Tribes, alcohol and the custard apple.

So after leaving the farm we started on some proper backpacking with hostels and everything. For this blog rather than listing it all day by day I thought I might try a different approach. So I'm going talk about things topic by topic in the hope that it all might come out a little more clearly.

1) Tribes
Within Kenya, Tanzania and I'm assuming the whole of Africa each country is divided into 30 or so tribes. The tribe which you are part of has a massive impact on how you live. The two main tribes I've come across so far are the Maasi in Kenya and the Samba tribe in the Usambara Mountains (Named after them) in Northern Tanzania. Basically what the Maasi do is own huge shambas (areas of land) have loads of cows and thats about it. The Samba people on the other hand do a lot more farming and have maybe 2 cows. I've just finished a 3 day trek through the Usambara Mountains, to put it into Bristolian language they are 'like proper well lush and like tropical and hilly and that'. The Samba people own smaller shambas maybe the size of a couple of allotments and every single inch from peak to valley of the hills is used to farm potatoes and bananas and avocados. I reckon, due to the food I would choose Shamba.

2) Alcohol
So inevitably there has been a lot of alcohol comsumption. Beer first. There ain't no real ale round these parts but they do have some good lager, Tusker and Killimangaro are pretty lush and go for about 1 pound a pint. The other day me Nick and Dave (who are currently half way up Killimangaro) went on a barefoot (unprepared in the shoe deartment), muddy search for a water fall within the banana plantations above Moshi. We found it, it were lush, had a quick strip and dip and then on our way down had a try of the local banana wine. I would't say it was something I would try again, I was strong: 10% and very similar to home brewed cider but with a banana kick. Lastly on alcohol, these Maasi understandably have quite a lot of time on their hands. This means that you tend to come across a fair few mzees (old tribal men) who love to drink their home brew all day long. Came across a maasi mzee the other day, he spat on my hand, I spat on his we shoke hands and he made me spin around. Ever so slightly uncomfortable situation but nodding and smiling helped a lot.

3) Food
What would a blog from Grace be without a mention of food?? So in Kenya as I might of said there was a lot of ugali, very bland and stodgy but not so bad if you need something to fill you up. The farm workers would take massive lumps of the stuff and cram it in for breakfast lunch and dinner. In Nairobi for the day we got taken to a restaurant in the city where all the office workers go. I had a whole fish, it was very very good and I ate it all with my hand, impressive I know. Lastly on food is a new discovery of ours. After searching high and low around Nairobi we finally found this mysterious fruit: the custard apple. I don't know whether any of you have tried it but if you're in a hot country and you happen to stumble across it, buy it, it's probably the best fruit ever. (It's green, knobbly, mango sized). Apparently it has mystycal properties but this could be a lie.

As an extra, as I said I just got back from a trek in some mountains. Finished in a little village perched right on the very edge of the mountains called Mtae (google it). You could see all the way into Kenya one side, Killimangaro straight ahead and the Pare Mountains to the other side. Best view yet and one of the best sunsets so far.

So that's it for now, off to the coast in northern Tanzania then up to Mombassa to stay in a house of Nick's extended family again, they are the nicest family ever and then down to Zanzibar.

Love Grace aka Copper aka (in Swahili) Copplejiwe

Living with the Maasi

So time on the farm is drawing to a close and I've realised I haven't really explained why I'm here. Tarquin (Nicks 2nd cousin) and his wife Lipa own a farm in the Kenyan countryside just outside the Maasi Mara National Park and they're trying to set up their own conservancy and Nick and Dave have been helping out by mapping the area to work out how much land everyone owns.

I arrived 5 weeks after them so haven't got quite so involved in that side of things but instead have had the opportunity to try out loads of bits and bobs around the farm. Highlights have included:

- going to the local town to watch the premier league Chelsea match in a room full of banterous maasi chai drinkers
- riding a horse
- almost falling off a horse
- having a sundowner (beers+snacks+loverly view) on top of a mountain as the sun set over the Massi Mara
- spraying and weighing 3 herds of cows
- mixing several tonnes of dried sweet corn with bare feet
- going on a game drive (saw giraffe, wilderbeest, rhinos and ostriches)
- waking up to baboons on the front lawn and hippos in the mara river

The other night a horrendous amount of rain fell (49mm in a few hours) as we were on our way back home through the conservancy in Tarquin's 4x4. Inevitably, as darkness fell the car got stuck. The water was literally knee deep across the whole of the conservancy. 1 hour later and with a hypothermic Nick and Dave in the cab the tractor arrived to tow the 4x4 out and we all hopped out. Me Nick and Dave and Lusutu (conservancy scout) proceeded to get lost (torchless)stumbling bare foot through the extended river until Tarquin came skidding to the rescue in the tractor. To top it off, once back at the farm we had to wade through the stream turned waist deep river to get to our house. Pretty epic evening.

And last but not least, yesterday me and the farm manager organised a sports day between the local primary and the farm employees. The shopping list included:
- 4 goats (freshly slaughtered with Me N+D as witnesses)
- 2 sacks of maize flour
- 1 sack of cale
- 12 crates of soda
About 300 people turned up and participated in rounders, volleyball, football and an amazing relay at the end. Our muzungu (white people) team were badly beaten. Me Nick and Dave were presented with tradiational maasi outfits, probably one of the best days so far.

So thats it for now, this is much longer than it should be I'll shorten future ones, heading off on Tuesday to Arusha in Tanzania and then to Mombassa back in Kenya. I hope you are all well, love Grace x

Arrival

So I successfully arrived in Kenya. I am staying with Nick and Dave, friends from Bristol on a farm very near to the Massi Mara conservancy and have made it here with the help of Nick's very accommodating and kind extended family.

I've only been at the farm three days but have done a fair bit. We visited the local school in Emarti and were immediately directed to different classes to take lessons. I taught maths and english, I'm unsure of how much the kids actually understood of my english but they seemed to get the hang of hangman by the end.

I've also done some mapping (a project of Nick and Daves) which brings me nicely to the newest addition to my skill set...I have learned to ride a 125cc motorbike, clutch and gears and all. Seen zebra, baboons, and antelope so far whilst cruising around the conservancy from booma (house) to booma drinking lots of chai and eating lots of ugali (sort of stodgy plain porridge, staple of the massi diet).

Thats it for now, I promise I will get better at summarizing and writing slightly less. If it makes you feel any better it's the rainy season so there have been some huge showers but the heat seems to evaporate it all pretty quickly.