Down Kili, to Katavi, and getting malaria

Hey all,
A few last thoughts about Kilimanjaro. I was running out of time when I did the last post, so I didn't talk about the peak or getting down at all. One of the coolest things about the peak was that looking out over Africa, you could see the curvature of the Earth! I tried to take pictures, so hopefully they will convey some of that. Secondly, the trip down took 4 hours- so that the whole trip from and back to Kibo took 11 hours. On the way down, you basically had to wade through foot-deep gravel and sort of ski your way down. I shifted from one foot, slid down about a foot, and the shifted the other to slide another foot. The guide Christian grabbed my arm and said, "Don't cry" (though in retrospect I think he meant 'don't try') and started to run down the hill! He held my arm above and below the elbow and was able to steer my body around big rocks, and together, we slid about 6 feet down on a single foot and then switched to the other for another 6 feet! We got down what must have been a hundred feet and looked back at everyone else. It was efficient, and we only fell once! Once we got back to Kibo, we had an hour nap, lunch, and then we hiked down to Horombo hut for another 3.5 hours! It was a very long day. The rest of the way down Kilimanjaro became woodland, then tropical jungle, which was really cool after the desert. This was part of the reason I wanted to do the Rongai route- so we could see both sides of the mountain. Boy were we glad we were going down and not up the Marangu route!

After saying goodbye to our new friends, Dad and I spent a nice day in Moshi and prepared for the next step of our journey- flying down to Dar es Salaam and then out to Kigoma on the banks of Lake Tanganyika. Dad had developed a bit of a cough during our climb, and my guide book said that sickies weren't allowed into Gombe Stream because the chimps could get infected, so we decided to go down south to Katavi National Park first and recover before returning to Gombe Stream. However, Africa had other plans for us, and our flight from Arusha was delayed enough to cause us to miss our flight out to Kigoma. Surprising to me, was the fact that the single flight to Kigoma the following day was full, so we had a whole day to kill in Dar. So we went to the beach! Back to Bongoyo Island, and this time I did a better job of putting on sun screen. They were out of prawns, so we had lobster for lunch, and it was delicious!!

Finally, we made it to Kigoma. The "airport" was a red dirt landing strip with a brick hut at the side. The luggage was unloaded by a single guy and handed through a window into the hut, one by one. We successfully managed to get our luggage, a taxi, two bus tickets to Mpanda (near Katavi), and get to one of the hotels in my guide book Aqua Lodge. I am still somewhat unsure whether it is really open for business or not. The only person who really seems to know what is going on is the manager, Jaffeta, and he is only there some of the time. Here's a pic of Lake Tanganyika at sunset. On the plus side, the hotel is directly on the beach, and we can hear the waves as we drift off to sleep.
The bus. I knew it would be bad, but damn. Twelve hours, no bathroom breaks, paved road for about 5 of the 320km, and the rest was appropriate for a four-wheel drive jeep. But these things weren't the bad part. I had the misfortune of an aisle seat, and dad had the middle seat, beside the person with the window seat. On my previous hellish bus ride in TZ, the aisle was no big deal, but on this bus, every seat was filled, and all standing room was taken by at least 3 people where there should have been one. It is apparently customary to let standing people sit on your arm rest, but I wanted my arm rest, so I spent most of 10 hours shrugging people off my shoulder (which was apparently a tempting seat), elbowing them off my arm rest, and kneeing them off of my lap. That is, until the guy I had been kneeing fainted. I decided if he wanted to lay with his arm on my lap that was fine if it kept him from throwing up on me. Finally, we arrived in Mpanda, a tiny, dusty, hole in the wall of a town. I am shocked so many people wanted to come there.

My guide book recommended Super City Motel, as the "hub of information" concerning Katavi. Maybe it was 5 years ago, but now there're about 2 people who speak any amount of English, and although they know which direction Katavi is in, there isn't much more known about it. Our hotel room was a tiny, sweltering little room, but we were way too exhausted to worry much about it after our bus ride. In the morning, we hired a taxi to take us to the park, hoping, as the guide book suggested, that we could hire a national park vehicle and ranger to give us a driving safari. When we arrived, the lead officer quoted us more than double the cost my guide book suggested and then called some guy from the village to drive us instead. Jumo arrived, popped the top up off his land rover, and away we went.

