Nyumba ya Mungu (House of God)

Nyumba ya Mungu reservoir with North Pire mountains in the background. 

The recently formed Moshi Bird Club (blog forthcoming) took a trip to the Nyumba ya Mungu (house of god) reservoir, situated about 50km south of Moshi.  The reservoir was created in 1965 when the Nyerere administration constructed the Nyumba ya Mungu (House Of God) Dam on the Pangani River. The dam was originally built as a source of hydro-electric power for newly independent Tanzania and it continues to provide electricity for Tanga, Moshi and several other small towns in between. It also serves as an important source of food with an annual fish yield of up to 25,000 tons in a good year. The reservoir’s water is not piped out anywhere, but it has encouraged agriculturist migration into what was formerly otherwise a rather arid extension of the Maasai Steppes. This is extremely apparent when driving in; the landscape is arid and dry before giving way to greener pastures. The water levels fluctuate seasonally and because it lacks depth, the water spreads out in a shallow manner over a vast expanse of land. 

Dala dala stopped by the side of the road, looking for birds.

We traveled with a group of six people and we ended up hiring a dala dala. This was an interesting experience as the dala dala came with two drivers and a konda (conductor). Dala dala's are typically owned by someone and rented to a "team" of workers. These workers are expected to give the owner a certain amount for rent and any other earned money is theirs to keep. So in turn we negotiated not only for renting the dala dala, but also the entire team. I thought the two drivers was overkill but I soon learned the starter didn't work so the extra manpower was useful for push starting the dala dala. The konda spent most of his time sleeping in the back but maintained his responsibilities of opening and closing the door. I thought it was very funny because we were constantly stopping to look at birds and each time the drivers would yell at the young konda to open and close the door as if we were physically unable to do it ourselves.

View of the mountains to the east, prime grazing land, with cattle and donkeys in the background. 

The ride to the reservoir took us through a few very small and undeveloped villages. The area was very dry despite the increase in rains the past few weeks. The villages were mainly Maasai and countless herders of goats and cattle were seen both in and around the villages. One of our birding friends is a Maasai and upon seeing a boy no more than 10 years old with his cattle, I asked him at what age the boys are sent out unsupervised to herd the cattle. He replied that the normal age is eight years old though he was sent out when he was six years old.

After about two hours we arrived at the reservoir. It was extremely hot and we parked the car by the nearest village and walked down to the waterline. Hundreds of donkeys and cattle grazed on the grasses that extended for hundreds of meters from the waterline. As we approached the water we began to see thousands of birds. The reservoir is a mecca for waterbirds and we saw over 70 different species in one spot alone! We also saw many locals from nearby villages coming to fetch water, fish, and bathe. They were all very friendly though the children were generally shocked speechless by the wazungu (foreigners) presence.

We spent the day visiting different spots around the reservoir. The landscape was beautiful with mountains surrounding us on both sides. The winds were calm allowing the water to become a mirror reflecting the blue sky. The sound of crude wooden bells on cattle and occasional braying of a donkey paired with the wide open landscape gave me a hint of a pastoral lifestyle.

This boat has seen better days. 

Greater flamingos. 

Cows coming in from a drink.