5/4/12

Today is the 16^th of March –

I hope you dont mind but im going to put a few random photos into the midst of this completely unrelated text simply to make it less boring. 

Watching the rains from a safe distance

I have now been living in Tanzania for about 7 and a half months. Looking back I can say with confidence that the time has gone by quickly. At the moment we are in the midst of the wet season. It rains heavily on average once every 3 days. Yet even when the sun is shining there is the distant threat of thunder around the clock.

I dont think this photo needs a caption

My MSc is coming on in leaps and bounds. I follow 2 troops several times a month for 3 day stretches at a time. The days are 12 hour days from 7 till 7. This allows me to follow their movements from the moment they leave their sleeping site to the moment they return or find a new sleeping grove. The baboons are definitely becoming more accustomed to someone following them but their tolerance is limited. They rarely let me approach them to within 30m but if I stop and don’t acknowledge them, the braver youths of the troop may come within 10m. Of course their bravery could be attributed to their curiosity and the want to practice their ‘threat’ behaviour on a stranger. This particular behaviour manifests itself by short lunges in my direction or barking at me. It is quite endearing really but any movement from me crushes their confidence and sends them scuttling off into the bushes. Due to the large amount of time I spend with the baboons each month, it is only a natural progression that I should start to recognise certain individuals. A certain power awarded to me in this situation is that I can now name that individual. Spider man once said with power comes responsibility, I chose not to heed his advice and called my first recognisable baboon Chewbacca. What can I say, it just came to me. Another particularly interesting individual who was immediately recognisable came in the form of an Albino infant.

Msigwa, Myself and Busoti all packed up and ready to hike back to main camp

In other slightly disturbing news, I can now tie my hair back into a pony tail. As of yet I have not intentions of cutting it. Oh well, there is not exactly ample reason to remain the once good looking, clean cut, young man I was in England. I also figure the best time to experiment with such things is best done while no one can see me. The guys here are particularly horrified by my appearance and they like to remind me with the occasional jesting statements like “you look like a girl” and other equally witty jokes/statements of subjective fact?. It does amaze me though that at the end of their 6 weeks in the forest (just before their 2 week holiday) they undergo a transformation. One of the others will diligently spend a good hour and a half shaving back all facial hair and head hair, then they will dress in their smartest, cleanest clothes. The final effect is I drop them off with their families in town and they make me look like shit in comparison. I do enjoy the confusion it brings them though.

A stunning view which the photo does not do justice

7 months of learning Swahili has taken its toll, I can now say “hello” and “thank you”… amongst other certain useful things. None of the guys speak any English so if I ever wanted to communicate with them I had no choice but to learn. I started feeling competent at talking the language after about 4 months and since then I’ve all but given up studying. I have occasional bursts of enthusiasm which lead me to rehearsing a page of new words but those moments are few and far between. My competence has made me complacent and lazy. Such is life.

Random little tree frog

On the 22^nd of this month it will be Victoria Griggs birthday so I would like to make a public declaration of wishing her a good one. She turns 22. Kind of a moo gesture because I wont be able to post this till April but the thought is till there! Happy Birthday. 

Another Bush Viper

Getting rid of ones particulars in order to cross river..