elepHant orpHanage Conservation-
ists at the David Sheldrick Wildlife
Trust scour Kenya’s bush and
savannahs for elephants that have
been abandoned, often due to
poaching. The team brings the
baby elephants to this facility to
nurse them back to health. Visitors
can watch the toddler pachyderms
cuddle and play with their handl ers
during a daily viewing.
Mama Jane near her home; the colourful
beadwork of Maasai women (right)
plummeted, a young Maasai warrior
would slaughter a big cat as part of his
initiation. The killing was considered
a righteous act that respected the ani-
mal’s spirit and helped protect village
cattle from the hungry predators.
Using traditional weapons—a spear
and rungu, a round-headed club—the
warrior would have to single-handedly
kill the lion. Jackson recounts his own
initiation, in which he took down a
massive beast with only his spear.
Kenya outlawed the practice (and all
big-game hunting) in 1977, but many
Maasai continued the prohibited rite of
passage. Over the past decade, however,
tribal elders have come to recognize
the importance of conservation to their
community, and have agreed to ban the
ritual killing—making Jackson and his
generation the Maasai’s last lion killers.
At A rurAl homesteAd near Sikirar,
I turn my attention from warriors
to women. Though Maasai culture
remains largely patriarchal, women—
known as “mamas,” even if they’re
childless—play important roles in the
home and their economic contribu-
tions are quickly evolving.
Down a winding dirt path from the
main road, we approach a neat house
surrounded by flowerbeds and a don-
key pasture. A tall, energetic woman
rushes to greet us. Mama Jane is one
of her community’s leading entrepre-
neurs. I learn how she now provides
much of her family’s income, thanks
to a cooperative of village women, who
make and sell intricate beaded jewellery.
Mama Jane explains traditional
nairoBi
now
women’s work, which includes child-
rearing, building the family manyatta
(home) of mud and sticks, and milking
livestock. But a woman’s main domestic
duty is water—going to the river to get
all of the family’s water for drinking,
cooking, washing and bathing. Sounds
easy enough, until you try it!
Mama Jane invites our group to
follow her path to the river to fetch a
20-litre jug of river water. It’s a task she
and other women often perform five or
six times a day. The two-kilometre trek
is picturesque and quite enjoyable.
But once I fill my jug, swing it on my
back with its strap over my forehead
(the typical method of carrying it),
the rocky path is less pretty and much
more grueling. Some village kids gather
to watch the novice North Americans
clumsily lug their jugs. It’s an exercise
every visitor should try for a real-world
understanding of Maasai life.
After several days with Jackson,
Mama Jane and other villagers, I end
my visit to the Mara with an evening
game drive. A naughty-looking hyena
trots after our vehicle. We turn a corner
and nearly run into a towering giraffe,
munching on tall tree branches.
Though I’m not lucky enough to
spot a leopard this time, I tell myself
it’s okay; I decided days ago that I’ll
visit again. I will see another leopard
on my next trip to the mysterious and
magical Mara.
Before setting out on
safari, check out the city’s
cultural experiences and
wildlife encounters
giraffe Centre When you get the
chance to kiss an endangered
Rothschild’s giraffe (there are
less than 700 left in the wild),
you take it! You can get seriously
up close and personal with the
world’s tallest mammal at this
urban sanctuary, whose breeding
mission seeks to repopulate
Kenya’s Rothschild’s herds.
Karen Blixen’s House The Out of
Africa author was devoted to the
education and wellbeing of local
villagers. As a tribute, the suburb
around her former coffee planta-
tion now bears the name Karen.
The Danish writer lived here from
1914 to 1931, throughout her leg-
endary love affair with big-game
hunter Denys Finch Hatton.
AMA InsIder
WInTer 2017
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