TANZANIA NOV 2017
TANZANIA CULTURE AND CRATERS TOUR - NOVEMBER 2017
MTA Travel Exclusive study tour with Lisa Pagotto from Crooked Compass
DAY 1 – OLPOPONGI MAASAI CULTURAL VILLAGE
Flying into Kilimanjaro, on Kenya Airways, Linda, Deb and Carine were lucky enough to get a clear view of the top of Mt Kilimanjaro which was truly spectacular in all it's glory! Wow, what an amazing way to start our journey through Tanzania!
On arrival into Kilimanjaro, we were met by Leopard Tours (ground operator used by Crooked Compass) and Ibby, who was our guide and driver for the next 6 days. A quick shower and bite to eat at KIA Lodge, and meeting up with Georgia,Val and Lisa who arrived the day prior, we were set to hit the road for our first highlight of the trip - Olpopongi Maasai Village.
2 hours or so later, we arrived at our destination with much anticipation, to be welcomed by the local Maasai tribe and invited to partake in their welcome dance.
A quick orientation around the village, and checking in to our Boma's (dung huts), we enjoyed a local lunch and then set off for an afternoon of learning.....learning all things Maasai. First classroom style, from the history of how they came to Tanzania, to daily life, roles of women and men, polygamy and also the ongoing tradition of circumcision to turn from boyhood to warrior, still practiced today. A visit to Koko's Boma (grandmother's dung hut) and a cup of traditionally brewed Maasai tea, left us ready to check out some of the local jewellery made by the women (and a few purchases made)
We set off on our walk around the village, to learn more about bush medicine and how to throw a spear (although not quite mastering the correct landing of the spear.....). With golden hour upon us, it was a great time to snap some beautiful shots of the surrounding landscape.
Dinner served (yum yum albeit a bug or two being crunched), a few stories by the camp fire and watching the full moon rise, it was time to head to our cow hide beds for the night (a great experience, although not for all clients as there is no electricity, so no light in the Boma's). The village does have shared bathroom and toilet facilities (flushable toilets)
Day 2 - ARUSHA
We woke to a lovely camping style breakfast, followed by a chance to spend a little time with the Maasai children and learning how to make fire with the root of a wait-abit tree, elephant dung and the art of rubbing the stick between your palms! Think we are ready to enrol in the next series of Survivor now!
Time to leave Olpopongi Maasai Village and head in direction of Arusha - staying just out of town at Rivertrees Country Lodge, a great base for an overnight, beautiful grounds and with an afternoon at leisure, we all managed to catch up on some work, enjoy a little time by the pool and some fitting in a massage as well ????
DAY 3 - ARUSHA to LAKE EYASI
We stayed at the Rivertrees County Lodge outside Arusha last night. Nice accommodation with many of the rooms backing onto a little river, pool, gift shop with reasonable prices, good food and excellent service.
Lisa pointed out that if clients need to fly into and stay a night at Arusha it is advisable to stay outside the city because of crime and general safety and comfort.
Markets in Arusha for tourists – lots of beaded gifts, Maasai Beaded collars, paintings, earrings and general gifts. Barter for best price.
4 hour drive to Lake Eyasi for lunch and along the way we passed a Maasai market held every 3 days - very important for the Maasai people, a gathering as well as a chance to sell what you have grown and your livestock. They also drink some beer and socialise.. in the Maasai culture the more cows you have the higher your rank in society and the richer you are. However when they need money they need to sell some cows. There were thousands of people there.
About an hour out of Arusha was the military barracks for Tanzania - new recruits running on the road for a few kilometres. Lake Manyara to the left the mountain range extending across the entire horizon
Passed through a place called Mosquito creek (we didn't stop!)
Rice fields and banana growing in this very fertile earth on this part of the journey.
The landscape changed from very dry and barren to fertile and green before we headed up through the mountain range where the land changed again to very dry with little vegetation. We headed along a very windy and rough dirt road to Lake Eyasi.
