Safari Report - Part 3

29 August 2004

 

There is an interesting article in the August edition of a tourist magazine called 'What's Happening in Dar es Salaam' entitled 'Tourism & Culture' by an expat living here named Steve Forman.  I don't know him, but I like the way he describes some of the issues involved when tourists are interested in not only the natural beauty and wildlife of the host country but also in how the local people live.  He particularly focuses on the issues when the host country is a "third world" country and the tourists come from more affluent countries.   In Tanzania, there is actually a Cultural Tourism Program, in which tour companies can arrange to take you to a local village to experience the everyday life of the native peoples.   Mr. Forman describes the fine balance between the preservation and exposition of local cultures in order to benefit the indigenous people by allowing them to earn tourist dollars, and the maintenance of the culture and values as a source of pride of heritage for the local communities.   This balance is very fragile, as it is easy for the local people themselves to exploit the more "showy" clothes, ceremonies, and living styles by circus style performances to earn the tourist cash.   But Mr. Forman argues that there is a lot more to the local cultures that may be overlooked and the scramble for tourist cash may actually be detrimental to the culture.  Anyway, on our safari, a visit to a Masaai Boma (village) was high on the list of things to do.   As we were driving through the Masaai country on our way to the Serengeti, we would take some time on the third day for this visit.  

 

I've written about the Masaai before.  There are Masaai living in all the areas of Tanzania in which we have traveled.  They stand out among the local people by the way they dress, and by the way they carry themselves.  They have a reputation of being fierce warriors, and are never seen without a stick and a knife called a "panga".  The Masaai that I see in Dar are always beautiful, mostly men, and are employed as security guards and doormen at the local hotels.  When you drive through the Masaai country, you will see the boys out in the pastures with the cows and goats, the women in the fields or carrying firewood, often there will be a group of adults sitting near the road, or the "initiates" dressed in black with their faces painted with white masks and headdresses of feathers or other adornments.  These initiates are boys of a certain age who are in the year in which they become men, that is when they are circumcised and taught the traditions of the Masaai warrior.  They stand at the side of the road and wait for tourists to stop and pay for the privilege of a photograph.  I swore that we'd stop when we were on our April Safari as these young men are so fantastic looking - scary and fierce and otherworldly.   One of our cars did stop at one point, but I never saw the photos. 

 

We were headed to a Masaai Boma near the entrance to the Olduvai Gorge.  When we arrived, we were told that we could come in at a price of $15 per person.  Rob began to negotiate, but the elder said that that was the fee mandated by the Ngorongoro Conservation Rangers and it was non-negotiable.  There were 11 of us, $165 was an outrageous amount of money to Rob and Me, so we said that everyone else could go, but the Tanzania Nooters would sit it out.  All along we were filming from the outside of the boma, which is a circular wall of thorny branches and  wooden poles.  The Masaai were rushing about, taking little children to a hut outside the compound, or grouping together inside and singing, etc.  The elder explained that the fee was used to pay for the water that the Conservation Agents brought and for other privileges, like that of opening up their Boma for tourist visits.  Rob was still unmoved, but the non-Tanzanian Nooters were willing to pay for this once in a lifetime opportunity, so with the help of the guides, he was able to talk the elder down to $100 for the group.  Once this was settled, we were ushered inside the enclosure for a show of Masaai life.

 

The elder of this Boma spoke fairly good English.  We were treated to a dance in which the women sang and danced and then ran up to Alice and Karen and sort of shouted in their faces and then took their hands and brought them back to the group of women to dance.  All the while, the young men were singing their own song, which sounded like a cacophony of bullfrogs, although more rhythmic and harmonious.  The young men were jumping, in a sort of competition to see who could jump the highest, which was very impressive.  Madie and I hung back for fear that we'd be pulled in to dance with the women, and I filmed madly, using my camera as a shield from participating.  The elder explained that this dance was a depiction of how a young boy becomes a man and distinguishes himself from the other young men, and how the women go to a nearby village to snatch a wife for this newly elevated man.  Somehow, it all made sense when it was described this way.

