CLiCK CLiCK! Then off to Eden's Garden aka Ngorongoro Crater

07/24/07
It was super super hot outside today and I loved it. First we had breakfast then walked with our Hadza friends to their tribal area. Then we watched Sigwaz kill a Rock Hyrax and we all ate it later.

Sigwaz shoting the Rock Hyrax with his homemade wooden bow&arrow

In order to cook the Rock Hyrax, we had to start a fire- which Sigwaz showed me how to to do without matches. Awesome! 

Starting the fire!

There is the Rock Hyrax cooking in the fire I started-- fur and all!

We got to climb a Baobab tree today! It was easier than it sounds...they put little wood pegs in there for us Muzungos

Almost there...

I MADE IT!

 Then we got some honey from sting-less bees (the best honey I have ever had). The Hadza use honey to trade with other local tribes in the area.

A member of the tribe found this and climbed the tree to get some.

After lunch we made some awesome arrows with the tribe. Mine ended up getting taken in customs coming back to the U.S. even though I claimed it :(

Testing out my archery skills with my new arrow!

We tried Impala stew with Ugali for dinner and it was amazing! Yummy! Oh and I ate cooked and uncooked roots with the Hadza women. They tasted like dirt.  

 The "click click" language is called Hadzane. The language is said to be "un-writable" because it has clicks which you cannot write, but, Sigwaz wrote like a ton of words in Monica's journal after we danced and sang with them.

Hadza tribes men showing us how to get down!

Monica and I joined in the dancing festivities.

 07/25/07

Sigwaz and I saying goodbye!

Today we left the Hadza tribe :( but not as quickly as we thought…our car wouldn’t start so the Hadza men pushed us to try to pop it into gear but that didn’t work. So then Killer fixed some stuff and it was all good.

They don't have "smog tests" in TZ, thats for sure!

Sigwaz asked for my email so I gave it to him - I will be surprised if he emails me. We drove all day to the Ngorongoro Crater. (aka 8^th wonder of the world) its also called “the garden of Eden." 
Killer bought us sugar cane from the side of the road! It was yummy!

Ella, Mon, Carson, me and Melissa at the Ngorongoro Head Office
(kind of like check in for visiters)

Ngorongoro Crater :)

The campsite was filthy crowded and smelly. Way too many people.

 07/26/07
Today so far… we went to the inside of the crater and woke up at 4:30am. Absolutely stunningly beautiful! We saw hippos and hen a million other animals that we had already seen. Then while leaving Alex and Killer had to help out a vehicle that was stuck. They pretty much saved their lives. Jo=Come.  

Hippos!

It was very, very cold.

rolling hills in the crater

Zebra! My favorite!

A mother and her two cubs.

Alex and Killer saving the day!

 Now we are on our way to go home to Moshono.

Mon, Killer, T-Bone!

** This is where my journal ends. The rest of the blog is from my memories **

Emborag Village, lots of animials, Tarangire, and the Hadza

07/19/07
Our guides for the safari are Umtimama’s brother Killerai Munka Killerai (aka Killer) and Alexis (aka Alex). 

Alex & Killer

Killer drove our car. The 4x4s are awesome! The tops come off! So the farther we got out of Arusha the more Maasai it got! We went to Emborag Village (a small maasai village). The chairman of the village rode in our car!
The village as the most Maasai thing I have ever seen in my life. Everyone was wearing the Maasai blankets and colors and the tire sandals like the ones we made. Some had brandings on their faces. When they are about 3 years old they are burnt or tattooed for “decoration”. A lot of them also had huge elaborate earrings in their super stretched out empty/holy ears. This one guy had the bottom of his ear so stretched out he wrapped it around his entire ear!

Village Chairman.

Mother & Baby

Emborag Village

Writing inside the houses

Maasai Children

After playing with the children and exploring their way of life, we drove for a few more hours until we reached our destination. BUT not before spotting our first GIRAFFE! Monica and I tried to get a tan while sitting on top of the 4x4, but that didn't work well because we were constantly dodging African thorn bushes. One of them made Monica bleed.

