Moshi Bird Club

I've alluded to it in other posts but we have recently started a Bird Club for Kilimanjaro and Arusha regions. Ana is a wildlife biologist with experience in birds, raptors to be specific. After doing some research we realized there weren't any permanent groups, rather there were a few fragmented posts from visitors and temporary residents. We posted some in some forums and found several interested people residing in Arusha and Kilimanjaro.

We have since organized ourselves for bi-weekly trips to various natural areas. Our core team is myself and Ana, a local student and excellent birder named Furaha, a Masaai and recently graduated wildlife guide named Lucas, and a British woman (though she's resided in Tanzania for 30 years) named Carolyn. We also have a team of students from Arusha that are mainly interested in the club to gain experience for potential jobs as wildlife guides. Although I'll report on our trips here, albeit with less focus on the birding, I figured I'd share the link to the bird specific blog. Enjoy!

http://moshibirdclub.wordpress.com/

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. 

Village: Usangi

My trip to Kindoroko Forest was a huge success but equally as awesome was the village of Usangi. Having lived 4+ years in villages in developing countries, it was a welcome feeling to be back in the rhythm of a rural life.

Usangi has about 4,000 people, though when in a sprawled out farming community the amount of people feels much smaller. Usangi is pretty much a one street affair with small shops and stalls lining the main road. The main thoroughfare takes about 10 minutes to walk from one end of town to the other and any road off the main road seemingly heads straight up into the mountains. Most of the roads lead to peoples small scale farms though some led to even smaller villages.

Shop on the side of the road in Usangi. 

My favorite part about Usangi was the friendliness of the people. When we were walking on the road most people were hesitant to greet us, most likely due to the fact that very few people spoke any English. Knowing this (and knowing Tanzanian etiquette) we greeted everyone we saw and people were very happy to greet us, though there weren't any crowds of gawkers or children begging for money. People were welcoming and polite and I thought they had the perfect mix of being interested in us, yet we weren't quite a novelty.

After our long hike in Kindoroko Forest we went for a stroll in town. It was evening so the boys were playing football at the local school. We found a nice spot in the shade and watched as the sun went down. It really brought me back to my days living in villages as football was one of the few recreational activities I participated in. Most of the young guys playing and watching were far too shy to muster up anything more than a basic greeting and I enjoyed cheering and jeering along with the onlookers.

Football in the afternoon. 

The next morning we went to look for something to eat for breakfast. We ended up settling for some fruit, which was extremely cheap compared to Moshi. We then found one of three or four "restaurants" and joined some people taking tea. The owner was a very jovial man and he was very excited at our presence. After we ordered tea he offered us a sample of some coffee he had made and it was delicious! We asked if we could buy dry coffee and he said we should come back next week, which was disappointing since we weren't sure when we would be back again. He explained which herbs the tea was made of (showed us some samples as well) and talked about the local crops. When we were done the total for our two teas was TZS 400 ($0.25) but we only had 300 in coins or a 5,000 note. He told us 300 was fine and we shouldn't worry; perhaps next time we'll pay it back.

Enjoying a tea and coffee. 

We also saw some pretty interesting village activities, the most notable was what I can best describe as a cage holding a few newspapers. All the newspapers were in Swahili and some of the older men were visibly struggling to read the headlines. I'm not sure if the papers were for sale or if they were for public display but it was curious to say the least. I took a picture when people had cleared out as I didn't want to draw attention.

This cage had about 6 different newspapers in for people to read.

There was also the classic village activity of a shop showing a movie and a crowd of 20 people crowding around a single screen. My biggest regret was not snapping a picture of a car with no windows or doors. When I first saw it I thought for sure I could take a picture later when there weren't so many people out, but I was surprised to see it had moved when I came back out to the road later that evening.

