Last day in Tanzania

March 6, 2012

Our last day in Tanzania started out early, just like any other day here. We woke up early on the premise that today we would meet the famous Masai, but it turns out we actually payed 15,000 shillings to climb a mountain that left us all wheezing. 

The view was great however, and we got to see the traditional Masai huts. 

We visited a market where the Masai sell a lot of their work (carvings, paintings, etc) and got a couple of souvenirs. 

This trip has made me aspire to learn more about the world, and what it has to offer. The people here have learned several languages just to haggle to tourists  and we had a few 5 year olds come up to us, calling themselves "Mr. Cheap" and trying to sell to us. Several of those kids even knew basic German and Spanish, and proudly showed off their skills. It blew me away. 

On our way out of Karatu yesterday, I saw the person I had traded my shirt with wearing it. I had to get a picture! 

He's wearing a Cheetos shirt

There were a great many amazing things I saw on my first trip overseas, and I regret nothing from my experience. 

A rainstorm in the Serengeti, when we went to go see the great migration

Hyena mom and her cub

A termite mound

On our last day at the lodge in Arusha, they bestowed us the high honor of...GOAT! I never thought I would have a goat roasted in my honor, and they left the fur on the face and legs. It was really greasy meat, that a few people compared to lamb. 

These were our guides from SOKO tours! They were AMAZING!

We saw this preying mantis fly off and then fight off a bird that wanted to eat it by shaking its legs at it!

Until next time......

Tanzania, Day 12

March 5, 2012

Today was exciting, because we got a hot lunch instead of a boxed lunch. Though not much happened today, no one complained. We needed a relaxing day. We did some shopping, and I traded a t-shirt for a painting, as well as my watch for a few other things. 

We went to lake Manyara, and we watched a troop of baboons for a while. My instructor told them to "evolve already" and I suspect she doesn't care for baboons vey much.

Baboons have an interesting social structure that I read about in the book "A Primate's Memoir" by Robert Sapolsky, and I learned that males have to fight for alpha male status, but the alpha female is born with alpha status depending on whether or not her mother was an alpha or not. 

After packing up we headed to Arusha, back to the lodge where we stayed our first night in Tanzania. 

Tanzania, Day 11

 March  4, 2012

Looking over past journals, I can see how much I have learned from this trip from the first day. 

• No, there are not lions just hanging around in the middle of town
• Don't show the "business men" your money. They'll be jerks and take it from you. 
• They also lie. That bracelet they want you to buy is probably made out of plastic, not elephant hair. 
• The kids ask for pens, paper, money, and sweets. but sometimes they are just collecting these things to give to adults who will reward them for begging. 

The land here is gorgeous and so full of life. We have seen more mammal species here in two weeks than I have back home in my entire life. 

Today we went to Country Lodge in Karatu, which I liked much better than the last place. While still in town, it's a little more like a gated community and felt a little safer. Today was about learning what local people here do for a living.

We went on a walking tour through town to see the rice fields. A person has to stand guard all day to scare off the birds that want to eat the rice. 

After that, we went to see the people who carved for a living. They carved all of the wooden items that we saw being sold to tourists all around town, and carving is a part of their tribes tradition and they are very good at it. 

The wood they use the most if from far away, where the Masaai are, and they ask for permission to go get it. Because the wood is becoming scarce, they can only take fallen branches or wood from dead trees. 

A tribesman shows us how they carve. They carve according to what "the wood tells them" 

Next we visited a banana plantation, where the tradition was making banana beer. There is a specific kind of banana that they use, and they boil the bananas to get the juice out. They then add it to a boiling concoction of flour and something else, and then they let us try the end result. 

It wasn't bad, but not something I really liked. 

Next we got to see a group in which painting was their way of earning money. One technique they used was using a small knife instead of a paintbrush. There were a lot of impressive pieces there, and they could all be purchased in town. 

The last thing we did that day was to go to lake Maru, where we watched some birds, hippos, and we even saw a Nile monitor lizard and an elephant! 

Tanzania, Day 10

March 3, 2012

We visited two tribes today, the Hadzabe and the Datoga. 

The first tribe we visited is called the Hadzabe tribe, and the are a nomadic hunting tribe that is constantly moving from place to place in search of food. The Hadzabe is currently struggling to survive because the government has banned them from hunting in conserved areas. 

The Hadzabe tribe had us help make fire (we were bad at it) and once we had made smoke they lit up a pipe of...marijuana. They offered us to try some, but  we declined. 

The Hadzabe tribe originally came from Southern Africa, and traveled up to Tanzania. Because of their nomadic tendencies, the government has a hard time getting a census of their numbers. So in order to get a census, the government will shoot a couple of buffalo, and tells what tribes they can find to go tell all of the others there will be a feast. They always show up for feasts. 

The Hadzabe have a place where they go to the bathroom in the woods, but there are sanitation problems as the rain washed their waste away into streams and ponds that the drink from, and then they get sick. 

They have marriage, only one woman at a time, but they also have much divorce. 

The guide told us that they often marry too close, which causes a lot of genetic problems. 

Another fun fact about this tribe is that they don't bury their dead, but will kill a large prey animal and wrap the body in it, leaving it behind for hyenas to eat. (One of the reasons hyenas are taboo in Tanzania, as we later find out. If you hear the name hyena, to stick your tongue out and blow a raspberry over your shoulder, because its a bad word). 