At first I was skeptical, but Jumo said that he had been a tour guide in Rukwa NP for10 years and here in Katavi for 10.We drove for awhile and sudden, there was a lioness on the road in front of us! She looked surprised (if I may so anthropomorphize) and looked back over her shoulder. I looked over that way too and saw at least three more lionesses and cubs following behind her. Looking back over my shoulder, the way she had been headed, we saw 2 warthogs trotting away with tails high. We had interrupted a hunt! The lioness recovered herself quickly and sauntered right past us after the warthogs. More and more lions came pouring out of the savanna following her, and quickly we heard the pigs start to squeal. I asked Jumo if we could go back and maybe catch a glimpse of them eating. He turned the car around, and then stood on the hood, while we heard the squeals rise in pitch and then subside. Then, against the rules, Jumo drove the car off the road into the bush, and right up to a pride of 9 lions devouring a warthog!! We got to watch from about 8 feet away while the group tore the carcass apart, growling at each other the whole time. The sounds were amazing. Jumo explained that the pride was several mothers and their offspring. The cubs climbed over one another and mothers, and occasionally someone crossed a line and got an almighty slap and a snarl. After they had peeled the thing to bones, they retired to the shade to rest. Jumo said that in the evening, the hyenas would come and eat the bones.
Continuing on down the road, we passed a giant mud pool packed with hippos and crocodiles. Over a bridge, the hippos were sparring, and I got this great shot. We also saw a lot of giraffes, cape buffalo, a few zebras, and several herds of elephants!
At one point, the matriarch of the group gave us a warning flap of her ears and a loud trumpet, saying 'you're getting too close!' They had several little babies with them, which made me think of Baby Elephant Walk, or whatever that cute song in Hatari is called. We also saw two big male lions who were taking turns guarding a dead cape buffalo that they had brought down. They were pretty impressive. At one point, I thought we were a little too close when one of the lions stood up and gave a good snarl. Jumo was a fearless driver. All in all it was a great day, and we only saw 4 other cars the whole time. The way I hear, trips into Serengeti involve lines of land rovers (though admittedly you don't have to take the evil bus to get there).

When we got back to Mpanda, I was feeling really exhausted and the joints in my legs hurt. I though it was just the bus ride and the car ride days catching up to me, and I went to bed without dinner, just desperate to lay down. A few hours later, I started to get cold... really cold. I knew it was probably about 85 degrees in our hotel room, but I had goosebumps all over, and I was shaking. So I put on my long johns. A little while after that, I got hot, then cold, then hot. And I thought... crap- I have malaria. Sure enough, the next morning, I had a pounding headache, nasty diarrhea (sorry if that's too much information), and I kept shaking when I tried to move. Dad and I were going to join some German (or Scandinavian) guys for another adventure into Katavi, but I said pass. I wanted to get the blood test and the medicine. Plus, we had another bus ride back to Kigoma on Monday (still hoping to see the chimpanzees).So I slept a few more hours, ate 3 bites of scrambled eggs, and we took a taxi to Mpanda hospital, which other than the exterior sign, has none. After a couple of hours, I was able to communicate that I wanted a malaria test, and after a few more hours I got one. The lab tech spoke good English and explained that yes 11 parasites per 200 white blood cells means you have malaria. I bought artemether/lumefantrine and some tylenol for 600 shilings and went back to the hotel for a nap.
I didn't have any more chills/fevers so that was good but I still felt pretty lousy. The next morning, I decided I'd rather be sick in Kigoma than Mpanda, and I was still hoping I'd feel well enough to visit the chimpanzees in Gombe Stream. So we boarded the bus back to Kigoma, except this time, we had two window seats at the front. It would have been good if my seat hadn't been soaking wet. So we made the trip back, another 12 hours, me with a soggy bottom, and I only got sick a few times. So now we are back in Kigoma, but I did not feel up to hiking to see the chimps. Bummer! Stupid expensive malarone and stupid malaria!!!
Oh well. This is Africa- TIA. Getting to do 2/3 of what we planned is pretty good, considering this is the first full trip I've planned myself. We fly back to Dar on Friday, and then we return to the US on the 28th. I am looking forward to eating at Las Caras; taking a long, long, hot shower; and most importantly being with all the people I love!

