Kigoma and Internet!

So today (31st August) we made the 4 hour drive from camp to our closest town of Kigoma. It was my first time driving and it was in the other vehicle which is pretty much identical to Tinkerbell excet its called Daisy. It handles well! The roads are extremely bumpy so it was far from a smooth journey (only the last 40 minutes or so is on tarmac). We hit one bump in particular (that I didnt see) that sent sam 2 feet off her seat. Was actually very funny. The car is fine thankfully and the lesson is learnt.

Had a shower today which was quite surreal after bathing out of a bucket at the river for the last month.

Have quite a lot to do here in the next three days before heading back to camp on the 2nd. Will probably update this before I leave.

Hope you are all well.

Friday 26th August

Havnt updated the blog for a while. Im nearing the end of my first month in Tanzania and so far so good! The responsibilities at camp have started to kick in which has kept me busy. Havnt seen the chimps since that first encounter, which I have already described, bar a few glimpses of black limbs disappearing into the jungle. Sadly most of the time they see us before we see them.

Im starting to learn my way around the forest as well which is great. I went out on my own yesterday afternoon so I could run naked with the baboons. It was very liberating. Hopefully they will get used to my hairless body and accept me as one of them.

what the f*ck are you looking at? (baboon)

Ive built more stuff as well. Something to entertain me in the evenings. We now have a set of shelves in the office to put our collection of skulls and bones on! Quite morbid but very scientific I assure you. I am also half way through building my self a bed side table for my tent which is coming along spiffingly.

Also remember the colobus pictures? Well it turns out their not a new species or sub species (obviously). But they have never been found in this area before so I have been credited with photographing evidence of range extension. This is cool for me but not that big of a deal I don’t think.

Im supposed to be driving to the town on the 30^th of this month which means I should finally have access to the internet and post this bad boy so none of you can read it!

Issa valley in all its glory

An early morning view of the valley North of camp (Issa valley)

Simon and Sam hard at "wor" in the office

The pantry (on the left) and kitchen/livingroom  (on the right) and apparantly thats the washing up station on the far right!

Ran into a small family group of Dwarf mongoose the other day about 10km from camp. Most of the time (which is occasional) mongoose encounters end in them getting underground as fast as possible. This group however could not be more curious of me! They let me get within 10 feet of them, quite happilly! (they tend to occupy old termite tunnels/mounds) - cute little bastards

African Dwarf mongoose (x2)

African Dwarf mongoose (x1)

There is also a very impressive ornithological presence (birds) in the area. Trying to learn whats what is very intimidating. But heres one of the local birds of prey!

A Batleur

here are some other random photos...

A red crested night jar blending in!

Sam lying next to the 10 foot rock python skeleton some of the guys found ( thats pretty f*king big)

A butterfly nearly the size of my hand defying gravity

nothing like a bit of bug sex

1 of a herd of 6 Roan antelopes I came across  (an unusual sighting!)

A big green grasshoper/cricket/locust thing..

A view of the valley East of Issa 

August 15th. Chimps hoooooooo

Today was my first official chimp tracking day with the primary objective of collecting fresh faecal samples for DNA analysis. We heard them calling in the valleys below us last night so we had a rough idea on where to start this morning. We were up at 5:30 so we could be get to the look out before sunrise (6:30). From the lookout we waited to hear them as they woke up and low and behold they rewarded our patience with a brief shouting match. Now we knew what direction to start walking in. An hour later I noticed a dark shape across the valley. At first I thought it was just a log but I decided not to risk it. I got out the binoculars and peered through them. I was greeted by with not one but two faces! It was a female chimp and her young offspring. They were staring straight at me (probably 50m away). Luckily I got out the camera just in time before they disappeared back into the deep forest. My first chimp sighting! And also the first photographs to our knowledge of these chimpanzees. They are extremely shy and take off into the forest at the slightest of provocation. Therefore the photos I have are quite grainy as they are from a considerable distance in the poor light of the early hours! But hey, my first chimps!

Later that day we managed to catch sight of a group of 9 chimps in the trees feeding and so watched them for a good hour or two before going over to collect their output. They are truly weird animals. So human (a bit cliché but it really did surprise me).

Female chimp with infant

A log with two faces!

We also saw today what we think (I think) was a banded water cobra. Cooooool.

The back end of a Banded water cobra

Students left this morning so im back in my bed at last! No longer do I have to suffer Alex’s snoring and odours. 

14th August

So on the 11^th I got kicked out of my tent to make room for a group of post grad students who were sent from the institute that fund the research here. So I have not slept in my bed since the 10^th. Tomorrow night I get to move back in though and I cant wait – Ive been dreaming of my bamboo bed!

Yesterday me and Simon sighted a small group of red colobus which have only been sighted in this area a handful of times in the last 5 years or so. This was therefore a very fortunate moment for us and even more so for I got some clear pics of them!

A Central African Red colobus

Steven, the office's very own red headed Agama! (what a poser)

Today I have the day off so I aim to walk the 40 minutes to the random hill where you get phone signal so I can get onto the internet (using my dongle) and post this blog!

On the 12^th some of the guys found some very very fresh feaces of a leopard. Poo is quite exciting for us out here for a number of reasons: Tells you what the animal eats, where it was, when it was there and in the case of the chimps we can get DNA! A surprising amount can be told from shit.

I am still struggling with the language as I have recently not really had the chance to hit the books – or I have but have been to tired to be bothered…

Wednesday 10th August

Work has been much more full on since my first day and needless to say ive been getting my sweat on! This morning we stumbled across 3 Heartebeests. I have seen them countless times on Safari but stumbling across these three whilst on foot and in the middle of nowhere was awesome. We also found lots of chimp shit, but alas, no chimps.

