Times in Tanzania: New home: Iringa Region

Our hut, with a tent and small porch inside.

We are very excited to have both accepted new jobs in June in Iringa Region. We are living in a field camp 90km (2 hour drive) from the nearest large city, Iringa, and about 5km from the nearest village, which is tiny. We are working for a conservation organization that works both in Ruaha National Park and with the surrounding communities.

Our camp is basic but adequate. There are about 15 other staff that live here with us, all housed in "safari style" tents set underneath a more permanent traditional covering (cut tree branch beams and grass hut commonly called bandas). We have a separate outhouse with a pit toilet and small shower area as well as 24/7 solar electricity. We don't have a water source so we get all our water brought in a few times a week and stored in a massive tank. The camp is spacious enough to allow for privacy though we have quite a few structures: nine bandas, a garage, an office, a cooking area, an eating area, and a large enclosure for dogs.

The camp is located in a mix of acacia and commiphora woodland and semi-miombo woodland with a few baobab trees scattered around. In the dry seasons it's extremely dry though the presence of the dry dust gives the sunrise and sunset a beautiful hue. There are a few small rivers nearby camp that have water the majority of the year but run dry during the peak of the dry season. The dry season runs from around March-October with rains from November-February. We're located at around 900m so we still receive relatively cool nights and we're usually looking for a sweatshirt or jacket the second the sun sets.

There is quite a bit of farming and animal grazing that goes on surrounding our camp but the encroachment is relatively recent and one still has the feeling that they're in the middle of nowhere. We've heard lions and hyenas at night and confirmed lions within 3km of our camp! (edit: We occasionally get them walking through at night). We see some small ungulates on our evening walks and we've seen presence of jackals. The occasional vervet monkey will also pass through camp on occasion, though they are very skittish due to negative interactions with farmers. There is also a healthy population of reptiles, from lizards and skinks to snakes. Of course there are a variety of birds as well and we enjoy not having to leave our porch to bird watch.

So far we love our new home. We're outside nearly 100% of the time, we get beautiful sunsets in the evening, and the stars at night are so clear we can easily see the milky way. For some people, living in the bush is a daunting task, but for us it is one of our favorite places to be!