So I apologize for dropping off the face of the planet for the last ten or so days. Directed Research is in full swing here at Moyo Hill, Tanzania. I’m living on a diet of coffee and data analysis, and still don’t know how much logical progress I’m making. But I’m going to be optimistic.  

Allow me to catch you up. Over our eight days of field research we interviewed over 257 adults, 45-some students and 15 or so teachers. Our subjects came from the Karatu, Mto was Mbu, Isilalei, Majengo B, ChemChem and Kilimatembo areas. My classmate Sam made this nifty map of our interviews via GPS point plotting.

As I mentioned before, I’m looking at how many Tanzanians are able to visit National Parks (48.6%) and how many want to visit (89.8%).  Doesn’t quite add up, huh? The biggest preventative factor is lack of money- for park fees, transportation, overnight accommodations and food.  I’ve finished the majority of my data analysis (after several days of entering some three hundred two-page interviews).

 Some of these babies I tried to conduct in KiSwahili. It was only yesterday, long after we had finished our interviews that my Swahili teacher Yohanna told me I had been asking people how many pockets they owned (mifuko) instead of livestock (mifugo). Thanks.

Embarrassment aside, I would much rather be talking to people than writing all their responses up. Yet some cool patterns are emerging. One of the most interesting trends I saw was that while adults want to go to Parks to “experience nature” (meaning to have fun, relax, watch animals and see the landscape), students want to go to learn. Perhaps not a huge surprise, but it support my new argument: it is better to support people below the age of 19 (the age bracket 10-19 has visited the parks the least out of any other generation) than adults because it will most greatly influence their education and therefore their attitudes towards wildlife.  If you didn’t catch that, I have this nice little column graph.

So finally, here I am, sitting on the computer for the fourth of fifth day in a row. I hope this paper will be good, but it’s also my first scientific paper (possibly one that could be published, says my adviser Mwamhanga). I don’t have much confidence in myself yet, but maybe this work will help me get there. Onward! -Kate

Location: Moyo Hill, Tanzania

So yesterday we returned from our second expedition. Where to begin? I guess with our drive through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, all the hilly red mud roads and breathtaking drops into rain-forest valleys and grass-land crater. As we descended, the road became yellow and graveled. Let me tell you, twenty year old land cruisers do not handle rutty roads smoothly, and my teeth chattered with the endless bumps that rattled the vehicle with every inch. Tired and stiff, we arrived at Oldupai Gorge a few hours into our journey.

Let me clarify- Oldupai (rather than Olduvai) is no typo on my part. In fact- the site named for its vegetation comes from a Maasai word that was mistranslated by the mzungu “discoverer” or the area. Hence we get Olduvai.

Oldupai is hailed as the cradle of life, with good reason. 

So, needless to say the Antro major in me was nerding out at the displays of ancient extinct fauna, hominids skulls and the famous Laitoli footprints. I was could have stayed for hours when they call us to leave, and settled by buying a paper on hominids and a shirt that said “I visited the cradle of life.”

Moses, our driver and favored staff member from Moyo Hill Camp, brought us the rest of the way to Serengeti- the “promise land” he joked.  At first, driving to our campsite, we didn’t see much. Lots of grass, and everything we thought we saw turned out to be a termite mound.  Our campsite was a sparse dirt and sand area, with some bathrooms and showers and a pavilion for cooking. Much different from Nakuru, though we stayed in the same heavy green canvas tents. I adore cooking, and loved every moment of our time camping in the Park. Because who camps in the Great Plains of the Serengeti- really!? I loved everything from the cloudy sunrises in the woods of the camp, to the night time calls of hyenas, elephants and lions. The first night was we went to bed we all heard the terrifying and loud dying cape buffalo (probably by more lions).  Yet the only wildlife that really bothered me was the endless months and termites that dive-bombed into our food. I can’t stand bugs in food. Bugs as food, maybe, but these unintended intruders turn my stomach, and I ate huge portions ate lunch to avoid eating dinner at all costs. Everyone else seemed unphased.

Oh, the animals we saw. Lions, cheetahs, and leopards. We saw lions mating, which might have been the single coolest moment, just having finished a lecture given by a women doing long term lion research in the park.

Lion research in the Serengeti is fascinating! Using the unique spots above the lion’s whiskers the woman can identify any individual recorded in the park, and track one female from every pride (23 total) in the area using VHF collars. She is hoping to train Maasai living in the wildlife corridors between Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater, so the lions are protected as they move between the two locations. There is a terrible lack of genetic diversity in the Crater because these lions are so isolated. More lions moving safely in and out (and there are plenty of Serengeti lions to go around, approximately 3,000 of them) means better breeding.

