I know I said I was cutting back on my travels, but with just a few weeks until Cubarnival I could not miss an opportunity to go on a Kenyan adventure with my friend Yvonne.
We flew from Heathrow to Doha,took a second plane to Nairobi, where we had a short break, before boarding a small plane to fly north to Borana Lodge where we would be staying.
The view as we flew in was amazing. I had never been in a small plane before and I discovered it was quite different than when I was on a big jet airliner.
The room was beautiful, the bed looked comfy and the view from the window was wonderful.
There was much more green vegetation than I was expecting to see, but no animals yet.
What I did find though was a beautiful pool, then it was what we had come for the horses. The saddle was quite comfortable
The Guide that accompanied us was Nicholas who very kindly allowed me to join in the ride.
He thought that Yvonne was their lucky charm, because on the first trip out they saw a Leopard. (The first in three years while out on a horse).
There were so many different animals and we were taught the native names too.
Zebra = Punda Milia Grevy Zebras stripes are much closer together and they have a white tummy with rounder ears. Burchell are the more local to Borana area.
Giraffe = Twiga, Elephant = Ndovu or Tembo, Horse = Farasi
I was introduced to a Masai Mara Warrior
Masai Mara Tribe – A Native African Nomadic Tribe.
They live in Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania, usually close to the game reserves, so are probably the best known African tribe
The male warriors are famous for their red costume and Headdresses made of ostrich or eagle feathers. The females like to wear extensive earrings and will often sing lullabies
The Masai Tribes live in an Enkang (an enclosure to protect their tribe and animals from predators) surrounded by prickly thorn bushes. There is usually about 20 Manyattas(Homestead) in an enclosure.