Zion: the Promised Land

Zion Campsite in the village of Olasiti was our home for four weeks while we were in the field. We had a tent village of our own, and a mess hall where we played a lot of euchre and other card games to pass the time. Anthropology students usually went to interview every day for a couple of hours. Biology students could only visit the park every other day because we had to share a car, so we had a lot of down time. We spent a good portion of our free time hanging in the Olasiti Transit Bar, which made a small fortune on the volume of sodas we bought. When I was stuck at camp I was usually pretty bummed about not being in the park, but the days when I could go were so extraordinary!
I completely changed my research project idea once I got to the park, to better accommodate working with the rest of the group and the limited access we had. I studied elephant herbivory of baobab trees near the river and far from the river. Basically I was measuring how fat each baobab tree was and then counting up the damage from elephants. The biggest tree I measured was 20m! Several times elephants interrupted our data collection and we had to hurry back to the safety of the land rover. We became each other’s “research assistants”. I feel so lucky to have been able to experience Tarangire by exploring on foot and spending many days there to the point where I didn’t need a map to orient myself.
Some of the cooler experiences from Tarangire were seeing a group of cheetahs kill an impala, having our vehicle rammed by a buffalo, finding hippos in the river, the staggering amount of elephants, and a BIG elephant skeleton.

Into the Wild

The roads were mostly pitted dirt from here on out. But in contrast the camping was the most luxurious I have ever encountered. The Nyayo staff were such great people too – they enjoyed chatting with us and were very helpful. It was fun getting to know them really well throughout the six weeks of travel and research. They cooked great meals too!
Lake Manyara and Serengeti were the parks we traveled to before our stay at Tarangire. Manyara was stunning with the huge, mirror-like expanse of the alkaline lake as backdrop to our first giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, etc. I remember how overwhelming those first encounters were – little did we know, there was so much more to come! Animals give no regard to the presence of vehicles. Often during safari elephants would brush by close enough to reach out and touch! Serengeti exceeded all the hype and expectations I had. Plains as far as you can see with no fences, people, cows . . . and unbroken herds of zebra, gazelles, wildebeest, etc. We had many exciting close encounters with lions, and even saw several lion cubs. At night we camped in the heart of the park with no fence between us and the hyenas that stalked the camp at night. The night animal sounds were simultaneously hauntingly beautiful and absolutely terrifying. Hyenas calling, constantly, and you hope that you never hear them laugh because that means they are closing in on a kill. A pride of lions roared every night and I remember hearing lots of zebras too (probably being hunted). This may be a little melodramatic, but I was always relieved when the sun rose again, affirming that I had survived another night to drink chai while watching giraffes walk by our camp.

Fall Break in the Usumbara Mountains

I traveled with my intrepid friends Abby, Mat, and Noah to the Usumbara Mountains in Northern Tanzania. The first few days were spent at Irente Farm, which was also a conservation reserve, several kilometers outside of Lushoto. I could definately feel the altitude there and the weather was actually cold at night. I am not exaggerating when I say that this farm was idyllic - every morning we had coffee "plungers", cheese and fresh baked bread, "quark", fresh milk, and veggies; all of the food was from the farm. We also could hike to the rainforest from the farm, and saw colobus monkeys and many, many chameleons. One was tight-rope walking across a telephone line, obviously to impress the ladies hiding in the trees.
We took an uncomfortably cramped and hot bus ride to Amani Nature Reserve for the second half of break, and our bus was so tightly packed that we had to jump out the window to exit! The next day we hiked aimlessly through the rainforest, and ended up in this small town at the top of a mountain. We met a man there who recognized us from the bus ride the day before - "I remember you! You jumped out of the bus window!" - and he was kind enough to show us around the area, including teaching us that you can eat young cinnamon bark straight from the tree, and it tastes really good! We also picked up a pet dog, Bwana Nyama the yellow lab, and unsuccessfully tried to barter him to school children and couldn't even ditch him by throwing chapati and running into the rainforest! He turned out to be a pretty chill dog though, and accompianied us on our river excursions. He survived falling down a pretty substantial waterfall on one occasion.
The rainforest was very different from the Western Usumbaras, it was a warmer, more constant temperature and the flora and fauna were completely different. I felt like I was an ant compared to the enormous bamboo, palms, and strangler fig trees. It was an incredbly beautiful forest with a stunning diversity of insects - we found giant millipedes over eight inches long! There were monkeys everywhere too, and lots of birds although they were very difficult to find in the thick canopy. Every afternoon we went swimming in the river to cool off after our hikes. There were lots of beautiful waterfalls and crazy vines.
Now the whole group is in Arusha, trading stories from break and getting ready to go to the field. We are heading to Lake Manyara first and then Serengeti before ending up in Tarangire. As this is the last time we will be in a major city for six weeks, I have been taking advantage of a nearby coffee shop that has really good ice cream shakes and cake.

