Tanzania - Lions II

On our way out of Tarangire National Park, our guide heard from others that the lions where visiting the airfield.   There is a small building being built and the reflective glass is still intriguing to the wildlife.  Our guide said the builders should replace the glass or the animals will break it.  

Link to Lions Part I:  http://petunias-garden.blogspot.com/2012/09/tanzania-lions.html

If the lions are anything like my cat, Maria, their curiosity will not wear off anytime soon.

 

It gave us a chance to watch them wandering around the building (watching themselves).

 

 

 

Even with all of this excitment, a nap is still in order.  Lions have little to fear.  They know their daytime priorities.

 

The guide who had set out this picnic for his new arrivals was a little more worried.  He decided to move the picnic elsewhere.  This building is the existing building at the airfield...the old restrooms.

Here is the link to all Tanzania posts, so far: 
http://petunias-garden.blogspot.com/search/label/Exc-Tanzania

Tanzania - Families

You can still watch part two of Half the Sky today - Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. Here is the current link for today:     http://video.pbs.org/video/2283558278/

For women, men and children, educational and economic opportunities can take many forms.  What is important is that opportunities are there, and the people in the society may pursue them without oppression.

The Hadzabe society in Tanzania is one of the last hunter-gatherer societies left in Africa.  These men showed us how to use their bow and arrows (smartly, they didn't give some of us sharp tips), and took us on an impressive morning hunt (i.e. exhausting - see the sleeping dog?). In exchange, they have some cash to buy metal arrow tips from a neighboring tribe that makes them.

From the women, we bought necklaces and bracelets, from beads and available natural materials.  One little girl now attends school and asked our guide if he could bring a pair of shoes for her next time he visits.  They know him because his mother is Hadzabe.   

This small group, plus about the same number of women and other children, had the least permanent shelters I can imagine.  If a large animal is killed, one of the hunters will return and tell the others where to go.  They relocate closer to the food.   They'll build simple shelters there from the material available.   Everything they have can be wrapped in a cloth and carried to their new location.

Nearby, we visited a Datoga family.  Along with managing and grazing their livestock, they are known for their metal work.

I like best these scenes before the posed picture.  Talking with hands, and each our own language, about something.  One of the women had arranged us by height.   

The Datoga people do metal work, including arrow points the Hadzabe use.  Behind where I'm standing, the young men manned the fire - one worked the goat-skin bellows, one melted all sorts of metal parts into forms and shaped the items.  Another used a chisel and hammer to make designs in the bracelets and other metal items.  Again the women make a fine sales team that is hard to refuse.

Different groups had different types of houses.  Behind the goat, you can see the fence made of thorn bush branches.   We saw this a lot in different communities.   This helps protect the livestock from predators and keeps them close by when they aren't grazing elsewhere.

See Half the Sky through Oct 8 (& Tanzania)

You still have time to watch Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.  Watch part one through Monday Oct 8 and part two through Tuesday Oct 9.

In the US, you can watch them online now. Go to  http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/half-the-sky/  See the links to Part One and Part Two in the beginning of the article under the picture.

In Tanzania, we went to a Maasai Women's Beading Cooperative, near Tarangire National Park.   The women quickly selected bracelets and placed several on our arms while we two shoppers looked around.  Chatting and laughing with each other, it wasn't long before we joined them.  They are quite the sales team.

Our guide started laughing during price discussions.  The women would talk to him in Swahili and then switch to the Maasai language when they didn't want him to know what they were discussing.

Our guide also wondered why they all weighed in on prices.  Finally, at the end, he learned that each woman used a certain color or combination of beads in the hook closure on the bracelet.  They knew who made what we wanted to buy, and who had a say in the deal.   He was impressed.  Through this discovery, we were able to find out which of the women made the items we bought (more chatting and laughing all around).

When we wanted to take a group photo, some of the women picked out necklaces for everyone and give us visitors one of their cloths to wear.   Notice our guys stayed far away from all this activity.

Now are are ready for the photo.    Then, they asked if wanted to buy what we were wearing. 

The Maasai have held on to their traditional culture, living in small family groups or villages and caring for their cattle and livestock.  Sometimes there are problems about where they graze their cattle.  The government has tried to change their lifestyle, but the Maasai prefer to change on their own terms.  

