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Published: October 13th 2010
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Maasai boma
They make a corral out of thorn branches, and they put their herd inside at night. Wild animals are a constant threat to their livestock. Day 2
After breakfast we continued to see animals as we drove back through Tarangire on our way north. There are a few paved roads leaving the town of Arusha, but most of the roads are dirt paths. This was the end of the dry season, so everything was dry, and clouds of dust from other safari vehicles caused us to feel like we had sand in our teeth!
By now we were getting to know Francis and we realized he was going to make our trip wonderful! He is from Arusha, is 27 years old, has a wife and one year old daughter. His parents realized the importance of education, so they made sure he was able to attend school and become a tour guide. He speaks Swahili, Spanish, and English, and he has a great sense of humor. Len and he started pulling practical jokes on each other, and that continued until the last day! Francis is able to see animals that we never would have seen on our own. He seems to have some kind of x-ray vision! Since we were always away from our lodging in the middle of the day, we had boxed
Plumbing system
This is how these upscale tents manage to have toilets and "showers". lunches packed by the past night’s lodge. There was no cooler, ice was usually not available, and they’ve never heard of food safety concerns. Every lunch was about the same, and they always had some kind of meat that had been sitting in the back of the vehicle all morning. We always had a hard-boiled egg, and that’s what kept us going until a nice dinner in the evening. After our boxed lunch we drove on to Lake Eyasi.
We were in Maasai country, so we saw them walking their herds to water. They wear red or purple plaid cloth wrapped around them, and they’re always carrying a herding stick. They usually have a herd of cattle, goats, and a couple of donkeys. Sometimes the donkeys will be carrying bags of grain or containers of water. We even came across an occasional herd walking down the highway, but most of them were walking cross country since there are no fences. Many times a very young child would be herding by himself. They live in small round huts that the women make out of sticks, mud, and cattle manure. These bomas dotted the countryside in all directions.
After turning off the highway we were on a dirt and boulder road for the next 2 hours. It’s hard to describe how bad the roads and paths were, but we had to have our seat belts fastened to avoid being thrown around in the vehicle! We ended up in a village next to Lake Eyasi, but since it was the dry season the lake was mainly a dry bed. The whole area was like a desert, but during the wet season it comes to life. In the village the houses were very small and usually made of mud or homemade bricks. Of course there’s no electricity or water, so we often saw women carrying water jugs on their heads returning from a community well or spring.
Francis took off cross country and we ended up at Ksima Ngeda, our lodge for the night. It was beautiful, with permanent tents and an open-air dining hall. They even had a large swimming pool, but by the time we arrived it was a little too cool to sound inviting. Since it’s early spring in the southern hemisphere the days were very warm, but nighttime temperatures would drop into the 60’s. Upon arrival at every lodge we were met with a wet washcloth and fresh-squeezed juice. It was always a welcome touch, because traveling on the dirt paths and across open land left us covered in dust. We met with a local guide who briefed us on tomorrow’s visit with the Hadzabe tribe. After a nice dinner, we went to sleep knowing we would be up at 5:30 in the morning.
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