See you soon,
Kara

Mount Kilimanjaro

Hey all!

My dad arrived safely from the US, and even though his bags made an extended pit stop in Amsterdam, we arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport with everything. We stayed at Hatari Lodge, named for the John Wayne movie, and it was awesome! Similarly to the Fort restaurant, for those of you who have had the pleasure, the ambience was a mix of rustic and elegant. We went on several game drives through Arusha National Park and captured our first glimpse of Kili at dusk. More often than not, "the little hill" is shrouded in clouds, and our guide told us that it's a shy mountain.After having my first hot shower in a month, Dad and I were off to Moshi to join our treking group for Kili. The company Zara Tours organizes a lot of different types of safaris out of one hotel in Moshi called the Springlands. First, we joined a bunch of other people and heard the spiel about group set up, equipment, and safety. Then we all had to yell, "All the way to the top!" and it was time for beer. I submitted a lot of applications to residencies, and joined Dad in the beer garden. We decided that we would just have an all liquid dinner and turn in early.

The next morning, we met our group and set off on the bus ride around the north/east side of Kilimanjaro to start the Rongai route. From left to right in the picture are me, Kim, Sheila, and Steve with my dad in the back, and Pegi in the front. The four additions to our dynamic duo are Canadians from Cologna (sp?). Steve and Sheila are married; Kim is Steve's co-worker; and Pegi is Steve's sister. It was a fun group! This picture was taken after our first day hiking through pine forest for 2.5 hours. The trail was nice and manicured and not too steep (no flashbacks to Lupanga, luckily). We also hiked the first day with a pair of Irish gals. this first day, we gained 650m in altitude, going from 2000 to 2650.

Day 2 was from Simba camp to Second Cave, 2650m to 3,400m. It was a nice hike, and we were at the Second Cave by lunch time. Our guide's name was Emanuel, and he was excellent. He told us starting our climb that he knew every rock, bush, and leaf and to make sure to ask him about it. The mountain is his home. The porters would scream past us every morning after packing up the camp after breakfast, carrying bags and baskets and buckets on their heads. They certainly earn their money a hard way. After finishing the day, everyone else decided to take a nap before dinner, so I handed out some candy to the porters. They invited me into their tent to play... you guessed it- Uno (or lasti cardi in Swahili). The addition of my stinky body to the 4-man tent made it six in total, so we were packed in tight. The porters had spread little foam mats all over the floor so the whole thing was comfortable. At one point, one of the assistant guides Tony showed me that he was going to play two jokers on me when it was his turn, forcing me to take 10 cards. So I told him "Subiri!" (wait) and played an 8 to change the direction. We all had a good laugh when he destroyed the guy to his left instead of me, named Geoffrey. Finally, I won a round, and everyone had a good mocking of the guy I beat named Nyari. It was great! People started to trickle out of the tent to prep for dinner, and I snapped this shot of Geoffrey (left) and Nyari (right)

Day 3 was Second Cave to Kikelewa camp 3400m to 3650. I had been drinking a lot of water to help prevent altitude sickness, so I got up around dawn to use the choo (pronouced with a long 'o'- toilet). Luckily for me, Kibo (one of the peaks of Kilimanjaro) was lit up nicely by the the pink dawn light.

Day 4 was Kikelewa to Mawenzi Tarn 3650 to 4330m. This day was a bit more uphill, and Kim said she felt like she was really "sucking air." We were rewarded with the most beautiful camp, however. It sat at the base of Mawenzi peak, an eruption that after Kibo. I found this fact surprising, because Mawenzi looks much more raw and rugged. The caldera is like a giant, jagged crown. From Mawenzi, we could see all the way across a giant desert plain to Kibo hut. It was a fantastic view.

