Week 6: the Archeology week, and returning to Dar

This was probably my least favorite week, but that’s because I was sick to my stomach for the majority of it. We went to Laetoli, Olduvai Gorge, Ngorongoro Crater (where we even saw a rhino!) and Lake Eyasi. On Sunday we drove back to Dar, which took about 12 hours or so.

I have mixed feelings about being back in Dar. It is insanely hot and muggy. Now that students are back on campus it is crowded. After living with everyone for so long, it feels odd to sometimes go days without seeing someone, and I miss having the whole group together. On the other hand, it is both mango and pineapple season. For lunch I eat a big plate of fruit (which costs less than a dollar) and my host family has pineapple for dessert after dinner. I’m very happy about this.



For Thanksgiving, a lot of us went out to dinner at Addis-in-Dar, an excellent Ethiopian restaurant. Four of us split a bunch of different dishes which were served on one giant piece of bread, which we ate with more of the bread. This was followed by coffee (real coffee, not the awful instant stuff that’s generally around) and ice-cream. All in all it was a delicious meal in a beautiful location with people I very much enjoy being around -- a very worthy Thanksgiving dinner.

Weeks 2-5 of the Field: the Research Weeks

We stayed at Zion Camp near the small town of Olasiti, about 6km from Tarangire National Park. This was definitely not a remote campsite with wild animals wandering around, sadly. Our group had a corner of the campsite (which is surrounded by a stone wall) to ourselves, where our fleet of tents was set up – we were 3 students to a tent. Additionally, we had a building for eating and such. Since that was one of the few places with shade, we spent a lot of time in there.



The first week was spent doing very little; projects didn’t start until the second week. My original idea didn’t work out, so I had to come up with a new idea that week. I had two main priorities: to get the experience of spending many hours observing animals, and to be able to work pretty independently. So I ended up watching birds at a puddle near the park entrance. I’m not sure how my paper will turn out, but I got what I wanted out of it: I got to spend a good 50 hours at the puddle and didn’t have to deal with park entrance fees, translators, having a spot in a car, etc. Moreover, since birds are more active in the early mornings, this gave me a great excuse to get up early every day. I’d wake up at 4.50am, get a sandwich from Eric, one of our fantastic cooks, hop the wall and be on my way by 5. It was still dark out by then, and the stars and moon were amazing. Over the course of the hour it took to walk to the puddle, it would slowly get lighter, and by the time I arrived at Tarangire, I’d see a gorgeous sunrise. Those mornings were probably my favorite times in the field. At first I’d go alone, but the last week or so other people came with, which made it all the more enjoyable.



Basically, each day felt really long, but the time went past very quickly overall. Most days were pretty similar (which isn’t a bad thing) but there were some really fun occasions too, like Halloween. We all dressed up as well as we could and each tent gave out some kind of a treat, and at the end of the evening we made a fire.

Week #1 of the Field

On October 10th the group met up in Arusha. It was so nice to see everyone again, and hear about people’s breaks. Everyone seemed to have done something amazingly fun! In Arusha we stayed at a place called Kundayo, which had a room with leather couches and a huge TV, as well as multiple seasons of “Sex and the City.” After a week of bus travel, lounging around watching trashy TV was very nice!



Our first destination was Manyara National Park, followed by Serengeti. In the campsite we stayed at there, there were hyenas that walked around at night. While walking to the bathroom to brush my teeth, I could see eyes moving around when my headlamp hit them. It was kind of spooky but awesome as well. During the days, we went on game drives and saw a ton of animals: lions, cheetahs, leopards, zebra, hippos, etc. One day we also went to a kopje and wandered around it for a while before going to see some Maasai rock paintings. There isn’t a whole lot to say about this week, but it was quite possibly my favorite time in Tanzania.

Fall Break

For fall break, I ended up travelling around by bus. I like bus rides, but I’m not sure spending 50+ hours on Tanzanian busses is an experience I’m going to want to repeat anytime soon… And if I do, I’ll choose a bus company based on something other than its name. But then again, how can you pass up riding on “Spider Bus”?



