Hadzabe Datoga Fun

It has been way too long since I last blogged! (Is that a verb?) I will catch up a bit while drinking chicken broth, my first sustenance since the onset of a wicked case of giardia…….YUCK MISERY!!!!

So lets go back two weeks to our visits with the Hadzabe and Datoga tribes.  Friday night we arrived at Ziwani on Lake Eyase where we each had our own castle…yes that’s correct. 

After a fabulous dinner we headed to bed with a 4:30 AM wake up call looming.  A quick cup of coffee and we were off with our guide navigating the bush highway to the middle of nowhere.  There we found the Hadzabe hunters around a fire, joking, laughing and passing around something suspicious.  Our guide said “they like their happy smoke”!  From the start they were super welcoming and fun. 

At sunrise we set off to hunt.  Sometimes walking and others running, we followed them through the bush while they scored mostly birds and small animals. 

Four and a half miles later we arrived back at their camp to meet some of the women and buy bling.  The hunters skinned a bird and put it in the ashes.  They offered it for a bit of breakfast …. Hummm not bad! 

We were invited to tour a tent.  They are hunter gathers so their homes are not meant to be permanent.  Our guide said they like photos of animals.  I showed them photos and videos from past safaris and my Rwanda hike with the silver backed apes.  They were beyond delighted pointing and making sounds to mimic the animals.  They had not seen apes so they were intrigued. 

My friend Collyn then showed them photo of US animals and that got lots of questions.  Our guide Joseph is Datoga and also spoke Hadzabe!

After a full morning we headed back to Ziwani for a late morning breakfast and then off to visit the Datoga tribe.  Here we were welcomed by the beautiful happy women of the tribe.  They invited us into their house where we mashed corn while they sang for us.  I congratulated them on a woman president and they joked about, now telling the men to mash corn if they want dinner.  They were a total blast!!!

The Datoga are known for their metal work.  They travel to dumpsites to collect anything metal…recycling wizards.  They have a process where it is melted and made in to jewelry, spoons etc.  The men take great pride in their work.

We went for the jewelry!

We headed back to Ziwani where we spent the rest of the day lazing in total comfort and a great dinner with our driver Ram.  Sunday Ram took us for a walk along Lake Eyase and we traveled back to FAME for a FULL week. 

More of what you have missed soon but my bed is calling me!