Our new home

We finished our 2 weeks of Swahili language training and all received certificates.  Not sure about the other students but mine was just for attendance.  We all enjoyed our stay at the TCDC College at Usa River but were glad to be heading to our new homes at the end of it.

Road safety sign in the college grounds.  I like the way the soccer ball has bulged out the triangle side.

Fluent Swahili speakers can now order beers in local bars.

Jenny and I headed off in our little borrowed Suzuki first thing Saturday morning and drove along the new (nearly finished) southern bypass road.  A bit longer in distance but hardly any traffic and no traffic police checkpoints.  Our car's annual safety sticker is out of date and we were unable to get a new one at the Usa River police station.  They cost about 5000 shillings ($3) but we are liable to a 30,000 shilling fine every week until we get a new one.

We found the house without a problem but were early and had to wait a while for housekeeper Janet to arrive with keys.  The house is really lovely but it is sooo dark.  The trees and the design don't seem to let in much daylight. We have decided to purchase several standing lamps to move around as required.  Most of what we need is here but we will add a few items over the next weeks.  There are excellent little fruit and veg dukas just outside our gate and a range of shops along our road down to the highway.  The nearest 'proper' supermarket is about 20 minutes away - much better than our commute into Kampala for supplies when we lived in Uganda.

Wall spider near our front door.

Not sure what this chap's job is.

So far it is a quiet neighbourhood and the grounds are lovely with many large trees and flowering shrubs.  We have two dogs for company, birds and squirrels in the garden.  The other houses are occupied and we have met a couple of the neighbours.

Our front verandah.

Our back yard (now has a clothes line).

Another view of front verandah - note the bottles in the wall.

We are supposed to start work tomorrow.  Jenny has permission to start but the rest of the new volunteers are still waiting for their work permits.  We have been told we cannot legally start (but may visit). So I will pop out to work tomorrow to meet everyone properly and have a tour.  I'll grab some books from their library and stay home to read up on tropical agriculture until my permit comes through.  Wednesday is a public holiday (May Day) in any case.

Lounge-room with kitchen behind (flash used to penetrate the gloom).

Kitchen

Front door and little office area with excellent library.

Language training - week 1

Once again I have proven myself incapable of learning a new language.  I can follow the logic and rules of verb and adjective construction well enough but I have the memory retention of a goldfish when it comes to vocabulary.  This means that the word I want is never there when I want it.  Oh well!  The greetings, numbers and shopping words will have to do - again.  I endured week one and will endure week 2.

Pied Colobus

The college campus here at Usa River (-3.37016, 36.83890) is rather nice with many huge trees and a stream flowing along one side.  There are many birds but it seems they too are waiting for the wet season to arrive (now about 6 weeks late).  The birds are very quiet.  Yesterday Jenny and I were in the middle of an active mixed flock - maybe 10 species and 20 individuals and not one was making a sound.  After a week I have 50 species here including White Stork, Booted Eagle, African Emerald Cuckoo, White-eared Barbet, Green-backed Honeybird (lifer), Amur Falcon (lifer), Isabelline Shrike, Sombre Greenbul, Violet-backed Starling, Pale Flycatcher, White-starred Robin, Rüppell's Robin-Chat and Golden-backed Weaver.  There are also Blue Monkeys and Pied Colobus monkeys to entertain us.

There is a small hill in the middle of the grounds with a tower you can climb for a view over the trees to Mount Meru and Mount Kilimanjaro.  Kili is often shrouded with cloud but occasionally it shows with small patches of snow.

Mt. Kilimanjaro with snow patches.  It is 65 km away and nearly 5000 m higher than the college campus.

Yesterday (Saturday) Jenny and I went to the other side of Arusha to her workplace in Ngaramtoni.  Jenny had to fill out all her visa application papers again as she will be now applying through the Catholic church.  It is important to give the visa people no reason to reject so to be thorough she filled out forms in blue and black pen, made sure documents were printed double-sided and rewrote her resumé to fit on just one page (down from original four).  We were told our passport photos should have a blue background and the white background would be grounds for rejection so we drove into the nearest shops to have our photos retaken and another 24 printed each.  I hope they are the right shade of blue.  The chances of visas being approved in time for us starting our jobs on the 29th are slim.

