Two contrasting bushwalks and a few unrelated incidents

Lower slopes of Mount Meru above Tengeru

There's a group called the Twende Hiking Group (twende means "let's go!").  Every Sunday they organise a 4-5 hour walk to a different location around Arusha.  Jenny went on quite a few of these when she lived here in 2014/5.  Last Sunday we went on one with about 15 other folk, (locals and expats) to the steep farming land and bush above Tengeru (near Usa River).  This is on the lower slopes of Mount Meru.  I took my binoculars.  Turns out this was more of a forced march than a walk, I hardly saw a bird and was knackered for a day or so afterwards.  We walked about 12 km in 4 hours.

Potato crop.

A contour drain to stop erosion on these steep slopes.

Looking south over Tengeru town.

There's another group called the Attraction Birding Club which comprises a handful of young, local aspiring bird guides.  I corresponded with James Nasary during the week and we arranged an outing to Oldonyo Sambu about 30 km nw of Arusha on the highway to Kenya.  OS is a small village with a weekly market (lots of Maasai come to trade sheep, goats and cattle as well as the usual market food and goods).  Above the town is a large stony hill covered in good quality Acacia woodland and this is where we went birding with James and several of his mates yesterday.

Looking west over Oldonyo Sambu village.

We walked about 4 km in 4 hours and saw 40 species of birds.  Long-billed Pipit was a lifer for me and several others I'd only seen once before (e.g. Abyssinian Scimitarbill, Red-throated Tit, Foxy Lark, Grey Wren-Warbler, Banded Parisoma, Abyssinian Wheatear and Southern Grosbeak-Canary).

White-fronted Bee-eater

Abyssinian Scimitarbill

A mixed heard of cattle, sheep and goats heading to the market.

The chaps knew their stuff and were very welcoming of us.  There is a lot of competition in the safari game and not enough tourists so opportunities for a career in bird guiding are limited.  A pity when the typical safari guide knows little about birds.  We will definitely go birding with James and friends again soon.

White-bellied Canary

Long-billed Pipit (note the diagnostic, short hind claw)

The Attraction Birding Club

Some random incidents during recent days:

• We saw what was likely to be a rabid dog on the highway near home.  It looked deranged and was drooling
• I was stopped by traffic police and told to turn off my headlights (I often drive with them on during the day).  Not sure why but I turned them off, was told to proceed, turned them back on and drove off
• On the way to birding yesterday morning a bicycle with two men on board crashed alongside our car.  The front wheel stopped and the bike flipped.  The front rider sailed up and came down smack on his head.  We stopped and James ran back to help.  The front rider was out cold but the other chap was OK.  Others came to help and the first chap started to stir.  We left them to sort it out.  Apparently a dangling rope snagged the front wheel.

Still no permit/visa.  One week to go before our tourist visas expire!

Chameleons, cars and chickens

We have had a good week or so with many typical African experiences.  The weather has finally turned sunny and we spent a whole day in our compound garden on Sunday enjoying the sun, birds and a chameleon.  It is still relatively cold in the evenings however.

Mount Kilimanjaro Two-horned Chameleon

On Friday I went with ECHO colleagues to the Arusha Technical College to see some student projects to assist smallholder farmers.  It was a step back in time when we walked into the foundry section where it looked like the foundry my Dad spent much of his career in and where I spent many school holidays working.  It turns out most of the equipment was a gift of second-hand equipment by the German government in the 1970s so would be very similar to the stuff Dad (and I) worked with.  He reckons he could start work there quite comfortably today.  Maybe he should apply for an Australian Volunteer Program position!

I'm still without a work permit but we had a meeting with our in-country managers on Saturday who assured us that our permits would be sorted and we wouldn't have to leave soon when our tourist visas expired - so that was reassuring...

Jenny had a bad day with the car last week when she had to take a student to a hospital in Arusha and the radiator began to boil.  Turned out there was a blockage so the reservoir was full but the radiator was running dry.  She caught it in time and with our friend Stanley Mbogo's help was rescued but it involved several hours of roadside assist, mobile phone torchlight and a night drive home - something we try to avoid at all costs.

Stanley wiping his brow!

On Monday Jenny's and my jobs combined when a group of over 40 of her students came to ECHO for a few hours to learn how to grow healthy, nutritious food in small container gardens (car tires, grain sacks etc.) when they go home to their villages.  Jenny and I were very impressed with the quality of the information provided by the ECHO staff and the students had fun tasting new foods and potting up plants.

Spot the odd ones out?

Jenny headed off today for a couple of days to villages near Lake Natron where some of the past students live to see how they were going.  So I'm batching for a night!  A rare eventuality for us to be apart in East Africa.

