A 7o'clock start saw us miss most of the traffic as we headed out of nairobi past the shanty towns,schools and stalls alongside the road that reminded us of nepal strangely enough. hordes of people were waiting for all the gaily painted buses or walking purposefully,schoolchildren in their pristine uniform did what children do. Eventually we hit open countryside which was very green with rolling hills of trees and small fields. Suddenly we rounded a corner and the ground disappeared. we had reache the great rift valley that runs from jordan all the way to mozambique. we stopped to admire the view and in the distance was the masai mara. we drove down the side of the cliff only then realising how high up nairobi is. the valley is made up of bush with small huts hidden amongst the trees. cattle,goats and sheep wandered about mostly with a herder who were all ages. the small villages we passed through were all small breeze block buildings with hairdressers,tyre shops,car wash,butchers with carcasses hanging up,pubs,and all kinds of essentials being sold in little lock up shops. there were of course all kinds of christian tin shack churches. after a couple of hours we started climbing again and we saw maize fields and less livestock until we came upon the last big town before the game reserve. here we refuelled and checked the tyres ad then drove into the big mall we had been promised. to enter the car park the minibus was checked for bombs and most people were checked for it as well as they went into the building.we managed to get a pillow and blanket and water for the next two days as the second cash machine we tried worked. Soon leaving the town the tarmac disappeared and we had 3 hours of dirt road,often going off road and a couple of times having to drive through a makeshift toll booth on private land for a small fee as the bridge had collapsed and the government hadn't got round to repairing. now we know why the tyres were checked.by now we were seeing the people wearing the red plaid blankets traditionally worn by the masai people. apart from the people dealing with the livestock we were intrigued to see the women picking tomatoes on bushes growing flat on the ground. we finally arrived at our campsite just by the game park entrance and had lunchtime sleeping with a welcome beer. after lunch we had a fascinating visit to the nearby masai village which started with a welcome dance,followed by a tour of the village and entry into a house. it was then the turn of the women to welcome us to their market stalls for their handicrafts.
Then it was time for our first game drive in the masai mara . almost immediately we saw zebras,antelopes of different sizes,gnus and a giraffe in the distance. in front of us two cars were static and we realised they were watching 2 cheetahs sleeping. we were overjoyed as we have been desperate to see one in the wild. later on we saw them starting to stalk antelopes,gnus and zebras. driving we saw some elephants,a jackal,hyena ,buffaloes and some sleeping lions. upon our return to the exit we again saw the two cheetahs and some more giraffes close up. a fantastic first game drive.