Africa Travel | Hole In The Donut Cultural Travel

The Maasai Experience

Published July 15, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

I have been back from my Maasai home stay for two days now and I am still struggling to write about it. I could variously describe the experience as appalling, fascinating, stimulating, exhausting, rewarding, frustrating, mind-expanding, enraging, or gratifying, and each one of those adjectives would be appropriate. But, let me start at the beginning.

Home of Morani and Sara Poyoni

Inrterior of a home of Maasai leader in Tanzania

Poyoni living room

My host, Morani Poyoni, picked me up in his older model Land Rover and drove me the nine kilometers to his house, located high in the hills above the town of Monduli. Morani and his wife, Sara, are among the few Maasai who have adopted western ways and left the traditional village. Both pursued educations and became teachers. Sara still teaches at the local primary school but these days Morani concentrates on his home stay program, which can include anything from allowing two dozen British teenagers to camp in his backyard while preparing for a climb of Mount Kilimanjaro to planning intensive multi-day programs for people like me who want to learn more about the Maasai culture.

I scheduled this cultural home stay with some romantic notion that I could discover the true Maasai way of life, meet with Maasai elders, and learn from the village healers. I accomplished all those goals, but I was totally unprepared for much of what I learned. Maasai is a patriarchal and hierarchical society. The women do Continue reading →

Posted in Africa travel |

Tagged Africa, Around The World, female circumcision, Free Spirit, healers, healing, Maasai, medicine man, midwife, photos, Red Market, safaris, Tanzania, Travel, Undiscovered Places |

7 Comments

Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

Published July 11, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

The Ngorongoro Crater is a caldera – a volcano cone that has collapsed inward, creating a 15-mile wide hole in the earth surrounded by a high rim on all sides. Over the eons, sediments accumulated on the crater floor and a shallow lake formed in the center of the caldera, providing an environment where abundant food and water are available year round. Here, protected from the vicious cycle of drought and heavy rains that mark the Serengeti, the animals in Ngorongoro have no need to migrate.

From atop the rim, looking across the vast collapsed Ngorongoro crater in Tanzania

From atop the rim, looking across the vast collapsed crater

If the Serengeti is all about the big cats, Ngorongoro Crater was about zebra and wildebeest. Certainly there are other animals here, a few of which are shown in the following photos:

School of hippos in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

Continue reading →

Posted in Africa travel |

Tagged Africa, Around The World, Free Spirit, Ngorogoro Crater, Ngorongoro Crater, photos, safaris, Tanzania, Travel |

1 Comment

The Serengeti – Survival Of The Fittest

Published July 9, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

The fact that you are reading this is proof that I survived two nights camping in Tanzania‘s Serengeti National Park, one of the harshest environments on Earth, without being eaten by a lion. On the first day my guides had warned me not to leave the tent at night, as lions and hyenas regularly came into the camp after dark. But nature called and leaving the tent was unavoidable. Rather than brave the long walk to the squat toilets I crept around the side of the tent at midnight, trembling the entire time I was emptying my bladder.

On the second night the campground filled up and there were tents all around mine, so when the inevitable happened around 2 AM, I braved the walk to the toilets. Earlier in the day my cook, Hamisi, had softened his position about leaving the tent at night, telling me, “Just look for the eyes of the animals in the dark – they are always red.” As I hurried to the toilets the fact that I saw no red eyes was not much of a comfort; I couldn’t see the animals but I could certainly hear them. Hyenas howled in the distance. Closer to camp – quite close – I heard low growls that I assumed to be lions but later found out they were baboons. Even that didn’t make me feel much better, since baboons are vicious – in a pack they can bring down a lion or leopard with their long, sharp teeth.

The Serengeti is a wonder. Upon entering the park my first impression was of a land so severe that it could not possibly support life. I later learned that this was an area known as the southern grasslands – flat, featureless plains for as far as the eye can see – and indeed, there is little animal life in this part of the Serengeti. As we traveled northwest the landscape began to change. Acacia and Sausage trees appeared – the latter so named because it bears a fruit that looks like an overstuffed sausage hanging down on a string, just as in a butcher’s shop. In addition to trees, here and there the plains were relieved by granite outcroppings called kopjes (copies), which are the favorite abode of lions.

