The grass is greener...

The Kenya border at Namanga is about 90 mins drive north of Arusha and a whole new country with interesting national parks awaits. On Friday we drove across into Kenya to visit Amboseli National Park for the weekend. This park is is the rain shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro and is quite dry except where water seeps out from the mountain into large lakes and swamps. We stayed at Ol Tukai Lodge for two nights - very pleasant!

Mount Kilimanjaro from the hotel grounds early evening.

A panorama from Observation Hill

I had no expectations regarding new birds although Northern Yellow-billed Hornbill is recorded there from time to time. From the Meshanani Gate you drive through woodland for about 15 km then come down into the lakes and swamps. Other areas are low shrubland and simple grasslands. There is one hill you can walk up - Observation Hill - and have lunch while taking in the view.

Pale Chanting Goshawk

There was lots of activity in all areas at all times so we spent a couple of days just taking random tracks to see where they led us. The tracks were well maintained and signposted and the landscape was so flat you could nearly always see Observation Hill and the trees hiding the lodge.

Hippo galloping - very funny!

An African Civet that walked past our hut early one morning.

These two Spotted Hyaena had a piece of skin in the water that they kept tugging at. 

Grant's Gazelle

African Elephant with accompanying Western Cattle Egrets.

Overall we saw 159 bird species in the park and a further 6 outside the park. We totalled 118 and 113 species on the two days. We also saw a diverse range of mammals including 2 new ones - African Civet and Egyptian Mongoose. There were Hippos, Elephants, Gazelles, Impala, Reedbuck, Buffalo, Zebra, Wildebeest, Hyaena, Squirrels etc.

Goliath Heron dwarfed by the expansive wetlands

A young Glossy Ibis

African Jacana

Red-billed Oxpecker

Black-faced Sandgrouse collecting water in his breast feathers

 for its chicks waiting back up in the hills.

White-headed Mousebird

Buff-crested Bustard

The highlight was really the wetland complex with open ponds and lakes and flooded marshes. Waterbirds were abundant from Saddle-billed Storks to ducks to tiny Sandpipers. There are obviously few fish in the system as there were no cormorants or pelicans. New bird species for me were Garganey, Marsh Owl and Black Cuckoo. I heard many Black Cuckoos in Uganda but never did manage to see one. Other highlights were Red-necked Phalarope, Terek Sandpiper, Secretarybird, Kori Bustard, Grey Crowned Crane, Goliath Heron, Martial Eagle, Rufous Chatterer, Beautiful Sunbird and Taveta Weaver.

Black-winged Stilt

These two Red-necked Phalarope were a nice surprise

Lesser Flamingo

Collared Pratincole

Taveta Weaver male and female

Martial Eagle with prey (maybe a rabbit?)

Cape Buffalo

Grey Crowned Crane

Double-banded Courser

Common Ostrich

A nicely coloured Ruff

The only sour note was the agression of the women selling craft at the park gate. While we were leaving, Jenny made some purchases but they weren't satisfied and would not take no for an answer. We always support the local women with purchases but this was over the top.

A visit to catch up with projects I helped to establish

When I was working with ECHO-East Africa (April 2019 - March 2020) I applied to many organisations for funding to do all sorts of development work.  Most applications were unsuccessful but yesterday I was invited to a training day to see the fruits of my labour with a couple of successful grants.  The first was a large project to plant trees in degrading farmland on the mountain slopes in the Arusha area.  This is in conjunction with Treedom - an Italian company.  It will run for the next 5 years at least and will result in hundreds of thousands of trees established.  Tree planting for the first year has just begun and I was able to see the ECHO team loading a truck load of seedlings to take up into the hills.

The main event today however was capacity building training. This was funded by the Australian Volunteers International and the Planet Wheeler Foundation under its Community Grants Scheme.  Donkeys and bullocks are used as draught animals commonly in the Arusha region.  They are often required to pull heavy loads with poorly designed harnesses and yokes and have shortened, painful lives as a result.  ECHO and a couple of other NGOs have put together week-long training programs where farmers can learn how to make equipment to better suit their animals.  Over the week they learn how to make padding, yokes, neck harnesses etc. from local and cheap materials and with minimal tools and how to ensure these suit the age and size of their animals.

