Moyo Hill Camp – Day 13 – 2/17/11
I was the MOD (stand for something I can’t remember) which means I get to ring the bell for meals, classes, and remind the other students of what we are doing that day/give out instructions from professors etc. Think first grade chores all over again. Started this morning with Swahili class followed by Wildlife Management (still my favorite class) and finished off with lunch. Lunch was wonderful today. We had salad, hummus and raw veggies. Nothing special just dark leafy greens, raisins and tomatoes. I thought I might weep with gratitude. Who would have guessed that I would miss raw veggies so much? Anyways the afternoon was very cool for two reasons. One we had another Wildlife Management class and second because that WM class was taught by an associate faculty of SFS who does research on lions on Tarangire National Park. Unfortunately the lecture he taught was not super interesting but talking to him about his research and working in national parks after the class was fascinating.
By this time it was late afternoon and I was contemplating reading more of my book or doing homework (and leaning very heavily toward the former) when I was hailed by a group of students. They were taking their fabric down to the tailor and did I want to come along? So I grabbed my lengths of fabric that I had purchased at the market and ran to catch up. Turns out the tailor only lives three houses down from our camp. Soft spoken with his left eye filmy white from an accident years before, he took us to a shaded porch on the side of his house to get our orders. Everyone had different fabric and wanted different things done so it was not a fast process. I excitedly ordered two wrap skirts for 16,000 shillings total. They will be ready sometime next week. That evening at dinner I read a quote (a reflection of some sort is required from all MODs) from one of my favorite books A Far Off Place by Laurens van der Post.
“There then, high as they were, on a dune that was higher than the one which had given them their first glimpse of the desert, the view stretched so wide and far that it made them silent and particularly solumn. It was almost as if taking in the view was a whole-time occupation, demanding all their senses and powers of definition to contain it. Moreover the day, dying peacefully, was summoning all that there was of colour and delicacy of tone in nature to accompany its going, and render the end as gentle and loving as possible.”
I spoke about how lucky we are to be here, the great teachers, the unique students that have all gathered here, and the community beyond our gate that has never experienced the luxury we are so use to and how much of a difference we can make in just the few short weeks that we are here. It was not the best reflection ever done but it got the job done. Homework then off to bed
Moyo Hill Camp – Day 14 – 2/18/11
Got up early this morning and did yoga with one of my roommates and a couple other students. It was really nice since I went to breakfast much more awake and looser than usual. After breakfast everyone loaded the land cruisers and we headed to a nearby town called Kilimatembo (tembo means elephant but I have no idea what the rest of it means) for a field exercise in our environmental policy class. Here we got to meet and talk with a local microfinance group. This group’s members gather all their share money together and put it in the bank since individually they don’t have enough money to start a bank account. From there members can get loans from the bank mostly for farming loans or to fund the start up of a small shop or whatever. They of course must pay the loan back with the banks interest plus a few extra percent for the rest of the group as well. The chairperson and several board members answered our questions for about an hour and a half before we headed back to camp for lunch. I have attented meetings of this sort once already here in Africa as well as a few times in the US. The one thing that really struck me on this particular occasion was the one tractor plowing the field across the valley from where we were sitting in the shade. I realized that it was the first piece of machinery I had seen in Africa that was not a land cruiser, motorbike, or cooking appliance! In the US during the spring I can hardly go anywhere within a 5 mile radius of my house without getting slowed down by a tractor, and farmers on either side of our property are always cutting or baling their hay. It was really funny to think that of all the farms I have seen or walked past none of them had tractors.
This afternoon we had another WM (Wildlife Management) class and watched a film in the later part of the afternoon on the issues facing conservation in Africa. Controversial topics like culling, trophy hunting, wildlife ranching, and national park fencing were all included and left the class with much to think about. After the class another girl and I were discussing the film and she said “You know, we keep crowding the animals more and more, and talking about how to conserve them yet not interfere with the ever growing human population. Why don’t they reverse it? These animals have been here far longer than us, why do they always have to sacrifice? Why don’t we introduce human population control and try to rebalance the ancient scale before we screwed everything up?” It was an interesting thought that had neverd occurred to me. Sure the injustice of shoving the animals into smaller and smaller areas until we are forced to kill them to keep them from starving has never seemed a good system. But the idea of active human population control? Not realistic I know but it was an interesting idea to toss around none the less. Tomorrow we go for our second game drive this time in Tarangire National Park!!!!
Tarangire National Park – 2/19/11
Fantastic day! Breakfast was a half hour earlier and we were on our way by 7am. I was feeling fortunate because the Wildlife Ecology professor was driving our land cruiser so we had a great source of knowledge trapped in the vehicle with us for us to pepper with questions. We drove through the now familiar towns, down the hill past Lake Manyara National Park, and finally made a right onto a different road and into new territory. The landscape was pretty much the same. Small clusters of mud or metal sheet shelters (aka town) with men, women and children sitting around or going about their errands, many herds of goats and cattle watched by young boys in the open spaces, and lots of carts and bicycles going both directions on the road. As we got closer to the park fewer and fewer towns or communities were seen until just open shrubland was to be seen on either side of the road.
