Goat roasted over an open fire at a Maasai village in Tanzania is certainly not our traditional Thanksgiving dinner. It is also one I will not soon forget.
Our 2021 African adventures got us back on the road and took us to some magical places. I tend to think of wildlife-related experiences when planning a trip to Africa. Once we return home, however, I find myself looking back on the people we met.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. In America, we have made just about all of our holidays into commercial events. Somehow Thanksgiving has managed to avoid this. It is just about getting together and appreciating what you have.
Spending a day in a remote village of semi-nomadic Africans seemed like the perfect place to be thankful. When you first see how primitively the Maasai live you do appreciate what we have back here in the USA. Once you get to know them a bit more, however, you start to appreciate much of what they have that we do not. Now don’t get me wrong, I am not ready to chuck it all and move to the bush but there is a simple joy in living that pervades this village.
I was all in from the moment we got out of the jeep. I could not get enough of observing how this group lived. The tribe sang and danced for us and prepared a feast including slaughtering two of their goats that were then barbequed over an open fire. They prepared their “medicine”, a tea made from many local herbs and roots and we drank from communal mugs. They taught us how to compete in their traditional jumping dance and welcomed us into their simple homes made from mud.
Many of our traveling companions held back, maybe because it was just too different or possibly because there was an element of theater in how we were welcomed in (we were a tour group after all!). I can’t help but be sad that they did not have the same experience as me. I loved getting to know a few of the Maasai and hope to go back again to meet with them again soon.
Now on to Ngorongoro <See Post>!