Living with the Maasi

So time on the farm is drawing to a close and I've realised I haven't really explained why I'm here. Tarquin (Nicks 2nd cousin) and his wife Lipa own a farm in the Kenyan countryside just outside the Maasi Mara National Park and they're trying to set up their own conservancy and Nick and Dave have been helping out by mapping the area to work out how much land everyone owns.

I arrived 5 weeks after them so haven't got quite so involved in that side of things but instead have had the opportunity to try out loads of bits and bobs around the farm. Highlights have included:

- going to the local town to watch the premier league Chelsea match in a room full of banterous maasi chai drinkers
- riding a horse
- almost falling off a horse
- having a sundowner (beers+snacks+loverly view) on top of a mountain as the sun set over the Massi Mara
- spraying and weighing 3 herds of cows
- mixing several tonnes of dried sweet corn with bare feet
- going on a game drive (saw giraffe, wilderbeest, rhinos and ostriches)
- waking up to baboons on the front lawn and hippos in the mara river

The other night a horrendous amount of rain fell (49mm in a few hours) as we were on our way back home through the conservancy in Tarquin's 4x4. Inevitably, as darkness fell the car got stuck. The water was literally knee deep across the whole of the conservancy. 1 hour later and with a hypothermic Nick and Dave in the cab the tractor arrived to tow the 4x4 out and we all hopped out. Me Nick and Dave and Lusutu (conservancy scout) proceeded to get lost (torchless)stumbling bare foot through the extended river until Tarquin came skidding to the rescue in the tractor. To top it off, once back at the farm we had to wade through the stream turned waist deep river to get to our house. Pretty epic evening.

And last but not least, yesterday me and the farm manager organised a sports day between the local primary and the farm employees. The shopping list included:
- 4 goats (freshly slaughtered with Me N+D as witnesses)
- 2 sacks of maize flour
- 1 sack of cale
- 12 crates of soda
About 300 people turned up and participated in rounders, volleyball, football and an amazing relay at the end. Our muzungu (white people) team were badly beaten. Me Nick and Dave were presented with tradiational maasi outfits, probably one of the best days so far.

So thats it for now, this is much longer than it should be I'll shorten future ones, heading off on Tuesday to Arusha in Tanzania and then to Mombassa back in Kenya. I hope you are all well, love Grace x