… continuing my adventure in Lake Natron!
Missed my last post...
”How I ended up living with the Maasai in Lake Natron” I invite you to do so.
So after a couple of days being in Lake Natron as a WHITE....GIRL among the Maasai tribe in the middle of nowhere!
I was received very warmly but with suspicious eyes. I guess it was both ways.
I did not know at the time what to expect or how to blend into their culture.
Luckily I am a charming girl...haaa if I may say so myself! It was not hard to make friends. With my interest to learn and experience everything I was accepted very fast!
I took the bull by its horn and started to check out the lodge. I made a list of what needed to be done and started to clean up the garden around the Lodge. Lake Natron is very hot and dry! It is important to make the garden comfortable for visitors without manicuring the environment! The visitors expect to see Lake Natron’s natural environment just the way Mother Nature intended it to be.
I recruited a group of four young Maasai boys to work with me to tackle the job while the elders of the village kept a sharp eye on us.
Very soon we where a tight team working on various projects and having lots of fun. After a couple of weeks I noticed that the guys where getting harassed by some fellow Maasai that where older then them. I guess jealousy was kicking in. I did not quite understand why! I asked but they could not explain. I guess I will never know!
One day after a long day of work I went back to my tent to take a shower getting ready for dinner with clients. Quickly I put my cloths on when I noticed that something was inside my pants…I hit my hand on my leg and got bitten not once but twice!!! I started screaming bloody murder! My leg was on fire!! I did not know what was happening…I took my pants off wrapped a towel around my waist and run outside!
At this point I was surrounded by half the camp staff. They took one look at me and started laughing! Really I thought…Not funny at all! They knew exactly what happened. Well…a small scorpion crawled in my jeans and was trapped when I hit my hand on my leg! So the only thing it could do is bit me! The solution to this madness was petrol. They pored it on my leg to calm the burn and told me to deal with the pain for about 2 hours. So I did with tears in my eyes…
The visitors where concerned but at the end of the day they had an interesting story to tell!
The following day I noticed something was up but nobody said anything. So after trying a couple of time to find out I gave up! I was busy anyway! My first design project had started…a new bathroom design for their luxury tent! Lake Natron is far away from everything so the best solution is to use natural material such as stones.
Lots and lots of stones…
The day past fast and the night kicked in! Lake Natron is surrounded by Mountains… the Rift Valley on one side and Gelai the mountain with lips on the other side followed by Ol’ Doinyo Lengai and the salt lake. At night it is really dark the only thing you see is the moon revealing an outline on the Rift Valley and thousand of stars!! So magical!
Lets go for a walk said Lepara and Lango. (my team members) So I did, not realizing what was happening. We walked past the lodge into the open untouched Natron landscape. I couldn’t see anything so I grabbed his hand and followed him! Suddenly I saw fire…mmm I thought interesting! We came closer...when I saw that most of the staff member including my Maasai team jumped up screaming Happy Birthday!!!
OMG really…it was amazing! Especially knowing that Tanzanian especially Maasai don’t celebrate birthdays. They did that for me…I was touched beyond believe! They made a bush style bbq, brought drinks, music and icing on the cake… weed!
Thanks guys…it was a once in a lifetime experience.
So fellow steemers if you like my Lake Natron adventures and want to read some more…write me a comment, follow and upvote me!
Would love to hear from you!