FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD

"Food is the most primitive form of comfort." 

-Sheilah Graham 

One of the first questions I am asked upon our return from Africa is, "How was the food?"  Of course, everyone expects me to describe all sorts of unusual meals, incorporating local ingredients and native delicacies, to which my reply is simply, "It was good." Allow me to elaborate.

All the food served at all the lodges and camps was flavorful, filling, and plentiful. Period. It was not a foodie paradise or a gourmet's delight. Rather, to my tastes and culinary skills, it was solid comfort food with added local flavors cooked to feed hungry and often weary  travelers. And as a self-proclaimed non-foodie, it satisfied me as well as my partner just fine.  

In re-reading the OAT Travel Handbook, I think it describes the food quite accurately. The fact is, the lodges and the tented camps we stayed in attract visitors from all over the world. As a result, the chefs have been well-trained to cook in what I would call a Western or European style using locally sourced fresh vegetables, fresh fruits whenever possible, and fresh or frozen meats. All foods are washed and prepared using bottled water so they are safe for Western digestive systems. I even ate the leafy green salads offered at two of the hotel/lodges with no ill-effects, which can't always be said right here in the U.S.

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Breakfasts were most always served buffet-style with the usual choices of American and European fare including eggs (cooked-to-order), breads (fresh or toasted), fruit (fresh and canned), sausage or bacon, assorted cheeses and cold cuts, plus cold and hot cereal, yogurt, and fruit juices.

The morning sunrise warms the breakfast table at Lake Burunge Tented Lodge

The breakfast buffet is ready at our OAT tented camp in the Serengeti.

A variety of sweet potatoes, fresh fruit and toast are among the choices at
House of West Kili on the pre-trip excursion.

This breakfast buffet at Moivaro Arusha Lodge has enough selections to satisfy even the
 pickiest eater--from continental style fruit, cheese and breads in the foreground
to a variety of hot breakfast selections in the back, including made-to-order eggs.

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Similarly dinners were also buffet-style and always started with hot soup (some variation of a vegetable-based soup) and bread. The main courses included a variety of meat and or vegetable stews, curries, or braised meat dishes with some sort of sauce. Starches included polenta, rice, potatoes (boiled, roasted or mashed), and pasta along with a plentiful array of cooked vegetable dishes and raw vegetable salads. 

Our first dinner of soup and bread was served upon our late-night arrival
in Tanzania at the House of West Kili Hotel on the pre-trip excursion. 

Karibu means 'welcome.'  In this case welcome to the soup station at the start of the dinner service
 and later to the custom stir-fry station to the left.

Despite all the soups being similarly green in color, they all tasted slightly
different depending upon the vegetables and other ingredients.

Dinners by candlelight was always the custom since we usually didn't eat before 7-7:30 after a full day of touring or late-in-the-afternoon game drives followed by showers and a social hour. Depending upon the individual lodge or tented camp, beer, wine and mixed drinks were either complimentary or available at a no-host bar. 

Candlelight and beaded Masai collars used as place mats set a welcoming table
at our first dinner at the House of west Kili.

Candlelight softens the overhead glare of the few electric lights in the
open-air dining lodge at Kambi Ya Tembo camp.

Our candlelit deck table at Lake Burunge Tented Camp beckons us to relax
and enjoy dinner and conversation after a busy day. 

Using only a solar powered generator, electricity was at a premium at our OAT camp
in the Serengeti where candlelight softens the glare of a single bare bulb.

With so many choices offered, it was very easy to fill one's plate.

Food was both attractive and plentiful, hence the full plates at dinner. 
And I must confess, I usually ate everything on my plate.

However, as the trip progressed I became more careful about filling my plate. For one reason, the food all began to taste the same to me. It's not a complaint but a reality I have experienced when traveling in a group where meals are served buffet style. Plus, some evenings I just wasn't so hungry. That's when a salad of green leafy lettuce, onions, tomatoes and avocados sounded good. And because we had been assured that all the vegetables had been washed with bottled water, I had no qualms about eating the fresh green salads. 

This lettuce salad along with the house-made honey mustard dressing satiated me
when I grew tired of the soups, stews and marinated vegetable salads.
Sometimes less is definitely more.