It wasn't unusual to see Maasai men now in jobs as national park rangers (below), safety/security at the safari camps, or working with guides to locate wildlife.   They know the land and the animal behavior very well. 

Watch "Half the Sky" now through Oct 8 (& Tanzania)

Did you see the recent PBS broadcasts of the documentary Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide? 

 

In the US, you can watch them online now -  Part One through Oct 8 and Part Two through Oct 9.  Go to http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/half-the-sky/  See the links to Part One and Part Two in the beginning of the article under the picture.

Why watch? The film represents the reality of many women, I think even the majority of women, worldwide. It's heartbreaking to realize this, but what speaks even louder is the strength, potential, courage and spirit you see in the faces of the women in spite of their situation. 

“Talent is universal; opportunity is not.” –Nicholas Kristof

You'll see the faces of the people making opportunities for change for themselves and their communities, even at the risk of their own lives.   The change is infectious, especially with women and those around them. 

In Tanzania, we saw people working hard to ensure education and economic means are a reality.  Everywhere we went, we saw people, especially women, creating or seizing opportunities.  People value new education and economic opportunities while still embracing their own wonderful culture (it is many different cultural communities that make up today's Tanzania).   We also saw some situations, unimaginable to us, that left us in silence and with little hope for change.

We met this group of girls and boys at Tumaini School, after discussing schools with our guide.  He knew the founder of the school and invited us to stop by (this school teaches in English).  We told where we live and what work we do.  Some of them asked us questions and told us what they wanted to do.  One of the girls near the windows quizzed & corrected me on coffee tree growing and harvesting.  

They were in a class on this Saturday, and not in their uniforms, because they were preparing for an upcoming national exam for their specific grade level.  The school started in a house with 17 students.  It now has over 500, and 50% are girls.    (This blog - http://adventuresofadelicateflower.wordpress.com/ has recent graduation celebration pictures.)

Go to http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/half-the-sky/  See the links to Part One and Part Two in the beginning of the article, under the pictures.

From outside the US, if this site or the videos don't work for you, try this website to find out more about it or local broadcasts http://www.halftheskymovement.org/   It is inspired by the book of the same title by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.

Tanzania - Giraffes

Northern Tanzania in August.

Serengeti National Park.  The silent, watchful giraffe.

In the open spaces of the Serengeti, we kept seeing stumps, rocks and clumps posing as animals.  I pointed to a spot and said there's a stump posing as a giraffe.  Actually, it was a giraffe posing as a stump.   (but not this one, above)

Tarangire National Park.  Even when they hang out in groups, giraffes are know for neglecting to warn the others of danger.  When people don't look out for others, Tanzanians say they are behaving like a giraffe. 

A giraffe's dental hygienist makes house calls and works in high places.  This giraffe didn't seem fond of having her teeth cleaned, but the bird was very persistent.

Tarangire.  Giraffe camouflage works here.

Tanzania - Lions

Does this look like someone who would eat a zebra?   YES!    Ngorongoro Crater.

Ngorongoro Crater.  He is ignoring the zebras in the background because he is TOO FULL to care.

Serengeti National Park.   We call this DH's lion because he spotted him up in the rocks.  We don't know what he has been eating.   But then he disappeared and so did we.

He's not roaring.   That, we only heard at night (to announce dinner).  He is panting and trying to hold his eyes open just a little longer.   Serengeti.

Like our cats at home:  It's a hot day. It was a busy night (a wildebeest or two).  Now let's sleep in the shade.  Serengeti.

Even more like our cats at home, watch for Lions Part II.

Tanzania - Wildebeests

I came to appreciate the wildebeests.  They have a calm, solid presence and this soft call they frequently make to keep everyone in touch.  They are a type of large antelope, with a grandfatherly beard and expression, even the younger ones.  Collectively, the ones on the edge of the herd would stop and turn their faces to keep both eyes on us.

Tarangire National Park. 

The lookout - It was very typical to see self-appointed guard wildebeest standing on alert on top of a termite mound, rock or other high place, while the others moved about, grazed or rested.  

