Time for my official 4^th blog entry….or 5^th if you count the double entry my stupid internet made. It is currently 3:20 pm here in Tanzania. I have officially settled into our home here at the Udzungwa Ecological Monitoring Center and we are about to start our real work! So far we have been preparing to create plans and such by learning about the culture, conflicts and key issues. As we continue to do that, we need to start thinking of a final project for the summer. On Thursday and Friday we will be heading out to Tundu to survey and map the community. Apparently they are facing a quick increase in population due to their proximity to the sugar cane fields and they need a plan on how they should grow. Currently there are no maps or anything for the village so our work to create a map will be extremely helpful for planners or for the landscape students here who want to design a plan. Surveying is tedious work. We have to write down every single GPS coordinate that is relevant (corners of buildings, road ways, foot paths, etc), sketch the area along the way and record everything with pictures.

Since I last wrote we had some interesting times. One day we went throughout the area to see different places where villages have encroached on the national park land. Just a warning – if a Tanzanian ever asks you to go on a ‘walk’ put on your hiking boots. Our guide had our entire groups scaling the hills, walking through the forest and down steep hills. Of course he was running around with ease but the rest of us were not expecting the challenge and fell way behind. Seeing the park encroachment was interesting though. There were points where the land had been used up so much it was practically a wall of dirt right on the border of the park.

Then this last weekend, some of our group went on a hiking/camping trip up to Sanje falls. In my last entry I was excited about the 150ft waterfall. Sanje falls is 750m. I don’t know exactly how many feet that is but I know it is a lot more than 150! The hike itself was only hard for the second half. The first half was manageable until we got to the first view point. After that the path was pretty much straight up – I thought my legs were going to give out underneath me. We went swimming at the very bottom of the falls where a pool has formed and then again at the very top of the falls. The power of the falls at the top was surprising! The current was stronger than what you would feel in the ocean; the only thing that stopped us from going over the edge was the rocks lined up on along the border. At the very top, the view was spectacular. We could see the whole valley while hearing the falls around us. Once at the top we set up camp and spent the night. It was a hard night’s sleep but well worth it when we woke up early to watch the sunrise at the view. The coloring was beautiful. I have tons of pictures I wish I could post but you will have to wait and see. Google Sanje falls if you are interested in getting a preview.

Yesterday we took a field trip to see Mangombero forest. It is not too far from the national park but it is a completely unprotected piece of forest which sits right next to a village and faces a big chance of being destroyed. Anyways, this trip was hilarious. We had all 11 students, 2 professors and 3 guides walking along a tiny path in the woods. This forest had lots of army and fire ants mounds on this path. At a moment’s notice we would all have to start running to get away from them. Seeing all 16 of us bolt through the woods made me laugh every time. One poor guy in our group, Theo, had been standing on a mound for a few minutes – He had to strip down right in the middle of the forest to get all the ants off! I managed to not get bit due to a pants-tucked-into-socks maneuver but those little ants are tricky; even running I would still end up with some on my pants and shoes. Thank goodness for high boots, high socks and long pants! Overall it was an amusing trip…or at least I found it amusing since I never got attacked by the vicious ants.

Today is a work day for us before we head to the village tomorrow so not much will be going on. We do have a busy weekend coming up – International Environmental Day on Saturday and a 3 day-2 night safari at Mikumi National Park starting on Sunday

Location: Mang'ula, Tanzania