Visiting a Masai Village

Finally the time has arrived to head out on safari. We leave home base around 1:30 and start off on our drive to the our campsite which was right near Lake Manyara (which we visited on Sunday). The campsite was nice and not near as rugged as you might think. We had guides that pitched our tents and one roommie per tent. Our campsite had showers, a bar, a flushing toilet, oh, and a pool. It was a little strange to be in this town where probably most of the community didn't have running water and we had a pool. The pool was actually pretty gross, but that's another story! Ha!

We went on safari with Bushmen Expeditions (this is the little plug I promised I would do for them for anyone visiting the Moshi/Arusha/Kili area). It was a fantastic deal which included visiting a Masai village, a camel ride, safari through the Ngorongoro Crater, and safari time in the Lake Manyara National Park. Both Ngorongoro and Lake Manyara are conservation areas. Only the Masai are allowed to live in the land. (The Masai do not hunt or farm, they are a ranching tribe, so their animals are allowed to graze on these conservation plots.)

The Masai village was AMAZING. Masai is one of the four Swahili language groups. They are a warring people (I think I just made that word up). They live in small communities in huts made of cow dung. The Masai live solely off their livestock -- cattles and goats (mostly cattle). They eat only beef and drink both the milk and the blood of the cow. They do not eat any kind of vegetable as they historically were a nomadic tribe of a very arid region.

They performed this awesome welcome ceremony for us. I took some video, but you'll have to wait til I get home for that! Their community was very small. They kept their livestock in a pen in the middle of the community which consisted of about 10 huts. Individual families keep their cows in their small huts to keep them safe from people who would steal them. I thought this odd, not to protect them from predators, but they indicated that wasn't a problem at all. It's so hard to even begin to explain the village, but it was a phenomenal experience.

We returned to the campsite after that for a nice dinner prepared by our own personal cooks. We had a group of 17, so it was a big group to feed, but it was fantastic! After that it was time to hit the hay for an early 6:00 am wake-up to leave for the Ngorongoro Crater.