December 14, 2004 -- A collection of pictures taken at the Ngorongoro Farm House and in the Ngorongoro Crater can found at Olgira le Korongoro; a collection of pictures taken en route to Ngorongoro Farm House can be found at Maasai Steppe.
Another travel day means another difficult day to say goodbye to new friends. After lots of hugs and pictures, James, Alex, and Pascal finally round us up and get us rolling. Our ultimate destination today is Ngorongoro Farm House.
James, Pascal, and Alex are an excellent team. In addition, to being knowledgeable about wildlife and their country's varied cultures (over 120 bantu tribes and languages), they also take time to teach us Swahili, the official language of Tanzania. I personally latch onto Alex, a Maasai, for his knowledge of Maa, the Maasai language. He teaches me enough words and phrases so that I can greet Maasai properly. He also introduced me to the Swahili word ndugu, meaning "brotherhood or sisterhood", a concept in Tanzania that recognizes that "the country is made up of 'people of all origins', and that no single individual should count for any more or less than any other." Prof. Michael Neocosmos writes about this concept in his paper titled, "Rethinking State and (Civil) Society in Africa: Forms of Politics and Democratic Prescriptions."
The road to the Farm House takes us through Lake Manyara National Park, located at the base of the Great Rift Valley escarpment. Despite its small size (127 square miles), the park supports a variety of wildlife made possible by the mixture of habitats including forests, woodland, grasslands, and swamps. The highlight was a large troop of olive baboons on the move using one of the park's roads. We watched them for about 30 minutes and they were still coming out of the forest.
Over 380 bird species have been recorded in the park. Some of the birds we did identify included the grey-headed kingfisher, the goliath heron, and the colorful red and yellow barbet. The closer we got to the lake the more varied the wildlife. Hippos, giraffe, wildebeest, buffalo, zebra, and of course the raucous flamingos spooning the soda water for blue-green algae can all be seen at lake level. Because of the oppressive heat we find a nice shady area for a picnic lunch. On our way out of the park after lunch, we identified the colobus and blue monkeys high up in the trees.
Back on the road we climbed out of the Manyara escarpment into the lush, green highlands heading towards the busy town of Karatu. We made one stop at the T-Shirt Shack to pick up some $10 souvenirs. We arrive at the Ngorongoro Farm House exhausted from the heat. We are greeted by the staff with glasses of ice tea rimmed with sugar. After bungalow assignments, many of us take advantage of the pool to cool off and unwind.
Owner, Wilbard Chambulo, gives me a whirlwind tour of the property. In addition to being a lodge, the farm house also functions as a working farm with fruit, vegetable, and flower gardens, including a coffee grove. On this 500 acre plantation, Wilbard is also raising chickens, cows, hogs, and goats. Wilbard, also known as "Wild Willie" for his boundless energy, spoke to me the entire time in Swahili. He said it was the only way to learn. It was quite a learning experience!
The real treat today was the entertainment before dinner. A local group performed traditional dancing. In addition, two of the group's members provided 'Cirque du Soleil' quality performances of strength, agility, and balance. At the end we were invited to join in and dance with the group and staff of the farm house -- another cultural coup de grace! We made instant friends with manager Alfred and his wait staff Bernadetha and Lenarda.
Dinner as usual was splendid. The dining room was even decorated with a Christmas tree and holiday music was playing in the background. Lala salama as tomorrow we climb and drop down into the famed Ngorongoro Crater which the Maasai call Olgira le Korongoro.
