Lake Eyasi, Tanzania: metalsmiths, bushmen, and onions

Lake Eyasi has become the land of onion growers. Certainly off the beaten path for most, who are likely headed to the wildlife haven, Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest, intact caldera and an UNESCO World Heritage site. Every now and again tourists come to the Lake Eyasi region of the Great Rift Valley to have a cultural exchange with the extraordinary people belonging to either the Datoga (metalsmith) or Hadzabe ‘Hadza’ (hunter-gatherer bushmen) tribes. However, these days the overwhelming presence is… onions. 

Mainly, people of the Iraqw ‘Mbulu’ tribe are responsible for onion farming in the region, which has been scaled-up immensely in the past year, due to new irrigation methods. Although these onions are grown by the lakeshore, the saltiness and drastic seasonality of Lake Eyasi ultimately lends itself to a harsh environment for agriculture. This onion farming revolution is all thanks to mass irrigation technology, pumping out water from natural spring-fed wells. As this region has struck it’s gold in the form of water, you can already visibly see the contrasts from low-impact, family-owned plots to the newly conglomerated large-scale onion farms. 

Wandering the freshly harvested onion fields, you notice field workers choose a more relaxed position to sort onions, typically splaying out under the oppressively hot sun, because although the scale of these farms has increased, the harvesting is still done by hand. The endless piles of ‘reject’ onions, which will likely be replanted for next season, are mourned, while their counterparts glow like red jewels under the baking sun.

The major issue is now considering the impacts of this development. The collections of emptied pesticide bottles in ditches adjacent to the onions are a stark reminder of the dangers of polluting precious groundwater. Lake Eyasi is now the primary onion-growing region of East Africa. While the Lake Eyasi Iraqw people are reaping the benefits of an agricultural revolution, Tanzanian onions are saturating the produce markets of neighboring countries like Kenya, depreciating the overall value of onions. 

 For now, it seems like mass onion farming in Lake Eyasi is a welcomed development. The savory onion aroma will linger a while longer.

Photo Journal by: Amanda Sosnowski (terrenevisions.com, @terrenevisions)

Land of Nomads

As a little girl I read a National Geographic article on the nomadic life of Mongolians and was captivated. I haven’t been able to shake the notion since, and so here I am chasing after a mythological land where the people’s identity is inextricably tied to the wild horse, whose existence is timed by seasons, and who know no fences or imaginable bounds. I’ve been riding on horseback through Mongolia’s steppe in the UNESCO Orkhon Valley. While I’ve ridden horses all my life, I have never felt as connected to the unadulterated spirit of riding a horse as I do now. The ground shakes underneath as my burly (pony-sized) horse and I charge through the verdant rolling hills, passing weathered mountains and endless herds of horses, goats, sheep, and yak. The views will take your breath away. As there are almost no roads for cars, horseback is the only way to truly see Mongolia (and be a nomad).

If anything, Mongolia has surpassed my wildest imagination of what modern-day nomadic life looks like. There is a stark, if not humorous, contrast between old and new. Mongolian nomadic life means constantly traveling to find pasture for your animals. Perhaps most fascinating is that nomadic practices (i.e. living in entirely collapsible homes: Gers, keeping horses half-wild, no use of fences, burning dung instead of wood, etc.) are unchanged from centuries ago. While the staples of this nomadic culture haven’t changed, they have adapted to fit a modernizing world- equipped with solar panels, Nokia flip phones, and shiny, chrome-stocked motorcycles. 

I’ve been moved by the multitude of layers Mongolian culture has melting into one strong identity. You can feel the pulse of each influence. The echoes of a Chinggis Khaan empire (the correct spelling of what popular culture knows to be Genghis Khan) and the largest land conquest in history are ever-present in the vast expanses of untouched land, droves of wild horses, and in the regal wardrobes of ancient and present-day Mongolia- which clearly inspired the costumes of Star Wars! There are also devout tones of Tibetan Buddhism, remnants of a communist era, and the actual varying landscapes which have deeply influenced the many ethnic nomadic minorities. 

Photo Journal by: Amanda Sosnowski (terrenevisions.com, @terrenevisions)