tanzania. a story. mbili

MBILI

Arriving in Tanzania

An email back to the family:

Hamjambo familia! And then you would say “hatujambo Francie”!

I arrived in Tanzania the night of January 21st. We walked out of the small airport with our bags to be met by the cloudy night sky and our program group. Baba Jack and Oscar are the two main men in charge of us. Baba Jack is a United States citizen but he has lived here in Tanzania for 17 years. Oscar is Tanzanian born and raised and before working for Students in International Training (my study abroad program) he worked for the government in the national parks.

Some other beginning ideas: all of Tanzania’s land is owned by the government. This being said, how do the 120 different tribes claim the land they inhabit? Well, they can lease the land for 999 years if they would like.

Another thing… You will see that I call people Mama _____ or Baba _____. For example, my academic director here is Baba Jack, but his name is Reese Matthews. In Tanzania when you have a child you then adopt the name of Baba (father) then the child’s name or Mama (mother) and the child’s name. So, my mom and dad would be Mama Tunkie and Baba Tunkie. The first born (especially if a son) will be featured in the parents’ new names. But if I was the first born we’d call my parents Mama Francie and Baba Francie. Some families take their son’s name even if they first gave birth to a daughter.

Now taking us back to my first night in Tanzania! … We herded ourselves onto a bus and began our 2-hour drive to the Nadarakwai game reserve where our campground was located. It sat just west of Mt. Kilimanjaro. This land serves as a corridor for three national parks. Twenty-three students in this group piled onto a bus, peed on the side of the road, held tight as we got pulled out of the mud by a Land Rover, and poured off of that bus as a new unit.

Once we arrived at the campsite, we put our stakes in the ground and set up our tents. Dinner came next. Vegetable soup and pasta. Most of our dinners at camp begin with soup and bread, followed by meat, rice, veggies, and fruit.

The next morning, January 22nd 2016, we woke up at 6am and watched the sun rise over Mt. Kilimanjaro while Vervet monkeys ran around in front of us. The monkeys would wander around camp reminding me of squirrels back home. Baba Jack and Oscar took us on a walk to one of the hills outside of our campsite. We crossed a small river by climbing a tree and then walking across a log. Once at the top of the hill I could look with my binoculars and see zebras, grand gazelle, and baboons below. You can tell a zebra apart from other horse-like ungulates by the way it flicks its tail. With us walked a guard. The guard was there to serve the wildlife, not so much us. He wore a deep green uniform and hat with dark brown, leather boots. Of course he carried a rifle with him as well. For the rest of the day, Baba Jack and Oscar kept our attention telling stories and jokes, keeping us awake to help with the time change.

They also gave us all presents - our first textile in Tanzania. The girls, all twenty of us, were gifted khangas - rectangular pieces of fabric decorated with unique patterns and colors. Women wear khangas as skirts, shirts, hats, and use it as a tool as well. The three boys got similar pieces of clothing. This was Friday.

Kila wakati ni wakati wa chai! AKA: every time is tea time! This is a very common saying in Tanzania and we had tea two times a day.

Journal entry:

January 22 2016 – Friday – Day 2

Technically today is my first day in Africa. I slept in my tent surrounded by the sounds of Africa. I awoke around 6am and saw the sun rise over Mt. Kilimanjaro. The sky was pink, orange and then blue as the sun rose abruptly over the horizon. Then… baboons! Wild baboons -- so far away. We are in the Ndarakwai Camp.

I feel good. I feel excited and supported. I’m muddy too :)

We are in the wild. My fellow students are so kind and friendly, I’m excited to get to know them. Why would I want to be anywhere else?

The air is so fresh, moist, filling my mouth and lungs with the tastes and scents of Tanzania.

I feel like a part of the system here. That my place is here. This is only the first day but already I can’t imagine leaving.

Amazing! I woke up in Tanzania today. To know the organisms, their names, their habits, behaviors… their lives… that is my dream – my goal.

12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. This is already an amazing, breathtaking adventure.

Our boundaries and guards (if any) dissolved quickly. We dive now into friendships, knowledge, and new experiences. I will be in this moment. I will reflect on what I see, hear, taste, touch, learn, feel.

