The Waterfall

Today we traveled with all of the other volunteers to a Waterfall located about 30 minutes away from Moshi. It was nice to have a day to sight see, but unfortunately last night it rained really hard and the roads and grounds were very muddy.

We left for our trip at 8:00 this morning and made a few stops on the way. The land all around us changed during our drive from flat green plains, to dry arid plins, to lush green forest. We visited a small village in this forest with a blacksmith selling a variety of instruments and spears. One of the blacksmiths took us to visit his house, where there were 300 year old caves underneath some of the huts. The houses are very simple huts made of wood and grass with small simple stick huts for the goats and cows next to each house. The local tribe in this area is the Chaga (the tribe known to live around Kilimanjaro). In the 1700s and 1800s, the Chaga tribe and the Massai tribe didn't get along, because the Massai have a belief that they have rights to all of the cows in the world. When the Massai would come to Chaga villiages to take the cows or rape the women, the Chaga would hide in these caves with their animals. We were allowed to crawl into these caves, but because of the rain Lauren and I decided not to go. Apparently it was really dark and sticky down there.

After our excitement in the caves, we started our journey to the Waterfall. The roads in Africa are difficult to drive on, especially in the rain. (Think of the WORST road you have ever driven on and times it by 10). After one van got stuck and had to be pushed out of the mud, we made our way to a local market where fruits, animals and textiles were being sold. It was a kind of beautiful chaos with all of the women wearing colorful fabric head-to-toe carrying loads of Bananas on their heads or sometimes carrying live chickens, loud Swahili conversations all around us, piles of what looked like Salvation Army clothing being sold, fruits scattered on various mats for sale. At one point a woman waved a dead chicken at Lauren and even touched it with her saying "Habari" (how are you?). It was scary. One woman noticed my pink shirt and decided I needed a matching turban, so she quickly created one and demanded that I buy it...After looking in the mirror, I decided not to.

By the time we made it to the Waterfall, we were all hungry and grabbed some lunch. Starting our steep climb to the waterfall was muddy, slippery and full of rocks through what looks like a rain forest. Our drivers told us to "take everything with us", so we were tromping along wearing our purses and backpacks (this definitely didn't help with our balance). We made it down "pole pole" (slowly) only to fall a few times and be covered in mud. But the waterfall was worth the work... It was stunning. Falling from the rocks on the mountains and sparkling in the sun. The water was cold, but we made our way through the water shoeless to get a little closer (Hopefully we didn't get any sick parasites). After viewing the waterfall, a few volunteers decided to swim in the water and then we trekked back up the mountain to head home.

We are headed on a 4 day safari today into the Serengeti (7 hours away) where some of the animals are migrating to Kenya. It should be beautiful and we will see LOTS of lions, cheetahs, and interesting animals. Looking forward to a post when we get back on Sunday!