Well I have become lax and this safari is long over but here is the final stage in Amboseli for the blog. October is the end of the dry season and the lake-bed was as dry as it can get with the hot sun and winds creating dust devils and the occasional dust storm. I guess that it was a good lesson for us to experience some of the extremes that Africa can go through and show us how the wildlife and people are at the mercy of the climate. It seemed as if the area was holding its breath for the onset of the November rains, elephant herds crossing the lake-bed to get to the shrunken swamp for life giving water and then trekking back across to get to the brush and trees for food. A commute which governed the lives of not only the elephant but also the giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and even humans and their cattle. As the dry season deepens the food gets farther away from the water as it is eaten, causing this daily ebb and flow of animals.
The maasai are a stoic people when it comes to the seasons, facing destitution and starvation during heavy drought years with a simple 'Shauri ya Mungu' : 'It is the will of God' . I suppose it is because this is something they believe they cannot change and so they just get on with their lives. This year actually is a normal one and the grass so much better than last year which saw the end of a tragic three year drought which decimated their cattle herds and also much of the wildlife.
The final day of our safari saw the usual visit to the one of the local maasai ingang (village), in this case we went to David Kraini's ingang and did some shopping in the market and visited with his mother at her hut. These two little girls were excited by the us foreign visitors but also a little shy! In the evening we had sundowners and a dance at the top of Nado Soit, the hill behind camp and we were lucky to have the peak of Kilimanjaro come out from behind her shroud of clouds creating a magically beautiful end to the day and the final evening of our safari.
