The Maasai

Haiiiii...kena bayar RM180 pasal nak ambik gambar dengan dia orang ni. Mahalkan? Kat sini semuanya mahal. As we were curious about how the Maasai can live with the wild animals, we decided to visit one of the village around Ngorongoro Crater, but everything is not for free. We had to pay at least some certain amount that already fixed; no bargain....hihihihi. Another thing for the tourist to see but has to pay. There was a group of Italian group arrived right after us and obviously they didn't want to pay but has taken the photos for free. What happened was, the Maasai got angry and started to stone toward them until they had to leave immediately. Sometime, it is worth it to pay and just follow what the guide says.

About the Maasai.
Travelers in northern Tanzania are almost certain to meet some Maasai, one of the region's most colorful tribes. The Maasai are pastoral nomads who have actively resisted change, and today still follow the same lifestyle that they have for centuries. Their culture centers around their cattle, which provide many of their seeds - milk, blood and meet for their diet, and hide skins for clothing - although sheep and goats also play and important dietary role, especially during the dry season. The land, cattle and all elements related to cattle are considered sacred.

Maasai society is patriarchal and highly decentralized. Elders meet to decide on general issues but ultimately it is the lives of cattle which dominate proceedings. One of the most important features of Maasai society is its system of social stratification based on age. Maasai boys pass through a number of transitions through out life, the first of which is marked by the circumcision rite. Successive stages include junior warriors, senior warriors, junior elders and senior elders; each level is distinguished by its own unique rights, responsibilities and dress. Junior elders for example, are expected to marry and settle down somewhere between the ages of 30 and 40. Senior elder assume the responsibility of making both wise and moderate decisions for the community. The most important group is that of the newly initiated warriors, Moran, who are charged with defending the cattle herds.

Maasai women play a markedly subservient role and have no inheritance rights. Polygamy is widespread and marriages are arranged by the elders, without consulting the bride or her mother. Since most women are significantly younger that men at the time of marriage, they often become widows; remarriage is rare.

Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Safari in Tanzania from 22nd August - 27th August 07

Tarangire National Park ~ Day 1. We arrive from Dar es Salaam to Arusha early in the morning and the travel agent proposed us to do Tarangire Park to kill the time and of course we agreed. When we reached to the park there were a lots of people already.

About Tarangire National Park.
Tarangire is a beautiful area stretching south-east of Lake Manyara around the Tarangire River. During the dry season, particularly between August and October, it has one of the highest concentrations of wildlife of any of the country's park. Large herds of zebra, wildebeest and elephant can be found here until October when the short wet season allows them to move on to lush new grasslands. Eland, lesser kudu, gazelle, giraffe, water buck, impala, and the occassional leopard or rhino can be seen at Tarangire year-around. The park is also very good for bird watching, with over three hundred different species recorded. For ornithologists and birdwatchers, the best time to visit is between October and May.

Bordering Tarangire to the north-east is the Tarangire Wildlife Conservation Area, which was created to address the varying needs of local conservation projects in the area. Visitors can enjoy walking safaris here while local villagers - who have set aside some of their land for the project - benefit directly from tourist revenue and remain involved in management of the conservation area.


NGORONGORO CRATER ~ Day 2 and 3 We arrive at Ngorongoro Crater late in the afternoon and we have the view like in picture above in front of us while we are on the way to hotel. It is just so beautiful and the weather is cold. We stay 2 nights in Ngorongoro but in two different hotels.

About Ngorongoro Crater
Ngorongoro Crater is one of Africa's best known wildlife-viewing areas and one of Tanzania's most visited. At about 20 km wide it is also one of the largest calderas in the world. Within its walls are a variety of animals and vegetation, including grasslands, swamps, forests, salt pans and a freshwater lake. You are likely to see lion, elephant, rhino, buffalo and many of the plains herbivores such as wildebeest, Thomson's gazelle, zebra and reed buck, as well as thousands of flamingos wading in the shallows of Lake Magadi, the soda lake at crater's base.

Despite its steep walls, there's considerable movement animals in and out of the crater - mostly to the Serengeti, since the land between the crater and Lake Manyara is intensively famed. Yet it remains a favored spot for wildlife because there's permanent water and grassland on the crater floor.

The animals don't have the crater to themselves. Local Maasai tribes have grazing rights and you may come across them tending their cattle. During the German Colonial era there were two settler' farms in the crater; you can still see one of the huts.


SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK ~ Day 4
It has been the whole day we are in the park. Kind of a tired a little by counting the gazelles, they are all along the way that we take. From time to time, I fall to sleep; I am not counting the mutton but the gazelle.

About Serengeti National Park.
Serengeti, which covers 14,763sq km and is contiguous with the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya, is Tanzania's largest and most famous national park. On its vast treeless plains are several million hoofed animals, constantly on the move in search of fresh grassland. The wildebeest, of which there are up to two million, is the chief herbivore and also the main prey of large carnivores such as lion and hyena.

