Last Day

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On our last day we hired a cab to take us back to the craft market for some last minute haggling--Len loves to do that! Late in the afternoon Francis arrived to take us to the airport. He had another tourist from the same safari company who he was also taking to the airport. He was very quiet and solemn all the way there; that's not like him at all! He had been telling us for many days that he didn't even want to think about our safari ending, because he would miss us. We had become very close over the past 2 weeks, and we hated to say goodbye also. When we got to the airport we learned that was why he was so quiet. There were hugs and tears before he drove away. He would love to come to the U.S. to visit us, but it's very difficult for Tanzanians to get a visa, not to mention the expense to get here. It will probably never happen, and we hate to think we'll never see him again. We've continued to email, and we plan to stay in touch. He and Len had an ongoing "war" of pulling practical jokes on each other. Francis thought the best one was when Len switched the hard boiled egg in Francis's boxed lunch with a raw egg. Right before Francis started to crack the egg, Len stopped him and showed what he'd done. Francis plans to use that trick on someone else! He does very good imitations of other nationalities; our favorite is when he goes from his beautiful accent to "black American ebonics". He has watched enough movies to perfect the talk and the walk! He and Len had a great time speaking to each other in German. It sounded authentic even though neither of them know any German. They would do it until we all laughed so hard we couldn't talk. What a great guy! If any of you are thinking about visiting Tanzania, we suggest you contact Maasai Wanderings and request Francis as your guide! This was truly the "trip of a lifetime", and we'll still be talking about when we're in our rockers on the front porch of "the home".

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Photos

Hadzabe
The guy in the top left is rolling his smoke.

Hadzabe hides
These are dik-dik and genet hides that they're drying.

Hadzabe
Francis and Sally are checking out their plans for the day.

Starting a fire
They can do this about as quickly as we can strike a match.

Workers in clay pit
They're chiseling and smashing the hard clay into powder--with hand tools.

Secretary birds
They're fairly large and colorful.

LED lightbulbs
We saw these in use everywhere, but the U.S. can't seem to get them yet. Buying one cost us $4, but they're projected to be about $50 when they finally hit the U.S. Who's the most advanced country here?