Mkuru Camel Safari

We officially claimed ourselves as morning people, although I have a feeling this will change as the semester gets longer. And just a warning, this might be long, like the rest of my posts have been.

They love Obama here...

 Yesterday I had the best day we have had in country yet. Since we have not been able to volunteer yet or get out of the city, 8 of the 11 of us decided to go on a camel safari to the Mkuru village at the base of Mt. Meru. After driving for about 40 minutes, we got a phone call from one of our fellow students from East Africa who said she had just arrived to our house to go on the trip with us. We waited on the side of the road while another taxi brought her from our house. While we were waiting, a little boy came up to the bus from an alley way and started shyly getting our attention. Soon, more and more came out and we got out of the bus and attempted talking to them. The first picture is of most of the kids. They were very sweet but a little skeptical seeing as though its just on the outskirts of Arusha and most people probably don't stop there for any reason. This was EXACTLY what I needed... some interaction with adorable East African kids (and their mom). Her name was Elizabeth-shout out to you sissy!!

Cute kids we met on the side of the road while waiting for our friend

Jacko

After she got there, we got back on the bus and continued our voyage for another hour and a half. I could have called it a day at that point, but there was only more to come. Our trip off the main road was very fascinating as it was an array of different landscapes. There were rolling green hills, lush trees, dry land, lots of dust, and many maasai people. Here are some pictures of people carrying water to their homes. (Yes, the water issue is REAL!)

Carrying water

Little boys carrying water

Really cool big bird on an Acacia tree

where's waldo? 

 We finally made it to our destination after lots of dust and cheering when our bus made it through some ditches and up some steep unpaved hills. We all mounted our camels and expected to go on half day ride through the arid land. All the camels were tied together in a line and there were 2 of us per camel.

Most of our group!
Nick, Megan, Brittany, me, Morgan T, Whitney, Lex, Annah, Megan C

Fitzgerald--our camel

our fearless Maasai leader

check out the size of those thorns!

Morgan & I on Fitzgerald

mr. maasai and I

 After riding for about an hour, we stopped and dismounted. We walked over to "Baboon Cave" which was a breathtaking view of a deep valley/cave. There were some Maasai there with their goats that used the different heights of the cliff as a corral for the animals. This is where they bring the Maasai boys after they have been circumcised before they become warriors. They live in this area for 2 months on nothing but meat and liquid medicine, no water. For each boy/man who comes out, a cow must be slaughtered. It is called "Baboon Cave" because at night about 200 baboons come here to sleep. The view from the top of this was beautiful.

Baboon Cave

 We then got back on our camels and thoguht we would get back on the bus and go back home. However, we were very wrong. We went back to "headquarters", ate lunch, and then went on a walk to a Maasai kraal where one family of Maasai live.

Our guide drew us a picture of the set up of a kraal. The outer circle is the "fence" made out of  dead limbs. Inside that is the line of houses, or mud huts. Inside the huts is another fence that is the animal corral. This too is made from dead limbs and has an opneing during the day which they add more limbs to close off at night. Each home is called a boma.

Maasai bomas

passage way, see the limbs!

 The Maasai are very friendly and welcoming people. They invited us into their homes and let us play with their kids. As we were in the village, we were told about the Maasai and their living conditions. Morgan summed it up very well by saying, "We take our environment and adapt it to us, they take their environment and adapt to it." Everything the Maasai people have is used and everything is very well taken care of.

The "kitchen": the small hole on the right side is the "oven/stove" which is nothing more than a hole in the ground for fire. The skinny thing in the top left corner is an inside of a cow they use to store their milk.

Their bed is made from straw and sacks with a dried leather skin as the mattress. This bed is for the dad, the mom and kids sleep in a little nook connected to the kitchen. It is very, very dark in the homes & only have one small window less than 6 inches wide. These houses are tiny, only 4 people could fit in the house with very little movement. 

a "maasai cupboard" in the grandmother's boma. Her home was a little larger, probably because she is an elder.

The grandma of the maasai kraal we visited

 We were offered the chance to buy legitimate Maasai jewelry they had handmade. I bought a few pieces, it was a great buy for two reasons. First and foremost, I knew that 100% of the proceeds went straight back to allowing them to live life. Secondly, it was about 70% cheaper than it is in the cities. I loved this trip and am now even more fascinated by the Maasai people. There was a woman from Holland doing her research for her PhD who went on the trip with us to document and interview us based on our experience. She is working on cultural tourism. She lives with one of the Maasai families in their kraal and experiences life with them just as a typical Maasai. I was very impressed by her and would love to spend some time living in a Maasai village for the chance to truly learn more about their culture.

On our way back, I got to almost experience my first tornado (if you will). There were dust tornados EVERYWHERE! They were very fascinating to me and I took a ton of pictures of them. They were on both sides of the roads and would move rather quickly stirring up dust and brush as they moved.

chaco love.

Our feet were very dirty and we were very tired after our long day excursion from 8am to 5:40 pm. The cost of the excursion itself (camels, lunch, & maasai) was $35 and the close to 5 hour bus rental was $21 (both per person) we felt as though we got way more out of our day than our $56 would have gone in the states. So, if you ever come to Arusha and want to ride a camel, go to Mkuru camel safaris! You can even stay over night on a platform tent, although there aren't many wild animals during the day. Tomorrow we will go to church and then an African choir performance in the afternoon. I am so ready to dive into volunteering!