Another early start to the day – we have a lot of ground to cover and there will be a ton of new things to see!! We can’t wait to get started. We are entering the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area and must register first. Once that is done, we start the climb. The long, winding climb up to the rim. The morning for us to do this is perfect. It is misty and moody – think Gorillas in the Mist vibes. Very cool to be driving through and to experience, but it doesn’t really allow you to see anything at all. No worries, this is not the time for stopping anyway!

We drove along the rim for a bit and then headed back down the other side. That’s when the sun came out and we were able to see the African plains for miles. But not just land. Animals. Miles and miles of animals. More on that later…because there is so much more to come!

We had signed up to visit an authentic Maasai village. The Maasai are a semi-nomadic tribe that have mostly stayed true to their customs, beliefs and way of life even though the world around them is changing, evolving and even disappearing. We were really looking forward to this experience and it was informative and interesting. Our Maasai leader/guide took us from the car and immediately wrapped us with a traditional cloth. The fact that he spoke excellent English was a tip off that perhaps this wasn’t quite the authentic experience we anticipated.

Once we were draped, we were led towards the village wall – a mud fence that surrounds the village huts and common area – and greeted by a couple dozen children singing and running by us. On their way to school, we’re told. I don’t want to sound cynical, but sure, we just happened to show up at just the right time. Either way, it was unbelievably cute. I honestly didn’t care if it was staged.

Upon entering the village walls, we were greeted by the adults, all standing in formal attire, lined up, ready to chant and sing for us. That was very interesting. At one point, Jason was invited into the tribe and he wasn’t sure if he was about to be married off. LOL. Instead, he was ‘challenged’ to do the vertical jumping that they are known for. He tried, but didn’t come close to the 3 feet of vertical these Maasai men jumped. They let him live.

We were then invited into our guide’s house. It is a hut about 10 feet in diameter divided into two bedrooms and a common space used for cooking, gathering and everything other than sleeping. There is one tiny opening to let light in – about 18 square inches – and that is it. The door is kind of wrapped around the exterior wall for protection from the elements so no light can come in. It took us a full minute for our eyes to adjust. It just goes to show that you really don’t need much to live a good life.

We followed the kids to the school where they were so proud to show off their knowledge of the English language. All the numbers, the alphabet, the animals, etc. Read off the blackboard by memory, loud and proud. The donation box was displayed proudly in the middle of the school. Why yes, of course we’re going to support the education of children. We’re not animals.

Our guide was great at answering all the questions we had – even the ones we didn’t know we had. They are an interesting people with a way of life that is so different to anything we’ve ever come across before. What left a bit of a sour taste in our mouth was the push to buy ‘their’ crafts and to give them some extra money so they could buy water.

I am glad that I am writing this a few days after it has happened because we have now had time to really reflect on our experience. At first, I was put off by the obvious ‘fakeness’ about it. It was a village built for the tourists by the Maasai people to take advantage of the tourist money that floats through their land everyday. What we saw were not the Maasai living their authentic nomadic life, away from people, away from civilization. Buying water? Come on.

But, when we had time to reflect, we realized that this particular tribe of Maasai has only decided to adapt and evolve due to the over abundance of tourists passing through. They saw an opportunity and went for it. It is because of people like us, legitimately like Jason and I, who want to see and learn and snoop into the lives of the locals that this experience exists. One cannot observe without empirically changing what we are observing. The age old conundrum of studying living creatures. Behaviours change once observed, it can’t be helped. How can we fault or judge when it is really our doing.

So, before this gets too philosophical, in the end, we are happy we went to the village. We learned a lot and it gave us yet another facet to the human existence. We accepted the tour for what it was and fully enjoyed the experience. We even bought a relatively expensive beaded bracelet to show our support. Like a good little tourist.