My Maasai Mara Kenya Village Experience | African Safari
I couldn’t eat that night. I looked down at my plate—chicken, rice, bread, and a clean glass of water—but I couldn’t stomach it. Not after what I had seen that afternoon. Not knowing that, just miles away, in a village I had just visited, there were empty plates, hungry bellies, and a reality that felt impossible to ignore.
The Moment That Changed Everything
I’ve seen the commercials before—the ones with sad music and heartbreaking images of children in need. Maybe you’ve seen them too. Maybe you even sponsor a child through an organization like World Vision, just like I do. But this… this was different. This wasn’t a commercial. It wasn’t an Instagram post. It was right in front of me. The eyes of a child, as old as my own daughter, staring back at me. And I couldn’t look away.
You may have seen the photos Manny Ortiz shared from our trip to Kenya. I remember feeling jealous when he posted them first because they were so impactful. But then I watched what happened next. The hate. The attacks. The backlash. And I got scared. I didn’t post. I stayed silent.
But I can’t stay silent anymore.
Visiting the Masai Village
Before we went, we weren’t told much. Just that we were welcome, that we were invited to take photos. Some people in our group told me it would be a tourist trap—something like a staged version of village life, complete with a gift shop at the end. But I still wanted to go. I wanted to see for myself.
When we arrived, we were greeted by song. The women and children of the village welcomed us with smiles, bright colors, and a warmth that I’ll never forget. There were 27 people there, most of them children. The men—only about six of them—served as our guides and translators. It looked like the images you’ve seen a hundred times before: traditional clothing, mud huts, barefoot kids, livestock roaming freely. But there was something else. Something that made it real.
It was the flies.
The Reality of Life in the Village
Not the fact that they were there—of course there were flies. The ground was covered in animal waste, and the children were barefoot, running through it. But what struck me, what shattered me, was the fact that they didn’t swat them away. The flies crawled over their faces, their hands, their eyes. And they didn’t flinch. Because they live with them. Every day. Every minute.
That’s when I knew this wasn’t a performance. This wasn’t a tourist experience. This was real.
And yet, through all of it—the hardship, the hunger, the unimaginable conditions—there was joy. A kind of joy I don’t even know how to explain. They were **proud** to show us their homes, their way of life. The children laughed and played, eager to be in front of our cameras, thrilled to see their own images on the back of the screen.
What Comes Next
I know now that I can’t just look back at this experience and do nothing. I have to help. And I want you to help too.
I’m selling prints from this trip, with 100% of the proceeds going toward building a clean water well in Kenya—hopefully, for the Masai people specifically. Clean water is a basic human right, and yet, so many people live without it. I know we can change that.
I also have a bigger dream. A dream to return to the village and give them the gift of photography. Imagine never seeing a photo of yourself as a child. Never having a single image to remember your loved ones. I want to go back, bring my camera, set up a backdrop right there in the village, and print the photos on the spot. I want to **give them a visual legacy**, something to cherish, something that lasts.
I don’t know exactly how or when, but I know I’ll make it happen. Because once you see something like this, you can’t unsee it. You can’t forget it. And you shouldn’t.
If you’ve made it this far—thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for caring. And if this has moved you even a fraction of how it moved me, I hope you’ll join me in making a difference.
Shop the prints. Build the well. Change a life: https://www.safariwildlifeandlandscape.com