Journal entry:

January 23 2016 – Saturday – Day 3

5:50 AM:

I’m proud of myself for making sleeping in a tent work so well. I’m on uneven ground but I am still sleeping well!

The food is wonderful. I took a shower in a basin yesterday. Naked under the strong African sun I raised a cup of water over my head over and over. It felt good to be clean.

Yesterday we walked out into the Ndarakwai game reserve to the top of a hill. With my binoculars, I could see Grand Gazelle with baboons, zebras (identifiable from afar by the flick of their tail), and impala. I am looking forward to seeing what today has in store for us.

The next morning, January 24th 2016, was Sunday. When I woke up, I looked out of my zipped tent to watch the moon set while the sun took its place. We went to a church service with the Masaai people soon after waking. The three-hour service was filled with dancing and Kiswahili, which I am slowly but surely learning how to speak. Afterwards, with very little in our stomachs from a rather small breakfast (I cannot remember why so small) we took the safari jeeps to a local restaurant where we were seated around 3 long tables, creating three groups.

We were all served beers and soda as we waited for whatever food was coming our way. We were hungry. The fact that we were sat at different tables became significant as soon as Mike showed up. I would soon come to know Mike as a rather well-known figure in the societies we would visit along our journeys here. He promptly challenged each table to drink fifths of the “Spirit of the Nation,” or Konyagi. It’s clear color and my blatant naivety led me to believe this was my good friend Vodka. Honestly, I am not sure why it would have made a difference which spirit I was drinking. Alas.

Mike poured each of us our own glass full of Konyagi—no, these were not shot glasses, but small water glasses. For some reason, probably the rush of the trip and excitement to drink with my pears, I thought that since the alcohol was Vodka I’d be able to drink a lot of it with no problems. Again, I’m not sure why I was acting so nonchalant about this.

Soon I was tipsy and even sooner I was seriously drunk. Glass after glass of the Konyagi flowed down our throats. The empty bottles clinked against each other, sitting proudly at the center of our respective tables. Another clink marked another triumph for our team. Only then, after our stomachs were flooded with the Spirit of Tanzania, did communal plates of meat and vegetables appear before us. It was not only too little too late, but it was simply too little! I could have used at least an entire loaf of bread to myself at that point.

Suddenly, as my mind jumped between coherent moments, I found myself sitting at another table explaining to one of our crew members, Simba, the geography of America. And if anyone is familiar with the educational system in the US, you’d know that we seriously lack and ironically lack in this department. Despite having a shallow understanding of the geographical set up of our country, I found myself trying to explain (most likely inaccurately) the proximity of Tennessee, my home state, and Mississippi, Baba Jack’s home state, to this Tanzanian.

The lucid moment passes until I reappear in another. The two memories are spliced together like an edited film missing the transition scenes. Now I’m sitting in the Jeep with another crew member, Brenda, telling her how glad I was to know her.

The African sun lit up the world around me but my drunken state hindered my understanding of it.

We made it back to the campsite at Ndarakwai and my next memory is a fellow student, who had smuggled marijuana infused chocolate into the country, popping a melted piece of the treat into my mouth.

Along with a few more students, I decided to go watch the monkeys that shared this site with us. With my friends Tori, Hannah, and Carolyn, I went on a walk to “monkey village” which is what we decided to name the cement houses just a couple meters from our campsite where the monkeys would sit on the roof all day. I remember that I was not feeling my best and was not sure what was next in store for me.

And that’s it. That is all I remember of that day. The sun was still up when my brain decided that its main focus was survival and not memory storage.

Early the next morning I woke up entirely confused, nauseated, and sweating from the rising African sun already raising the temperature dramatically within the green fabric walls of my tent. Unzipping first the right side and then the left side entrances to my tent, I realized I had definitely stuck my head out and gotten sick during the night.

But, to my utter delight, there was absolutely no trace of sickness inside of my tent. I had instead, in my absolute incoherent state, decided to use my new safari hat as a receptacle and spared myself the torture that would be soiling my home for the next five months. Needless to say, the whole day to come was quite unbearable. I could not keep anything down.

