Ben Wilhelmi

on the road, USA

 

sand storm in Arizona near Monument Valley.

 

old cars are all the rage in the US, fascinating to watch.

 

an Elvis impersonator drives that pink old Cadillac in Las Vegas.

 

Las Vegas is one of the best places to spot interesting cars.

 

a Discovery, rare British SUV in the US, Moab, Utah. We felt in Tanzania for a second.

 

in Telluride, Colorado.

 

police cars are different from one city or county to the next. Here near Santa Fe, Arizona.

 

for those who are interested, there are thousands of wrecks to be bought and restored. A bit sad to see these beauties rotting away. Here on Route 66 somewhere in Arizona.

Tanzania, aerials of lake Natron

 

wildlife in Tanzanian parks

 

wildebeest, ou un gnou.

 

hyrax, ou un daman.

white-fronted bee eaters in flight. Ou des guêpiers.

another one catching an insect.

 

a helmeted guineafowl, ou une pintade de Numibie.

 

a marabout stork.

 

a pied kingfisher, ou une pie alcyon.

 

a great cormorant, ou un grand cormoran.

 

a Thomson gazelle.

experience with Flying Medical Service, Tanzania

 

one emergency was for a Masai warrior who had been hit in the lower face by an irate lion. His jaw was broken and hanging loose, his throat was ripped open. An impressive sight to say the least. Luckily for him there was a US plastic surgeon visiting. So the warrior was told not to worry, that the surgeon would fix him up with no scar. That was the thing to avoid saying since Masai people love scars above all. Social status for bravery! Or stupidity since the line between the 2 is often blurred. Anyway our patient didn’t looked pleased by that promise but he survived, was operated…and was spotted by nurses rubbing his wounds in salt to make sure the scars would be visible and obvious! He explained he was really scared (no pun intended) that the surgeon had done a too good job.

Every time we hear about a lion attack, we know we’ll be served the same story: a lion attacked the cows and the herder got injured while protecting them.That excuse covers the fact that young Masai warriors, in line with tradition, have to cut a lion’s tail…without killing it! This activity has been illegal for decades which explains the excuse.

This feat is a proof of manhood that allows the candidate to get the full status of warrior. Of course the lion usually doesn’t sit and watch its tail being cut off. So once in a while, like a the bull facing a toreador, the lion wins. I absolutely despise tauromachy which involves weakening the bulls whereas though not condoning I have some respect for the Masai. The candidate might be somewhat helped by 2 other warriors, but no drug, no paw filing, to diminish the lion’s capacity. Full bravery is required.

Imagine the scene: a young man approaching the lion with a machete, wondering WTF he is doing there while one helper makes noise and gestures to attract the victim’s attention. The 2nd helper is present with a spear to kill the lion in case things turn badly. For each of them it requires a pair of steel balls no?

Oh yes, we had a case where the spear thrower missed the lion and hit his friend already seriously mauled, luckily not fatally! Not sure if the victim forgave the clumsy friend…

 

Last month, there was another case of a Masai warrior who fell on his spear while dancing. Usually that means kind of a second anus! Masai warriors indeed dance by jumping high up vertically while the spears are left aside planted vertically. Sometimes too much joy and enthusiasm bring the dancer too close to the spears and a hard landing ensues…

Paris, cemetery Montparnasse

this cemetery, not as grandiose nor superbly located in a hilly and forested part of Paris as Le Père Lachaise, is still worth a detour. Famous people rest with common or forgotten glories.

Monsieur Villain here is unknown to me but he sure reminded of Honoré Balzac.

He left in a roaring thunder, to copy one his songs...20 years already. I was surprised to learn that Serge Gainsbourg was famous in the US, well that is within some enlightened and specialized people. Amongst Brits I knew so I didn't react when I overheard British accents around the tomb, but the US accent? I went to check with the 2 girls.

many people get snapped in front of notorious tombstones as if it were any other monument.

