Tanzania -  April, 2012

My trip got off to a rather inauspicious start.  Arriving at the airport for my 6:20 flight, I was told that the flight would be delayed two hours due to mechanical problems.  I saw my trip going up in smoke and raised cane.  United put me and another guy in a taxi and drove us to Dulles.

Arrived at Mt. Kilimanjaro and our hotel, set among coffee plantations.  The main building dates from colonial times. Our very comfortable rooms were in the form of Masai huts.  We start sleeping under mosquito netting.  The rest of the afternoon and next morning was spent exploring the grounds and taking a nature hike.

Off to Ngorongoro Crater.  This was originally a volcanic mountain that imploded creating a caldera.  Our lodge was perched on the rim of the crater at 2700 meters.  It's 600 meters down into the crater where more than 50 sq. miles supports rich wildlife.  It was rather chilly up there, no mosquitoes, no netting.

Along the way, we saw colorful scenes of daily life in Arusha, such as market day.  The donkeys, who brought the goods to market, were tied nearby.

Our superb guide for the 5 days was a Masai named Laizer who was a good driver, good spotter, good-humored and had VAST knowledge of birds, animals, topography.  Our safari vehicle was a Toyota Land Cruiser with pop-up top.  We were five women, one token male and our guide. Laizer is in between the two Masai.

The Masai

The Masai came to the Serengeti from Ethiopia.  They are nomadic, herding cattle and goats, they follow the grass so they don't settle to plant crops or eat vegetables and fruit.  Their diet is meat, blood from their animals and milk.  They have a rather pungent odor redolent of charcoal smoke, raw meat, cattle and infrequent bathing.  All the men wear red in some form or fashion. They are polygamous so when a young man has a cow, he can buy a wife.  But each wife gets her own charcoal smoke-filled hut.  Wealth is measured by how many cows and goats you have.  

We visited a Masai village, which is surrounded by thorny brush to keep the cattle in at night and the wild animals out.

The men and women of the village treated us to a dance.

I had brought pens, pencils and little notepads for the school children.