Learning from the locals

This past Friday was our first day doing fieldwork for our environmental policy class. The class was split up into seven groups, and each group was given their own research topic. My group was given the topic of crops/farming in Rhotia, Tanzania. We had to formulate interview questions and then go out into town to interview the local people. We had a guide/translator named Harry who is from the area and very familiar with the lifestyle of the local people. We only had enough time to interview seven households, but it was clear that many of the local people are realizing how climate change is affecting their livelihoods. Multiple people told my group that crop yields have been very poor the last few years and that seeds are still very expensive. We also found out that many of the local people have to walk over an hour to get to their fields or piece of land on which they are allowed to plant. Most of the people we interviewed farmed solely for subsistence purposes, only selling during a good crop year. It was awesome to be able to talk to these people and hear about their daily lives, but it was also hard to hear about their struggles.

When we were walking back to our camp, I started talking to Harry about what he wants to do in the next few years. He told me he wants to go to school (college) for wildlife management more than anything else in the world, but he can’t afford it right now. He said he hopes to start school sometime next year, but he wasn’t sure if it was possible. It totally broke my heart to meet a very intelligent young man who feels stuck because he doesn’t have the means to follow his dreams. Harry then starting asking me how someone like him could go to school in America, and I got beyond excited because I know for a fact that the University of Wisconsin and many other schools have initiatives to help foreign students attend college. I told him he had to come back to the camp so that I could help search for some information that could get him the education he wants. 

This whole experience made me realize how extremely lucky I am to have been born in the country I was born in and into a family that has supported my own dreams (even when they think I should be doing something else). I couldn’t help but be upset with myself for forgetting how unbelievably fortunate I am to have the opportunities I’ve had during my lifetime. 

Just another week in Tanzania

Sunday funday

Sunday was another non-schedule program day for us. In the morning, about half of us opted to take a bike ride through the area immediately surrounding Lake Manyara National Park. The best way to describe the experience is it was like mountain biking without the mountain. My butt is still sore and I don't think I'll be volunteering for any offroad biking again anytime soon. I'm also pretty lucky that I have cat-like reflexes because the brakes on my bike were completely non-functional. And let me tell you, thorned Acacias are not a nice plant to run into when you forget your brakes don't work. Besides the minor mishaps, actually being able to get out of the car and explore the area was really awesome. We were able to get right up to Lake Manyara and we finally got to see the flamingos!!! (Ignore my overuse of the exclamation point here- I’m a little too obsessed with those dorky pink birds). 

Our bike ride also took us to the place were many of the local wooden carvings are made (ebony, rose wood, etc). The people working on these crafts came from Mozambique during the civil war, and to this day continue to create beautiful authentic artwork. I went a little crazy buying crafts in there and if given the chance to go back will probably go crazy again. Family, brace yourself, the gifts will be glorious. Our bike ride ended where many of the popular paintings of the Maasai and wildlife are created. We got to see how each painting was made, and it was extremely tempting to buy a wall sized painting, but I refrained. Later in the day we got to walk around Mto wa Mbo (and I garauntee you that I am not spelling that right) and explore the Maasai Market and other cool trinket shops. Highlight of the day: getting two Maasai blankets for 20,000 Tanzania shillings after multiple epic bargaining failures. Prepare yourselves for the epicness that will be a home-made flannel created from a Maasai blanket. And for those wondering, my africa pants are fabulous. We ended the trip eating pizza from a local pizza place and buying them out of beer (we may or may not be suffering from withdrawals). Later that night, we played a soccer game with some of the staff while all of Rhotia watched. I'm so bad I've officially demoted myself to cheerleading squad.

Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

Yesterday, we went to Tarangire National Park to work on a wildlife management sampling project and to explore. We (all of us SFS students) started off the day doing transects along the road, and recording species, species number, sex counts and behaviors of every animal group we came across. After a couple hours of sampling, we got to drive around in search of some animals we haven’t yet seen. Now, I’m going to make you totally jealous: WE SAW A CHEETAH AND A LION. SERIOUSLY GUYS, IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE. I almost peed my pants with excitement. My group’s driver, who is also our wildlife management professor, told us being able to see a cheetah in any park is rare (SFS groups usually on see one every third time coming to Tarangire). The lion is not so rare, but being my first lion sighting I got a little overexcited. I couldn't get a picture of the cheetah because my camera is dinky, however; I do have a copy that I will upload soon!

The beautiful mistress herself.

 Besides those two completely awesome sightings, I got to see hundreds and hundreds of elephants, zebra, wildebeest and impala. There was also a ton of giraffes (my new favorite animal), and I even got to see some rare mongooses and eagles. At the end of the day, we got to stop at the Tarangire Lion Research center where our SFS Center for Wildlife Management director (Dr. Kissui) has been working for the past ten years. He showed us the radio and GPS collars his research team uses to track lions, and also introduced us to some researches from Dartmouth working on giraffe demography. I'd promise to calm down the gloating, but come on.. I'M IN AFRICA!

Fighting impala

Bird straight out of Alice in Wonderland. Anyone?

