Sunday Goodbyes

Sunday we decided to take it easy and stay at our hotel. The hotel Millenium Square is nice but power is always a problem as outages happen daily. So light and even water pressure can be a problem.

Raymond's last day working for us was Saturday but he came back this morning for a coffee and a 3 hour visit. He will drive back across the Serengeti tomorrow after picking up a load of fresh fish to deliver to Arusha. To us he now feels like a member of our families. We are sad to finally part. He taught us so much not only about the animals and parks, but about himself and the people of Africa. We could not have had a better guide.

The ladies from the Women's group we visited on Thursday dropped in to deliver hand made baskets that we bought from them. We will be bringing 30 back to Canada.

As a thank you to the people who helped with our Thursday tour we hosted a dinner party at our hotel. In attendance were Benny and his wife Adelika from the ministry of Ag college; Dinah who is from Minnedosa and does rural development volunteer work here; Josh who is a young man from Brandon now working for NGO on renewable energy; Josh's new bride, Letti who is a seamstress; and the 4 of us. A greatly informative and entertaining evening with no shortage of topics of conversation and the ever present football (soccer) game in the background. A great way to conclude our Mwanza stay.

Fish Market

Lake Victoria is the second largest lake in the world after Lake Superior in Canada. We wanted to get close to the lake shore and see the activities done there. Raymond toured us through the fish market area where we would never have gone on our own!

The main fish gathered are sardines between 2 - 3 inches long. These are dried on the wharf, packet by hand (and feet) and are shipped off in 200 lb bags to local markets. The locals buy and use them like spice in their food.

There also were larger fish, like tilapia being dried. First they were gutted and split open then left on plank tables to dry in the sun. They keep for a week to ten days in this condition. They are mainly used in fish stew. If you want fresh fish you must arrive at market very early - 5am or so!

We went to the upscale Hotel Tilapia for a mid-day snack. The view of the lake area was nice. See picture. We drove further along the lakeshore which isn't very visible due to industry, however, we were able to get close to a famous rock formation called the Bismarck Rocks. See photo.

Even further north east along the lake we stopped at a newer upscale resort. It was very swanky and costly, but we sat in the lounge and had a drink and enjoyed the cool breeze off the lake. See photo of Fred and Don.

We stopped at an art stall and bought some local art work. The artists were glad of our business as we were the first (and only?) customers of the day. Here I am with two of the artists.

A day around Mwanza

We took a day to tour around Mwanza today. We booked our flights to Zanzibar for next week with Precision Air. As they only accept cash it was a hassle getting to an ATM that actually worked, but we managed.
We went out to a museum which depicts the history and ways of the ancient Sakuma tribe who live around Lake Victoria. Although many of these people have converted to Christianity, the church has incorporated many of their cultural beliefs and symbols. We also saw many of their tools used in everyday life. They were also working iron from local iron ore as early as the 15th century. The Sakuma and there many clans are the largest of the 120 tribes of Tanzania.
In the evening Raymond took us out for a typical Tanzanian meal of BBQ tilapia fish from the lake, fried bananas, and ungali with salsa. Ungali is like pollenta and is made with white corn meal. The entire meal is eaten with just your hands and is communally shared at the table. It was very tasty and was all consumed with a couple beers. We had to as the Sakuma were renown for their traditional beer. See pic.

Schools in Mwanza

Our Mwanza contact, Dinah, was also able to arrange visits to both a primary and secondary school. The primary school had 370 students with 14 teachers. The kindergarten class was over 40 students, sitting on a tarp on a dirt floor with only one poster of vowels on the front wall. The children seem very happy, but I don't know how much learning goes on in these conditions.

Dinah made a presentation to the classroom teacher (money from her mother in Gimli) that goes straight to this classroom. Every penny gets right to the source this way; no administration fees come off! Anyone interested in making direct donations this way? I will talk to you about this when we get home.

We then went to a grade 5 classroom. They had desks but they were broken down and often 3 students to one desk, again with a dirt floor The students showed us some of their work. No such thing as a hard cover textbook, just some softcover books that looked well used. Mostly the students did assignments in notebooks off of the blackboard where even chalk is not in abundance. All primary education is conducted in Swahili These teaching conditions were more primitive than what I witnessed in either Belize or Costa Rica.