I finished my bed today (see picture), I felt obliged to as the guys were watching me from time to time making me feel they didn’t expect it to be sleep worthy. Although that test still awaits it is very sturdy. It did take some revision of the structure and a few well placed nails but it takes my weight!

My humble abode

My trusty bamboo bed!

I wonder what’s for dinner tonight? Maybe bolognaise… maybe stir fry…  or maybe a curry? Or it could be the same as breakfast and lunch for the third day in a row – beans and rice! 

8th August

We got to camp late on the night of the 6^th.

Our driver Malisa got off at a place called Kisulu earlier that day. Alex then took over the driving. After 10 minutes he drove us into a ditch. Enough said.

The final stretch of our journey to camp we encountered somewhat of a difficulty. At the final turn off for our camp there was a group of roughly 60 workers digging ditches to lay piping that would lead from one obscure place to another. Unforturately they were doing this across what was apparently our road. Therefore there was a ditch of about 2 feet wide and 5 foot deep… It was very dark and to cut a long story short Alex had to pay them a fiver to fill it up so we could drive across it. However, Alex said to me “you should get a picture of this!”. So off I went to get my camera. When I came back I lined myself up for a shot. As soon as my flash started to flicker there was an immediate uproar. All the workers started shouting and about 5 of them rushed towards me, fairly angrily. F*ck. They surrounded me and continued shouting every now and again pointing to my camera. By this point I was concerned for the safety of my camera. Obviously they did not appreciate being photographed – thanks Alex..! After about 10 minutes of negotiating Alex finally managed to calm them down and convince them I hadn’t taken a photo and we crossed the ditch and got the hell out of there!

The day of the 7^th was spent at camp acclimatising and doing odd jobs.

This morning Alex, Samantha and Simon left camp. They’re gone for 3 days to the local town. As a result I am the only white person at the camp. My Swahili is pretty terrible still which means any conversation is very short.

Today was also my first day of work, I left the camp at 7:30 am with the senior field assistant who thankfully knows some English. It was a good day, didn’t have to do too much walking though there is no such thing as a flat stretch here, its either up or down it seems. We got back to camp about 2 pm, which was much earlier than I expected so I decided to try and build a bed. Much harder than it sounds I assure you. We definitely take the craftsmanship of beds for granted! 2 hours later and the structure is complete, only it is very wobbly.. It is made of bamboo and is two A frames connected by two long poles. Good in theory I spose. Tomorrow I will try and make it less wobbly by incorporating some big ass nails. Wish me luck.

Me, Alex and some of the camps field assistants (fully loaded Tinker in backdrop)

A female Agama lizard

a big ass millipede

The wealth of natural life here is ridiculous. There are countless species of butterflies, moths, bees, wasps, lizards and birds that I have so far been privy to experiencing. I may have to bore you with some photos. 

Alex tinkering with Tinkabell

Somewhere in Tanzania

So we were up at 5 this morning and departed Dar by 5-30. 900 km later we arrived into a small town that I cant name. We got here at about 8pm and travelled via the capital of Tanzania, Dodomo. Malisa (Our Tanzanian amigo/handy man) who is a bit of a dude drove the whole way because apparently we’re too much of a pair of pussys and would therefore take us too long! Fair point really, I was definitely happy snoozing in the back. The gentle hum of Tinkerbells engine had no problems in transporting me to dream land.

The times I was awake were spent enduring Alex’s music e.g. Cheryl cole, shakira, Enrique Iglesias and Tao cruz to name a few (the term ‘music’ being used generously). I fought back with white stripes and N.E.R.D though. Quite surreal listening so that kind of music whilst steaming through the African countryside listening to “you can get this lapdance here for free” and “what ya gonna do wiv all that junk, all that junk insde that trunk? In gonna make you work work, make you work!”.

Ive included a picture of Tinkerbell in this post – It was taken randomly when I stuck my head out the window to take a picture and lost my hat. So on turning around to get it we decided it was an opportunity to stretch our legs.

malisa

scenery

Did I mention that Tinkerbell has two fuel tanks that can store 170 Litres of diesel between them! We had to refill one tank twice to travel that 900 km today. She’s a bit of a greedy one I fear.

Another early start tomorrow and a further 600km to go before we get to kigoma and apparently 200 of that is going to be off road, which has been dubbed by malisa as a “natural massage”. Something tells me there wont be a happy ending… From Kigoma were probably going to push straight on to camp which will be another 4 hours.

This blog entry is welcome proof that my newly bought dongle works! 

On from Dar

Tomorrow morning we leave Dar at 05:30 am in our newly arrived Toyota Landcruiser (which is an absolute beast! on trying to decide a suitable name for this road eater I suggested Tinkerbell.. needless to say the name is still pending a decision). I hope to get a picture of "tinkerbell" up on here soon. The journey is two days by car to the town of Kigoma which is within reach of camp.

I went to subway for lunch today and I really dont have any excuse...

My first reader has diligently noticed that I got both the month and day wrong in the date I thought I got here. Turns out I really got here yesterday which is the 3rd of August.... 2011

Dar

Not to much to report just yet, and I'm new to the whole blogging thing so bear with me. I arrived into Dar at 5:40 am on wednesday the 4th of July. I was met there by my eccentric American boss (Alex) who was suspiciously happy for such an absurd time of the morning. He proceeded to bring me to our Italian missionary accommodation (this was not in the contract) called "passionist fathers" or something. There is a joke in there somewhere which I humoured for a while but decided against.

I think this blog is mainly going to be for photos due to the prevailing nature of my laziness. So any writing which accompanies it should be construed as a bonus at the privilege of reading it. As it happens there are no photos yet anyway so...