Tanzania: Day 4

Carving the stone

Our first stop of the morning was at a local soapstone carving cooperative. We were given a tour of the different huts where the artwork is made. First, they go to the quarry and pick up large pieces of the stone and bring back to their cooperative. Then, people work together with a large saw to cut it into manageable pieces. That's when the carvers get to work, using different kinds of knives and scrapers to carve complex items like love knots and different animals. After that, they go into a different hut (I love that each hut was a “work station!) where women smooth the carvings with different kinds of sandpaper (10 different grades of roughness) and water until the item is perfectly smooth. After that, they go into the final hut where the artists paint designs on, carve in details, and polish the finished work.

The artist that painted our bowls

We got to watch one artist at work – Jason. It was amazing to watch him paint a sunset and an animal on a plate with such skill. He made it look so effortless (as all good artists do). We were so taken by watching him work that we both decided to get him to paint us an image of our choice onto a plate, and we got to watch him work on our very own designs. I chose a giraffe and J chose an acacia tree. The finished products are so beautiful. He signed the back of the plates for us and then wanted to get his photo taken with us. We chatted for a bit and found out that his English teacher was from Ontario! What a small world. He also wanted us to email him the photos when we get home. I couldn't think of a better souvenir from Kenya.

After that, it was off to the Tanzanian border, which we crossed without too much difficulty. While we were waiting in the truck for everyone to finish border formalities (e.g. Have a border guard “glance” at their Yellow Fever certificate from a metre away in order to confirm its validity), we saw a young fellow in a wheelchair. There were two things fascinating about this – the first was that it was one of the first visibly disabled people we've seen while traveling the roads of Africa. The second was that his wheelchair was entirely home made from three bicycle wheels, a plastic lawn chair, and bicycle pedals (with the pedal part removed) for steering. I couldn't help but admire the ingenuity. And it seemed to work remarkably well! He was steering that wheelchair around with a lot of skill.

I'll take a little break here to tell you about how we're traveling. Our truck is a very large, bus-like vehicle that has capacity for 24 seats. Our group is made of 22 travelers, plus our local guide, driver, and cook, who travel with us. The truck has storage lockers on the inside for our large bags, and even larger compartments on the outside for all our food, cooking utensils, water, fuel, and other supplies.

We're covering a lot of ground on this trip, so the days are full of long drives. The scenery along the way is always changing, and our guide is always full of interesting information about the local people and culture, so there's always something to experience even though we're sitting in a vehicle for large parts of the day.

After we crossed the Tanzanian border, we quickly made our way to the shores of Lake Victoria where we were to camp for the night. It was still early afternoon, so after lunch when most people went on an optional bike ride with a local guide (I can barely keep a bike upright so that was an obvious no for me), a few of us stayed behind at the campsite and just relaxed by the lake.

Locals walked by, curious, and often saying a hearty “jambo!” (hello) as they passed us. There were some brightly coloured orange and black birds in the trees by the lake, and as soon as I saw them, they reminded me of Orioles. Later, I looked up high in the tree tops and saw dozens of round nests made out of woven leaves – very similar style to what North American Orioles make! Turns out they were a variety of African Orioles (still haven't pinned down exactly which). There were also small white African Egrets flying all around the lake fishing.

It amazes me how far we can travel from home, and yet still see continuity in everything. The smiles and waves of children are the same the world over; birds and animals who have evolved apart from each other eons ago nevertheless still retain so many similarities.

We still feel very separate from the local people, though. As you pass children in some villages, they call out the Swahili term for “white person” over and over, as if we tourists are a different kind of species they rarely see, like us and the safari creatures. Everywhere we go, we are advised to keep our valuables locked up, not carry anything with you that you don't have to, not to leave your bags unattended. In the streets, people try and sell you everything and anything – sometimes they swarm. We saw a tour bus parked that was surrounded by women all holding up bunches of bananas in the air towards the bus windows. People ask you for money, for “a coin”, for anything.

In fairness, this isn't everywhere. We walked in the forest in Nairobi amongst local schoolchildren and this didn't happen. It seems to be more in the tourist hotspots or in remote villages that are used to seeing bus loads of tourists on their way to the Serengeti.

That evening, a couple of our group members decided to carve some of the watermelons they had brought back from the market – for Halloween, of course. When they were done, they put some flashlights inside and we had jack-o-lanterns. Halloween in Tanzania. A little bit of home on such a far away shore.

And thus ended our first day in our second African country – Tanzania. We slept in our little cozy tents for the first time. Tomorrow: The long awaited Serengeti.