Kenya, is this really on Earth?

From Nairobi to Mount Kenya, and then to the Lake District of the East African Rift Valley, we passed through cities, suburbs, pineapple orchards, coffee forests, wastelands, land with "Land Not For Sale" signs, wholesale Markets, noisy small towns—we call them small towns, but in fact most of them only have one street with not many houses. Only one side along the street is painted with five colors of paint, which makes the town appear as colorful as a phantom in our car windows: Red Coca-Cola booths, green pharmacies, barber shops...

We cannot get on or off the bus at any such real-life place. We only park at tourist service stations on the way every two or three hours. - There are restrooms available, but always behind the craft store. We had to pass through a forest of hundreds of wooden lions, giraffes, elephants and cheetahs, like a dream from which we never wake up. ?▲Giraffes have no vocal cords, so there must be a unique way of communication between them. This giraffe that was about to cross the road stopped when it saw our car, and its child also stopped far away. In the evening, we arrived We arrived at the first campsite on the way, Serena Campground on the edge of Lake Elmenteita. The small courtyard is adjacent to the lakeside. Early the next morning, when the dawn had just outlined the lines of the trees, and the melodious calls of birds filled the tree crowns, the sound of my opening the door alerted several water antelopes in the jungle. They stopped and stared alertly, and then phantom-like disappear.

Neol, a girl from the Kalenjin tribe who was the hotel’s security guard, took me to see flamingos. I followed her to the lakeside. On the light blue lake, a group of pink flamingos were parked. In the water, the red color is light and light, almost melting into the glow. ?▲A group of flamingos on the lake almost melting into the glow

Lake Elmenteta is actually a small lake in a series of lakes in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa. To the south of it is Nai Lake Washa and Hell's Gate National Park, the famous Lake Nakuru is in its northwest, a 20-minute drive away, and further north, there are Lake Bogoria and Lake Baringo. ?▲The design of each Serena hotel combines local culture and elements. The walls of this hotel are painted with baboons that imitate ancient cliff carvings

The Great Rift Valley in East Africa is both a chasm and a passage. On the one hand, it prevented caravans from the east coast from penetrating into the interior of Africa, including Arabs and Portuguese; on the other hand, it was also a passage for ethnic migration. Four to five hundred years ago, the Nile-speaking Maasai people entered Kenya from northern Sudan along this road. In East Africa, the Maasai people are a mythical being. "The lions ran away when they saw the Maasai people!" Speaking of the Maasai people, tour guide Lao Zhang has many stories. Zhang from Longren Travel Agency has lived in Kenya for more than 20 years and has a deep affection for the grasslands.

Our route that day was exactly along the route taken by the Maasai people into East Africa. From Lake Elmenteta via Nakuru, continue driving southwest and gradually enter the Maasai Mara prairie area