At long lat our Safari adventure could begin. We were greeted by Anita form Love Live Africa, our ground agent in Tanzania and was introduced to our driver / guide, Ali, who would remain with us for the week. After an initial briefing we set off to our first camp, Kambi ya Tembo west of Kilimanjaro.
Initially the roads were tarmacked, however they soon changed to bumpy dirt roads and then to even bumpier tracks. The journey although not far if your a crow, took a few hours to navigate before arriving to a beautiful tented camp with views across the planes to mount Kilimanjaro. On route we received an 'African Massage' from the pothole roads and got fairly well coated in dust. We did see a few Zebra and Buffalo however, sheltering beneath the few remaining trees from the sun.
West Kilimanjaro is currently very dry and life is tough. Many of the animals have moved as there have been no proper rains for over two years and the land is parched. Our camp was quiet but a welcome reprieve from the dust and the sun. From our tent we had beautiful views to Mount Kilimanjaro and across the dry plains.
After lunch and the mid day heat had gone we headed out on a game drive with the local team from the camp. This area is not designated as an official National Park and had no real roads and allows you to explore as you choose. Also as its not a national park the locals have been allowed to stay on the land and co exist with the wildlife as they have done for millions of years. On the game drive it became apparent exactly how tough life was in this rural part of Africa. Whilst we saw a fair number of live animals there were also many that were not. The real reason though for visiting this area was to spend time with the Maasai. We visited a traditional Maasai village and was greeted by the women and young children that lived there whilst the men roamed the land with their cattle. The traditional greeting takes several minutes and comprises of both song and dance. We spent time inside the hut of one of the elders and via two stages of translation asked them about their lives, experiences and thoughts.
In this area the Maasai still very much live to the same traditional values and in the same way in which they have done, herding cattle and building traditional boma's in which to live. Although the Maasai do live in many areas throughout Tanzania they are slowly adopting a slightly different role to fit in with the land, the wildlife and the tourists. This is widely thought of as a good thing by the Maasai, tourists and authorities who were previously evicting them from their ancestral lands to make way for 'progress'. The Maasai we met wanted more people to come as they anticipated this would make things easier as the tourists bring roads and water. Perhaps they are right, but it was still nice to see the unchanged ways - although I very much doubt if many Westerners could cope with the Maasai way of life.
After a little more game viewing and sundown drinks in the bush we returned to camp for dinner and star watching before bed.
Initially the roads were tarmacked, however they soon changed to bumpy dirt roads and then to even bumpier tracks. The journey although not far if your a crow, took a few hours to navigate before arriving to a beautiful tented camp with views across the planes to mount Kilimanjaro. On route we received an 'African Massage' from the pothole roads and got fairly well coated in dust. We did see a few Zebra and Buffalo however, sheltering beneath the few remaining trees from the sun.
West Kilimanjaro is currently very dry and life is tough. Many of the animals have moved as there have been no proper rains for over two years and the land is parched. Our camp was quiet but a welcome reprieve from the dust and the sun. From our tent we had beautiful views to Mount Kilimanjaro and across the dry plains.
After lunch and the mid day heat had gone we headed out on a game drive with the local team from the camp. This area is not designated as an official National Park and had no real roads and allows you to explore as you choose. Also as its not a national park the locals have been allowed to stay on the land and co exist with the wildlife as they have done for millions of years. On the game drive it became apparent exactly how tough life was in this rural part of Africa. Whilst we saw a fair number of live animals there were also many that were not. The real reason though for visiting this area was to spend time with the Maasai. We visited a traditional Maasai village and was greeted by the women and young children that lived there whilst the men roamed the land with their cattle. The traditional greeting takes several minutes and comprises of both song and dance. We spent time inside the hut of one of the elders and via two stages of translation asked them about their lives, experiences and thoughts.
In this area the Maasai still very much live to the same traditional values and in the same way in which they have done, herding cattle and building traditional boma's in which to live. Although the Maasai do live in many areas throughout Tanzania they are slowly adopting a slightly different role to fit in with the land, the wildlife and the tourists. This is widely thought of as a good thing by the Maasai, tourists and authorities who were previously evicting them from their ancestral lands to make way for 'progress'. The Maasai we met wanted more people to come as they anticipated this would make things easier as the tourists bring roads and water. Perhaps they are right, but it was still nice to see the unchanged ways - although I very much doubt if many Westerners could cope with the Maasai way of life.
After a little more game viewing and sundown drinks in the bush we returned to camp for dinner and star watching before bed.
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