Also, research has been done using dummy lions like this one to see what role manes play in mate selection. Turn out lady lions like darker heavier manes, because they indicate high testosterone and fitness (because you have to be strong and a good hunter to sport a heavy mane that stands out like a sore thumb in all the golden grass of the plains). Like a male peacock, their adaption makes it harder to survive, and so the best of the best must be pretty hard workers. Males in turn like light manes, because they mean a weak component.  

True to form, however, I found the bones most interesting.

We spent our days doing exercises in bird identification, and elephants and giraffe behavior. But my favorite moments were the ones we didn’t plan for, like when our car got stuck in the mud one morning. And the sunset colors reflected in the mud in the evenings. 

On the way out, I honestly wasn’t ready to go. Bugs not included, I could live in this Park forever. Do you know of any job openings? As we left, the whole of the park came out to say goodbye. Including five cheetahs (which many in our group had never seen before) hyenas chewing on buffalo skulls, and oh yeah- the whole of the great migration! We made it out as a large patch of the herd moved in, and all of us were thrilled to have caught a bit of one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World! Zebras and Wildebeest as far as the eye could see- literally!

(I got a cool video of this, hopefully we can upload it!)

Maybe our days are in the Serengeti are over for now, but it life there is just beginning again as the rainy season comes in. There sun sets on our time there, but keeps going for all the animals that call this amazing Eden home.

Location: Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Happy Halloween! 

So, before we begin, I have to clarify that Halloween is my third favorite holiday. I love trick-or-treating, love dressing up and being scared for fun. So I was a little bummer out last week, figuring this Halloween would be a bit of a letdown, seeing as most Africans have never heard of the holiday.

WRONG!

That day, we went to Ngorongoro Crater, the largest land-filled caldera in on the planet. It was once a volcano, and where magma once churned and bubbled now rests a hotspot of another kind- wildlife bio diversity. The twelve mile depression is a breathtaking Eden of predators and prey alike. Population densities shift, and right now the scale tips towards the lions, with roughly seventy-four individuals in the park.

The park was established in 1952, and is nearly 9,000km2 in area. It is 3,700 to 1,020m above sea level. Not only is the location unique, but the Park’s situation with local people as well. Locals have been displaced in setting up the park, and any expansion would upset them further. This is a common theme in wildlife conservation in Africa. However, Ngorongoro makes a real effort to help the locals.  In the cause of more mandatory moving, the Park wants to buy land good for agriculture to entice people to move to it. The pastoral way of life is largely compatible with the herbivores that live in the park, but agriculture means high levels of human-wildlife conflict. So it makes sense that this land use practice can’t occur near the Park.  It’s very important, therefore, that the people receive benefits from the park- roughly 1.5 billion TSH. The funds are managed by a Pastoral Council, which is comprised of representatives from the local communities. In the meantime, many local communities run tourist ventures like camp sites, which helps them benefit from the flow of tourists that enter the park daily.

Okay, so back to what I mentioned earlier- the lions. Lions are my favorite carnivore, dating back to seeing the Lion King at age five or so. We watched a documentary the night before our trip to the Crater, and our Wildlife Management professor warned us not to get our hopes up base on the lions, leopards, and cheetahs we saw on the screen.

So imagine our sheer joy when we came across and epic, savannah style- show down between a pack of twenty-four hyenas and two large male lions. The hyenas had been feeding on a cape buffalo carcass when our vehicle rolled up. The crowded around it, so covered in blood they appeared a deep, muddy-red instead of their usual spotted tawny. Black-backed Jackals padded around them, waiting for their chance to swipe a scrap. Then the lions appeared, and growling rushed the carcass. The hyenas hooted and barked, but retreated. They stood looking on as the one male (they were probably brothers) plopped down beside the disemboweled buffalo and waited. Neither of the lions ate, then sat in the hot sun, panting and blinking. The hyenas stuck around for a while, but eventually gave up and stalked off disappointed into the dusty grasslands of the crater.

AND THEN WE SAW MORE LIONS. Driving around before lunch, we came upon a kill- another buffalo. It was surrounded by lions- females with their adolescent young, chowing down right in the middle of the road.

The pictures at this point can describe it better than world, but let me just say the single most thrilling thing was to hear the lions. The sensation of hearing the growls, snarls and wet tearing of flesh both horrifies you and commands intense respect. You can’t help but fear them, even when you’re separated by metal and glass. It’s not like the zoo, you feel more vulnerable. Especially when one feel slinked right up along our car!

Oh, and we saw two cheetah- also kind of wickedly amazing.

That night, in celebration of Halloween, my friend Rosie painted me up like a skeleton. Like I was going to miss a perfectly good all- hallow’s eve! My costume spooked some of the local staff, who are highly superstitious. Other were confused, asking if I was dressed up in Maasai warrior paint. Not quite. I did trick-or-treat a lollipop form the school store, and gobbled up my stash of candy I’d in the mail. It was the best Halloween ever!

