Tanzania 2001 - Maasai Village, Olduvai, Serengeti

This is an arena or conference center in the middle of the village. Note the fence built of trees. The women line up on one side of the area as they prepare to perform a song.

A toddler joins the adults forthe dance.

Both men and women wear a lot of jewelry. They pierce both the upper and lower part of the ear and wear big earrings through elongated holes. The colorful blankets are also part of their everyday clothing.

The choreography is simple. The men take turns seeing how high they can jump.

Steve pays full retail for some Maasai jewelry.

Olduvai (aka Oldupai) is a hot, dry place.

Three brothers lounge together on the plain. If they do not already lead a pride, they soon will.

Our presence did not interfere with their naptime.

This distant cheetah was barely visible in the tall grass.

If the sun isn't too harsh, hippos will come out of the water to graze or nap.

Male giraffes resolve conflict with a form of wrestling known as "necking". The sound of their huge necks slamming into each other is shocking, but they rarely get hurt. When the battle is over, they resume their friendship.

A savanna hare, just before it leaped up and raced away.

Bad luck for the zebra - a windfall for the vultures.

A secretary bird looks for small rodents and lizards in the grass.

Leopards spend a lot of time resting in trees. When they kill something, they will drag the meal up into the tree, out of reach of most other predators, to eat at leisure.

Wildebeest form a long line, migrating toward the rain and greener grass.

A wildebeest calf stops for nutrition.

A road on the Serengeti.

Travel Diary

Tuesday (June 5) - Maasai Village, Olduvai, Serengeti

Rosemary: We left the crater area and drove to a Maasai village. They performed a traditional song and dance. Women on one side, men on the other. The women sing and the men "dance" by seeing how high they can jump, one at a time, as the spirit moves them.

We were given a tour of a house. These are little round huts built of mud, cow dung, and sticks. Extremely dark inside. Leather beds. A smoldering fire to keep the bugs out. Our host has three wives. Each wife has her own house, and he must move from one to the other.

Of course, we bought their jewelry - beaded bracelets, necklaces, and a "fly chaser". They don't sell their earrings, which I would dearly love to have.

Steve: Woke up to a foggy day atop the crater. After breakfast, we drove back to the main road along the crater rim, to arrive at Serengeti that night.

On the way, we made a couple of stops: first, at a Maasai village where the natives encourage visitors. Upon arriving, we were met by one of the tribe who spoke English. He welcomed us and encouraged us to take as many pictures as we wanted. This was a gracious gesture on his part because many Maasai want money if you take their picture.

We went into the middle of the village, where the women sang and the men danced. According to Hassan, the dance was to celebrate the circumcision of a 15 year old male. Part of the dance was that each male jumped up and down on both feet several times. If I had been circumcised at 15, I’d be jumping up and down too.

Our host then invited us into his home, a hut made of straw and cow dung - not as disgusting as you might think. It was very small, with a sleeping area for him, a separate area for his wife, a fire pit in the middle, one small window for ventilation and a spot for a guest to sleep. It was very dark inside, so much so that when he invited me to take his picture, I couldn’t see his face through the viewfinder.

Afterwards, we were led outside to where the women displayed their beaded jewelry. We bought a few pieces and as we were trying to add up how much everything cost, one of the tribe members came over with a pocket calculator to assist. We could have negotiated on the prices, but they were so low we figured that the Maasai needed the money more than we did.

We then saw the school, where I gave the teacher two boxes of ballpoint pens I have brought just for such an occasion.

We left the Maasai and went to the Olduvai Gorge, site of the oldest human fossils ever discovered. This is the place where Louis and Mary Leakey worked for over 40 years.

The Maasai village after the tourists leave.

Rosemary: The real name of the place is Oldupai, not Olduvai. Apparently the first European scientist to come here misunderstood the name, and it became famous that way. There is a small museum and a local guide who gives a short talk about the history of the place. He thinks the "p" vs. "v" mixup is hysterically funny.

On to the Serengeti.

Steve: We had a box lunch at a nice little picnic area and climbed to an observation point at the top of a hill. "Serengeti" means "endless plain" and it is aptly named. It's almost 15,000 square kilometers (you do the math) and goes on forever.

On the road to the picnic are we saw lots of gazelles, some zebra, ostrich and eland, which are the largest antelope. Hassan thought there might be some cheetahs there, feasting on the gazelles, so we back-tracked a bit and went off road, into the grass. We saw all of the above (except cheetahs), plus a savannah hare and the skeletons of some recently killed zebra and wildebeest.

Rosemary: Lots of male lions. A group of three brothers just lying together on the savannah. We got close and circled them. One had a wound on his eyebrow. They were just relaxing, not bothered by us at all.

Steve: We then saw another couple of solo males, all of which were sleeping.

Further on, we saw a huge herd of zebra, some gazelles and more wildebeest. At one point, one of the gazelles, after running quickly for a while, started hopping along, like a circumcised Maasai.

Rosemary: Lions, savannah hares, eland, topi, gazelles, zebra, vultures, wildebeest, hartebeest, bustard, ostrich, warthogs, eagles - and more!

We saw plenty of dead animals, nothing left but a little skin and bone, or just bone. One zebra by the side of the road was still being worked on by a flock of vultures.

Lions on the rocks. Big rain in the distance - the gazelles start hurrying toward it.

Steve: As we made our way to yet another Sopa lodge, we could see it raining across the plains and we got a little sprinkle. A lot of the animals were headed towards the rainy area for water and hoping for some new grass to grow in the next couple of days.

We arrived at the lodge a little after 5:00 PM, showered and went to dinner.

Rosemary: We have a fabulous view from our room. The plains, hills in the distance. Nearby giraffes are eating the trees. Unfortunately, there is no screen on the glass door, so we can't leave it open for ventilation. No ceiling fan, but there is a table fan in the room. It's very hot here. As usual, hot water is rationed. Plumbing weirdness, also as usual. They put a bidet in every bathroom, but can't or won't install a properly designed shower. I suspect it's a plot to keep people from using the hot water.

I really like the Serengeti, the little I've seen this afternoon. The smell of the grass and the rain, the huge blue sky, animals everywhere. We drove off road for a while, and it seemed as though we were the only people there. It's so vast, it really does seem endless.

This Serengeti lioness was wearing a research collar.