Crossing boundaries...

This past weekend a group of 9 of us went on safari to Lake Manyara and the Ngorogoro crater. Because we have to squeeze the trip into a weekend, we didn’t really have time to the Serengeti which is about 6 hours away. In a way, I’m glad. Our trip was much more authentically “African”. We were picked up by our guides Emma (pronounced ee-mah), and Funk, and our cook Good-Luck. FYI, Those are their actual given names. We left Friday afternoon after school and drove about 2 hours south to the Lake Manyara area. Friday night was the coolest night I’ve ever had. After dropping our stuff off at our camp site we drove out to a local Maasai village. We got there just as the sun was setting behind the mountains and were welcomed to the village by the tribe who were singing and dancing. I could just sort of watch in awe for a few minutes, marveling at my very own National Geographic moment, before one of the ladies came up to me and put her large beaded necklace around my neck and pulled me out to dance. It was surreal to find myself standing in a primal village, holding the hands of women whose traditions and way of life have lasted since the beginning of mankind. I was intimidated and excited and overwhelmed. The Maasai children were running around like all kids do, imitating the movements of their elders. It was very dusty out there and the kids were filthy with flies all over them but somehow it made sense and I couldn’t imagine them any other way. They aren’t sad or neglected, just living a different, more primitive way of life. In a lot of ways, I feel they will grow to be happier and wiser than a lot of the freshly bathed and formally educated kids I know. I, of course, got plenty of pictures and the tribe women really enjoyed having their pictures taken. Like most women, they had to see each picture after it was taken to see how they looked in it. I guess some things will never change. I won’t ever forget that night and I’m infinitely glad I was able to experience it.