One of the Serengeti's biggest attractions is the annual migration of wildebeest herds in search of better grazing. During the rainy season between March and May, the herds are widely scattered over the southern section of the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. As these areas have few large rivers and streams, they dry out quickly when the rains cease. When this happens, the wildebeest concentrate on the few remaining green areas, forming large herds which more north and west in search of food. The wildebeest spend the dry season in these parts of the Serengeti, only moving back east in anticipation of the rains.

The best time to see the wildebeest migration in the Western Corridor of the Serengeti is between May and July, although the actual viewing window can be short. The Serengeti is also famous for its lions, many of which have collars fitted with transmitters so their movements can be studied and their location tracked. It's also known for its cheetah and large herds of giraffe.


Lake Manyara National Park ~ (Day 5).
We end up our safaris here at Lake Manyara. What a nice trip and we really had fun.

About Lake Manyara National Park.
The serene and beautiful Lake Manyara National Park is often underrated in tourist literature; many visitors are surprised by how nice the park really is. in addition to its peaceful setting, Manyara's main attractions are its rich bird life, its tree climbing lions and its hippos, which you can see at closer range here than at most other places. There are also a fair number of elephants although the population has been declining in recent years. The park, which lies between 900m and 1800m above the sea level, is bordered to the west by dramatic western escarpment of the Rift valley. To the east is the alkaline Lake Manyara which at certain times of year hosts thousands of flamingos, as well as a diversity of other bird life and a substantial hippo population. Depending on the season, about two-thirds of the park's total 330sq km area is covered by the lake. Although Manyara is one of the smallest parks, its vegetation is diverse, ranging from savanna to marshes and acacia woodland, enabling it to support a variety of wildlife habitats.

Arusha.
There we are enjoying our local food; Ugali which made from maizes flour, served with a local spinach and lamb brochettes. Just love it....

About Arusha.
Arusha is a northern city Tanzania surrounded by some of Africa's most famous landscapes and national parks. Beautifully situated below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern branch of the Great Rift Valley, it has a pleasant climate and is close to Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Manyara, Oldurai Gorge, Tarangire National Park, and Mount Kilimanjaro, as well as having its own Arusha National Park on Mount Meru.
Big kiss from NDH/Gros becs de NDH

Manuel is an important and necessary man - I

Dedicated to all. Just take your time and read this small story of Manuel.

Manuel needs to be busy. If he is not, he thinks that his life has no meaning, that he's wasting his time, that society no longer needs him, that no one loves or wants him.

So, as soon as he wakes up, he has a series of tasks to perform: to watch the news on television (something might have happened in the night); to read the newspaper (something might have happened during the day yesterday); to tell his wife not to let the children be late for school; to take the car or catch a taxi or a bus or the metro, all the time thinking hard, staring into space, looking at his watch or, if possible, making a few calls on his mobile phone, and ensuring that everyone can see what an important man he is, useful to the world.

Manuel arrives at work and sits down to deal with the paperwork that awaits him. If he's an employee, he does his best to make sure that his boss has seen that he's arrived on time. If he's a boss, he sets everyone to work immediately. If there are no important tasks to be done, Manuel will invent them, create them, come up with a new plan, develop new lines of action.

Manuel goes to lunch, but never alone. If he is a boss, he sits down with his friends and discusses new strategies, speaks ill of his competitors, always has a card up his sleeve, complains (with some pride) of overwork. If Manuel is an employee, he, too, sits downs with his friends, complains about the amount of overtime he's doing, states with some anxiety (and with some pride) that various things in the company depend entirely on him.

Manuel - boss or employee - works all afternoon. From time to time, he looks at his watch. it's nearly time to go home, but he still has to sort out a detail here, sign a document there. He's an honest man and wants to justify his salary, other people's expextations, the dreams of his parents, who struggled so hard to give him a good education.

Finally, he goes home. He has a bath, puts on some more comfortable clothes, and has supper with his family. He asks after his children's homwork and what his wife has been doing. Sometimes, he talks about his work, although only to serve as an example, because he tries not to bring his work problems home with him. They finish supper, and his children - who have no times for examples, homework, or other such things - immediatelty leave the table and go and sits down in front of the computer. Manuel, in turn, goes and sits down in front of that piece of apparatus fom childhood called the television. He again watches the news (something might have happened during the afternoon).

He always goes to bed with some technical book on his bedside table - whether he's a boss or an employee, he knows that competition is intense, and that anyone who fails to keep up to date runs the risk of loging his job and facing that worst of all curses: having nothing to do.

He talks a little to his wife; after all, a nice, hard-working, loving man who takes care of his family, and is prepared to defend it whatever the circumstances. He falls asleep at once, and he sleeps knowing that he wll be very busy tomorrow, and that he needs to rebuild his energies.

That night, Manuel has a dream. An angel asks him: 'Why are you doing this?' He replies that it's because he's a responsible man.

The ange goes on: 'Would you be capable of taking at least fifteen minutes of your day to stop and look at the world, and at yourself, and simply do nothing?' Manuel says that he would love to do that, but he doesn't have time. 'You're lying to me,' says the angel. 'Everyone has time to do that. It's just that they don't have the courage. Work is a blessing when it helps us to think about what we're doing; but it becomes a curse when its sole use is to stop us thinking about the meaning of our life.'

