November 4, 2005 - Masai Mara
Wake at 0430, Balloon safari at 0630 (sunrise) with Scott and Sarah. The morning is beautiful, we watch sunrise
while the crew lay out and inflate the balloon. Once the balloon is inflated, we all climb in, and the pilot
gives it a couple more shots.
A chunk of burning solid butane drops down, hits Scott's head and my shoulder before landing somewhere inside the
basket. The basket quickly starts to smoke, and we all pile out. luckily, only the foam seat is damaged, and after
an exciting interlude, we all board up again and we're aloft!
We see a few animals (Cheetah, wildebeast, elephants, jackals) from the balloon, but mostly we get a novel perspective
on the serengeti plain. We gently land an hour later, and eat a wonderful champagne breakfast on the serengeti.
We join the rest of the group, and drive through the rest of the morning and into the evening.
(Reedbuck, Masai Giraffe, Eland, Cheetah mother with 4 kittens, warthogs, marabou stork, egyptian vulture,
african fish eagle, secretary bird, ruppel's griffon vulture, dik-dik, spotted hyena, ostrich.)
We end the day with a tour of a masai village. It's fascinating and disturbing all at the same time.
Such a rich culture, but I can't help but be repulsed by some of the customs and habits. Male circumcisions
are performed at a post in the center of the village, with the boy seated in the cow dung. Female circumcisions
are still mandatory, and our guide was obviously feeling a little defensive about it. Everything is made of cow
dung, it seems. Typical meal items are beef, milk, goat, and cow and goat blood. Cows are bled daily, which
can't be good for the cow!
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| IMGP4071-Scott-and-Sarah.jpg | IMGP4072-scott-and-sarah.jpg | IMGP4076-scott-and-sarah.jpg |
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| IMGP4141-Eland-and-Zebra.jpg | IMGP4154-elephant.jpg |
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