The wildebeest herds migrate great distances, and yet it isn't a leader or social structure that makes sure they get there.   "Any individual can start walking and tens of thousands might follow...If a lion or a crocodile eats the very temporary leader, the rest barely notice, the migration continues..." 

They will all hold up on one side of the river, even for days, until one is willing to take the plunge.   Then everyone follows.  Our guide said, "Well, if you could be eaten by a crocodile, you might pause before jumping in too."

Ngorongoro Crater - It's the world's largest intact volcanic caldera and the 8th Wonder of the World. There was a wildebeests line marching from place to place that day.

The Serengeti.   We didn't see the largest groups sometimes seen moving together, but we saw plenty. 

See the mounds in the shadow below?   There had been a lion laying by one, with wildebeests and zebras nearby.  He stood up to move toward the trees and we watched all the wildebeests and zebras cautiously move away.   In the Serengeti, we quickly learned those clumps are favored by lions, cheetahs and leopards.   I kept an eye on the clump next to our tent.

Tanzania - Zebras

Northern Tanzania in August.  DH's trip summary is this:  GO.

Serengeti National Park.  Along with the animals, I loved the light and the colors in the leaves, grass and sky.  This one may be pregnant.

In Tarangire National Park.  When many zebras are close together, their stripes make it difficult for their predators to focus on one well enough to attack.  Babies have a chance of making it if they keep close to the others.

These two, above, were synchronized.  Their heads went down to eat in unison, then up.  They'd look to the right, maybe to the left, back down to eat, and up again. 

Tarangire National Park.  Smart zebras and wildebeests hang out with the elephants because the lions don't like the elephants (and the lions do like zebras and wildebeests more than you want to know).

Ngorongoro Crater.  This was a frisky bunch.   It was the cool, cloudy day (and the lions had already eaten).

When saw this picture, all I could think about was yoga class.  It's a good way for the zebras to maintain strength, balance and flexibility for playing keep away with the lions.   Even during yoga, one is "on watch" for those pesty lions.  Ngorongoro Crater.

Tanzania - Coffee Status

To my coffee people:

This is your coffee from our visit to Gibb's Farm, early in the trip.  

I had the coffee at lunch and it was delicious with the creamy rice pudding and sweet beetroot salad (the beets were good enough for lunch and again for dessert).

I thought it would be good for a coffee tasting.

These ladies even let me help with the coffee drying going on in the middle of the vegetable garden.

The coffee traveled with us until we reached the Serengeti National Park where we started each morning with coffee in front of our tent (but not your coffee). 

However....

During the last night, we heard noises besides the usual hyenas and lions.  In the morning, we found this little dormouse in the tent roofing. 

And packing our bags, we found that someone had chewed through several layers of protective wrappings and sampled the coffee and clif bars during the night.  (second photo, below, is from a website identifying critters like this).

He is suspected of shredding toilet paper in the tent next door, also.  These guys prefer trees, but will access houses via the roof.  Tents in the Serengeti must be tempting targets, no matter how well wrapped & enclosed the snacks are kept.  

So, sorry for losing your coffee.   However, I can give you directions to the Stiggbucks Coffee Bar in Arusha instead. 

Tanzania - Up Front

No seats! I was the last to climb on board the plane we would take to Tarangire National Park and the seven seats were full.  My travel companions saw me looking around and pointed to the seat next to the pilot (while laughing).  I thought they were joking.    The pilot said it happens sometimes.

It was a great flight and a chance for aerial views of northern Tanzania.  Somehow the bumps don't feel so scary when you are sitting next to the person in control.  

My Grand Canyon boots weren't on this flight, though.  When we took this flight on our second day in Tanzania, our bags where still on their way from Amsterdam.   We packed light for traveling around Tanzania so we were well below the luggage limit for the flight to Tanzania.  This meant we could add in supplies for schools in the area we would visit (see the Pack for a Purpose website http://packforapurpose.org/, although it was our guide who connected us with a school and its inspiring school founder). 

I had a chance to sit up front on some other other flights, even though the seats weren't full.  All you have to do is ask, and keep your knees away from the controls.

Our bags caught up with us on the third day.