Hunting with the Bushmen!

It's 4:45 am. Sunlight doesn't come for another hour. I roll over after a long night of no sleep all groggy until I remember why I'm sleeping in a tent with Jen in the middle of Africa. Today we hunt with the bushman!! Suddenly, a long night of little sleep on a very thin pad becomes not so important. We roll out of our tent finding a lantern light on a little table by our tent. It's the exact same light that was on our dinner table the night before as we ate in the dark.

Just the day before, we were sitting in a land rover cruising through the wilderness of Africa. Highlights of the journey included loads of white birds and the trees literally covered in their poop, baboons in the road, and trying to figure out how these people survive in the middle of nowhere. Upon arriving, our safari leaders set up camp and started on dinner for us. 

Around 8 that night we were sitting around a little table enjoying a wonderful four course meal. The guides left the five us to enjoy our dinner in the dark. It was amazing how little light there was that night. Except for the bright light coming from the lantern, it was almost like a blanket of darkness was settled around our table. Suddenly there was a deep growl of an angry animal no more than 30 yards away. Heather's face went stark white and her eyes became the size of golf balls. I had heard that hyenas were in the area but I didn't think they would come so close to campers. Heather slowly grabbed her flashlight from the table, turned it on, and slowly turned around to see what was behind her, hiding in the blanket of darkness. I kind of didn't want to see what was there because I knew that as soon as the light fell on whatever it was it would most likely attack us. She slowly scanned the darkness when the light came upon our guide's face as he was crouching on the ground. We all started laughing hysterically. I thought for sure there was some animal out there. He was super good at making the growling sound, so good that he fooled all of us.

Landon with his machete 

The next morning we had some hot chocolate and cookies and set off to meet the bushman. Up to this point we had spent very little time traveling in the dark so to be driving at night was somewhat disorienting. All the sudden our land rover came to a stop and our guide and all of us hopped out. The girls snuck away to use the bathroom in the bush and our guide yelled out some sort of birdcall. In response from 10 different directions around us came the same call. The girls realized we were completely surrounded and came running back from behind the land cruiser and said to us "let's go!".

The bush people live with the complete basics. When we walked up to their little camp at the base of a huge rock we realized that these people really do live off the land. They wear baboon skins on their backs, make their bows out local wood, and eat the animals and plants from the local ecosystem. Our morning with them consisted of skinning and gutting a bloody dikdik and laughing at them smoking their morning marijuana. It was amazing though. The dikdik was killed by an 8-year-old kid with a bow. 

Of course, we wanted to be a part of the culture so I took of my shirt and put on one of the baboon skins. Jen joined in the fun smearing her hand in the dikdik blood and putting a hand print on my chest along with putting some awesome war paint on the girls' cheeks. 

Landon getting dressed in baboon skin

Bow and arrow practice

Heather and Jen ready to hunt!

Finally, it was time to hunt. We took off up the hillside looking for anything that moved. I began to get a little discouraged when it had been 30 minutes without any sign of life. I heard a bird in one of the trees next to me and one of the three teenage bushman ran over to the tree. He made some weird caveman sounds to his friends, pulled his arrow back and nailed the bird dead on. I was really impressed. I consider myself a decent archer and couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with the bows they were using, yet they could hit a bird in a tree a good 20 yards away. 

After hitting the bird with the arrow, they bite the bird's neck and the bird goes limp. This kind of reminded me how my grandpa taught me to hit the fish on the head with a rock so the fish wouldn't suffer. I thought to myself how hardcore is that, I hit fish on the head with a rocks and they bite their necks. 

Not too long after that, the bushman came to a tree with a huge trunk. The tree wasn't particularly tall but it was super thick. One of the bushman climbed up the tree and started drinking water. That's right the kid found water in the middle of the tree's trunk. It was amazing! He said there was probably over 6,000 liters of water in there. We gave him one of our empty water bottles and he filled it with the water from the tree.

