride and whose face was covered in scratches and scars. Not long after that, an elepehant walked right in front of our truck- almost close enough to touch. The most exciting sighting was black rhino- one of the big five, who everyone thought had left the park. We were the first ones to see them in the masai mara for three years! In the afternoon we visited a local village, where Alex (the son of the cheif) showed us around, and explained about their custom of sending boys aged around 15 out of the village into the wild, where they live alone for several years, and must slaughter a lion in order to be allowed back. Later, a group of masai came back to our camp, and danced traditional dances around a fire for us, getting us all up to. After seeing all the big five, except leopard, we're now heading back to Nairobi where we meet our main tour tomorrow morning.
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