Arusha

SUNDAY 21/1

Hi everyone,

This morning, myself and nine of the others got up and went for a walk to a waterfall. We had a really great view of Kili with no clouds on the way which was exciting! The waterfall itself was nice but I found the whole thing a bit underwhelming for the $20 USD price tag. 

We then drove for four hours to Arusha, where we stopped and had lunch in a cafe. Then we continued on for another half an hour to our campsite at the Meserani Snake Park. 

Here at 4pm we went on a Masai village tour. It was different to the Malawi tour, because the Masai are a nomadic people who move wherever there is water. This particular tribe stay put though, because the water source here is quite good. We were greeted by lots of excited children. Two of them in particular loved me - one cute little girl with blue shoes shrieked with joy every time I lifted up for a "whizzy dizzy". She was so beautiful! They then sang to us before the men in the tribe performed the traditional jumping dance which was very impressive to watch. 

We looked inside one of the houses and our guide told us that the women in the tribe build these while the men herd cattle. Masai men can have multiple wives and most of this tribe descended from a man two generations ago who had nine wives. 

We ended our tour at a small museum showing weapons and previous housing styles. Here we found out the Masai people drink the blood of cattle. To get this blood they don't kill them, but make a small incision in a blood vessel and take some blood before patching it up. We also learned that the men in the tribe must be circumcised before they can get married, and if they cry during the circumcision, they are shunned from the tribe and can never marry. 

Afterwards, Shannon, Tash and I went and looked at the local markets run by the tribe's women. Everyone was so friendly and not pushy. I bought a couple of necklaces for some friends and a pair of earrings for just $1.50 for me. While Shannon and Tash were trying on jewellery in one shop, the owner looked at me, said "baby" and handed me her baby so she could help them. For the next five minutes I got to hold a very cute Tanzanian baby!!

Tomorrow we are off to the Serengeti, I'm very excited!

Love to all

Claire

Xoxox