We sat down near the tree and the bushman made a fire. They didn't start a fire like normal people do though, they started a fire with two sticks. It was amazing. They would take a long, hard, skinny stick and roll it between their hands on a softer stick. After a few spins a tiny spiral of smoke would come up from the soft wood and they would drop the small amber into some dry bark they found. In five minutes we had a nice fire with our three birds roasting over it. The birds were actually not that bad. Ironically enough they tasted somewhat like chicken. 

Landon trying to make a fire caveman style

Plucking feathers from the birds for more arrows and roasting the meat in the fire

After breakfast, we walked back to camp and presented the squirrel the guys killed on the way back to the women. Before we left, they showed us their tradition tribal dance and we bought some souvenirs for the road.

I would have to say that the experience with the bushman was one of the coolest cultural experiences we have had so far. These people have been untouched by the outside world and have really kept to their traditional ways. I felt like we really were able to see what they do everyday instead of seeing it in a museum of read about it in a book. We were able to hunt with some of the last completely isolated societies in the world. Not bad for a weekend trip!

The Loliondo Adventure

Well, I have to say that we are so happy to be alive right now! We finally made it back to Arusha from a very long and tedious trip to Loliondo, an area 2 hours from the Kenya border mainly populated with traditional Maasai villages. After our drilling experience with Spear, Landon and I have begun considering a large water project, which would bring clean water to the villagers. In seeking out possible well sites and locations, we decided to travel with a group of volunteers offering a first aid and medical training session in Loliondo in order to assess the need for water and soil type. Sarah and Chanel had been to the area before and informed us that the people there were getting their drinking water from a local drainage pond, the same source in which they wash and animals drink from.

The trip was a very exciting one from the very beginning. We arranged a ride with a friend to the bus station at 5:30 am because being out in the city when it is dark is extremely dangerous. We arrived just as the bus began pulling away and even though we had bought tickets in advance, the bus was filled beyond capacity, meaning people had paid to stand in the aisles. We began trying to pile in with no place for our 4 large bags. It turns out our assigned seats were in the very back row and were currently occupied. By the time half of our group had pushed and shoved our way through the aisle packed with people, me and two other volunteers were still attempting to get on the bus as it would start pulling away every few minutes, threatening to leave. The moment Desert grabbed hold of the handle, the bus took off with the three of us barely inside and still 3 other men hanging on behind her. Climbing over baggage, seats, and people, we all eventually made it to the rear and had to kick the current occupants out of our seats. Since we would be spending multiple days in Loliondo, we had lots of luggage as a group. Some of it was stuffed beneath our feet and the rest took up one of the seats, so we actually traded off sitting between the headrests of the seats because of a lack of space.

Our view from the back of the crowded bus!

You probably know that you always get bumped around much more in the back of the bus than towards the front. This made sleeping and reading absolutely impossible. For the first 2 hours we thought that the paved roads with some big potholes were bad, but we were nowhere prepared for what would come of the remaining 10 hours. 

So about two hours into our journey, the bus stops and they start making some of us get off. No one on the bus speaks very good english so we didn't exactly know what was going off. Landon, being his impatient self decided it would be much easier to just jump out through the window than wait for everyone in the aisle to clear out. And of course our bus is lifted so high that Landon could almost stand straight up underneath the vehicle! Anyways, before the rest of us made it off the bus, it starts to drive away. Landon quickly realizes that he is being left behind and starts running after the bus. He jumps up and grabs the window so all we can see is his hands going 20 mph. He is using every ounce of strength to climb back in the window and we are freaking out and yelling stop when the bus pulls off into the weighing station! Landon jumps back off to see a handful of Africans laughing at the recent incident. After unloading and weighting 2 more times, we were finally able to continue on the adventure. It still doesn't make any sense to us why they are allowed to unload passengers in order to pass a weight inspection. Later down the road, our bus driver was actually fired for having so many passengers. I can't imagine having to stand in the aisle way for the entire 12 hours. 

Well, we finally made it to the road turn off toward Loliondo which was an easy comparison to a dirt road through the Utah Mountains. However, this time we were on a 60-passenger bus holding over 90 people and going at least 65 mph. It was the longest wooden rollercoaster ride of my life. The road was very dry and dusty so anytime the bus would slow down at all the dust would whirl in through the windows opened for ventilation and cover us all in a blanket of dirt. We were able to see some wildlife along the journey, which was pretty neat. Lots of zebra, wildebeests, giraffe, antelope, and flamingos and of course the usual cows, goats, and donkeys herded by young Maasai boys. 

