Week 2 In The Books!

Hello everyone,

Week two at Moyo Hill Camp is now in the books so I thought I'd share some highlights!

On Monday we had a traveling lecture all morning: first to a hill overlooking Ngorongoro Conservation Area on one side and Lake Manyara National Park on the other. The main topic of discussion was wildlife corridors and the costs and benefits of having them within/nearby the agricultural community that we reside in. Then we traveled to Mto wa mbu where we received a lecture from a man involved in the area's water management. We discussed how the valley where Mto wa mbu is experiences flooding and droughts which is hard for the farmers to predict. I talked with Dr. Mwamhanga about how much of the irrigation system, while useful for the farming plots, contains tons of herbicides and pesticides because of the education barrier (lack of education) that local working people have. This relates to one discussion we had in my Environmental Policy class that we have to consider local peoples' priorities when working towards policy and ecosystem management: people would much rather feed their families and earn some money to support themselves than perform practices that would protect wildlife, and really, can you blame them?!?
On Monday we also tried out a program called CyberTracker in Wildlife Ecology class that creates electronic data sheets that can upload straight from an app on your phone to your computer...it took a long time to program the app via the computer (and I suck with technology) but we walked around Rhotia doing counts of different domestic animals and I could see how using the app could be easier than having a paper data sheet.

Our classroom

Besides classes and working on assignments this week, I played volleyball again (and we were all doing really good -  the game was incredible!), and we had a community service activity Wednesday morning. There were several options to choose from, and my group cleaned up trash along the trail to the top of Moyo Hill and also along the road that loops campus. I believe we filled 4 large trash bags in less than 3 hours! We also had a dog that approached us (which is very rare because dogs are generally afraid of humans here) and I couldn't not pet him! This sadly wasn't allowed because 1) many of the dogs have fleas and 2) they can carry several diseases including rabies....BUT I did it anyway because I love dogs so this is now our little secret. We named him Salama (meaning "peaceful" in Swahili) and he followed us for most of our loop around campus.

One night after dinner we had a guest speaker who is currently observing lion populations in Ngorongoro Crater. She had a ton of cool stories and went into detail about how the tracking collars work and about a new male lion who entered the crater and is possibly adding new genes to the gene pool (this will create more genetic diversity and is great for the lion population!). The next evening we went to a huge market in Karatu that happens twice a month. It was basically a huge flea market and I ended up not getting anything because it was too hectic: it is very common for "mzungu's" aka white people to get hounded by local vendors. So I went back early with some students and then went to the shops in Rhotia which are much more peaceful since all of the locals know that our campus is just down the road. I bought some cool sunflower fabric and sent it to the tailor to make me a button-down shirt (so many students have already planned out their new wardrobe that the tailor is going to make them lol). I bought the fabric and got the shirt made for a combined 32,000 shilling or a little less than $15!!! I also got my batik back from last weekend after they touched it up. I was a little disappointed in how my water buffalo design turned out but it still looks really cool (and I still have a professional batik that I bought).

Dr. Theisinger (our Wildlife Ecology professor) is a specialist in reptiles and started setting traps around campus this week. However, a highlight find was something that was found by Pascal (one of the staff) outside of campus - a chameleon!!! It was incredible to see it up close and I was even able to hold him! I also loved how his little hands looked. That evening we played a soccer game - students vs staff! Holy crap were the staff amazing! Even Dr. Mwamhanga (who is probably in his 50s or early 60s) was kicking our butts. We played for about an hour and ended up losing 4-1...it was so much fun though. Naturally, I busted up my knees again while taking a shot, the day after my previously scraped-up knees (from playing volleyball) had healed. This day was also the day I had cook duty (yay dishes) and we watched The Conjuring on the projector in the outside lounge area attached to the dining hall. I'm not a big fan of scary movies but I wanted to challenge myself so I stayed for the entire movie - I honestly thought it was pretty good.

Dr. Theisinger

Some of the ReKAP activities this week have been fun too - we made an origami giraffe one night and did finger painting the other night. I had a helper with my finger painting: Lenny. Lenny is Dr. Theisinger's 5 year old son (Lenny, Dr. Theisinger's wife and Lenny's younger brother live on campus with him). Lenny is a very energetic child and loves to tickle you! I find that he has gotten attached to us four guys on campus and we all play around with him instead of doing our work.

On Saturday morning we did a transect activity in Environmental Policy class. We were split into groups and each group was assigned a local translator. Then, we walked around different parts of Rhotia recording the vegetation, terrain, land uses, problems and opportunities of the area surrounding our transect (which is basically a pre-determined line that we walk down). During this time we talked to several locals including three Maasai men (Maasai is a tribe) that were "watchmen" for an abandoned hotel that is supposed to be renovated and reopened in July. We also talked to a lady carrying a bucket of water on her head: she travels 1km twice a day to get water and is also a farmer and makes her own alcohol! It is very common in this area (or Tanzania in general) for women to do all of the farming/working, cooking, cleaning and raising the children while the men "chill out" downtown all day and drink. In our Environmental Policy class we have frequently talked about the role of women in this area and how they get very little privileges. We also talked to a pastoralist who was watching his livestock. He was around my age and started being a pastoralist all on his own: he originally bought two cattle and has now expanded to over 30 combined cows, goats and donkeys. We discussed wildlife conflicts with him (human-wildlife conflict is a key topic in all of my classes) and he said that very rarely hyenas will kill one of his animals....he has also experienced raids where people have stolen some of his animals. Overall, I loved talking with these people, and I had a good time except that I got SUPER sun burned (again...).

That evening the entire group of students went to a lodge! Almost everybody was drinking and I'm not a big fan of alcohol so I tried a sip of beer and then went in the lodge's pool to swim with Lenny. I spent maybe and hour playing with him before the acrobatic show started! These men were INSANE and did tons of flips, contortions and formations that blew my mind - like three men standing on each other's shoulders! While we all had a lot of fun, I had a discussion with one of the students about how humbling this was...none of the locals will ever experience a lodge-"experience" in their lifetimes and a lot of us took the swimming, show, getting drunk (not me), and service for granted. It definitely made me feel a little bad as I didn't come to Tanzania to get spoiled like this. That being said, I still appreciated it.

Sunday was our free day again! In the morning I went with a group to the Maasai market in Mto wa mbu where I bought some crafts and worked on my bargaining skills (in Swahili) with the vendors who were very persistent (as can be expected). Most places offer lower prices if you say you're a mwanafunzi (student) because they give insane prices to tourists who can't tell the difference and don't know the exchange rate. You're supposed to be with a buddy at all times but I was just looking around the one shop and turned around and my group left, so I just kept walking around and talking to vendors. I was in complete control of the situation but apparently my group freaked out that I disappeared, so now I know better...  In the afternoon I went on an "elephant cave" hike in Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The hike wasn't very strenuous and at the end we got to this half-cliff-half-cave where there were six elephants including two babies!!! They come to the cave regularly to get the minerals out of the rocks. There was also a waterfall that we stopped at along the trail with incredible views! According to Amelia (our student affairs manager who went with us) this was the best elephant cave hike she's ever done, as it can't be guaranteed that you see elephants - so I felt very lucky! Once I got back to campus I wrote this blog and once again called my parents. I'm having a great time and am making some good friends here, and I can't wait for all of the adventures yet to come!

I hope you had a nice weekend! Thanks for reading
-Matt