Being only two or so hours from Moshi makes Usangi a feasible weekend getaway. The nearby forest provides a daytime activity and the slowness of the place provides a welcome break from the relatively busy life in the city. I was struck by how happy I was to be back in a village with people hauling compost to banana plants, kids playing football, motorcycle taxi guys bantering on the corner up to no good...I realized how much I missed being in a village. Hopefully it won't be too long before I find myself back there!

North Pare Mountains and Kindoroko Forest

One of the most challenging things about living in Tanzania is the tease of world-famous protected areas such as Serengeti National park. Park regulations and fees make even the cheapest trip to a national park no less than $200 a day, per person! The vibe on the safaris is also a strange thing; most of the time you are roaming in packs with other vehicles from safari companies and upon seeing a lion, each car stops and dozens of tourists pull out their cameras to capture the moment. Although it's a beautiful thing to see these animals in their natural habitat, it doesn't exactly provide the intimacy that most nature lovers crave.

As a result, I've been trying to find natural areas in Tanzania where you don't have to pay an expensive park fee or hire a guide. Having already seen most of the iconic wildlife, my motivation is less about seeing animals and more about finding natural areas that allow me to connect to nature and provide me with some solitude.

With the recent purchase of my motorcycle, combined with notable progress with my Swahili, I was finally feeling up to the task of exploration. Ana and I decided we would try to go to the Kindoroko Forest which is located in the North Pare Mountains. The North Pare Mountains are part of the East Arc Mountain range, a chain of mountains that runs from southern Tanzania to southern Kenya.

There was surprisingly little information about Kindoroko Forest, which only added to the adventure. The only thing we knew was that the local people had traditional beliefs about the forest being a sacred place and it was considered a biodiversity hot-spot by several conservation groups. We considered it a "scouting" trip and we planned to ride to the nearest village called Usangi and attempt to find the forest from there. We weren't even sure how long it would take to get there as it was maybe only 100km away but with mountains and unpaved roads it would be foolish to assume the distance would be an accurate gauge of how long it might take.

The drive to Usangi was pretty straightforward and we stopped to ask for directions wherever there was a junction. When we turned from the main highway to Usangi we immediately started to climb and we didn't stop till we reached the town. We gained about 700m (2,200 ft) from the main highway up to the village. Part of the road was paved and even the part that wasn't was in pretty good condition. There were stunning views of the savanna as we went up and once we got into the mountains it felt otherworldly as we wound around densely covered peaks surrounded by clouds. After about 2 1/2 hours, we reached our destination of Usangi.

Looking east from the road climbing the mountains to Usangi. 

Mountains on the road to Usangi. 

We were extremely pleased to find a guesthouse in Usangi and we got a room for TZS 15,000 ($9.18). For being located in a village, the guesthouse was pretty nice and we had a boost in Swahili confidence as the clerk did not speak any English. We checked the guest book and saw that foreigners were rare (the last had visited in December) and nearly every one came with a guide. We contemplated asking around for a guide to the forest but decided to just make our way east and ask as we went.

I absolutely loved being back in a rural area with friendly people smiling and waving or staring open mouthed in bafflement over the two wazungu (foreigners) on a motorcycle. Whenever we stopped and asked for directions people were very friendly and helped us find our way. Our Swahili confidence dropped a bit during these interactions as many of the complex directions were beyond of vocabulary. Still, we managed to keep climbing the mountains transitioning from tiny dirty road to even tinier dirty road.

The view on the way to the forest. 

Welcome sign to Kindoroko forest. 

We eventually found ourselves at a junction with a welcome sign and a few paths that were too narrow for the motorcycle. There was an old woman walking and we asked her where the trail was. She told us to keep coming up one of the paths with the motorcycle and we would find her house. We told her we would explore one of the nearby paths and perhaps come later. The Swahli confidence dropped again but we had found the forest and headed down a trail.

The first trail we tried was short though beautiful. We saw some blue monkeys passing through the canopy and followed a small trail along a river until it finished. When we came back out we decided to follow the old woman's advice and headed further up the trail.

