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www.travelweekly-asia.com | 21 PRODUCT: HONEYMOONS A WEDDING WHERE THE GROOM IS SET FOR THE HIGH JUMP Amidst vast animals and a stunning view of The Great Rift Valley. A luxury African safari lodge is offering couples the chance to have a wedding combined with a honeymoon and some special guests – Maasai warriors. Angama Mara, an owner- run lodge in Kenya, offers both traditional Maasai wedding and renewal of vows blessing ceremonies. Brides will wear a beaded white or red garment over which the beaded marriage necklace sits whilst the bridegroom wears the traditional Maasai regalia and participates in a jumping competition with other warriors. For a blessing ceremony, the bride wears the colourful khanga cloth and a marriage necklace and the groom is dressed in a shuka (man's cloth) and given a rungu (stick) to denote his manhood by the village elder prior to the jumping competition. The bridegroom wears the traditional Maasai regalia and participates in a jumping competition. This takes place on the rim of the Great Rift Valley Escarpment, overlooking the Mara Triangle, with vast amounts of animals, and most spectacularly, the iconic wildebeest migration. The Swahili word 'angama', meaning 'hanging or suspended in mid-air', inspired the name Angama Mara. Each tented suite and guest area at the camp hangs on the edge of the Rift Valley. The resort's owners recommend that all religious and civil formalities are completed at home prior to arriving in the Mara. Kate Fitzgerald, daughter of the Angama Mara owners, at her wedding ceremony.