Lake Natron Weekend

We left for Lake Natron from Engaruka on Saturday morning relatively early. It takes about five hours to drive (northeast) from Engaruka to the lake. Lake Natron lies about 25 km past Oldonyo Lengai so we knew that we were getting close when we passed right by the volcano.
On the way there we passed by herds of zebras, wildebeasts, dikdiks, and gazelles. It was was so cool to see them in their native habitats just wandering around the plains.
When we had climbed to the top of our mound in Engaruka we had seen a large crater so on our way to Natron we stopped by the crater to check it out. Turns out, it had once been an active volcano that had essentially imploded and fallen in on itself,leaving this large crater in its wake. It was a good size crater with little greenery on the inside. It stood at the base of two other sleeping volcanoes and just beyond it on the horizon we could see Oldonyo Lengai or "Mountain of the Gods" in the Maasai language. We could also see the gases that the mountain was releasing creating a puffy white cloud that hung constantly around the top of the volcano.
The road we drove on was a dirt path, frequented with large holes, ditches, rocks, and other obstacles. About 45 min into our drive we got a flat tire from one of the rocks we had driven over in GSC's Land Cruiser. So we all piled out while Tom 'dogo, Harry (the driver), and Dismas changed the car tire. A little bit away from the road were a few Maasai bomas. The children immediately ran over to our car, "pipi?, pesa?, maji?" They never ask for anything different (candy, money, water- actually water only gets asked in rural areas, generally in town its pens, "kalamu"). We tried to talk to them but because they mostly only spoke Maasai, and we mostly only spoke English, our communication levels were low.
Shortly after the children came over though, the mothers followed with their babies wrapped tightly to their backs. They immediately started asking (in English), "eyedrops?, eyedrops?" It was at this point that we realized that almost all of the children that we had been speaking with (and holding hands with) had really bad cases of pink eye. It wasn't hard to see why though, one of the mamas (who was holding her baby in her hands) had manure and straw covering her hands so completely that no skin could be seen beneath her wrists. Turns out thats how they build the mud walls of their bomas. Hygiene isn't really a top priority here.
After we explained that we didn't have any eyedrops on us the mothers began to take all of their copious amounts of jewelry off of their necks and wrists and putting it on our necks and wrists (only the girls bodies, they ignored the males). They then began to sing and dance and gathered us in a circle on the road to teach us how to sing a call and response song with them, and move our bodies just right so that we got the jewelry to swing in the correct way. It was completely random and tons of fun.
Shortly after this the tire was finished being changed and it was time to leave the women. So we took the jewelry off, handed it back to the women (even though they wanted us to keep it in exchange for water, money, or medicine from us- but we didn't have extra of any of these to give to them) and got back in the Land Cruiser to continue on our way.
Twice we had to stop to pay Maasai men in little wooden shacks on the side of the road. Each shack stood at the line to a new region. The government doesn't give any money to regions to help make or upkeep existing roads, so the only income people have for their road systems in rural areas is to charge those who drive through exorbitant amounts of money. They don't charge Tanzanians, but each Mzungo had to pay 18,000 Tsh at one stop and then 10,000 Tsh at the other. If we had had our resident permits with us this price would have been cut in half, but because GSC didn't know (or at least told us they didn't know) that these charges were in place, most of us didn't have copies of our resident permits with us (apparently we're supposed to carry copies around with us everywhere we go, but until that point I hadn't heard that rule).
The closer we got to Oldonyo Lengai the more dead and barren and gray the landscape looked. When we finally got close to the mountain, we found that the whole area was covered in fine gray dust. The mountain looked gray and stony and had brief amounts of greenery on only one side of it.
We could see Lake Natron in the distance, but it looked only a dim, blue gray color and was hard to see even though we were relatively close to it. We continued on to stay this super lush and awesome campground. I don't know what it was called but it was super fancy. They offered platform tents that had king size beds and electricity in them for almost $300 USD a night. Since we had brought our own tents it only cost us 10,000 Tsh a person (about $8 USD), so it was cool. We got to enjoy the rest of the amenities, like flush sit down toilets, mirrors, working sinks, and canvas chairs in shady areas even though we weren't paying the posh prices. There was a bar and a restaurant at the campground too, but dinner cost $25 USD a person, and even a soda from the bar cost $3 USD, so we found food and beverages in the small village that was close by. We did get to enjoy the pool though, which wasn't large but really enjoyable (it was about 115* F each day we were there).