When we reached the house it was obvious it was the end of the road. Two older women and a man greeted us and as we tried to explain our desire to walk in the forest we realized our Swahili had reached its limit. The man called one of his daughters and a young woman came and greeted us. She spoke as much English as we spoke Swahili so the situation did not greatly improve. After some time we finally realized they wanted us to climb up the steep slopes behind their house, at which point we would find trails that led to the forest. They only instructed us to "not get lost" and we assured them we would do our best.

Climbing up to the trail from the house at the end of the trail. 

As we walked around the trail we realized how easy it would be to get lost in the massive forest. We were careful to stick to the main trails and marked any junctions that would cause confusion on our way back. The forest was beautiful and the elevation resulted in several distinct forest habitats. The bird life was rich, though difficult to see in the forest. My highlights were seeing a very elusive Fischer's Turaco, as well as a chance sighting of an African Emerald Cuckoo. We saw a few endemic species and spent hours trekking the various trails throughout the forest.

African emerald cuckoo. 

Fischer's Turaco. 

Still, we didn't even scratch the surface of the forest! We took some GPS points and later realized we were only in the northern section of the forest with much room for exploration. There were some absolutely jaw-dropping vistas overlooking the savanna and other small volcanic mountain ranges. Before we even left the forest we planned on taking a longer trip with trail markers and a better GPS device to track our progress.

Vista from a trail. 

After a long trek we came back to the house we set out from. The family was still at home and upon our arrival one of the women insisted we sit down and have some chai. We were extremely happy to join them and we enjoyed a cup of tea and they asked us several questions. Our Swahili confidence was back up after we explained where we were from, how long we were in Tanzania for and when we were going to come back. I explained my reservations about the rainy season and the accessibility of the road and we told them we would definitely be back soon. As we headed back down towards the village we declared our "scouting mission" a huge success!

Ana enjoys tea with our new friend. 

Kindoroko Forest Blog Entry Part II

Kilimanjaro Marathon

The start of the marathon!

For the last 12 years Moshi has hosted the Kilimanjaro Marathon. According to the website:

The Kilimanjaro Marathon (42.2km), Half Marathon (21.1km) and Fun Run (5km) is going into its 12th year! As a fully registered IAAF race, the marathon has official marshalling, time-keeping and refreshment points at regular intervals. It may be used as a qualifier for Comrades. The race is run under the watchful eye of Mount Kilimanjaro, with the altitude gain being quite manageable and with the entire race being completed between 830–1150m asl, on good tarred roads.

The marathon is a big event in Moshi and my organization had a few runners for the 5km and half marathon. We were theoretically using it as a fundraising effort but I'm not sure things got off the ground as we would have liked. Either way, it was a good out-of-work activity for people to attend and the event provided a lot of excitement for Moshi town. I knew it was a big deal when I was in town on Wednesday and noticed the influx of touts asking me, "Hello friend, are you here to run?"

Runners making their way to the finish line. 

Runner's doing their thing: running. 

The runners were very lucky today as Mt. Kilimanjaro was clearly visible in the morning. I've written about it before but Mt. Kilimanjaro is frequently obscured by clouds and it's not unrealistic to think someone could come here to run the marathon and spend a week without even glimpsing the famed mountain. Since we are entering the rainy season the weather was very cool and without rain it was nearly optimal running conditions.

The marathon began early in the morning and the 5k (with the majority of the runners) finished around 8AM. The race ended in the athletics field of a local college which was set up with various tents from local businesses, food vendors, and a stage for music. It was pretty funny because around 8AM the local power shut off and not only did the music and hype announcements stop, but a gigantic inflatable sign dramatically deflated sending children scurrying to avoid being trapped underneath.

Inflatable sign deflated from the lack of power. 

Finish line!

