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one of the rare smiles and looks we got so far. Either they are shy or they resent our presence, which I fully understand, our intrusion in their lives but they know they have not much of choice…
that girl has a serious piece of a scar on her skull…Machete style I’d say.
Finally off we went across the savannah. More tomorrow. The ground was a bit strange: so flat, no grass.
North east of lake Eyasi, one unique tribe of hunter-gatherers under pressure and risking to disappear…last threat was from Dubai. Some (or all) punks of the royal family decided to buy a big chunk of land around the lake and bribe whoever willing to pocket some cash. It meant kick the Hadza out, bring an army of engineers and workers to build a palace etc, fly charter planes to bring hookers (oops sorry belly dancers officially), trash the land, poach animals….luckily it didn’t work out, thanks to an international petition and human right actions but also thanks to the tsetse flies. Those Dubai wimps…
anyway back to that early morning with the Hadza family.
here is the old man, the patriarch.
and one of his wives.
for hunting: arrows and bows, that’s all. Not even knives nor slingshots nor spears.
finally after years of hearing strong advices to visit the Kisima Ngeda tented camp in lake Eyasi area, Karine and I packed the old Land Rover and off we went to that salted lake, south of Ngorongoro Crater. There is another camp there but poorly located and the company running it has a poor reputation anyway, verified on a previous trip near lake Natron.
Kisima Ngeda is located on the very shore of the lake, on the edge of a little forest. From Arusha there is a tarmac road to the edge of Ngorongoro area then a bad 45 km dirt track, this track takes one hour and half but the landscape is nice enough to forget about it.
On arrival we got a bit concerned: some French speaking tourists were there, kind of keen to engage conversation with us French speaking too. It always looks a bit spooky to me that people can travel far and still be happy to meet their countrymen or at least try to connect to speak their language. And that’s even worse for us, residents! We can suddenly become instant guides and spend the evening bombarded by questions…we were there to rest and enjoy the experience, so conversation was cut short. They were probably nice people but thanks but no thanks. I need to teach Karine some Walloon dialect from Belgium so we only risk to get booby trapped by South Belgians, who are pretty rare in Tanzania.
In our tent, the view allowed us to spot the opposite cliff across the salt lake, at the foot of Serengeti. And a few meters down the tent was a cute little pond. That was quite a tent with a view from the verandah! Perfect to observe the numerous birds feeding on the fish diving from the fever trees or the palm trees.
Karine needs to rest from work, so for a few days I accompanied her on her resting mission but not to the extent of missing a visit to the local original tribe, the Hadza or Hadzabe. Original because other pastoralist tribes with galloping demography and cows have invaded their ancestral territory. Since Hadza have a nomadic life style it must have been devastating for them to move back to old familiar lands and find there some people and their cows who had not only destroyed the land but were unwilling to give it back…
Worse, in recent decades, the government decided to “civilise” them against their will, as it has happened everywhere in the world over the centuries for various reasons, religious or not. It didn’t work, only bringing alcohol and various niceties…at least missionaries failed too. It’s worth mentioning isn’t it?
They finally got some help from various institutions and now a chunk of land is formally protected for them, seriously reduced compared to the original large zone around the lake but at least they can still practice their traditional way of life. I bet the Datoga and Iraqw pastoralists are resentful. Anyway, we could go on for ages to criticize this and that, even our wish to visit them. Should they be left alone? No straight answer as usual…
So one early morning we left camp at 6 am and drove off road to a Hadza homestead. Luckily we had a guide because there was no way to find it otherwise. Directions would be kind of “2nd bush to the left then straight to a twisted tree, then look for a dead cow…” and the huts were really tiny and hidden. And derelict! One of them had an old piece of carpet as a roof.
Here are the Hadza men around a fire preparing their arrows and checking their bows while the women sit on a nearby fire, doing nothing but chatting. Quite a feat: normally women work hard while men are often seen doing nothing…well not always of course but...I’d better be nuanced on my words before I get the PC flak on my butt (that is the Politically Correct squadron).
here are the women of that family, later on they’ll go gathering berries and roots. Early morning, still a bit chilly and dark, a fire is welcome, as the Nikon D300s which performs really well in low light.
Men sit a few meters away around their own campfire. Notice the old mats behind making the hut.
not starting fire but drilling a hole in an arrow tip.
sitting on a rock, minimal clothing. Some Hadza still wear animal skin as we saw at least on one occasion. We got our first impression on how close to Nature they live, just taking the minimum for the day to go. These guys definitely have no carbon foot print. And medical check ups performed over the years by numerous scientists show healthy kids, not lacking minerals, vitamins etc. Berries, selected leaves, meat from hunting, roots, honey seem to provide a good selection of food.
volcano Shombole, Kenyan border.
incredible country to say the least.
Oldoinyo Lengai, active volcano.
hot air balloons over the Serengeti.
