Days 34-40

Days 34-40

So, a few days ago I had my homestay. The family Laura and I visited had a mother, father, two boys, and a daughter. The aunt and grandmother also showed up during the day. The father used to work at a tourist lodge, so he spoke excellent English, making it easy for us to get along. We spent the morning cooking breakfast and then lunch, but after lunch we got to rest under the mango tree for a short while. An hour later, we got to learn how to sew a shirt. The mama is a tailor, so she got to teach us. She did not speak any English, so that was interesting. I go to learn how to run a sewing machine by foot power. It was really fun.

The next day was also a rest day. I got up to go to mass in the morning, and then in the afternoon we went to a batik store. We were taught to create the batiks, and now I have my own small version that I created. It does not look very good, but at least I had fun.

The five days after that were spent on studying for and taking exams. We had three exams, one yesterday and two today.

And for the next five days we are going to be camping in the Serengeti. We leave tomorrow at 7, but I have cook crew so I get to be up at 5.

Kylie

Days 31-33

Day 31 -33

Two days ago we visited some local areas the incorporated environmentally friendly designs. We saw a school that had its own tree nursery and a house that was using cow manure and turning it into gas for cooking.

After lunch we had our first community service day. We went to the local school and spent time reading to the children, playing games with them, and helping to build a new kitchen for them. The children were really fun and loved holding our hands. We introduced them to duck, duck, coco, ring around the rosy, and a conga line. At the kitchen, we were attaching the doors. This involved adding cement along the seams to hold it in place. I am still picking cement out from under my nails.

Yesterday we went to visit Burunge Wildlife Management Area. It is about an hour and a half drive out there. We talked to the managers and saw how effective the area was. We then climbed a hill to get a good view of the lake. We then tried to have lunch at a lodge, but it costs $1,200-1,800 a night, so they would not let us in. Instead, we went to Mtu-wa-Mbu to go shopping.

Me in Tarangire. Note the clouds comming over the crater.

And today was our work day. We have a poster due today, a paper due tomorrow, and then another paper due in a week. But, tomorrow we have our homestay. I get to spend the day with a Tanzanian family. That should be interesting. The poster is due at midnight tonight. But the professor said that he is not going to stay up that late, but he might but up a motion sensitive camera that they use to photo leopards in the park. We might just have to walk by at night to see if he did. We are also performing the Malaria Dance frequently now. It involves jumping and clapping, aiming for little flying buzzing creatures who somehow have sneaked into our room.

Kylie

Day 26

Day 26

Today, we went to Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It is one of the few areas of its kind. It allows for livestock grazing and also preserves the animals. Remember driving through Mesa Verde on the winding roads? Now imagine that the roads were unpaved and bumpy, as well as at steep angles, and then you can imagine our ascent and descent into the crater. Before we started, we had to wait at the gate for an hour. There was a problem with one of our cars. As we were waiting, other groups of tourists would talk to us. We also counted how many we saw in safari ourfits. Who knew you needed that many pockets for standing in a car all day? We also had to listen to a lecture by some guy who works there. He told us all about how the area is run. He said that there was no human-wildlife conflict (what we are studying in class), and when we told our professors he said that, they just laughed. But that was the only school work we had to do today, so the rest of the day we got to be tourists.

We got to see zebra, wildebeest, elephants, Thompson’s gazelles, Grant’s gazelles, hippos, hyenas and a rhino, all before lunch. Where we ate, we had to keep the food in the cars, because if the birds saw you with food, they would dive at you and take the food. People have gotten hurt during this. But, we could watch hippos.

After lunch is when the lion-searching began. We found a lioness with a young cub. They were walking along the side of the road and the baby was calling to its mother. It was so cute. We also saw two male lions, and then another lioness. To see the last lioness, our driver pulled a 180 over a rutted track. We were not expecting this as we stood in the back, so now we have nice new bruises to add to our collection. There were also many hyenas, one was sitting in the middle of the road, and was young and very cute. On the way out and over the hill, the land curser had to go in first gear, because we had too much weight to make it up the side. We even went backwards for a bit.

After that, we all slept coming down the other side. Who knew that bumpy trucks could lull you to sleep so easily? We got to an overlook, and our driver woke us all up. He was amazed that we were able to sleep through the ride. This ride was extra fun because I rode with one of my teachers. This teacher is from Germany, so he is an ‘umzungu’ (foreigner) too. And seeing a foreigner driving a vehicle in the parks is rare, so we got a lot of stares. He also did a good job of pointing out animals. Normally the driver is concentrating on driving, but he would just drive along saying ostrich on the right. Warthogs on the left. Three buzzards over there near that tree. And way over there behind the hill and on the other side of that elephant is a hartebeest. It was very amazing. He even knew what birds we were passing. We saw the largest bird able to fly, the Kori bustard.

Unfortunately, my camera lost power at the beginning, so as soon as I acquire photos from other people, I will be able to get them up.

