Christmas Masai style

Christmas to me is about love, compassion and gratitude and I would like, on this Boxing Day, to say thank you to all of you lovely people who show so much interest and support for my blog!

Masai girls from our local choir performing on Christmas Day.

The highlight of our Christmas here in the Masai Steppe of Tanzania was the annual Christmas choir competition in our local village of Lesoit.

Choirs from nearby villages come together to sing and dance and to celebrate this Christian holiday.

It is amazing how our entire community comes together to watch the show and to enjoy a festive meal of rice and goat stew.

Traditionally, the Masai used to cherish 'Enkai', a higher spirit who gave them their cows and the keeper of balance who would make the heavens open after the dry season to bring life back to the savannah.

Missionaries invited the Masai to cherish their 'God' and although this has been met by skepticism by most of the Masai men, the women are quite taken by it and go to church regularly.

On Christmas Day, they dress up in their nicest clothes and go to church to celebrate.

Watch here a Video of our choir  run by my father-in-law's second wife.

Please also check out my community education campaign, Stephanie's Masai Education Fund, which I am currently running to raise funds to train four Masai from our village in conservation and land management in response to the ongoing environmental destruction of our village.

Thank you and Merry Christmas my Dear Readers and Followers!

Masai house building

The Masai used to live a nomadic lifestyle and have in that way aquired a traditional knowledge about hut building which is passed on from generation to generation.

This knowledge is strictly female as men take no part in any of the building process.

A nearly finished house - just leaves and sand missing from the roof.

Modern Masai houses are not round but rectangular and consist of sticks and poles and a mud/cow dung mixture only.

It takes between two and four months for a standard size house with two large beds to be built, depending on the intensity with which it is worked on.

The builder of the house is usually the one who will be living in it but older, more experienced women, often help newlywed women build their first house.

The inside of the partly finished house displayed above.

They are very sturdy and last for 7-10 years. After that they are not considered safe anymore as wood worms and other wood eating insects would have done some damage by that time.

When a house is taken down, it is not allowed to build the new house on the same spot - it has to be at least a few metres away.

The building is started by drawing the outline of the house into the ground and then digging four deep holes at each corner. This is where supporting poles will be erected. Then, a trench is dug along the outline and smaller sticks are stuck into it to make up the walls.
Thin, flexible twigs are aligned horizontally along the structure and fixed to the vertical sticks with rope. This makes everything more sturdy.

A woman carrying building material on her back and her baby on the front, followed by her older son.

Then, these wooden walls are plastered with the cow dung-mud mixture, leaving small round openings as windows,

To fix the roof, up to 10 heavy poles are erected inside the walls. These support sticks that are laid on top of them to form the roof. Others are laid on top of this first layer and then a layer of grass or leaves goes on top of the sticks. The roof is finished off with a heavy load of sand that is piled on top for waterproofing.

The house is done but the work is not yet. What is left, are the beds.

These are again made out of long sticks which are laid across short thicker poles that have been dug into the ground and cushioned with grass and leaves and a cow hide.

Using the same system, shelves are erected on which to store cooking utensils.

Myself in the house I stayed in during my very first visit to my husband's family's boma 

It is a huge task and one that leaves the women exhausted. The men, as with so many other chores, leave it entirely up to their wives to get it done.

Living here with the Masai, I have gained much love and respect for female strength and resilience.

To a large part, it is the women, who keep the Masai culture alive.

I am running a campaign to teach our community about conservation and land management to counteract the destruction of their land.
Please click on this link to find out more. Donations of any size are appreciated and help us make a difference:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/stephanie-s-masai-education-fund-africa/x/17779290#/

7 great places to visit in Tanzania

Us humans have the bad habit of letting routine take over our lives - losing sight of what is important to us or what we are thankful for.

Well today, I reminded myself to be thankful for calling the beautiful country that is Tanzania my home and I would like to share with you some of my favourite places that I have been lucky enough to discover during my eight years here.

Zanzibar
Despite being a tourist hotspot, this beautiful island has my heart. The mix of Swahili culture, Arabic flair and turquoise waters off white-sand beaches makes me fall in love every time I go. I relax the instant I set foot on Zanzibari soil.

The beautiful waters of Kendwa, Zanzibar bathed in evening light.

Arusha
Gateway to the world-famous Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park, the town of Arusha is pleasantly cool and green. It has a nice chilled-out atmosphere and many little restaurants where one can find decent European food. It also has a great craft market where you can buy souvenirs.

Mount Meru, Arusha 

Kilimanjaro

Even if you are not there to climb the 'roof of Africa', visiting Marangu in the foothills of the mountain offers great hiking opportunities to local waterholes and to coffee plantation. I have also had the best cup of coffee I have ever had in the town of Moshi which is similar to Arusha.

Ruaha National Park

My favourite and the biggest National Park in Tanzania, it is a truly wild place which makes for an amazing safari experience. I once spend the night there with a friend and did not sleep a wink because a pride of lions was rumbling and roaring all night.

Lions stilling their thirst after rains in Ruaha National Park 

Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area
A world-heritage site and a natural wonder, looking down into the crater is a humbling experience. I don't think I have ever seen a more beautiful sight or one more wild and natural. It is also home to a huge number of wildlife including the Big Five.

Ngorongoro Crater as seen from above the crater rim.

Mafia Island
I worked there for nearly two years and sampled its amazing dive sites many a times. It is a place where you are guaranteed to see rays, turtles, giant groupers, dolphins and even sharks. It is also becoming famous for offering snorkeling with whale sharks that frequent its eastern shores.

South beaches Dar es Salaam
I love the fact that you can feel a million miles away from hectic city life in Dar es Salaam, when you are, in actual fact, still in the city. The ideal place to spend a weekend sunbathing and drinking cocktails.

Turquoise waters at Kigamboni beach, Dar es Salaam 

These are just a few places I visited and loved - Tanzania has so much more to offer. Just one other great place to see, is our home here in the Masai Steppe, if you are up for an adventure ❤🌍🌳🐾

A culture under threat

My husband's younger brother enjoying the views while herding our cattle.

The Masai are one of only a few tribes left in this world that try to hold on to their traditional way of life.

These days, however, it is proving increasingly difficult for them to do so.
This is mainly due to an increasing human population that encroaches into formerly wild land and thereby also into Masai territory.

Neighbouring tribes' influences take hold of the Masai's cultural heritage and threaten their identity.

Even though the Masai used to be a warring tribe (therefore the term 'moran' or warrior to describe adult, circumcised men) they are incredibly peace-loving people who are too modest to defend their culture against swahili influences and lack the confidence to value their traditions.

Their cattle suffer from a decrease in pasture lands due to deforestation for the sake of farmland. Many cows die of starvation in the dry season and the land is showing signs of desertification.

Little is being done to educate the Masai about the effects this ongoing destruction of their land will have on their culture and they themselves take little action against it.

It saddens me to hear how abundant wildlife used to be here only 20 years ago - today hardly any is left.

My background in conservation and the love and respect I have gained for the Masai make me want to do something about the destruction of their homelands.

In my opinion, the ancient cultures of this world, are worth preserving as much as Africa's unique wildlife. There is so much beauty in the diversity of the human race and often preserving them, is also the key to saving the wildlife that lives on their doorsteps.

Please watch below a video taken as part of my campaign 'Stephanie's Masai Education Fund' soon to be launched in the name of cultural and environmental conservation in the Masai Steppe of Tanzania.

My campaign is now live and open to contributions! 

Please click on this link to help me make a difference:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/stephanie-s-masai-education-fund-africa/x/17779290#/