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#/

Malaria

The day before I got diagnosed with malaria the first time, while working in Ifakara, Morogoro region, an area with one of the highest malaria infection rates in Tanzania.

One thing that a lot of people ask me about my life in Africa, is wether I have had malaria before. And the answer is: Yes!

In the eight years I have been in Tanzania, I have suffered from malaria six times.

European people about to tavel to Africa are usually advised to take anti-malaria medicine by their doctors, but I would advise you against this.

Here is why:

First of all, some of the commonly prescribed anti-malarials, like the antibiotic 'doxycycline' is, as the name says, an anti-BIOTIC - it is therefore not able to fight a malaria infection in your body, as malaria is caused by an amoeba, a single-celled organism different to a bacterium.

During my first year in Tanzania I took doxycycline daily, as advised to me but contracted malaria after seven months.

Secondly, the risk of contracting malaria has a great seasonal variance. During the coldest months in Africa (May-August) the number of mosquitos is comparatively low and therefore the risk of being bitten and falling ill, is as well.

It also depends on where you plan to spend your time. Mosquitos prefer humid, moist and low-lying lands to cold areas of high altitude.

If you come to Tanzania only to climb Kilimanjaro for a week, you will probably not even be bitten.

Majestic Mount Meru, Arusha. In mountainous areas mosquitos are rare and malaria infection rates low.

Thirdly, anti-malarials have significant side effects and a negative impact on your gut flora and immune system. Even doctors usually admit that it is not advised to take them longer than three months.

I would advise anyone coming to Africa to refrain from buying expensive anti-malarials and to invest instead in a self-tester kit, a course of malarone or any other malaria treatment, a mosquito net and plenty of mosquito-repellent.

Malaria is a potentially deadly disease but it is avoidable. By applying common sense and caution you already reduce the risk of contracting it.

It is also good to know that even in some of the most remote corners of Africa, malaria medication is available and that new treatment facilities are on the rise.

Plastic Africa

While deep see scientists are discovering micro-plastics at ever greater depths and David Attenborough's Blue Planet 2 is raising awareness on plastic pollution, Africa is a long way off even realizing that plastic is a killer.

I live alongside the average, rural African and I see on a daily basis (whenever I buy a kilo of sugar for example) that they have an extremely high plastic footprint.

Here in Tanzania we have thin black disposable plastic bags in which everything is wrapped up. Wether it is a bar of soap, bread, flour or even a bottle of soda, shop assistants will put everything in these bags which you get for free.

Should you wish to buy a bigger plastic bag, you can do so for 100 Tanzanian shillings (4 EUR cents).

There is no waste disposal system in rural Tanzania (and probably many other African countries) and these bags are carelessly thrown into the street.

When the village litter gets too much, the bags are collected and burned.

Coca cola and Pepsi used to distribute their drinks in reusable glass bottles but have in recent years introduced plastic 'take-away' bottles, obviously with a view to reducing pollution.

Even the Masai, whose traditional diet has changed so much, buy their daily needs in the nearby villages and come back to their bomas with a lot of plastic bags.

These days they want the newest sandals imported from China or mirrors or brushes to clean their bead work and in general items made in China have an extremely high plastic content. These things are also of appaling quality, last only a couple of weeks and are then disposed of in the African bush.


The First world has woken up to the threat plastic poses to our planet. But while heroic efforts are being made by the people as well as large manufacturers, it seems, not a lot of thought is given to Africa, India and other densly populated areas of the world where indigenous education levels are low and where political leaders do not have the forsight to reduce the use of plastics.

The planet is not going to recover unless we make the fight against plastic pollution a global issue.

The land I love

There was a Land I loved so much

And my Heart would bleed 

With its Suffering 

Caused by Greed

Our Children growing up 

Without a Future

Why fail to read the Signs?

Why live as if 

Tomorrow is guaranteed?

Let us move 

Be open

Be free

Do not hold back

See

Open your Eyes

The World needs Healing

Come my Friends 

Let us act

Let us be good

There is still Time

Move

Our children

I have to admit that before I came to Tanzania, I had never wanted to have children.
As a matter of fact, I never wanted to get married either.

Now that I have been married for nearly 6 years and have a son of 20 months, I take a step back and ask myself what happened?

And the answer is, Africa happened!

I found so much love here, in the beauty of the country and my amazing husband and in the children without whom, Africa would only be half as heart-warming.

The children here come towards you here so fearlessly, so full of trust and curiosity - it melts your heart and makes you so much softer.

Children in Africa often grow up under difficult conditions, their parents struggling everyday to provide for them, yet they are always cheerful, running around playing with the simplest things like sand and sticks.

You do not need to encourage them to play or engage with their neighbours, they do so all by themselves and they watch and learn from their parents every day mimicking the chores they do.

They seem to grow up here so much quicker yet never losing their smiles and their playfulness.

From my earliest days here in Africa I have loved engaging with kids, finding they would pick me up even from the darkest mood and inspiring me to be a more open, kinder and softer person.

Here are some pictures of the amazing kids I live with these days.

My husband's cousin's daughter carrying her baby sister.

My husband's cousin herding our cattle. 

Our son carrying his favourite baby sheep

Some of the kids from our boma posing for the camera.