Last weekend in Dar

I had a fantastic weekend to celebrate the completion of the first draft of my research proposal! Together with a group of friends I took a dhow to Sinda, an uninhabited island off the coast of Dar. Our group were the only people there the whole day. We all showed our inner biologist when checking out the tide pools. Our intrepid guide picked up brittle stars and even crabs for us to see. I have never seen so many varieties of starfish and crabs in one place! Seeking shade in some sea caves was like balm in the heat of the afternoon. After walking around the whole island we had a picnic lunch with CHEESE sandwiches. You have no idea how precious cheese is unless you are completely deprived of it for several months. The snorkeling was great too, but also I have noticed that every reef is very different from the others. This time I finally saw an octopus (Sam saw cuttlefish), many lionfish under ledges, and a sea cucumber the size of a body pillow, no joke. I am fascinated by sea cucumbers and I can’t quite place why, except perhaps just because of their oddity.
Afterwards we chilled on the south beaches and Abby and I went on an eventful walk. A Masai man was leading his herd of cows along the surf up the beach. The funniest part was we hardly blinked an eye at the appearance of cows on the beach, because animals seem to just run around everywhere in Africa.
We visited the slipway for dinner and had cheese again (pizza)! Also, the best ice cream in Dar is at the slipway, in case you are ever in the neighborhood. Sailing, marine life, beach, cheese x2 = good day.
I’m starting a list of authentic Tanzanian experiences
1. If it is a beach, it has a dead puffer fish on it. Somewhere.
2. Toilet paper is a marker of tourist hotspots.
3. Daladalas defy the concept of maximum carrying capacity (k).
4. Scheduled meeting time is more like a guideline than a rule.

I really enjoy my host family. I live with an older woman and a girl who assists her with cooking and cleaning. I enjoy talking with them because they are very expressive and they also are patient with my broken Swahili! Some of my goals for the home stay are to learn how to cook African food and to improve my Kiswahili immensely.
I visited my Kiswahili professor’s house with my class tonight. I really appreciate how far she travels to teach us after traveling to her house, because she lives almost two hours away by daladala! She has a young daughter who provided hours of entertainment, and I enjoyed talking about Tanzanian culture. I could see that her family is quite well off, but I still am amazed by how much more Americans have than Tanzanians. Even poor people in Oklahoma have more possessions and bigger homes than well-off people here. Nearly everyone has air conditioning, a fridge, and water safe to drink straight out of the tap. I feel like I have so much extra baggage with me, and even more useless stuff at home.

Zanzibar

I just got back from the group trip to Zanzibar – where to begin! I enjoyed the much needed break from classes. We have only two more weeks studying at the University before moving out to the field, which means I have to write my research proposal ASAP. This was a chance to get to experience another facet of Tanzanian culture. Zanzibar’s population is nearly one hundred percent Moslem, so the dress code is very strict. I made a mistake there before the trip even began! I only realized once I was on the ferry that the shorts I was wearing are frowned on in Zanzibar. Fortunately I had a kitenge with that I could put on over my shorts, but it was just another example for me of my own foreign cultural norms that I have always taken for granted.

