(lively music)
- This my friends, is Udongo
which at first glance,
you never actually know what it was,
but it's one of the strangest foods
I've come across in my travels.
Normally I'd just take a bite right here,
but we've got a plan for tomorrow morning
to go up to the source in the mountains above Morogoro
where it's made and try it there with the local tribe.
(chuckles)
- Let's go.
(women singing in foreign language)
- These are the Uluguru Mountains.
They loom over the city of Morogoro in Central Tanzania.
Not many tourists come here, but damn, they're beautiful.
I'm here with Gumbo from Experiential Travel Africa
to find something extra special.
But he cautions me a little bit beforehand.
For the Udongo, it's not normal for men to eat it.
- Yeah. It's not normal--
- Only for pregnant--
- Pregnant women. Yeah-- - Okay.
(chuckles)
- But you're also saying that it's weird for men
to eat ice cream here?
- I do, men don't prefer it to eat on the public.
- Because it looks like a--
- Yes
- like a-- - Like a thing. Like a thing.
(both chuckle)
(traditional music)
- We have started our trek to meet the Luguru Tribe
in the Uluguru Mountains.
And in our adventure group today,
we've got Gumbo and we've got Ramadan,
who is our local guide.
- Yes, I'm actually very, very, very happy to see you
brother Mike and brother Gumbo.
- It looks like school's out.
(chuckles)
- This is ebengongo.
- [Narrator] And what do they taste like?
- They're like a typical- it's a melon or something.
- [Narrator] Are you tricking me? Is it poison?
- No, it's not.
- [Narrator] Prove it.
- Woo! Yeah. It's like, like a mango.
- Yeah-- - A little more sour,
like a mango and orange juiced together.
Whoo!
(man speaks in foreign language)
We've made it.
I'm having a hard time looking cool
when I'm so hot and sweaty.
It was about a 20 minute hike up the mountain.
It's a beautiful view of Morogoro behind us.
And we've reached the village.
Everything is made out of mud
which is quite appropriate actually
given the reason we're here.
Let's go meet them.
We meet a few of the women who live here,
Salome, Selema and Amina.
They seem quite excited to see me.
I learn they haven't had a visitor in a really long time.
(woman speaks in foreign language)
- (narrator speaks foreign language)
- [Narrator] When's the last time she had foreign visitors?
(speaks in foreign language)
- [Gumbo] Maybe 2015 or 20 something.
- (Narrator) 2015?-- - Yeah.
- They haven't had a visitor, a foreign visitor since 2015?
- They just do it as their own family business.
We don't receive much of a visitor recently.
- Ramadan explains a little bit more.
Why exactly do they eat it?
Is there like a mineral or a vitamin in it or something?
- They say they are vitamin,
especially those pregnant women eat much.
- I would imagine something maybe like iron,
like iron is something that's a bit hard to get sometimes.
You tried it before?
- Yeah. Very good.
Even my wife, when she was pregnant,
we used to share some pieces at home.
People are so afraid of dirt and germs and things
and I- and for me, it's like,
I don't think germs ever gonna hurt you.
Look at me, I'm covered in dirt.
The women explained that there is a pit nearby
where they go to harvest it.
So we go.
Whoo!
- [Gumbo] Be careful man.
- [Narrator] It's, It's Slippery man.
- (Gumbo) Yeah man.
- (Narrator) Watch out where you step.
And here it is.
After just a quick two minute hike,
we've arrived at the spot.
This is where you find the mud, in the side of the mountain,
And it's bright, brick-red.
Let's jump in and check it out.
- [Gumbo] So that's actually they test.
They know exactly if it's something can be,
I mean, can be used.
It's a bit like, I mean, hard.
- [Narrator] Yeah. And is it found all across the mountains
or only in one particular spot?
- There are particular area
we could just found these particular--
- I've spent most of my life rolling around
in the dirt exploring.
So I see if I can take a crack
at finding the good stuff myself.
- [Woman] Hm mm!
- No?
This is, this is the good stuff.
- [Woman] Mhh! Good stuff here.
- Oh its uh.
(both chuckles)
Guys, I don't know why I didn't process this earlier.
This is clay.
This is clay. Of course it's clay.
It makes so much sense.
(women speak in foreign language)
Yeah. This is, oh my God.
I guess my brain was thinking it was something
more complicated, but of course it's clay.
Look at that.
You can make all sorts of things with clay:
pots and also vitamin supplements I guess.
(exhales)
Good smell, right?
Can I try?
Right here yeah?
More force. There we go.
This is the good stuff?
But not too hard because if you go,
it goes
and then we live underground then we become clay.
Whoo! Okay. It passes quality control.
It means it's the good stuff.
Let's grab a bag and head back to the village.
Salome walks back to the village,
carrying a bag of clay on her head for us to eat.
I decide to help and bring some along too.
On my shoes.
If you guys only knew the amount of time
it takes me to find some of these amazing things.
And then once I do find them, I don't know if they're real,
I don't know if they're fake,
I don't know if they've been exaggerated
or have changed with time,
but this, obviously is pretty, pretty legit.