The secondary school classes, grades 7 - 12, are all conducted in English. Passing from one grade to the next is decided by standardized national exams. In order to pass the students have to obtain at least 30%. When I visited a grade 10 science class I could see that the content of their work was very high level - studying atomic theory, molar mass, etc. But when I tried to talk to the students I found they really did not know English. Were they understanding any of the work they were copying so nicely into their notebooks? I doubt it. Not only is language a problem, but these science students have never even seen a beaker, much less ever done a science experiment. Sigh!! What good is content without understanding??

To top it all off there are gender issues as well. Girls are expected to help out at home making meals, cleaning, getting water which may be a long distance away, etc. Generally girls do not have time to do homework. Boys usually get more rest and have time to do homework and consequently do better at school.

Mwanza with Dinah

Mwanza is the fastest growing city in Africa largely due to employment opportunities from fishing and gold mining. Agriculture is 85% subsistence farming.

Debbie and Fred have contacts in Mwanza thru Ashley who did an internship here. This organization works with ACC Brandon and CIDA Canada. The head of it actually got a diploma in Rural development from ACC. A lady from Minnedosa, Dinah, is here now volunteering in rural dev projects that are being supported by CIDA and their research centre. Really an eye opener.

Previously, Ashley educated people in this area about HIV/Aids. Since then a women's group decided to support Aids orphans of the area. Instead of sending orphans to large orphanages away from their community, they are supporting the extended families who can then provide care.

The women's group consists of 6 women and their group's name is Swahili for "Strong Heart". They began by helping 3 orphans for cost of 500 shilling (less than 50cents) per month. They now sponsor 47 children for about $200/month. They raise the money through farming, upgrading their farm goods and by weaving baskets and mats in the off season.

Aids effects 8% of the population In this area. Nationally the rate is 7%, although it can range from 5-18%.
These figures are only on reported cases, many cases are never reported, so the numbers could be much higher.

Meeting these wonderful women was very inspiring! I bought 30 baskets from the women. I also bought some material from a woman from the area. I will have to buy an extra suitcase to get everything home. (I guess everyone knows what they are getting for gifts!!

Today we also visited some schools, but I will write a new blog for that.

The photo is Mwanza friends of Ashley's in front of her painting of Tanzanian and Canadian flags.
Group of young adults who have set up small businesses with the aid of micro loans.

Leaving Serengeti for Mwanza jan.25

Today we left our tented camp of 5 days. We had a heck of a time getting Fred to leave as he had made fast friends with a couple of the camp workers. These guys move out to the middle of the park, work 7 days week starting at 4:30 AM and do not get to go home for 3-4 months at a time. The service was fantastic and everyone was really friendly.
On the way across western Serengeti we had one last game drive and saw an amazing river with up to 80 hippos lazing in the brown, muddy water. They come out at sundown to graze, eating 50 pounds of grass per day. We are told they kill more people every year in Africa than any other animal. There were also a few Nile crocodiles along the shore and some 3' long monitor lizards for good measure.
Along the road there were a lot of troops of baboons. They really do not seem to pay much attention to us and go about eating who knows what off the ground and picking more of the same off of each other.
Ray our guide got us to the city of Mwanza and we checked in to a very nice hotel for $40,000./night...that is shillings = $25. Can. Dollars
ps-- Fred is already making friends with the hotel staff, even when they do not speak the same language.

The great Serengeti migration -Jan.24

We are currently in central Serengeti where today we saw the great wildebeest and zebra migration. We saw the herds for tens of miles in every direction..... 1.5 - 2 million animals?? Who knows because it was just an ocean of horns and hooves covering as far as we could see in all directions as we drove for a long time. Words & pics cannot describe it, you need to experience it in person. And lots of birds, from storks in multitudes to vultures circling for anything to scavenge.

Also saw a pride of lions (pic) with 1 large male, 8 females, & 4 new born kittens. From only 10 metres away. Was an awesome day. Maybe the best yet.

Our last night at Serengeti Katikati tented camp and they have just shut off the generator at 9:30. Can now hear the hyenas yipping and laughing within 100 yards. Had giraffes nearby the camp again today as well.

More Serengeti - Jan 22

As I type this blog I am looking out at grazing giraffe from our tent porch. Wow!