The ferry ride to the island was really chill. You can only imagine how many “I’m on a boat . . .” references were made. We left right at sunrise, and as the ferry cut across the water flying fish disturbed by the wake would zoom into the air! The water in the Indian Ocean is stunningly blue; I never cease to be amazed by the true intensity of the color.

We stayed at a hotel in Stone Town, the old historic section of Zanzibar. The layout of Stone Town is a maze of narrow streets, tiny shops and mosques. Exploring the winding streets reminded me a lot of Toledo, Spain. I have a dangerous affiliation for these maze-like cities because there is so much mystery hidden among the alleys. Every corner you turn presents you with new surprises and snapshots of the local people. I have a good sense of direction so I don’t get lost – except one morning when some friends and I got caught in a downpour and I would rather have not lost my way. We were taking pictures at sunrise and at the beach saw storms coming in. We headed back towards the hotel, but were not fast enough. It rained so hard that I could hardly see, and within two minutes the streets of Stone Town had transformed to rivers. Because there are no drains, all the water runs off the roofs and funnels down the streets. By the time we found the hotel, the rain had turned to drizzle and we were completely soaked. It was such an exciting adventure!

At night the boardwalk down by the harbor transforms from a peaceful little park to a food eating extravaganza. I ate so many mishikaki (skewers) and good seafood! The best was the tuna and red snapper, but I also ate octopus – suckers and everything. They also made this really good drink from freshly milked sugarcane, ginger, and lime juice. I was really overwhelmed by the atmosphere but went again the next night for Zanzibar pizza with nutella and mango. I met a local (Zanzibarian?) who was really interesting to talk to. We talked for over an hour comparing the US and Tanzania, practicing Kiswahili, and just talking about what he does for a living. He works three jobs: a cook at the food fest, his uncle’s shop, and laying cement. Unfortunately I have forgotten his name, but he was really interested in what kinds of fish we catch in the US. I had a lot of fun trying to explain in broken Swahili what a catfish is.

We met with a fisheries ecologist early one morning. I was so inspired by her lecture – she manages about five different projects, pursuing whatever she finds interesting or urgent at the time. Her projects are so cool – working to establish a pearl farming industry, studying dolphins, the effects of development-induced beach erosion on coral reefs, etc. Our group took a tour to the spice farms in the island’s interior. It was completely different from my visions of ordered rows of bushes and vines. The farm was a jumbled forest of cinnamon, cacao, coffee, black pepper, etc. trees with vanilla vines draped all over among the cardamom and ginger plants. It was a lot of fun to taste and smell all variety of spices. I learned that the Moslems use nutmeg as an aphrodisiac at ceremonial events. Their beliefs don’t allow them to drink alcohol, so instead they eat cloves of nutmeg and become drunk from the spice. After the tour we had a special meal prepared with all the good spices that we had seen that morning, plus a fruit tasting where I tried jackfruit, which tastes like a cross between pineapple and banana and looks like a diseased brain. We visited a forest with endemic red colobus monkeys at the conclusion of our day. The monkeys were quite entertaining, as they had no fear of people and thus showed no inhibition in landing on branches right above our heads or just sitting on the ground right in front of you!

The last morning of our stay we all went snorkeling on a reef by Prison Island. The fish diversity at this reef was fantastic, as were the corals and clams. These reef fish are mind-bogglingly brilliant in their coloration and weird in physiology. I feel like I posses a great secret when I explore a reef and discover the amazingly colorful world hidden beneath the ocean. Reefs make dry land seem as monotonous as black and white. On the ride back to Zanzibar our boat driver hit a gigantic ferry! We were going full steam ahead towards port, and we noticed that this large ferry was on a course intersecting with our own. As we got closer I began to think that we were definitely not going fast enough to beat it, nor were we turning enough to avoid it. At the last minute the driver slammed the boat into reverse, but it was too late. We hit the side of the ferry dead on and scraped painfully along the entire boat length. I am still baffled by the fact that in the entire ocean, we had to hit a ferry – the largest possible obstacle out there! Nobody was harmed, neither was our boat although there is now a nice long scratch in the blue hull of that ferry. Crazy.

