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Trying to not fall off the ostrich |
As per usual, my life here in Kenya
has been less than boring. In fact, this blog post may get a little hefty, so
stay with me.
During the last few weeks I have
gotten a hold on public transportation and can successfully get myself downtown
on busses and matatus without getting too ripped off because I am a mzungu. I
have finally figured out the system chaos employed in the public transportation
system, which is a major accomplishment seeing as how I am directionally
challenged even in the US.
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My friend Joseph the Shepherd in Kitengela |
With my new found confidence in
public transportation and my ability to navigate, some friends and I traveled
an hour and a half to a town called Kitengela where the Maasai Ostrich Farm was
located. This required taking a bus to downtown, walking to the railway, getting
a matatu to Kitengela, and bartering for another matatu to take us to the
ostrich farm. It was a complicated process, but definitely worthwhile. After
the hour and a half of bartering, smog, and bumpy roads, we found ourselves
enjoying an ostrich burger (that
weirdly enough does not taste like chicken) in a quiet field, and later took a
spin on the ostrich (which I nicknamed Fancy). Riding an ostrich was probably
one of the most ridiculous feelings I have experienced. As the bird is
sprinting around the fenced in area, two men are attempting to hold you on.
They said it was impossible to fall off. I can guarantee that it is not
impossible to fall off. Secondly, you are on an ostrich. As you are trying not
to fall off, the mere thought of being on an ostrich makes you laugh really
hard, which probably the caused me to almost fall off the ostrich in the first
place. The situation does not become any less funny when watching your friends
ride an ostrich. It was a day full of laughter and chaos, of course. It turns
out there is no better vacation from the chaos of Nairobi than the chaos of
visiting an ostrich farm.
That brings me to Tanzania, which provided plenty of
adventure, bizarre experiences, and interesting foods to try for my blog and
then some.
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Charlotte playing the Ubokana |
We headed out for our eight-day excursion in Tanzania early
in the morning on Saturday. Our six hour drive through dusty terrain sprinkled
with mountains in the distance and eventually lead us to Arusha, Tanzania to
the UAACC- United African Alliance Community Center where we stayed for the
first couple of days. There we met Pete and Charlotte O’Neal- two exiled
members of the Black Panther Party. It was interesting to hear their stories
and listen to their views on why they joined the Black Panther Party and how it
changed their lives. I had never really learned that much about the matter, but
it was definitely a new side of the issue that maybe I had not considered. They
were the ultimate hippies. Charlotte read us some of her poetry and played the
Ubokana (a Tanzanian percussive instrument made from a stump and strung with
animal tendons.) I’m not quite sure it was my instrument but I’m sure she
played it beautifully.
We spent the next day visiting the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda where we learned about the trials and how the UN runs them
and then the Shanga House- a bead making company that employs deaf, blind, or
physically impaired people to work in the shop. This was amazing because they
recycled everything. Walls, beads, decorations, almost everything was made out
of bottles. It was incredible.
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Maasai Warrior helping us
get ready for the bonfire |
The next day we traveled another five hours to the Maasai
village where we camped- or we liked to call it glamping (glam camping) because
we had a personal chef and better food than most of us had had in months aka
there were eggs, chicken and cheese involved and minimal rice and bread-for the
next two days. I don’t even know if I can accurately describe this experience.
The Maasai are a unique tribe that adorns themselves in symbolic beadwork and
have a completely different language. To greet anyone over 40, we had to bow our
heads so they could touch our heads and greet us in Maa (Maasai Language). It
was hard to communicate because few people spoke Swahili so our interactions
involved multiple translators (one to translate English into Swahili then
another to translate Swahili to Maa) This was an interesting but lengthy
process, especially during our talk around the bonfire with the elders that
night. One question could take somewhere around a half hour to
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Casual Goat Milking |
translate,
explain, and translate back. Nonetheless it was an interesting experience to
see how little was known about science and development. One of the questions
was “ We have heard someone went to the moon. Is that true? And how does this happen?”
This took me aback because it seems so routine and common knowledge that people
have been going to the moon for decades. After this we went to bed, some
decided to stay in tents the first night, but we had the option of staying in
the Boma- a traditional Maasai house made of sticks, mud, and rocks. It
consists of two sleeping areas constructed of sticks and a cooking area inside.
So naturally I stayed the night in the boma. It was definitely like no hotel I
had stayed in before. All night you could hear the bugs chewing away at the
roof and animals outside. Luckily, I survived to tell the tale
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Just playing with some goat eyeballs |
We started the next day with a sunrise hike, followed by a
goat milking….and goat slaughter/roast.