Finally saw a wild ostrich!

Mr. Cool Giraffe man who walked inches in front of our car

It's amazing how huge these birds are. I don't think I'd want to start a fight with one.

Probably two out of over 200 zebra that we saw.

Vulture picking at some bones.

We saw this baby elephant and a very pissed off herd. Little did we know they were so agitated because a lioness (the one pictured above) was hiding nearby.

Dung maidens and salt flats

Today, I played with poop. Our wildlife ecology lessons started with our Professor plopping dried animal poop on our desks and ended with us identifying poop in the field with the help of Maasai guides. I can pretty much see all you non-biologist types cringing with disgust, but trust me, it was actually a lot of fun. We sampled quadrants from the salt flats around Lake Manyara to the grasslands surrounding Lake Manyara National park and noted the type of animal dung we found. The Maasai guides were extremely knowledgeable and could identify animal species extremely fast from the type of droppings left behind. Oh and yeah, we just casually hung out with the Maasai. It was pretty awesome. Most exciting part of the exercise besides interacting with the Maasai?: probably finding a dung maiden (aka a poop pile).

The geologist in me was also super ecstatic about today’s events because we got to run around the salt flats surrounding Lake Manyara. I don’t think I have ever walked on something so crunchy and squishy at the same time, and I FREAKING LOVED IT. Underneath the salt (which is evaporated from the seasonally changing lake) was a ton of red algae and other organic matter mixed with mud. Every time you took a step your boots sunk further and further into the strange mixture. The smell was horrible, but I could have spent all day running around the out-of-this-world landscape. Unfortunately, this is not a geology trip so no one shares my enthusiasm for the rocks. I did, however; find a beautiful volcanic rock with some pretty awesome crystals while frolicking around the dung piles, so it totally made up for lack of time spent in the salt flats.

 The salt flats around Lake Manyara- searching for the lake

What we found instead of the lake- decaying organic matter + muddy mixture underneath the crunchy salt

In other news:

Yesterday was our first non-program scheduled day, and we got to travel to Elephant Cave and the town of Karatu. Elephant Cave is not a real cave in any definition; it is made not by the reaction of water with rocks, but by elephants. Because elephant are herbivores, their diets tend to lack in minerals such as iron and so they need to get them from somewhere else. Much of the landscape around Ngorongoro Crater (and Lake Manyara which I mentioned in my last post) has a volcanic history either sourcing back to lava flows or ash falls. Volcanic eruptions release tons of heavy metals/minerals, and the soils they are incorporated into become good sources for necessary minerals. Since the elephants are not getting these minerals from the plants they are eating, they have learned to supplement their diets by digging out and eating soil. To get to Elephant Cave we hiked through the tropical landscape near Ngorongoro Crater, and we got to learn about some of the plants in the areas. We also got to see a pretty cool waterfall on our hike back.

Elephant Cave

Karatu is a small service town very near to our camp in Rhotia. We got to walk around the market and bargain a bit after our trip to Elephant Cave. I got some pretty awesome fabric so that I can have a local tailor make me some cool pants, a skirt, and probably some headbands. You'll have to contain your excitement; I'm sure you're dying to see me in some African-made garb, but it will take some time to get them made. After our trip to the market, we spent a couple hours in a small pub called Happy Days and got to relax with a couple beers. We aren't allowed to drink much on this trip (no alcohol in camp, pretty much no alcohol outside of camp, and when we are allowed it's about a max of two beers), but it was nice to be able to have one and enjoy the day. 

Until next time...

Lake Manyara National Park- Tanzania

Mambo!

To start off this post, I just want to tell you all how awesome everyone is in my SFS Kenya/Tanzania Wildlife Management group. It’s so nice to be a part of a program that includes people from all different backgrounds (both culturally and academically), different schools/places, and with different interests. I have never been a part a group filled with people so keen to learn and share knowledge with each other and willing to continuously interact with people one normally would not.  

I also have to mention the professors, crew and local people. They have been so welcoming, and it truly is a wonderful feeling to come to a completely foreign and new environment and have people be so kind. The children have been so much fun to interact with, and many of them are even showing me up with their language skills!

Today was our first trip into the field, and I felt like I was living out every child’s Lion King/African safari dream. I spent about five hours in Lake Manyara National Park with my SFS group driving around in the bushland, grassland and forest looking for all kinds of animals. I got to see blue monkeys, baboons, vervet monkeys, warthogs, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, hippos, dik-diks, elephants, gazelles, cape buffalo and impalas (I’m also sure that I’m forgetting others). And just to make you totally jealous, my car had a very close encounter with a mother elephant and her baby as they were attempting to cross the road.

The plants in Lake Manyara National park and the surrounding region are extremely interesting as well. The park is filled with green vegetation as it is located near a significantly large water source, while the surrounding landscape is much drier and yellower in color. The contrast of the two landscapes was really cool to see as we drove from our SFS center in Rhotia to the park. In the park, I saw tons of Acacia trees (both umbrella and yellow-barked) and I also got to see a few baobab trees. I’m no expert in plants or animals (rocks are totally my thing), but I’m really excited to learn more about the ecosystems in this region.