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Lunches varied the most depending upon if it was a picnic lunch, which we hand-packed ourselves in the morning from a buffet of lunch foods and ate at a rest stop along the way, or if we ate in a restaurant at a hotel/lodge along our day's route. But the variety and amount was always more than adequate. Again, no one went hungry. 

In Arusha, we ate lunch at the Asili Resort where beer and wine was included.

In the photos below, the chef at the Asili Resort describes each of the foods he has prepared for our lunch. Along with the grilled meats, Chapatti (flat bread) and several potato varieties, there is an assortment of cooked vegetables and stews including Wali wa Nazi (rice in coconut milk), Ugali (cornmeal grits), cooked plantains, and spinach. 

A little of this, some of that makes for a filled plate.

This sit-down lunch at Lake Burunge Tented Lodge offers a variety of cooked
vegetable salads along with a chicken or beef entree.  

In addition, there were the impromptu, food-on-the-hood snacks, organized by Lenny,
our Trip Leader, when it had been a long day and he knew we needed a little sustenance.

Then there was brunch, especially on the early morning game drives during the pre-trip excursion. Typically we'd awaken at sunrise and have coffee and a cookie or bread before heading out to see the animals. Then about 10:30 we'd return to the tented camp for brunch. Brunch looked very similar to the dinners except that in addition, you could order eggs cooked any way you wanted. Did I already mention no one ever went hungry? 

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Desserts were also plentiful and included cakes, tortes and custards, but as a sweet lover myself, I found the baked goods often disappointingly dry and lacking in sweetness as my American taste is accustomed. But that was the only disappointment in the otherwise excellent fare. 

Rice pudding before anyone touched it with a spoon.

And as far as I know, no one became ill as a result of eating the food. Yes, there were a few cases of traveler's you-know-what, but they seemed to be short-lived and relieved within 24 hours with Immodium or Pepto-Bismal. 

*  *  *  *  *

But what was most incredible and memorable were the kitchens in which our meals were prepared, specifically at the two tented camps which were miles from Arusha or any big city. How the chefs, who always wore white chef coats and tall white chef hats, created their magic meal after meal was phenomenal and worth mentioning.

This screened in room (below) is the kitchen at Kambi Ya Tembo Camp on the pre-trip excursion. It is located 500 feet downhill from the main lodge where we ate. This is where all the food was prepared and then transported in a cart up to the dining room to a small serving kitchen which set up the mealtime service. 

Everything in the kitchen was spic and span when we visited. The roof is corrugated metal with a deep thatched overhang.
 The sides are half metal and half screen. Notice the two, two-burner propane cook-tops
 which amazingly produced all of the cooked food we ate. 

This is one of several vegetable storage bins which store the fresh vegetables that are delivered from Arusha
by truck once a week. Having traveled from Arusha to the camp ourselves, it is not an easy 2-hour trip (one-way)
because there is much road construction as well as bumpy, dirt roads. Notice the egg crates on top. 

As evidenced by the empty bins, our OAT trip had all but depleted the vegetable stores.

One of the three camp chefs stands next to a wood or charcoal fired grill.
Look closely to see that it is re-purposed from an automobile wheel. 

This is the pot washing station.

This is the pot drying station.

The camp director and the camp chef.

This is the tented kitchen at the OAT movable tent camp in the Serengeti where we stayed for four nights. 

The heavy metal screen is designed to keep out the large animals that may roam the camp at night.

The camp chef utilizes basic cooking methods that don't require electricity or fancy gadgets. 

Unlike the kitchen at the previous tented camp, this kitchen has a five-burner,
one-oven propane stove.

Obviously, the oven is used to produce beautifully browned rolls such as these.

The produce bins while not as depleted as in the previous camp, they will be used up soon as this camp will be moved
in the weeks following our trip. All OAT tented camps are required to be moved seasonally to protect the fragile environment.

The wash station is located behind the kitchen under the shade of its own tent and a nearby tree.

NOTE: For more information about any of the tented camps and lodges mentioned, please follow the links embedded within the text.

LEARNING AND DISCOVERY--THE PEOPLE OF THE HILLS REGION

I came to Africa to see the animals, 

but it is the encounters with the people that I will remember most.

I had no idea when we signed up for this OAT trip to Tanzania all that we'd see and do. Sure, the animals were the big draw. And the itinerary listed the OAT standard "A Day in the Life" experience and a visit to a school supported by the Grand Circle Foundation; but beyond that, I had no preconceptions or expectations. 