Our borrowed Suzuki Jimny

We have a house and car!  We signed the lease on the house and move in next Saturday.  It will be great to stop living out of suitcases.  Yesterday we borrowed a car from Jenny's workplace - Olkokola.  They have several that are for the use of volunteers.  We scored a tiny Suzuki Jimny.  It goes well apart from a steering-wheel shudder at 70-80 km/h - wheel balance issue perhaps?  We will use the Jimny until we get our visas and will then look for a bigger Suzuki or Toyota to buy.  To celebrate our wheels we are taking the other volunteers here to lunch somewhere nearby today.

A word about the failed wet season.  Supposed to start in March we are now well through April and it still hasn't arrived.  Crops that were sown in anticipation are now looking very thirsty and many paddocks are lying bare waiting for rain so sowing can commence.  As I write this it is gently raining but we need days of good rain.  If this long wet season fails we will have to wait until October for the next, short wet season.

Bird list (122 species/4 lifers).

Week 1 Training and a safari

Our first week was taken up with some in-country training sessions (health, safety, culture) and general orientation around Arusha city.  We all visited our workplaces for an hour or so and began to sort out permanent rental accommodation and car purchases.  Jenny and I were both happy with our workplaces and are keen to get started.  Both will offer us stimulation and challenges.  I'm sure we will be useful.

Soo, me, Jenny and Phil at Momela Lakes, Arusha National Park

We have agreed to rent a lovely house in a large, bushy compound with several other houses occupied by expats.  Load this file into Google Earth to see our house (Oliver's compound) and workplace locations (Olkokola for Jenny and ECHO for me) house and work.kmz.

Master bedroom

Study

Kitchen

Dining room

We have looked at several car yards for a nice RAV4 but when we visited Jenny's workplace they said there was a Suzuki that went with the job so we will use that and take our time buying a car.  The Suzuki will be fine for work commuting and around town but I'm not sure I would take it out far.

Yesterday (Saturday) we took Soo and Phil, two of the other new volunteers, with us on safari to Arusha National Park.  This is a small park on the eastern slopes of Mount Meru.  We saw a good range of mammals (giraffe, zebra, buffalo, hippopotamus, blue and colobus monkeys) and about 50 species of birds.  The highlight was the large number of Flamingos (two species) feeding close to the shores of Momela Lakes.

Blue Monkey, Arusha NP

Greater and Lesser Flamingos, Momela Lakes

Today we are checking out of the hotel, having a welcome lunch with all the volunteers in Arusha and then heading out to Usa River to a training facility for two weeks Kiswahili language classes.  Jenny will need good Kiswahili skills in her workplace but I will be able to manage with the basics (just as well).

Bird list (81 species/2 lifers).

Day 1.

After a couple of long flights we eventually arrived around 4pm Sunday and were whisked off to The African Tulip hotel.  We will stay here for a week while we do some in-country training, get phones and housing sorted etc.  This morning we were up before dawn.  Training starts at 10am so we have spent some pleasant time relaxing by the pool and watching a few birds.

Jenny and I have taken up positions with the Australian Volunteer Program in Arusha Tanzania starting next week for 18 months.  The AVP is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Australian Government.

With three days to go before departure we are busy trying to pack everything we want to take while keeping under our combined 60 kg limit.  Not easy and some tough decisions have had to be made.

My job is with ECHO - East Africa Impact Centre and I will be helping them with their projects aimed at increasing food security for smallholder farmers in rural areas around Arusha.

Jenny will be working with the Olkakola Vocational Training Centre which provides education services for teens and young adults living with disabilities.

Arusha is a large city with over 400.000 people in north-eastern Tanzania near the border with Kenya.  It is the main tourist hub for the nation with Mount Kilimanjaro and major national parks close by.  It is also the headquarters of the East African Community and hosts many international meetings.

We arrive on Sunday 7th April and will have a week of in-country induction and two weeks of Swahili language training before starting work in late April.

I plan to add to this blog regularly with comments on my birding experiences, our safaris to the various national parks, my work and general life in Arusha.  It would be great to get feedback from family and friends (and any strangers who might stumble across the blog).