Up early this morning in order to get back into Arusha as the shops opened so we could have a look around and run some errands.... like posting our large souvenirs back to Australia.... we weren’t the only ones :-).
We very quickly utilised our hour and a half in town and were back in the truck now heading toward a jewellery shop which deals in the rare Tanzanian stone Tanzanite. These stones are only mined in Tanzania, approximately 56km outside Arusha. They were stunning!
Our next stop was a Masai Village about one hour down the road. The Masai tribe is one of 120 tribes in Tanzania but they also extend up into Kenya. Originally they were located in the Serengeti but when it was declared a national park they were relocated to the Ngorongoro Crater conservation area. Because they are a nomadic tribe some of them have moved on and are scattered through out Tanzania. We were able to take a tour through this village to learn about different aspects of their culture, as well as witness some dancing and singing and see inside their homes. It was a fabulous experience and insight into a tribe that is so famous yet still so humble in its existence.
We arrived at our campsite, at Mto Wa Mbu, just after lunch and a small group of us took the option to go on a bike ride through the local village, Banana plantation, Acacia forest, and out to Lake Manyara which is just outside the border of Lake Manyara National Park. It was so amazing and fun to be able to ride through herds of Zebra, see Giraffes, Wildebeest, Hippo’s, and other animals without the confines of a car around you. Thankfully there were no “cats” roaming outside the National Park. We also were able to see our first Flamingo’s grazing in the Lake.... very cool! The other sites visited on our ride were a carving workshop, a painting “studio”, and we finished at the local “pub” where we tried some Banana Beer... it wasn’t that great :-/.
No comments:
Post a Comment