Cultural trip Tanzania

We were warmly welcomed at the airport and drove to Hatari Lodge just outside Arusha. We wanted a bit of comfort at the beginning and end of our trip. It was fun to see all kinds of animals around the hotel. Monkeys were the first, then a wild boar and finally, the next morning at breakfast on the terrace, we spotted some buffalo from afar. And then, on a short drive to Lake Momella, a whole herd.

Kurt and Georg had already done their research at home. They wanted to visit the Cultural Heritage Museum in Arusha. Of course, there was a lot of “touristy small art”, but we also discovered an artist who really impressed us: Lobolu Emmanuel. In the afternoon, we strolled through the city, visited the market and got used to the quieter rhythm.

It was impressive: such vast landscapes, so few settlements, the peace and quiet and also the PickNick in the middle of nature. The vegetation with the strange trees, the sounds of animals and only very rarely another jeep. Wonderful. Then suddenly recognizing the lake and getting closer and so many flamingos at once, countless – and we almost felt like aliens.

As a teacher, I was very excited to meet the Maasai. We not only wanted to see village life, a school visit was also on the agenda. As a former teacher, this was my “dream program”. Children all over the world are curious and eager to learn, no matter how primitively the “schoolhouse” is built. After the Maasai village – of course also with glass bead jewelry, Maasai jumps and a tour of the huts – came another, even more interesting cultural leap.

We drove to Lake Eyasi. And there to visit two other of the many Tanzanian population groups: the Datoga and the Hadzabe. They also practice meagre agriculture with goats and a few cows. But the Hadzabe in particular are proud hunters – and in my opinion very beautiful people. The Datogas, on the other hand, still cultivate a simple but skillful way of forging (tools and arrowheads). Falling asleep in a simple camp with loud animal noises all around remains impressive.

Today we drove in a wide arc through the national park in the direction of Ngorongoro. The excursion to the Olduvai Gorge took place at lunchtime. We had an extremely good guide, first in the small museum and then on a two-hour hike in the surrounding area. The best guide here was of course Kurt. As a geologist, he felt completely in his element. After all, he had already spent weeks studying the specialist literature at home. Even the guide from Twende Tanzania could still learn something. Walking on ground like this, where the first people conquered the world thousands of years ago, made us very thoughtful.

Now we were in the middle of nature. And the Serengeti, which we had heard so much about, captivated us. We saw huge herds of wildebeest on the horizon. There are said to be over 1 million of these animals roaming through this nature reserve. Christa and Georg had fun taking photos of the zebras’ rear ends for most of the day. They wanted to make a collage of them at home. And listening to the bird calls at sunset in the camp in the evening: simply overwhelming.

After so many hours in the car, we wanted to get some exercise. And of course to see a few more animals. Quite early we were driven towards the Ngurdoto Crater. From there we went on a hike to the “Rock”, an incredible viewpoint. The view of Mount Meru from there in the morning sun was breathtaking. In the swampy area of the smaller crater, we observed buffalo and giraffes. We didn’t see any more elephants. On the way back, we made another short stop at the entrance to the park. The guerezas were doing gymnastics in the branches there. These black and white mantled monkeys are said to be found only here in northern Tanzania. The next day it was time to head home again. We will be back…