Even after our first home visit, the ride in a tuk-tuk, and taste-testing local banana beer, I wasn't prepared for all the different opportunities for learning and discovery that awaited us every single day. For example: on Day 2 of the Hills of Kilimanjaro pre-trip, we were given the opportunity to visit a local medical clinic located near our tented camp. It was an optional, free time activity, so not all of us chose to partake. But I did, along with four others.

Along the way to the clinic I commented on three young girls I saw carrying large bundles of sticks on their backs. "Do you want to try that?" asked Lenny, our Trip Leader. "Of course," was my immediate and enthusiastic reply. This was the first "Stop the Land Cruiser" moment. (There would be more.)

View the following photos that tell the rest of the story.

This first photo was actually taken after I had tried carrying the load of firewood. 

As you can see, each of the girls has a bottle of water as a 'gratuity' for allowing us to take pictures and engage with them.

This is/was an on-going personal concern about how to engage with the locals without 1. My feeling like a voyeur, and 2. Their feeling like an animal on display. To allay at least part of those concerns I assumed that the people involved in these 'Learning and Discovery' encounters were compensated, but I didn't know how and/or when.

Judging by their height, these girls are probably 8-10 years old.
And despite their shaved heads, which to Western eyes may suggest they are boys,
 we learned that only girls gather wood. In fact, as we would later learn,
 girls and women do all of the labor intensive domestic work of maintaining a family/village.

Girls are often promised in marriage long before they are of age, 

and according to our Trip Leader, they often wear a single white beaded necklace 

as an indication that they have been spoken for.  

Marrying girls in exchange for cows or money is still being practiced, 

and Tanzania has one of the highest percentage of child brides in the world. 

Almost two out of five girls in Tanzania are married before their 18th birthday. 

Unlike the girls who take these bundles on and off by themselves, I needed the help of Lenny to lift mine up and onto my back. 

I guessed the bundle itself to weigh about 30#, which equaled the weight of my safari duffel. 

I knew could lift that, but getting this bundle of sticks onto my back 

and the head strap across the top of my head proved more difficult that I imagined. 

Look closely and you can see the girls giggling at my awkward attempt.

Notice the machete stuck diagonally through the bundle of sticks.
Not until later when I looked at this photo did I realize it was there.

Oh My Goodness! This is really heavy!

Walking proved difficult, too. I tried leaning forward to compensate
for the weight on my back, but I am sure that after a few yards,
my lower back would be screaming.
And watching the girls, I could see they were able to stand pretty much erect.

Even Sylvester, the Kambi Ya Tembo camp manager who served as our local guide today, took a turn at carrying a bundle. 

There was definitely lots of Learning and Discovery going on! 

Notice the machete now in my right hand. I'm ready to go to work.

In addition to my own memory and notes I took, I used the following resources for the verification of facts and elaboration of content for the above section.

https://studiodaylight.wordpress.com/2011/02/14/maasai-warriors-children/

https://africageographic.com/blog/life-in-a-maasai-village/

http://maasaigirlseducation.org/the-need/the-life-of-a-maasai-woman/

Next Stop--the Clinic

Or, so I thought. Before going to the clinic, we visited Olmoti Primary School which is part of the growing Olmoti Community Center. It was Sunday, so no students were present, but we did get a chance to meet the head teacher and see the school along with the second school building under construction.

Sylvester John, the manager of the Kambi Ya Tembo Lodge where we are staying,
is also an important liaison/supporter of the clinic/school project.
Here he explains the history of the school and the neighboring clinic.

A more complete story of Olmoti School is best described in the words from their website which I include below. 

Health and Education: A Winning Combination

In seeking to improve the heath and well-being of the Olmoti population, especially women and children, Olmoti Trust recognizes the importance of making education more accessible.

​Inspired by the stories of local mothers who told Dr. Diane Raleigh in 2015 that they couldn't send their first-graders to school because the trek was too long and dangerous, Olmoti Trust built a two-room Olmoti Primary School.