 

a cat lover I'd guess...

 

those metal hands were huge, bigger than a man.

 

some of you might have recognized sculptor César's style.That's him 6 feet under. I assume when you're so famous, you don't bother to install someone else's art on top of you. But why not after all...if I were to believe in eternity, and were immensely rich, I'd have a rotation in the art pieces above me to avoid boredom.

a happy man on his own, his message seems to explain happiness and self sufficiency with a good bookshelf. Not entirely wrong of course. But beware the man of one book!

 

I liked this style too. Russian, a bit nostalgic? Many foreigners are buried in Paris. Like Jim Morrison, La Callas, Jean Seberg (here)...

a bit of rest for these 2 wanderers. Maybe they've got relatives buried here after all.

witchcraft, Tanzania

 

 

“A 50-year-old South African man woke up inside a mortuary over the weekend and screamed to be let out - scaring away attendants who thought he was a ghost.” as read on BBC.

The striking bit is not that much the poor guy being mistaken for dead, that has happened elsewhere than in Africa too, but that the attendants fled the scene fearing the ghost.

Ghosts, witchcraft and various superstitions are still common in Africa. Tanzania doesn’t escape the problem…

During my first years in Arusha, the newspapers mentioned a dead body that had been dug out from a cemetery after 5 years. The corpse was left behind minus the head, one hand and the genitals.

For the last years, albino people by dozens have been targeted for witchcraft purposes, either murdered and dismembered or their dead bodies dug out. Grieving families finally had to install big slabs of cement over the grave to keep the looters at bay. When caught the witchcraft doctors invariably tell the same story: they need body parts, albino being more prized, for their juju business.

There was the western engineer who discovered with horror a young girl had been sacrificed and buried under the bridge he was supervising. He hadn’t paid the bribe to the village chairman so the girl was put to death to bring bad luck to the bridge and the people working on it.

Flying Medical Service had an new airplane which had about 20 engine troubles in the air. It had happened mostly on me initially since I was flying most during that period. So the hospital staff first refused to fly with me because I was cursed for flying too close to the mountain of God (that is the volcano Lengai) and pissing off somebody up there. Then the next pilot had his shares of engine troubles, so they refused to fly on that very plane (which made sense though). A 3 rd pilot just plainly refused to fly it, which made sense too. The engineer who had checked and rechecked the plane 5 times kept on telling me the plane was by now safe. Once I told him that if I ever died flying that plane, my ghost would come and haunt his nights for the rest of his life, thanks Grandma for this useful tip. The poor guy went upset and went again to recheck the engine! True the cause, when found out, proved to be really spooky and unusual.

I once used a variant trick to an obnoxious employee of the air ministry who would keep on asking and cashing bribes… to no avail. I got fed up and threatened him of having a curse put on his f… head. He tried to put me off, white dudes don’t believe in witchcraft, which is not always true of course. Anyway all I had to do was to pay such a doctor, pay a high price so my crook couldn’t pay a counter curse. The crook being a believer, that’s all that mattered….and I got my papers in no time. And a new enemy…

public transport and more, Tanzania

 

yesterday, the streets of Arusha were peaceful and safe. The bloody daladalas (minibuses) drivers and owners were on strike, every one of them. That because the government refused to let the fares go up like any other commodities. This issue arises regularly, so strikes follow and then prices finally go up a bit. In the meantime the road are lovely with those maniacs out of business.

 

various forms of transport in Tanzania.

the dreaded daladalas, or matatus in Kenya but equally dangerous. Decoration, flashy and questionable about taste, is all the rage in Kenya and slowly starting here.

rap music is much appreciated.

 

tuktuk made a shy appearance, either for taxi or company businesses in search of something between car and motorbike.

 

the good old bicycle has still many afficionados though.

a coach in the bush, Olaika near northern Serengeti. It used to be vehicle free out there but since the infamous healer started his miracle cure not too far out, this track has become popular for the victims, here coming from Kenya. Full coaches, many, everyday. Notice the Flying Medical Service airplane far away.

