I cannot imagine a life without any modern facilities. The masai people that are the natives in Kenya live a life the same as they have always lived. They are nomads and have cattle and goats. Some have adapted slightly to modern society and let their children go to public schools and i have also heard about masai with mobile phones. This is not something i experienced when i got the opportunity to visit a village right outside Amboseli national park.

They charge a fee to get into the village which will go to the community in that village. This village consisted of 80 members with one small house per family. The houses are built by the women in the village and takes 3 months to complete. The material is clay with wooden sticks. The house has two rooms; one where the father sleeps and one where the mother and their children sleeps. The floor is just the ground and I asked where the matresses were. No matresses - they sleep on cow skin. In the mother’s and children’s room they also has a fireplace where they cook beans and goat- and cow meat which is their diet (drink goat- and cow milk). The house is incredibly small and I could not stand straight. I got slightly claustrophobic when entering the very narrow hallway. When entering the first room (approx 4 sq meter) the disgusting smell hits you and i found it hard to breath - something between sweat, soil and strong smoke from fire place. This smell followed me the rest of the day....

In Kenya there are approx 2 million masai people and due to lack of family planning there is an increasing number. They live in polygamy and men can have several wifes and even more children with each wife. I also brought with me some questions that came to my head; what do they do with dental problems, toothpaste, lactose intollerance, home insurance, time since they don’t have watches or clocks, clothes washing, cure for tonsillitis and lots of other things that we take for granted???

What has hit me when I got here is the poverty and especially the children that are suffering the most from this. High unemployment together with low payments and lots of drug- and alcoholic problems are making the situation worse. Unwanted children are left on the street with a hope that someone will find them and take care of them. Because of all these problems there are a lot of orphanages that once started by an organisation or devoted private persons. The local authorities don’t do anything so they are all dependant on donations.

One of the orphanages that i got the opportunity to visit was founded 10 years ago by a Swiss lady; New White House Academy which now has 400 children living and attending education. The children are from 3 years old up to 15-16. The small children have ”mothers” employed by the orphanage, living with them, helping them with all that they need but most of all, they give them love. Fantastic work and I really admire people who give-up their comfortable life at home with the purpose to help children in need. If you want to read go to www.kenyanchildrenhelp.ch.

In the resort I am staying there is a German lady who has been visiting Mombasa for many years and in 2005 she started a school for kids from 2-3 years old to 15-16. These are not orphants, at least not all of them, but they come from very poor homes. We all went to visit the school today and we got such a lovable welcome that i could not hold my tears back. It was an incredibly emotional time with them but most important, everyone seemed happy and were smiling. All women In the group got handmade necklaces. When we were about to leave, they all came to hug us and to do high 5. These kids are not the poorest here but with very little to hope for so by having this safe place to go to everyday, learning on a daily basis, it will hopefully give them some hope for the future. This school is funded by some tuition fees and donations. Local authority doesn't contribute at all.

I believe in helping the people locally as these people are the ones that are worst off.

Kenya is coffee, fast runners, safari and a country full of colours, from the red soil to masai culture. In my 4 days and 3 nights safari trip, Milton has been my private guide throughout and i now call him "Milton the Kenyan Wikipedia". I am always very interested in learning about the places I go to. There is a difference between guides that are just doing it by routine and those that walk that extra mile to accommodate to do a bit more than just your job. He is also one of very few men that has not once during 4 days asked me why I am travelling alone and not with my husband and children nor interested to know my work. He is interested to know about Sweden. That's Milton!

He also knows everything about Kenya, its culture, traditions, the people, customs and of course the animals. Things he tought me that I didn't know before:

• Tsavo East game reserve is the biggest national park in Afrika and has 18,000 elephants
• Cheetahs only eat freshly caught food. if its older than one hour it wont eat it.

• Female elephants are clever enough to know which month it´s time to get pregnant as they can calculate if it´s going to be enough food in the nature for the baby by the time the baby elephant is born. If the wrong month and the male will "get on her" she will eat bugs living in the acacia tree that work as contraceptive.

• The smallest animal in the antelope family is the dik dik. This animal lives with his/her partner for all its life. If one dies, the other one will go and try to find another single dik dik to live with - male or female it doesn´t matter  (modern family even in the animal life). If he/she cannot find one, it will die of loneliness.

• Many animals are polygamic, for example the impala male can have up to 20 females. If a male impala doesb't have any females, they live with a group of bachelor boys. The strongest bachelor will challenge the male with all the females and the winner gets the females. The longer the male has many females the weaker he gets as it is high maintenance accommodating all the females (well at least something in common with human beings) so unlikely that he will win the fights.

• Female ostriches are beige/brown.

• Hippos are the most dangerous animal on the savan as it is very territorial, can run fast and have very sharp teeth. It spends the days in the water doing nothing as skin would crack otherwise and it can die.

• Leopards live on their own and don't share what they catch unless it is a mother with her baby.
• Rhinos followed by elephants are endangered.

Some info about the parks I have visited:

• Tsavo East: savann with some vegetation which attracts all animals except from those living, or spending a lot of time in the water such as hippo. A lot of impalas.
• Amboseli: hardly any bushes and trees but a lot of wetland. Easy to spot the animals. Also, this makes it very rich in bird species, hippos and elephants but doesn't attract a lot of giraffes as they eat from top of the trees.
• Tsavo West: very densed vegetation and slightly harder to spot the animals since they can hide in the grass or bushes.

I highly recommend safari if you like wildlife, nature and loooong trips on bumpy (now we talk bumpy) roads. Make sure you get a jeep 4 wheel drive and not a mini bus as not only will your bones in your body change place, you will most likely get stuck in muddy water.

There are different types of resorts so pick what your budget allows you to get but there are some amazing places with the animals right outside.

I am reluctant when it comes to seeing these animals in zoo parks as I think they should be left in their natural habitat, but on the other hand I believe in raising awareness for wild animals which you do by keeping them in zoo and giving more people chance to see them.

Just get in touch with me if you want more info on the safari i went on.