Blog from Reed & Max. Photos from the Overseas Educators.
Greetings from the town of Njombe in South Western Tanzania- It has been an adventure filled week since we last touched base so we have a lot to share and will do our best to keep it nice and short although there are no guaranties.
When we last touched base we were part-way through our Kiswahili school and homestays up north in the city of Morogoro. We all had such an amazing time and had such unique experiences while we were there. Rory and Brent would always have stories of many women coming into their house and praying loudly, Max absolutely loved being on his own and always talked about how much he loved his family, Jo and Jada had a host mother who went to culinary school and fed them so well, just to name a few of the amazing memories we made while living with our new Tanzanian families.
As far as Swahili class went- we definitely all enjoyed it and learned a lot of linguistic structures of the language and some of the group was very enthusiastic about learning the language- Rory, Max, Jo, and Audrey come to mind as champions of the language- and they were so into it in every way possible.
After five great days and nights in Morogoro, we all packed up into a public bus and made it to the town of Iringa. We stayed there for one night, and while there caught up on internet and just relaxed before taking off to safari the next day. The morning we left off for Wildlife Connection we went to the market of Irringa and stocked up on fruit; Mary then showed us a hidden gem of a breakfast place where we all attempted to use our newly learned Swahili ordering chapatti, maaai (eggs), and chai in a smoky, bustling large building.
Our car situation to get to the village of Tungamalenga ended up being complicated to say the last- but we arrived in good spirits and in one piece. Wildlife Connection was a very interesting place and we became acquainted with the people working there and the organization. The main goal of Wildlife Connection was to create an understanding and educate the villages that surrounded the national park to what the park was and how to properly respect the wildlife that may wander into the farms and villages. One of the main projects that the people at Wildlife have been working on was a way to peacefully ward away elephants from destroying crops. This was done by setting up a perimeter of beehives around the farms; elephants are naturally afraid of bees so this method is quite successful, with the added bonus of harvesting honey. Our first day was spent checking the beehives to make sure they were in full working condition. Later in the afternoon we played with children at a public library that the program had started up.
We awoke early- around five forty in the morning to be exact- and we loaded into our cars and headed off to the gates of Ruaha National park. After a long entry process that can only be described as uniquely Tanzanian, we entered the park and made our way to a bridge over a beautiful river where we ate a picnic style breakfast. While there, we were able to catch our first glimpses of hippos many crocodiles, and lots of baboons- even one that was taking on cannibalistic habits, which disturbed some members of our group- notably Paiton. After breakfast, the tops of the cars were lifted and we rode off into the beautiful rift valley for our Safari.
After nearly twenty minutes of driving around- we noticed a few cars surrounding something, and we were all filled with excitement as we approached with the endless possibilities of what our first big game sitting could be- and man did we luck out- a leopard! A leopard is normally the one animal that is not seen on safaris and stops many from seeing the big five- but we got lucky. We drove around following the beautiful cat for around 30 minutes, and got so excited when it approached a herd of Impala- but sadly, no hunting was done, although hearing the screeches of the impala as the leopard approached was amazing.
We continued our game drive for the rest of the day, and by the end of the day, we had seen the entire big five. We saw many Rhinos in Uganda, and the first day of our Safari we saw a leopard, elephants, multiple lions, and herds of cape Buffalo which lead to us having seen the big five. Aside from the big five- we saw so many giraffes, Zebras, Hippos, and so much more. After an exciting day in the park we returned back to camp very tired, but with hungry stomachs. After our first day on Safari we were excited to head back into the park hoping to see as much as possible.
After the first magnificent day in Ruaha national park it seemed impossible for the second to live up to it. The first half of the day started slow, but we did see many a herd of giraffe families strolling along with their polite dignified stride. We broke for lunch and all filled our stomachs, after driving for only a minute Aiden shouts out, “I think I just saw a wild dog!!”, there was no wild dog, instead there was something much better. Two lions on their “honeymoon”- a seven day mating ritual where lions do the deed over 280 times. We watch this routine twice in awe, and then continued not wanting to further disturb the couple.
After an amazing last day on safari we woke up early and packed into our cars to head back to Iringa- we spent a nice day catching up on internet, and eating lots of good and diverse foods after eating the same things every day out in the field. We all spoiled ourselves to much, and got a good night’s sleep before an early wake-up for a public bus ride the next day. We are all excited to take off to Njombe tomorrow, and prepare for our upcoming retreat.
Reed Patterson & Max Bone
