Arriving and Mt Meru
February 21-23
I flew from San Francisco via Memphis and Amsterdam to Kilimanjaro
Airport near Arusha, Tanzania. Total travel time was 25 hours across
11 time zones. From the air over Egypt, I could see perfectly
round green irrigated oases dotting the tawny desert. Our tour group
met up at the airport. Our group is Judy from Minnesota, Chuck and
Sandy from Chicago, myself, and our guide Abraham "everybody calls me Abu".
Our guide Abu
with Land Rover
The first full day in Tanzania was visiting the vilage of Ng'iresi
on the slopes of Mt Meru and going to market-day near our hotel.
The Wa-Arusha people are known as lost Maasai because now they farm instead
of herding cattle. They are adopting projects such as terracing to
prevent erosion and bio-gas to turn dung into methane for cooking.
The cultural tourism program that brings Thomson Safari groups to the village
funds the construction of schools. We visited some traditional dwellings
with a fire pit, sleeping platforms, and a cattle pen all inside the circular
hut.
Traditional dwellings
Walking along the road, the women wore brightly colored kangas and
carried huge loads of bananas, wood, fronds, buckets, or bags balanced
on their heads. I loved the variety of color combinations and patterns
of the fabric. The loads the women and children were carrying were
truly impressive.
The open-air market filled the streets of the small town near our hotel.
Vegetables, maize, beans, sorghum, used clothing, and used shoes were laid
out on cloths for sale. Ernest, a retired policeman, was our guide
to the market. He helped us purchase kangas and baskets.
Market day near
Mountain Village Lodge
On to Tarangire
Back to Safari Main