 

another common vehicle is the cart. Nothing seems to scare those courageous men, even a disbanded minibus has been spotted on that contraption.

 

and bicycles for everybody.

Nestlé, irate mothers, breastfeeding and me in Tanzania

 

just learnt a lesson today: tread carefully on breastfeeding subject! I just got dozens of visits from a website about breastfeeding. I’ve received various names like idiot or shame or ignorant or westernizer…

All of this because I dared to show a Masai mother breastfeeding a kid and the caption was: “ doesn’t that kid look a bit big old for breastfeeding?”. I should have written old instead of big, granted, but to my knowledge Masai toddlers stop being breastfed at 2 years old. And so that was what my question was about.

Some Politically Correct mothers took it badly, accused me of being a pro Nestlé advocate and so on. Woaw. Nestlé is responsible for the killing of thousands of toddlers. Their advertising for powder milk convinced mothers in poor countries to use it with whatever water they could find, not always clean unfortunately. Not to mention the waste of money to buy that powder.

So the lesson is: be thorough, precise, no irony, no sarcasm…so to avoid being misunderstood.

So read this: I advocate breastfeeding, I’m not on Nestlé payroll, and I don’t condone every western behaviour. Maybe I should lawyer up and double check my statement?

 

here is the picture I had posted years ago. How old is that child?

California, whales off the coast near Los Angeles

1997, off Los Angeles coast.

I think they are gray whales, here a mother with a baby. pictures are not that great as I was just driving by when I spotted them and rushed to the edge. I did my best with the small tele lens I had…but what a special moment!

a few emergencies with Flying Medical Service, Tanzania

 

Right form the first day I had arrived in Africa, I decided to keep tracks of the various unusual facts and stories I’d encounter. Lucky I did because I lately realised I’ve forgot a lot. The ones below I still remember though…

There was my last flights for Flying Medical Service in 2002. One evening a jeep had arrived in Endulen hospital and I had been told to fly that patient to another hospital the next morning since the surgeon was on holiday. The warrior had received a spear across the body, entry high in the back, exit low in the belly.

He arrived in a jeep right? So how did he manage to get in? Well his pals held him by the arms while a 3rd one put his foot on the wounded back and pulled the spear out! Ouch. The thing not to do. But by chance, the wounds still didn’t bleed. Quite a feat…the doctor was puzzled but it appeared no organ had been punctured. I was told that internal organs were slippery, kind of greasy so they made way for the blade which sneaked through. The heart was barely avoided by a millimeter or 2. He had been attacked by thieves while tending his cows in Ngorongoro Crater…

And thus next morning I flew him low level to Loliondo hospital across the Serengeti where the surgeon confirmed the untouched organs. Low level flight, like 5 m, because any deep open wound might have trapped some air bubbles which would expand with altitude and create a lot of pain. Coincidence, the wildebeest migration was in full swing below my wings, like an army of ants. Spectacular and beautiful!

Funny enough, another warrior showed up at the hospital but 8 hours later, at night. His thigh was slashed down to the bone and the poor guy had walked from Ngorongoro Crater where he had been attacked by thieves while he was keeping his cows…proudly he made a precision: he had managed to hit one fleeing thief with his spear! He hadn’t found a jeep so had to walk all the way, about 9 hours. Imagine with a deep cut to the bone…And in turn those 2 dudes were put in separate wards for safety.

