So I'm back in Arusha with the rest of my program! Megan and I were sad to leave Ndarakwai...she's going back for two days with her dad in December, but I really don't know the next time I'll be able to go back. I posted quite a few pictures on my facebook for those of you wondering what Ndarakwai looks like! Two nights before we left it was a full moon and there was a picture perfect view of Kilimanjaro in the background...sadly I didn't have my camera with me but it was beautiful.
Anyways, all of us wanafunzi are back writing our papers and finishing the last portion of our program! We have two weeks in Arusha to write our papers and prepare for our final presentations on our ISPs. It was fun hearing everyones stories from ISP...we had 5 students in Lake Natron (where we did our Maasai homestay) and they sounded like they had quite the interesting time...they got chased by a buffalo, walked 30km after being stranded, and hiked Oldonyo Lengai, an active volcano. I told them I watched a lot of zebra... :)
Last night our group went out for Thanksgiving dinner at a Chinese restaurant! Some of the fancy hotels here did Thanksgiving dinner but they were all booked up so Chinese was obviously the next logical option. After dinner we went to a club called ViaVia and celebrated with all the other wazungu (white people) in Arusha. We were all dancing when all of a sudden I look over and see Sula Willson, who I went to high school with! I knew she was in Arusha and was planning on meeting her later in the week, but had NO idea she was going to be out that night! It was awesome...its SO weird seeing someone from home, and so we were kind of screaming and hugging all over the place. She was with her Lewis and Clark group so we all ended up dancing together. Good way to spend Thanksgiving. It was also funny because a year ago on Thanksgiving, I was upstate New York with Ellen Whalen and her family, and a year later we were together again in Tanzania! Kind of crazy.
So that basically sums up the last couple days in Arusha. I'm trying to get a lot of things accomplished these next two weeks....Besides my 30pg paper and presentation, I'm trying to go to all the local shops and restaurants that I've been meaning to go to for awhile. I don't wanna leave Arusha wishing I had visited more places. December 8 our program ends, and then Ellen and I and some other SIT students are off to hit up the beaches of Zanzibar on the Indian Ocean for a week!
Time to stop blogging, stop playing solitaire (its really amazing how much Solitaire you can play when you dont have internet) and write my paper!
Baadye!
Friday, November 26, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
pundamilia, nyoka, na tembo!
As I sit here in my tent writing this blog, it is absolutely pouring outside. My little tent has held up well, considering it gets hammered with rain day after day! I’ve had a scorpion lurking outside my tent for the past couple days as well. I woke up the other night to a scratching sound on the side of my tent, and had no idea what it was. But sure enough, when I shined my light on the side, a scorpion was unsuccessfully trying to crawl up the side. Wtf. The scorpions here won’t kill you, but will ensure you 3 days of extreme pain on the extremity that was bitten.
Megan and I have now been at Ndarakwai for 11 days! We actually head back to Arusha in one week (at the time I wrote this entry). The last 11 days have been awesome, although Megan and I were both sick for a bit. I had the most ridiculous head cold/sinus issues, but poor Megan had food poisoning from sharing food with her askaris. Its not exactly that fun being sick while camping…you cant go anywhere and basically have to sit and be a bit miserable. We both skipped data collection for the day, but I was able to go out the next day. I was worried for a while, there were 3 days where my askari and I did SO much walking trying to find the zebra, who seemed to have just disappeared from Ndarakwai. Every morning we would set off and for 2 hours straight we would just walk, trying to find the zebra, finally finding two or three right before we had to head back for lunch. And even though they are striped, they somehow manage to blend in extremely well!
Our way was also hindered by the presence of a massive bull elephant in “musth” which is like heat for male elephants. You do NOT want to mess with an elephant in musth. They will charge you/do other unpleasant things to you. So we had to take a couple detours over the course of those couple days. However, we also did see a little baby elephant that must have just been born..it was sooo small…about the size of a very small pony! The last couple days I’ve gotten lucky though…although its been pouring on us everyday, the rain has been good because everything is turning green, and so the zebra are collecting in a small valley that has really green lush grass. This morning there were over 60 zebra, which is the most I’ve seen at once. Most days, I follow a herd of 8 or less around. They’ve also been running away from me less and less which is fantastic, because I’m able to sit on top of a termite mound for a couple hours and get quality scans done.