Ella, Monica, Me and Izzy at camp.

 07/20/07
We had to wake up very early today to go on a hike. We climbed this really big beautiful mountain called Mount Emborag. It was hard core- up and down took about 5 ½ hours. On our mountain climbing expedition we had to like rock climb. The view was amazing.

Maasai man who helped guide us up the mountain.

Admiring the vast African plains

We napped after the climb then took a walk and saw baboons and  this African hamster looking thing, and another giraffe.  We saw a lot of tracks and a lot of animal poop. Then after super we had the Maasai guides do a little "culture night" with us. They told us stories about different hunts they have been on and sang many songs while they showed us how they danced. It was an experience I will never forget.

Maasai men, me, and Monica getting our groove on!

The higher your vertical jump - the better dancer you are.
 

It was dark so its hard to see the Maasai men dance, but their singing is clear and beautiful :)

In order to become a Maasai Warrior, one must hunt a lion (solo) with nothing but a spear and return with his tail. After much encouragement, one man told us the story behind his battered and deformed looking shin. On this mans attempt at becoming a recognized warrior, the lion began to chase him! He was running so quickly that when his foot went into a pot hole his tibia (shin bone) snapped! But he couldnt stop for the lion would have got to him...so he continued to run to safety. Because of the lack of available health care, the bone heeled in a funny way.

07/21/07
Today I learned that my Maasai name Nemburis means "blessing." How fitting :)
Also, Killer told us that if a male ostrich's neck is pink that means it’s horny.

He looks pretty horny if you ask me...

This is not photo shopped!

07/22/07
Today Killerai told us another interesting animal fact. Lions actually have "honeymoons" and during this week long festivity they mate for approximately 15-20 seconds, every 10min, for a week! They only break to eat, hunt, and sleep.

A lion couple on their honeymoon!

Monica & I on top of the car

Below, I am inside of a tree. This is where poachers used to sit and hunt animals out of. There are still poachers around, but authorities have really cracked down, and the fines are outrageous.

Antelope and Zebra!

Beautiful Tanzanian Sunset

07/23/07
Ok have to pack up from Taraginire National Park and head to the Yaida Valley were we are going to be with a tribe that speaks in CLICK CLICK! Can’t wait. So we just left the park and these boys were trying to sell us huge carcus. Then Kathy bought a fish and they tied to the car and it smells and looks discussing! We had 2 random guys jump on our car but I guess Killer knew them so it was ok. 

They just held on for the whole ride!

We are lunch at Magara Waterfall. It was beautiful ...

The ladies after lunch at the waterfall

Today Killer taught us to say Simama Sitalke and Pina hala which respectively means stop, I do not want that and I have no money. It sent beggars away in record time!

We also got to meet the Hadza Tribe briefly today...We went to their village and walked around a bit. They are pretty interesting, I'm looking forward to spending more time with them. 

Hadza Village

Hadza boy

batiks, maji, and maasai tire sandals!

07/12/07
We didnt work today and spent most of the day in Arusha. We went to town with Makaay which is Untimama's best friend. Untimama is Munka's (the director figure) son.
We went to a local food market and then an internet cafe to touch base with the real world. After that we all went to a restaurant called Bamboo.

Arusha, Tanzania

After that we rushed to the Rwanda thing and watched International Criminal Tribunal For Rwanda. It was intense. The people that were responsible for the genocide in Rwanda were being tried and prosecuted. It was an amazing experience and I am very gracious for the opportunity. After that we went to the Maasai market again and I finished all of my shopping for friends, family, and myself :)
We baptized Bruno (Bob's son) and his new American/Canadian name is “Andy”.
Nakupenda = I Love you.  
07/13/07 
We worked on the school for half the day today...

George inside the school walls.

Admiring our work.

After working on the school we went back to the house to meet with Master Batikers. A Batik is a cloth with a pattern or picture on it made by using a manual wax resistant dying technique. It is rather diffictult - but we gave it our best shot...

Batiks made by the masters

Attempting to wax up my Batik.