Pat Patten explained how Masai love scars, proofs of ballsy behaviors or spectacular accidents. No Ferrari, no Rolex to show off out there, so nothing like a good scar. So stories of patients rubbing their fresh healing wounds in salt have been reported! Or a patient being boarded in our aircraft and starting to smile at his wounds. Being flown out meant he was now in safe hands and could relax a bit, so he started to think of his glorious return with scars!

muddy landings, Serengeti, Tanzania

The long rains...Everyday at some point, sometimes when I'm busy on my old faithful bicycle, there is a gig of storms, lightnings, heavy winds, superb sceneries up in the air. I find it quite fascinating to watch these dramatic skies, the blueish or black clouds contrasting with the white ones. The odd lightning here and there. this being always impressive for a pilot, giving a kick of adrenaline when it strikes closer than expected.

 

 

we had an interesting flight between storms, turbulences and one or two lightnings, one lazy volcano Lengai. Nothing major but always a concern for people who are not used to.

This airstrip, Seronera, was wet like a swimming pool, quite slippery just after a storm. Then I had some difficulty to force the passengers out of the airplane for the rain! They didn't want to ruin nd stain their precous nrand new Indiana Jones outfits!

I grabbed my camera and jumped out of the plane to wait for and shoot my colleague, Sean, landing on the Caravan, and then some friends landing on a Twin Otter. Not the biggest splashes ever but decent enough.

 

old car wrecks on Route 66, artistic rust

Route 66…wonderful landscapes, just a bit too touristy to my liking and the authentic touch has just gotten not so authentic anymore but plain fake. I understand people get to make a living but some places are reallyoff the board. This junkyard next to a fuel station was interesting, and nobody seemed to try to cash in on it. Karine and I were looking at these cars and trying to find artistic angles and colors on these beautiful rusting beasts.

old Cadillac, in and out. Notice the dices and the gas pedal.

we just wished the weather had been sunnier on this Arizona bit of the 66.

 

US plates are often worth a picture. Drivers are authorised to personalise them, big time. Worth a post sometimes. I don’t know what’s OK with Oklahoma as I’ve been there only too briefly to comment upon.

 

drawing in the Tanzanian bush

 

Masai people usually have extended ears.

 

whereas the Sonjo people don’t. But the Sonjo women might have tattoos on the eyelids, or even across the face.

 

quick caricature.

 

I’ve found aircraft pretty difficult to draw, to get the proportions right…

sketches in the bush, Tanzania

 

while I’m away on clinics with Flying Medical Service, I like to sit, even hide behind the aircraft tail and draw some sketches. Of course my unaware models wouldn’t recognize themselves as they don’t pose. But I really try to get the details like below the curled up ear or the unusual thin moustache or the mean look.

profile studies.

 

caricatures are fun too.

Flying Medical Service, anecdotes

 

My second week in Tanzania, June 1999, got me to fly and help out a man who had received an arrow in the forehead while protecting his cows from thieves. The arrow had severed one optic nerve and struck down in his lower jaws, locking the jaws together so the poor fellow couldn’t even speak anymore. He survived which was really nice for my morale: 2nd emergency and 100% survival rate if I want to play with numbers! Of course that didn’t last, we got a few deaths unfortunately but few in comparison to the spectacular cases we got.

Of course my experience with Flying Medical Service is not only about wounds and gore details. Funny stories got us laughing as well.

There was Marian, a Dutch doctor who helped us for a while, who had learnt to fly a bit. Masai men (and women too by the way) wouldn’t believe any of this. A woman flying, what a joke…so during next take off, all they had to do was to watch: she’d be in charge and flying while I would keep my hands behind the neck. Indeed when we came again later they were (reluctantly) convinced that a woman could fly. Obviously they didn’t think much of flying anymore and some dudes then challenged her to ride a bicycle. OK flying might within a chick’s reach but riding a bicycle? No way! Of course she rode a bicycle in front of them and they were stunned. The women too by the way. They are left out of most aspects of life except raising kids and performing traditional chores and are convinced they’re worth nothing. Yes without hurting the Politically Correct freaks I can say that Masai men are a tad bit leaning on the macho side.

Yesterday morning I was walking in a village and the Masai ladies were nearly fighting like kids at water well. The well is far from being dried out but still they would not queue. The scene was hilarious and chaotic. Red, blue or purple clothes mixed with yellow old cooking oil containers flying around.

