Mystery and fun at masked party camp

On arrival at the gate of the Rhino Camp located about 10 kilometres from Nakuru town, on the road to Subukia, on new Year’s eve, engineer Carol Mumbi and her friends were asked to keep their masks on.

One of the conditions for being let in to the party that was already kicking inside the gate was that one had to wear a mask, which covered the face well enough for the wearer not to be identified.

“Why would one not want to show their face in a party?” enquired one of her friends whom the friends, traveling in a seven-seater van had picked along the way from Nairobi.

The 2012 New Year Maskerade party, (coined by the organisers from the English word masquerade) was the first for the 10 of travelers heading for the venue that night.

 In Kenya, masquarade parties are not at all common, if at all there was any before that day. But they are some of the most popular events in Western countries with a Hollywood celebrity holding a masquerade-only wedding last year.

Arriving at the venue was not an easy task. One branches off to the right from the Nakuru-Nyahururu road at a small town known as Maili Sita with few shops and numerous boda boda operators, driving through a rough murram road for three or four kilometres before arriving at Rhino Camp, an expansive camping site and farm with several high breed cows providing a constant flow of fresh milk for visitors.

 Black Hammock Events chose the venue because of its remote location so as to give the party some mysterious fun away from the city.
 Those arriving for the maskerade party, now slated as an annual tradition borrowed from medieval times, were asked to arrive masked, and under the cover of darkness. They came in personal cars and tour vans hired by the organisers.

“We were informed beforehand that the fun was about meeting strangers without recognising who you were mingling with. If you arrived in a group, you were quickly separated and requested to mix with others,” Lisa Wanja, one of the visitors that night, told BDlife.

 The event that will be held every year on December 31 at the same venue, is the Kenyan version of the masquerade balls in medieval Europe that were basically an occasion in which those attending appeared in costume wearing a mask (Masquerade mask). At these occasions, the gentry would then freely mingle with those from lower classes.

The idea of the maskerade party is to wear a mask that makes it virtually impossible for an onlooker to determine the wearer’s identity. It’s all about mystery. “The reason for this is to make it easy for you to interact with people you don’t know,” Dennis Munyaka, one of the organisers with Black Hammock Events who host the party, said.

 Black Hammock Events held the first  such event in Kenya on November 5, 2011 recording an attendance of 50. It was, however, not easy for attendees to get the masks or costumes, as none are not sold locally. A design student from the University of Nairobi saw a business opportunity and designed the masquerade masks that we were part of the event’s package on New Year’s Eve.

At the venue, a subdued ambiance was created by lit candles in brown sugar papers lending creative lighting to theme up the part. The dress code was black with red or purple.

There was plenty of food, music, dancing and Mexican party games like piñata and beer bong.

The well-attended function had about 180 people, among them bankers, lawyers, engineers, doctors, and sportsmen and university students.

A number of them single, they mingled freely, flirted and forged new relationships with strangers whose faces they only saw after the new years was ushered in..