Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Tanzania Safari: The Dotoga, Hadzabe and Maasai Tribes

During last summers safari in Tanzania we visited three indigenous tribes near the safari areas.  The following book was put together from the photographs made during our visits to the three villages.  Each tribe's way of life was markedly different:  

The Dotoga tribe had cattle and goat herds, some farming and an ongoing metallurgy activity producing arrow and spear points for other tribes and jewelry.  They could melt copper and aluminum, but not iron. They heated iron to a red hot temperature and then employed blacksmith techniques to shape the metal into useful items.

The Hadzabe were in a way the most interesting as they were hunter/gatherers as in pre farming and pre animal domestication times.  We were able to watch three of their young hunters go out to find some small animals.  They had killed a large animal recently so did not require food at the moment.

The Maasai are famous as cattle and goat herdsmen.  They range over a wide region of the Serengeti region and each man carries a spear by tradition for protection.  In past times they had the attitude that all cattle were given to them by God so they could take any cow they came across.  They have subsequently given up cattle rustling apparently.