Yesterday was quite the exciting day for Megan and I. I had gotten back to camp earlier than her for lunch and was sitting chatting with my askari when one of the girls who lives at the house, Nuru, screams “nyoka,” which is “snake” in Kiswahili. And sure enough, in our toilet (which is a tin shack with a concrete floor and hole in the ground ) a bright green snake comes slithering out and starts to rise up like its about to strike. I’m practically peeing my pants by this point, but my askari, Meyshack, goes over and whacks it on the head with his stick a couple times and kills it. Turns out, it was a green mamba, which are super poisonous (related to the black mamba), and I was more scared than anything because I had been in the bathroom about 10 minutes prior, probably peeing on this snake who was I’m sure was not very happy. And then, I had to take a shower afterwards in the shower stall, which is right next to the bathroom (another concrete room) out of my little bucket, and of course I’m spazzing out about there being another snake in there, which of course there wasn’t, but it still wasn’t a very pleasant shower experience. I normally look forward to my little bucket of water every 3 days!
After the lovely green mamba experience Megan and I took the afternoon off of data collection to go visit our cook crew and all the drivers who had been with us all semester! They were cooking for another student group from Earlham College and Miami University of Ohio, and we lucked out that they were here when we were! All of them were camped at Casablanca, which is where I was for orientation when we got here in August. It was so great to see them all again, and they were so wonderful to us. They gave us chai and biscuits and Megan and I were so happy because it was like being on safari again. We chatted with them for awhile and helped chop up some onions, and then went over to visit the other wanafunzi (students). We introduced ourselves and talked about our trips a lot. Their program is essentially the same thing as ours, except they go to Kenya as well. One of the boys actually knew a girl on our trip too. We hung out there for a while drinking wine and playing dice with them, and are going back this Sunday for one of their birthdays! Megan and I were so excited because its just been the two of us for the past couple weeks and it was fun to see other students and talk with them. The cook crew wouldn’t let us leave without having a bowl of their delicious onion soup and then gave us some oranges for the road. Its weird to see “our” cook crew and drivers with another student group, but I know they are hired out a lot. As Megan and I were walking back with an askari who was escorting us back to camp, the sun was going down and it was warm and it was just one of those moments where I thought “life is fantastic right now.” :)
Will update again when I get back to Arusha in a couple days!
Megan and I have now been at Ndarakwai for 11 days! We actually head back to Arusha in one week (at the time I wrote this entry). The last 11 days have been awesome, although Megan and I were both sick for a bit. I had the most ridiculous head cold/sinus issues, but poor Megan had food poisoning from sharing food with her askaris. Its not exactly that fun being sick while camping…you cant go anywhere and basically have to sit and be a bit miserable. We both skipped data collection for the day, but I was able to go out the next day. I was worried for a while, there were 3 days where my askari and I did SO much walking trying to find the zebra, who seemed to have just disappeared from Ndarakwai. Every morning we would set off and for 2 hours straight we would just walk, trying to find the zebra, finally finding two or three right before we had to head back for lunch. And even though they are striped, they somehow manage to blend in extremely well!
Our way was also hindered by the presence of a massive bull elephant in “musth” which is like heat for male elephants. You do NOT want to mess with an elephant in musth. They will charge you/do other unpleasant things to you. So we had to take a couple detours over the course of those couple days. However, we also did see a little baby elephant that must have just been born..it was sooo small…about the size of a very small pony! The last couple days I’ve gotten lucky though…although its been pouring on us everyday, the rain has been good because everything is turning green, and so the zebra are collecting in a small valley that has really green lush grass. This morning there were over 60 zebra, which is the most I’ve seen at once. Most days, I follow a herd of 8 or less around. They’ve also been running away from me less and less which is fantastic, because I’m able to sit on top of a termite mound for a couple hours and get quality scans done.