The school, adding to the growing village center anchored by Olmoti Clinic and Health Center, and our staff housing, opened in July 2016. The district government has provided three teachers to meet our growing enrollment of 240 children in morning and afternoon shifts. The Maasai demonstrated their commitment not just by enrolling their children but by building the school’s latrines -- donating labor, money and valuable goats to the cause.

The school provides a crucial link for children who otherwise would miss key foundational education and fall behind their peers by the time they were big enough to walk to the nearest primary school. 

Above text courtesy of https://www.olmoticlinic.org/olmoti-primary-school

In the photo below, don't be fooled by all the shaved heads that this is a school for boys only. Both girls and boys shave their heads, so its hard to tell in this picture who's who.Typically, in the school uniforms, girls wear skirts and boys wear pants, neither of which is visible in this photo. 

Photo courtesy of https://www.olmoticlinic.org/olmoti-primary-school

Stepping inside this empty room, I could only imagine what it must be like
to teach and manage a roomful of 60-70 students, seated 3-4 to a desk.
A classroom of more than 28 was considered overload when I taught middle school.

What dreams might the children have as they gaze out these windows?

A photo collage of teaching tools and student work

Stacks of well-worn student composition books are stored
in the teachers' office.

The photo below is a formal picture of the teacher who we met during our impromptu visit. According to Sylvester, she chose to come to this school and stays on as a teacher year after year despite the minimal pay and its remote location because she is devoted to making a difference in the lives of the students she teaches. Apparently, in other schools in similarly remote areas, it is difficult to attract and to keep teachers. Clearly, she is an exception.

Photo courtesy of https://www.olmoticlinic.org/olmoti-primary-school

Finally, the Olmoti Clinic:

The Initial Purpose of this Optional Learning and Discovery Excursion 

Mama Yaya is a Maasai midwife who, like her mother and grandmother before her, worked in this remote Olmoti region. And like her predecessors, she had a long-time dream of preventing the needless deaths of infants and mothers during childbirth. Then in 2009 she met two visiting American women, Diane Raleigh and Gloria Upchurch, who turned that dream into a reality by building a health clinic. And that was the start of something big. 

For more complete information about this amazing story, follow this link to the Olmoti Clinic website: https://www.olmoticlinic.org/story

This is the newly constructed breezeway that leads from the health clinic
to the new surgery and patient wards.

The upper photo is the new surgery and the lower photo is the view looking from the surgery to the clinic.
Note the solar panels and solar water heater on the roof.

The top photo shows the lay of the land in this remote region of northern Tanzania.
The small round huts with thatched roofs are the houses of the local Maasai people
which are typically built of mud and cow dung.
The lighter colored buildings made of cement blocks are houses for the medical and teaching staff
and are part of this growing Community Center.

One of several examination rooms in the clinic.

Another patient examination room in the clinic.

The lab in the clinic

One of several two-patient rooms in the surgery center wards.

The Health Center depends on non-profit organizations such as Vitamin Angels for many of their supplies.
According to their Facebook page, Vitamin Angels is a non-profit organization that distributes lifesaving and life changing
vitamins and minerals to children and mothers in need and has a Charity Navigator 4-star rating. https://www.vitaminangels.org/

The following is from the blog https://www.olmoticlinic.org/blog as posted on the Olmoti Clinic website. The photo and text provides an overview of the success of the clinic and the school. As witnessed during our visit in October 2018, the surgery facility and hospital wards are now open, and a second school building is under construction.  

A Village Center Emerges

March 7, 2018

By Rita Beamish

The construction of our new Health Center, with surgery facilities and wards, has been truly exciting, and an aerial view shows just how dramatically our work has changed Olmoti. Where once there was only windswept scrub, a village center has emerged. The community uses our school and clinic for meetings and organizing as well as for health needs and to educate 240 children!

The photo shows the three new buildings (under construction in this photo, but completed since) and our Olmoti clinic forming a quad in the foreground. In the background are the medical staff housing, doctor's house, teachers' housing, and on the far right our primary school!

Photo courtesy of https://www.olmoticlinic.org/single-post/2018/03/07/A-Village-Center-Emerges

Since this photo was taken, we saw a second school building under construction to the left of the school which is on the far right in this photo. 

As if this wasn't already enough Learning and Discovery, there still was one more encounter to meet a few of the local people before we returned to our camp for our late afternoon game drive.

But since I've gone on too long, I'll save that for my next blogpost.