End of Safari

Another chapter in my Africa trip has come to an end. I am now in Moshi Town, and will be heading to Soweto in a few minutes, where the primary school is that I will be teaching at all this week. The last week has been amazing, full of surprises. Since my last post, we did do a few more game drives, but the safari focused more on the cultural aspect of Tanzania. I was a little ambivalent at first, not sure what to expect. And being that I had spent some time here already in the villages, I was curious if our 'cultural experience' would be real, or more touristy. I was in for a treat! The biggest highlight was yesterday! After a morning game drive at Lake Manyara National Park, and spending a lot of time with many baboons, we packed up camp, and started driving to a Maasai village. The Maasai are very easy to recognize around Tanzania, as they are the only tribe that has maintained their traditional practices. So in the towns, they are always easy to identify by the four pieces of fabrics they have wrapped and draped over their bodies - purple, blue and red. The men, or the warriors as they are called, also carry a knife on their belts with a blade that is 12 inches long, and a club, seriously! The women are very decorated, with beaded jewelery, stretched out ears with many dangling beaded earrings, and usually a baby strapped to their backs. So, we arrived at the village, and instantly I knew that the experience would be authentic. The Maasai all live in bomas, round houses made of sticks and cow manure, with thatched roofs. The houses are set up in a circle, and in the middle is an enclosure for the cattle. Each boma has several houses, depending on how many wives the man has. There was one man in this village that had 11 wives, so his boma had 12 houses! Anyways, we arrived at the village, and the warriors met us. I had so many questions, and the men were very willing to answer them all. Our guide, Laraha (happiness in Maasai) spoke very good english. He explained to me that there are three groups for the men. The young boys, all boys under the age of 14. These boys are responsible for the cattle, so everyday, they go out with the cattle for 12 hours while the cattle graze. There are no fenced in pastures here, the cattle and goats and sheep walk around as a herd, and the young boys MUST stay with the cattle using a long stick, and throwing rocks to keep them where he wants them. He must sit with them for 12 hours, 6 - 6, and then herd them home to the safety of the boma at night. All boys are working on gaining respect, so that when they are 14, they can become warriors. When they are 8, 2 front teeth are removed from their bottom teeth with a knife during a ceremony to strengthen and toughen them (no anesthetic)! At 14 years old, the entire village gets together, and the boys are publicly circumsized! They CANNOT cry, supposedly if they cry during the circumcision, they will be killed! I know it sounds unbelievable, but Laraha said he has never known anyone to ever cry! So, once the boys are circumsized, they are warriors. The warriors are responsible for the safety of the cattle, as lions are a big threat. Just one week prior, the village warriors had to go together to slay a lion, as it killed several cattle. They go to kill lions in groups of no less than 100 warriors. The warriors also, according to Laraha, must be ready to fight and die at any time. They are all trained to use a spear at very long distances, and as I said before, all carry a very long knife on their belts. These guys are no joke! Once the young men reach the age of 35, they become elders, and work to advise the people of the village. The women are very subservient in this culture. The Maasai are known for practicing female circumcision (mutilation), but when I asked about this, Laraha was very evasive, as the Tanzanian government has legislated against it, but it still goes on A LOT! The women build the houses, bear the children, fetch the water, prepare the food, gather the firewood, and basically everything else. It was really weird to see all the warriors sitting around picking their teeth with a branch (very popular with the Maasai), while the women were working away like crazy. We did get a performance from about 30 of the women, and they all had wares that they had made for us to buy. The warriors, while the women were singing, chanted along with them, and did their signature jumping for us. The Maasai men are known for their jumping abilities, and it was really something to see. After the performance we walked around the village a little, and met some of Laraha's 11 brothers and sisters, and all their wives and children. Most Maasai men have at least 2 wives, usually many more. It is not uncommon for a Maasai man to have 50 or more children. At one point, we met Laraha's grandmother, who he SWORE was 116 years old. I find it pretty hard to believe, although she did look VERY old. The Maasai believe very strongly in their use of traditional medicine, to which he credited his grandmother living to be 116, and still milking cows at that! My favorite part of the experience came at night though. We set up a bush camp, and because their are several hyenas and lions in the area, several of the Maasai warriors lit a campfire at our campsite and were going to keep watch of our three tents all night. So we sat around the campfire with several of the warriors for quite a while, exchanging stories about our different cultures, and learning about one another. The Maasai men, as traditional as they are in their customs, love music, especially American music. I remembered I had my IPhone with me, so I took it out, and, with all the Maasai Warriors crowded around me, I put on the Bad Romance video by Lady Gaga. All the guys loved it, they were grinning and dancing - to Lady GAGA!!! It was so great - as one of my friends said, it was like a scene out of a movie. After my last night sleeping in a tent, we walked around the village a bit more today, saw many of the plants that they use to make local medicines, and then headed to a Maasai market. The Maasai men have a signature pair of sandals that they wear that are made out of motorcycle tires, and they took me to the man to make them. He measured my foot, cut the tire, and built the straps right onto my foot! Made to order!! I'm so happy, I've been looking all over for these sandals, and to have gotten the real thing, and not some tourist knockoff version was very exciting. They are pretty comfy! Emily also got her Maasai outfit at the market that she had been looking for, and it was really cute to see them dress her in it. Half the people at the market gathered around to watch, and just thought it was the funniest thing to see a Mzungu woman dressed like a Maasai warrior. After the market, we drove Steve and Murray back to their place, and then dropped Emily off. It was really sad to say goodbye to them, but it seems like that's traveling - meeting great people, having great experiences with them, really connecting, and then moving onto the next people and experience. I'm in Moshi now, and will be meeting Father Innocent (that's REALLY his name) soon, and he will take me to the Soweto House. It has been such an incredible week, but I'm really looking forward to sleeping in a real bed, getting a real shower, and also really excited about getting to work on Monday with the kids! Thanks for reading, I'm really enjoying sharing this trip with everyone, and love to know that people are actually following along. Feel free to comment, or email me. It's nice to hear from people.