Yesterday was quite the exciting day for Megan and I. I had gotten back to camp earlier than her for lunch and was sitting chatting with my askari when one of the girls who lives at the house, Nuru, screams “nyoka,” which is “snake” in Kiswahili. And sure enough, in our toilet (which is a tin shack with a concrete floor and hole in the ground ) a bright green snake comes slithering out and starts to rise up like its about to strike. I’m practically peeing my pants by this point, but my askari, Meyshack, goes over and whacks it on the head with his stick a couple times and kills it. Turns out, it was a green mamba, which are super poisonous (related to the black mamba), and I was more scared than anything because I had been in the bathroom about 10 minutes prior, probably peeing on this snake who was I’m sure was not very happy. And then, I had to take a shower afterwards in the shower stall, which is right next to the bathroom (another concrete room) out of my little bucket, and of course I’m spazzing out about there being another snake in there, which of course there wasn’t, but it still wasn’t a very pleasant shower experience. I normally look forward to my little bucket of water every 3 days!
After the lovely green mamba experience Megan and I took the afternoon off of data collection to go visit our cook crew and all the drivers who had been with us all semester! They were cooking for another student group from Earlham College and Miami University of Ohio, and we lucked out that they were here when we were! All of them were camped at Casablanca, which is where I was for orientation when we got here in August. It was so great to see them all again, and they were so wonderful to us. They gave us chai and biscuits and Megan and I were so happy because it was like being on safari again. We chatted with them for awhile and helped chop up some onions, and then went over to visit the other wanafunzi (students). We introduced ourselves and talked about our trips a lot. Their program is essentially the same thing as ours, except they go to Kenya as well. One of the boys actually knew a girl on our trip too. We hung out there for a while drinking wine and playing dice with them, and are going back this Sunday for one of their birthdays! Megan and I were so excited because its just been the two of us for the past couple weeks and it was fun to see other students and talk with them. The cook crew wouldn’t let us leave without having a bowl of their delicious onion soup and then gave us some oranges for the road. Its weird to see “our” cook crew and drivers with another student group, but I know they are hired out a lot. As Megan and I were walking back with an askari who was escorting us back to camp, the sun was going down and it was warm and it was just one of those moments where I thought “life is fantastic right now.” :)
Will update again when I get back to Arusha in a couple days!
Thursday, November 11, 2010
back at Ndarakwai!
Well, Megan and I arrived in Ndarakwai 2 days ago! We took a combination of buses, dala-dalas, and a taxi to get here. There were definitely times I was worried for the safety of my bag, as it was just shoved in the back of a dala-dala (van) and the back was tied down with rope. But no worries, everything made it! Which is a bit of a miracle, considering Megan and I have SO much stuff. We have all of our camping gear plus food for a couple days. My pack may have weighed 60 lbs…a bit ridiculous.
I’m writing this blog on my first day of data collection, which was today. I don’t know when I’ll be able to post this, so sorry for any tense confusion!
As I said, today was my first day. I met with my hired askari who was to be my guard, and off we went in search of pundamilia! I was scared we weren’t going to find any because they have all dispersed now that the short rains have come, but we were able to find some within 45 minutes. It was a small herd of 6 (one stallion, 5 females), that I proceeded to follow for the next 2.5 hours before I lost sight of them in the woodland. I think I may have walked around 7 miles today, but thankfully it was overcast and not too hot. I love it here though…its beautiful at this time of year and really quiet and peaceful. We then got caught in what they call “the short rains” on the walk back to camp, but I like to think of it more as a torrential downpour because I looked like a drowned rat when I got back. Megan and I are camping at the assistant manager’s house with our tents and thankfully everything stayed dry, because my computer was in there!
