We had dinner at the Tarangire Treetops Lodge both nights we were there. The first night a group of the Masai tribe of Tanzanians entertained us. Below is a video photo taken during their performance.
Dinner was served out on a patio of sorts with camp-style lanterns to light the table.
On Thursday, July 9th, we went to a local Masai village. The Masai are one of many tribes of "bush people" living in Africa. While their appearance does not show it, they have a highly organized society beginning with an elderman and an elderwoman. He can only have one wife, but he is permitted to have as many women as he wants and father children with whomever among them.
When we arrived, there was a welcoming group that came out to sing for us. Their language is Maa, and the official language of Tanzania is Swahili.
This is a shot showing part of their village.
Their structures are quite intricately built with mud and cow dung roofs. New coats are applied for the rainy season that lasts from December to May.
The children are adorable, wanting to hold your hand and dance with you when the adults start singing.
If someone takes a picture of them they immediately want to see the photo, and they even know to scroll through your photos on the camera.
This photo shows a baobab tree which is so typical of this area of Tanzania.
This shows a baobab that has a huge hole in it demonstrating what I said earlier about poachers hiding out in them sometimes.
This is Nicholas, our butler while at Tarangire Treetops Lodge. He learned his outstanding English while studying with European missionaries.
We went out for a late afternoon game WALK, and yes, our driver, Elly, came fully equipped with a rifle for protection. Here he's instructing us on the do's and don'ts of walking with someone carrying a rifle.
We didn't see a lot of wildlife, but we did see their tracks and their poop. This is an elephant footprint, back foot. The front footprint is much deeper.
This thorny bush is sometimes used as a Tanzanian Christmas tree, with lights down at the bottom shining up to highlite the thorns.
A typical view of the Tarangire plains with the umbrella acacia trees.
We drove to the top of a nearby mountain in the middle of the plains, presumably to get a better view of the upcoming sunset. When we got to the top, we saw our butler, who we thought was spending some free time on the mountain. He had come ahead with tables, chairs, hors d'oeuvres, drinks and a hand washing station complete with a thermos of hot water and towels.
Here's the hand washing station!
And here's the sunset. None of us could believe what had just happened. The service at Treetops was out of sight upscale that we have never experienced anywhere.