My first trip was from Dar to Mwanza, on Lake Victoria. The bus left at 6am and within the first five minutes narrowly avoided crashing into a car with a “baby on board” bumper sticker. I had a seat in the very front so could see out the front window, which turned out to be somewhat terrifying; busses here seem to spend half their time in the wrong lane! Every few hours we stopped for bathroom breaks and to buy food from various vendors. I got a bunch of passion fruit to complement the biscuits and chocolate I’d stocked up on before leaving. All in all, the trip was fairly uneventful until we got to the Kenyan border (the bus went via Nairobi). We were dropped off by the immigration office, and after getting a transit via, I went to board the bus again. It wasn’t there, but someone pointed to across the border. Crossing the border on foot, under an unbelievably beautiful starry sky was fun. About 10 meters into Kenya, though, I was stopped by two men who insisted I pay a “gate fee” of $25. That was of course total BS, and once I realized I wasn’t buying it, they switched from trying to scam me to being very helpful and helped me find the bus. The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful.



My next bus, “Air Jordan,” was far more exciting and much less comfortable. In the early morning the drivers burned incense, which I’ve never seen in a bus before. Mid-morning, the bus broke down. About 10 minutes later it was fixed. After another hour or so, it broke down again. This time it took about 2 hours to fix, but it was fairly enjoyable – we were in a small town where I could sit by the road and eat bananas from the market and read. In the early afternoon, we broke down again, this time in a bus station of sorts in some town. Here I could not get out, because I’d immediately have a swarm of people trying to sell stuff surrounding me. So I sat on the hot bus, trying to stay clear of the baby puke on the floor, and read and sweated. Six-ish hours later, we left, only to break down a 4th time shortly afterwards… Busses in Tanzania aren’t allowed to travel between midnight and 4am, so we spent those hours in Babati. People were sleeping on top of one another; I had a stranger’s head on each shoulder for most of those hours. By the time we finally got to Moshi, I was thoroughly exhausted but very happy.

Leaving for break!

Since the train didn't work out I'll be taking a bus instead. The longest bus ride I've taken so far was the 30-hour Greyhound trip I took from Baltimore - Grinnell to get to college my first year. Now I'll get to spend (at least) 36 hours on a bus, which should be interesting. Everyone I've talked to says the city I'll be going to, Mwanza, is really nice, so that should be fun too. I hope to spend a few days in Arusha as well. Aside from my bus ticket I haven't planned anything though, which gives me a lot of freedom to do whatever seems appealing at the time.

After the break we go into the field. The first and last weeks we're traveling around and visiting Serengeti, etc. which I'm super-excited for. The other four weeks will be spent in Tarangire working on our projects. I can't remember when I last went 7 weeks without internet. It should be interesting...

Preparing for break

In a few days our fall break starts; this is our last week of classes, which feels really odd. My plans for break are still pretty hazy, so I went downtown yesterday to try to find out some more information. It’s funny how it can take 4 hours (four very tiring hours) to find out the kind of stuff it would take me ten minutes to find online if I were traveling in Europe or the US. Up-to-date websites with timetables have always seemed an obvious feature of travel, not a luxury. I can’t believe that I’m feeling nostalgic for Greyhound now – that says something about how frustrating today has been!

I started from campus, took a daladala to Mwenge and a bus to Posta, which took more than an hour. From the bus stop I walked to the tourist information office and asked for the train schedule. They didn’t have it so tried to call the ticket office, but there was no answer. So instead they gave me a map and directions to the station. It’s closed between 1and 2pm though, so I spent some time at a café eating a piece of chocolate cake with ice cream and reading in a guide book. Got to the train station at a bit past two pm, and asked someone in what appeared to be the ticket office if I could get a ticket to the city Mwanza. His reply was simply “no.” That somewhat surprised me, as the (2010 edition!) guide book clearly says this train goes there three times a week, and moreover, I’m not used to someone answering a reasonable question with one word, spoken with great finality. I tried to prod a bit more, and he eventually pointed me to an office, where a somewhat more helpful woman told me to go to some other office. So I followed her directions and went through a dubious-looking gate, asked some people sitting around, and found it. The man I asked there was nice and seemed happy enough to try to answer my questions, although I’m not entirely sure he understood what I was asking, or that what he answered is entirely correct. It seems that the Central Line no longer goes to Mwanza, and only goes to Tabora (from where I thought I might be able to catch a bus) once a week. Tickets can only be bought on Mondays?! And they only have 3rd class tickets. The details are irrelevant--- point is, my plan to take the train is not about to happen.

