Mazumbai!

this is going to be a very short blog post (i wish it could be longer) but I'm currently enroute to Engaruka, where I'll be for the next week on our Independent Study Project preparation days. We got back from mazumbai yesterday after spending a week there in the forest. it was BEAUTIFUL there...its a tropical rain forest and is on the list of the top 25 biodiversity hotspots in the world! We camped for the week, but our tents were right outside this swiss chalet where we ate all of our meals and they also had a fireplace/common area to hang out. The first day there we were given 4 hours to just explore the forest on our own. It was a really cool experience. we were told not to bring our watches or anything to keep track of time and we were given free reign to explore anywhere we wanted. A lot of people decided to experience the forest with no clothes on, but I decided to just hike around in my shorts and sports bra :) That afternoon we hiked up to the top of the reserve, and it was INTENSE. Literally straight up for a good 45 minutes, and we were at a fairly high altitude again (8000 ft) so we were all breathing pretty hard. The view was awesome at the top though. We were in the middle of the Usambara mountains and you could see really far.
Our mornings at Mazumbai were spent doing field study teams in the forest and presenting our data later in the evenings. The afternoons we were given free to explore the forest or just hang out. We also had "Baba Jack's boot camp" every afternoon which was awesome, because we havent done too much physical activity since we've gotten here....a lot of our time has been spent in Land rovers. We did a lot of pushups (my scrawny little arms did 80 in a row one time!) and a lot of randori, which is this open handed wrestling. We also ended our boot camp with yoga each evening. Baba Jack's son (Jack) came with us to Mazumbai which was really fun. He's 10 years old but speaks perfect Kiswahili because he's lived here his entire life so we used him as our translator a lot :)
Oh, somehow I also got bitten by a spider, most likely in my sleep (which is frightening because that means it was trapped in my tent), but I woke up with my right hand about 3 times its normal size. So that was fun for a few days...I looked a bit deformed, but atleast it didnt hurt that bad, mostly just itched like crazy!!
We left Mazumbai yesterday morning and dropped some kids off along the way who were traveling to Tanga (the coast!) for ISP prep days, and then the rest of us headed back to Arusha. From here on out we're responsible for finding our own lodging so we all checked into a guest house for $5 per person! It was great. It was just a basic double room with a common bathroom but probably the best shower I've had since I've been in TZ, because it was HOT! I've gotten used to just taking cold showers a lot so it was great!
This morning Team Engaruka (as we are calling ourselves) got to the bus station at 6am and crammed into a dala-dala for our 1.5 hr ride to Mto Wa Mbu, where I am now. This is the same place we were at 2 weeks ago after our safari at Tarangire. We're leaving soon to take another dala dala to Engaruka where we will meet up with our advisors, Onesmo and Elvis, and plan for our month out in the bush! Five us are officially doing the ecological walk I mentioned earlier in my blog...so there is a TON to figure out logistically, mostly how we are getting water out in the middle of Maasai land :) Should be fun! I'll be back in Arusha this Thursday where hopefully I can update more!