 

Then there was the need to chase cows off the airstrip with a few low passes, real low passes like 3 meters off the ground. Quite a common exercise in the bush. Last week it was zebras. Elephants, giraffes, buffalos… take their turn too. I’m still waiting to see big cats on the airstrips though. Accidents are not that rare by the way. Over the years I’ve hit a gazelle and a wildebeest on take off without damage to the aircraft. Some pilots were not so lucky. Oh and the wildebeest survived, he had just been cartwheeled away but unhurt.

 

these zebras were grazing towards the end of Endulen airstrip so I didn’t have to chase them. The silver thing on the right side is a propeller blade.

a few anecdotes in Tanzania

 

Just back from Endulen, that is a small village and a hospital just outside Ngorongoro Crater. I had left Arusha on Monday with Flying Medical Service little airplane, a Cessna 206, a great bush flying workhorse.

There were some European guests, some regulars, for dinner and since I was the veteran, I had to share some memories. I’ve been flying in Tanzania for 12 years after all…

There are many stories about Masai people, usually warriors, being spectacularly wounded and nevertheless surviving, there are stories that convey a bit the huge gap between our culture and theirs, and not always in our favor…

My very first week in Tanzania…Pat Patten, the boss and director, took me on my emergency flight. When we landed under the scorching sun a Masai crowd, very impressive for a first meeting, awaited us. The patient was a young warrior who had been throwing spears with his fellas for training. Somehow they were indeed in need of training because our patient had received a spear in the head just above the ear! Not only had he survived but he had walked, aided by his guilty friend I suppose, for 4 days across the bush before they hit that bush hospital! A Masai spear is mostly made of metal, nearly 2 meter long, so it is really heavy and all his friends could do was to cut the spear in half where there is a wooden part. Still that half is still heavy. Just try to figure the pain he must have been through with that weight hanging on the wound. 4 days I said. His eyes were all swollen by the infection squeezed out, so he was temporary blind and not even an aspirin in sight for 4 days. We flew him out to another hospital and he survived with a beautiful scar. Quite an impression on me for a first I must say.

Over the years I witnessed or heard of many similar and spectacular wounds. And it struck me that these warriors have a few lessons to teach us on how to cope with pain instead of swallowing aspirins for a small headache…

The hospital in Endulen just received a patient who has been tramped by an irate elephant. Just a few crushed bones, no vital organs were affected. He might be limping for the rest of his life though. Crushed by an elephant…imagine!

Another case involved a man gored through the abdomen by an elephant tusk. This man is still battling for his life though. A 10 cm round hole in the belly…

 

An early picture of the aircraft in the Rift Valley facing the volcano Lengai. Next to the plan is the “medical” hut and Masai waiting

More soon...

Tanzania, life in a village

 

 

grandmas are all the same, watching life go by.

 

what looks like a vintage sewing machine but it is a common model spread all over the country.

 

water chore.

 

Tanzania, people and their animals

 

Masai herder in the Ngorongoro Crater.

the spear is there for jewelery as mush as for protection against lions and other dangers.

 

picking seeds from the high branches. The goats go nuts for these seeds.

 

Flying Medical Service, about the healer, Tanzania

 

last week I heard and noticed that the rage about looking for the miracle cure at Samunge has subsided a lot …on the Tanzanian side that is. Enough patients must have died because of that charlatan of a healer so people have probably started to get their neurons together and avoid the place, or maybe there are no more patients left in the country…now the Kenyans have replaced them, crossing the borders all over and illegally.

 

According the local newspaper, more than 3 million people would have visited that healer! At 30 US cents the visit, that guy is now a millionaire! Reportedly he and his henchmen have been seen at a local bank with sacks of rice but filled with little banknotes. Imagine guys in rags carrying big sacks over their shoulders…The highest denomination is worth about 7$.

