Week 5-6- Heading West...

The patterns of life in the Kilombero Valley of Africa follow the equatorial sun that rises around 6:30am and sets around 6:30pm.  Daily activities take place mainly in the morning and evening hours, with plenty of leisure in the heat of the day. Our 5^th and 6^th weeks of volunteer field time with the Kilombero Valley Ornithological Center (KVOC), are no exception.  

Celebrating our 14th anniversary, Tanzanian-style!

homeschooling morning around KVOC

Mondays in our local town of Kitchengani, our team of volunteers visit the local primary and secondary schools, this time to share lessons on the phases of water and the water cycle.  Most students chuckle when we relate stories of frozen water (ice/snow) at home, while we enjoy their comments about the importance of water- “Water is Life” said a few kids.  Through our translators, we try to relate the idea that evapo-transpiration from trees is an essential part of the water cycle, and that, while valuable for firewood and charcoal, the rapidly disappearing forests of the area are keys to a healthy ecosystem.  

sunset over the Kilombero River

Tuesdays we load up our Mitsubishi standard bed pick up truck with all camping gear and 11 passengers (5 inside and 6 outside!) to travel to the Iluma Game Reserve. This time we camp along the Kilombero River while surveying the dense evergreen forest for birds and mammals and recent signs of human disturbance.  Our camp has easy access to the hippo and crocodile inhabited river, so we follow guidelines of our Tanzanian staff and deliberate scanning upstream and downstream before quickly dipping buckets for water (read: NO SWIMMING!). The river is teaming with birds which we survey in the morning hours from the high banks.  Our forest surveys turn up signs of monkeys and baboons, bush pig, and duiker (a small ungulate). We also find in the dense under growth of the forest large colonies of cane rats (we think), tracks and scat of hyena, water and slender mongoose, and suspiciously, wild cat tracks near the fishing village.   

leaf camouflaged preying mantis

group photo with KVOC staff and volunteers

While absolutely loving all these experiences, as a family we decide it is time to move on from our volunteer time with KVOC and, 2 weeks early, to start the next phase of our Tanzanian adventures. We consolidate our belongings down to 4 day backpacks, one per person. We say a teary goodbye to Angel, Ema, Mr Kimboga, Moushaka, Saysay, the other international volunteers, and Sebastian, our amazing host over the past 6 weeks, and off we go!

Sebastian and Moushaka generously help arrange our first class (sleeping berth) ticket on the TanZam (Tanzania-Zambia) train for us from Ifakara to Mbeya, a city in the southeastern part of the country near to Lake Tanganyika and the Zambia/Malawi border.  We arrive at the dusty and nearly deserted train station, and soon learn that there are no 1^st or 2^nd class tickets available (they were filled in the first half of the train’s travels from Dar Es Salaam), but they have ‘Super Sleeper’ seats available for us (aka 2^nd class tickets).  We end up waiting at the station for 10 hours, yes 10 hours, as we have heard that the timing is unpredictable for arrivals and departures. During this time however, the station fills with hundreds of Tanzanians cajoling around the site, selling and consuming cashews and sodas, talking on phones in overly loud voices, sleeping on the cement steps, and entertaining the younger children.  We mizungos (white people), of course, are quite a spectacle on the sidelines and surely provide entertainment and spectacle.

 

A view of the countryside

An English speaking train attendant helps us board our train, and we quickly find our 'SuperSleeper'berth is actually four (2x2) large, straight backed, rigid, turquoise blue, plastic seats facing each other with a small table in between. This is, ironically, quite a step up from 3rd class bench seats.  Just another Tanzanian translation issue, we guess, as we start to appreciate economy class airplane seating!  Most Tanzanian passengers either sleep on the floor with their children and wraps tangled for warmth, or have their heads bent over the table in an awkward-looking position. The florescent lights never turn off and pop music is playing loud and clear.  Amelia and Emmet settle in first as the train rhythmically starts down the tracks. Kim and Steve smile at one another as one can only do in these situations. As slumber sets in, Kim dreams of a beast that lives under the carriage of the train car which groans and uses profanity on occasion with the bumpy sections of the track.  

Pastoral villages along the way

children run over and wave as the train passes

The rest of the train ride is uneventful- we play a few great rounds of Rumi 500, Hearts, and Palace, and stroll the train cars to stretch our bodies. Arriving in Mbeya, we are greeted by English-speaking-Tanzanian, James Bond (he says that is his name).  He ends up being a warm and delightful guide for us over the next few days.  We settle into our Indian run and Tanzanian staffed hotel, and salivate over our Indian and Chinese cuisine that evening at the hotel restaurant (supposedly the best restaurant in town). Our room has running water, a flushing toilet, and hot showers- more than we’ve had in almost a month!  

We stroll around the city streets to find a common theme: dusty roads, broken down sidewalks; shoe shining and clothing vendors; smells of bar-b-que and diesel; tenders selling meat sticks, bbq bananas, fried rice cakes and bread rolls; and colorful fruit and vegetable markets. It is beautiful and intimidating all at the same time.  Like usual, there are people everywhere- some tend to their business; most seem to be waiting for something to happen.  Such is life in Africa.  Saturday afternoon we find the Mbeya soccer stadium and fork out $1.50 each for tickets to a 1st division Tanzanian futbol match.  Sunday afternoon we hear drums and horns from the direction of the stadium so we walk down to an exciting Tanzanian Premier League match- Mbao City v. Tanzanian Prisons- final score 1 to 1 (better than 0-0, right?!).

