Masai Mara Safari - Day Two Part 1

So... back to the amazing Masai Mara Safari. The second day we went on an all day trip to the Mara River, which is the one famous for the huge wildebeest crossings. We were after the smaller rainy season, so it wasn't prime crossing time, but it was still a good chance to drive across the park and see many animals.

We started the day at a Masai village, the local tribe of the reserve.

The men did a little hunting dance, which ended in them crowning Kevin with this lion head piece.

Then the women did their dance...

and invited me and the boys to join them.

They even put their ornate necklaces on the boys and I, so I guess you can say we dressed up as Masai Mara for Halloween since this was on Oct 31st!

Then the men showed us how they make fire...

which was E's favorite part.

I still couldn't take my eyes off of the beautiful children. The Masai are very poor and all the tourism money seems to go towards having larger herds of cattle, which doesn't really help the women or children because they want to accumulate them to prove their wealth rather than sell them to feed their families.

The women selling their wares after the dances.

We are glad we stopped to visit the Masai village, but I think next time our money would be better spent going to a charity to help provide education. I'm afraid the women and children will see little to none of the money we gave for the village tour and buying their beaded necklaces.

Back on the safari, we saw many amazing animals...

When you come upon a huge collection of safari vehicles like this, you know it's going to be good... and we were not disappointed!

This is what they refer to as 'the marriage'.

And no, not the honeymoon. What kind of blog do you think this is?!

E was thrilled to see a male lion, it was the one animal he wished to see the most.

I dare say he didn't have much privacy on this day...

Pretty bird (I'm sure our guide, Ken, told us what this was, but it's been over 6 months...)

There's nothing cuter than baby animals, and baby elephants are no exception!

They were having fun splashing in the mud, and here they are encircling the baby to protect it since there were so many vehicles approaching.

Baby wildebeests aren't quite as cute...

But baby zebras, nursing, are. I know he looks too big to nurse, but he's brown still so he's a baby!

The view down into the valley by the Mara River.

Our awesome safari van... note the tiny tires that bumped us along the roads.

More pictures to come soon of the second half of our day trip...