November 6, 2008; Arusha, Tanzania — Greetings from Arusha. We arrived safely here on Monday and are making final preparations for the safari, which we begin early tomorrow morning. As you might suspect, the big news right now in this part of the world is the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States. For weeks we have been asked about the election by many of the Kenyans and Tanzanians we have met during our journey. Most were overwhelmingly (though not universally) in favor of Obama but some were not convinced that a black man could ever be elected US president. As you can imagine, the people here are ecstatic and there has been a festive atmosphere in town for most of the day since the elections results began being announced at 3AM. I am told that in Kenya the government has declared tomorrow a national holiday.
In the last ten days our travels have taken us from the island of Zanzibar to the coast of Tanzania and just recently to the town of Arusha at the base of Mt. Meru. On October 27th we departed from the beach resort of Kendwa at the northern end of Zanzibar by boat and traveled for four hours until we arrived at the village of Pembe Abwe. At Kendwa we were met at sunrise by Mike Peterson and his nephew Zach; they are with the family-owned Dorobo safari company that will be taking care of us for the next month. After a brief introduction we got underway. During the voyage our group was divided between two motorized dhows and we cruised for most of the way until landfall when one of the boats cut the engine and finished the final mile or so of the voyage under sail power. The boats then dropped anchor on what looked like a deserted beach and all of us waded ashore in the waist-deep surf with our luggage held above our heads, immediately after which we stopped for a group photo.
The Dorobo compound at Pembe Abwe is marvelous place. It is situated in a palm grove immediately adjacent to the beach and consists of thatched palms bandas (A-frames) and a circular dining area/classroom of thatched-roof awnings surrounding a baobab tree. For a week we lived like the Swiss Family Robinson and spent the days snorkeling and completing the marine and coastal ecology unit of our biology course. The first class involved us examining a tidal pool along the beach and walking out to a nearby reef at high tide for the first snorkel. The second day was our first boat excursion to snorkel in the Maziwa protected reef a few miles off shore. The reef there is beautiful but our snorkeling experience was diminished somewhat when we found ourselves swimming in the midst of a bloom of thousands of jellyfish. Most were cone jellies that are harmless, but mixed in with them were assorted stinging jellyfish. The stings were like tiny jolts of electricity; only mildly painful but still extremely distracting while we were trying to get the lay of the reef and identify the various types of marine life. Thankfully during the next few days, the jellyfish were not a problem.
Our marine ecology studies involved snorkeling in the morning and lectures in the afternoon. The objective was to become proficient enough at identifying fish, marine invertebrates, and coral that we could pass a written exam and conduct a reef transect (the latter being an inspection of a 500 sq. meter section of reef and counting marine life for use in compiling reef statistics). It is hard to adequately describe the beauty and diversity of an East African coral reef. There are hundreds of different species of marine life within easy view of the surface—so many, in fact, that it is hard to keep track of them all. Schools of vividly colored tropical fish swim close by and on the ocean floor are dozens of types of corals, anemones, giant clams, and other sea creatures. We also saw sea turtles, stingrays, and even a few stonefish, the last of which have the distinction of being the most venomous fish in the world. Despite their deadly spines, they are actually shy and mostly non-aggressive and so we were able to get a close but cautious view of them. No sharks, alas. We’ll have to save those for next time.
The other, less pleasant, introduction to African wildlife was our first encounter with the siafu, the dreaded army ants (or safari ants, as they are often called here). Few descriptions can do justice to these wretched creatures. They travel in columns up to a mile long, each of which includes millions of ants. They devour everything in their path and no other animal can take them on and win. Anyone unfortunate to step in or around them will find their legs covered in them up to the knee within seconds. At that point the little monsters emit a chemical signal and then in unison sink their pincers into the victim’s flesh. The pain is intense and the ants cannot be brushed off. Instead they must be plucked out individually like staples. Some of the ants bite down so strongly that they get their heads ripped off rather than let go. We’ve even been told that some of the pastoral tribes use the ants as sutures for wounds by holding them against lacerations so that the pincers close the wound once the heads are broken off. Horrifying, but then again I suppose it is good to know that someone has managed to find a use for these despicable insects. While we were at the coast, a group of students were driven out of their banda in the middle of the night by a column of siafu. At our campsite in Arusha this week we have been plagued by them, especially around the showers and latrines. We have become so alert (or paranoid) about where we step, especially at night, that we often feel phantom bites whenever a blade of grass or twig brushes our legs. This is by far the most unnerving aspect of our experience on safari, at least for now.
Not much else to tell. On Monday we headed inland and upcountry for the first time in nearly a month. Just before arriving in Arusha after an 11-hour journey we passed Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru—a truly impressive sight. I had mixed feelings about leaving the coast. While I was glad to leave behind the humidity and some of the more unsavory tourist traps, I know that I will also miss the easy pace and distinctive flavor and charms of Swahili coastal culture. Still, it is good to be moving on. The staff of Dorobo Safaris and their families have been extremely welcoming and it is nice to know that we’ll be well looked after in the coming weeks. The safari and Maasai home stays will be the final leg of our journey. The route will take us into the Nou Forest and Yaida Valley and then through the three major parks: Ngorongoro, Serengeti, and Tarangire. We will be gone for four weeks and this will be the period in our program when we are least accessible. Please do not be offended or alarmed if you do not hear from us at all during this time. We will have no access to email or to a landline phone. Some of us have cell phones so you can try to call, but even then we will probably be in areas with no coverage for most of the time. We return to Arusha on December 2nd and will have much to tell.
