This peaceful island has one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen. The sun starts descending into the water as the whole sky lights up in various coppery hues. The boats leaving at the sunset for their nightly journey juxtaposed against the vibrant colors create a beautiful scene.
Today we left the dusty safari and headed to Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania. Near our hotel is a small fishing village where the local fishermen go out on their dhow every night and come back early in the morning with their catch. As they get closer to shore, the sail is lowered as they prepare to unload their fish to be sold at the nearby fish market.
There are 216 different tribes in Tanzania, all speaking different languages. We spent the day with a small tribe that lives around Lake Eyasi. Like most tribes, the men and women have separate roles. Generally, the men are responsible for the hunting and providing. They hunt everything from birds to baboons to antelopes. The women, on the other hand, stay home and take care of the children and make jewerlry to sell at the market.
Here, the men are roasting an antelope over the fire. We were invited to taste the meat, which tasted like smoked venison. As honored guests, I even got to wear the crown made from the head of a baboon.
We visited the original Maasai tribe that still lives in the Ngorongoro conservation area. While visiting the tribe, we learned about their culture and their way of life. We were given a tour of their home, the market area and saw their famous jumping contests. It’s interesting to learn about these people who live their life so completely cut off from modern civilization.
The endless plain of Serengeti is filled with wildlife. After spending a few days camping in the national park, we saw everything from gazelles to cheetah. One of my personal favorites was witnessing a pride of lions tearing into their kill. We were about 10 feet away from the scene, where the lioness were fighting over the last piece of the zebra, leaving nothing behind but the rib cage. Nothing is more primal than watching one animal tear into another.
Today is the first day of our African safari and we already saw so many animals! One of the first animals we saw on the drive through Tarangire national park were a herd of zebras, they were just casually hanging out by the side of the road and completely oblivious to all the gawking passerby. These zebras are even more beautiful in person. Did you know that the pattern on each zebra is as unique as our finger prints?
[photo credit: Across Tanzania Expedition]
