Zanzibar!

Zanzibar (“the spice island”) is a great place! Very different from everywhere else we’ve been in Africa. We spent one night in Stone Town, which is the main port town on the island. The streets are narrow and the buildings are old, whitewashed Arabic design. On Sunday we took a tour of one of the spice plantations, getting to see the plants that make clove, vanilla, nutmeg, cardamom and Todd’s favorite, ginger. Some of the local kids followed us on our tour and made all kinds of souvenirs from the plants. Sunday night we took a taxi to Nungwi Beach and we’ve been enjoying ourselves here since then. The beach is beautiful and the water is perfect. This is a great way to end our vacation! This is our last post from the road, as we leave for home on Thursday. See you all soon!

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The Maasai Tribe

We got to go to a local tribal village, just outside of the Ngorongoro Crater and got to see one of their tribal dances, as well as go inside of one of their homes. The Maasai tribe is still very prevalent in southern Kenya and most of Tanzania. Their entire being and worth is based on the cow. The Maasai do not have anything if they don’t have their cows. Money has no value to them, except to buy more cows. They live out in the wilderness and build their own villages from sticks and acacia branches, sometimes leaving it all behind if they need to get to a place that has water. They eat only beef and a mixture of cow’s milk and blood. A man’s worth (and the number of wives he may take) is based on how many cows he has. At around age 16, the boys are sent away together to “become men,” and must fight a lion in order to gain status as a Maasai warrior. Recently, the Tanzanian government restricted the Maasai to only killing the lions if they or their cows are placed in immediate danger. The supposed new rite of passage is to get a swatch of hair from the tail of the lion, but we were told by some of the Maasai men that the initiation still requires a boy to kill a lion and that it very much is still standard. The Maasai dress traditionally – the men primarily in red and the women in blue. (This photo is all women.)

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