Last week, I flew back another bullet victim from Loliondo to Arusha. More and more, it looks like the wild west out there… Some other bullet victims haven’t survive. Land issues usually between Maasai and Sonjo, not much women’s stuff. Over the years I've seen only case of a machete wound across the face, Rwanda style, a fight between 2 brothers over the wife...
I was in the bush pouring some oil in the aircraft engine and some Maasai woman was eagerly waiting for the empty oil container. Not a big deal you’d say except that she was also hoping to scrape some oil to moist her skin! Any kind of aft or oil is used as such but I doubt this is a healthy skin product, and worse, used oil would be spread on too. So as usual I pretended I only poured half a bottle in the engine. I know the container could be put to good use in the remote bush but the health issue is more important I ‘d say…
Fishing in my old road books, I remembered Pat Patten’s old story of a Maasai man going to the bush to teach his young son some shooting lessons. So here they go walking together, the son carrying an array of weapons, bows and arrows, spear, machete… at the turn of a cow track, they suddenly meet a leopard. The father quickly turns around to grab a weapon but not quick enough as the scared boy is already running away at full speed…with the weapons! And here is the leopard coming! So the father, while pondering the tough luck he’s got with such a moron son, still decides to protect him and to do so has to fight and kill the leopard with his bare hands. Not an obvious act to do but he did. The leopard jumped on him claws wide open while he grabbed the leopard’s neck. Adrenalin must have been flowing by the bucket because he managed to squeeze the throat hard and long enough to kill the leopard. Of course the leopard hadn’t been there just waiting, he had been battling too and ripping the man’s skin and muscles away, with probably more energy than usual! In the meantime marathon boy had called for help in the village and when the party arrived they found the father lying on the ground, unconscious, covered with blood and with the dead leopard. One Flying Medical Service 206 flew the man to the hospital. He has survived albeit a bit crippled. His status rose considerably in the area as Maasai people value scars from fight very much.
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