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So excited to have snagged a last minute upgrade to business class for our KLM flights to Tanzania. Such a treat when facing a 6 hour flight to Amsterdam, followed by an 8 hour flight to Kilimanjaro airport. We left Toronto on Monday Nov 27 and arrived in Tanzania on Tuesday night. Adrian's friend and the driving force behind the projects we're visiting, Clamian, and his brother Jackson picked us up at the airport and drove us to Arusha. We spent our first night in Arusha with Clamian and Jackson picking us up on Wednesday morning for the drive to Makuyuni.
We were greeted with a traditional Maasai welcome - such happy, open and friendly people.
We were greeted with a traditional Maasai welcome - such happy, open and friendly people.
Boma can mean both the building or hut we stayed in - traditionally Maasai built and it can also mean community or village. So we stayed in the Boma's designed for tourists, complete with bathrooms and solar power. The gathering area also served as the eating and serving area. The welcoming fire was always going and this was. a great place to sit ad hang out.
Adrian was here primarily to check on the project his former charity started. That project began with support for the Nashipay School which started with just 7 students 10 years ago - now with more than 400 students - and included social enterprises to support the operating costs of the school. The social enterprises now include bee hives, women's beading and the eco lodge where we stayed. Our hope is to restart the Voluntourism that Adrian's former charity created, on our own. Organizing groups of 10-15 people who would travel at their own expense and spend 10-14 days doing volunteer construction in this community. No experience required.
Email Adrian adrianbohach@gmail.com if you're interested in more information
on how to join us - I guarantee it will change your life!
So much change since Adrian's last visit, hundreds of trees planted, the permaculture gardens introduced and thriving, the eco lodge continues to grow and so does the school. Much of our visit was spent with Clamian - talking about future plans and looking at future sites for more Eco Boma's. The Maasai culture is community based, highly democratic and very welcoming. The community has created it's goals for the future, with education being number one - and the support of that education through social enterprise close behind. The vision for a Warrior Walk - whereby visitors can experience Maasai life by walking from community to community with aa place to stay along the way, has it's start with this Boma. We visited a number of places that could be the next spoke in the wheel for visitors. The landscape is beautiful and walking is just a way of life. No one in this village has a vehicle, people walk everywhere.
You'll see in our photos that our visit was well known to the community. Lot's of kids joining us on our walks and many invitations to come into huts for tea, including into Chief Rhyna's Boma to meet his family.
The Maasai still herd goats and cows as they always have - although the available land for roaming is continually being reduced by the government. Many in this community live below the Maasai poverty line - which for Maasai is four cows and nine goats per family. The school is flourishing and this year graduated it's first group of students who attended all the way through pre-school to grade 7. Students come from this village but also from the surrounding areas - some from far enough away that they have to stay in the dormitory. You can learn more here https://nashipay.org/
It's impossible to express in words the beauty of this land and it's people - you simply have to experience if for yourself.
Adrian was here primarily to check on the project his former charity started. That project began with support for the Nashipay School which started with just 7 students 10 years ago - now with more than 400 students - and included social enterprises to support the operating costs of the school. The social enterprises now include bee hives, women's beading and the eco lodge where we stayed. Our hope is to restart the Voluntourism that Adrian's former charity created, on our own. Organizing groups of 10-15 people who would travel at their own expense and spend 10-14 days doing volunteer construction in this community. No experience required.
Email Adrian adrianbohach@gmail.com if you're interested in more information
on how to join us - I guarantee it will change your life!
So much change since Adrian's last visit, hundreds of trees planted, the permaculture gardens introduced and thriving, the eco lodge continues to grow and so does the school. Much of our visit was spent with Clamian - talking about future plans and looking at future sites for more Eco Boma's. The Maasai culture is community based, highly democratic and very welcoming. The community has created it's goals for the future, with education being number one - and the support of that education through social enterprise close behind. The vision for a Warrior Walk - whereby visitors can experience Maasai life by walking from community to community with aa place to stay along the way, has it's start with this Boma. We visited a number of places that could be the next spoke in the wheel for visitors. The landscape is beautiful and walking is just a way of life. No one in this village has a vehicle, people walk everywhere.
You'll see in our photos that our visit was well known to the community. Lot's of kids joining us on our walks and many invitations to come into huts for tea, including into Chief Rhyna's Boma to meet his family.
The Maasai still herd goats and cows as they always have - although the available land for roaming is continually being reduced by the government. Many in this community live below the Maasai poverty line - which for Maasai is four cows and nine goats per family. The school is flourishing and this year graduated it's first group of students who attended all the way through pre-school to grade 7. Students come from this village but also from the surrounding areas - some from far enough away that they have to stay in the dormitory. You can learn more here https://nashipay.org/
It's impossible to express in words the beauty of this land and it's people - you simply have to experience if for yourself.
Ngorongoro Crater National Park - Sunday Dec 3
Fabulous day trip to the Ngorongoro Crate with Josephine and Clamian. The crater is the 6th largest in the world and is believed to be a collapsed mountain - larger than Everest. We travelled up the mountain and then down the otherside into the crater area. This is an amazing national park with wildlife everywhere - sadly the government no longer allows the Maasai to use this land for grazing their herds. The traditional Maasai land is quickly disappearing in favour of tourism.
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