Tues. July 13th

Maasai Village Tour:
The Maasai tribe definitely have their own way of making life simple and easy to live. We had a fantastic visit with the tribe where we were welcomed with dance and song (something very popular in Tanzania!). We even got special necklaces to wear and had to use our shoulders to push it up/down (ending up being a workout for muscles we're not used to using!).

We performed many of the tasks the women do around the house--carry the hay in, thatch the roof, build the house, etc. As you can see the women do all the work, while the men often sit and think (and drink moonshine). We had a very open and frank conversation with wife #1 about the tribe's life versus ours (Maasai men can have multiple wives and the women don't mind b/c it means extra help around the compound.) The women get to keep all the money they earn from selling their beaded items, baskets, and other crafts--usually they buy things for the home or it helps to pay for their children to go to school. When you see me in person ask me more about what we discussed in her hut.

Now a time for change in scenery. We went from dry, dusty, yellow and flat landscape to outside the crater where it became full of deep red clay, mountainous and lush around us. Headed to the Ngorongoro Crater: largest volcanic caldera in the world, 12 miles across with steep walls of over 2,000 feet; was once volcano size of Mt. Kilimanjoro with rim set 7,500 feet above sea level. Since it has a unique and delicate ecosystem with a permanent supply of water, many wildlife live here year-round. Numerous wildlife we seen around the Ngorongoro River as well as in the trees and fields.

Check out the elephants we saw and information our guide shared with us: