Camel Safari!

After talking about going since the second week of being in Arusha, 3 friends of mine and I went on a camel safari today! After an hour drive through all terrains from Arusha to Mount Meru we arrived at the Mkuru Camel Safari Project, the starting point of the safari. The camel project is located in the middle of nowhere. There are probably thirty camels and they basically roam freely which looks strange because camels are so clearly not indigenous to the region!

After a few minutes of stretching our legs from the car ride and taking pictures of the camels, the guides brought out 4 camels (meaning that each of us got to ride our own) and we climbed on! This was my second time being on a camel, the first being in Israel when I was 16, but my experience didn't make the standing up and the sitting down of the camel any less scary!! Once we got to a nice pace, through, I started to have a really nice time looking at the scenery and petting the head of the camel directly behind me.

Part of the safari was visiting a Massai village, which as I know was set up specifically for tourism purposes, but it was interesting nevertheless. The guide awkwardly brought us into a Massai boma (house) and the woman and her child who live in the house showed us around. The child, named Zawadi (Swahili for gift) took to me, according to her mother because she likes white skin. Then the other women in the village started taking out their beadwork jewelry to sell to us. I bought a bracelet and necklace.

After the Massai village we hopped onto our camels and rode back to the place we started to eat lunch, expecting to take another stroll on the camels after eating. Right when we sat down to eat our packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches it started down-pouring. By the time we finished eating, the rain had stopped but our guide told us we could not go back out riding because it was going to rain again (he was certain of it). So we paid and got back into our car to drive back through the rough terrain back to Arusha. Lo and behold, the minute we drove out of the camel area it began pouring again. I'm glad we didn't get stuck in the rain on our camels!

Of course it didn't rain in Arusha! When we got back it was just as hot and dry as ever!