2 Master Batikers.

07/15/07
Yesterday we went to Ngiresi (a small village about 25min drive from Moshono). We stayed at Loti’s Farm. He was a very nice man and had a lot of people who were at his house.

Loti''s Farm

We stayed in tents and it was VERY cold outside. I had 5 layers on my top (no joke). And I still needed a down vest.

The tests we camped in.

Kids we met on the walk to the waterfall.

Navaru Waterfall

After our waterfall hike we did more hiking and went back Loti's. I had the best dinner of my life - I don’t know how to explain it but it was rice and this carrot/veggie thing and I actually liked it. So we went to sleep at about 9pm and I woke up at 3am and then it started pouring outside and I didn’t know Hailey’s shoes were outside so I didn’t get them and they got soaked and I felt super bad. Then we waited for the rain to clear up which it didn’t so we basically sat around. Then right when I was about to fall asleep we went for a wet walk around the village and saw a traditional home. It was awesome. 

Traditional style home

Pot boiling inside the house

Hanging out inside the house with Maakay.

 The entire family stayed in these homes as well as the cattle (if the family had any).  They had makeshift walls that gave the feeling of rooms but it was for the most part a one room house. They did their cooking int here as well and it tended to get very very smokey in there. They had a ventilation system set up so the smoke would go out through the middle of the roof but it didn't work that well.

Baobab Tree in the mists after the rain.

Then after that we went and saw the village Traditional Healer and her name was Mama Chalas. It was amazing!!! There were leaves that you chewed on to make a toothache go away. Then you mixed the bark of two trees and boiled it and then it got rid of STDs and there was stuff that helped with Malaria and just a bunch of other things.

Mama Chalas's house from a far

 

Mama Chalas with her healing herbs.

Beautiful flower on the hike

After that we went and looked at a coffee plantation:

Headed back to the farm and had lunch then waited for Munka to come with the car. The car couldn’t come in the morning because it was too wet and couldn’t make it up the really steep hill that lead to the farm. 
We went back to Arusha for a bit and then back to Moshono. We went and played soccer today. Our favorite players are Dayos, Ben, Schevchanco, Toby, and Fester. They are only our favorites because we know their names. And they pass us mzungos! We call and say "Rafiki yangu!! Rafiki yangu!!" Which means "My friend! My friend!" or "Friend of mine! Friend of mine!" 

The group we play with (I am taking the picture)

Me and Monica getting ready for the big game.

07/16/07
So today we worked on the school but not really because there was pretty much nothing for most of us to do. There are only 1 person jobs to do now. I saw Ronald again...Ronald is the little boy who I bought a new uniform and shoes for. Hailey left for Dar-es-Salaam today. She is going to see the child her and her family has sponsored through World Vision for like...5-8 years now.

Walls are all up

Izzy, Monica, Hailey, and Me!

Maasai beading people came over and it was so much fun. They brought all this stuff and I bought my last gifts for people back home. Then I got some Maasai tire sandals and decorated them! Then I made a necklace that is amazing and Isabel made a bracelet and gave it to me cause it didn’t fit her ankle! It was so fun! 

Hard at work!

07/17/07
We woke up and went to work. Today we had to make A LOT of cement. It was hard. All they said was “MORE MAJI” Maji is Water in Swahili. Michelle, Ella, Kathy AND Monica were all sick today. So after lunch we didn’t go back to work and just relaxed at the house. We napped and read. It was very nice. It started to rain though so we went inside. When it stopped I went back out to just listen to music and sleep and we had our THIRD earthquake!!! It was absolutely CrAzY! It was the worst one yet. The one we 1^st had on Mr. Meuro was part of one that was in Nairobi, Kenya and then the ones today were from Arusha. No on was injured in either. And they were a 5.4 so not bad at all. It just feels really weird! Haha the ground is like…moving! I love it. Haha. 
07/18/07
Today we don’t have to work at all because all there is to do is cement mixing. So walked into to Arusha, which took about a 1-1 ½, walk, then in town we ate lunch after the internet. Munka gave us a ride home. Im tired...safari is tomorrow...very excited about that