Tag Archives: safari

A Very Poblano Weekend

This past weekend was the one “free” weekend out of the trip where we wouldn’t be traveling as a group. That being said, we still manage to pack it with lots of exciting things here in/around Puebla! This was good, because I needed a lot of diversions to take my mind off of Friday’s mini ash-eruption of nearby volcano Popocatepetl. (It hasn’t had a major eruption in years, and I feel safe at this distance, but I have an irrational loathing/fear of volcanoes–how super.)

Thankfully, one of the best and biggest zoos/safari parks in all of Mexico is only 25 minutes away from where we live in Puebla. We’re really starting to get a hang of the public bus system, which is really convenient–only 6 pesos one way! A bunch of us decided to go by bus to check Africam out, and it was one of the best decisions ever!

Most of the park is set up like a safari that you drive through either in your own car or on safari tour buses, meaning that the animals have practically free reign of a large part of land. I really liked that, since I feel like seeing animals cooped up in cages can get a bit depressing.

After the safari, there was a whole other portion to the park, with more traditional zoo enclosures for the smaller kinds of animals. We got to do awesome things like feed Wallabies and fly high above the park, crossing bridges and cruising along ziplines in harnesses. It was amazing! (Major photo credits/thanks to Jess, Rihanna, and Dominique, by the way.)

In a more traditional culture exploration this weekend, my family also took me to Cholula, a town 15 minutes away that is famous for the number of churches it has (not 365 as sometimes advertised, but around 70 or 80). Its most famous church, however, sits on top of the largest-based pyramid in the Americas that once was dedicated to the god, Quetzocoatl. My host dad and sister hiked up to the top with me, and the view was incredible!

We also got to see a ritual performance by the Voladores de Papantla. Essentially, a group of guys climbs up a tall pole with ropes in tow which are then wound around the top. Following a few minutes of preparation, the men swing down in circles, the ropes tied around their feet as they rotate around. It was terrifying but exciting to see.

I’m not going to lie; I’m kind of bummed out that this is the last weekend I’ll get to spend in Puebla itself. From downtown and the neighborhood to places like Cholula or Africam that are right next door, I feel like I really could spend the entire 6 weeks just in this city and not get bored. I’m glad at how this weekend turned out, however, and it’s hard to not be excited about our trip to Mexico City this coming Wednesday!!!

Location: Cholula, Mexico

Ngorongoro and Goat Roast

Today was spent in the largest caldera in the world, Ngorongoro Crater! Our day started early around 5:30. It took awhile to actually get to the crater because it is surrounded by a large conservation area that you have to drive through first. Also, we were having a guest lecture at the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Administration Headquarters where we learned a little about the area and the crater. It used to be part of Serengeti NP until 1959. Its different from the park because people (Maasai) are allowed to live in the conservation area and not in the NP. The crater is home to Tanzania’s remaining viable black rhino population. We spent most of the time learning about the main problems facing Ngorongoro today:

-fast human population growth (8,000 people in 1959, 70,000 today)

-spreading of livestock diseases

-tourist and vehicle congregation in the crater

-environmental pollution

-resource overutilization

-modernization of the human inhabitants’ lifestyle

-climate change

-spread of invasive species, particularly plants

Okay, enough about the lecture; more about the adventure!

So, we didn’t have any assignments for the day. Just driving around and taking in all of the awesome-ness. The crater is different from the other parks we’ve visited thus far. Its mostly flat, savannah land. There are small patches of woodland, though, and little lush green watering holes, streams, and hills spread throughout. The animals seemed to be more spread out here, harder to find. I did see three species today for the first time though–hartebeest, hyena, and lion! The lions were definitely the coolest part. And the very first one was the most exciting. Someone just caught sight of it in the corner of their eye as we were driving by. It was actually hunting and was crouched down in the grass, creeping up on a group of zebra and wildebeest. The wind was not favoring the lion though and the group caught scent of her. When she realized she was out of luck, she just stood up and walked away from the group. Which happened to be right in our direction! She crossed the road only a couple feet from our land cruiser. After that, we saw 2 females and a male laying around by a stream with 3 little cubs. As we drove away from that group of lions, we actually got a flat tire. So our driver and councilor/leader had to change the tire just meters away from them! We just watched to make sure the lions didn’t get close.

Two days ago we had a day off of classes. We have one day off each week and we always have something fun planned to do. This day we had a goat roast. We got to watch them kill the two goats and help to skin them. Then we had a mini bio lesson with its insides. (You didn’t have to do any of this if you didn’t want to) It was a little gruesome but interesting to see. Then we cooked the meat, some on the grill and some on sticks by the fire. It was actually really good. Some of it was really tough but still tasty. It was nice to sit around the campfire with all our Tanzanian staff members and to learn how they do things.