Time to hunker down and finish my research proposal to prepare for Tarangire!

Bagamoyo and Kawe

Our entire class took a trip out of Dar to Bagamoyo, a town that used to be the major port for slave exports from the African mainland to Zanzibar. There was a lot of Arabic influence, shown by the architecture of the mosque ruins, elaborate mausoleums, and existing buildings. The best part was getting to visit an archeological dig site at the end of the day. Success rate for finding artifacts is really low. I saw really cool bugs when we were walking around out in the field. There was a large praying mantis that looked just like a branch, and there were also a lot of ant lions. Those are really freaky, because when you stick a piece of grass in their “funnel” then they leap out and attack it! The long bus ride to and from Bagamoyo provided good bird watching opportunities.
Sunday I went to Kawe beach with some friends. It was sunny and hot - a perfect day to be at the beach. We crashed at this hotel that was frequented exclusively by sporty British couples and their kids. Every hotel has Masai guards, because they are all trained warriors. All the Masai carry a sword under their belt, even when they are walking around Mwenge or downtown Dar. The coolest thing we saw there was visiting fishermen who were hauling in their catch. We waded out to their boat and I got to hold the different types of sea creatures. Squid that were as long as my arm, lobsters, jellyfish, and many other types of fish unknown to me. I wasn’t slacking at the beach – I was practicing my Kiswahili and learning about culture!
Later we went to Mwenge and bought twelve mangoes to eat back at the dorm. The man selling them was taken aback by the quantity – “are you sure you want twelve?” I was able to barter them down to a good deal because we bought so many. They are sooo good if you crush them inside the skin until they are liquefied and then drink the juice from a hole in one end. Got Passionfruit too - it is so good, it tastes like perfume smells!

Wildlife

This week has been a good week for wildlife watching. One of the best spots on campus has proven to be the "precipice" on the fourth floor. This week two hornbills have been hanging out in the ficus tree outside the dorm. They are beautiful birds! I also saw an enormous white vulture fly right overhead the other day, and in the evening a giant owl roosted in a nearby tree. So cool! Please excuse my abuse of the words awesome, huge, beautiful, etc. but all of these birds really are something else.
We were playing euker on the precipice and saw a baboon pick up a discarded one liter water bottle and tip it up to drink out of it!
Yesterday I went to Mikani beach with some friends. It is one of the south beaches, at a private campground that was really nice. Lots of trees and hammocks, no vendors allowed (at the free beach they come down on you in swarms). Yesterday was the muslim holiday Eid, the end of the Ramadan fast. On the ferry ride to Mikani via Kigamboni I was able to have a conversation in Swahili with a very cheery Muslim man. The bartender at the beach was also impressed that we spoke Swahili, especially when asking where the "msalani" was (it's the polite way to say "bathrooms"). He was so thrilled. "Msalani!! The white people never say msalani!"
The shells this time were the best yet! Speaking of shells, Elizabeth this story is for you:
Last time we went to the beach, my friend Linnea brought back several nice shells and left them on her desk to dry. The next morning, one of the shells was missing, and there was a thin trail of sand leading from the shell pile to the edge of the desk. She brought back a shell that had a hermit crab living in it! So we kept him as a pet for a week, and brought him back to the beach yesterday to return him to the wild. Later in the afternoon Mat found this amazing shell - I have never seen one so beautiful before! Turns out there was a hermit crab living in that one too! When we got back to campus we pulled it out with tweezers.