However, the most exciting events of our trip were definitely hiding at each of the gates. To reach Loliondo, we have to pass through national parks and because we are white, they expect us to pay because they assume we are tourists, even though we arranged in advance forms that explained we were exempt from the charges as volunteers. Some of the gates are still just too stubborn so as we approached them, we would shut the curtains in the back row and all huddled down in our hoodies and blankets to hide our white skin. The first gate we were caught so this is our bus driver trying to argue our case with the gate officers. We all felt like illegal aliens trying to cross the border or something!

Everyone arguing about letting the Mzungus through

The last 4 hours were probably the longest. It had been a very long day for all of us. We were hot, sweaty, and dusty, ready for a good night of sleep. We were so happy when we finally arrived. We stayed at an orphanage run by the MACAO Organization, one of HELP's partners from last year. They also held school for all of the orphans and several children from the surrounding area. The kids were extremely smart and knew English very well because the material is all taught in English.

Landon playing a game with all the students

Lunch time at the school!

Adorable orphan kids :)

Landon and I spent the first day going around talking with the district leaders and engineers about possibly drilling a well. We were sad but somewhat relieved to find out that the water table was far out of reach for the Village Drill and the area was saturated with fluoride, only because we weren't too thrilled about making another long and dreadful trip out to Loliondo. With this news, we spent the rest of our time helping with the first aid training in the Maasai Village.

The Maasai people are a very traditional group. There are hundreds of tribes scattered throughout Tanzania living in small villages. The Maasai are very strict about sticking to their traditions and culture. They practice polygamy which causes many problems with HIV and though they have been educated about the issue they (the men)  refuse to change their ways. The men have a reputation of having all control and doing what they want, which is usually just sitting around all day. Each of the wives is responsible for building their own boma, a mud and cow dung structure held up by sticks with absolutely no windows, collecting fire wood, cooking food, caring for the children, and more. Rarely do the men associate with the women. The women are rarely allowed to speak and must do what the men say. When a man comes to her boma, the woman cannot refuse sex from him. The Maasai are known for their livestock herding. The boys are taught at a young age how to herd and spend all day herding the cattle and goats to areas of grass. We also learned that some men own over 400 cattle making him very wealthy; however, as a Maasai you would earn more respect having more cattle than actual money. So even though they have the means to improve their living situations, they refuse to, also holding to their traditions. We wanted to give them anything they would accept that could improve their lives.

The volunteers spent 2 days in each of the 2 villages, handing out first aid kits assembled as an eagle scout project in the US. They used the kits to teach the people basic health and injury treatments. We also taught them about water purification and hygiene. It was so sad to sit and watch as 10 flies would cover a child's face because they are not clean. The people were very excited about the kits and the trainings and we hope that they will continue to use the methods they have learned.

Landon and I volunteered to demonstrate CPR since we are "married" 

Our bus ride home was far more pleasant than the way there, although we did still have to argue our way out of tourist charges and still came home plastered in dust. Only the worst experiences create the best memories! :)

Covered in dusty dirt!

Everyone Deserves Clean Water!

 Last week, Landon and I had the chance of traveling to Boro, an area near Lake Manyara. Leaving the jungle terrain of Arusha, we found Africa as we had expected it. Wide open plains of sand and trees, roaming Maasai tribes, and beating hot sun. We also stopped at a REAL african market. Tarps made of trash held up with sticks. Millions of vendors come once a week to sell crops and crafts. Our white skin was definitely foreign in this region.