The event was pretty well organized but there were still some questionable oversights. Several runners complained that the route was not well marked and they ended up in different parts of Moshi before someone either corralled them back to the route, or they gave up and took a taxi to the finish. At the end of the race participants could exchange their number plate for a goody-bag but this was not well organized. Initially there were a few lines but as the majority of 5k runners finished it got chaotic. Those who were distributing the bags were eventually forced up into the back of the trucks holding the goods and people swarmed them. The sight honestly reminded me of refugees receiving supplies from the UN or something like that with people frantically waving their numbers and pushing to the front of the line.

If you want your goody bag, you will have to fight. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see a variety of food vendors. Since it was still early, most of the vendors sold soup or other small bites. Still, it didn't stop many of them from firing up an all out barbecue. I sampled some meat kebabs and some sausage though I was disappointed because I had eaten breakfast and I hadn't yet worked up an appetite!

All in all the event was a lot of fun. I found it amusing because I saw nearly every single person I had met since coming to Moshi. I don't think there are a lot of big events so people made sure to come out and make the best of it. I also enjoyed the fact that the event took place in the early morning; it felt like a jam packed day and I was home by around noon to enjoy the rest of my Sunday. Who knows, maybe next year I'll try the full marathon?

After finishing a long run, who doesn't want a gigantic slab of beef? 

Delicious food at an affordable price. 

The cook using his "big knife" to cut through a piece of pork. 

Restaurant review: Uhuru Park

One of our favorite places to eat is a park in town called Uhuru (Swahili for freedom) Park. It's located just outside the center of town near the bus park and is tucked nicely into a park-like environment. There is a small park on one side of the property but you have to pay a fee to walk in it and there's no much to see. I think you can literally view the whole park from the edge of the eating area and there's not even any benches in the shade on the walking trail. Still, the environment makes you feel like you're not quite in a city and seating area is nicely shaded and breezy.

We love to go on a Sunday afternoon and enjoy fish, pilau, or any other local dish. There are mainly locals enjoying food or a beverage. Several small food vendors are situated so they make an "L" shape around the seating area and waiters take your order and fill them at whichever vendor has the food you request. Food is all local and although it's slightly more expensive than an extremely local side-of-the-road place, it's not exorbitantly priced like local food served at western restaurants. It's worth it for the nice environment and quality of the food.  It's the kind of place I would take a visitor that wants to try local food but doesn't want to eat in the most rundown questionably sanitary environment. If you're thinking about a visit, I will most certainly take you to Uhuru Park !

Ana enjoying a fresh mango/passion fruit juice. 

They have ample seating with shade. 

The food vendors form an L shape around half the seating area. 

Fish, chips, and greens!

Moving: New House I

UPDATE: I have moved in March 2015, see blog post here

We've moved to a new location! After four months we've been able to find an affordable and comfortable place to rent. It's a huge upgrade from our old place, mainly due to the fact that we are not living in such a shared space. It is also nice that all our rooms are adjoining, something that was absent in our old place. It's only after moving to a house with more space that I realize how cramped we were in our old location!

The house came fully furnished, which is a huge plus. We also negotiated with the landlord to install a water tank to address frequent water cuts. The place is spacious and I love having an area to eat outside and a large sitting room inside. You can actually see Mt. Kilimanjaro from our front yard! Well, you have to be standing to see over the wall surrounding our compound, but you can see it nonetheless. We also have a passion fruit vine in the front yard and small mango tree in the back.

The new house is actually too big for us; we have an extra bedroom and another small room that is unused. We've discussed renting out one of the rooms but as long as we can afford it we prefer to live without a roommate. Also, it will be nice if we have some visitors; they will have a very comfortable space to stay!

Front yard!

The major drawback for me is the increased distance from my workplace but this was addressed by the recent purchase of the motorcycle. It's closer to Ana's job (see my google map for more precision) which is in the same neighborhood called Soweto. We're very close to the main road but not so close that we have too much noise pollution from the traffic.

