Expedition done

After several days of cleaning and storing equipment we left fieldbase for a final night at a beachfront location in Dar.  Was a great place to relax after the wrap-up work.  I have a couple more days visiting Zanzibar before returning to Colorado.  

Went snorkeling at Mnema Atoll off NE Zanzibar yesterday and had a great time with lots of fish and a few dolphins. A few  more sunrises on Zanzibar then I'm on my return trip to Colorado. 

225 km done!

Just finished the second trek/hike!  This time we walked for 15 days straight and covered 225km.  We finished at a great campsite with a waterfall and great swimming spot. 

My zebra striped foot tan from wearing my sandals at the end of walking each day. 

African thorns

In addition to all the bugs most of the trees and brush have massive thorns. 

These thorns were the most common in the area we were hiking. 

These were like Rose thorns on a large tree.  Note the layers below the thorn that were like growth rings on a tree. 

One of the largest thorns I saw.  

African bugs

Here is a sampling of some of the impressive bugs I saw while backpacking.

This praying mantis was tiny and just an inch or so in length.  I thought it was unique because of the dark color. 

This was a well armored grasshopper about 3 inches in length

This grasshopper was perfectly camouflaged with the local leaves. 

These army ants were building a bridge out of their bodies to allow the rest of the ants to cross safely near the water. 

This was a stick bug perfectly camouflaged as a blade of grass. 

Trek (again)

Off to start a second trek (backpack) trip today with a new group of eight venturers.  We will be following the same route with some minor changes to avoid crowd from other groups near Idodi. . 

This picture shows the 3 stone fire method that Raleigh uses for cooking.  It supports a pot, allows good ventilation from 3 gaps, and allows you to feed the end of longer branches in a bit at a time.  

Bamboo Hula Hoop

We were bored the last afternoon and decided to craft a hula hoop from a bamboo pole. Everyone except one of the guides gave it a try with varying success. 

Ben ( private Benjamin )

Sam

Will

Lateefat

Hula master

Megan

Rosepeace

Jess

Sarah

Anna

Adam

Trek phase 2

We started our 20 day adventure trekking 190km ( 119 miles) across central Tanzania mountains near Iringa.  We have 8 venturers (6 women , 2 men), 2 male guides, and 2 male Volunteer Managers (VMs)

Ben and Sam in proper Raleigh gear 

Half the group near the start of the trek. 

Huge granite-like boulders.  Need to look up more about the geology of the area when I get internet access again. 

A Twig snake that we saw on the ground and then climb up into the branches where it was perfectly camouflaged and very quick moving.  They are poisonous so this was with maximum zoom on my camera.   It is quite small about 1/2 inch in diameter and perfectly camouflaged except when it moved. 

Sam taking a quick nap next to the stream at campsite noshed Water Heaven. Earlier in the day I sat in the small rapid with water running over my shoulders and across my full brimmed hat.  Very nice location and cold water feels great on tired feet.  

 At Idodi campsite, Will bought everyone a Sprite for dinner.  Tired of room temp soda we decided to at least chill them down to river temperature. 

Maasai homestay

We spent 2 nights with a local Maasai family to experience some of their lifestyle. 

Brush corrals are used to keep the goats and cattle separate and protected inside the compound. They don't have lions so there was not the traditional 10ft fence on the perimeter, just 5 feet of thorny brush piles. 

Cattle and goats everywhere. The boys herd most of the animals once they are about 5 years or older. 

The venturers had a chance to milk cows, but most of them were spooked by mzungus (whites) so they dressed up in traditional Kanga dress which helped calm them. 

There were four or five very hardy puppies around the camp that were handled quite roughly by the local children but were fine anyhow. 

The father and a local man slaughtered a goat for our dinner. They suffocate the goat in order to preserve the blood which they drink while slaughtering. They don't waste anything from the goat except perhaps the hooves which were given to the dogs as a treat.  We had a variety of meat types prepared for us for dinner including liver which was nice. 

After dinner, we had several men lead the group in traditional chanting and jumping. The highest jumper gets the bride in their culture. 

Scared for our lives!

All is well and everyone is safe, but we had a serious scare and evacuation due to a wildfire.  

Sorry no pictures of the fires...

Fire spotted on hillside 10km away around 20:00 and reported to FB.  Advised to monitor wind and fire location throughout the night.  Volunteer Managers(VMs) made decision to have team pre-pack bags in the event we needed an emergency evacuation. 