Tarangire NP.
volcano Lengai, another viewpoint.
Ngorongoro Highlands.
lake Olbalbal, Ngorongoro area, some schoolboys on the airstrip.
volcano Lengai.
sometimes I digress from my “routine” bush stuff and do something totally different, like copying a famous vintage icon like this René Gruau’s Rouge Baiser. I forgot which famous lipstick the ad is for though…I’m always in awe for artists who manage to draw an apparently simple but powerful masterpiece.
a quick one, view from Kuro airstrip in Tarangire Np, waiting for passengers
film pictures, some years ago, shot during my Flying Medical Service outreach tours
Maasai warriors. I wished the aircraft wing weren’t in the way, but I didn’t dare to break the natural moment while they were ignoring me.
going home, to apparently nowhere in this remote bush. Rift Valley.
getting ready, packing the babies before heading home.
shot on a medium format Rolleiflex 3.5F. Scenery on the splendid scenic highway 12 between Bryce Canyon and Capitol reef, Utah. For a Belgian, used to a country that hasn’t been blessed by geological turmoil, these incredible landscapes are breathtaking.
flying back to Arusha coming from a Flying Medical Service set of outreach clinics in Ngorongoro area.
this mount Makarot on the SW rim, a beauty to fly in, numerous gorges and valleys.
just nearby Mt Makarot, some Maasai villages
Ngorongoro is not a national park but a conservation area, which means the local people, Maasai only that is, have the rights to live in the area, not in the crater itself though. This situation has been hot for decades as there are the pros and cons to kick them out or allow them to live and interfere with wildlife. Complex issue…
and this is lake Magadi inside the Crater itself. As a reminder, the crater is 700 m deep 19km wide. Paris intra muros could hold in!
the crater walls are more visible in those pictures.
I wish I could have just jumped out…with a parachute of course.
Olakira, Northern Serengeti. I was shooting with a Rolleiflex 3.5F and an infrared B/W film, the now defunct Kodak HIE. Another dead Kodak film, another lousy decision from Kodak, they are really specialist to eye their profit and nothing else. Other companies have more respect for their clients and the products that made those very companies.
on my way to Nairobi from Kilimanjaro airport. Mt Kilimanjaro stands right of track.
that Mt Meru, just opposite Kili.
on the way back, on a better suited aircraft for aerial photography, here is Kili again near sunset.
really near sunset now, the light gets orange, the mountain is glowing in a warm tone.
the guide, an Indian as the place is run by Indians, had said amongst various warning : “no nude pictures in there”. I wondered why give such a special warning here as there is none like that in other parks…Indians are prude? Problems with police or various religious brigades? There were so many churches out there in town. I counted up to 10 next to each other! It didn’t seem the ideal place to be who you are…better stay in San Francisco.
the guide had just thrown up some sand on the ledge.
lake Manyara is a park about one hour drive away from Arusha. In infrared B/W photography, vegetation and clouds turn whiter while the sky gets darker amongst various effects.
Leica M6, 28mm, film Ilford SFX 200, IR filter.
Sonjo woman, tattooed and scarified on her face, ears distended. Northern Tanzania, near lake Natron.
scenery while performing outreach clinic with Flying Medical Service.
Maasai warriors guarding the clinic…in fact just hanging around and being curious.
while performing outreach clinics with Flying Medical Service, I always carry an analog camera. Here are some shots below with a Rolleiflex 3,5F in Engoveroni, Ngorongoro Highlands or Rift Valley.
worried face hearing at the doctor…
but good news apparently…
Flying Medical Service main jobs are to provide health care in remote areas on a regular basis and perform medical evacuations. I remember one of the figures by then: 20.000 patients were seen every year by the doctors or nurses were flying in! More than 100 emergency flights…
nowadays there is internet and cellphones, but even to this day, that doesn’t mean all can be done and relied on these 2 systems since many areas are still not covered. The good old HF (high frequency) radios are still very valuable especially to contact the aircraft while in the air. The HF radios are long range radios (the ones that make a lot of statics and noise as seen in movies).
here that little patient was flown back from the bush to Arusha. Ambulances in 1999 were pretty a rarity so we had to use the company jeeps, which were tiny. But the same stretchers that Pat Patten, the founder-director, had designed for the Cessna 206 aeroplanes fitted too in the jeeps.
another example below in Loliondo. For once I was at the airfield with the 2nd aircraft when Pat came in for landing with a patient.
the C206 is a great plane on many aspects, one is its big cargo doors. 2 persons seem to accompany the patient lying on the famous red stretchers.
the patient was then transferred to a more classic stretcher and leveled onto a car, a typical pickup which had many purposes beside serving as an ambulance that day.
nurse busy with the drip.
