hello, tanzania!

The view shortly after crossing the Kenyan/Tanzanian border


On the road from Arusha to Mto Wa Mbu


A Maasai market in Ngaramtoni


Daudi's front door curtain blowing in the breeze

I arrive at the bus stop in Nairobi about an hour early. The people watcher in me tries to grasp and memorize everything around me. Time to go. On the road. Maasai men dot the horizon near the border, wrapped in three pieces of cloth, usually mixes of red and blue, nicely decorated with sticks in hand. I pull the camera out as the sun sets, and we cross into Tanzania. After putting the camera down, we pass three giraffes walking down the road. The scene is so natural I don't realize the wonder of it until we pass. I hope that Daudi is at the other end of the journey, waiting for me. A thunder storm flashes in the distance. Night.

Daudi is there, waiting, and my Tanzanian adventure begins. We visit the Maasai market in Ngaramtoni to buy Daudi the same clothes I saw on the Maasai men the bus passed - three pieces of cloth. One for the left shoulder, the other for the right. The third for the top, kind of like a coat.

Ngaramtoni - a photographer's dream. A dirty, densly populated market filled with bright colors - food, clothes and the earth itself in grey, brown, red and black. I take my camera out twice to make distant, sub-par pictures. I don't want to be the "Ugly American" capitalizing on what is every day life for these people. This will be my experience in Africa a lot. I make the pictures in my mind and walk away, hoping I'll remember to visit the frames in my mind another day.

At the market a young girls' eyes are glued to me. As I turn to walk away, I feel her gingerly touch my skin from behind and see her jump back. I smile. She smiles. The moment I experience, better than the picture I didn't take.