A second fire flared up across the river within 2km of camp at approximately 21:30.  We rousted the guides due to the fire located upwind from our camp location.  Local villagers seemed to contain that fire and just as we thought it was out for good a third fire started.  

This time it was within 500m and blowing embers and smoke into camp.  We immediately made the decision to evacuate and assembled the team quickly.  The guide team were still packing their gear when the VM team told them "leave it behind we need to leave now". As we left I could feel the heat of the fire on the back of my neck.  We headed toward the nearby Idodi village where we contacted FB and eventually the chairman.  One guide returned on a motorbike with a village elder. They observed 4 people with head torches running from the vicinity of camp as they approached. The guide and elder removed the tents and any gear that could be packed on the motorbike and returned to the village.  Upon their return, we secured overnight accommodations in the village offices. Since the room did not have door or window screens, we setup the tents inside the room for mosquito protection.  

Based on feedback from guides we suspect the fires were intentionally set to drive us from camp by thieves in hopes of looting the campsite. Fortunately we did not lose any equipment due to the fire or from theft. 

Alpha 6 group

A fun group photo of Alpha 6 team looking out windows from storage tent.  

Top: Rhona, Doug, Lydia, Anna, James, Janet, and Kieran (K10)

Bottom: Hina, Will, Ghislaine, Penny, Kieran (K9), George, Baraka (in shadows), and Rose

Baraka's famous smile having a laugh with Hina 

Rosepeace a Host country venturer and a fun addition to the group. 

Penny being a great patient demonstrating the recovery position during first aid training. 

Kieran making some leaflets for community day. We had 2 Kierans in our group so we called one K9 and the other K10. K9 claimed he has never weighed more than ten stone, so we thought it was better than big and little Kieran

George pretending to be a sick husband in our skit about hand washing. Hina playing the wife trying to figure out if it was spoiled meat, bad water, witchcraft or something else causing his illness. 

Will, the evil witch doctor (with a Scottish flare)

The Tanzanian trio of Baraka, Rosepeace, and Rhona helped us immensely with translation and public speeches to groups. 

<p>English lessons</p>

Taught English at the school we are camped nearby.  Started with Hina and Rose in pre-school class that had not had any English coursework yet.  We worked with them to learn ABCs. 

The head teacher asked Penny and I to come to grade 3 class. We taught tall vs short which worked great with Penny and I being tall and short.  Also tried fat vs thin, black vs white, and numbers. 
Funny moment at the end of class.   Pointing to myself, I said "I'm Doug and who's this?"  The class answered "Doug". Pointing to Penny, I asked "who is this?" And they quickly answered "short!"   I guess they understood the tall versus short lesson.  

Rose and the teacher checking preschool homework journals to check progress. 

Hina teaching the ABCs.  Was reminded the ABC song is sung differently in Tanzania. It goes like this:

ABCDEFG

HIJKLMNOP

LMNOPQ

RSTUV

WXY and Zed

Community awareness

One of the first challenges in Hangomba was to raise awareness of the need for proper hand sanitation and how it can improve their health and livelihood.  We made small leaflets on 1/4 sheets of paper to hand out in the community.  This leaflet invites them to a community action day in the village to learn about hand hygiene and sanitation.

Swahili:  Usafi wa mwili mikono na mazingira

Translated: hand hygiene and sanitation

One of the posters we made for the community day showed the 12 steps of proper hand washing. This was also put to the tune of the Hokey-pokey song to present to the village. 

We also setup several tippy-taps which use a stick to tip the bottle to provide a hands-free water rinse for hand sanitation.  All the kids and several adults really enjoyed using these. 

This is a picture of two regulars using the camp tippy-tap. We nicknamed him "Fred" because of his favorite t-shirt. His sidekick behind him we nicknamed "Ray" because of his shades. 

At the school we had a sports day including a relay, soccer goals shot, 3 legged race, egg&spoon race, and of course a tippy-tap demo. 

This is a picture of James counting down in Swahili to say 3-2-1 Go ( tatu, mbili, moja, Kimbia! )

Instead of wasting eggs we used rocks and made "spoons" from forked branches with string tied across in a mesh.   We would have broken 100 eggs that day since most of the rocks hit the ground at the start and at the turnaround point.