Location: Ngorongoro Crater

This morning, our group took to left turns and headed up Moyo Hill. We made some friends along the way. This children happily came along till we reached the woods, were they stood at the edge watching as we hiked further. 

Location: Rhotia, Tanzania

Greetings from Moyo Hill!

So, I apologize for the delay between blogs. We’ve gotten settled in at Moyo Hill, SFS’s Tanzania campus. It has spotty electricity and water despite its nice facilities, which means very limited internet. This is frustrating in terms of communication, but this has a redeeming side as it makes me think of others things to do with my time.

The camp is smaller than KBC, walled in with green (that’s right–green!) vegetation and a beautiful muraled gate. It used to be an old lodge. The sign’s still up for it actually. Inside is 

one city block large with our bandas on one side, then the extra bathrooms and the gate, the classrooms and administration building, the local staff and faculty housing and the garden all in a rectangle. In the middle are lawns (real grass!) and red dirt pathways, a raised gazebo (great for meals and reading) the dining hall and kitchen, and a valley ball court. It has a fresh feeling to it, high up in these hills where cool breezes blow and the first rains of the wet season damped the earth and kiss the pine needles. It couldn’t be more different from the Kenya campus. But I almost say I like KBC more–for its familiar places, its homelike feel, its people that I came to know and love.

One aspect that I truly love about Moyo Hill is its proximity to town. We have much more independence here, despite the smaller campus. We can walk a three mile running loop that winds around the hills with breathtaking views of the terracotta-ruby and emerald valleys, the escarpments that drop off into the periwinkle sky, the graying clouds with bellies full of rain. This same path takes you to Rhotia, a little town laong the highway to the Seregeti. The people are friendly and curious of students. As long as you great any one taller with you using “Shikamo” (the respectful formal greeting for elders), you’re sure to be welcomed. 

Repeatedly: “Karibuni, karibuni sana. Tanzania mzuri sana. Karibuni” welcome, you are very welcome. Tanzania is very nice. You all are welcome.  It’s nice to have the freedom to explore. And Sunday we will go to Karatu, a slightly larger town, to eat and shop and pick about. Can’t wait!

So far we have had a class in each of our subjects: Wildlife ecology, Wildlife Management and Environmental Policy. We don’t continue with Socio-Culture and KiSwahili here, which is a shame. In Tanzania, people speak KiSwahili almost exclusively, and more lessons would be of great help! Yesterday and the day before we explored Lake Manyara National Park. One our first visit, we simply drove around, seeing elephants, baboons, sykes monkies and impalas. The was even a stop where you could get out of the land cruisers and stand at a rail while hippos wallowed fifty meters away. It might not have been the safest gamble on the park managers’ park (the single chest-height rail wouldn’t stop a dik-dik, let alone a mood

y hippo) but it was incredible.

Then on our second visit we did an exercise on primate behavior. For two hours we monitored and recorded the activities of a troop of baboons. This weekend, I’ll do a formal write up on what I saw, what I think it means statistically and in comparison with other literature. I figure as I hope to do more primate research in the future, I ought to get used to 

this. We sat in the land cruiser, sweating and swatting occasional flies as we observed baboons fighting, foraging playing, mating, grooming and sitting in the shade, looking pensively at peace with the world. They have a rather complex and flexible social structure. Males gain status through fighting; females (most interestingly) inherit the status of the mothers to form a hierarchical dominance chain. Even a low-ranking adult must defer to the youngest children of a superior mama.  Grooming is the glue that holds the relationships in the troop together. When a troop becomes to large for the females to groom everyone, it 

fissures and breaks apart. The baboons in Lake Manyara (Papio cynocephalus anubis, or Olive Baboons) have a special problem. Baboons are naturally very adaptable to a wide variety of habitats and feeding niches. They are resourceful and clever. In many cases, like this one, they resort to digging through garbage from tourist lodges to supplement food needs. The less of its activity budget it spends of searching for and consumin

g food, the more time a baboons can spend on social activity and reproduction. These baboons, however, had at some point come across waste infected with syphilis, and contracted the disease themselves. To increase reproduction fitness, baboons have many sexual partners. Needless to say this venereal disease spread like wildfire.

To 

It’s a sad reality, how even indirectly, humans can do great damage to our animal cousins. But many of the baboons we saw were happy and healthy.

Today, we have an all day-traveling lecture (loading up on the coffee!) culminating in a transect walk exercise to record animal densities around water holes. Water resources are naturally distributed evenly. This can have some good results- concentrating animals in areas that people can identify and protect, and show off to tourist to generate revenue. But it also means high densities of animals in the dry season trample plants, overgraze and compact the soil, decrease its water retention. Today we’re going to see to exactly what degree these things are occurring in the local area.

Totaonana!

Location: Rhotia, Tanzania