Dorobo campground in Arusha Tanzania, 5 November 2008
In the last ten days our travels have taken us from the island of Zanzibar to the coast of Tanzania and just recently to the town of Arusha at the base of Mt. Meru. On October 27th we departed from the beach resort of Kendwa at the northern end of Zanzibar by boat and traveled for four hours until we arrived at the village of Pembe Abwe. At Kendwa we were met at sunrise by Mike Peterson and his nephew Zach; they are with the family-owned Dorobo safari company that will be taking care of us for the next month. After a brief introduction we got underway. During the voyage our group was divided between two motorized dhows and we cruised for most of the way until landfall when one of the boats cut the engine and finished the final mile or so of the voyage under sail power. The boats then dropped anchor on what looked like a deserted beach and all of us waded ashore in the waist-deep surf with our luggage held above our heads, immediately after which we stopped for a group photo.
The Dorobo compound at Pembe Abwe is marvelous place. It is situated in a palm grove immediately adjacent to the beach and consists of thatched palms bandas (A-frames) and a circular dining area/classroom of thatched-roof awnings surrounding a baobab tree. For a week we lived like the Swiss Family Robinson and spent the days snorkeling and completing the marine and coastal ecology unit of our biology course. The first class involved us examining a tidal pool along the beach and walking out to a nearby reef at high tide for the first snorkel. The second day was our first boat excursion to snorkel in the Maziwa protected reef a few miles off shore. The reef there is beautiful but our snorkeling experience was diminished somewhat when we found ourselves swimming in the midst of a bloom of thousands of jellyfish. Most were cone jellies that are harmless, but mixed in with them were assorted stinging jellyfish. The stings were like tiny jolts of electricity; only mildly painful but still extremely distracting while we were trying to get the lay of the reef and identify the various types of marine life. Thankfully during the next few days, the jellyfish were not a problem.
Our marine ecology studies involved snorkeling in the morning and lectures in the afternoon. The objective was to become proficient enough at identifying fish, marine invertebrates, and coral that we could pass a written exam and conduct a reef transect (the latter being an inspection of a 500 sq. meter section of reef and counting marine life for use in compiling reef statistics). It is hard to adequately describe the beauty and diversity of an East African coral reef. There are hundreds of different species of marine life within easy view of the surface—so many, in fact, that it is hard to keep track of them all. Schools of vividly colored tropical fish swim close by and on the ocean floor are dozens of types of corals, anemones, giant clams, and other sea creatures. We also saw sea turtles, stingrays, and even a few stonefish, the last of which have the distinction of being the most venomous fish in the world. Despite their deadly spines, they are actually shy and mostly non-aggressive and so we were able to get a close but cautious view of them. No sharks, alas. We’ll have to save those for next time.
The other, less pleasant, introduction to African wildlife was our first encounter with the siafu, the dreaded army ants (or safari ants, as they are often called here). Few descriptions can do justice to these wretched creatures. They travel in columns up to a mile long, each of which includes millions of ants. They devour everything in their path and no other animal can take them on and win. Anyone unfortunate to step in or around them will find their legs covered in them up to the knee within seconds. At that point the little monsters emit a chemical signal and then in unison sink their pincers into the victim’s flesh. The pain is intense and the ants cannot be brushed off. Instead they must be plucked out individually like staples. Some of the ants bite down so strongly that they get their heads ripped off rather than let go. We’ve even been told that some of the pastoral tribes use the ants as sutures for wounds by holding them against lacerations so that the pincers close the wound once the heads are broken off. Horrifying, but then again I suppose it is good to know that someone has managed to find a use for these despicable insects. While we were at the coast, a group of students were driven out of their banda in the middle of the night by a column of siafu. At our campsite in Arusha this week we have been plagued by them, especially around the showers and latrines. We have become so alert (or paranoid) about where we step, especially at night, that we often feel phantom bites whenever a blade of grass or twig brushes our legs. This is by far the most unnerving aspect of our experience on safari, at least for now.
Not much else to tell. On Monday we headed inland and upcountry for the first time in nearly a month. Just before arriving in Arusha after an 11-hour journey we passed Mt. Kilimanjaro and Mt. Meru—a truly impressive sight. I had mixed feelings about leaving the coast. While I was glad to leave behind the humidity and some of the more unsavory tourist traps, I know that I will also miss the easy pace and distinctive flavor and charms of Swahili coastal culture. Still, it is good to be moving on. The staff of Dorobo Safaris and their families have been extremely welcoming and it is nice to know that we’ll be well looked after in the coming weeks. The safari and Maasai home stays will be the final leg of our journey. The route will take us into the Nou Forest and Yaida Valley and then through the three major parks: Ngorongoro, Serengeti, and Tarangire. We will be gone for four weeks and this will be the period in our program when we are least accessible. Please do not be offended or alarmed if you do not hear from us at all during this time. We will have no access to email or to a landline phone. Some of us have cell phones so you can try to call, but even then we will probably be in areas with no coverage for most of the time. We return to Arusha on December 2nd and will have much to tell.
Dorobo campground in Arusha Tanzania, 5 November 2008