Datoga Blacksmith

Datoga Blacksmith

Datoga Blacksmith
Datoga Blacksmith

We headed south from Ngorongoro to the Lake Eyasi region. It's amazing how much biodiversity there is in Tanzania and it's one of the things that keeps us so entranced along the journey. We entered a drier and rockier area with a large seasonal lake and a thick palm forest with numerous freshwater springs around our deluxe tented lodge (Kisima Ngeda).

Our first visit was to the Blacksmith tribe. They are a part of the Datoga, but have broken off and lived and married independently for decades now. Their income source is forging knives, arrowheads and jewelry for the greater Datoga tribe and for the bushmen known as the Hadzabe.

In the photo, the man in the foreground is hammering, then sharpening an arrowhead. The two at the back are melting down various metal scraps with the help of a goat skin bellows. In no time at all, the metal has been formed to the size needed for the beginnings of a new bracelet.