Hessian and plastic bags stuffed with straw

Nicely padded to spread the load across the donkey's back.

Attaching straps.

Early stages of yoke manufacture.

Neck harness made from tire sidewalls.

The curved polypipe is used as part of the neck harness.
Q. How do you bend a piece of polypipe?

A. Fill it with sand and heat gently over a small fire.

Today was day three and everyone was so busy at their allotted tasks.  I consider myself fortunate that I have been able to return to see how my past efforts as an AVP volunteer have helped in some way.

Tomorrow we cross into Kenya and will spend the weekend at Amboseli National Park.

... and we're back!

Eight months after our rather hasty departure from Tanzania we have returned.  We felt we were sitting around in Hamilton doing very little and had a choice.  Peter Dutton gave us his blessing to travel and we consulted with family and friends who were also mostly supportive of our plans.

Getting here was very wearying this time.  A long day in Melbourne catching up with our son David and my dad in Melbourne before nephew Callum drove us to the airport.  Then the usual long Qatar flight to Doha where we had a 20 hour layover before our flight to Tanzania.  Normally we would leave the airport for a hotel in the city, sleep and freshen up, do some touristy things and then return to the airport.  This time we were not allowed to leave the airport.  This was most unpleasant as there is little to do and mask wearing was compulsory.  The same mask gets a bit manky after 30 hours.

We had been advised twice by Tanzanian Immigration that we would need to provide a negative COVID test certificate on arrival so we were tested by our GP in Hamilton the day before we flew.  The results were to be emailed to us so we could show them on arrival.  As I write it is 9 days and they still haven't come.  Of course - no-one asked to see them at the airport in any case.

Arriving at our Arusha house felt like we had been away 2 weeks.  The staff were so happy to welcome us back.  Rooney the dog forgave us for leaving him so abruptly in March and the new dog Soxy seems friendly - if a bit neurotic.

The house and car were looked after well and we quickly settled in although the exhaustion of the trip took a while to pass.  It is the beginning of the wet season here with a few mornings of rain since we arrived.  The garden is still very dry however.  One change since we left is the shelter over the picnic table.  I sat here quietly yesterday and a small flock of Hadada Ibis ignored me as they foraged and sunbathed.

We have ventured out for shopping and have visited our old workplaces.  We have new neighbours in the compound - an Italian couple working for the anti-poaching PAMS organisation which has its office in the grounds as well.  Hopefully landlord Paul will be back from lockdown in the UK in a few weeks.

On Friday we had a long day in Arusha NP and nursed our RAV up the mountain track as far as the waterfall picnic ground (2150 m).  There are some birds here and higher that I still want to find.  We will need to either go with someone in a more suitable vehicle or do a guided walk with an armed ranger to get higher.  Buffalo occur up this high so it is not safe otherwise.

My first European Honey Buzzard in Tanzania.

Harvey's Duiker

Striped Skink.

The COVID situation here is weird.  There has been no coordinated testing since April and the official line is that it doesn't exist here now.  Life is essentially back to normal - except the provision of hand washing facilities outside even the smallest shop.  Almost no-one is wearing masks.  We did see one chap on a motorbike wearing a mask but not a helmet - clearly he is confused about risk management.  The lack of tourists and departure of many expats has seen a number of businesses (bars, sporting clubs, restaurants etc.) close down at least temporarily.

Whatever the reality, COVID has had little impact apart from economic.  The hospitals were never overwhelmed and there are no coffin manufacturers along the highways.  Two theories are being examined: other COVID viruses have been through the population regularly so there is a degree of immunity; or native African people have no Neanderthal genes (common in European people) and this protects them from more severe infections.  Hopefully one-day we will have answers.

We have planned a safari to Ruaha, Udzungwa and Mikumi National Parks starting on December 1st.  Our friend Stanley from Zorilla Safaris is going to take us and it will be great to be with him in the parks again.