Journeying the Belt and Road Ep. 9: Into the Wild

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After reporting for TV channels in South Africa, we left for Kenya. However, we didn't stay in any city; we went straight to the plains of Masai Mara.

Our local guide, Willy is one year younger than me. He grew up as a member of the local Masai clan. The community embraces a very distinct way of life which is well preserved even in the modern era.

Willy using local version of a toothbrush. /CGTN Photo

We had never seen so many animals in our lives, and the fact that they were wild made it much more exciting, than say, going to a zoo. Right here, it's the real deal. It's hunt or be hunted. Everything follows the law of the jungle.

It's the end of August and one of nature's spectacles is taking place: the migration of wildebeests. Every year over a million of these animals including zebras and antelopes traverse across the Masai Mara ecosystem and the neighboring Serengeti in Tanzania. The lucky survivors celebrate by feasting in the northern Serengeti and begin crossing back to Masai Mara.

Wildebeests are omnipresent at this time of the year in Mara, Kenya. /CGTN Photo

We were fortunate enough to witness two cheetahs hunting down a wildebeest. It was truly a magnificent sight which not many tourists in the Mara get to experience.