Ben Wilhelmi

Tanzania, scenes in a village

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Market day in a Tanzanian village, photography

 

 

 

notice the goats being pushed in as well...

 

departing means loading the trucks…

 

 

notice the VIP sign on the windshield…

 

 

life in a village, Tanzania

 

Loliondo, a big village north of Serengeti. Lots of Masai people but not only. A village that seems to love colors.

 

truck instead of bus. Sometimes it is more confortable than a local coach, that is if the truck is full of sacks of rice. Then one just lies down on those sacks and can take a nap under fresh air.

 

Tanzania is the fastest growing country in term of cellular phones. I’m not surprised by that feat. Even Masai people in the remote bush have got cell phones.

 

Vodacom, one of the leading brands in phone networks.

 

2 warriors buying phone recharges.

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…

Flying Medical Service stories

 

Last week, I flew back another bullet victim from Loliondo to Arusha. More and more, it looks like the wild west out there… Some other bullet victims haven’t survive. Land issues usually between Maasai and Sonjo, not much women’s stuff. Over the years I've seen only case of a machete wound across the face, Rwanda style, a fight between 2 brothers over the wife...

I was in the bush pouring some oil in the aircraft engine and some Maasai woman was eagerly waiting for the empty oil container. Not a big deal you’d say except that she was also hoping to scrape some oil to moist her skin! Any kind of aft or oil is used as such but I doubt this is a healthy skin product, and worse, used oil would be spread on too. So as usual I pretended I only poured half a bottle in the engine. I know the container could be put to good use in the remote bush but the health issue is more important I ‘d say…

Fishing in my old road books, I remembered Pat Patten’s old story of a Maasai man going to the bush to teach his young son some shooting lessons. So here they go walking together, the son carrying an array of weapons, bows and arrows, spear, machete… at the turn of a cow track, they suddenly meet a leopard. The father quickly turns around to grab a weapon but not quick enough as the scared boy is already running away at full speed…with the weapons! And here is the leopard coming! So the father, while pondering the tough luck he’s got with such a moron son, still decides to protect him and to do so has to fight and kill the leopard with his bare hands. Not an obvious act to do but he did. The leopard jumped on him claws wide open while he grabbed the leopard’s neck. Adrenalin must have been flowing by the bucket because he managed to squeeze the throat hard and long enough to kill the leopard. Of course the leopard hadn’t been there just waiting, he had been battling too and ripping the man’s skin and muscles away, with probably more energy than usual! In the meantime marathon boy had called for help in the village and when the party arrived they found the father lying on the ground, unconscious, covered with blood and with the dead leopard. One Flying Medical Service 206 flew the man to the hospital. He has survived albeit a bit crippled. His status rose considerably in the area as Maasai people value scars from fight very much.

Loliondo, a big village in Tanzania

 

this old tramp, not a beggar, lies on a daily basis on that old dirty mattress with his little belongings scattered around. He seems to suffer from some genital disease: the shiny thing between his legs is indeed one his balls, tennis ball size…

he doesn’t seem to beg or talk to people. Here he is getting ready for the night…

 

mototaxi and Masai passenger.

 

tall boy shop….? Notice the 'effort' put by the owner took to paint his motto…

 

Masai women shopping before heading home in the bush.

 

derelict yard.

 

typical shop front walls painted in bright colors. It had already struck me in 1999.

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.