Today we drove through the tall grass of this part of the park. The prey do not like the long grass as it allows the predictor to hide. The large herds only come to this area when the southern part is dry and over-grazed. There are large rocky outcrops called kopjes. We got to climb one and had a great view of the plains.

We spotted a lioness feeding under a palm tree. Tough life! We also saw 3 leopards. Two sleeping on trees and one very close-up sleeping in tall grass under a tree. The ones in the trees sleep laying, dead to the world, on a limb with their legs and tail dangling down. Leopard spots are different from a cheetah's. Leopard's are more like a rosette of dots and a chetah's are just single dark dots.

As we drove farther into the park we encountered herds of tsetse flies. They remind of our horse flies. Youch. Do they bite!

We are also spotting lots of beautifully coloured birds, such as superb starlings, lilac breasted rollers, love birds, red bishops, etc. as well as rather ugly ones, such as bustards and vultures.

As we leave our camp, & again returning in the evening we always see the same 3 small jackals.(picture) They are very handsome and well groomed as opposed to the hyenas who we have seen laying in mud puddles on the side of the road. They are a whole lot ugly as well.

Long drive to the Serengeti

From 7:30 in the morning until 6:30 in the evening, over the worst roads I have ever been on, was our trek today. Only a short while into the drive we came upon a washout in the road. It had only rained a bit the night before, but the water all pours down the volcano as there is little vegetation to stop the flow. We threw boulders and rock into washout. It only took a few minutes before some Maasai appeared out of nowhere to help us. Eventually we had enough of a road rebuilt for Raymond to drive across.

We were very happy to see the park gate to the Serengeti. The roads in the park are much better (but that's not saying much), and after a few more hours we finally made it to our tented camp where we will stay for the rest of our safari - 5 nights.

Lake Natron,

Lake Natron is famous for flamingos, so in the morning we met our walking guide, Moinga. As it is near the end of the dry season, the lake is very low and the edge is rather mucky. We walked as close as we could to the shoreline. We could see the pinkish colour of the birds and hear the clamor of around a million birds! Looking thru binoculars we could differentiate between the greater (mostly white with a long neck) and the lesser (pink and shorter neck) flamingos.

On our retire from the lake we were approached by Maasai to buy trinkets They are very determined bargainers. Fred ended up buying Deb and I each a braclet made of porcupine quills.

To Lake Natron Jan 18

Today was a long day. We passed through Mosquito Creek, put air in the tires and said no to the hawkers. We stopped at an "art supermarket". They had wonderful paintings, carvings, etc. but we do not want to get to much in our suitcases so early in the trip.

We drove for hours in the heat and dust to get to our next lodge at Lake Natron. There is not much way out here and the roads are terrible. Sigh. Oh well, we met a family that are on a 9 month vacation and are traveling the world. They told us about many of the places they have visited. Very interesting! We are meeting many people on this trip.

First Serengeti game drive Jan. 21

We are staying at Serengeti Katikati tented camp in the hills of central Serengeti. The tents are walk in with full size bed, toilet, and shower off the back To shower you tell a guy out back to fill your shower bag with warm water which is hoisted up and you open a valve to run the gravity shower. It all works splendidly. At night we can hear animal calls, especially the hyenas who prowl around & have several voices, one of which sounds like crazy laughter.
Our first day we travelled south-east and saw more lions, hippos, mongooses, & a cheeta up close who just finished eating her breakfast of baby gazelle. The vultures finished the rest.
Already have about 50 gig of photos and videos. Whew!

Jan. 17. Olduvai gorge

Today we started out early to see the large herds in the Ngorongoro Conservation area. There were grazing animals as far as the eye could see! We managed to happen upon a large group of vultures feasting on a zebra carcass. Rather gruesome but a very unique experience.

Olduvai gorge was an interesting stop for me as I taught about the Leaky's and their hominid discoveries in Grade 12 Biology, the human evolution unit. Above the vista of this gorge is a museum that has much info on the area and a plaster cast of the footprints discovered proving that 'Lucy', Austrolopithicus africansis walked upright. They also discovered three different hominid species - Boise, habilis, and erectus, in this valley of 55 km.

