| the old pond / frog jumps in / plop! – Matsuo |
In the spring of 2012 I spent a life changing semester in Tanzania, studying ecology and human origins. We explored mountains, walked the paths of the cradle of humanity in the Great Rift Valley, and ate all kinds of good shit.
My girlfriend at the time gave me the perfect gift: a journal! I never had one before and kind of went crazy with it. I used it to chronicle almost every day of my life in Tanzania. That hemorrhagic spewing led to a 65 story blog, all of which is now consolidated here
Some of my best writing from this youthful time:
The Footprints of History, The Mountain of God, Cooking Maasai Food with Maasai People, Animals in a Boma, Giraffe Hunt and Goat Slaughter, Maasai Greetings and Stories, Goat Races and Bob, ‘Kilimanjaro’ and the Fish Market.
Below is the journey in reverse chronological order. Enjoy!
Today was another good day, despite feeling a little achy (although this is probably due to the fact that we’re spending most of our time in the land rovers on bumpy, uneven roads). The Chief Warden of the Serengeti named Georg Mtahiko led us around on foot in the park. He took time out of…
A large portion of the day today, in fact most of it, was spent in the safari land rover travelling from last nights hostel to our campsite in Serengeti National Park. It was a pleasant trip, full of many beautiful animals and stunning viewpoints. One of the highlights of the day was getting to see…
Today was quite the adventure! We safari-ed at Lake Manyara National Park again. Almost immediately in the morning we saw 4 elephants alongside the road, clearly one of them was a matriarch because the other three were young. Just underneath her, trying to hide from the sun (and from the sight of tourists like us)…
We woke early this morning to hit the road. We are moving around so much! I was really getting used to the dusty area, the wide-open rustic atmosphere of Engikaret. It was comforting somehow, perhaps because of the slow lifestyle pace of the people there. It seemed almost stress-free (although I’m sure it is stressful…
Tonight we danced with the Maasai. Underneath a clear night sky we walked to a Boma and marched inside, chanting with them.
Right now I am in Arusha about to set off on my 6-week safari. I really enjoyed my time last week in Babati! It’s colder up here than in Dar es Salaam, which I really have liked. Our day began in Engikaret, a Maasai village, lying quite a ways away from Arusha. After lunch we…