Tanzania Day 4

Today we left the Lake Burunge tented camp and spent our morning at a Masai village for our "day in the life" experience.  When we arrived at the village, the chief met us and then the women all came out and each one adopted one of us and led us to a hut.  The Masai huts are made from elephant dung with thatched roofs.  The huts are quite small, round, with an outer living area and sleeping rooms.  We were in the hut of one of the chief's three wives.  The women demonstrated their basket weaving skills and let us see the bedrooms.  Then we were led outside and the women dressed all of us women up in their traditional garb.  Once we were dressed we were invited to join in a traditional singing/dancing ceremony.  That was followed by a march to where the firewood is kept and we were given the material to cover our heads and then balance firewood on them and march back in line to the village to deliver the firewood.  Then some men of the village demonstrated their jumping prowess.  Masai men are amazingly skilled at jumping many feet straight up into the air.  It's all part of a dance ritual.  Very impressive.  Then the chief talked to us for awhile about Masai customs and way of life.  We ended the visit shopping at the market where the women were selling the beadwork and basketry work that they make.  The children of the village hung around near all the commotion, not really sure what to make of all of us white westerners parading around their village!  

It was really interesting to see this culture that is still so unaffected by modernity.  The Masai are pastoralists, herding cows and goats.  They are also polygamous.  The chief we met today has three wives.  He is an unusually progressive chief, working on establishing a school for the village children and also beginning to try to educate his people about the risks of Female Genital   Mutilation (female circumcision) which is still common in these tribes.  He is getting a lot of resistance to his desires to change that practice because it is seen as so integral to their culture.  It was like stepping back in time to visit this village and see how these tribal peoples live.  

After we left the village we stopped at a woodworking shop where local tribal artisans do the famous African wood carvings out of ebony, mahogany and other indigenous woods.  We then had a long drive to the lodge we are staying in tonight near the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti.   This lodge is on a huge, 500 acre coffee plantation, where they also do organic gardening of vegetables and fruits.  We took a tour of the plantation late this afternoon. It was really beautiful and the views out over the mountains were impressive.  The food at this lodge was fantastic.  We had a huge lunch when we arrived and a delicious stir fry dinner this evening.  I was relieved to be able to wash my hair and feel human for the first time in three days.  And everyone was thrilled to have decent internet access after two nights with such terrible service.  

Tomorrow we are up very early and off to the Serengeti where we will have no internet access for the next four days.  So radio silence begins now!