The rainy season
The rainy season normally comes with different things in Maasailand, one of the most important things is milk, because cows are healthy and there is enough pasture and water for them and so they produce a lot of milk. Milk is one of the most nutritious foods we have. When have a lot of milk we don’t need to buy any other food like maize flour or beans and other agricultural products.
If you don’t have cows one is regarded as oltorroboni (Dorobo). These are people in Kenya who are hunters and gatherers. They collect nuts and hunt for bush meat, and are looked down upon by other Maasai clans. But to us here in camp; the rainy season is sending us elephants. Here is one I took in the morning outside my tent.
In Maasailand we have two rainy season in a year, one starts in November and ends in late December, this is referred to as the short rains. The long rains as we are experiencing right now are from mid March to late May.
The evenings are so beautiful that I don’t want to get dark.
I have been giving you a weather report where I live, what is the weather like in your country?
Hi Antony, the new website looks great, lots of great information on it and I like the map, it now gives me more of an idea where you are and where you are located and the pictures are great too. I was actually going to ask you how the Guardians got started and how you and the other Guardians got involved and going from killing lions to helping conserve lions, was it hard to convince the other Guardians ? Well I live in Ontario Canada and after a long winter with lots of snow it’s now cold and raining but unlike you I don’t get to see a magnificent elephant out my window. I was just reading the news about Six Maasai warriors from a remote village in Tanzania to compete in the London Marathon to raise money for a water well for their village. They will be running in full traditional clothing including a shield or Elongo. So what do you think Antony, are you up to running a marathon for the lions ? Just kidding, I thought it was great that they were doing that for their village, the only downside was that I think they still kill the lions and are not trying to save them like you are all doing.
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/04/10/maasi.marathon/index.html#cnnSTCText
Thank you for all you do and stay safe…and dry
In Florida, we have 2 seasons, hot and hotter. Very muggy. We are in transtion mode, to the latter. No elephants or lions…but we do have two alligators in the lake beyond my apartment. Very shy with good manners!
Antony, I love the photo of the elephant! I know they can be dangerous but I wouldn’t mind waking up and seeing one of those a safe distance from my tent! 🙂
I’m originally from Australia – I think the weather is similar to Kenya – either a lot of rain or none. Australia really struggles with drought.
I live in the US now and where I am has the longest winters in history basically. The only thing that saved my sanity this last winter was feeding the birds, rabbits and squirrels.
Hi Antony, in Milan today we have a weather similar to your rainy season… from my office’s windows I don’t see any elephant, but many cars and some business man… not so beautiful, but dangerous like elephants!!! 🙂
Dear Antony, in Tucson today it is 24 deg. C and bright and sunny and beautiful. Here are some photos of some our less people-populated areas and some of our birds: http://www.borderland-tours.com/v2/content/view/39/59/. And this is the city where I live: http://www.u.arizona.edu/~bsmith/tucson.jpg. THANK YOU for the gorgeous images, the elephant rising and sun setting. Yes, those diurnal hours are magical, aren’t they. I always want them to last longer. Blessings, Nancy
Where I am today it is going to be about 95. Very beautiful and sunny. We are up against some foothills so we do have lots of wildlife; coyotes, bear, mountain lion, deer, raccoons, skunks, snakes, bobcat. We also have a flock of parrots that have been living wild in our valley for at least 40 years. The legend is that a pet store burnt down and that’s where these parrots came from. They are very loud if they arrive in one of your trees, but I love them and think they are so beautiful. I love that they are thriving and wild. Lisa
Lisa, are these parrots, green with blue under their wings? About the size of a dove? They might be Monk or “Quaker” Parrots. They are very loud and hardy! And yes, very beautiful as well, smart too.
In Finland we used to have all four seasons of the year and it was great to be able to experience them all. I live on the southern coast of Finland and here we are starting to see the effects of the climate change. There is hardly any snow during winter months (Nov-Feb), but instead we get heavy rains and storms. As Finland is located far up in the north of Europe it’s very dark and days are short during winter and having no snow and sunshine isn’t something which one enjoys.. Summer months (mid May – end August) are then on the contrary very light and during June sun doesn’t go down hardly at all. Finland is a beautiful country which has over hundred thousand lakes and lots of forests. Unfortunately our politicians don’t seem to appreciate the natural beaty of the country and it’s flora and fauna, but want to exploit the land for all it’s natural resources..
weather here in las Vegas is sunny, windy and warm in day time; and cool at night. In summer this place can get pretty hot like some places in Africa.
due to human development ( human invasion), the cougars are almost invisible. may as well, since there are people who love to kill them for fun and trophies. Our local newspaper stated that two bob cats entered someone’s backyards. bob cats are no bigger than your average house dogs. thus, they pose no danger to persons. i bet they were looking for wild hares ( we have that a lot and many hares sadly do get run over by speeding vehicles ). shamefully, one was killed by a police person any way.
it seems like the world likes to kill big or not big wild cats.