a weekend amongst the Maasai

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We ( 8 of my fellow volunteers from CCS) were picked up in Moshi on Saturday morning by our tourguide from Maasai Wanderings and we first drove to Arusha to visit a local craft market. After abrowsing through the stalls and bargaining with the vendors we got back in our landrovers and headed out of town to hike up a small mountain from where we were able to overlook the area. We were joined by our Maasai guide Jeremiah, who explained to us how the Maasai live, what was awaiting us for the rest of the evening, and we enjoyed a small picnic lunch with a fantastic view. After lunch, we drove further into the grasslands, first stopped to visit a local school that is partly supported by our tour company and where some of the dues that we paid will be put to use to teach the 800 Maasai children who attend this school (16 teachers for 800 kids) . After the visit to the school our drive took us to the general area where our village and boma was ( a boma is the small compound where one family lives) . We walked thorugh the dust and dirt being looked at quie curious by the kids and goat anc cow herders who we met along the way. The Maasai are a very proud and a very traditional tribe, and it is the duty of the women to attend to the house, the cooking, cleaning and fetching of water, and the boys and young warriors attend to the herds. We walked to the one water source that is available during the dry season, which is a huge well, where animals as well as the peole get their water from. After a short walk up the hill (about 10 min) we arrived at "our"boma" where we were greeted by the first wife and the other three wifes of the warrior who lives in this bomba, as well as some of his sons and lot's of smaller children. They danced and sang the traditional song, (including lot's of jumping) and led us to the mud hut where we were dressed in traditional Maasai cloth = orburangeti, which is essentially a very colorful blanket that is tied around your body in a certain style, we all received a bracelet and the neck jewlery and then followed the women outside to dance with them . Once the sun set, we had dinner inside the mudhut which was delicious and a combination of Maasai traditional food of ugali and beans and some western meal of rice and potato style soup, and then it was more dancing and signing under the stars around the fire! What an experience!
We slept in tents inside the boma, and after some restful sleep awoke to roosters, goats and cows aroudn us who announced the beginning of a new day. After breakfast we helped the women carry the water up from the well... and yes we too carried the buckets on our head!!!
Then it was time for a few more pictures and we then followed our guide again on a long walk through the grasslands and grazing grouds to a small sand quarry and from there to the sunday market where the maasai sell and trade their cows, goats and sheep. By now we were all thorougly dirty..i actuall have never been so dirty in my life.. the fine dust of the grassland (right now there is no grass since it has not rained in months) was everywhere. But we wanted to experience the real life of the Maasai people, and we sure did that! An experience that i will cherrish forever. amazing and astounding that a group of people are still living a life of such poverty and with such strong traditional beliefs. Truly a proud people!
After a walk through the local market we arrived back in Arusha, back in civilization ( well at least African civilization 😊 and went for a nice lunch ( coke and sandwiches) and then drove back to Moshi for a long, long, long shower!

A fantastic weekend and an amazing experience! Africa ! 😊

well, time for dinner now and then some rest since 90 kids are waiting for me tomorrow! 😊
cheers SL

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Photos

Assisting the Maasai Women
Trying desperatly not to spill the water during the first few steps!