Hiho, Hiho, it’s off to bird we go!
Not going to lie, I had that tune from “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” stuck in my head as we headed out to hike Moyo Hill this morning. Our professor Kioko held a Wildlife Ecology class on birding. Even though I’ve worked at a nature center for years, I’ve never gone bird watching. Really! So I was excited about today’s lesson. But first, I took a few pictures of our campus so I could give my friends and family a mini tour.
Here is the line of bandas- or little houses- that we lived it. Mine is called “Chui” meaning “Leopard.”
This is our dining hall. The food here- dare I say- is better than KBC’s. More fresh vegetables and fruits. I think it’s just because we are closer to the markets in Rhotia. And there’s more chicken. And today at lunch I got a mango from the cooks! (Can you tell it’s been a good day?)
Here is the gazebo were I like to sit and read and am typing this now. It’s perfect for early rainy morning’s quiet times, for sitting after lunch, for meeting at night and playing Mafia. I miss the chumba at KBC as a big communal meeting place, but the gazebo in the center of our campus has its own charm
This is our front gate, and the few I see as I step out of it, going for a walk or into Rhotia.
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.
The views spread out behind us as we hiked through the dappled forests and breezy upon meadows. I didn’t see, let alone identify many birds, but I certainly enjoyed the journey.
Once at the top we had a hill-side lecture on the Illegal Bush Meat industry in Tanzania and it’s ecological impacts. Commercialized and effective (with the introduction of snares, guns and airplanes into the poaching possibilities) the bush meat trade poses major threats to Tanzania wildlife. Don’t get me wrong, consumption and hunting of wildlife is allowed, but only by permit or in retaliation if animals have damage crops or livestock. Poaching normally hunt for trophies or for meat to sell to wealthy urban areas. They take the bigger, most charismatic animals, like giraffes and elephants. These large herbivores and crucial for keeping woodlands manageable. Is trees grow to thick and dense, there is no grass left for grazers, and if they grow too tall, there is now browse for browsers. See how into connected everything is?
But with a view like this, it is hard to concentrate. Everything looks perfect from far away.
Location: Rhotia, Tanzania
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