Dust up my nose then sand between my toes – My Tanzanian Adventure

I’m currently sitting in a lovely seaside sports bar at the Mtoni Marine on Zanzibar, Tanzania. I sun is blinding as it reflects off the white sand and blue waters of the Indian Ocean. The bar is at the head of a little lagoon and there is a man standing at its mouth fishing as the tide rolls back in.

Sunset on Zanzibar!

This spot has become one of my favourites on Zanzibar as it is home to great bar tenders, fast and free wifi, and the best sun set view around! Oh yeah – it’s got a decent menu and more than one or two hotties stopping by to watch rugby or football (not women’s world cup of course L). Most nights I sit here, up-dating facebook or email, while watching the sun go down and hundreds of bats return from the offshore islands where they nest during the day. If I get really bored with all that I can watch the locals who are building boats further along the lagoon!

I digress however; Zanzibar is the final stop on my Tanzanian adventure – not the first one!

Tanzania has been a series of ‘interesting’ experiences for me! My excuse for extending the trip to TZ was to attend meetings for the Protected Areas and Poverty Reduction project that VIU is part of (with partners from Ghana and Tanzania). The general schedule was a couple of days of meeting at Usa River (near Arusha) and then off on 6 days of field trip to Mugumu (north of Serengeti National Park), and then back to Moshi (base of Kilimanjaro) for another day of meetings. After that I had about 10 days and no plans… except that I need to be back in Nairobi by 9:00 pm on July 6^th to catch my flight home.

The meetings in Usa were good but very busy! It was great to get an overview of what others have been doing and I got to report on the work that the students did in Ghana. It was also a good opportunity to spend more time with the Ghanaians as talk about next year… I’m putting in for sabbatical and if successful I’ll look at spending 6 – 8 months in Ghana. Even better – Donna and Joy were there as well so I had another couple of days hangin’ with them.

After the meetings we over we quickly headed out on our field trip. We took 3 4X4’s to Mugumu and I was joined (or rather I joined) by Grant and Rick from Work, Leslie King (X-VIU now Royal Roads), Joe & Hjalmer (FN from Tofino), Bob Hansen (Parks Canada), and 5 Ghanaians including Nat and KAS, as well as a couple of Tanzanians but I wont’ begin to guess on the correct spelling of their names now! J

Our route too us through Ngorongoro Crater Reserve (we looked into the crater but did not go into it until later) and Serengeti National Park!! A major contrast between TZ and Canada is that we can drive through the parks without paying… not so much here! The cost to drive through each park is $50/person/24 hour period (or part there of). The distance to Mugumu is quite far and since we headed out of Usa late we were basically only stopping if the wildlife was AMAZING! I spent much of my time taking the Gods that I had already gone to the Masai Mara as I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be the same (and I was right! J).

Pissed off buffalo!

Along the way we saw elephants, giraffe (more of these then I ever saw in Kenya) and some buffalo. Mostly though I was struck by simply how dusty it was! You could see clouds of dust on the horizon and knew that there was a group of tourists flying along the roads! It was also clear that animals were migrating to Kenya for green grass, as the plains were brown and dry for most of our journey through the Serengeti.

Our arrival into Mugumu was quite late (after dark) so other than our hotel I didn’t really get a good look at anything. The hotel was typically of many African places outside of the primary tourism zones – something that was originally quite beautiful but is currently showing signs of age and decline. Once we arrived there seemed to be a flurry of activity including new construction and increased focus put into the kitchen! I have no real complaints except that their mosquito-breeding program is out of control!!! I woke up one morning with over 30 bits on my arms alone!!!

While in Mugumu we attended meetings with folks associated with game reserves, a wildlife management area, 2 local communities that are study sites, and the tourism coordinator for Serengeti. The community visits were my favourite and I totally loved their reactions to Joe when he would sing and share stories of traditional life for FN in Canada. Bob indicated that the trip was a like grad school in human-wildlife conflict for him! For example, one village we visited had just had a conflict with a herd of elephants coming in to raid the crops… 100 elephants!!! I cannot begin to imagine that!

The two highlights for me on the trip were doing the game drives in Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. The first one was a major learning experience for me! I was in a vehicle with Rick (we have similar viewing/atmosphere needs I think) and two Ghanaians were shall remain nameless but who were on their cell phones the majority of the time! For those of you who do not know what this means… it also means that they were talking at the top of their lungs!!!!!!! Of course when the elephant (nursing with her calf beside her) decided to walk VERY close to the vehicle in front of us and then walk past ours, I did point out that turning off the cell was a good idea so as to not scare her!! I got some great shots of hippos that day but the highlight was walking huge herds of wildebeest on migration – knowing that they were heading to Kenya. They ended up crossing the road in front and behind us – way too cool!!

Ngorongoro Crater is something that simply needs to be seen! I have never seen that many species living that close together except for a coral reef!!! It was simply amazing! It starts with a long drive down into the crater where we saw Masai herders moving their cattle and goats down for grazing and water (allowed on small scale only) I have a great shot of cows, wildebeest, and zebra in the same shot… just outside of the frame is a spotted Hyena picking out lunch!

Spotted Hyena - with Wildebeest Leg!

Not 5 minutes later we came across a large pack of hyena snacking on the remains of a wildebeest! Later on we saw some lions (5 lioness in total and 4 males lions), buffalo and one cheetah (through bino’s only). The drive out of the crater was one of the highlights – a few folks were scared of the steep, narrow road full of switchbacks – it was the type of road that would make Gran’s knuckles and lips white!!!

Once back in Moshi I turned my attention mostly to figuring ut what I would be doing with the rest of my days. With the help of Donna’s friend Evalyn I booked a trip out to Zanzibar and here is where I am now!! I’m staying at the Mtoni Marine resort which is a about 10 minutes (10,000 TSH cab ride) from Stone Town – a historic and economic centre on the island. I am happy to not be staying in town; however, it would be fun to be able to access the variety of eateries and coffee shops there too!

Pineapple & Coconut Rum and the Henna Tattoo!

While on the island I’ve been the ultimate in lazy and decadent! My resort has its own spa so I started my stay with a massage (contemplating ending it with one too) and have since enjoyed a pedicure and hot-oil scalp treatment! Oh yeah – I am now sporting henna tattoos on my right hand and left foot!! I am also taking advantage of the wonderful menu – I ate warthog the other night (better than the buffalo I ate in Mugumu) and will either have impala or ostrich for dinner tonight! Nothing beats a candle light dinner on the beach with a great glass of red wine and fillet of warthog! Okay! Doing all that with a hot guy would be an improvement but I’ll worry about that later! J

Well I’m going to have to continue my ramblings about Zanzibar later – my hand tailored garment is ready and I must go try it on!! More later details later!

AG