Mama Ema

Me and Mama Ema making chai

Yesterday was our first home stay with the Iraqw tribe (the tribe that most people in this area belong to). Myself and one other girl from the program went to mama Ema's house which is not too far from campus. I learned so many things from mama and her family. We learned to make chai, ugali (traditional Tanzanian maize porridge dish), and lots of other yummy food.

Erin and Emanuel cutting some n'gombe

Clean the rice

Safflower fields forever

My silly little Tanzanian brothers

 To be honest I was a little nervous about the whole language barrier, but I was impressed with myself, and everyone else at how much we could communicate with so little words. Hand gestures and a smile are definitely a must in these situations.







After we ate Emanuel took us on a walk through their fields where they grow most of their food. They have pigeon peas, maize, tomatoes, safflower and a bunch of other crops that I am now forgetting the names of (oops). We got to see all the surrounding houses which belong to other sons and daughters of mama Ema.






We did a little bit of cleaning and most of the kids seemed to take a little nap while we sat under the banana tree and drank some more chai. (I probably drank a liter of chai, mama and Emanuel kept filling our cups) Before it was time to go Emanuel was playing with my phone and found shakira's waka waka song. We proceeded to listen to it on repeat for at least 20 minutes and then again on the walk back to campus. I still have that song stuck in my head.


It was such a wonderful experience and I am so grateful that mama Ema and her family welcomed us into their lives, I know I will be back to see them all again.

Mama Ema, Eriki, and Teresa

Erin and I and our Tanzanian family

If you had the chance to talk to a poacher what would you ask? Last week we got the unique opportunity to talk to and interview real life poachers. We got to talk to them about what and why they do what they do. What it really comes down to for them is the money. Most of them don't have any other means of income and there aren't many jobs available to them. They aren't necessarily proud of what they do, but again they are desperate for the money. I found myself thinking that they aren't too different from some people back home in America that cheat, steal or lie to make a couple extra bucks. What was interesting to hear from these poachers was that when asked if they would take a job as a ranger, protecting the wildlife in the parks from other poachers, both of them said they would if it paid them a decent living wage (about 300,000TSH a month, which is less than 200USD). 

This past week we also did a 2km transect walk and identified the different types of grasses along Lake Manyara National Park. Only my like-minded nature-loving nerds would enjoy this field exercise too. With a lake full of flamingos as our backdrop in a field surrounded by cattle, shoats (sheep goats), and Thomson's gazelles, it was a great day.

Over the weekend we had a guest lecture from our center director, which was my favorite lectures so far. Lions are his specialty, so naturally we talked all things lions. We got to talk about all the different ways to monitor lion populations and he even brought out some radio and GPS collars to show us the difference between the two.

We had our first official community service day as well. Some people when to Project Rhotia which involves teaching kids English as well as how to use computers and the internet for school work, some people went to an orphanage to read to the kids, and then there was another group that helped to build a bathroom for the local primary school. I was in the building group this time and we ended up fixing the road that leads to the school instead because the water was out at the school and we could not mix cement that day.


We have our first home-stay tomorrow and then we are leaving for an expedition. I am so excited for this upcoming week.

Hope all is well with those of you reading!
xx

Spent an entire day watching Olive Baboons

The crew that hiked out to the elephant caves

Vervet monkey resting

Tomorrow will be the two week marker here in Tanzania. So far I have had classes in the Lake Manyara National Park (LMNP) studying baboon behavior, practiced tracking and identifying animal scat across the savanna, and talked to local people about what resources were critical to them. I've been to a monthly market in Karatu where I got to bargain for a Maasai shuka, hiked to elephant caves and a waterfall, biked around Mto wa mbu, hiked through banana plantations and even tried to slack-line. But the highlights of this past week? I got to see wild elephants, zebras, impala, gazelles, monkeys, giraffes, hippos and so many more. We were also given a traditional Tanzanian welcoming with a goat roast. Both goats were slaughtered here at the station. Yes I watched and yes I ate, and yes I enjoyed it. It was such a cool experience and I really do think every meat eater should experience something similar. I think we'll be doing another goat roast for thanksgiving. I love that every week is different from the one before. Each day except Sundays and the days we go out into the field we have about three to four classes which have all been very interesting (except that one day we had five and half hours of environmental policy, it wasn't as bad as it sounds though). Each night we do something called RAP (Reflection Announcements and Presentation), where the mwanfunzi (student) of the day gets to reflect on what we did that day, people give announcements of upcoming events and projects that are going on with the local community and around campus, and then a presentation which has been lots of fun games so far. The assignments are already rolling in. I have a paper on the behavior of Olive Baboons in LMNP and one paper of my choice about any interactions I observed in Lake Manyara, I think I will write about human-elephant interactions in the park since they were my favorite part (I'm currently procrastinating and decided to update my blog). We have a home-stay coming up for our swahili class, which has been really fun by the way. That's all from the field for now.

Hippo Pool

First wild African elephant sighting!

Giraffes are the tallest animals in the world!

First Days at Moyo Hill

Ever thought what it would smell like if there were no trash service in your country? I didn’t until I got a whiff of the burnt-rubber smell and saw little piles of trash burning as we were driving through various little towns and villages here in northern Tanzania. The moment I got off the plane at Kilimanjaro international airport I knew Tanzania was going to be like nothing I have experienced before. For starters I have never traveled with a group program before. It was nice knowing there were twenty other students at the airport headed for the same destination as me (and twenty more to come the next day). I have also never experienced lost baggage, until now that is, but wearing the same clothes for four days wasn’t as bad as it thought it was going to be. We were picked up by three green Land Cruisers (the classic safari car) and driven to the town of Arusha to spend the night in a hotel before continuing on to the Moyo Hill field station. We spent the first couple days orienting ourselves to the campus and the surrounding area. We went into town to practice Swahili and meet some of the locals. Hand gestures and patience are essential in trying to learn a new language. There are forty-two students and thirty-three staff and faculty members, I have a feeling we’ll be learning names for a while. Coming from a town that is all about local organic food I was a little worried about what I would be eating here after being so spoiled. But the cooks here create some pretty darn yummy meals for seventy people three times a day (I am impressed). I hear we will be doing a goat roast a couple times so I am considering breaking my vegetarian diet. Worth it? I think so too. I am living in a banda that has four beds, desks and a shared bathroom with three other girls. So far we get a long really well. I don’t think I have ever been surrounded with so many people that share my same passion for wildlife conservation and animals, yet everyone comes from such different backgrounds, it’s amazing! Today was our first full day of classes and our teachers got a chance to tell us a little bit about themselves and the classes they will be teaching. I am excited to be learning from such incredible people, not to mention a long side some impressive colleagues. I can tell this will be a fun semester here in Tanzania.

View from top of Moyo Hill