When I find these amazing things.
I end up putting them in my adventure Newsletter first.
So once a week I sent out a Newsletter
that goes over the top gear I use, maybe books I've found,
but also a lot of really cool locations that I'm scouting
to hopefully make a video about in the future.
If you want this sneak peek,
this advanced view of what I'm doing
and what I've discovered,
check out FEARLESSANDFAR.COM/NEWSLETTER.
It's free. It's once a week.
And I guarantee, I guarantee you'll love it.
Back at their house,
they begin to show me how they process the clay.
(women singing in foreign language)
- [Narrator] And they sing?-- - Yeah, yeah.
- [Narrator] They sing at the same time?
- [Gumbo] Yeah. Actually, this is how it,
sometime they entertain themself.
So it started like a hard thing.
So, they are also enjoying as you can see it right now.
They're singing in Luguru language.
Yeah.
It also make it easier for them to finish faster
compared to one person job.
- [Narrator] The first step, the clay dries in the sun.
We will skip that part because ours was still wet.
So we use a bag from yesterday.
Then, it's smashed.
Next, is filtering out the small stones.
With the new powdered and filtered clay,
water is re-introduced.
(light music)
And next, we do a little arts and crafts.
Look at this! It's like a,
it reminds me of my play school days.
It feels like a, modeling play.
You can make something out of like a,
a dinosaur or something.
See, look, I'll make a--
(woman speaks foreign language)
like a cow.
- See!
Moo!
So there's three different,
three different sizes as you can see:
there's a small, a medium and a large, like that.
I'm making(indistinct)
So to make them, it seems like- Salome,
can you come show me?
So here and just like this, Yeah?
(woman speaks foreign language)
- Roll, roll.
No. It's kind of wonky.
Faster. Ah, there we go
And then we go.
Maybe not.
Let's do it over.
Which one's mine and which one's hers?
Can you tell?
Yeah, you can probably tell.
A little confession to make,
we're going to have to skip one step that I can't show you,
which is the two days drying in the sun.
It is the rainy season here in Tanzania.
So it's sunny, then it's cloudy
then it's rainy for two, three days
and so it's a bit hard to actually film that part.
And despite being covered in clay,
I actually haven't tried it yet.
So let's skip right to the good part and try the clay
for the first time, together with the tribe.
(twinkling music)
I haven't tried it yet. Is is good? Yeah?
Okay. One stiff stick of clay.
That's been dried in the sun for two days.
And I think seasoned with lemon.
Let's give it a shot. Ready?
Normally only pregnant ladies eat this
so I think it's a bit weird that I'm enjoying it.
But hey, when you're in Rome, right?
I need to get in touch with my feminine side anyway.
(women speaking in foreign language)
- It's what you expect it to be.
I was just informed that I took the wrong one.
I'm supposed to take one of the dried ones.
So, again.
Okay.
It's a little bit less chewy than before.
But it just, it tastes,
it tastes like, exactly how I'd expect it to taste.
Quite crunchy
and when the clay gets wet again, it sticks to your teeth.
And you know, when you get sand in your mouth
and you can feel it grinding,
yeah, it's a little bit like that.
But honestly, it's good.
Yeah, I think it's good.
(both speak foreign language)
- Yeah.
I don't know what that means.
- [Gumbo] Sweets- - - Sweets?
- [Gumbo] But, its mean good
- Oh good-- - [Gumbo] Yeah.
- I mean, it doesn't taste like lemon,
it doesn't taste like much actually,
but it doesn't have much taste at all.
It's a bit crunchy.
You can probably hear a crunching.
But all in all, it's like actually quite, I mean,
I wouldn't make a big plate of it, but as a meal supplement,
a vitamin supplement and what it's used for,
definitely I've had worse things in my life.
It's not that bad at all.
Eating clay in the Highlands above Morogoro, Tanzania.
And it's really, really, really not that bad at all.
(speaking foreign language)
- [Narrator] It tasted... okay actually.
I sit down with Amina to talk some more about it.
(amina speaks foreign language)
- It's Very good.
That's why they eating.
And that's why most of the pregnant women
they'll prefer to eat that one.
So anyone can eat that one.
Even me, but I'm not eating,
- [Narrator] But you didn't, but you didn't Gumbo.
- [Gumbo] Even during pregnant sometime,
they prefer to eat more of this soil compared to food.
They'll be craving for soil.
- [Narrator] The soil-- - Yeah.
- If you liked this video,
make sure to check out my other travel videos,
like hunting with the Hadzabe in Africa
or Africa's scariest breakfast: Hanging out with Maasai.
Also trying raw goat liver with the tribe in Siberia.
This trip would not have happened
without my good friend, Gumbo.
He's the guy that makes my crazy African dreams real.
He knows everybody, knows how to put something together.
And if you're thinking about a trip anywhere in Africa,
message him, he's in the description.
Contact him, he'll make it happen.
That's how I make all this stuff happen.
Dragons, chase your fears
and I'll catch you in the next episode here
on Fearless and Far.
And check out that Newsletter too.
(bright upbeat music)