There are a few small things that make this place a great place to stay. First, the aforementioned water tank is huge; living without electricity is no problem but no water? No way. Second, the bed is very comfortable. It's common here for people to have relatively cheap foam mattresses and the one at our old place would create a mold wherever you lay and often you could feel the wooden beams below. The mattress here is excellent! Also, the house has screens in all the windows; this is very rare in developing countries. I can thank our landlord (who is German) for putting them up allowing us to enjoy the breeze without a torrent of mosquitoes.

Visitors are welcome!

Main sitting room. 

Dining area. 

Main bedroom with a comfortable mattress.

Best part about the bathroom is that when you shower, you basically clean the bathroom! 

Food: Mangoes

The best piece of advice I can give a traveler planning a trip to a tropical country is if at all possible, make sure your trip is during mango season. This typically falls just before the rainy season and mangoes are so abundant they are literally rotting on the ground. They come as small as the size of a small orange, and some are larger than a grapefruit. If you are unfamiliar with eating them they can be a bit messy at first, but well worth it.

Mango trees provide shade to villagers in Uganda. 

Mangoes are native to India and Southeast Asia. There are a myriad of varieties and trees can be 120+ ft tall, or short stout trees providing shade.  Cultivars have the colors of yellow, orange, red or green, and contain a single flat, oblong pit that is often fibrous on the surface. Don't be fooled by attempting to judge the ripeness of mango by the color as they can often be unrelated. The pulp can range from stringy to extremely tender. For stringy mangoes you can't always be carrying floss, so people often use a handkerchief to pull the pulp out from between teeth.

Nice mango cross-section. 

Where I'm from we only import mangoes, so I'd only seen maybe two or three varieties before moving to the tropics. In fact, the variety "Tommy Atkins" is the most imported variety not due to it's taste, rather it's long shelf life and resistance to picking up bruises during shipping. It's widely acknowledged to be an "average" variety when judged on the merits of its taste, but the other factors have a greater influence on which mangoes reach supermarkets in the US and UK (Tommy Atkins comprise 80% of mango imports in the US and UK). Needless to say, I was astounded when I first encountered mangoes in the tropics. There were varieties that were sweet, creamy, tart; some were even spicy. Mango trees are ubiquitous in most tropical countries and readily available during the few months when they are ripe. As mentioned earlier, they literally rot on the ground as not even the most ardent mango consumer can keep up with the biggest trees.

Bats, birds and other animals also share the taste for mangoes. Although they are best when ripened on the tree, they can be picked (usually by throwing stones or using a long stick with a v-shaped notch on the end) and ripened off the tree. There are also worms that love to eat mangoes and people will often complain when a tree is infested. In Jamaica they told me not to mind and that's why it's always best to "eat mangoes at night". However, not everyone likes to eat mangoes at night, which leads to a booming market for mangoes, especially the varieties that are sweet, tender, and worm-free.

Mangoes can be eaten with out a knife, something that can't be said for other delicious tropical fruits like the pineapple and jackfruit. If you're going to get down and dirty, you've still gotta be careful to avoid the sap from the tree; mangoes belong to the same family as poison ivy. Like poison ivy (and poison oak) mangoes contain urushiol, an oily allergen that causes the painful reaction that you've hopefully never experienced first hand. Some mangoes have an entirely different method for consumption; some are good to pound in your fist and soften, then open a small patch of skin to drink like a juice.

One of the most interesting things with mangoes it the way it sharply defines the lower-income class. I've observed that the lower-income class never purchases mangoes and find it extravagant to buy something that is available for free. I assume most of you would reach for your wallet if I asked you if you'd like a free stringy mango that doesn't have much taste, or pay 50 cents and have a sweet and tender mango. I am ashamed to say it, but I am a bit of a mango snob these days. I wouldn't consider myself a spendthrift but as a result of not having a mango tree in my yard and having some years of mango experience, I want to make sure I'm getting a delicious mango and find that most yard varieties are too stringy. Even still, a stringy mango can still make some delicious mango juice!