Blue Scrotum Monkeys

My heart bleeds for him!!
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(Nicks Story). We left Dar Es Salaam without my passport....the printer was jammed...honestly so they couldn't print the new one!!

Arrived ten hours later in Arusha on Saturday night and spent Sunday wandering about before hitting the safari companies on Monday to get the best trip and deal. We chose Bush2Beach safaris because they customized the trip to suit our needs of seeing people and not just animals.

The start of Safari

What a laugh watching them play!
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Day onewe set off at nine and arrived at Lake Manyara.  We had carrot sandwiches for lunch and an afternoon safari drive  that included my new favorite animal, the blue scrotum monkey.  Also watched baboons play for ten minutes and had a view of hippos.

Statyed in a nice tented lodge and had a wonderful dinner...then I had my worst Larium induced nightmare (never take Larium for too long...it's evil).

day two we went to see a new Masai school and had a medicine tour from the Masai chairman.  We had some great laughs in our respective languages...especially because he had a mobile phone....a Masai with mobile!!  then we went to another school and I got sent to the back of the class.  Did some basic Swahili and maths and had another good sing song.

A view of the lake.
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(Ronnie's story)

I was way too excited to sleep the first morning of our safari. By 700am, I was dressed, showered and packed... our set-off time was not until 900am.  We met our driver and guide, Simon- He is 25 years old, very professional, knowledgable and laughed at all of Nick's daft jokes... a bonus!

Our first drive was to Lake Manyara NP- famous for its lions that climb trees (we did not see any). On our afternoon game drive, we sat and watched a group of baboons for 15 minutes , saw beautiful birds and some interesting monkeys- of the blue scrotum variety.  We arrived at our beautiful, luxury campsite and had one of best meals we have had so far in Africa... that's the way to start a safari!

Don't stand on me.
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The next day we visited a local Maasai village for a medicine walk and tour of school - waiting to see its first kindergarden pupils next month. The curriculum for the new school will be based on the English model... the challenge for this community will be to maintain their traditional way of life and provide the children with a modern education.

The chairman of the village and our translator took us on a walk around the village and described the medicinal uses of various plants, tree bark and roots. Jokes about plants for hair growth, the number of wives the chairman has and the Maasai's use of cellphones were not lost in translation.

Nick and the Chairman
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Next we visited a government sponsored school for Maasai children- from preschool up to 7th grade. Some of the children walk up to 4 hours one way to get to the school and each child must bring a piece of firewood to school everyday. The school provides breakfast and lunch for the children at the parent's expense... which is one of the reasons some parents keep their children out of school.

There was a group of about 100 young children (from 4 to 7 years old) sitting, well-behaved under a tree being taught the English alphabet by one teacher.  The children begin by tracing the letters in the dirt with their fingers, then with a stick and finally "graduate" to a pen and paper.

Vodacom...the official phone of the Masai.
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We also visited a classroom of 1st graders who sang a song for us- "Head, shoulders, knees and toes." We then visited the 7th grade class where most of the students were male. The majority of female students are taken out of school to be married off for 10 cows!  After our school tours, we made our way towards Tarangire NP. What a day!