The Lake Eyasi Safari Lodge is set on the Lake Eyasi Soda Lake and has a lovely outlook. The paths between the accommodation and the main building are made from lovely rocks local to the area and they sparkle at night time. The rooms were very spacious and spread out, with little balcony’s and reasonable water pressure.
Lake Eyasi is a very scenic soda lake found on the southern border of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Lisa mentioned that the only reason people would visit the Lake Eyasi Safari Lodge was to come to this area to visit the tribes. To this end, there weren’t very many people there, it had a great pool and the food (3 courses every meal) was plentiful and quite yum.
Lake Eyasi is a hot dry area and in the afternoon we visited the Datoga tribe.
The Datoga Tribe is a tribe of Polygamy and we visited with the women and children of one man (who was out with the cattle) and other women from neighbouring families. The children were delightful and loved our gifts of pencils paper whistles and clothes. They showed us how their huts were constructed of mud, cow dung and wood. The showed us the way to grind maise and invited us to sit in their hut.
Next we visited a Blacksmith to show us how he uses his wares to trade with other families at the markets. He melts down things like padlocks, pipe and horseshoes to make arrowheads and knives as well as bracelets for weddings and jewellery for decoration.
We arrived back to the Lake Eyasi Safari Lodge in time to watch the sun set over Lake Eyasi.
DAY 4 HADZABE TRIBE
What an experience from hunting for Animals, learning about how they make their spears the odd Morning tea stop for marijuana (by the tribal people) dancing and interacting with the Hadzabe Tribe, breakfast under a Boab tree and a visit to local orphanage (not usually on the tour)
We started with a very early morning rise to make our journey out to spend time with the Hadzabe Tribe also known as the Tingia. Today was our day to spend time with them following their hunting and gathering traditions
We visited where they lived and they showed us their way of life. The lives of these hunters is intriguing. The women prepare the huts with the branches of trees and their homes are very simple. We were shown their simple bush homes and also where the tree canopy alone or a cave provides them with shelter during the wet season
The Hadzabe showed us how they make fire the traditional way, the ancient handdrill method using the palms of their hands and two pieces of sticks and wood.
In their Click language a description of each spear was so well explained by one of the tribal men, with his facial expressions and noises made by the relevant animal they were hunting we all understood which animal there were referring to even though no English was spoken
We then headed off on our long bush walk with 3 of the Hadzabe tribe tracking animals with bow and Arrows. The string on their lethal bows is made from giraffe tendons and the arrows are coated with a strong poison made from another tree.
The girls in our group did a great job showing us their skills not to kill anything but shooting them off into the distance (they then had to recover them all)
They live entirely off the bush and from hunting. On our hunt they managed to find 2 mice (One thanks to Linda’s excellent foot skills) and a bird which they proudly cooked and offered to us all) Have to say most declined apart from Carine and Linda who had a nibble of a mice drumstick each.
Nowadays most of their children have never seen a doctor or school - the bush provides for all their needs and is a class room for their offspring.
We learnt about some of the trees and the plants that they use for medicinal purposes.The Commiphora tree provides excellent firewood which they kindle by rubbing wood. A green Commiphora provides a mosquito-repelling sap, juice squeezed out of the sansaveria provides a cure for snake bites while aloe is used to heal cuts. Roots provide a wide range of medicines and the mighty baobab fruits as a source of drink.
A few hours spent with the bushmen made this dry bush country come to life and to watch them hunt was a unique experience as they stealthily spot then creep up on their prey skillfully killing it.
Breakfast under the Boab Tree was a great brekky box filled with many goodies and very much enjoyed after our morning of hunting.
Next stop was a surprise visit to a local Orphanage arranged by our local guide which isn’t typically on the tour. The children were so excited as we bought along some food for them which they all enjoyed. Here we also left some clothes and toys for them and it was such a beautiful experience seeing their little excited faces. The lady in charge was so grateful that we visited. She organizes the whole orphanage on her own from what I could understand very little or no funding …quite a moving experience.
