Brown’s Farm for Birch’s Birthday

Yep, it’s really called Brown’s farm:  located about 2 hours south of Arusha near Loikisale.  Matt and David have been talking to this man, Jerome, about his property that basically borders Tarangire National Park.  He wants to set up a tourist lodge there, but wants to do it ‘the right way’, so wants their advice.  The farm is all set up as a tented lodge, but does not yet have a license to operate, so we all went down (with the Foleys) as his guests to see the property first hand and celebrate Birch’s 9th birthday while we were there.  This place is going to be amazing once it’s up and running.  We saw impala, giraffe, dikdik, and zebra and we heard that there are buffalo roaming around.  The maasai that they have on staff were amazing with the kids (as was their camp manager).  The maasai kept the kids entertained for hours showing them how they start fires, shooting bows and arrows, practicing spear throwing, rock climbing and general kid play on the property.  Really, really great.  And the food and views were amazing, too.

David’s cool photo of the maasai at camp

On the way home we stopped to see where the maasai had dug holes in a dry river bed to get to water for their cattle. 

Ashy reaching through the car roof to get a weaver’s nest for David.  They’re so cool.

An ‘only in Africa’ sighting of a maasai stopping by the gas station to fill up water bottles with petrol.