New Years trip with Grabers

Part 2 of our holiday travels was south to Tanzania, to visit last year's IVEPer in Harrisonburg.  Martha June worked with Elisante at Artisan's Hope.  Elisante hosted us for a wonderful 4 full days of visiting people and places in the Arusha area.

Near the house where we stayed (graciously offered by some MCC service workers who were away for the holiday), the boys enjoyed running around in a big field under the summit of Mt Meru.

Another amazing bird, the paradise flycatcher

Visiting Elisante's church, the Mennonite church in Arusha

Looking out over Ngorongoro crater, a highlight of the trip.

Hyena looking hungrily at zebra, this was our first hyena to see in Africa

Some random people hanging out on our truck!

Zebra baby

"Lion jam"  Ngorongoro is one of the more visited safari locations, so there were a fair number of other trucks in the crater.  You could tell where a "good animal" was by looking where the trucks were congregated.

Some of the many lions we saw at Ngorongoro - our lion sightings there were somewhere around 18 lions.

Lion stalking our car; or just trying to find some shade on the hot savanna

Everywhere across the plains in the crater were animals.

A black kite stealing a piece of fried chicken! (in its talons).  We were warned not to eat outside, but seeing this couple eating their chicken out in the open while black kites approached, I figured it would not end well.  I got out the camera just in time to snap a picture as the kite snatched the piece out of the woman's hand.  

And more animals - elephants were a highlight.

Watching the wildebeest from up top.

On the last day we visited Maasai communities where the Mennonite church has a couple of small congregations.  The pastor rode along with us, easier than his usual motorcycle commute from Arusha (or earlier, bike ride!).  This first congregation we visited was all women and children, the men (and boys) were out with the herds.

The congregation.  As usual, hearing the Maasai call and response singing was a treat.

Compound near the church, with the traditional round huts, and the thorn brush perimeter to protect the compound.

Maasai members at the second congregation we visited.

There were some men at the second congregation, mostly (probably?) the "more important" men in the tribe

Evan being mobbed by curious Maasai kids

Curious about what can be seen through our binoculars, they didn't seem very familiar with the concept of what binocs do!  Here they were looking at some ostriches wandering through the area.

Much of the area was seriously overgrazed, some with immense eroded gullies.  Here the foreground is grazed.  In the background is a green pasture which the Maasai keep for sick or young animals, so it is not as overgrazed.  Although pastoralists, in Tanzania apparently the Maasai are more involved in agriculture than in Kenya, as they were not pushed out of their lands as much (or so we were told).