Billy Out Of Africa - part three

Since my last post we have all visited the Serengeti and the Masai Mara. Badger killed and ate a hyena and I had a ride on a lioness.

I took this photo from the back of the lioness I was riding on.

 Apart from that nothing much has happened. Oh I almost forgot. My female staff's mum had a hot air balloon flight over the Masai Mara and very nearly landed on a lion. The flight itinerary stated that breakfast would be served upon landing. What it failed to mention was that the passengers were on the menu.

My female staff's mum's balloon about to drop in on a lion for breakfast.

The Serengeti was interesting. The word Serengeti is from the Masai language and means "Endless Place." The word Masai means "The people who herd cattle and goats while texting their friends." We went to a Masai village where my male staff disgraced himself by demonstrating to the kids in the little school how much his belly had expanded since the start of this safari.

Some of the Masai school children had to receive counseling after 

my male staff exposed his stomach.

While Badger and I scuttled around in the dust amongst the goats and cattle looking for stray vegetables, the rest of the family challenged the Masai village to a game of soccer. It was a bit of a mis-match. My staff and my female staff's eighty five year old mother against the entire village. Here's the Masai line-up below just prior to the kick-off.

In the end it was a surprisingly close game because my male staff simply laid down across the goal and every shot the Masai team took simply bounced off his belly. However, in the end the Masai's innate tribal cunning won the day when they started a rumour that blueberry cheesecake was being served in one of the huts. At that point my male staff left the goal and went to find out whether or not the rumour was true. It wasn't and the Masai won by one goal to nil as the chief's son deftly dribbled the ball past my female staff and her mum and tapped the ball into the unguarded goal. His celebration was something to behold as he ran to the crowd, slid on his knees in the dust and raised his shuka cloak over his head. This surprised the crowd a little because he was not wearing anything under his shuka cloak. I understand that my male staff is being dropped for the return game and will be seeking a transfer to another family.

Another amusing incident comes to mind. When we were watching a pair of lions in the Serengeti my female staff had her car window open and the large male lion backed towards the vehicle. Alarmed, my female staff closed the window on the lion's tail, just as the vehicle drove off. Nobody noticed that the lion was still attached to the vehicle until we returned to the lodge half an hour later. Imagine my staff's surprise when they climbed out of the car to find themselves next to a large lion, who, to put it mildly was a little peeved at having been forced to run backwards at forty kilometres an hour for thirty minutes.

 

More adventures soon. Meanwhile here's a photo of male male staff in the swimming pool..