Our last stop today was at a Maasai village. We have seen many Maasai people and various huts and villages since we arrived. They live a basic life as herdsmen. They wear primarily red and purple clothing. They eat milk and blood and only eat meat for a celebration. Their tradition way of life is difficult to maintain; today some tribes profit off of tourism by charging tourists to visit. It was a bit depressing to see their subsistence and our intrusion into their lives, even though it was very informative.

Ngorongoro Caldera Wildlife

We drove over the lip of and into Ngorongoro caldera to view the wildlife on the crater floor. The Ngorongoro Crater is often called ‘Africa’s Eden’ and the ‘8th Natural Wonder of the World’.

A massive extinct volcano, the sheet walls drop thousands of feet to a "Noah's Ark" of animals on the verdant floor below. Large herds of zebra, elephant, gazelles, buffalo, antelope and wildebeest graze nearby while sleeping lions laze in the sun.

We saw the endangered black rhino snoozing on the crater floor and later grazing grass in the afternoon. We also saw many hyenas snoozing in mud puddles and a new gnu taking his first stumbling steps.

The world-famous Ngorongoro Crater is at the eastern edge of the Serengeti in northern Tanzania. Nearly three million years old, the ancient caldera of the once-volcanic Ngorongoro shelters one of the most beautiful wildlife havens on earth, ringed with towering walls and sheltering forests, grasslands, fresh springs and a large alkaline lake.

Late afternoon we took an extremely steep switchback road back to the crater rim and proceeded to Olduvai camp for dinner and overnight. The tent camp is amongst a rock outcropping (kopje) beside traditional Masai people with their goats and cattle.

Check out the photos. You would not believe how close we were to the lions!! Remember, all of these photos are taken on Don's phone, so no telescopic lenses were used here.

Farm tour

Today we traveled to Karatu, a town of about 2000 people near Lake Eyasi to see the process of farming corn (maize) and onions. We drove for over an hour down a very bumpy, rocky dirt road to meet up with our guide Johanne. He showed us corn first.

The corn looked very lush, they do use fertilizer as the soil nutrients are depleted. When the corn is ready to harvest it is chopped down by machete and left on the field till the stalks are dry. Then the corn ears and husks are separated. All corn grain is used for human consumption, but all left over plant matter is fed to cows.

The onion production was interesting as we were able to see the use of irrigation. Seedlings are produced from onion seed (collected from their own onions) in 3 weeks. In the picture you see water flooding the seedling beds. These seedlings are then transferred to the main fields and planted 5cm apart to allow the bulb room to grow. When the bulbs are harvested they are kept in a shed until they are sold, often to Nairobo, Kenya. The workers get paid between 1 and 2 dollars a day. Everything is done by hand except the plowing of the fields which is done using a tractor or oxen. Very labour intense!!

Lake Manyara National Park

Manyara National Park is 330 sq km of which 230 is lake, so that leaves 100 on land. Again, lots of elephants. We were excited to be going to a hippo pool. We did see many hippo heads floating, but rarely saw a whole body. When we did glimpse a full body emerging from the pool at a distance he looked like a massive boulder. Boy those guys are huge! What were we doing canoeing so close to them two days ago!!

At the hippo pond we met two very nice young men from Kentucky. They had just finished a 6 day climb to the top of Kilimanjaro. They told us about a war vet amputee who is currently climbing Kili. He has no forearms or lower legs. He is still accenting the mountain and is Blogging about it. Check out his blog:
www.missionkilimanjero2012

Raymond toured us through a market at Mto Wa Mbu (Mosquito Creek). I bought a 4 meter piece of fabric that the women would wear as a dress.

Today we spotted two animals of the Small Big Five. This group is similar to the names of the Big Five, they are: leopard tortoise, white-headed buffalo weaver, lion ant, rhino beetle, and elephant shrew, as you can see they have the big five animal name in their name. The first two on the list we saw today. I was really pleased to see the tortoise, he gleamed beautifully golden and pranced right along on his tip toes. I won't be too disappointed if we don't see the last three small big five on the list!

Again we are at a beautiful lodge. We consider ourselves very privileged to be able to be well cared for!!

Pictures:
Huge umbrella tree at picnic stop.
Vista overlooking Manyara NP, lake in far background.
Two fotos of lodge, inside and out. (Notice that Don is always laying on the bed in these snaps!
??I am meditating. dz.