Back to our hotel for some lunch (3 courses once again) great food and then back over the long bumpy dirt road to Bougainvillea Lodge for our overnight stop before we head off to Ngorongoro crater the next day.
This was a lovely hotel full of activity as there was a wedding party there enjoying themselves and having photos taken. A few issues with some power outages hence we were all trying to be mobile travel agents once again and get some work done before we were on the road again. Have to add some of our showers would have to have been one of the worse we experienced with very little pressure.. if any. A lovely dinner with once again 3 courses and a fabulous eventful day 4
DAY 5: KARATU TO NGORONGORO CRATER
After experiencing an amazing journey to date we were all keen to see the Crater and the African game. An early morning departure to drop off the luggage at Ngorongoro Serena. Ibby, attended to the formalities of entering the Park and our first viewing were a troop of baboons. These animals can be aggressive and have learnt to open car doors, hotel windows for the purpose of finding food.
Our descent into the Crater was an impressive sight and to see its vastness was awesome. There is a variety of ecosystems throughout the Crater, making it home to most of the African animals. We saw big herds of wilderbeast, zebra, hippo, buffalo and antelope. A highlight was two male hippos fighting for male dominance !!
Ngorongoro is a deep, volcanic crater, the largest unflooded and unbroken caldera in the world. About 20kms across, 600 metres deep and 300 sq kms in area, the Ngorongoro Crater is a breathtaking natural wonder.
After several hours of game driving and viewing the likes of jackal, warthog, gazelle and many species of birdlife we stopped in one of the allocated picnic spots within the Crater for lunch. These allocated picnic areas are the only spots which do allow you to get out of your vehicle to walk around. Since the wildlife stays in the crater year round, there is not a good or bad time to visit, so whenever you visit you are guaranteed excellent safari action. The only absentees from the Crater are Impala and Giraffe, however we were fortunate to see a giraffe from the distance prior to entering the Crater.
It was interesting to see that the majority of game we viewed from close range and their complete disregard of vehicles, a lioness in fact was seeking shade beside our vehicle. The Ngorongoro Crater was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979 as part of the larger Ngorongoro Conservation Area, which includes two other craters.
We saw many Masai villages in the Conservation Area herding their cows. They live off the land and move according to the movement of their animals.
After a full day game driving and seeing so much we returned to the lovely Ngorongoro Serena Lodge located on the rim of the Crater. Each room has its own rock enclosed balcony and uninterrupted views of the volcanic amphitheatre far below. The rooms were very spacious, the location and friendly staff made our stay here a unique safari experience in Tanzania.
DAY 6 – OUR FINAL DAY
We all set our alarms to 5am so we could meet on the terrace of our hotel to watch the sun rise which was well worth it. We could even hear some elephants frolicking in the bush close by. We had an early brekky and then we were back on the road at 7am for our journey back to Arusha.
Some info for those with clients wanting to visit the crater…Ngorongoro Serena Lodge is located on the rim so it is a very easy 15 minute drive to inside the crater. For those staying at Bougainvillea Safari Lodge it is a good 1 hour drive hour so if clients can afford the extra dollars it is well worth staying on the rim.
We drove for 2 1/2 hours and stopped at Arusha coffee lodge for a final spot of shopping, working and yummy buffet lunch before heading to the airport. Arusha Coffee Lodge is a popular place to stay for those requiring pre- tour accommodation.
We headed off for the last time to our final stop, Kilimanjaro Airport to bid farewell to everyone as we all headed in different directions. We all had an amazing time and enjoyed such a unique experience that we will no doubt remember forever.
We would not hesitate in recommending Crooked Compass to anyone who is keen on a truly unique & authentic experience exploring the lesser known side of our world.
A huge thanks to the wonderful Lisa @ Crooked Compass, our fabulous guide Ibby and all the lovely people from Tanzania we met along the way.
Compiled by Carine Griffiths, Georgia Traill, Debra Johnston, Linda Kiernander & Valma Herb