The entrance to the park is a large green rectangular metal arch with Tarangire National Park in green letters across the top. While the drivers/staff organized our going into the park, we all hopped out for one last bathroom break. Piling back into the car I organized my camera and binoculars and helped open the hatches in the roof so we could stand up and look out as we drove. At last we pull out through a gate and enter the actual park. Immediately we saw several large herds of impala, waterbuck, and many families of warthogs. The other great thing about our WE professor is that he drives fast. In general I always feel like I’m missing so much because we are in a car and not on the ground. However to stand up and barrel along the track with the wind whistling and the landscape flying past…..well it was awesome. This did not go on for long but it was really fun. Anyways we turned right onto another track that would take us deeper into the park. Here we began going very slow as we were completing an assignment for our Wildlife Management class. We would count and record all the animals we saw for 2km, break for 500m before beginning to count for the next 2km. The exercise was not thrilling but we did see some great animals such as: jackel, black-tipped mongoose, secretary bird, huge herds of elephants, lots of giraffes, more herds of waterbuck and impala, and one steinbuck. One highlight was seeing a baby waterbuck. It was covered in fluffy tan hair with big fuzzy ears that stood straight up when looking in our direction. We also saw three baby giraffes and close to ten baby elephants over the course of the day. We saw lots of animals early on in our assignment but then we went through several 2km sections without seeing any animals we could record (birds were not counted). While this was disappointing the scenery was amazing and I never got tired of looking at it. Huge Baobab trees, endless bushland, and nothing in any direction that resembles human encroachment. Toward the end of our assignment we were very far out in the park when we came across the Tarangire River with a seven member elephant family making its way down the opposite hill toward it. Kioko (WE professor) turned the car off and watched through our binoculars as they got to the river, took brief showers, and crossed to our side and begin eating grass and acacia leaves. The two babies in the group were philosophical about the water and equally serious about eating until they got sleepy and lay down under a tree for a nap, one group member of course standing by as the babysitter.
It was a bit after 12 by the time we got to the safari lodge. This lodge was the lap of luxury in the middle of the bush. Comprised of two connected, large, high ceilinged, round, thatched areas one set up as a buffet and dining area, and the other as a lounge area (comfy chairs/couches) and bar. Outside (opposite side of parking) was a beautifully laid stone patio that gave a breathtaking view of the bush below and stretching far, far into the distance. The Tarangire River was part of the view and the herd of elephants we had been watching we easily visible as well as two other larger groups well spaced within our panorama view. I opted to eat the buffet despite its expense and I was not sorry. The food was good (not exceptional) but there was a much greater selection of veggies and dessert plus I could go back as often as I wanted. Needless to say I ate my moneys worth. The other bonus of this lodge was its pool. Yes it was green and so deep we could not see the bottom at one end, but it was cold and I could swim in it. A group of us spent about an hour splashing around, playing pool games, and testing the very hot slide into the pool. I was pleased to see when I got out that I was only mildly burned on my shoulders when I got out despite my lack of sunscreen. Dressed and rejoining the others who had opted not to swim we realized something. While we had been eating and swimming the last cruiser of people had still not arrived. We were told they were stuck in the mud somewhere but were going to be here soon. After waiting quite a while (I was still enjoying the view from the patio) we loaded the cruisers that were there while several of our staff and some park staff got in a huge jeep contraption to go find our missing group members and pull them out of the mud. Yay extra game drive for us! Again we wandered down the track and soon came across an group of elephants. Car off, binoculars up and we watched as they slowly browsed their way toward us. Soon they were only a few meters away and Kioko began telling us about what we were seeing such as which was the dominant female, which babies were female vs male, why certain ones were on the very edges of the group etc. We wandered some more and still no sign of our missing members. It began getting dark, so we headed out of the park with wonderful clouds and sun light before us (oh yeah lots of pics of sky and clouds). At the park exit we stopped and got out to wait for the final cruiser to arrive. We walked around the tourist welcome area and I found a great spot on the egde where I could watch the huge herd (more than 30) of impala, two distant giraffes, and five waterbuck that were grazing/browsing on the grassland beyond. After more waiting and radioing back and forth it was decided that one of the cruisers would go back into the park and pick up the students at the other cruiser while they tried to get unstuck. The other students did eventually arrive, tired and covered in mud from hours of pushing and pulling on their cruiser. Apparently the road they were supposed to be doing animal counts on was very badly affected by the recent heavy rains which resulted in their getting stuck 16 times starting about 15 minuets after entering the park and continuing all day. Besides pictures of them covered in mud, walking in mud and playing in mud, there were pictures of the underwater road, lion tracks they came across and the long distance they walked to get to the rescue cruiser. Finally all the vehicles were out and the exiting began. We left the park four hours later than originally planned and made it back to camp two hours late for dinner. Overall it was a great day. I never want to come home when I am in these amazing places and seeing these incredible animals. I’m trying to take in as much as possible and still I feel like I am not getting half of what is around me, there is just so much. On each of these trips I get more and more excited for our camping trip at the end of March to Sarengeti. One step at a time I guess. So on that note I’m off to bed so I can get up and write my last paper J
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