Hello from the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania.
It is Saturday night, and my last night before I start my long journey home. (1 day cross country to Arusha, then 3 flights home through Ethiopia and Frankfurt.)
We have had heavy rains the last few days, which has made travel interesting. Yesterday as we traveled from the Serengeti to the Crater, we were slipping and sliding on rutted muddy roads, and fell into an Aardvark hole on the side of the dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately the driver and guide were very experienced and managed to get the vehicle out after an hour, with some very creative solutions.
Yesterday I visited a Maasai village, met a chief with 5 wives, and sat in a mud hut where they sleep with the calves at night to keep them safe from the lions. Tonight we are tallying up the total number of animals we’ve seen in the last 8 days – about 56 lions, 75 elephants, 40 giraffes, 6 cheetahs, plus lots of hyenas, ostriches, warthogs, and a handful of rhinos and leopards. Not to mention hundreds of thousands of wildebeests and zebras, in the Great Migration.
We have always scooped up fabrics that feature African wildlife and people, but now these images have so much more meaning to me. When I look at the fabric, I am thinking about the behavior and the ecosystem where the animals live. I stopped in a market and purchased many traditional African prints & batiks which I will hand-carry back to the US tomorrow. (for you!) When I look at these bold beautiful designs, I think of the ladies who wear these prints on the streets of the cities and villages here.
I’ll arrive home Monday night, and I’ll share more in the Midweek Creative Nudge.
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul
