I'm now back in Arusha, arriving late last night from a trip to Ngorongoro Crater. I went to the Crater to visit the tourist Maasai bomas and talk to the Maasai as well as the tourists who visited them. The Maasai tourist bomas are the main subject of my project. These bomas look like actual Maasai bomas but allow tourists to visit. The Maasai here siing dance, and sell crafts to tourists. An actual boma is a little hut the that is made out of wood and cow dung. The term is also used for a collective village of these huts where a group or family lives. Traditionally a boma consists of a hut for a man and a hut for each of his wives. The number of wives a man has depends on how many cattle he owns. I met one old man who had 7 wives and told me he had 50 children! The tourist bomas are made of different families coming from the villages to make some money. I went with Wilson, a tour guide and friend who helped me set up the trip, and a driver and translator who we just call Maasai. He's a Maasai who now lives in town but speaks Maasai, Swahili, and English. As far as research goes the trip was very successful. During the day we visited bomas on the crater rim to interview the Maasai and during the evening I passed out questionnaires to tourists at the campsite. It was such a wonderful experience to spend time with the Maasai. The Maasai are a pastoralist tribe that live in Kenya and Tanzania still in their traditional way of life. I will right another postcard later with a little information about them! The Maasai who live in the Ngorongoro Crater are unique because they are the only people aloud to live in the conservation area. And Ngorongoro is the only wildlife park that has people actually living among the wildlife. Of course it isn't dangerous because the big cats are afraid of the Maasai (that's why they wear red) and know where they live and so stay away. About 30 years ago, before it was banned, a young Maasai warrior actually had to kill a lion before he could be circumcised. The Maasai told me that they have no animal conflict problems but still surround their villages with huge wooden fences. To me it was so crazy to see giraffes, zebras and baboons every morning and evening on my way to and from research. My Maasai guide never even thought I would want to stop and take pictures because it was just a normal part of the scenery! I never asked him though because I also tried to pretend it was normal but each time I saw a giraffe my heart would leap! We did some of the interviews outside but most of the time the Maasai women invited me to sit in their little bomas to talk to them. I was really fortunate to have My Maasai there to translate and really be able to talk to the people who live in the tourist bomas. When I was interviewing I was waiting for tourists to come by while writing up in the car. The Maasai were so curious about me they liked to come and just stare at me! My Maasai told me that the girls were very concerned that I was working to hard without any other Mzungus to help me and they brought me tea. Which I pretended to drink because I was convinced it was made with whole goat milk. I asked Maasai and he said no but I didn't believe him. One time when I was visiting a ladies boma he told me she said she would be insulted if I didn't drink a cup of mixed milk and cow's blood before I left her boma (that is the traditional Maasai drink). He told me that in English and I was trying so hard to keep a smile but I thought I was going to die. I didn't want to insult them because they had invited me into their homes and were giving me so much information... but that really is the line for me and being sensitive to other cultures. But then he just started cracking up and told me he was joking! One of the women I befriended gave me a Maasai bracelet because I gave her baby some water and then the other young women also wanted to give me gifts. After visiting all the bomas I had been gifted 5 beaded bracelets and two copper rings. One of the copper rings was from a matriarch who gave it to me straight off her finger and the other was a young woman who I had a long talk with. She told me how she didn't want to stay and get married and was going to move to go to University and become a teacher. I also tried to buy some things from the women I visited and between what I bought and my gifts my desk looks like a Maasai shop right now!!! Many of the women come to the tourist bomas from their village to sell jewelry and the most common response I got when I asked them how their life has changed from tourism was that now they don't have to ask their husband everyday for money and can buy their kids school uniforms and medicine. The men told me that now they could buy more cattle! I have a lot of stuff to write up and transcribe and am a little tired from the trip. But I will write more about the Maasai and what I found out this week. Overall the trip was successful and a wonderful experience! Oh! I wanted to tell you about the elephant in the pictures. Two nights this elephant came to the campsite to eat from the garbage!! Certainly not your regular possum!!! He was alone and must have been the hugest male I have seen. One day we arrived back at the campsite before the tourists and there were some Maasai boys teasing it and it charged them!! I was sooo scared because it was so fast and I got into the car. The boys ran away and the elephant just went back to rummaging though the trash. The park rangers were ok with him there but when the tourists came they kept them at a distance. But the elephant still let people get pretty close! He was so big with perfect ivory tusks I thought he was fake and put there for tourists!! Until he started charging of course.