Kenya

This is where part 2 started.It was a sad farewell to the group we'd travelled with for the last month but we say goodbye and looked forward to the next stage of the trip.We had a 'farewell' dinner in a restaurant called Carnivores which was delish - all you can eat meet BBQ .If anyone is ever in Nairobi, it's a restaurant to go to!

So the next group were a hoot - mainly Aussies again and although there were more of us, there was a really good vibe about the group.

First highlight here was the Masai Mara and it was great!We stayed in the wild again but in permanent tents this time.We drove over the rift valley to get to our site which was stunning, such wide landscapes.Throughout most of Kenya and even Tanzania, we passed loads of the Masai warriors and their families all trekking around and walking for what looks like miles and miles this time they were the real deal and were very cool!!!They have all of their cows to look after and seem to tend to them most of the day.Later on, we were lucky enough to visit them in their village where we got to hang out with the kids, see how they lived, taught us as much as they could about their culture, took us to their local school and some of us went into some of the family huts.This was a right eye opener, they were beyond tiny given how tall these guys are and so many family members are squashed into these tiny, dark huts where they sleep and cook.Some of the guys came down to our campsite later that night and did their traditional masai dancing for us which was incredible, especially the height that they can get to when they jump.They dragged a few of us up to dance with them which was very funny but my gawd, it puts us to shame.We are the most uncoordinated race - well we are!!! Haha.

The Masai Mara game drive was good - not as good as the Serengeti or crater but we still saw alot and managed to see quite a few animals very close including plenty more lions. We went on a quick 'on foot safari walk' to see some elephants.A guide took us along and we had to stay close together. He warned us that if the elephants charged, we had to hide down in the embankment holes.So we get there and take lots of pics and the next thing the guide says quietly but in a panicky voice 'they're communicating, they're communicating' over and over.Most of us are just watching them in our own worlds saying 'they're so lovely...' But the next thing, he's yelling 'run, run, run' and 'get down the holes' while loading his gun.The biggest elephant then starts running towards us across the river towards us.The guide was still going 'run, run' so we (eventually) did, but we were all pissing ourselves laughing.Not sure it would have been quite so funny if it wasn't for the bank he had to get up first!!

At some point on the road in Kenya we drove into this village where there seemed to be some sort of chaos going on.Loads of guys where running up along side of the truck yelling things out to us and none of us had any idea what on earth they were saying.Then we worked out they were all pissed and drinking beer - but it was only about 11am so just thought this was a very interesting little party town.Then we worked out they were saying 'free beer, free beer' and about 2 seconds later the picture was clear. A beer truck had fallen over onto its side (a very regular thing to see if Africa) and all the beer had spilled onto the road (Iovely aroma!) so these guys had grabbed all the beer they could and the town was having a nice little party!!!!