We were all up with the sun the next day, loading up and tying down,
soon to be off again building another bridge some 80km North over the
Talek river.
This would be our last job in the Masai Mara, but by now
we were a pretty efficient and co-ordinated workforce. Once more our
vehicles, trailers and occupants bounced our way across the plains
only to meet what apparently were the remnants from the great wildebeest
migration, which should have occurred weeks ago. There were literally
thousands of these allegedly stupid animals scattered across an immense
area. By now they should be in Tanzania and nobody could explain there
remaining presence in the Masai.
After a long, dusty but interesting
drive we once again arrived at a new location with work to do. Like
a well oiled machine we got to work unloading and preparing. The foundations
for anchors and posts had set good, so we deftly shot a line to the
other side and began to draw cables across, set tensions and simultaneously
start the hangers and clamps.
This one flew together, although there
was some doubt about whether or not the board alignments were as
accurate as our previous bridge. After a very full day’s work the bridge was complete and
once again it was time to celebrate with the Maasai. Dave Hammond was
still unsure about goat consumption and Paul continued to fill his pockets
with goat debris, but we all acknowledged what an honour it was to experience
such an event.
Sometime after we had finished eating, Rob South and I
roamed about passing greetings to the Maasai. Both of us noticed
how our scraps had been retrieved and further picked absolutely clean.
I saw a young lad clutching a discarded goat leg bone which had not even
the slightest trace of meat, sinew or fat left on it. This young
fellow picked up a twig and rammed it down the end whilst sucking the
marrow out from the other, now that’s economy!
We prepared for another
night in the tents, this time with no beer, and chatted about
what we would do on our one day off tomorrow; “Hey, shall we do a game
drive?” suggested Sam. |