Day 5 was Mawenzi Tarn to Kibo hut, across the desert, 4330m to 4750 along 10km. It was absolutely gorgeous, and I thought it was one of the most beautiful days. The terrain was like the moon with nothing but dust stretching away from you. There was also a plane crash about 2/3rds of the way to Kibo. This seemed odd because it was the flattest stretch the whole way- maybe the pilot was attempting to land? All that remained were the wings and the nose/cockpit. This day destroyed Kim. I think she was developing a cold, which she subsequently shared with the rest of us. Across the desert, I found one big boulder and decided that it was the only option for a bathroom break. Apparently, every other traveler passing this way thought the same thing.

From this point on, the days blurred together. After our hike across the desert, we slept until 1045pm and got up to climb the mountain. Kim decided that after suffering so badly on the flats, she couldn't make the hill. The five of us piled out of the tents wearing almost everything we owned to prep for the cold, and we started walking. It was pitch black except for the light of headlamps. All you could see was the person in front of you's boots and the patch of gravel between you. If you looked up the hill, you could see clusters of head lamps rising straight up above you like high rise condos. Pole pole! I felt a little nauseated after a while, but not too badly. Pegi had to turn back from feeling ill, and our main guide Emanuel went with her. The four of us continued on with Tony and Christian for guides. Not too much later, Steve vomitted his guts out, and Tony told him, "Good job!" We continued on. There was nothing to see or think about except putting one foot in front of the other. I kept checking my watch, just to make sure time was continuing and to check the temperature, which never dropped below 20F. The windchill was another story.

Finally, a pink glow appeared behind us, and a wooden crossed loomed out of the darkness- Gillman's point!!! We had made it up the worst part. This picture is Dad and Christian with the backdrop of the crater behind. The terrain inside looked like Martian soil with the sun turning it orange at dawn.

Here's the four of us at Uhuru Peak, the roof of Africa, the highest free standing mountain in the world!

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Bongoyo Island

Hello all!

At the YMCA in Dar es Salaam, I met a great group of folks. My second night here, we retired to the Canadian guys' room, and they played guitar and doxycycline bottle shaker and sang while the rest of us lounged on the beds drinking Safari and Seregetti beers. It was awesome! The boys are in a band called "How to Build a Robot." The next day, the Coloradan girl took a bus back to Kampala, Uganda where she is working, the Canadians headed up for a couple day trip in Bagamoyo, and one of the Israelis (Roi) flew back to Israel, leaving one Israeli (Sefi) and one Brit (Sofia) with me in Dar. Sofia decided to catch up on all of her journaling, so Sefi and I decided that we should go find a beach.

We decided to try the small island called Bongoyo. My guide book said that there was good swimming at all times of the day because there was no reef. Sefi and I took a small boat with a Chinese couple and a South Africa guy across the bay. The trip took about a half an hour and provided some great views of Msasani Peninsula, what I think must be the North Coast, and also of Dar's giant barges. As we approached the beach, my excitement grew. The white sands stretched approximately the size of a football field, was studded with a few thatch umbrella bandas, and was surrounded by clear turquoise water. It was empty! When we landed, it became clear that the whole beach would only be shared between Sefi, myself, the South African (Antony), the Chinese couple (Steven and Monica), a British couple who had arrived before us, and a few Tanzanian staffers.

Sefi and I put in our orders for lunch and then walked through the scrub brush over jagged lava rock to Shark's Lagoon. The tide was out, so we walked through a few inches of warm water, admiring crabs, starfish, and a few small fish in little pools. There was a neat little cave in one of the lava rock walls that I decided to explore. The roof was quite low, about 1m so had to crawl over the slippery rock to get through. I could see that there was a little coral beach 50m in that was lit by sunlight, so I decided to go all the way to check it out.

Lunch was waiting for us when we returned. Antony had lazed on the beach and looked after my bag, and we all ate together. Sefi and Antony had fish, and I had a crab and some prawns with cold cokes. It was all delicious! Antony explained that he was here on business and that his company makes powders for flavoring water out of Johannesburg.

After Sefi and I spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the warm, salty water, we headed back to town to have another delicious meal with Sofia at an excellent Indian restaurant called the Alcove. What a day! Bradt travel guide rocks!!

Love,

Kara

Market and Moving On

Hello All,

Since my Lupanga adventure I was able to complete the work I came to Tanzania to do. I have obtained more information on the region, and I have done a test run of my interview guide. There are several portions that need some more attention, but overall it worked well, and everyone I showed it to approved. Below is a picture of the breakfast of champions: chapati with Africafe!

Charles and I visited a Maasai Market in my last couple of days. I had commented that NaneNane was like the National Western Stock Show, but this market was much closer. The main attraction was the cattle. Warriors guarded small herds, and people walked around inspecting, buying, and selling. The air was filled with dust and the sounds of lowing and the crack of sticks across stubborn backs. I took this awesome shot of one warrior inspecting his herd.After Charles sold one of his cattle, he and some of his relatives and I sat down to have some freshly cooked (and freshly slaughtered) beef. We sat around a small table covered in leaves pulled from the surrounding trees, and the chef dropped this slab of meat in front of us. Charles whipped out a knife and cut off large bites for everyone. As soon as I had mine in my mouth, I knew I was in trouble. It was tasty but huge and tough. Maasai love their cattle and everything connected to their cattle, and I was afraid of making some social fauxpaux by having to spit it out. So I chewed and chewed... and chewed some more. I couldn't even tear off a piece of it to swallow. What seemed like ten minutes later, I was still chewing, my teeth and jaws were starting to get tired, and I was really starting to panic that I would never be able to swallow the thing. Happily, Charles noticed that I had not been taking anymore pieces and just said, "If you can't swallow it, just throw it," gesturing to the dirt. Gratefully, I removed this giant, gray, masticated blob from my mouth and chucked it away from our table. After that, Charles cut me tiny little pieces that would have been good for a baby or a granny with no teeth- they were perfect!
In the last couple of evenings spent with Luka and Seleyan, we enjoyed delicious dinners of mishkaki na chipsi na mayai (sheesh kebabs with french fry omlettes). There was a little shop just down the road from the house that would grill you up the mishkaki over glowing coals, and the put french fries in a skillet and cracked eggs over them to make a little omlette. Then they would take all the elements and throw them in a plastic bag with a few squirts of tomato sauce and send you on your way to eat the mix with toothpicks. I should have taken a picture, but I was too anxious to get home and eat!

Saying goodbye was sad, but I'm really excited to be traveling again. Morogoro's a great town, but I was getting antsy. I have now arrived back in Dar es Salaam, and the YMCA proved to be the source of good fortune once again! I met Edward there, and this time, I have met a group of travelers from British Columbia, Great Britain, and Colorado!! Our adventures are a tale for next time!

Cheers,

Kara

Lupanga Peak

Habari za leo!

This week, after pouring through my guide book, I decided to climb Lupanga Peak, elevation 2150m (from Morogoro at 500m). The guide book suggested an excellent company with English-speaking guides and a hike for "most of the day" for "reasonably fit walkers." I thought that sounded perfect.

Step one consisted of purchasing a permit from the government to enter the Uluguru Conservation Area. I thought this might take a few minutes before I went with Charles, a friend of Edward, to visit his family. Instead, I was directed to sit in a chair straight out of the 70's in a cramped office. It should have housed two people for the two desks. Instead, there were 7, all seeming to shuffle papers. One woman who appeared to be a secretary hunted and pecked out something on a computer still using DOS. I think at some point I fell asleep, and two hours later, I received permits and a request for $30 US. I only had a twenty dollar bill on me, so I handed that over and 20,000 TSH (expecting 4,300 back considering the exchange rate). When the man returned with 3,500, we had some more discussion until we were both satisfied. I know it was a relatively small amount of money- but it was the principle of the thing. Plus, 800 TSH will buy almost three days' worth of breakfast.

Charles and I visited his family a short 30-minute daladala (minibus) ride away from Morogoro along the Dodoma road. It is amazing how much you can pack into a daladala when you put your mind to it. Every seat was filled, and I don't know why, but the seats are about half the size of a normal person. Plus, the woman sitting next to me had a small child on her lap. Under our feet were sacks of grain or corn or something, and the back storage area of the bus was packed so full the tailgate had to be strapped down because it would not close all the way. I gave the little kid a Wurthers candy, and she sucked at it for at least 15 minutes until she fell asleep with her sticky fingers still in her mouth. Her head lolled from her mom's shoulder to mine, and it was really cute.
When we arrived, we relaxed in Charles' mud and thatch hut which was wonderfully cool despite the scorching heat outside. His wife brought us ugali (a cornmeal doughy food staple), a tomato and bean sauce to dip it in, and fresh milk. After the initial shock of the arrival the mzungu, Charles' children started to trickle into the hut. It was time for the camera, and after I took a few pictures, the oldest boy seized my camera and started snapping shots of the others. It was so dark in the hut that the flash's light blinded us every time, and most of the pictures were random captures. Two of them are particularly hilarious faces being pulled by the youngest brother and one of the adopted girls. I will post some when Edward returns with his laptop from Arusha. After that, we played dress up the mzungu in Maasai shuka and took pictures of the whole family together. One of Charles' adopted daughters really took a liking to me, petting my arm and my hair and holding my hand. When we outside, I grabbed her up in my arms, and Charles got a really adorable picture of us.Lupanga.
I was told that this was an all day affair, with a 7 hour hike to the top of Lupanga and a 4 hour hike down. I thought that it would be a good challenge, but I didn't really think through the elevation that we would gain 1650m, some 5,400 ft. Ahhh the benefit of hindsight. My guide, Aziz, and I started from town at 7 in the morning. In Swahili time, 7 am is 1 hour after sunrise and thus hour number one "saa moja." After 45 minutes, we were in the foothills in a small hill village. Our permits were inspected, and I took a picture of the sign that said "Lupanga Peak summit 3.5 miles." I thought, I can do that. The road dwindled to a single-track trail of red dirt that was fairly steep. My legs were already starting to burn. We passed through a few scattered fields of corn or beets perched precariously on the sides of steep hills, through scattered palms trees, and finally climbed into grassy, bushy hills beyond inhabitance. When we reached a beautiful little waterfall, we took a break. I was beginning to think, 'surely it can't all be this steep.' There were no switch backs, it seemed like we were going straight up, more or less. I remarked on how steep it was to Aziz, and he nodded gravely. "Yes, very steep," he echoed. Hopefully, I asked it it wasn't all like this. My heart sank when he said that it was like this the whole way. He was wrong, it only got more steep. Aziz said that the elevation of the waterfall was 900m- we had climbed 500m- and had 1150 to go!


We climbed on, and the track varied between three types of terrain: 60% so steep I wished there were stairs, 30% so steep you hand to climb with your hands grasping vines and stones to help you bear crawl, and 10% reasonable steepness which I would call "hiking." We passed into forest jungle and the temperature started to drop. The land was a rich emerald green, and on the path I spotted several sea shells (no idea how they got there). There were birds calling, though I saw few, with my eyes glued to the path or the next vine I would use to pull myself up or which corner of a rock might support my heavy boot. It was too difficult climbing to really appreciate the scenery. Every 8 or so steps, my legs were burning so badly I had to pause for a few seconds to let it subside. Occasionally, I would look back the way we came and be rewarded with an amazing view over Morogoro- we really were going straight up! At this point, also, I was starting to fear the way back down. I was imaging sitting on my butt and just sliding all the way. Finally, Aziz said that he would take a "short corner." I had no idea what that meant, but apparently, it is a polite way to say you are taking a bathroom break. It had been 4.5 hours, and I knew we still had 2.5 hours to go the peak- there was no way. I was cooked. When Aziz returned, we agreed to go just a bit further to a large rock that would afford a nice view and a rewarding place to call it quits. At 1200m, sure enough, we got a huge view over all Morogoro and up Lupanga Peak. It reared ahead of us, and I know it would have taken much longer than 2.5 hours to get to the top at our pace. Aziz said that most tourists don't make it this far, and I wondered if he was just humoring me.

The way down was better than I expected. The tread on my boots was excellent, and I was able to carefully walk side-wise from rock to rock for most of the trip. Aziz just wore city shoes with no tread at all and had to climb his way back down with almost as much difficulty as getting up. The song, "These Boots are Made for Walking" popped into my head, and I sang it to myself for most of an hour. Near the edge of the forest, we saw a black and white Colobus swinging through the tree tops, but he was gone before I could get my camera out. Unfortunately, the trip down was slow-going due to the difficulty, and by the time we reached the waterfall, the soles of my feet burned from being on such a slant in my boots. By the time, we reached the true road, I was dead on my feet, and only the automaticity of swinging one leg in front of the other got me back to the Chilunga Cultural Tourism office. There, we met up with the director, who congratulated me heartily. He said that almost everyone stops at the waterfall; almost no one makes it all the way to the forest; and very very few see a colobus. I guess Aziz was not humoring me. No kidding! Even though altitude hadn't hit me, I felt more destroyed than I had after my climb of Grays and Torreys. Happily, the director drove me home, so I didn't have to walk, and I treated myself to a Cadbury chocolate bar with Marula flavoring!

Hopefully, Edward will be back today, and I will be able to post pictures. Thanks for all the birthday wishes, and I look forward to celebrating with you when I return.
Heri,
Kara

ndege

Last night, the power was out in our apartment complex, so Seleyan, Luka, and I decided to play cards outside until it was too dark. The sun was setting off behind us, and I thought I saw a lot brown birds filling the sky. However, when I looked again, they were flying a little less gracefully than normal. I stared up and realized- no, these were not birds, but giant bats- Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom giant. Luka came back from the shop with some cold sodas for us, and I pointed and asked what the word for bat was. He said, "Ndege." I shook my head because ndege is bird, and also plane, and scheduled flight. After some discussion with Seleyan, they agreed. The word 'ndege' also applies to bats- giant, football-sized bats.

Kumi-Nane (10-8)

Hey everybody!
I have returned from Nane-Nane, which as it turns out, was like a nation-wide National Western Stock Show. The grounds were a little ways out of town on the road back to Dar es Salaam, and Edward, his sister Seleyon, and I took a minibus (dala-dala) out to the site. The whole thing was a giant mass of bodies, music, stuff to buy, and dust. There was a rumor that there was a lion in a cage, but as it turned out, it was only a rumor. The three of us wandered around looking at sunglasses, pots, and sandals, ate some ice cream, and listened to what I gather was a very good comedian on a big stage. The red dust rising up from under the thousands of feet was choking, and we stopped at an educational exhibit about goat stomachs to drink some water. Seleyon bought some cute little black flats that looked like plastic lace, and I bought the two of us some delicious candy- baobab nuts (ubuyu) coated in some kind of magenta sweet-spicy powder. You just suck the fuzzy coating off and spit out the nut. The picture to the left was taken by Edward. See if you can't spot the mzungu?

Before we went to Nane-Nane, the three of us ran some errands in town, and Edward took this nice picture of Seleyon and I. She is 16 years old, learning English and Swahili to some extent at secondary school in Morogoro. Her first language is Maasai (or Maa), so it's always interesting to communicate. Both of us sit with dictionaries and go at it. She is so friendly and helpful, but she speaks English shyly.

After Nane-Nane, we rested at a really beautiful hotel across the highway called Usambara lodge. The place was a big compound of manicured palm trees and grass with a bunch of clean, white-washed cottages with their own little gates. The bar was an open air thatch covered hut with a tiny tv showing the Manchester United- Chelsea soccer game to a crowd of rich locals and businessmen. There was even a man wearing a Terrell Davis football jersey! It's so funny to see what American clothes find their way over here. On the dala-dala trip out, I saw a young boy wearing a green shirt that said Johnson Family Reunion. The Usambara lodge also had a tiny little zoo of its own with cages of rabbits, guinea pigs, parrots, and some kind of small monkey. Edward snapped an awesome shot after waiting a long time for the monkey to get close to him.

The Swahili is coming along well, but I still need a lot of practice. Looking words up in my dictionary is not a straight forward process because there is a lot of modification that can be done to word stems. For example, the verb to go is -enda, but if you want to say 'I will go', it translates to 'nitakwenda'. I try to listen to the verb stems that people say to figure out the jist, but it's tricky. Also, you can't just listen to the ends of words because they can be modified by tense or subtle changes in meaning. For example, 'to steal' is -iba but 'you have stolen' is umekibwa. Oh well, practice makes perfect!

Sorry about the jumble of pictures at the top. Becky is going to have to explain how she fits them in to the text so nicely.
Later,
Kara

resting in Morogoro

Habari za asabuhi (good morning)!
Hope all is well state-side. I am resting at my friend Edward's home in Morogoro, and brushing up on my Swahili with books and Edward's brother and sister Luka and Seleyon. They are attending secondary school here in Morogoro and have very kindly shared their home with me. I am the only white person in town it seems, and when I go out, I get a little train of children chanting "Mzungu!" A big smile or a wave sends them running behind their bigger siblings, giggling. I had forgotten what it's like to be stared at everywhere you go, and everyone who does a double-take makes me laugh out loud.
I have been watching the local tv station called ATV (Abood TV) and slowly picking out more and more words. The station shows all kinds of shows, lasting a few minutes, on a loop all day. So I'm learning the words from the soap opera where the lead girl sleeps around and gets VVU (HIV) as a result. Also, the music videos are nice because I have enough time to understand the main points of the chorus before the song is over. Today, I had to laugh because Charley and Lola came on in the middle of the day! For those of you who don't know, Charley and Lola is a delightful childrens' show with two siblings with British accents that my nephews love.
I met one of Edward's neighbors named Joseph who is an accountant for a German-owned bank here. He explained to me that most Swahili names have a lot of meaning behind them and gave me two interesting examples (that I can remember). KiSwahili is a combination of kisiwa (island) and hili (hills) showing that the language stretches over the whole country/region. Bagamoyo is a combo of bwaga (drop) and moyo (heart) showing how sad slaves were to arrive in Bagamoyo before being sold abroad or killed for being weaklings.
Tomorrow, we are going to a local festival called Nane-Nane (8-8) to see stuffed lions and impalas and other things celebrating the richness of Tanzania and the Morogoro area. Later this week, we are being joined by some of Edward's friends from Yale, and we will climb to the top of Uluguru mountains and see the Sanje (sp?) waterfall. It sounds like we will also visit the two national parks nearby Udzungwa and Mikumi.

Hopefully, I will get some pictures to you soon. I left my USB cable on my table at home, so we'll see how expensive it is to buy one here. Also, I bought a phone here, so if you feel the urge to call international 9 hours ahead, send me an email, and I'll give it to you.

Baadaye (later)!
-Kara

Mambo from Dar es Salaam

Mambo!
I am resurrecting this pitiful blog after being inspired by the lovely Becky Higbee (see higbort.blogspot.com). I have returned to Tanzania after two years to work on my project with Edward Tunyon on female genital mutilation. Unfortunately, the Colorado Multiple Institutional Review Board has delayed my ability to conduct the interviews I wanted to, but alas, that will be an adventure for residency.
After my first month of working on the project- gathering some background data, my dad will be joining me for a month of outdoor adventure on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, the forests of Gombe Stream (recall Jane Goodall), and on the plains of Katavi.
I am travelling to Morogoro this afternoon, and I will post again with more details after I get settled.

Heri,
Kara