The day started at 5 am, and after we brushed our teeth to an amazing sunrise, Jima met us at and we started the walk. The following day we would make the two hour hike from the camp to Lake Natron, followed by a local Maasai guide named Jima. The view that opened up around us was spectacular, and the drop to the bottom of the caldera sheer and wide. The approach had exactly the effect on us that Abbas undoubtedly was aiming for. We had just parked at the rim of a large crater, or caldera as it is more correctly called, the remains of a collapsed volcano. A few meters from the seemingly endless abyss, he abruptly turned the car around, drove along the edge for a moment and then came to a stop. The sight did not seem to make Abbas feel the slightest need to slow down, in fact we’re pretty sure he accelerated the car as he raced us towards the edge. After a couple of minutes we could make out some sort of edge in the landscape in front of us, and as we came closer a huge ravine appeared right in front of the car. He raced forward as we put our heads to the window wondering what he was up to. We would spend quite some time in the coming days talking with Abbas about the situation with the Maasai people in Tanzania.Īfter a few miles, without warning, Abbas went off the main road and started driving along a path that led up a long steep hill. A minute later, a very happy young boy was left on the roadside holding up a big bottle of water to show his friends. So Abbas waited, and when we met one particularly unfortunate kid who had followed his cattle very far away from any source of water, he stopped the car. We obviously had stocked up on bottled water for the trip, but if we threw one out to every kid in need we passed, we’d soon run out. Every time we drove by one of these unfortunate kids, they’d come running up to the road, arms stretched and yelling out for a bottle. This can sometimes mean spending a long time far away from any source of water, in smoldering heat. In Maasai culture, the children get the job of leading the herds of cattle for miles across this desert landscape, looking for patches of grass. Along the road we’d sometimes see young Maasai boys with their family’s cattle, some as young as four to five years of age.
0 kommentar(er)
