Wednesday 2nd August
Travelled from our camp towards Lake Eyasi which is about 6 hours drive. We went via central Serengeti which is super busy! Couldn’t believe how many trucks there are.
It was cold on the way so the kids played with our jackets
We were so lucky on the way. There was a cheetah literally on the side of the road. We were so close.
We also saw a leopard sleeping. And a pride of lions walking along the road. There must have been 9 cubs. They were so close you could almost touch them. Such an experience!
View of Ngongoro crater
Then more bone shaking drive to our final stop at Lake Eyasi. Simple hotel but it had a pool for the kids so they had an icy dip!
T and I were killing ourselves laughing. Honestly we are at the point where all our clothes just stink. All of us have the worst smell, haha! Full of dust. 6 months of dirt. Good lord I’m looking forward to clean clothes and a washing machine! Washing here is harder to come by, less water, and you pay by the item. Oh well only 3 weeks left!
The downside of this place is there is only bottled water. And we can’t use our steripen to clean the water because its alkaline so tastes too salty to be safe! Most places provide filter water or we can clean the tap water. Ah well.
Thursday 3rd August
Another bloody 5.30 start. We are all shattered at this point despite early beds!
Went to visit the Hadzabe tribe. They’re the last hunter gatherer tribes in Africa.
What a fascinating morning. First up, they smoke a lot of weed. Even before 7am when we saw them! Pie eyed. They took us hunting with them. I thought it was just a tourist thing, which is was, but they only do visits during high season. The rest of the time they genuinely hunt for their food. And smoke weed all day, hahaah!
So we were looking in the bush for animals to hunt for. They started with the birds in the trees but we made lots of noise. We had to really go at a pace to keep up with them. They genuinely wear their prize skins. Mostly baboon. If they want to get married, they have to shoot 2 baboons. They are very skilled bow and arrow users.
Then we saw their hunting dogs who found a cat thing. Really cool! It was clearly quite unusual to be that lucky!
I asked how old the tribe guys were and they don’t celebrate birthday’s. Apparently the development of the world has meant there are fewer animals to hunt. And they have to buy maize. The government are trying to preserve their tribe and provide medical care once a month to ensure they are healthy. Their life expectancy must be so low.
Afterwards, we visited the Datoq blacksmith tribe who make arrow for spears. They trade honey and other items for arrow heads. They also make jewellery. Its all from scrap metal they collect and melt down to create things.
We also had a go at grinding maize with the women while they sang.
Back to the lodge for lunch, then on to our last hotel, Baghayo garden suite. We are having a super time but the early starts are tough for the kids, especially when dinner isn’t until 7. They are coping surprisingly well though.
Our next hotel is so beautiful. So lovely. They are super accommodating too. We asked for a really early dinner (we are leaving 4.45am tomorrow). We also said we don’t want to use plastic bottles, so said we could use their filter water. Amazing!
Team Mossy on the move 