We spent a few relaxing days at Vijiji Center, a quiet retreat outside of Arusha.

We met up with Jon’s friend Musa who is Maasai. We first stopped here, in Mondulichini, for lunch and to see the market.

The weekly market in Mondulichini.

Next, Musa took us to his boma up in the beautiful hills. A boma is a collection of family houses and a fenced area for keeping goats and sheep safe at night. You can see the fence, made of very thorny acacia, on the right.

Musa’s mom (in the Luther shirt) and other family members greeted us with song and dance. I joined in. 🙂

Musa’s relatives. The Maasai are pastoralists and spend time out with their animals every day. The goats and sheep graze near the boma and are brought in at night. But now, during the dry season, the cattle are taken a long ways away for better food and water. The cattle stay out with men from the boma for weeks at a time.

Musa took us to his alma mater, Noonkodin School. It is a private boarding school in a very rural, very beautiful area in the hills. The students were studying for their upcoming exams.

Aziz is another friend of Jon’s and works with Musa. He is a driver and is not Maasai, but knows a lot about the culture. He was a great driver and taught us a lot about Tanzanians and Maasai.

We visited another school in Mondulichini – a school for Maasai girls with a specific mission to give them an education and economic security.

The jacaranda trees were blooming everywhere! Not only were they beautiful, they smelled wonderful as well!

We spent one night at TCDC, non-profit retreat center. There we loved watching the black and white colobus monkeys eating jacaranda flowers up in the trees!