Manuel wakes up in he middle of the night in a cold sweat. Courage? How can a man who sacrifies himself for his family not have the courage to stop for fifteen minutes a day?

Its best to go back to sleep. It was just a dream; these questions will get him nowhere; and tomorrow he's going to be very, very busy.

Le Manuel est un homme important et nécessaire - I


Manuel doit être occupé. S'il n'est pas, il pense que sa vie n'a aucune signification, qu'il perd son temps, que la société n'a besoin plus de lui ou ne le veut.

Ainsi, dès qu'il se réveillera, il a une série de charger d'exécuter; pour regarder les nouvelles ou la télévision (quel que chose pourrait s'être produit la nuit); pour lire le journal (quel que chose pourrait s'être produit pendant le jour hier); pour dire à son epouse de ne pas laisser les enfants d'être en retard pour l'école; de prendre la voiture, d'attraper un taxi, un autobus ou le métro, toutes les heures à reflechir serieusement, regardant dans l'espace, regardant fixement sa montre ou, si possible, faisant quelque appels sur son téléphone portable, et s'assurer que chacun peut voir ce quel homme important il est, et utile au monde.

Manuel arrive au travail et s'assied pour traiter les écritures qui l'attendent. S'il est un employé, il fait son meilleur pour s'assurer que son patron a vu qu'il est arrivé à l'heure. S'il est in patron, il place chacun pour travailler immediatement. S'il n'y a d'autres affaires importantes, Le Manuel les inventera, les créent, monté avec un nouveau plan, développent de nouvelles lignes d'action.

Manuel ne va jamais seul pour déjeuner, mais, si il est un patron, il s'assied avec ses amis et discutent de nouvelles stratégies, parlent de la défectuosité de ses concurrents, a toujours une carte dans ses manches (avec de la fierté) du surmenage. Si Manuel est un employé, lui aussi, s'assied avec ses amis, se plainent au sujet de son patron, se plainent au sujet de la quantité d'heures supplémentaires qu'il fait, l'états avec une certaine inquiétude (et avec de la fierté) que les diverses à la compagnie dépendent entièrement de lui.

Manuel - patron ou employé - travaille tout les après-midi. De temps en temps, il regarde sa montre. Bientôt, il est temps de rentrer à la maison, mais il doit encore trier un détail ici, signer un document là. Il est un homme honnête et veut justifier son salaire, les espérances des autres, les rêves de ses parents, qui ont tellement lutté dur pour lui donnent une bonne éducation.

En conculsion, il va à la maison. Il prend un bain, des vêtements confortables, et dîne avec sa famille. Il demande après le travail à ses enfants et à son épouse ce qu'ils ont fait. Autrefois, il parle de son travail, bien que pour servir seulement comme exemple, parce qu'il essaye de ne pas apporter ses problémes de travail à la maison. Ils finissent de dîner, et ses enfants - qui n'ont pas de temps pour des exemples, le travail, ou d'autres telles choses - ils laissent immédiatement la table et vont s'asseoir devant l'ordinateur. Manuel, alternativement, entre et s'assied devant un apareil qu'il cotoillait pendant de son enfance et qui est appellé la télévision. Il observe encore les nouvelles (quelque chose auait pu se produire pendant l'après-midi).

Il va au lit toujours avec un certain livre technique sur la table de chevet - s'il est un patron ou un employé qu'il sait que la concurrence est intense, et que n'importe qui qui ne continue pas a ce mettre a jours, les risques de perdre son travail et faisant face au plus mauvais de tous destin; n'avoir rien à faire.

Il parle à son épouse; il est après tout, un gentil homme, assidu, affectueux qui prend soin de sa famille, et est disposé à la défendre quelques les circonstances. Il s'endort immédiatement, et il dort en sachant que demain, il sera très occupé, et qu'il doit reconstruire ses énergies.

Cette nuit, Manuel a un rêve. Un ange lui demande; 'Pourquoi faites vous cela?' Il répond qu'il est un homme responsable.

L'ange continue; 'Est-ce que vous êtes capable de prendre au moins quinze minutes par jour de vous arrêtez et regarder le monde en face et vous-même, et tout simplement de ne faire rien?' Manuel dit qu'il n'a pas le temps. 'Tu me ment', dit l'ange. 'Chacun a le temps de faire cela. C'est juste qu'ils n'ont pas le courage. Le travail est une bénédiction quand il nous aide à penser à ce que nous faisons; mais ça devient une malédiction quand son utilisation unique est de nous arrêter de voir la signification de notre vie.

Manuel se réveille au millieu de la nuit avec une sueur froide. Courage? Comment un homme qui se sacrifie pour sa famille n'a pas le courage de s'arrêter pendant quinze minutes par jour?

Il est mieux de retourner dormir. C'était juste un rêve; ces questions l'amméneront nulle part; et de toute façon demain il sera très, très occupé.