The hike up to the crater's rim with James Bond

We spend the next day with James Bond hiking to the rim of Ngozi Crater, a legendary crater lake set among the mountains of the Mbeya region.  We see black and white colobus monkeys and otherwise just enjoy the hiking trail, the lush foliage, wild banana trees, and spectacular views of the blue waters below.  James tells us stories of the legendary serpent that created these waters, and the spirits of the tribes that fought over a water well long ago.  

In getting to know James Bond, we learn of his aspirations to start his own tour company (he currently works for Gazelle Travels). And as part of a small trade for our tour cost, we take a few photos and create a website for him to give him a head-start towards his success.  It took a few hours of time that evening, and a lot of smiles and thank yous from James.  We hope him the best of luck in his entrepreneurship!!!

 

 

 

 

Ontop Ngozi Crater's Rim

Today is travel day- onward to Katavi National Park and Kipili Village on Lake Tanganyika!  We jump on a 6am bus, heading west to the Malawi border then north towards our destination(s).  It is nice not having any time frame or commitments, so we can stay and go where we please for a while.  We’ll write more in the coming week!

 

Love and hugs to everyone,

Steve, Kim, Amelia, and Emmet

Week 4- Village life in Tanzania

day trip to the mountain village of Mahenge

We spent last week getting to know our local village, Kitchangani, and the life of the people here.  Morning at our home at Kilombero Valley Ornithological Center (KVOC) start with the crowing of Leonard, the camp rooster, and is soon filled with the sounds of native birds overhead during the cool hours of the day, and the sweet smells of smoke from the campfire which heats up the tea for the morning (all tea is called chai in Tanzania) and Dutch oven bread. The Primary School across the street hums with life at 7:30 as the kids sweep the school grounds before classes with their grass brooms.  

Town is very simply marked by the constant activity of the village folk, a couple of tienda-type stores selling soap and cold drinks, women selling rice cakes and chapatis from campfires on the red earthen ground, and the activity of the ‘bar’ (which does not serve drinks)- this is the community center of tables and chairs, an occasional soccer game broadcast, curious children hovering, and the local power source where folks can charge any devices they have (for us, our computer and cell phone for email service).  Next to the ‘bar’ is the market, open air and loaded with the only the necessities in season during this dry time of the year.  Tomatoes, onions, okra, sacks of beans, bananas, potatoes, salt, TP and rice, plus a few other specialty items. Everything is 'made in Tanzania' from what we have seen- even the salt is from the coast, and the TP is labeled made in TZ!         

By 2 pm or so, the heat of the day is smothering us, so we head down a side road, past Tanzanians sitting on the ground under the shade of the cashew and mango trees next to their homes, past children yelling Mzunga (white person!), through the banana groves and local kasava farms to the river for our afternoon swim.  As we approach the river, we have to take a turn right for the men’s area, or go straight for the women and children’s area.  These sections of the river are designated because it is the local’s body and clothes washing areas, which most often occur at the same time. 

It is not uncommon for folks to be naked in the river while doing their laundry, suds and all.  Out of respect, we find our own location upstream to wallow in the shallow water.  It is the end of the dry season, so the waters are lowering daily and is now barely up to our knees- sort of like Methow creeks in August.  The fish nibble on our toes (kinda creepy, yes), reed mats float by, clay breaks off and we ooze it between our toes and fingers, and the tannin colored water gives us a partially clean feeling, but cooler none the less! 

Sometimes we beat the heat by a bucket bath, complete with a wash cloth, shampoo, soap, and the privacy of the enclosure next to our banda (hut). Other times its washing our laundry in same buckets at the local well, a ¼ mile walk down the road.  Amelia and Emmet water fight while Kim and Steve referee.  Everybody scrubs. We alternate between bucket baths and river dips with regularity- however we are a bit behind on the laundry!

Loading up camp. We ride on top!

There was a turn of event this last week, as we’ve noticed this happens often in Tanzania, and a contact of Sebastian’s (KVOC Director) offered him a new project.  The project is working on the locally managed Iluma Wildlife Management Area (WMA), a large protected area (over 500,000 sq km) between Lupiro and Ifakara and adjacent to the Selous Game Reserve- the largest in Tanzania.  Our team assignment is to survey for biodiversity in preparation of opening the newly established wildlife area for ecotourism in the coming years.  So off we go, camping for the rest of the week, and testing protocols and sampling methods for inventory and relative population estimates for amphibians and reptiles, birds, carnivores, and large mammals. 

emmet photos last nights elephant tracks

setting up camera stations with volunteer Michael and game warden Mr Kimboga, AKA Babu (grandpa)

 

The first day on the Wildlife Management Area we saw zebra, a warthog family, bush pigs, and fresh morning tracks and dung from a herd of elephants in the wetland near to where we are camping.  We setup wildlife detection cameras, started early morning bird surveys, driving surveys for large mammals, and nighttime driving safari surveys for carnivores.  

Full disclosure: while camping we also have the reality that surveys can only take place during the early mornings and later evenings when animals are active, plus the heat of the day is almost unbearably HOT for everyone.  So we play endless card games in camp, sitting on foam pads while sweating and becoming more sticky and dirty in the dusty conditions.  The gnatty bugs do not respond to DEET.  There is no cold water to drink or to swim in, there is only hot rice and beans for lunch, and no relief until the sun goes down.  Let’s just say we welcome the evening hours- a nature walk to move our stagnant bodies, fresh caught catfish with our dinner of rice and beans, and the setting of that tenacious equatorial sun.  Sounds pleasant?!   Spirits remain high and adventure greets us daily!

We are now back at KVOC for a day off.  The plan right now is to go back to Iluma WMA on Tuesday for a 5-day stint doing surveys.  We’ll share more next week!!!

Kim, Steve, Amelia and Emmet!