My last couple days of data collection have gone well, but its really hard to track wild zebra! I usually meet my askari at 8am and we track zebra until 1pm when we come back for lunch, and then I usually go out again from 2-4pm. I’ve been getting better at figuring out what habitat types they prefer and where they are usually hanging out. Long hot days, but its worth it…the other day I was sooo lucky and was able to sit in the treehouse and watch as 40 zebra came and drank from the watering hole! Its been hard to find them because the short rains have started, so they don’t often come to the watering hole anymore, as other water sources are now more prevalent. My askari is awesome though. His name is Masha, and he doesn’t speak any English, but we manage to actually have conversations, and he teaches me all the names of the mountains and hills nearby and then quizzes me on them. He must also have amazing eyesight because he can spot zebra from about 800m away that are tucked behind trees…don’t know how he does it, but I’m lucky to have him! He mostly naps on a rock while I take data except there have been numerous times I have had to interrupt him and say ummm…pundamilia wanakimbia!! Which means, um..the zebra are all running away! So then we proceed to run after them for the next hour until they settle down and I can start data collection again. And I really need to start asking him which zebra is the stallion BEFORE I start collecting data because today I was able to do 2 hours worth of scans on a herd I had found and then 2 hours later he says something about the stallion and points…and its definitely not the zebra that I had identified. Probably going to have some skewed data considering I completely misidentified the stallion. (in my defense, its harder than you think! I’m looking through binoculars half the time). Woops.
Anyways, that’s what Megan and I are up to! Probably should mention that she is studying 2 orphaned elephants here, named Enkarsis and Riziki. I actually got the privilege to meet both elephants today…I was walking with my askari and Enkarsis came barging over and shoved her trunk in my face! I blew air into her trunk (apparently they like that) and held her trunk for a while. It was awesome…kind of scary as well though because Enkarsis is big and her trunk was rummaging around my hair and head. Although they are orphaned elephants, they are not kept in a pen or anything like that. They have handlers, but are allowed to associate with other wild elephants when they want and such. Anyways, it was a cool experience and I really hope to get pictures with them before I leave!
I somehow also managed to get a raging head cold my second day here…not sure how that happened because im in the middle of the African bush and its 95 F out every day but of course it happened to me.
Besides data collection, Megan and I have just been hanging out and doing lots and lots of reading! I already finished one book after being here for just 4 days. I read “The Life of Pi.” For anyone who hasn’t read it, I highly recommend it…it was a fantastic book. Good thing I have a couple more books to keep me entertained for the next 2 weeks! Megan and I have been well taken care of since we have been here…the assistant manager has a maid named Bahati who is our age but takes care of us like we are her children! She makes us this delicious ginger tea about 5 times a day, cooks all of our meals, and even washes our clothes! I swear my clothes have not been that clean since I have arrived here…I don’t know how she does it because they’re just washed in a bucket! I mentioned earlier that Megan and I are allowed to use the tented camp’s electricity/internet and the staff there are so nice to us as well. A couple of them are around my age so we have lots of fun just talking with them and practicing Kiswahili. We actually met a Tanzanian and his Belgian colleague yesterday in reception who were leading a birding tour and were chatting with them and they nicely bought Megan and I cokes and beer! I swear to god every single person we meet here is so genuinely friendly and interested in what we are doing. It was also funny because they had been up in Mazumbai Forest the day before (about a 7 hr drive from Ndarakwai) and had met Ellie and Ellen, 2 other girls on my program who are up there studying monkeys! They had stayed with them at the Swiss chalet and eaten dinner together. Small world, especially since Mazumbai is not a huge tourist destination (it only attracts about 100 visitors a year) and it is not close to Ndarakwai at all.
Gotta go, huge storm coming in and when it rains here it absolutely POURS. :)
I’m writing this blog on my first day of data collection, which was today. I don’t know when I’ll be able to post this, so sorry for any tense confusion!
As I said, today was my first day. I met with my hired askari who was to be my guard, and off we went in search of pundamilia! I was scared we weren’t going to find any because they have all dispersed now that the short rains have come, but we were able to find some within 45 minutes. It was a small herd of 6 (one stallion, 5 females), that I proceeded to follow for the next 2.5 hours before I lost sight of them in the woodland. I think I may have walked around 7 miles today, but thankfully it was overcast and not too hot. I love it here though…its beautiful at this time of year and really quiet and peaceful. We then got caught in what they call “the short rains” on the walk back to camp, but I like to think of it more as a torrential downpour because I looked like a drowned rat when I got back. Megan and I are camping at the assistant manager’s house with our tents and thankfully everything stayed dry, because my computer was in there!