Location: Karatu, Tanzania

Lake Manyara

Today I experienced my first safari. We spent the day at Lake Manyara National Park. It was UNREAL. We saw monkeys, storks, pelicans, elephants, giraffes, gazelles, zebra, buffalos, wild pigs, mongooses, ostriches, and countless other species, including some I never knew existed. The most exciting part of the day was our encounter with the bull elephant. Driving down the winding dirt road in our land cruiser, standing up in the hatches, we turned a corner and there was this huge elephant standing in the road. He was protecting his herd of females and babies that were feeding in the brush and along the roadside. We stopped the land cruiser and he stared us down. Then he started walking straight towards us! He came very close and our driver and teacher, Kioko, continued ahead. I guess the elephant decided we were okay because he moved to the side to let us pass. But he was inches from us and he was not happy about it. Then he planted himself back in the middle of the road, waiting for the next car. We decided to wait too, so we pulled a little ahead to watch. Well, when the next car came around the bend a few moments later, he stood his ground. He kicked and threw dirt up into the air and wouldn’t let the car through. The female elephants were trumpeting and getting nervous. So the other car backed up and didn’t come past. It was crazy! The bull decided to let us by but not the next people. We were very lucky to have that amazing experience. Everything about the park was amazing actually. From the beginning we saw hornbills and baboons everywhere. Caught a glimpse of both species feeding their young. Soon we began to see small groups of impalas and giraffe. One of the greatest things about driving though the park was viewing all the amazing plants and learning to identify some trees. We saw the incredible baobab, many species of acacia, cordias, the African sausage tree, and something the Maasai call the “testicle tree” because of its paired seed pods. Sometimes these trees lined the road like a jungle, sometimes we could see them growing on the hills and mountains, and other times they were sparse, a savannah landscape. We crossed sandy trenches that will fill with water when the rains come. At times we were close to Lake Manyara itself seeing strips of flamingos in the water and wildebeests along the shore. We stopped at a place where a hot spring runs into the lake and I put the tips of my fingers in the steaming water. We also stopped at a pond where a huge group of hippos live. I saw some play-fighting as zebra, warthogs, and cranes wandered by the pond. It was truly unbelievable. The perfect first safari experience. It wasn’t all tourist-fun though. We were taking field notes throughout the day and now I have two reports due about animal behaviors I observed in the park. A third report is due about the Maasai culture. Tomorrow we will be visiting a boma to learn about their ways firsthand. Although the work is already taking up a lot of my time, I don’t mind it. It’s all worth it to see the things I am seeing.

Location: Karatu, Tanzania

Hakuna Matata

I just returned from a safari at Mikumi National Park. It was nothing short of amazing! I felt like I was going back in time thousands of years…aside from riding around in an open top Land Cruiser. We drove through the park as we searched the savannah for signs of animals. I was so lucky that I got to see all of the most picturesque scenes! To name a few, I saw herds of impalas, lions, elephants, warthogs, wildebeests, elands, jackals, zebras, birds, butterflies, and my favorite, giraffes. Not to mention the landscapes themselves were breathtaking. The long grass and baobab trees stretched for miles into the blue ridges of the Eastern Arc Mountains. At one point I watched a mother elephant cross the road ourside the park entrance right in front of me. Her shrew was on the other side of the road afraid to cross. She waited for it to build up the courage to follow her lead. Eventually, the shrew looked both ways and started to cross. He even did a spin move in the middle to check behind him. Once he made it to the other side, the celebrated by trumpeting and eating!! It was adorable! I also saw so many giraffes close up. Apparently they can’t make noise, so they communicate by whipping their tails and sending vibrations to one another. Also, lions are afraid to attack them because giraffes kick them so hard that they usually break the jaw! Maybe the most shocking thing I saw was a mother lion and her 6 cubs devouring a wildebeest for dinner about 20 yards from me. I couldn’t close my mouth the entire time! For the rest of the night, I couldn’t stop yelling, “I just saw lions eating a wildebeest!” It was hard to grasp. When we came back to camp, we had tents on raised wooden platforms with real bathrooms attached! I even took a hot shower! I’ll never take the basic amenities for granted again! A Masaai lit a clay stove outside our tent to heat the water before we showered. Truly amazing!

Now that I’m back in Udzungwa it’s time to start working on my final project which will be presented for the WWF (World Wildlife Fund). I’m working on a prototype for the Udzungwa Mountains National Park website that markets the key attractions of the park as well as the surrounding villages. Hopefully this will encourage tourists to stay for a few extra days to get a well rounded immersion experience when they visit, which will bring revenue to the park and to the villages.

I can’t believe how quickly the trip is going. I’ve already been here for a month! Just two weeks left. I’m doing my best to savor these last two weeks and take it all in while I can.

Again, sorry for the slow internet connection. I have AMAZING photos from the safari to share!!

Location: Mikumi National Park, Tanzania

Surveys and Safaris

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

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