 

last week 3 guys were admitted at Loliondo hospital, gunshot wounds. One didn’t spend the night. I heard the fight was linked to the healer, probably fighting in the long queue or over those bags of money. I’d love to see the healer robbed. But it could be as well another land issue. It starts to look like the wild west out there anyway, too many people encroaching.

 

anyway I am out flying to some clinics tomorrow, Ngorongoro and lake Natron areas for 3 days. Hope to collect more stories. I’ve decided to write a bit more on the blog, fish out some old juicy anecdotes…

 

like last week, I dropped a young Masai mother, 20 years old at best, back home on lake Natron. She is carrying her newborn, 2 days old. An old dude is there at the airstrip waiting for her. He introduced himself as the woman’s owner (sic), paid for the flight and walked away, not talking nor looking at the mother and the kid. She quickly packed her little belongings and followed him silently a few paces behind. I’m just trying to figure our feminists reading this, hee hee. No one can blame that Masai husband I suppose since western males were hardly behaving better 50 years ago.

artful lake Natron, Tanzania, aerials

 

that lake…there are days when I feel like going on a first date. Lots of expectations, a bit of surprise and unknown…

I often wonder how a real writer could describe this place.

extinct volcano Shombole on the Kenyan border.

 

this village is located on the Kenyan border just beyond Shombole.

 

Tanzania, rural life

while we’re busy performing our clinics with Flying Medical Service aeroplanes, life still goes by.

in the dry season, a herd of cows can move a lot of dust. The volcano Lengai lies on the horizon.

young Masai girl tending the precious beloved, quite a rarity. Usually it falls on boys.

 

Volcano Oldoinyo Lengai, B/W film

 

majestic volcano located n the Rift valley, northern Tanzania.

 

the whole area shows volcanic scars. Here its neighbors, extinct volcano Kerimasi and various small craters.

 

 

shot on B/W films and a 1961 Rolleiflex 3.5F.

herders, Tanzania

Tanzania, vintage pictures

Shot on Zorki II, 1930 technology, Fujichrome.

 

Engoveroni airstrip in the Rift valley, volcano Lengai on the horizon.

 

local grocery. Not much huh?

 

 

 

 

Kerimasi, another volcano in the area but extinct.

 

the medical hut on the airstrip when the Flying medical Service airplane comes for the regular clinic.

 

peeping Tom.

wandering in Paris, B/W photography

 

we had planned to drive along the Loire river, and visit the French countryside and mostly the famous French castles, les châteaux de la Loire. But the weather happened to be just so perfect, so summerlike that we just got lazy and stayed in Paris for the month.

 

Canal St Martin.

 

les Buttes Chaumont, a hilly park laced by a lake and crowded under the sun.

view from the higher path.

 

the dominant point of view, the belvedere

looking closely, Montmartre and the Sacré-Coeur can be spotted on the horizon.

 

this artist is a bit on the minimal side, no? hardly nothing on show or maybe he is just about to have sold out…

 

party on a péniche seen from a boat.

 

trendy cyclist on a Vélib’, that is one of the numerous city bikes provided by Paris.

 

more trendy people, waiting for falafel in the highly visited rue des Rosiers.

Yosemite, California

old pictures from 1997, Minolta X700, my first and excellent camera.

a bit of sunset glow on the famous half-dome.

 

snow peaks on the horizon, the half-dome on the left.

 

trekking is just the greatest activity to perform out there.

 

waterfalls by the dozens, a permanent spectacle.

 

the other famous landmark in Yosemite, El Capitan.

 

detail of El Capitan.

 

Las Vegas, photography

the fabulous greenhouse in our hotel, the Bellagio.

 

street life in Las Vegas…

shopping in Las Vegas is just mind blowing, even for a non shopper like me…providing I’ve got my camera of course.

portraits in the bush, Tanzania

 

 

old man with unusual long hair.

