Manyara, Iraqw, Karatu, Maasai, Burgers and Beer

Friday---

Friday we started off the day with a few classes and after lunch we headed over to Lake Manyara National Park!! Our land cruiser driver was our wildlife management teacher so we got a great tour. The park was amazing. When you first pull in there's semi-tropical forest filled with baboons, warthogs, birds, and other monkeys. It's also the areas that elephant herds like to roam around.

We quickly drove through this part of the park and came out to an open plain with hundreds of Impala, herds of zebra, water buffalo, wildebeest, and giraffe. They were all intermixed and grazing on the grasses. Giraffe are one of my favorite animal but jeezuz are they boring. All they do is stand perfectly still in groups, only moving to swat flies with their tails. Observing them is kind of funny though because when they see safari trucks they turn and stand directly perpendicular to the cars so they look like tall, skinny sticks.

After driving around for a few hours we saw pretty much all of the animals in the park except leopards, lions, and elephant. On the way out of the park we drove through a dense part of the forest and luckily saw a herd of elephant in the distance between some trees. Our teacher slammed on the brakes and we were able to snap a few pictures of a female herd of elephants with their babies. After about 10 minutes, we noticed that there were more elephants behind us and backed up to get a closer look. RIght at that moment a herd of about 10 elephants started crossing the road 30 feet away from our truck! After that herd another herd crossed, and another after that. We saw about 30 elephants, including a bunch of little babies. It was a perfect end to our first trip to Manyara National Park. oohhh we saw hippos too!



Saturday--

Saturday morning was my turn to do cook crew and since we were heading out to Manyara at 6am, we had to be in the kitchen at 5am to get breakfast ready for the group.

After a horribly early breakfast we jumped into the trucks and went back to Manyara. This trip was about the same as the last, except we saw a few Jackals and ridiculous birds. On the way out of the park we played 'no hands safari truck' which was us standing on our chairs trying to keep our balance on the bumpy road without our hands. real fun.

We got back late cuz an elephant was blocking the road, had lunch, played volleyball, and had a wildlife ecology class. Then dinner and a good nights sleep.



Sunday--

We finally got to leave the campsite!!! well I guess we left the site before but we usually turned left onto the road out of camp, but this time we went right! We were heading to Karatu Town to go to the giant, once a month market! Before we went to the market we made a stop at a Iraqw Tribe's village. An Iraqw man described the daily life of men and women and told us about the changes to their traditional culture in recent years. He also allowed us to all dress in traditional clothes and taught us dances while the women played a drum and sang. I got some good pictures but, alas, the internet sucks. He then gave us a tour of the houses that they used to use in the past. They were built into a hill so that when Maasai warriors came to steal their cattle they didn't know that they were walking on the roof of the house. This gave the Iraqw time to prepare to defend their cattle and fight off the Maasai.

After the great presentation we went to Happy Day's lodge for delicious delicious burgers, fries, and beer. I'm already starting to crave different foods and it's only been a week ah. After lunch we headed back into the main area of Karatu Town and went to the huge market.

There were literally thousands of people, crammed onto this field, selling the strangest variety of goods. They had dried anchovies, used clothing (hipsterheaven), touristy souvenirs, lots of obama gear, shoes, pans, baskets, and so many other random things. I left with a great 4 meter cloth with Obama's face sandwiched between two maps of Africa, a cheesy USA/Obama belt, and a hat. The best part was that I spent less than $15 for everything!

After the market we went back to the Happy Day's Lodge for 'a few' drinks. Everyone went kinda crazy and started dancing around with the bar tenders and servers. Our Swahili teacher went crazy too; dancing with the waitress while wearing a neon green hat that said "general tool" on it.

The ride back to camp was torturous. I had to pee so bad and the bumpy curvy roads were not helping. After a race to the bathroom everyone ran to the field court for a quick, tipsy game of volleyball.

We ended the day with a tasty meal of Tanzanian influenced pizza and silly renditions to Yellow Submarine.



TODAY!!

was GREAAAT. In the morning, instead of our culture lecture we went to a Maasai Manyatta! We went to interview the local Maasai tribe about how converting their Manyatta(village) into a tourist business as a solid source of income has effected their traditional values. Since they don't speak english we had someone translate our questions/their responses. It was a really great experience. We were invited into the home of a Maasai wife (the Manyatta's are composed of huts for the 20 something wives and the 1 husband) and asked her about her changing views on her own culture due to this new business. She brought an interesting perspective that I did not expect. She said that having the business allows her to have her own source of income, making her financially independent from her husband but with unchanged female roles. The husband is okay with the business because they don't have to worry about children/wives asking for money for daily needs. I asked her if having the business would wash out the traditional Maasai values and she replied saying that having the business helps her remember the values since she has to tell them to all the visitors. Without the tourism she would be more likely to forget from the influence of the modern world on their lifestyles.

We also learned that many of the kids no longer help the family out at home as much, now that there are strict regulations on Primary school. Before, all of the boys would help with the livestock and grazing (by the time boys are 7 they are taking the cows out on their own) while the girls would help the mommas rebuild the houses, take care of dinner, and watch young ones. Now the children go to school. In Tanzania primary education is free while secondary education is private. The children that make it through schooling usually move out of the Manyatta and live in towns where they work. If children fail school or can't afford secondary education, they return to the Manyatta where they carry on traditional Maasai life. This was an extremely enriching experience and I can't wait for March when we have our Maasai home stay in Kenya! Oh and before we left, we stopped by the shop that the Maasai, along with the African Wildlife Foudnation, set up to help the tribe continue to grow and survive. I picked up a few cool necklaces and bracelets. Mostly gifts. OH! and the SFS staff told us today that we can order handmade Maasai spears for $35 each. I think I'll take a few home.. carry on?