We got back from expedition on Wednesday and had a non-program day on Thursday. Today, we had the morning off to just relax. I had to get up at 8 AM to help the cook crew, which was unfortunate, because I was pretty tired from expedition. Making breakfast went really fast though, and it took about half the amount of time that it normally takes us. I decided to go to Mto wa Mbu with a group of about 10 people. Everyone else either stayed at camp or went to Karatu. In Mto wa Mbu, we went to the Maasai Market to buy a few things. I have been wanting to buy a Maasai shuka (essentially a thick cotton sheet worn by Maasai peoples as a wrap, their traditional dress) since we came to camp, but the shukas in the market were too expensive. Normally they are sold to locals for about 10,000-12,000 ($6-7 US Dollars)Tanzanian shillings. Of course, in Tanzania, most items are bargained for, but we could not get the market people to go to 10,000TSH. This is because Mto wa Mbu is a tourist town and sellers know that they can cheat tourists by charging a higher price. Overall, we learned that Mto wa Mbu is expensive most places, but we got one guy down to 12,000 TSH and he threw in a bracelet, so we bought shukas. Shukas look like this: http://www.africanartique.com/products. After we bought our shukas, we went to Pizza Place to get some pizza and play cards. We played hell, ride the bus, and kings. We spent the rest of our evening at Pizza Place, and left around 5:30 to go back to camp.
Friday, we went to Lake Manyara National Park to conduct an animal count. We finally got up close to flamingos and I got some good pictures! After our animal count, we spent the rest of the day doing a game drive in the park. We went looking for the tree climbing lions, but had no luck. One group of students had car problems, so we drove a little over an hour into the park to find them before we left, and got everything figured out.
Saturday, we went into Karatu to speak to the lead resource conservationist in the area. He gave us a lecture on Conservation Initiatives. We first visited a tree nursery in Karatu. This tree nursery plants about 600,000 trees a year in the surrounding area, assuming many are used for locals’ resource use. Some also die due to water issues. Afterwards, we visited the kitchen in a local primary school where they showed us their kitchen. They had two large cauldron-like pots that were heated in an efficient way where the concentration of heat only reached the pots; therefore, creating a quicker and more efficient way to cook. Also, they used dry corn cobs instead of wood to cook. We were also shown a biogas manure system. Basically, there are three large storage/flow concrete pipes in the ground. The first area is where the cow manure and urine is put into the system. The second storage pipe collects the methane from the urine and manure, and the third pipe is where the manure and urine exits, normally to a garden or where trees are planted for fertilizer. The methane is then transferred through a rubber tube to the house where the gas is used for cooking and even for lighting, sometimes. Lastly, we visited a place where a group of people were creating bricks from water, sand, concrete, and soil. The bricks dried on their own in 7 days and then were sold for building.
Sunday, we got to sleep in a little and then had a few hours to work on assignments. The one class we had involved watching “Milking the Rhino,” which was an interesting documentary that showed the relationship between African wildlife, the local tribes and people, and the conservationists, and also shows how wildlife is utilized in Africa to generate income. We then had a short discussion on the film.
Monday, we had time scheduled to go speak to a local village council. We were to have an open discussion with them on how they manage the village council and strategies for handling issues. We sat outside under an old yellow-fever acacia tree. Sidenote: one of our professors collected seeds from this tree and planted them outside of each of our bandas about 2 years ago. They’re still pretty small. Anyways, about 14 of the 26 members came out to speak with us, including the chairman. For a small governmental system, they seemed pretty organized and seemed to know what they were doing. I also worked on my Swahili paper, and then went for a run in Rhotia.
Tuesday wasn’t a super busy day, besides the fact we had a paper due by midnight. I was the MOD for the day! Basically, I help with anything that I am asked to do, and I do RAP (Reflection, Announcements, and Presentation) after dinner, which makes this place feel even more like a summer camp to me. We didn’t have class until10 AM, and it happened to be our first Directed Research class. We learned some basic things in Excel. Later on in the day, we had a guest lecture from Kissui, the program director who also happens to do research on lions. After class, I reviewed my paper on socio-cultural changes of Iraqw people, and turned it in. After dinner, I led RAP and for my presentation, I had everyone go outside to the volleyball court where it was the darkest, so that we could startrip! Everybody had a really good time with this game, and I’m happy they did. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work, because every other time I’ve startripped, I’ve done in complete blackness. We weren’t allowed to turn lights off here, but it worked out. TOMORROW, we are going to Ngorongoro Crater… words cannot describe how excited I am! The crater was created 3 million years ago by a volcano that erupted.
“A giraffe’s coffee would be cold by the time it reached the bottom of its throat. Ever think about that? No. You only think about yourself.”
Location: Rhotia, TZ
Loading map...