 

notice the ear extension flapped up. Typical way of doing to avoid the ear hole get caught in the thorny branches.

 

Sonjo woman, shaven eyebrows but slightly tattoed around.

 

 

lake Natron, Sonjo woman getting some protection from the harsh sun.

 

market in a village, Tanzania

 

Loliondo, where Flying Medical Service works with a local hospital. We spend a few nights there every 2 weeks. We then fly fro village to village during the day and use the hospital as a base. The village nearby is growing bigger and bigger.

typical Masai way to carry bag. At length the strap can mark the skull. Man, it must give a headache at the end f the day…

 

unhappy shopping for this grandma.

 

the Arusha coach cutting through the crowd on the main track.

 

Africa without bananas would be totally different.

 

I loved this one, Masai men shopping themselves.

 

waiting the last passengers so the coach is really overloaded.

 

chaotic is a word that eventually comes to one’s mind….

Le Père Lachaise, a stunning cemetery in Paris

a touristic attraction in eastern Paris that ranks high in my favorite list: le Père Lachaise. Most of the tombstones are monuments, pieces of art. It is also interesting to observe human behaviors here, which tombs are still revered, and how. Here are some examples...

 

that lady must wish her relative hadn't been buried near Oscar Wilde. With Jim Morrison and Victor Noir's tombstones, it is probably the most visited place here and not always the best behaviors are to be seen. Sexual activities have been reported, not that Wilde nor Morrison would have minded I bet...also graffiti and acts of vandalism happen too often. Wilde's penis, I mean the angel's one, is regularly ripped off as a souvenir.

so right now, the jewels are missing. On top of the graffiti each little stain is a lips print. I've been here a few times over the last 25 years and Wilde fame doesn't seem to subside.

there were 2 suburb youths next to us who didn't know him (one wonders what they learn in school) but they were impressed by such idolatry around so they were thinking out loud, and it went like this (translated):" Yo man, WTF is this, who the fuck was this dude?". So I explained and they were impressed to discover that there was life and rock'n'roll attitude and scandals and other juicy things before rap music, all the way back to 19th century in this case.

nice company for eternity...

"what the hell happened?" does he wonder?

 

many Jews are buried here, as well as some Muslims but few in comparison.

and this is one of the really interesting cases, to me anyway. Meet Victor Noir, a journalist who suffered a violent death in the 19th century. His statue represents him with an erection bulging under his pants! Incredible isn't it? Even by our modern standards that would be quite a feat, so imagine by then within such a rigorist and squared society! The free thinkers and various unconventional people must have had a hard time with an idea like this. Was the family behind that decision? Funny fact, the sculptor is the one who also designed the Arc De Triomphe! Versatile artist that Amedée-Jules Dalou....

anyway the statue is now seen as a fertility symbol, and desperate women are to leave a flower in his hat and, this explaining the well-worn bits, kiss him on the lips and grope his genitals to improve fertility, bring a husband, a blissful sex life...I had read somewhere, through a Wikipedia link, that some women even more looking to polish their luck would sit on the erection and rub a bit, while wearing no underwear. Urban legend?

a bit more serious here: a monument to the victims of a Libyan terrorist attack on an airliner above the Sahara.

the usual benches to rest and ponder the odds of life.

 

 

Tanzania, aerial photography

 

a typical masai ‘boma’ or hamlet.

 

one of the numerous gorges in northern Tanzania. I flew in it of course but have no idea of the name. I’d need to find a Masai man to know it.

 

rainshower over the Serengeti.

 

somewhere in the Ngorongoro Highlands.

 

traditional Masai hamlets.

 

less traditional hamlets, modernity creeps in…

 

fires, typical in the dry season. Clearing grass or poaching are the main cause.

Lake Natron, human activity, aerial shooting

 

while on duty with Flying Medical Service, hopping between airstrips in one of the most stunning spots I’ve been to, lake Natron.