It was about lunch time when we got there so after setting up our tents we sat down on the grass underneath a shady trees where some monkeys were hanging out to eat. It was actually a super good lunch, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pineapples, mangoes, and oranges. If I ate lunch like that every day I was in TZ I would be perfectly happy. At lunch we found out that if we had wanted to hike up Oldony Lengai we should have done it the evening before as they didn't want us to do it on such short notice (its supposed to be a really arduous hike). We also would be potentially exposed to a large rain showed while up there and since it is slick already (being hardened molten lava) it would be more dangerous. In addition to these things, GSC didn't really want us to hike up the volcano. So we didn't go. Which I was really bummed out about. But oh well.
After lunch we went on a hike up a creek to a waterfall. The hike wasn't super hard and was really beautiful,as the creek was really the only water source for a great ways (besides Natron which has water that is far too basic to really support plant life). It was also really nice to walk through the water and to get wet since it was so hot out. About 1/3 of the way into the hike, while we were walking though water about waist deep, I caught my Teva sandal on a rock and the sole ripped off from the top part of the shoe. I managed to get both parts before they were washed away byt he current (so I could bring them back to Arusha and try to get it fixed) but I had to complete the rest of the hike with only one shoe (there and then back). It wasn't too bad since most of the walking was in the water. It was only when we had to climb up the rocky parts that my foot hurt because the rocks were SO hot. The waterfall was beautiful (as you can see if you check out Picasa) and had palm trees growing all along the walls of the canyon area that the creek went through.

Since my camera is waterproof, I took it behind the waterfall to where the more powerful chute of water was and where we swam for about four hours. The pictures aren't super clear, since water kept spraying all over my lens, but I tried getting a few pictures of it.
AFter the walk back (where I tried to do almost the whole thing in the water, with the exception of a few larger drops) we went back to camp to change out of our wet clothing (or in my case, put on other shoes). We then headed out to Lake Natron. The last 2 km or so we drove over sticky mud flats from where the lake had retreated. Because there is only a little bit of water constantly going into Natron, and nothing moving out of Natron, the water level is almost entirely dependent on the amount of rainfall that has been received recently. Since there hadn't been alot of rain, the water was pretty low. We were able to walk out farther on the mudflats than the car since we weren't as heavy, but in most places we couldn't reach the water without risking sinking deeply into the mud.
The lake was beautiful, and covered in hundreds of bright pink flamingos. As we could see them standing a few hundred meters out into the lake, we found that the Lake was only a few inches deep for a very long way (its very shallow the whole way across even though it does get slightly deeper in the middle). At that point, Natron marks the border between Tanzania and Kenya and we could see Kenya across the lake from where we stood. Natron is one of the only places where greater flamingos can live. This is because the alkaline nature of the water allows specific types of microorganisms to grow that represent the greatest portion of a flamingo's diet. Lesser flamingos (yes, there are two completely differnt types of flamingos- crazy I know- I had never heard of this before Natron) live in a wider variety of places, btu they do not have the bright pink feathers and can eat a wider variety of food. Apparently they have some other physical characteristics that are different as well, but I dont really know what they are.
We spent quite awhile looking at the flamingos, trying to get close enough to them to get good pictures (a challenging task), and enjoying walking in about 1 cm of water (our pictures look pretty cool, check them out on Picasa).
While we were there, a bunch of Maasai women walked over and tried to sell us jewelry; many of the Maasai in the area are very very poor and have no income. And although they can mostly survive off what they can get themselves, they don't have access to medicine, clean water, or fruits and vegetables (at least in places like Natron and Engaruka which have almost no water sources). Because of this, whenever they see white people they come and ask for money, medicine, water, and sometimes jewelry or sunglasses that they see us wearing.
They also try to sell us jewelry they have made. The jewelry is beautiful and even though they typically ask outrageous prices for it, it's not too hard to get them down to a reasonable price. They are also, many times, willing to trade what they have made, for things we are wearing ( I have bought very little, and have traded nothing, but the longer I'm here, the more I feel tempted to buy things each time I'm asked).
That night we went into the small village for dinner at a local restaurant. They were playing bongoflavor music (a type of modern Tanzanian music that is very popular). It was my first time ever hearing it and I decided that I liked it alot. There is one bongoflavor musician called Marlow who I particularly enjoy ( I am going to buy a CD of his before I leave TZ). I also tried Konyagi that night. This is a local liquor that is very popular among African men (only "loose" African women drink except on very special occasions). It can be bought in little plastic bags (they call them sachets) for very very cheap or in larger glass bottles (or just at bars or in restaurants). Its very normal for people to start drinking early in the day and since there aren't any laws about drinking and driving or drinking while working, we see people drinking everywhere (alcoholism isn't really recognized as a huge problem). anyway though, Konyagi is made from sugar cane (even though they call it gin) and is thick (ish) and kind of syrupy with a kind of sweet flavor. I found it nauseating and couldn't drink more than a few sips. I have no clue how people can drink whole bottles of by themselves a day.