My last couple days of data collection have gone well, but its really hard to track wild zebra! I usually meet my askari at 8am and we track zebra until 1pm when we come back for lunch, and then I usually go out again from 2-4pm. I’ve been getting better at figuring out what habitat types they prefer and where they are usually hanging out. Long hot days, but its worth it…the other day I was sooo lucky and was able to sit in the treehouse and watch as 40 zebra came and drank from the watering hole! Its been hard to find them because the short rains have started, so they don’t often come to the watering hole anymore, as other water sources are now more prevalent. My askari is awesome though. His name is Masha, and he doesn’t speak any English, but we manage to actually have conversations, and he teaches me all the names of the mountains and hills nearby and then quizzes me on them. He must also have amazing eyesight because he can spot zebra from about 800m away that are tucked behind trees…don’t know how he does it, but I’m lucky to have him! He mostly naps on a rock while I take data except there have been numerous times I have had to interrupt him and say ummm…pundamilia wanakimbia!! Which means, um..the zebra are all running away! So then we proceed to run after them for the next hour until they settle down and I can start data collection again. And I really need to start asking him which zebra is the stallion BEFORE I start collecting data because today I was able to do 2 hours worth of scans on a herd I had found and then 2 hours later he says something about the stallion and points…and its definitely not the zebra that I had identified. Probably going to have some skewed data considering I completely misidentified the stallion. (in my defense, its harder than you think! I’m looking through binoculars half the time). Woops.
Anyways, that’s what Megan and I are up to! Probably should mention that she is studying 2 orphaned elephants here, named Enkarsis and Riziki. I actually got the privilege to meet both elephants today…I was walking with my askari and Enkarsis came barging over and shoved her trunk in my face! I blew air into her trunk (apparently they like that) and held her trunk for a while. It was awesome…kind of scary as well though because Enkarsis is big and her trunk was rummaging around my hair and head. Although they are orphaned elephants, they are not kept in a pen or anything like that. They have handlers, but are allowed to associate with other wild elephants when they want and such. Anyways, it was a cool experience and I really hope to get pictures with them before I leave!
I somehow also managed to get a raging head cold my second day here…not sure how that happened because im in the middle of the African bush and its 95 F out every day but of course it happened to me.
Besides data collection, Megan and I have just been hanging out and doing lots and lots of reading! I already finished one book after being here for just 4 days. I read “The Life of Pi.” For anyone who hasn’t read it, I highly recommend it…it was a fantastic book. Good thing I have a couple more books to keep me entertained for the next 2 weeks! Megan and I have been well taken care of since we have been here…the assistant manager has a maid named Bahati who is our age but takes care of us like we are her children! She makes us this delicious ginger tea about 5 times a day, cooks all of our meals, and even washes our clothes! I swear my clothes have not been that clean since I have arrived here…I don’t know how she does it because they’re just washed in a bucket! I mentioned earlier that Megan and I are allowed to use the tented camp’s electricity/internet and the staff there are so nice to us as well. A couple of them are around my age so we have lots of fun just talking with them and practicing Kiswahili. We actually met a Tanzanian and his Belgian colleague yesterday in reception who were leading a birding tour and were chatting with them and they nicely bought Megan and I cokes and beer! I swear to god every single person we meet here is so genuinely friendly and interested in what we are doing. It was also funny because they had been up in Mazumbai Forest the day before (about a 7 hr drive from Ndarakwai) and had met Ellie and Ellen, 2 other girls on my program who are up there studying monkeys! They had stayed with them at the Swiss chalet and eaten dinner together. Small world, especially since Mazumbai is not a huge tourist destination (it only attracts about 100 visitors a year) and it is not close to Ndarakwai at all.
Gotta go, huge storm coming in and when it rains here it absolutely POURS. :)
Monday, November 1, 2010
hanging in Arusha
Its nutso right now in Arusha. The elections just happened, and Chadema (the opposition party and the underdog) just won Arusha! People are rioting in the streets, but its happy rioting. We were a little worried earlier because people were burning pictures of Kikwete (the current prez, and whose party CCM will definitely win this election) and so we thought they might bring the army out but luckily that didn’t happen. Final election results will come out in the next couple days, but it’s a given that CCM will win. But given whats been happening today, I’m def just going downstairs to get some chakula cha jioni (dinner) instead of going outside.
