A couple of hours on “real” roads (Kenyan roads suck!) followed by the last couple of hours on something I can’t with respect for the English language describe as roads. It was grass planes where the grass had in straight lines been driven over so many times that the only thing being left were gravel and holes. It was a bumpy ride.
Singing, laughing and baguettes made it fun and seeing Basecamp made it worth all the bumps I got from hitting my head in the sealing. It is a Eco-camp = they plant trees, educate the Masai community in the area, everything in the camp is made from sustainable material that won’t harm the nature too much, the food is ecological and of coarse they have dry toilets (no flushing) and so on.
A couple of years ago, before he became the president, Barac Obama and his family stayed at the camp. That’s how luxurious this camp is. He lived in room number 16 and his kids had the room that Lisa, Julia and I had the pleasure of staying in. The rooms/bungalows/tents where made up of a wooden platform with a roof that a huge tent was attached to. The tent had net sides that made it possible to see out and enjoy the beautiful scenery consisting of the river running just a meter from the wooden foundation, a small forest with monkeys and the savanna in the background, all covered with wildebeests. The toilet, a dry one as I said, and the shower was not inside the “tent” but the bathroom was still surrounded by walls but the shower was outside, walls around but no roof.
At arrival we got a short briefing about the area and after that a very refreshing lunch with great vegetarian alternatives and a desert. We were shown to our rooms and left to say our O:s and A:s and run around exploring the luxury. Then it was time for the first game drive!
We visited Masai Mara at the exact right time because the wildebeests that migrate from the Serengeti in Tanzania to Masai Mara were all there. Everywhere you looked there were black dots, gnu after gnu walking around. Of coarse there were the regular zebras, gazelles and giraffes but we also got to see a pack of lions, 3 cheetahs and a Leopard! Being able to stand up in the car was so much fun and made it possible for me to take some photos that I will show you. A dinner in a candle-lit restaurant without walls, a very tasty soup as the first coarse, mashed potato with a mushroom and cheese filled aborigine and then a delicious desert. When we returned to our rooms our beds had been made up and in them we found one of the best inventions ever: warm water bottles.
We were awaken by a Masai at 6 o’clock and headed out for our next game drive. Hyenas, jackals, vultures and a male lion were the animals I saw during this drive that I hadn’t seen before.
Visit to a boarding school that Basecamp tries to help and develop and a short visit to the areas hospital. The classrooms at the school were a lot better than those in Kibera but still they lacked so much things children should have, like books, pens, papers and a map of the world (haven’t seen one since I got here). We also got to see the girls dormitory = a huge metal barn where 80+ girls lived on metal bunk beds. I felt quite bad when they asked me if this was how we lived at our school in Nairobi and I had to answer no, we have our own rooms.
Last game drive and we had the huge privilege of seeing a hippo-mother with her 1-day old baby; even the drivers had never seen one that small. It looked like a huge naked rat.
After the dinner the Masai men and women sang and danced for us and we sang and danced for them. After that I don’t remember much because I passed out from a very exiting day.
// Cliffhanger… the story continues in the next episode. //
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