Umbrella Acacia 

Now, Lake Manyara National Park is located in probably one of the coolest geologic areas in the world: the East African Rift Valley, and so of course I was excited to travel there for more than just the wildlife. While I didn’t get to see much in the way of fantastic rocks today, I did get to see a lot of volcanic material in various stages of weathering (rockàsoil). There was also some pretty beautiful schists or metamorphic rocks at the welcome center (used for the road and pathways). They were filled with micas and were totally sparkly, just like Edward is in the sunlight (this is a twilight reference for those confused at my lame humor). Lake Manyara itself is pretty geologically interesting, as it is a salt lake that often dries up seasonally to reveal large expanses of salt flats. I didn’t get to go close to the salt flats or the lake, but being able to see them from the cliffs surrounding the park was pretty incredible.

Tomorrow, we are going back to Lake Manyara National Park to study baboon behavior and physical characteristics and also to finish up some of our other class projects involving the park. I don’t think any of us were able to concentrate on schoolwork with 26 elephants passing by our car or hippos popping out of the water or monkeys fighting in the trees. I know I definitely was way more concerned about getting photos of absolutely EVERYTHING I saw. I’m a little sad that I’m fancy-spancy-cameraless, but I guess all the wildlife is just going to have to come close and pose for my silly point-and-shoot camera.

Kwaheri (for now)

I'm alive!

Hello world.

After three flights (two of which were each well over 7 hours), an eleven-hour layover in London, and a three hour car ride later, I finally made it to the SFS center in Rhotia, Tanzania. The dirt here is amazing. I haven’t seen any super awesome rocks yet, but don’t worry, I’ll find them. The food here is also amazing and I'll probably come back about 15 pounds heavier. I’m guessing it’s because of all the butter.

We haven’t done much in the way of exploring but here are a few news items that you may find entertaining:

1. During my eleven hour layover in London I bought about two pounds of British chocolate. OH MY GOD IT IS SO GOOD AND NOW IT’S GONE AND I WANT TO CRY.
2    2. Yesterday, a seventy-year-old woman beat three others and me up a hill while we were running. Beat probably is the wrong word because in reality she totally destroyed us.
3    3.  Last night, while I was attempting to crawl out of my bed I got caught on the mosquito net and slammed my chin on the side of the bed. Naturally, I now have a bruise the size of a softball.
4    4. My Swahili is hysterical, but I’ll get there. I also keep trying to break out in French; not sure why my brain considers that a legitimate response to Swahili.

Today we started classes, which believe me is even harder to sit through when Africa is right outside your window.

EDIT (per request of the fam):
Our camp consists of banas (or cabins), a classroom, a dining room, lots of open space for activities and a beautiful cabana overlooking everything. I'm having trouble uploading pictures now, but hopefully I'll be able to soon so you can see what it's like. The food is a mixture of a lot of fruit and veggies, rice, pasta, bread, and meat. I haven't eaten much meat (totally predictable) but everything else has been wonderful (especially the fruit).

I promise when my life gets a wee-bit more interesting I’ll add more. 

And so it begins

Hello fellow badgers, adventurers, family, and friends,

I am leaving for Africa on September 8th, and I am going to attempt to keep you all informed (and more than likely entertained) through this blog. I'm not sure how often I'll have a charged computer or the internet, but when possible I will update this wonderful contraption. And yes mom, I will email you as often as possible to let you know I am alive.

At the current moment, I am experiencing what we call a "first world problem." I have absolutely no idea how I am going to fit all of my "necessary" gear and clothing for an entire semester into two basically indestructible (thank you North Face) duffel bags. Also, my room is beyond hazardous for human occupation. It's shocking I have any idea how to navigate it. 

Besides my whining attitude towards packing, I'm actually beyond excited to get to Africa. This semester, I am doing a Wildlife Management Studies program in Kenya and Tanzania through The School for Field Studies (http://www.fieldstudies.org/eastafrica/semester#). I start the semester out in Tanzania, where I will be taking Techniques of Wildlife Management, Wildlife Ecology, Environmental Policy and Socioeconomic Values, and Introduction to Swahili Language and East African Tribal Communities. Sometime in the middle of the semester, my group will travel to Kenya where we get to participate in directed research. 

Following the program, I will be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. If I make it to the top (start crossing your fingers, saying your prayers, etc. for me now) I promise to take a most ridiculous photograph. If you're lucky, I'll film the whole climb for your entertainment. And I promise, it will be amusing. 

For those who don't have my email you can reach me at: bgrongstad@gmail.com 

And if you wish to send me some good ole fashion snail mail (thanks to a fellow SFSer for reminding me to give this address out), here's my address while I am in Tanzania:

Brigitta Rongstad

SFS Center for Wildlife Management Studies

P.O. Box 304

Karatu, Tanzania

East Africa

"I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center"   -Kurt Vonnegut

Cheers,

BG