Anyways, that’s whats been happening here in arusha right now. All of us wanafunzi (students) are busy writing our final ISP proposals and gearing up to be on our own for the next month! We also have presentations on our data we collected in Serengeti. I talked to Peter Jones, the owner of Ndarakwai Ranch, today and I’m a little worried. The short rains have just started in Tanzania, so the zebra have been dispersing away from their permanent water source now that new ones are cropping up. I’m a little worried that it’ll be hard to find the zebra but I’m keeping my hopes up! I’m hiring a guard (called an askari) that carry a giant gun to basically protect me from black mambas and giant ACBs (African Cape Buffalo!) but they’re also a really valuable resource as well because they know the land so well, so I’m banking that he can help me find myself some pundamilia (zebra). Also a good way to practice my Swahili. Black mambas will literally CHASE you out of their territory and they can run faster than a human. PLUS they’re the deadliest snake in the world. Hell no am I going to go trekking through the bush trying to find zebras by myself.
…Um…what else…me and another student Megan will be camping at the assistant managers house for the 20 days we’re out there. We hired a cook for our stay…otherwise we’re on our own for data collection and running statistical tests and all that! Oh and megan and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving out in the bush, which is sad, because I would kill for a turkey sandwich right about now. Preferably on a bagel. With veggies. And herb cream cheese…
On a sadder note, this semester has been flying by….I’m sad to leave the group for a month! It is crazy to think we JUST have ISP yet…I remember being at Ndarakwai for Orientation and talking about ISP…I guess I’m coming full circle because I’m headed back there! I’m currently attempting to buy myself a ticket to Spain with Ellen after the program but we’ll see if that works out….otherwise I’ll be hitting up Zanzibar (island off of Tanzania on the Indian Ocean!) for 6 days after the program for some quality beach time with Ellen and Sula. There is another girl from Bucknell on the SIT Zanzibar program so we’re hoping to meet up there as well. And then its either off to Amsterdam or Alicante, Spain for a couple days before heading back to the snowy valley for Christmas!
Probably getting a little ahead of myself right now….Baadye!
Anyways, that’s whats been happening here in arusha right now. All of us wanafunzi (students) are busy writing our final ISP proposals and gearing up to be on our own for the next month! We also have presentations on our data we collected in Serengeti. I talked to Peter Jones, the owner of Ndarakwai Ranch, today and I’m a little worried. The short rains have just started in Tanzania, so the zebra have been dispersing away from their permanent water source now that new ones are cropping up. I’m a little worried that it’ll be hard to find the zebra but I’m keeping my hopes up! I’m hiring a guard (called an askari) that carry a giant gun to basically protect me from black mambas and giant ACBs (African Cape Buffalo!) but they’re also a really valuable resource as well because they know the land so well, so I’m banking that he can help me find myself some pundamilia (zebra). Also a good way to practice my Swahili. Black mambas will literally CHASE you out of their territory and they can run faster than a human. PLUS they’re the deadliest snake in the world. Hell no am I going to go trekking through the bush trying to find zebras by myself.
…Um…what else…me and another student Megan will be camping at the assistant managers house for the 20 days we’re out there. We hired a cook for our stay…otherwise we’re on our own for data collection and running statistical tests and all that! Oh and megan and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving out in the bush, which is sad, because I would kill for a turkey sandwich right about now. Preferably on a bagel. With veggies. And herb cream cheese…
On a sadder note, this semester has been flying by….I’m sad to leave the group for a month! It is crazy to think we JUST have ISP yet…I remember being at Ndarakwai for Orientation and talking about ISP…I guess I’m coming full circle because I’m headed back there! I’m currently attempting to buy myself a ticket to Spain with Ellen after the program but we’ll see if that works out….otherwise I’ll be hitting up Zanzibar (island off of Tanzania on the Indian Ocean!) for 6 days after the program for some quality beach time with Ellen and Sula. There is another girl from Bucknell on the SIT Zanzibar program so we’re hoping to meet up there as well. And then its either off to Amsterdam or Alicante, Spain for a couple days before heading back to the snowy valley for Christmas!
Probably getting a little ahead of myself right now….Baadye!
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