The next morning, we decided to go back to the waterfall bright and early. So after breakfast we headed back up the creek (I wore tennis shoes this time). We swam for a long time. Adam decided to go off exploring while we swam. He found another path way up the mountain and followed it even farther up of the creek. After we had been swimming for awhile we heard him calling from way above our heads. Looking up, there was Adam standing on the ridge. We called down to us that it was really cool and we needed to climb up. I was wearing tennis shoes that day, so i decided i could brave the climb. Alana, Dismas, Rachel, Tom (Kiwi), Mike and I all scrambled up the crumbling rock side of the canyon. It was probably over 100 ft straight up with really crumbly rocks and only a few plants not so firmly rooted into the sides of the rocks to support us. It was a kind of scary climb since if we fell there was nothing but rocks and a shallow creek to break our fall, but it was completely worth it.

At the top we found a little narrow path wandering around the edge of the ridge, following the creek back to its source. In many places the path was only about a foot wide with a solid rock wall straight up on one side and a solid rock wall down on the other, but the view was utterly fabulous. Across the canyon were lush green plants with baboons playing in the branches. There must be an underground river flowing along the ridge line on the opposite side, because every few feet had water literally seeping right out from the rock to drizzle onto the creek a couple hundred feet below. When I wasn't busy climbing over obstacles when the path disappeared or watching to make sure I didn't accidentally walk off the cliff, I couldn't keep my eyes off of the scene unfolding across from me, it was so beautiful. At one point the creek was only about 30 ish feet below us (it dropped quite quickly through a series of small waterfalls just above where we had been swimming before), so we climbed down to get back into the water. Walking up the creek bed again we found a collection of moist green grottos, each filled with a series of waterfalls, mossy walls, and small creatures hanging out. ( I have seen a few scorpians here p.s. they're really scary).
We knew the others would be waiting for us to have lunch (those that hadn't risked the climb up the wall) and that it must be getting late so we put our shoes, shirts, bags back on and climbed back up to the trail. Following it back, we realized that we wouldn't be able to climb back down the original way we had climbed up, so we continued to follow the path back along the ridge line. It went on forever seemingly. Eventually we got to a steep steep place where it seemed the path just ended. We were up way higher than we had been and didn't really know how to get down. Adam had done alot more exploring up there then we had and we thought he might know another way to get down, but he was about 15 minutes behind us with Alana, so Dismas, Rachel, Mike and I decided we would try to climb down the ravine. I was freaking out because it was super steep and really high up. I was so happy when Tom appeared and said he could see where the path continued and we just had to do a little bit of climbing around this one rocky area. Thank goodness we hadn't managed to get down too far. We managed to make it back to camp with everyone all in one piece (I was rather sunburned though since all that swimming had washed away most of my sunscreen) by a little after 230. Everyone else had way given up on us and had eaten hours before.

After lunch we took down our tents and packed everything back into the cars. Two of the cars headed back to Engaruka so they could be there before dark. One car decided to stay so we could hang out in the nice shade and pool area of the resort style campground before heading back to a week of much more barren camping in Engaruka. I lounged around in the pool for about 2 hours talking to the other people who had decided to come swimming. First two older German men who were really into scientific nature things that went way over my head, then the bartender (a Tanzanian man) came over to speak with me for awhile. He was wearing an Obama belt. Lots of Tanzanians are obsessed with Obama, because he "half AFrican." I constantly get asked if I know him, if I live close to him, and if I want to "make an Obama" by the local men (its best to ignore them or they just keep going). Anyway, this bartender was pretty nice and didn't ask any obnoxious Obama questions so that was good. After awhile Tom (kiwi) and Mike (also a kiwi) came to join me in the pool. Tom is really into birds and pointed out the kingfishers, the weavers, and all sorts of birds that were in the surrounding trees.
A little after 5, Adam, Alana, Mike, Tom, and I (the last people from our group left in Natron) headed back to Engaruka. Because it was getting cooler and was starting to head towards night we managed to see a TON of wildlife. It was so cool to see gazelles, strange birds (that Tom identified for us but I can't remember what they all were), wildebeasts, and zebras everywhere. We drove straight through a herd of ostriches and saw Maasai men herding hundreds (literally) of cows through the plains. Because it was starting to get dark and some of these things (like the one giraffe we saw) were kind of far away, my pictures aren't all that good. But it was so cool to just be there and experience it.

We got back to camp a little after 9, just when everyone else was finishing dinner. Good timing on our part, there was still food to be eaten.

There is still one more week of Engaruka to share, but I will save that for another day. I'm supposed to be doing work now anyway, so time to be productive.