The Hadzabe hunt with bow and arrow, and have four different kinds that they use. One of which they will coat with a poison to better kill large prey with. 

We didn't go hunting with the tribe, but we got the opportunity to shoot their bow and arrows, and one of the tribes members show a woodpecker, which was still alive on the arrow, so he killed it by biting its head and crushing its skull. Bleck. 

No one got a picture of me shooting a bow and arrow, but here is one of the professors

The Hadzabe also had a great selection of jewelry that the woman there had made. 

After meeting the hunting tribe Hadzabe, we met a different kind of tribe, the pastoralist tribe the Datoga. 

The Datoga tribe can have many wives, but they have an oddly indirect way of selecting their wives. When a man wants someone to be their wife, he has to first talk to the father, and then the neighbors, to find out if she is hard working or lazy, and to find out more about her. 

He then waits until the woman is fetching water or some other chore, where he then sneaks up on her and "captures her" by putting his necklace around her neck. 

No words are said at this meeting, and they both just go on their merry way. Elders are then sent to her house, and they (the family and the man who wishes to marry the girl) discuss some sort of dowry, how many cattle or sheep the family with the daughter will get. 

If the man has enough cattle, he can get more than one wife, and he can get as many as he can afford. 

However, the first wife is the one that chooses who the second wife will be. The husband must also be careful, if he has too many wives, he doesn't get much say. 

The Datoga are also blacksmiths, they get scraps from a local junk yard and melt yellow copper down in a fire. 

The Datoga migrated to Tanzania from Ethiopia, and used to live in Ngorongoro crater until they had a war with the Masaai, and were driven out. 

The Datoga showed us their home, demonstrated how they made some copper jewelry, and did a dance for us. It was very interesting and a lot of fun. 

This poor guy has three wives! 

Tanzania Day 9

March 2, 2012

We woke up to a foggy morning at Rhino Lodge and trudged to the dinning hall. After eating a delicious breakfast of eggs, fruit, and bacon, we packed up for the day's adventure. Ngorongoro Crater. 

The crater was formed by volcanic eruptions, and where once there was a vast and impressive volcano now stands all that remains of it; a broad flat plain surrounded by a circle of mountains. This was a volcano that had literally blown its top off. The drive down was rather steep, and I found myself leaning away from the edge most of the way down.

The grass here in the crater is almost all short, and leaves no place for predators to hide. We watched a hyena trail after a cheetah, hoping to steal the feline's meal, but the cheetah knew better and would not hunt while the hyena was around. 

the cheetah is on the left, hyena on the right, and a very brave (or foolish) impala stands in between them

It was interesting to see that most of the animals ignored the predators, perhaps because they would see the predators coming for them in the short grass, or perhaps because most predators hunt at night. 

We watched a Cori bustard fluff up his feathers and strut his stuff at the ladies, a truly humorous sight. He even made thrumming noises with his throat, which sounded like a big drum. 

We watched a few wildebeasts knock their heads together, while a common jackel slinked past, and watched a lone hyena stalk a small herd of wildebeasts, perhaps hoping the mother would wander away from its child, leaving it unprotected.

The Ngorongoro crater is one of the only places you can see a black rhino. Their numbers are few, and they are very timid. Our guide told us that they stay away because most of them can still remember being hunted by humans, though they are protected now. There are only 30 black rhino loeft, but they are slowly making a comeback. However, with a 14 month gestation period...it takes a while. 

What we saw next was difficult to describe, but I will try my best as it was a rare and important part of the trip. 

We had just passed a small herd of gazelle, and watched a young one foolishly prance away from its mother. Its mother raced after it and stamped her hooves, calling the little one back to her. 

That's when we saw the cheetah, walking calmly toward the gazelles from downwind.

 She stopped when she noticed the young one away from the others.

Then she began to slink into a crouch, walking casually close to the gazelle as she dared, before BOOM! She took off in a bound and leap toward the gazelle.

The baby turned tail and ran with the rest of the herd, but its small stride was nothing compared to the long elegant stride of the cheetah, its body built for speed.

Our jeep raced along side the cheetah, hoping to keep up, and in a cloud of dust and legs the cheetah caught the young gazelle and held it firmly in her teeth. Her prize, her victory.

The whole jeep was gasping and wide eyed from what we had just seen, and how deadly perfect the cheetah had taken out the animal. When she ran it made the gazelle look as though they were standing still. 

She catches her breathe and looks warily for anyone who might try and steal her kill.

The Ngorongoro crater is amazing because of all the wildlife you can see in one spot, and it is a must-see for things in Tanzania. 

Before leaving the crater we took a small lunch break by a lake filled with hippo, and birds and Guinea fowl attempted to beg for scraps.

Hey, hey, hey you! Give me your food!

We went back to Rhino lodge to grab our gear, and  departed for Karatu, to a lodge called Crater Rim View Inn. This lodge is in town, so there will no longer be any chance of waking up tot he sound of lions or monkeys on the roof. Instead, we are falling asleep to the sound of talking through the thin walls of the inn, and screaming from the bathroom (because the shower was too hot).

Tomorrow, we are going bow hunting with a tribe early in the morning, so time for sleep!