Hi fellow Steemians!
I know I promised to write about Lake Manyara...but I wanted to start telling you how I ended up living with the Maasai in the middle of nowhere!
Well...it started with me visiting my ex-boy friend in Tanzania. He was doing research as an anthropologist /physiologist at a hospital in Arusha! When i met a couple of Dutch expats. One of the ended up being not only the owner of various Safari Lodges but also our Dutch council in Tanzania. We connected and one thing led to the other.
It started with designing banner for their lodge, followed by designing the trade show stand for the Travel trade show in London (WTM) to hopping over to London to be present at the fair. For four days he has been trying to convince me to drop everything i had going to move to Tanzania. The man did not give up so i promised to work for him in Tanzania.
So i went...
After 2 days of briefing my new work colleague, a couple of camp member and I started our journey from Arusha to Lake Natron. We loaded the Land Rover full of food for the camp and off we went. I was excited to get there but the drive was long. Not only long but very bumpy and super dusty. I love adventures so all good...
The Tanzanian landscape is beautiful, the fast open grass land with typical African throne tree's. Maasai kids running after their cows and goats waiving at us and calling...Mzungu, mzungu! (which means: someone that is constantly on the move)
After 2 hours we arrived in Mtu-wa-mbu where we filled our gas tank for the second part of our journey. This was the last place to buy what every we needed because after this point we will be on our own.
We turned away from Mtu-wa-mbu and the landscape started to change. Lake Natron is wild and remote, it lies in the northeast of Tanzania in between the Ngorongoro Highlands and Serengeti plains. Beautiful candelabra trees in dry landscape, large termite hills popping up everywhere. Then the dust ohhh my...you would think just close your windows! We could but the heat was to intense for us to keep the windows up so...dust it is! We places handkerchiefs around our nose and mouth and continued our journey. After 2 hour we saw Ol'Doinyo Lengai in the distance. Also called "The Mountain of God" by the Maasai!
Suddenly the Land Rover started to over heat and before we knew it we stopped moving. So that was it!!! In the middle of nowhere, a car full of food...nothing to worry! Suddenly we had some visitors...a couple of nosy Maasai kids came out of nowhere to see what was up! The only thing they wanted was a pencil for school and water. Well water we had but no pencils unfortunately.
Finally after 2 hours the car decided to give us a break and came to live. We got in and continues our journey...almost there i thought but noooo!! The impressive Rift Valley was guiding us closer and closer to the mountain. Finally we arrived at Engaruka a small village before Ngare sero where we where headed. The villagers where very interested in us and where all around us. We took a break and had something cold to drink. There is one unspoken rule while driving through the bush is...always help each other! So we did...
In the mean time my hair became very popular among the kids and the ladies! They had to touch it! First i thought it was strange but then i had to laugh about it...all good! Before i knew little kids where pulling me to see their house. It was truely lovely!
We said our good byes and moved on...Ol'Doinyo here we come!
And there it was...The mountain of God itself!!
I got excited and could not wait to get there...
The beauty of Lake Natron is exceptional! Lake Natron is not about the animals like the Serengeti or Ngorongoro. Lake Natron is all about the intense beauty of it's landscape.
We finally arrived...we received an warm welcome from the elders of the village! Which was really nice.
This needed to be sealed with a cold drink! My new home for the next 10 months!
Cheers!!
In my next post i will describe my life changing experience! Stay tuned!!