Feeling rather disappointed, I went back to the tourist information and asked for bus timetables. The guy there, Joel, was extremely helpful and although it took forever, I left with a sheet of hand-written notes with information on various bus lines, where their offices are, the departure times, prices, etc. as well as a friendly note cautioning me to go straight to the ticket counters and to not “negotiate with anybody outside the office.” By that time it was past 3pm and I was exhausted as I’ve been sick and get tired really fast, so I decided to wait until after class today to go to Ubungo Bus Station, which luckily is very close to campus. The trip to town was somewhat exasperating, but at least it ended well – to get on the bus to Mwenge, I had to jog along beside it for a few meters and then jump into the open doorway. That kind of chaos just doesn’t exist back home. Busses usually wait to leave the stop (and they only stop at designated, well-marked spots) until everyone is seated – you’d never be able to launch yourself into a moving bus.

This week we’re living with host families instead of in the dorms. It’s nice to get a chance to meet our families now before the field, so we’ll know what to expect when we come back. So far, I love my host family. They are incredibly nice and I feel very comfortable living here. The daughter (my host-sister, I guess?) is awesome, and the three of us ACM students living here spent yesterday evening playing games and watching a movie with her. It was such a fun evening! It is so nice to be living in a family, and to wake up to the sounds of a home instead of a dorm. I enjoyed living in the dorms and will miss that time a lot, but there is something very comforting about being in a family, especially one as warm and welcoming as this one.

Zanzibar

This past weekend we went to Zanzibar – a perfect end to four weeks of intensive Swahili classes! The first day we had a guided tour of the town. Stone Town is very different from Dar. The streets are really narrow and don’t seem to follow any sort of pattern whatsoever. I have a terrible sense of direction but usually get pretty good at getting around once I’ve had a chance to wander around an area for a while, but even after three days I would not have been able to get from our hotel to the waterfront on my own without getting lost.

The second day we went to a spice farm, which was really cool. Seeing how some of my favorite spices, like cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla, pepper, etc. grow and what they look like as plants was fun. One of the books I was reading this summer, “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan, talks about how so many people in the US can’t recognize fresh vegetables because they’re so used to processed foods. There have always been gardens and real foods in my family so I’m fairly familiar with what vegetables look like, but it wasn’t until on Zanzibar that I even realized how ignorant I am of spices. So I’m very glad to have seen them now! It was also fun to be able to buy some spices from the farm. They were slightly more expensive than in the spice market in Stone Town, but the fact that I have actually been to the place they’re produced far outweighs the slight difference in price. I’m excited to try them out at home! After the spice farm we went to Jozani forest and saw Red Colobus Monkeys. They were very used to people so we could get within a few feet of them. They’re beautiful, and very different from the vervets on campus.

The third day, we went snorkeling. It was fantastic! I was a bit nervous at first, since I’m somewhat afraid of living things in the water and the whole purpose of snorkeling is to look at living things. After the first few minutes of twitching at the sight of a fish and envisioning sharks sneaking up on me I ended up loving it though. I wish I knew more about corals and the fish that live in them. I could recognize clown fish, and a few others that I’ve seen in aquariums or movies before but have no idea what they’re called. We were out there for about two hours, but I could have stayed for several more. Simply floating and looking down at things was fascinating, and it was lots of fun to swim with the flippers. A few times I tried to join a group of fish, and while some of them seemed a bit freaked out at a giant creature following them, others mostly ignored me and I could swim along with them for a bit. Snorkeling was a wonderful conclusion to a highly enjoyable weekend.