9/10 May 2009
I was very excited at the start of this trip. Caroline had arranged for me, her and Karen to go and visit John & Dee in Longido and also experience the place and real Masai culture. It is located 40 minutes to the border to Nairobi and on the outskirts of Tanzania, where the Masai culture is mostly found. We arrived just before it got dark, which was a relief. This place was so surreal we found a plank of wood to sit and wait after the bus dropped us off in the middle of the village. There was nothing else here apart from this village and it was deadly silent at this time of day. There was something about this which I liked very much – the sheer peace and quite and no locals harassing you or staring at you.
We were met by John and Dee, after spending a weekend with them; I definitely have loads of respect and admiration for them. They are real humble and open minded, which I came to like very much. We went to a local place for food – beans and rice and then the guys had some beer. I came to find out you can be anywhere and there will always be beer on sale lol!!
The 3 highlights of the weekend were visiting a Boma (the mud huts where the Masai’s lived in) and being introduced to the family and their way of life. It was extremely fascinating to learn the different and isolated lifestyle they lived. They were so welcoming and proud of their culture and really excited about wanting to visit them. It was really odd how a family of 10 could sleep and live in this 2 roomed mud hut and still be so content and happy, I now know that they choose to live like this as maintaining their tradition and culture is almost equivalent to their dignity. The 2nd was walking to visit the Masai caves, these were situated about 2 hours outside the village by foot. We set off very early on Sunday, which was painful after the 9 hrs of climbing on Saturday! But it was really worth it when we got there, as these caves are still used in the months of June/July when males are circumcised. This is the place where they come to have it carried out and where they remain till they are naturally healed! It is somewhat considered a masculine and test of strength to survive this in these conditions, no women are aware of the location and are not allowed to ask any questions regarding this when the men leave for the caves.
The last one was climbing Mount Longido, considering my fitness was non existence with my ankle injury from back home I made it up! Only just though, it must have been the hardest climb of my life…it was the steepness of the mountain that nearly did me over. I started off quite comfortably in the first hour, but after that I had to stop every 15mins to stop and breathe and then start again! It took nearly 4 hrs to get up and one up I just lay on the rocks looking into the distance with Mount Kilimanjaro in front of us and Mount Meru on the right it was a gorgeous view. We all sat there in silence for a good 15 minutes trying to get out breath back and just relax. It was such a relief and I could have had a nap up there, was totally exhausted but was so chuffed to make the summit.
The weekend finished with the 3 of us trying to hike a life back into Arusha, as there were no means of transport out of this area. So all visitors stand on the side of the village and wait for vehicles that go past for a life out of this place!! I got lucky as the girls decided to make me stand and get my thumb up. What an experience and it worked first time round too.
I was very excited at the start of this trip. Caroline had arranged for me, her and Karen to go and visit John & Dee in Longido and also experience the place and real Masai culture. It is located 40 minutes to the border to Nairobi and on the outskirts of Tanzania, where the Masai culture is mostly found. We arrived just before it got dark, which was a relief. This place was so surreal we found a plank of wood to sit and wait after the bus dropped us off in the middle of the village. There was nothing else here apart from this village and it was deadly silent at this time of day. There was something about this which I liked very much – the sheer peace and quite and no locals harassing you or staring at you.
We were met by John and Dee, after spending a weekend with them; I definitely have loads of respect and admiration for them. They are real humble and open minded, which I came to like very much. We went to a local place for food – beans and rice and then the guys had some beer. I came to find out you can be anywhere and there will always be beer on sale lol!!
The 3 highlights of the weekend were visiting a Boma (the mud huts where the Masai’s lived in) and being introduced to the family and their way of life. It was extremely fascinating to learn the different and isolated lifestyle they lived. They were so welcoming and proud of their culture and really excited about wanting to visit them. It was really odd how a family of 10 could sleep and live in this 2 roomed mud hut and still be so content and happy, I now know that they choose to live like this as maintaining their tradition and culture is almost equivalent to their dignity. The 2nd was walking to visit the Masai caves, these were situated about 2 hours outside the village by foot. We set off very early on Sunday, which was painful after the 9 hrs of climbing on Saturday! But it was really worth it when we got there, as these caves are still used in the months of June/July when males are circumcised. This is the place where they come to have it carried out and where they remain till they are naturally healed! It is somewhat considered a masculine and test of strength to survive this in these conditions, no women are aware of the location and are not allowed to ask any questions regarding this when the men leave for the caves.
The last one was climbing Mount Longido, considering my fitness was non existence with my ankle injury from back home I made it up! Only just though, it must have been the hardest climb of my life…it was the steepness of the mountain that nearly did me over. I started off quite comfortably in the first hour, but after that I had to stop every 15mins to stop and breathe and then start again! It took nearly 4 hrs to get up and one up I just lay on the rocks looking into the distance with Mount Kilimanjaro in front of us and Mount Meru on the right it was a gorgeous view. We all sat there in silence for a good 15 minutes trying to get out breath back and just relax. It was such a relief and I could have had a nap up there, was totally exhausted but was so chuffed to make the summit.
The weekend finished with the 3 of us trying to hike a life back into Arusha, as there were no means of transport out of this area. So all visitors stand on the side of the village and wait for vehicles that go past for a life out of this place!! I got lucky as the girls decided to make me stand and get my thumb up. What an experience and it worked first time round too.
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