Safari
On the road heading to the camp, before the safari, the van encountered many challenging roads. While on one road in particular near the Maasai Mara camp site there is a deep ditch with water flowing through it. The safari drivers that pass through this area daily add rocks into the ditch to make area passable.
The local tribesmen have found that if they remove the rocks placed in the ditch by the safari drivers then the vans cannot go through the ditch and often get stuck. In this case, the safari vans must take the alternate route in which they must pay a fee to the tribesmen each time they pass the area. The drivers say it is a daily battle to keep the rocks inside the ditch to avoid fees. Usually the vans team up to venture this area in case one gets stuck the others can assist.
The safari drivers are frustrated by this daily process of rock removal by the tribe. The drivers do not make very much money driving for the safari companies and they are unable to claim the expense of the Maasai border fee with their employer because there are no receipts involved in the transactions. So, the drivers risk going into the ditch instead of paying the fee to go around it.
This van made it over and through the ditch but the Maasai are there waiting on the sidelines for the next victim.
If a van gets stuck in the unpassable ditch the tribesmen do not offer assistance unless a payment is offered to them. The fee to pass the area is unusually five shillings. This is big business for the tribesman.
The Maasai on motorbikes are coming out of the paid area around the bushes and have avoided the ditch. These guys are also part of the tribe that enforces the fees and removes the rocks from the ditch so safari vans cannot pass.
