Banana Beverages

Lake Manyara survived The Willies, and everything was back to normal in the morning.  We had another successful game drive with a few new sights.

African Starling.

Hornbill.

Monkey.

Those birds really do hang out on the back of hippos!

Suntanning hippos.

Before our trek to the Serengeti we spent some time in a small village named MTO WA MBU.  It's very important to say that name correctly.  In order to do that you must think back to when you were in elementary school, and how kids imitate the swallowing sound.  When you pronounce the M in Mto or Mbu, it is more accurate to pretend you are gulping instead of the mmmm sound.  Ha - I bet you are trying that out now, aren't you!

Mama Paray, from Mto Wa Mbu, worked very hard to welcome our group.  She prepared a hot lunch for us that included twenty different dishes. 

Mama Paray, our hostess.

Mama Paray hard at work cooking the meal.

She put together rice pillau with beef, white rice with coconut milk, spinach, fried banana, bananas in broth, aubergine in coconut milk, beans and maize, cabbage to name a few.  All dishes were served warm in medium sized clay pots. 

Lunch spread at Mto Wa Mbu.

Mama Paray immediately got on my good side as she served banana wine!   It tasted like hooch.  The bottle did not get emptied.  Oh well, there's a first time for everything.

Banana wine bottle...first and last.

 The artists in Mto Wa Mbu had a small gallery that I really enjoyed.  It was great to meet the artists personally, and bring home some of his work to hang in my home back in Canada.

Artist Sino hard at work.

We stopped by a local banana beer hut.  Here the fermenting bananas were mixed with millet and the locals would stop by for a refreshing drink.  Here's the catch though, the beer is quite raw and is full of chunky particulates floating on top. 

Fermenting banana beer.

The locals taught us that you must blow on the beer before you take a sip.  This is not because it is hot.  Nope, the blowing helps push the floaties to the other side of the cup.  This has lead me to create a new personal rule.  Never, EVER, drink anything that involves blowing away floating chunks.

Greg is a brave man.