Sweet Faust, my new friend and one of the three young men on the trip, came by my tent, where I resided most of the day despite it baking in the sun, to give me his freshly wetted bandana which I draped across my throbbing forehead. I was not the only one feeling so miserable. Many of us were impatiently waiting for the pain to dissipate and allow us to become real people again.

Journal entry:

January 25 2016 – Monday – Day 5

2:45 PM:

Yesterday we went to a local church. Three-hour service—wow. But, very interesting nonetheless. I’m slowly learning Kiswahili. Hujambo. Sijambo. Ndege means bird.

On Saturday, we went out with Alex Eustace, the bird expert, on a bird field study. Today I’ll go out with Oscar to conduct a wildlife field study!

There are three Tanzanian young women, 22 year olds, that are here too as a part of our crew. Brenda, Tina, and Glory. I have spent some time getting to know Glory, she’s very nice and fun to talk to.

Monday, we were back to work in our groups. This day I went to a nearby Masaai village and afterwards went out into the reservation with Oscar for wildlife watching.

At the Masaai village, we were welcomed by children in ragged clothing with flies all over their faces. I have noticed that it is common here to not bat away flies like we do in the US. Flies, perhaps, are a more typical part of life. Rarely do I see Tanzanians flinch when one lands on their arm or leg. The Maasai women, dressed in vibrantly colorful robes, had hung their handmade jewelry and items on the bush and each student spent 10,000 shillings that went straight to the Mamas. 10,000 shillings is equivalent to about 5 USD.

After purchasing from the Mamas, we were welcomed into the Mama’s homes in groups. A few students and myself entered Mama Maria’s home. Her home, or Boma, was made of logs, cow dung, and dirt with a grass roof. My eyes had to adjust to how dark it was as the home only had one small hole close to the ground in each room serving as a light source as well as a way to get the smoke out of the house when they cooked inside of it as was their culture. I sat on Mama Maria’s bed. It was similar to a raft, many logs tied together with a cowhide laid on top. It was stiff and had beetles and bugs crawling across its length. The air was full of dirt and smoke and as I looked down at my feet I realized that this also serves as the room in which she cooks.

Mama Maria was a beautiful woman with kind eyes and a child latched to her breast. Samuel, who speaks the tribal language kiMaa, translated her questions about our lives and our questions about hers. We learned that she lives there with her husband and 3 children. Her daughter joined us inside the home and we learned she was approaching her 15th year of life and preparing to be married.

It was a very intense experience and it served to not only show us this culture but gave us a slight insight into the week when we will live with a Masaai family in March. As we exited Mama Maria’s home we saw children walking home from school, balancing tens of sticks on their heads that they had collected for their family’s fire as they made their long walk back from the schoolhouse.

Journal entry:

It’s hard to believe I’ve only been here since Thursday night, but I’m not complaining. Tomorrow we go to Arusha! And stay in a hotel! It’s been fun becoming acquainted with the other 22 students here. There’s Tori, Faust, Hannah O, Carolyn, Hannah L, Hannah B, Anna, three Becca’s, Sam, Ryan, Amy, Carolyn, Cara, Haley, Amanda, Urvi, Liv, Anahi, Kate, and Jessie. 20 girls and 3 guys. Quite the ratio.

First Look at Arusha, Our Home Base

Journal entry

January 29 – Friday / Ijuma – Day 9

We’ve been in Arusha since Tuesday living at Klub Afriko. … Every morning we wake up and have breakfast here at 7:30. My stomach settled and it makes me happy! Then we have Kiswahili lessons until about noon. Then we are free to go find lunch wherever.

We take a cab or the Dala Dala where they stuff so many people in a little bus [or rather minivan]. We can go to the office and snag some Wi-Fi and contact people. Today we found out where we will be staying for 3 weeks in the Bangata homestay! My family looks so sweet.

… Tomorrow we go to Tarangire National Park! So psyched!! Can't’ wait to see what it has in store.

Tarangire National Park

January 30th we made it to the park and set up camp. This was different from the first week at Ndarakwai as we were at a public campground and we shared the space with other visiting groups.