 

After the dancing, we were divided into two groups and taken into a couple of the houses on the compound.  Rob and I were in the group with the elder.  The houses are made of wooden poles, grasses, and cow manure.  They are low and have a sort of entrance like a snail shell, where you go in a little curving tunnel to the main chamber inside.  We had to stoop, and then sort of feel our way around in the dark, as there are no windows.  Inside, there was a little fenced off area to one side, two little rooms with platforms and animal hides and a central area with a small fire pit and a storage area for a few pots and cups.  You can't stand up straight inside the house, and the whole thing was no larger than the interior of a 4 man tent.  The elder explained that this was the house of one of his 10 wives.  She lived there with her children and cooked their meals inside.  He said the little fenced off area was for babies, and that the wife and her daughters slept in one of the little rooms and the  sons in the other.  Rob asked him how old he was, and he said that he was 74.  He had 10 wives, 44 sons and 24 daughters.  Each of his wives had her own house.  Some of his sons were married, so there were more than just the 10 houses in the boma.   This man also had over 150 cattle, and an unknown number of goats and sheep.  He was finished acquiring wives for himself, but was busy finding wives for his more accomplished sons.  A wife cost 10 cows.  All of the participants in the dance had been his sons and daughters and wives.

 

After the tour of the houses, we were escorted around the inside of the boma.  There were people that had not participated in the spectacle who were sitting near their houses, some stringing beads or playing with babies, etc.  There is a little circular enclosure in the middle of the boma where the goats are housed at night, which is where the dancing had taken place.  All along the outside of this ring, there were beaded necklaces and bracelets and other Masaai handicrafts for sale.  It was a little high pressure market, and each of the 11 of us had our own personal sales agent trying to get us to buy something, which of course some of us felt compelled to do. 

 

Karen had asked the elder if he had a school for his children, and when he said that he did, she asked if we could see it.  I guess this had been an anticipated request, as the school turned out to be the hut to which  we'd seen the children taken.  We all then walked to the school, and were each greeted with a perfect "Good Morning Madam" or "Good Morning Sir" in unison by the 8 or 9 kids inside as we entered .  We found some seats, and were treated to a fantastic rendition of the A B C song as it is sung in Tanzania.  They also sang "Are you sleeping" and a couple of other things.  Our group sang back the American version of the A B C song, and then we sang it again all together.  I have this all on tape.  As it was Saturday, these kids didn't really have school, but they'd gone in to show us.  I was at the door with my video camera when a couple of kids came late to the school.  They greeted the teacher by putting their foreheads on his thigh and saying "Shikamoo Mwalimu" until he returned their greeting with a "Marahaba" and told them to take their places.  One little one was overlooked for a second and he kept saying "Shikamoo Mwalimu, Shikamoo Mwalimu" until he was received.  This "Shikamoo" greeting is the most respectful greeting to use to an elder or higher status individual, and "Mwalimu" means teacher. 

 

One funny thing that happened to me, was that I was wearing a necklace that Rob had given me when he came back from Kenya a couple of years ago.  It is made of glass beads and I get lots of comments on it when I wear it.  The elder wanted me to give him my necklace, as did the teacher in the school.  I asked Rob what I should do, should I give it to the elder?  Rob replied "What's he going to give you, a cow?" which put it all into perspective and I kept my necklace.

 

We finally had seen all we could see, and so we said our goodbyes and got back into the cars.  The Masaai went back to what they had been doing, which in this particular boma may mean waiting for the next tourists.  I thought about this experience later, and I am amazed at how efficient a business is this Masaai boma.  This elderly gentleman had a large family with many tasks to take care of in a day.  Each person had a job that benefited the whole, except for perhaps the youngest babies.  The youth were tending to his cattle in the fields, the wives and daughters were cooking or tending kids or making beaded crafts, the initiates were standing at the side of the road trying to flag down tourists for a photo, and anybody else was ready to do a dance or sing or show off their school at a moment's notice.  I got the impression that when a safari vehicle drives up someone shouts "Places Please!" and they scramble around to get set for the opening act.   I have put some of Rob's photos on the web site of the Masaai.  (One aside, this particular family was the first time I had ever seen Masaai with bad teeth - I have commented on how the Masaai in Dar have perfect teeth,  maybe those are the ones that get sent into the big cities!)

 

We went from the Masaai Boma to the Olduvai Gorge for lunch which I will tell you about in my next installment.

 

Take care,

Barb

 

web site for photos http://nooter.textamerica.com/