Touchdown Kilimanjaro International Airport. We spend the night at Mountain Village Lodge and leave for Ngorongoro after morning briefing. Drive through Arusha reveals a disorganized city. After about 70 km of paved road, two-lane and reasonably smooth, we turn onto jarring dirt road for another 50 km. Visit Maasai village before going to lodge.
Houses are oval in plan, about six feet high, sapling frameworks covered with mud mixed with dung.
Inside they are very dark, with identical floor plans including sleeping areas for children and parents, a cook fire, and a cage for goats and calves. This village has a school just outside the compound. The Maasai dress in bright blankets, mostly red, and men normally carry a stick and spear when away from the village. Women often go long distances for water, carrying it in plastic barrels which look to hold three to six gallons. A circular corral in center of village is home to their animals at night.