Ahmidiwe: Master Storyteller
Ahmidiwe is our guide for bush walks in Mkuru, West Kilimanjaro - one of the first stops on our safaris. Mkuru is typical African savanna near the slopes of Mount Meru where the Maasai and Meru tribes live. Apart from guiding, Ahmidiwe is a father of 3 children, and has a small plot of land on the slopes of Mount Meru where he cultivates tomatoes.
Amadiwe, who is a Meru, grew up in the Mkuru Maasai community and knows the bush and the Maasai ways like the back of his hand. He walks with ease, hardly ever seeming to tire. He says that walking is just a part of everyday Maasai life. Many walk miles each day to herd livestock to the nearby dam for drinking, or farther away to graze up surrounding mountains like Ol Doinyo Landare.
Ol Doinyo Landare
When he’s leading a group through the bush, you will always see Ahmidiwe with his walking stick. It is like an extra appendage which he uses to point out a plant or critter, explaining fascinating symbiotic relationships occurring where you would least expect.
“Helloooo, is anyone home?”, Amadiwe jokingly will call as he rattles the branch of an Acacia tree with his walking stick as hundreds of ants storm out of their hiding place inside a bulbous, black growth along the branch. Amidihwe explains that the ants are actually part of a protective mechanism of the tree, as the ants release a foul odor that repulse animals from getting too close to graze. In exchange, the ants receive quite the spacious home!
The highlight might be reaching the Baboon Caves. The story Ahmidiwe relays of how Maasai men come here every year for Orpul (an ancient healing ritual men undergo for days at a time to get the necessary strength to walk incredible long distances) is captivating (with baboons jumping around in the background!).
The caverns along the top are where the baboons sleep
Not to be forgotten is Ahmidiwe’s ability of being able to spot things you would not think possible. On one trip I saw him notice a leopard tortoise camouflaged under a shrub over two hundred yards away - and no less from the corner of his eye while we were in total conversation!
Ahmidiwe demonstrating how to use a plant-based toothbrush
“Ahmidiwe is a storyteller, in the sweetest way. He explained to us how flying ants (a pair), on a rainy night, leave their home, and start a new one. Right in front of us was such a pair that he recognized. He knows his terrain so well, spots things, you and I would have no clue about. While there, hundreds of white butterflies passed through where we camped, and it was the best night sky: stars, lightening, middle of Africa. Next day, some Maasai men sang for me with such humility. Humility meaning, they knew their place on this earth!”
Shelita Aggarwal
“Our guide Amadiwe made it look easy. While the terrain we now traversed was flat and relatively free of obtrusive obstacles I might trip over, it was as if he just moved lighter than us foreigners, like gliding on air.”
Stephanie Huff
