Tribal People

Today, we explore banana plantations near the campsite at Mto Wa Mbu. We trek on the soft path between the banana trees. Every part of the banana tree is used by the locals for building houses, providing food and exports, as well as in the banana beer making process. We visit a local tribal village. A man sits in the shade carving an ebony statue. Ebony is the most expensive wood. It's very dark in colour. Only the men are allowed to wood carve. The women have the task of making roofs out of banana leaves. It is in this village, I start my collection of tribal masks. The masks are traditionally used by boys in coming of age ceremonies. The carvings completely intrigue me.

We visit rice fields and see the different stages of the rice growth and production. We see how banana beer is fermented. A jug gets passed around for a taste testing session. One of my favourite places in Mto Wa Mbu is the local artists' group. They create work outdoors and finished work is spread out in a gallery within the jungle. It's the best art gallery I've ever seen. We visit a school and the children here are completely fascinated with my hair and they all want to touch it. Lots of tiny hands clawing at me. They sing us a song. The children are mesmerized by the view finder of my camera. They adore us taking photographs of them.







We trek through the jungle, up a hill. The shade makes little difference to the heat. We reach a clearing. The locals have prepared us lunch. We sit at a long table. Ethnic patterned table clothes are laid out. Above us, in the trees, avocados can be seen growing. A meaty feast is brought out. Vegetarianism doesn't exist here. I have some red banana. This tastes similar to a normal banana, but much sweeter and more ripe. A man cycles up the hill, carrying a Coca-Cola crate on the back of his bicycle. Within it are much needed ice cool drinks. I pay him in Tanzanian Shillings for a bottle of pineapple Fanta. He also was selling passion fruit Fanta. Hens and other fowl walk about freely and jump/fly up to the roofs of the small huts.

Soon we leave Mto Wa Mbu behind.