Crazy times in Tanzania, let me tell ya.

You may remember after my last blog we were on our way to start our work within the village. On Thursday and Friday we spent the days surveying a village about an hour away from our campus. The village, Tundu, is pretty large but only having 2 days we had to focus our surveying a bit. It was my first time collecting data and creating maps. Within our group we had 3 different groups of 3-4 people. Each group was assigned a section and was sent off with a translator and 1 or 2 village council members. My group was in charge of roads and pathways. At first glance I was completely stressed out about how many little paths there were to do, but the village council member told us that every space without a house is considered a path – meaning we only had to do “main roads”. We spent the entire day, 10 – 4:30 (including a lunch break) systematically going through paths. Surveying is kind of a tedious job. We had one member who would walk along the path and find a GPS point every 20-40 paces. We then had a member who would write down the GPS coordinates, the point number and any notes. A third member took pictures of every single point and measured the path width while I was the sketcher in charge of drawing an overall map including all the points. Keeping track of all those paths was kind of confusing for me but it worked out all right due to the aid of multicolored pens. The next day, Friday was the same schedule except we finished up the roads mid-morning and switched to mapping the houses. Houses were a little different. Since the GPS satellites in the area fluctuate we couldn’t drop GPS point of the house – instead we had to drop the point at one house corner, measure the length and width of the building, and calculate the wall’s bearing while continuing with data recording and sketching. Whew it was a long day but they did go extremely quickly once we got into a groove. I was the data recorder for the house mapping. It took a lot of patience and a lot of communication but I learned a lot from the job.

Working in the village was nice. We really got free-range. The village council seemed really grateful and pleased by our work. Having a scaled, logistical map of the town will be extremely helpful in helping the village plan for future land use and expansion. With the approval of the village council we were able to do and go anywhere. It really helped me get a better understanding of village life. The poverty would still get to me at times but in this area it is hard to avoid that.

After a few days of hard work we were treated to a great weekend and early week. On Saturday we had the opportunity to go World Environmental Day help at the local elementary school. It was a school competition between 9 schools that created skits and performances to demonstrate the importance of conservation.  Some of the dances, songs and skits by these kids were amazing! It was so interesting to see the kids doing traditional tribal dances to student-played drums. I really enjoyed it. The after the performances we were able to hang out with the kids for a while. The crowd size was extremely shocking to me. While 9 smaller school groups performed there were over probably over 600 kids there to watch. After the performances were finished, the music was kept on and our group danced with everyone. The crowd was so huge we could barely move, let alone dance but it was so fun! They got such enjoyment out of seeing us goof around. The girls in particular got bombarded. They loved to touch our hair and dance with us. I couldn’t even move my arms because I had 4 children holding on to each hand and forearm.

The experience was so amazing but we still had more to come. Sunday afternoon we left for Mikumi National Park for a 3 night 3 day safari. While we were there we stayed at the Angala Tented Camp. For a camp site this place was nice! We had actual toilets and somewhat warm water. It was such a treat! All the game drives through the park were amazing; tons of giraffes, elephants, zebras, impala, wildebeests, warthogs, baboons and the most beautiful birds. I was so surprised how close our jeeps were able to get. The highlight of the trip was Monday evening when we finished off the ride by finding a pack of 7 lions eating a wildebeest. We were so close we could hear the lions eating, and ripping the meat up. It was only 20 yards away. Despite the awesomeness of the lions my favorite animal was the giraffes. It is so big and graceful and interesting. The baboons were very entertaining to watch as well, they make the top 3.

Now we have made the return trip back the monitoring center. It is kind of nice to be back, this place is starting to feel like home! The next week and a half is going to be crazy! We are getting deep into our work and the projects we need to create for the villages. Work, work, work, work. That is all that’s on the agenda. At times I am ready for home but I think I am going to be so sad when we leave here. Oh well, I won’t think about it now. Off to do more work!

Location: Mang'ula, Tanzania