And here is one right now. What do you call Tanzanian traffic?

Zebras and wildebeest who do not want to get off the road.

Kylie

Days 24 and 25

Days 24 and 25

 We got to go to elephant hill yesterday for a travel lecture. This involved and off-road trip in our Land Cruziers, and then they were parked on a steep angle, so we had to stick rocks under the wheels so they would not go downhill. It is very hard to pay attention for two hours when you are on a hill top surrounded by Africa as far as the eye can see. And we saw a scorpion as we were listening to the lecture.

After that, we went to the Ngorongoro Forest, and were told to explore for a while. The Question of the Day was "Kioko, who pooped here?" yelled by one of the students as they stared at a pile of dung. It turns out it was a white mongoose. We also saw a lion ant hole, and ate some acacia sap.

The power/ internet have been out for 23 hours. The Question of Today is "Who gets the point if the volleyball goes through the net?" Oh the joys of third-hand goods. And, I tripped over a hole and cut my knee. And while I was hiking/following my teacher through a thorn fence to see a bird, some thorns got my calf. But, we got to learn about the Maasi and yesterday’s lecture was called The Social Organization of African Lions. And, my roommate has giardia, a parasite in the water. Fun times.

Oh, and if you watch The Amazing Race Season 20 Episode 8, they are in Ngorongoro, Karatu, Mtu wa Mbu, and Lake Manyara, all locations where I have been.

 Zebra

 Me in TANAPA Tarangire

The lion ant hole we saw.
Kylie

Day 21

Day 21

Today was another non-program day, our day to sleep in. And it is Sunday. So they gave us the option of going with some staff to church services, a Lutheran or a Catholic one. I gave up sleeping in to go to church. Only one other person went with me, and she is not even Catholic. But the Church was so cool. It is really well maintained. The children sing and dance to the music, and they incorporated some traditional dance moves that made it really interesting. The service was two and a half hours. It usually is not that long, but one of their sisters was leaving and a new one was coming, so they said good bye to them. It was awesome to see. The service was all in Swahili, so I did not understand it at all, but still is was great. Next time some other people want to come with us.

After that we could go to the bar Happy Days or to the Kudu Lodge in Karatu. I went to the lodge and had chicken for lunch. It was great. After I sat at the pool and read, so it was a great day. When we got back to camp, I watched The Devil Wears Prada with a group of friends while we did homework.

Some people drank a little too much, so M’Lis, our supervisor/coordinator was not happy, but they were funny to watch.

And we are not doing anything interesting for the next few days, but going to the Ngorongoro Crater on Friday, so I will say more then. And our internet does not enjoy working well, so it will be a bit before more pictures.

Kwa heri

Kylie

Days 15 and 16

Day 15 and 16

Yesterday was a great day. We got to go to Tarangire National Park. We drove for an hour and a half to get there. Once we got there, we had to do this project that involved counting animals. There were herd of up to 200 wildebeest and zebra, and large groups of impala, elephants, baboons, giraffes, and elands. Trying to count them all was fun.

We had lunch at the lodge in the park. It was so very nice. It overlooked the river so you could see many animals, and I got to have a cheeseburger for lunch. But the best part was the bathrooms. They had liquid hand soap!

After lunch we got to drive around for a bit. I even got to see half a lioness! (She was walking through tall grass so you could only see her top half.) We then go to see where our director works. He is running a project tracking the lions in the park, so we got to see the collars and other devices they use, as well as their base camp. It looks like a lot of fun to work there.

 The half of the lioness

 The wildebeast that almost trampled our stuff.

There is a full grown elephant in front of this baobob tree.

We then drove back and today we had four hours of class, and then the whole afternoon and evening to work on our papers.

But now 3 out of the 4 of us in the banda have a cold, so that sucks.

Kylie

Days 12-14

Days 12 and 13

These past two days were not very interesting. We had classes and then time to work on the three essays due later this week.

Last night we watched Sherlock Holmes. Someone had brought it over. It was nice to get a piece of home.

But we did get cake today, and tomorrow is our day off so expect something exciting.

Day 14

Today was our second day off. We had to get up and extra half an hour early, but then we went bike riding. We rode near Lake Manyara. As we rode through the fields, there were herds of wildebeest and Thompson’s gazelles running in front of us. We also got to see thousands of flamingos on the lake. After that, we went to a place where they carve wood, then to a place where they create paintings. Only half of us went on the bike ride, the other half wanted to see in or “work on their papers,” but they probable just slept in too.

Once the rest of the people joined us, we went shopping. I spent about $100 worth of shillings today, but I got a lot. We also then went to a pizza place. I got the plain pizza, but because it took so long, they put chicken on there for me.

Then I came back to camp, read a little, and work on the papers. But the power is enjoying going out. It will be off for hours, then a few seconds. It is pretty entertaining actually. Except the internet is connected to the power, so that’s been out for a while too.

Kylie