Tribal Encounters
Trip Start
Jan 05, 2009
1
9
17
Trip End
Feb 05, 2009
Karatu, Tanzania
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
After driving for about 2 hours, our first stop was to visit the Hadzabi bushmen. These people live in small family units often in caves or primitive huts and only live off the land. They don't own possessions and each person works for the benefit of the community. Immediately on arrival we were greeted and shown a demonstration of how they hunt for food, make fire and gather vegetables. Then came the interactive portion. I was very pleased with myself. I was able to make fire with two pieces of wood. As well, when the bow and arrow shooting part began, I hit the target once and missed slightly on the second time. As I said before, by African roots are coming out and my tribal abilities are shining through! Impressed with my stunning archery abilities, I purchased a hand made bow and arrow from one of the tribe's men. The arrow head is really sharp and twice already it has poked through my backpack. I had to sacrifice a sock to wrap it up... hopefully I can get it through customs!
Next on the tribal tour was a visit to the tribal blacksmiths, the Dakota. These people gather scraps of metal, melt them down on an open fire and make arrow heads for the other tribes. They then trades these arrowheads for food and animal skins. Again, there was an interactive demonstration where they guy turned an old padlock into an arrowhead. We even got to help with the fire by working the cow skin bellows. How fun!
And finally our last stop was with the wives of another tribes man. This particular tribesman was very wealthy... He had 8 wives! To get a wife, he would have to pay a dowry of 5 cows to the father of the bride... 40 cows is a lot for a tribal man here. These women were all extremely friendly and welcomed us into our house. As interested as we were in them, I honestly think our visit was a novelty to them. Through a translator, they asked many questions about our lives, and one woman was taken aback by the Irish girl, who she thought was very strong. It took two of the wife's hands to go around the Irish girl's wrist! This is a sign of strength in their culture. After a bit of discussion in the mud hut, the wives treated us to some singing and dancing where they pulled us in to participate.