Pride of lions rests in the tall Serengeti grasses

Mama lion giving the cubs a bath in Serengeti National Park Tanzania

Mama giving the cubs a bath

Continue reading →

Posted in Africa travel |

Tagged Africa, Around The World, Free Spirit, photos, safaris, Serengeti, Tanzania, Travel |

4 Comments

Tanzanian Safari

Published July 7, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

For the past three days I have been on safari in Tanzania, Africa, and both my mind and my soul are overflowing. My guide, Joseph, has retired to his tent for the night, exhausted from driving eight hours over bone-jarring, roughly graded gravel roads. My cook, Hamisi, has left me alone to write as he cleans up from our dinner. I momentarily look up from my notebook and realize that I can only see what is illuminated by the kerosene lantern on our camp table – a circle of light about three feet in diameter. Beyond that is complete and utter blackness.

Serengeti campground

I step away from the table, which is set up under a thatch-roof shelter, and into the dark night. The sky is littered with stars – there are so many that it is difficult to identify specific constellations. I find Cassiopea’s Chair and Scorpio, then think I see Orion but can’t be sure because it is partially obscured by the luminous glow of the Milky Way that paints a wide swath across the sky. When a hyena howls in the distance I am reminded – uncomfortably – that Joseph and Hamisi have warned me not to leave my tent in the middle of the night – not even to go to the bathroom – because lions and hyena regularly prowl the campground at night.

I tell them I am 55 years old, for goodness sake, with a 55 year-old bladder that can’t last through the night. They insist I should wake them up if I need to use the bathroom during the night so they can accompany me. Pardon my ignorance, but wouldn’t waking them up entail leaving my tent to go in search of their tent in the pitch black? I make up my mind that if I have to ‘go’ in the middle of the night, I will unzip the tent flap and stick my bare butt outside, rather than endure the embarrassment of needing an escort.
Continue reading →

Posted in Africa travel |

Tagged Africa, Around The World, Free Spirit, Humor, photos, safaris, Tanzania, Travel |

27 Comments

Off On Safari – New Photos In Library

Published July 4, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

I’ve arrived in Tanzania after 17 hours of travel and I head out into the bush early tomorrow morning for a nine day safari, followed by a four day stay with a Masai family in a tribal village, so I won’t be blogging for at least a week.

However, I did just post about my day safari in Chobe National Park in Botswana and there are some amazing animal photos on this post that I hope you’ll read during my absence. Also, I’ve uploaded all the photos for Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, and South Africa to the photo library pages. To view them just click on the button labeled “Photo Library” on the upper right-hand side under the green menu bar and then on the appropriate country link. Enjoy, and I’ll be back in a few days.

Posted in Africa travel |

Tagged Africa, Around The World, Free Spirit, photos, safaris, Tanzania, Travel |

1 Comment

South Africa – Not My Cup Of Tea

Published July 2, 2007 | By Barbara Weibel

Within 15 minutes of landing at Johannesburg Airport in South Africa someone tried to scam me. As usual, I headed directly to the ATM machine to get local currency with my bank card. Upon completing my transaction, a woman approached me, saying she was having trouble getting the ATM to take her card and asking me to show her how I got mine to work. This was an elaborate ruse, complete with much rubbing of the magnetic strip on her card against her pants to clean it, etc. It was obvious to me that I was being played. To begin with, she was putting the card in the machine backwards. They attempt to get you to demonstrate how it is done with your card, then deftly swap the cards. I pointed out that she needed to turn the card around. She continued to make much ado about the situation, rubbing the magnetic strip again.

By that point it was amusing because the whole thing was so lame, so I played along until she finally turned the card around. I then walked to the middle of the corridor, crossed my arms and looked directly at her. Each time she checked over her shoulder to see if I had left I looked her directly in the eye. I had no intention of leaving until she actually took some money out. From this vantage point I could see she had an accomplice – a man across the corridor. She finally walked away with a single bill in her hand. I reported her to the police but they had no interest in doing anything about it.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in South Africa. The country is crime-ridden and corrupt beyond belief. I spoke to many local people who lamented the situation but have no idea how to change it. Even the taxi driver who took me to the airport in Cape Town tried to scam me with a ridiculous story about how he forgot to turn on the meter so he would ONLY charge me a flat rate of 180 Rand, which is cheaper than any of the other taxi companies, blah, blah, blah. I told him to Continue reading →

Posted in Africa travel |

Tagged Around The World, Cape Town, Free Spirit, Johannesburg, photos, South Africa, Travel |

2 Comments