Maasai walking, look carefully on the wheel tracks. Believe me, this is the middle of really nowhere. But Masai have a knack to always be present in nowhereland. Ask any expat here (that is,the ones who like going on safari because some don’t weird enough!) and you’ll hear the stories of trying to pee lonely behind a bush, pitch a tent in a peaceful and remote corner… and pronto here is a Masai showing up and greeting in no time.

 

happy donkeys at the foot of Shombole where a permanent spring allows life to go on.

 

green jeep battling in the salted mud.

indeed there is no much room left to carve a dirt track there.

 

that spring near Shombole. The area is not very large and looks like a swamp. Wild animals share the precious waters with cows and donkeys and occasional fishermen.

people, Paris, B/W film

 

 

jogging around the Champs de Mars and the Eiffel tower. When I was learning to fly, I performed several jobs, one being driver for a film producer. That meant nearly weekly meetings in Paris. Whenever we had to spend time in hotels, I carried on my trainers and went for early jogs in that area and along the Seine. What a feeling, what a luxury to run in Paris. Not the same feeling in Brussels for sure.

 

the long arcade along the Rivoli street.

 

place Vendome. The double-decker bus shows an ad about the 40 years of Medecins Sans Frontières. 40! And still a lot to do...

 

another example of wedding and photo shoot around the Eiffel tower.

human activity on lake Natron, Tanzania, aerials

1 A.M., power jut came back for a few hours today if any of the famously incompetent Tanesco people are to be believed…I’ve never seen one their official power cut schedules hold more than 10 days. So night work it is…

I’ve been away for 3 days in Loliondo district and around. And so yesterday while flying between some Flying Medical Service airstrips on lake Natron, we witnessed these sceneries with human activity.

cows near a precious spring at the foot of Shombole.

 

traffic used to be nil on the western shore, the track was even hardly passable. Only the Masai, some occasional tourists but really occasional, residents and scientists would venture out there. Nowadays, it has been somehow graded a bit due to the influx of gullible patients rushing to the Samunge healer. The crook is so notorious that Kenyans are flocking there too, via Shombole area, without  border control I’d say…

at least one man still takes time to enjoy the flamingoes…

some bits of the track still look on the edge…curious to see those normal cars go through the wet season…Kenya starts near those faraway cliffs.

look carefully in the tyre marks, the white curved ‘parallel’ lines. The green jeep is sloshing in salty mud.

beautiful landscape isn’t it? How about a trip out there…?

 

cows and dust, northern lake Natron on the Kenyan border. But the water is close, here is a spring.

people, daily life in Africa

 

school girl, typically carrying an old container for drinking water.

 

lake Victoria, funny enough this man was a client at the hotel, which provides good and various types of food. Suspicious or just a keen fisher?

 

the Mecca guy, always on his bike, maybe broke after his Mecca pilgrimage, shown by his red-dyed beard.

 

Olbalbal in Ngorongoro area, Maasai herder crossing the airstrip.

 

pond drying near the Serengeti border.

Maasai warriors, Tanzania

Ololosokwan is the village where these warriors now always wait for me. The news have spread and I keep on shooting new guys every time I fly there on a Flying Medical Service tour. Sometimes I wish I could say no to guys who are not so photogenic to my liking. But then, not only would it be mean to do that, I’d lose the tenuous link I’ve built over the months. Si I keep on shooting and bringing prints… Luckily we’ve got a pro printer at home with multiple ink cartridges. Initial set of cartridges is expensive but then only one to replace at a time, as opposed to cheap printers like in offices.

this one is a regular, never tired of posing, often on the scene and trying to hide in various outfits. I nicknamed him Dorian Gray.

 

a great novelty for them was to see their profile. Some asked friends for confirmation! They looked puzzled by my request initially. Now they all want their profile too

 

something I didn’t ask for but it turned out to be pleasant: stage fights or dances.

 

moustache, very unusual!