19 April 2016

Mara River Basin Field Research in Tanzania

I recently returned from the field in Tanzania traveling throughout the Lower Mara River Basin in 4 Districts with a team to speak with water users about water quality, quantity, and accessibility. During the field trip we met many interesting people and collected GPS points, local mapping, information, stories, official documents, and overall a greater understanding of the basin on the ground. I will begin to share some of these stories via our team's blog on our webpages. I will repost my posts there on this blog and continue to use this platform for my own insights.

Most of the people that we encountered in the Mara River Basin are Kuria people. They keep cattle, do some seasonal subsistence farming, and in one part of the basin people mine gold. Many people live in traditional bomas, round houses set in a circle on the land. The man and his first wife tend to live in the big house, then second, third, and additional wives live in smaller circular houses set in a circle from the first. Grains and animals are also kept in round houses. The structures are much the same as tukuls in Ethiopia - mud and straw for the walls, some kind of palm or other plant material for the roof.


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