We have noticed a rattle in the car on the bumpy roads around our house lately so today I took the car to a mechanic for a look-see.  Again, our great friend Stanley organised this and spent the whole day with me.  From 9 am until 4:30 pm I stood around while the car front steering assembly was stripped and replaced (with new parts), the radiator was drained and refilled with coolant and then we had the wheels balanced and aligned.  I could still hear a rattle along the rough road up to our compound but it was certainly much better.  The mechanic was highly complimentary about the car engine and hopped into the pit during the wheel alignment and declared 'hamna shida' (= no issues) under the car.  The rough roads between us and the highway are certainly not good for cars - the footrest fell off the other day) but the benefit in taking those roads is that there is less stress on the driver from traffic police and other drivers.

My day today. Suggest your car mechanics diversify into chickens.  They certainly distracted me over many hours.

I took the opportunity with Stanley today to start planning our major safari to Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti NP in December-January.  Our friends Rob and Lou Drummond are coming then and we want to maximise the experience. The main issue is where the large migrating herds will be at that time - which depends on the rain and responding grass.  The best option seems to be to go with a safari company that has movable tented camps so we can follow the migration.  I've explained to Stanley what we want and I'm confident he will come up with a great plan for us.

Every week has positives and negatives - we just have to weight our experiences accordingly and make sure we have made a positive contribution...

Eid holidays and a safari

Cape Buffalo, Plains Zebra, Warthog, Western Cattle Egret, Grey Heron and Red-billed Oxpecker - can you see them all?

The Islamic month of Ramadan finished last week with two days of celebration called Eid.  The actual date of Eid varies each year (similar to how Easter varies) and we never know until the day before which days to have off.  The clerics have to study the moon - hard to do when it is so overcast here lately.  Anyway it was decided that Wednesday and Thursday were the holidays so we took the opportunity to go to Arusha National Park for the day.

Harvey's Duiker (a forest skulker).

Waterbuck

Little Bee-eater

We were up and on the way early and it was only 45 mins from home to entry into the park about 8:15.  We stayed until 5pm so got value for our money.  This was primarily a birding trip and we saw nearly 80 species.  The highlight was not a bird though.  There are a few small herds of Elephants in the park but they stick to the forests and are almost never seen.  We came across some dry dung on a road and then more and more - getting fresher as we went along.  Then we came around a bend in time to see the back half of a large Elephant disappearing into the forest.  We stopped and could hear more moving through the trees but couldn't see them.

Blue Monkey

Kirk's Dik-dik

White-browed Coucal

Lesser Flamingo - adults and juveniles (Cape Teal also).

Another highlight was the clearing skies in the afternoon and the views of Mt. Kilimanjaro in the distance.

Jenny not looking at the view over Momela Lakes towards Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Mount Kilimanjaro showing through the clouds beyond Ngurdoto Crater.

Among the birds were a new tick for me in Tanzania (Pied Avocet) and four lifers (Malagasy Pond Heron, Mountain Greenbul, Kenrick's Starling and Sharpe's Starling.

Although it is a small park there is still much for us to explore.  There are many small tracks that loop off the main roads and these often go deeper into forest (where several good birds lurk).  On this trip they were still wet however so we will try them when they dry out.  There is also a road that heads up the mountain to where the summit walks start.  The extra altitude this reaches also means a few new birds waiting for me.

Ochre Bush Squirrel

Striped Skink

White-fronted Bee-eater

An albino Baboon.

Hopefully in the near future we will get our residence visas and that will halve the cost of admission.

In other news we still don't have our work permits or residence visas...

I gave a talk at the Arusha Conservation Agriculture Forum on Friday at the Tanzania Pesticide Research Institute.  This is held several times a year and is organised by ECHO to bring together farmers, advisers and researchers to discuss topical issues.  I was supposed to be first speaker at 9:00 but didn't get to my feet until about 10:30 by which time most people had arrived.  It turned out to be quite a long day but very informative with several interesting topics presented (e.g. Pastoralists v Farmers, control of some serious crop pests, community seed banks and a fertiliser decision tool).  All in Swahili (except mine) with translations for the non-swahili speakers in the audience.  About 60 people attended.

Some fine weather

Not a lot to report this week.  I spent three days working on my assignment plan (an AVI requirement) and on a major project funding application.  I heard that my work permit has been signed but I don't have it in my hands yet.  No word on Jenny's - she is going through a different process to the rest of us.  Next is the residence visas that allow us to stay for two years.  These are a few weeks away yet apparently and as that is sure to be an optimistic timeframe I expect we will have to leave the country for a while in early July - we are thinking of spending a week in Uganda.

Mount Meru seen from near Arusha airport

The rain stopped on Wednesday and we have had welcome short bursts of sun since.  Although more rain will be needed for crops soon the sunshine is making everyone feel better about life.  Today we had a great view of Mount Meru as we came home from the supermarket.  The photo above was taken at 1440 m above sea level.  Mount Meru reaches 4566 m a.s.l. so it is over 3 km above us and 17 km to our north-east.  Jenny says she has seen snow on it.

My sourdough starter is a roaring success and I baked four lovely bâtards today.

There were four.  We ate one!

This coming week has a public holiday for Eid - the end of the month of Ramadan for our Muslim neighbours.  We don't know yet if it will be Wednesday or Thursday (or possibly Friday) but whichever day it is we will be heading to Arusha NP for a safari.