After we set up camp we got to “go be tourists” and go on safari! What I saw was breathtakingly beautiful. As we drove through this land we saw stunning wild animals. Giraffes ate from the tall acacia trees and peered curiously at us in our safari cars over the tops of branches. When they walk and gallop they appear to be moving gracefully—almost in slow motion. The same can be said to describe how the elephants moved. Truly huge creatures the elephants were with their strong, white tusks reaching out in front of their faces. They were gliding across the savanna and lifting grass into their mouths with their long gray trunks. Other animals we admired were the baboons, more Vervet monkeys, and birds galore.

The Baobab trees are also amazing evolutionary creations. These trees are GIGANTIC. There’s an old tale that the trees angered God and so he reached down and plucked them from the group and shoved them upside down back in the ground. They look like this could be the story of their origin with their branches coming out at the very top of the trunk and expanding similarly to that of underground roots. Sometimes the trees have large holes in the trunks that can be referred to as “poacher holes.” These holes are named this for when poachers were being chased by guards in the park and suddenly disappeared it was because they were dipping into the holes in the Baobab trees to avoid capture.

We took plenty of pictures, but also put down our cameras and took in the beauty of this place through our own eyes and solidified it into our minds. The memories of this place have faded over the seven years since I saw them, but my memories of the vivid colors of the grass and the details of the creatures and their habitat remain strong in my mind.

That night I awoke to the sound of loud, deep rumbling. As I started to wake up a little more and tried to discern the source, I realized it was lions roaring to each other in the night. An amazing and surprisingly not at all frightful experience during my first night in Tarangire. The rains came too that night and it was something special to be sleeping in my tent while rain poured over the top and wind blew against the sides, feeling like I may be picked right up and travel into the African storm.

During our 5 days at Tarangire, we were divided into 4 groups to conduct field studies during the morning, focusing on our specific group species and thinking like biologists. In the afternoon, we again got to go and “be tourists” and take pictures of the wildlife. The groups we were assigned to were ruminants, non-ruminants, birds, and elephants. Seeing as I am interested in possibly studying primate behavior for my independent study project, I was placed into the non-ruminant group. With 5 other students and 2 wildlife experts we set off in the safari cars in the morning. We observed the habitat type, sex, age, and behaviors of the non-ruminants we saw. Some of the non-ruminants we saw were warthog (Ngiri in Kiswahili), baboons, vervet monkeys, and banded or pygmy mongoose (and cheetah and leopard even though these were just single, solitary sightings and not thereby included in our studies). We came back to camp after a few hours in the field and presented our findings to the rest of the group.

The bird group got up and going at 6am each morning since the birds weren’t out as much once it got too hot. During their time at Tarangire they spotted more than 100 different bird species. And all so different in size, song, color, and beak.

One day while studying non-ruminants we got a flat tire. We all got out of the safari car and waited while the driver Julius impressively changed it. As we were just waiting in the African sun another safari car drove up and told us that just across the way there was a cheetah! Once the tire was changed we drove a couple hundred meters and saw the beautiful, relaxed, wild cheetah sleeping in the shade of an acacia tree. This is a lucky and rare thing to see a cheetah, as many of you may know.

Later that day, while “being tourists,” we found a herd of elephants and in between two adult elephants was a tiny newborn calf, no more than a few hours or even minutes old! It was so fresh, tiny, and new. Stumbling around and fiercely protected by a fortress of two adult elephants.

Further down the road as we approached camp we passed one of the water holes. In it were 3 elephants. One was enjoying his day, completely submerging himself in the water and trumpeting under the surface. He was playful and funny to watch. The other two were not so relaxed. Instead they were fighting, not to wound each other, but to determine dominance. They trumpeted and used their tusks and trunks to push and shove each other. What a sight!

Words cannot do justice to describe the things I have seen and felt so far on this trip. And to think it’s only been 16 days.

The day before we left the park, Baba Jack took us to a luxurious resort located within the park to enjoy the awesome view and take a dip in their pool. On the way there we were lucky enough to see a leopard perched high in a Baobab tree looking out over its homeland. Another rare and amazing sight.

