Kilimanjaro Expedition Dispatch

July 2, 2008 – Ngorongoro Crater and Masai Village

Hi this is John calling from Ngorongoro Crater on Wednesday. Ellyn and I got an early start this morning to see some wildlife and we were rewarded by seeing the allusive black rhino. We spent yesterday evening in the crater rim at Ngorongoro Sopa lodge and it is quite chilly here. We drove in yesterday from Tarangire and on the way we stopped to see the Masai village. This is a pretty amazing place.

This is Ellyn, when we stopped at the Masai village; we had the opportunity to go into one of their huts which are made of tree branches, mud, dung and ash which are only 4 feet high. They are really dark with only two holes for ventilation because they fear the hyenas. It is interesting to see how they use the tree branches to make separate ‘bedrooms’ and sleep on animal hides. What I found most fascinating was that with some of the Masai, the government helps them with their education. Even though many of the young Masai have experienced the city; electricity, running water and computers and different foods they still choose to go back to their Masai lifestyle. We also saw a small school house in the Masai village very dark with a chalk board and very narrow benches.

Along the road driving we saw the women and children carrying long tree branches on their backs and heads to use for cooking and the male road workers with their machetes cutting the grass that grows alongside the edge road. When we drove through town we experienced many locals selling bananas, purple fig potatoes, red bananas and small amounts of other foods. It s been really fascinating the whole way and now the national park and conservation areas are endless and magnificent. We had breakfast with the hippos this morning and we are going to spend the rest of the day here, spotting wildlife.