arrival at Wasso hospital in Loliondo, outside northern Serengeti. Funny enough, the dirt track from the airfield to this hospital was much better than the one from Arusha airport to the hospital in town. The situation has just improved a bit in 10 years, just. And the authorities still want to call it “city”…
the “dream” team by then in 2000: me, Damian Wissolik (a former FMS pilot), Pat Patten and Andries Put. Steve Cunningham is missing on the picture.
yeah traffic but half of these cars or motorbikes are only cruising around and showing off. Harleys, limos, vintage cars, sports cars…
the Strip, up to 8 lanes one way!
various crowd at the welcoming sign at the entrance of Las Vegas, slightly old-fashioned but I thought it was cool the authorities left it there. There is enough modern stuff in town anyway.
that mountain in the background is an active volcano, Oldoinyo Lengai, Rift Valley, Tanzania. Flying Medical Service operates a few medical outreach clinics there. Here is Makat (don’t bother with a map…). We were there early with the aircraft and it was recess time, some adults came in to play with the pupils. The school and the airstrip are just adjacent to the field. I personally hate soccer but I admit that in such an environment and conditions, it was worth watching. The Maasai guys in regular outfits, toga and jewels, didn’t have an easy time …I wished for once I had brought a big lens for close ups on the players. Maybe next time. I was not invited to play along, maybe with my short haircut, they thought I was as good as Zidane? It’s incredible how soccer hits every tribe, people, clan, you name, it in the world. Wherever you go you see posters, Tshirts, even soccer player T shirts etc with famous players references, there are soccer fields all over. If the kids have no ball, they’ll create one with strings, laces, rags, plastic bags that will be round enough to kick at.
some years back, shot on films. The chimpanzees are from Mahale nat’l park, western Tanzania
this male was a bit grumpy and was busy throwing rocks, some reasonably big.
grooming is an important part of their social life, to build connections and show respect to elders.
another park where I stayed for weeks in rows, for my greatest pleasure, is Katavi nat’l park, one hour away from Mahale by plane.
a male waterbuck( un cobe en français), easy to recognize for the horns.
most Burmese girls and women and kids get their face covered in a yellow mixture for sun protection.
2 old timers resting. This place was a monastery or some kind, everybody was wandering around, not only monks and nobody frowned upon me and my camera.
the hand is from some punk who thought better than the girl and tried to spoil the picture. Not his business I’d say since the girl happily poses…
Jan Brueghel scene…
a big chunk of lake Inle is covered by floating gardens, held in place by long perches stuck deeper in the bottom.
the village nearby is mostly built on stilts. You don’t need a car but a boat to visit your next neighbor.
zebras on an airstrip, so a low pass was needed, and I shot at the same time. Standard lens, no cropping, so really a low pass.
an old slide picture, my good old Nikon F3 and a 300mm.
B/W film, Nikon FM2 and 300mm.
rock hyrax.
a bee eater but other things than bees can be a delicacy.
wildebeests.
breathtaking place, always…
a fabulous mix of craggy rocks and sand.
view from my tent early morning. In turn getting out of bed is an easy action…
that arch is about 60 m high. I wondered if any pilot had ever flown beneath…
snake tracks. It seems the beast is not just crawling but throwing itself further in an arched movement
one of our Tuareg guides.
we were in a small group, some walked, others rode on camels (dromedaries to be precise). Walking looked more attractive to me, for freedom of movement and loneliness.
tying camels during lunch or for the night.
Lake Manyara nat’l park, Leica M6, 28mm, IR filter and film Ilford SFX 200 (infrared film that is)
the old faithful Land Rover.
below Karine using her field camera. Same technique but a Rolleiflex was used. Skin gets a ghostly aspect.
my first job with a salary after my Flying Medical Service volunteer time, for Nomad, was flying tourists between camps or lodges. The beauty of it was that I got to fly and stay in those locations for weeks in a row according to the various clients’ schedules. And I got to accompany those clients in their safaris, hundreds of them…blissful times.
all shot on film by then. Katavi nat’l park, S.W. Tanzania.
walking safari, Huw Jones at the helm to guide and protect us.
chimpanzees and hippos…sorry if you’d hoped for them together on the same picture. That would be a serious scoop I suppose.
Chimpanzees are from Mahale nat’l park, western Tanzania, and hippos from Katavi nat’l park, south western Tanzania during my blissed Nomad days.
the thinnest branch? No problem for a self respected chimpanzee…
I was using films only by then. This pictorial effect is due to the grainy film Kodak Tmax 3200 asa.
youngsters feeding.
a bit aerobatic meal.
with colleagues, we’d take a safari jeep, some drinks… for own private safari. Priceless!
what I consider another luxury is painting watercolors in the remote savannah, while performing outreach clinics with Flying Medical Service…
Maasai woman. A woman not shaven means she has got a young baby, less than one year old and nameless, and she’ll get shaven again once the baby has been named and celebrated.
weighing babies on a tree. Maasai mothers or various patients come a long way to attend those clinics, to get vaccinations or treatments
Maasai woman with a lot of colorful jewels.
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