Journal entry:

February 2 2016 – Tuesday – Day 13

Mother nature! It’s just been thirteen days? Wow. I can’t believe it. So much has happened but also so little.

… We went to a pool at the beautiful resort or hotel and the lookout onto Tarangire was spectacular.

A beautiful day it was. Words do not contain the beauty and the experience. We saw a leopard in a Baobab tree too! Amazing. And yesterday we saw two “fighting” elephants (doing so to establish dominance) and a cheetah AND a newborn elephant.

When we got back that evening we found out from other people at the site that a herd of elephants had come through our campsite and inspected our tents! They put the trunks under our tents and sniffed around. Hah!

The food continues to be great and leaves us smiling and full. The Tanzanian experts and Baba Jack are wonderful teachers and collaborators and we are all learning so much about the history of Tanzania, the parks, and the wildlife all around us.

The day we left Tarangire we first met with the Chief Warden of the park to hear of the issues and successes they have experienced. From a combination of conversations I had with Tanzanians, Baba Jack, fellow students, and then this meeting, I have learned very much about how the parks came to be and the impacts of Western conservation efforts on the land and the people of Tanzania. The parks, although serving a great purpose to protect wildlife, have done so by displacing hundreds of communities and changing entire ways of life by cutting off parts of the land that have been vital to those people for thousands of years. It is sometimes uncomfortable, but entirely necessary, to think about my place here, the impact of my presence, and the place of western thinking in Tanzania as it has had many consequences for the Tanzanian people. The parks do produce 25% of the GDP of this country, as Baba Jack told us, but at what cost to the people it has displaced or deprived land from? The conversation continues as I try to find where I fit here and where conservation fits in this world and exactly what it means to conserve wildlife on this planet.

After we packed up camp and waved goodbye to Tarangire, we continued our journey to Mto Wa Mbu (said as if it is one word and, of course, all the letters are pronounced), “River of Mosquitos”, the village of Lake Manyara National Park. This time our campsite, called Twiga Campsite or “Giraffe” Campsite, was in the village but surrounded by tall cement walls. It also had guest houses which people can stay in for $25 a night. It was quite a luxurious spot compared to our previous accommodations. I set up my tent under a large fig tree and went swimming in the pool we were lucky enough to have at our campsite!

Then we joined up with some local tour guides to show us around the village. We saw the rice fields, banana farms (ndizi means banana), tasted banana wine of the Chaga tribe, visited and supported local painters, and saw the wood carvings of the Mozambique people.

The local artists carve beautiful sculptures of ebony under the shade of the banana trees, not taught by a formal curriculum but instead the knowledge is passed down from expert elders to the young artists. The ebony wood is recovered after storms or herds of elephants go through the forests. They can collect fallen branches or trees but it is unlawful for anyone to cut down the wood themselves.

February 4 2016 – Thursday – Mto Wa Mbu – Day 15

[At our camp site] they had treated water so you could drink from any hose or faucet! We tasted banana wine which surprisingly didn’t taste like bananas whatsoever. I’ve been getting to know everyone pretty well.

… We ventured to Lake Manyara National Park and studied the non-ruminants. We saw troops of hundreds of baboons. One had found a plastic water bottle.

There we saw troops of at least 200 baboons and conducted focal studies (where we each chose to observe one individual either a male, female, or sub-adult and record behavioral information). I also saw the species Blue Monkey that I had never seen before! We watched hippos bathing in the sun and zebras grazing in the plains. After a few hours in the park we went back to where we were staying and enjoyed some more time to relax and read our book on globalization and conservation in Tanzania. There was a tortoise that walked around eating grass at the campsite. What a life. Later that night we went to a local disco and finally got to dance our hearts out! I know I needed the chance to dance for a couple of hours. Tanzanian music is fun. And dance is certainly a universal language.

The other students here are super sweet and kind and I feel really lucky to be here with them. Every day is surreal and indescribable, but I will continue to do my best to describe my time here.

This place is so beautiful. I laugh out loud sometimes just because I’m in such disbelief! This is my study abroad, this is my school right now. I love it. I feel very stable and good about things.