Ben Wilhelmi

life in Loliondo village, Tanzania

 

 

Masai man leaving after the market.

 

this man was extremely serious while buying a cow bell. Each bell seemed to have its own tune and he was listening carefully to each bell before making his choice, like a musician choosing his instrument. The tunes must be important indeed if you are to herds on long distances, better have a sound you like. Also to retrieve lost animals…

 

it seems there were 2 painters, one sober and the second one drunk …

 

dreaming of better days and a new jeep…

street life and market in a village, Tanzania

 

this is Loliondo, a village near the Kenyan border and Serengeti.

not a fashionable hat but a sack of grain or rice maybe.

 

typical toy around, some wheels made of flipflop soles, a plastic bottle or jerrycan, a string or a stick and you’ve got a little vehicle. Some are more elaborate than this one, with trailer, steerable wheels….

 

colors! Very hippy 70’s no? I kind of remember that sort of design when I was a child….

 

the door was locked but I’ll enquire one day. Some women’s club? Must be tough case in local culture, Masai or else.

 

that old blue Land Rover was already there, in that color, in 1999.

 

 

warriors shopping!

 

colorful coach, as always. Those drivers or owners, as in many places in the world, love to decorate their coaches for the worst or the best, usually the worst.

 

these girls didn’t want their pictures taken.

market day in a village, maize selling, Tanzania

while flying on a medical clinic, the market was happening in Olbalbal village nearby Ngorongoro Crater. The doctor didn’t need any help so I went for a photographic stroll.

 

maize was sold from the back of that truck, spread on the blue tarpaulin and bagged again with the help of the bucket.

 

quite often potential Masai client would grab some grains, roll them in the hand, squeeze or even smell them. One is never too careful.

 

10.000 Tanzanian shillings, the highest denomination unfortunately, are worth about 5 euros. Imagine buying a car hand to hand with such a banknote when you need a few dozens millions …

 

2 kids helping…

 

here filling a goat skin bags which look really sturdy.

 

the bucket is used as a reference for payment and then used to refill customers’ bags.

market day in the bush, Tanzania

 

my Flying Medical Service duties bring me to nice remote places, I land on airstrips that would take hours to reach by jeep. Just before landing in Olbalbal in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (thus not a national park), I noticed the village was busy. So I left the staff to perform the medical duties and I walked to the village. Market day, that is lucky day for any curious mind.

heavy sacks of corn are offloaded from the truck.

that yellow bucket serves as a reference container.

I had crawled under the truck for a different angle.

a customer bag is being filled up. 5 $ a bucket or 8500 Tanzanian shillings.

this woman bought a lot of bags apparently. She must have come with various helpers.

market day, Olbalbal, Tanzania

I just came back from clinics with Flying Medical Service aircraft. Once in a while our calendar falls together with market days here and there. This time it was Olbalbal village being in a frenzy, located on the outside western rim of the Ngorongoro crater.

I wish this photogenic Masai man didn’t wear such a lousy hat but other than that what a striking face isn’t it? I wish I could have him for a proper photo shoot.

 

there was that truck in the village loaded with sacks of maize. The crowd arrived in no time.

 

A tarpaulin is spread out then the grains are thrown out.

 

then a bucket is used as a measuring cup to refill clients’ bags. About 5$ a bucket. I was told the prices were down a bit since the government just forbade grain export to prevent starvation within Tanzania.

 

some helpers are quite young…

and another bag went down…

and more buckets were transferred… I realised the workers were in such a hurry when a second truck also arrived on the scene with grain. This truck had arrived first, after speeding on the bush rough tracks I bet, and the workers knew the second one would here soon too, so they tried to serve as many clients as possible.

money talks.