Village scene in Boro, Tanzania

 Boro is a very small farming community. We went there to assist a man named Spear, who is the branch president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Arusha Branch. Spear works with the organization WHOlives, which is actually located in South Jordan, Utah. WHOlives is a worldwide water project bringing clean water to third world countries using a machine called the Village Drill. The drill is designed to be completely man powered, which really helps to reduce the cost of creating a well with clean drinking water. wholives.org

Spear and his workers drilling at the farm site in Boro

Spear showed us the well and hand pump which he had recently installed at the school. We stayed there at the teacher's hostel while we helped drill a new well at a nearby farm. The headmaster held a large bundle of keys as he showed us to our room and bathroom however, every room had its very own key and none of the keys were labeled. Twenty minutes later we opened the door to find bunkbeds! As we set down our backpacks, a bat fell to the floor and crawled under the bed. Spear reached under the bed, pinched the bat between his fingers, causing it to hiss and show its fangs, then dropped it out the window. Come to find out, there was a whole pack of bats living the small air vent above the window! The bathroom was just a pit (luckily we remembered TP) with about 5 large dead spiders in every corner.

Spear demonstrating the recently installed water well and pump at the school

One night as we sat outside with Spear making noodles for dinner on his one-burner camp stove, Landon said, "Ya know what? Living in Africa is seriously like camping all day, every day!" And he was right. We spent the week with no power and no water, just lots of dry oatmeal and some heavy duty bug repellant. Each night we sat to see the sun disappear over the horizon and watched as the stars and fireflies began to glow. Sometimes it is so weird to think we are actually here in Africa!

We have come to find that when you ask an African where some place is and they say "Oh, it's not far" they really mean 5 miles. They walk everywhere, so really nowhere is too far. Spear told us how he used to walk 4 hours each way to go to school as a kid. So, each morning we woke up and made the peacefully journey to the drill site, greeting locals as we went. We quickly realized that drilling is not an easy task. The days were long, hot, and full of hard work. The first day we spent getting drenched with muddy water as we inserted each section of pipe. At one point the sand in the well kept caving in and we just about lost hope, but we kept working and eventually reached a total of 61 feet, where we found the aquifer of clean water. What a relief that was.

Landon and I all dirty from a long day of drilling

While in the area we did take an evening to climb to a sweet waterfall that was near the village. It was beautiful! Although the water was quite brown from the rock, we turned around to see the exquisite sunset. The view was incredible!

We also got the chance to play with some tricky monkeys at the site. They would jump from tree to tree and sneak down to steal our bananas. Landon bet that I couldn't get one to come within 5 feet of me... and I did! :)

 As our short expedition to Boro ended, we were both quite excited to head back to our home in Arusha. We sat anxiously for the two-hour ride smashed in the back of a land cruiser stuffed two people per seat. What an adventure is was along the bumpy dirt road!

We hired a woman named Upendo to be our cook, and we were so excited to come back to her amazing food! Somehow the meals are so flavorful here! She always cooks lots of vegetables with a grain of some sort, whether it be rice, ugali, pasta, or our favorite chapati, which is like a sweet, thick tortilla served with beans and stewed spinach. Upendo comes around 1 or 2 in order to get enough dinner on the table for all of us by 6. She cooks Monday through Thursday, we find our own food Friday and Saturday, and cook our own team dinner on Sundays. This was our wonderful attempt at spaghetti! :)

Another of our favorite treats here is roasted corn on the cob! There are women sitting all along the streets with a pot of hot charcoal and a wire . They roast the corn until it is nice and brown and just starting to turn to kernels. One cob usually costs about 300 shillings which is very cheap. It is best to rub lime and chili powder on the corn two. The first bite tastes a little like chewing on the left over popcorn kernels, but by the time you finish you will want more even though your mouth is burning from the chili. We are definitely going to bring this recipe back to America with us!

With a house of 16 volunteers, there are plenty of chores to go around. Each week we rotate buying food and water, cleaning bathrooms, mopping floors and more. For the most part it works well to keep things in order. Landon has been designated the team handyman.... imagine that! :) We would have been in big trouble without him here.

Waiting at the gate outside our house with some bottled water and loaves of bread 

Sarah and I enjoying the light rain shower in the yard

Making the daily muddy walk back to our house :)

Another week has almost passed... Time is flying by! Africa has presented an entirely new culture and lifestyle. We are truly enjoying every passing minute, as we grow closer to the volunteers as well as each of the Tanzanian people surrounding us. 

Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance