Udzungwa Mountains

I escaped from work to the Udzungwa Mountains National Park, a fantastic, unspoilt park with only walking trails.

It was a bit more DIY, I was going to camp and self cater, so I borrowed a pot, plate and cup from camp and headed off to Ifakara to buy my provisions. Ifakara is a veritable metropolis and I had met an Irish /Brazilian couple who lived there and told me about a supermarket which, at 6m x 6m, didn't really live up to my expectations but did have cheese and milk, treats indeed!

A quick stop in the market and then the requisite hour on the bus waiting. I stayed at a super place at the foot of the mountains called Hondo Hondo (Kiswahili for hornbill) and it's well named. I shared the campsite with Bella the donkey who I thought was very cute (plus could make a sacrifice to a hungry leopard if needed) until I came back from a wander to find her munching my washing.

I did a huge 17km walk which climbs just shy of 1km, so a challenge to the thighs & lungs on the way up and knees & ankles on the way down. I was accompanied by Mechek my guide with great english and patience. Also as there are buffalo and elephant in the park I had Dixon the ranger with his SMG. He made me a little nervous as he was behind me with a loaded automatic weapon on uneven terrain but he didn't fire off an unintentional volley when he tripped... phew!

It was a bit rainy at the beginning and quite cloudy most of the day, which I didn't mind as it meant it was cooler with some atmospheric cloud. The forest was amazing and we climbed through different terrain with lovely cool air in the higher riverine forest. 

I was lucky enough to see 2 endemic species; the udzungwa partridge and sanje monkey. Also saw 4 other types of monkey, oh and leopard and buffalo:

... leopard tortoise (above) and buffalo spider... 2 of my 'small' five.

We took a steep side trip to one of the waterfalls (Moyer Waterfalls). It's about the driest time of year now, I can only imagine what it's like in the wet season, must be quite a racket!

The butterflies were wonderful and because it was a cloudy, cool day we were able to really study them as they rested, wings akimbo,  trying to warm up.

This is definitely somewhere I would recommend, should you find yourself nearby. Be prepared to get very sweaty although there are waterfall pools that you can swim in to cool off! 

There is no escape!

You must all be fed up with Donald Trump news and thinking how fortunate I am to miss it all. Well.... imagine my surprise when I studied the side of my bus at the ferry crossing, the Trump publicity machine has even reached here:

Mind you there is also a Bin Laden chip shop in a nearby town with Osama's  picture!  I think it's more to do with someone thinking they're using a current, popular icon and getting it wrong.

Flying Beauties

Some pictures, particularly for Mrs S. I hope you enjoy them Ann and if you can help identify the final picture, let me know!

The pictures were taken during survey work, time off at Udzungwa and waiting to chat to the Village Chairman... 

Lilac Brasted Roller, Minepa:

Southern Brown Throated Weaver, Igota:

Brown Headed Kingfisher, Mangola:

Leaf Butterfly, Udzungwa:

Butterfly (to be identified), Udzungwa:

In the Field

The main work we're doing at the moment is surveying a large area (500 hectares) belonging to 14 villages, that they're trying to turn in to a wildlife management area (WMA).  The survey is to look at the state of the habitat and wildlife for possible hunting, fishing, tourism opportunities.

We head off down routes, rather than roads, taking water, food and camping gear for 2-3 days. At times we have to clear the way or make a new route if that's not possible. Once there we carry out all manner of surveys.

Clearing a new route:

Bird surveys happen early in the morning, when the birds are most active. We walk out and find a position to look, listen and record the species and numbers.  I can do spotting and counting but, fortunately, we have experts who know the bird calls! We do this from 3 locations at least half a kilometre from each other,  to avoid double counting. Then it's back to camp for a hunk of bread and sweet black tea (that's every day breakfast actually).

Forest campsite:

Mornings and afternoons we carry out large mammal transects (LMTs). We run a measuring tape over a 500m distance, in a straight line, and then walk the line inspecting a metre on each side.  We look for and record all mammal ativity; spoor, droppings, digging, burrows etc. We saw hippo prints one day which was fun but mostly antelope, zebra, buffalo, bush pig and elephant. Also lots of elephant shrew burrows. They're not the weeny shrews we're used to, more the size of a small adult rabbit. This could account for the name but much more likely to be because of their long, trunk like noses!  I've seen a few but they're pretty shy.

LMT with tracker Kimboga:

Bush buck prints and droppings:

While one of us records the mammal data the other records the state of the forest over the same area, primarily looking for signs of human disturbance. This is repeated in different, dispersed areas, about 6 each day.

I'm in charge of tree data here but have to meddle in the mammal signs too, dik dik droppings in this case:

We also set up camera traps to see if we can capture the nocturnal & shy creatures and any carnivores. We've heard lion and hyena from our bush camp and seen leopard droppings but no sightings. That might not be such a bad thing as an old rifle and panga may not be the best defence against a hungary pride of lions!

The area borders the Selous national park,  a big park in the SE of Tanzania. When the villages first started defining the WMA, 5 years ago, there was more game around than now as there's been hugh pressure on the land in this area due to incoming pastoralists who decimate the forest and badly overgraze. I've been lucky in that the areas I've surveyed have been pretty pristine but, due to the time of year, not a great many sightings of animals (the wet season, March & April, will bring more game).

Illegal grazing by a migrant Sukuma pastoralist:

Another part of the work is to carry out surveys with the people in the area. There are quite a few illegal settlements in the WMA and we spent a rather depressing and sweaty couple of days walking between them and asking our questions. Not that surprisinglyly some of the people had 'paid' village officials to be allowed to stay in the area. There are also some permitted fishing villages who were interesting to talk to.

Survey at the fishing village:

Along with the illegal settlements there are other illegal activities: cutting timber and making charcoal; cutting and planking timber; farming; fishing; mammal poaching; honey poaching which generally entails chopping down the whole tree and grazing of domestic animals.  When we go out we usually take a Village Game Scout (VGS) with us and they're empowered to tackle and detain any offenders. We've had a couple of run ins but nothing too worrisome. The first thing the VGS does is to remove their knives and spears!

Our VGSS challenging some Sukuma moving cattle through:

Our VGS challenging settlers. This one was a bit heated as we found bush meat bones:

The illegal human disturbance seems to be more serious than anyone thinks so I've been writing a report and PowerPoint presentation with lots of pictorial evidence. The report has been delivered and put the cat among the pigeons apparently as a recent trend report said there was no encroachment!  We are waiting for a meeting with the combined village council and the District Council but have now had 2 meetings cancelled! Monday is the new date.... we shall see....

The office:

Happy New Year!

I decided we needed a treat for New Year's Eve and so organised a shopping trip for Michael (he's 22 and needs organising or else he'd spend the day staring in to the middle distance) and me. 

There are lots of bicycles here, apparently donated by Holland, very simple and geerless.  When they're not in use by the owners they're on the side of the road available for hire, going rate 8 pence an hour. We set off early,  before it became too hot,  and cycled to Lupiro, the nearest metropolis with a butcher.

We bought some lovely beef that Cessie turned into a delicious 'pilau' (rice, beef, onion, ginger and garlic). The plan was to make a fresh salad, and here it is with avo, red onion, toms, cucumber, green pepper and a squeeze if fresh lime. It went down well with the locals.

To round off the meal we bought the makings of a fruit salad... mango, pineapple, banana and lime juice. Delicious, or as the Tanzanians sayabouy anything good, "Fresh". There was even enough pineapple left for me to make pancakes the next morning. 

You're probably thinking I've had too much sun to get this excited about something so simple but the staple meal is rice and beans; delicious but a bit samey! The accompanying mango was my own purchase to jazz up the day a bit. A small outlay at 8 pence! 

The Team

These are the people I'm sharing my days with. In order of the photos below:

Sebastian (Seb)
The director of KVOC. A 35 year old who has worked in conservation for over 10 years. He has a seemingly inexhaustible line in football shirts practical in terms of the speed of drying but surely pretty sweaty and risky by camp fires?!
He's also currently being bugged daily by me to speed up the pace of our activities and to plan them in advance each week.

Cecilia (Cessie )
The next most important person as she feeds me! She makes delicious food, bakes bread and provides endless sweet tea over an open fire either at Base or in the field; hot work. She's undoubtedly the hardest worker, working 7 days a week for £1.11 a day! She's also my Swahili teacher.

Kimboga (Baboo)
The camp guard and tracker (on the left of the photo). A lovely, smiley, well respected man. He has an ancient rifle that he brings along when we're in the field which Seb says hasn't been fired since 2010 but Kimboga says he fired in November to scare off baboons in his home village who were eating crops. I just think the gaffer tape on the barrel would melt if it were fired!

Ndomba (on the right of the photo) 
A village scout who comes with us when we're out in the field. He's enthusiastic, energetic, very talkative and laughs a lot. He picks scorpions up by their tails for a closer look; chases down illegal charcoal producers and detains illegal grazers and their cattle. If Kimboga has the rifle then Ndomba has the panga (machete). 

Benson
The driver. A recent addition as KVOC were gifted a vehicle by the district council and thus needed someone to drive it. I was told about the 'new' vehicle when I first arrived but found it hard to reconcile the enthusiasm with the vehicle I saw when I reached KVOC! It's marbled windscreen, randomly pop up bonnet, wired closed glove box and the fuel gauge the only dial working.
Back to Benson, a retired bus driver which is borne out by his driving technique! He starts the engine 20 minutes before we have to go anywhere and leaves it running for 10 minutes when we get to our destination. He drives fast, as if against the clock, and seems to speed up as we approach another vehicle. Unfortunately for him the horn doesn't often work but he spends a lot of time trying it! Saying that, he too is lovely and is the only person who has offered me help putting up or taking down my tent.

Emmanuel (Ema)
A Tanzanian placement student, studying conservation and tourism, probably working for nothing! He is a really happy influence on the group, a little bit mad, loves his music and hates drinking, "I've seen what it does". He's really brilliant with his birds (the feathered sort). He's the one on top of the vehicle, packing the roof. 

Michael
British student, 4 months into his 7 month placement. He has much more hair and much less fat than when he arrived. This is a fairly typical picture as he's always keen to find a perch wherever we are. He's also singlehandedly enriching the locals in soda and egg & chips sales. Mind you I might be the same if I had had rice and beans for 4 months.

Back at Base

I've been out in the field a lot but now we're back at base for a few days. A chance to catch up on the growing pile of washing... this is a long and very manual process!

All water, for washing and drinking, needs to be collected and brought to site. We're lucky enough to have a vehicle so we can go to the sweeter tasting wells, slightly further afield, for our drinking water (less metalic). Water for washing is collected from the river and stored in a big well in camp.

At least I don't have to lug buckets of water far unlike the residents who use head, hands, bikes and motor bikes for transporting it from well to home.