We had to first prepare everything ceremonially by collecting a bed of
herbs for the goat to be laid on and wood for the fire. I thought I was not
going to be that affected by the goat slaughter. I was wrong. It actually shook
me a little bit because it took so long and was slightly graphic. The actual
slaughter was a little better though because the Maasai were so efficient, and
also because they made it into sort of a game by giving us new things to eat
and playing with the eyeballs. We tried the liver (with gal bladder seasoning),
pancreas, ribs and heart of the goat. We also drank a “stew” of the organs and
blood. It didn’t taste too bad- just a little organic that’s all.
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Sunrise over Mt. Kili |
That night they shared more of their culture. We attended a traditional ceremony where
the men and women divide in a circle. The men chant and make a low guttural
sounds and jump towards the women. Two men sing a chorus and after the men jump
bob their heads and walk towards the men. This would have been scary if it
weren’t so amazing. They even forced the students to participate. We must have
looked really ridiculous, I can only imagine.
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Child in the Hunter-gather group |
We rose early the next day and headed out to find one of the
last hunter-gatherer tribes in Africa. As we drove past Mt. Kilimanjaro, the
sun was rising over the top of it. It was incredible. There are literally no
other words, just my memories and a few pictures. We then drove another five
hours to go on what I like to call a people safari because they migrate we had
to try and find them. We met with the men who were completely dressed in baboon
skin and they treated us to some roasted baboon head, which I reluctantly tried-
not my favorite, I would prefer some goat ribs to baboon head any day. I feel
like my list of weird foods keeps expanding by the day. After we met the women
who showed us how to gather roots, the men taught us how to shoot a bow and
arrow.
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Ndovu-Elephant
in Ngoro Ngoro |
That night we got to another hotel/ campground area that had
showers. At this point we had not showered for three days and had been brushing
our teeth with toothbrushes made of sticks. Personal hygiene, definitely not
functioning at peak. I swear I have never been dirtier in my life. Before I
hopped into the shower I wiped my face with a wet wipe and it was completely
black. Needless to say I think that was probably the best shower I have taken
in my life.
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Hippos |
The next day was safari day in Ngoro Ngoro Crater. It was so
incredible. To get down into the crater you have to drive down the side of the
mountain, and the view is unreal. The top popped off of the land rover and so
we just stood on the seats the whole time and marveled at the view and all the
animals. We saw 4 of the big 5: Elephants, Rhinos, Lions, and Water Buffalo-We
did not see the Leopard. Among the animals we saw were also zebras- of course,
giraffes, hyenas, warthogs, the “horny bastard”, and hippos. It was crazy to
look out over the plains and see all of these animals co existing in the same
space. And there were so many of them! Literally the entire crater was filled
with animals.
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Warthog in the mud |
We stopped for lunch later and our administrative director
told us to get out lunch and move quickly back into the land rover. We didn’t
understand why and thought he may just be over reacting, but we were definitely
wrong. While my friend Ali was taking her lunch into the land rover, an eagle
swooped out of nowhere and grabbed her chicken, making the rest of her food fly
everywhere. I swear it was like a scene from The Birds. They were circling our
land rover by what seemed like the thousands. As the other land rover drove up
with the rest of the students in it, we watched as two more of them got
dive-bombed. It was definitely funnier watching it from inside the land rover,
safe and sound with your lunch already in hand.
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Another one of my favorites! |
To add to my already incredible experience in Tanzania, the
next day we climbed the first stage of Mt. Kilimanjaro. We had a couple of
guides who had climbed to the summit 94 times. They were crazy- and moved at a
really fast pace. The climb was hard, and definitely was more than I should
have been doing, considering I was sick that morning too. But regardless of my
health, I was definitely not going to go to Tanzania and miss out on hiking
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Mandara Camp, Mt. Kilimanjaro! |
Kilimanjaro! We hiked to the Mandara camp at 2,600 m. It took Three hours to
get to the top and was about ten miles round trip! It was crazy to stand there
and see Tanzania on one side and Kenya on the other. I was just really glad I
made it. At the camp there was another crater with the softest and grass I have
ever seen. I literally could have slept there forever because it was so
comfortable. Maybe it was comfortable because I was so tired from the climb,
but either way I didn’t want to move! The way down was much more enjoyable and
it was cool to sign my name out of the book in the front. I am now officially
in the books! Kilimanjaro ended our trip with a bang and the next morning we
were crossing the border and on our way home to Nairobi.
Since coming
back I have moved into an apartment with some of the other students. Some
exciting features include: a shower, a running toilet and a kitchen where I can
eat all the cheese I want!
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