River and waterfall hike

Thinking about a swim

As a result of being in the middle of a massive landscape, the diversity of habitats is far less than what we were used to in the north. We're smack in the middle of a relatively homogeneous landscape and finding weekend day trips has proved to be a challenge. This is compounded by the fact that we both spend a lot of time in the field so having to get in the car to explore on the weekends isn't always the most attractive option. Still, we're new to the area so we're constantly hearing of cool spots to check out, one of which we visited this past weekend. 

There are numerous rivers in the area though many are dry or have disappearing pools of water. However, some of our “neighbors” (about 15km away) told us of a waterfall they heard about so we decided to try to check it out. 

We'd received some very local directions with various natural landmarks (trees, farms, etc) and we made our way along a river climbing slowly as we approached the hills to the south. The road eventually turned into a footpath and we parked the car and walked the remaining way to a waterfall. 

I was actually pretty impressed with the flow of water given how dry it is but others in our party felt that attributing "waterfall" to the flow of water was unjustified. It was enough for me to jump in for a swim and the water was refreshing, bordering on being too cold! After a quick swim we decided to climb up the river, which was quite the adventure. It was somewhere between proper rock climbing and a boulder scramble. We climbed for about an hour and saw some impressive fissures of rock, beautiful views of the hills, and the highlight was probably finding the skull and horns of a kudu. 

The river and waterfall were very cool and we hope to return to hike a bit more along the river downstream. Although the area is heavily impacted by humans, there is still a nice little strip of trees along the river that provide shade and good habitat for wildlife, even during the peak heat of the day. And who knows, maybe some day we'll have the energy to climb up to the source of the river?

Checking out the river

A decent few of the landscape

Walking along relatively flat section of rock

Camp activities: Evening walk

Walking through a commiphora woodland with the sunset

One of the things I love the most about our new home is the ease of taking a walk. It was one of the drawback of living in the city of Moshi; finding a natural place nearby to go for a walk required a significant drive in the car, which is less than ideal.

Luckily we're now surrounded by open bush and going on a walk is literally as easy as walking out of our banda. We try to go on a walk every evening from around 5pm until the sunset around 630pm. Our camp is surrounded by a mosaic of habitats so we've got acacia and commiphora with some farm land mixed in. One benefit of having cows and goats grazing around is that there are numerous trails that create a network of trails ripe for exploration and variety.

We've found a few different circuits that we like to walk depending on the amount of time we have and our mood. We often bird watch and the recent purchase of a tree identification book has reduced the distance we travel as we spend every few steps identifying a new tree species. We take note of all the different flowering patterns and we are pleasantly surprised at the amount of wildlife around even though it's so dry.

It's great to get out of camp each day and get some exercise. We can't wait for the rainy season and bird migration as I'm sure the landscape changes dramatically. It's a real treat to get out in nature and we're feeling more and more connected to the natural environment every day noticing subtle changes in the flowering plants and presence of animals.

Mixed acacia

Land cleared for agriculture 

Climbing a baobab. Some locals put in pegs to climb and raid the honey of bees. 

Overgrazed area nearby in the morning light

Neighboring lodge and views of the landscape

Our camp is located somewhere in the vast expanse of land

As a result of us being so close to Ruaha National Park, we have a few lodges and campsites in the area. One of them is built up on a hill and has a great view of the landscape that we live in. I actually didn't think we were THAT isolated and remote until I saw the view of our surroundings. But after seeing the view I was kinda like, hm, we are in the middle of nowhere. 

The lodges can be a cool place to get a drink and relax (especially after a park trip) though the staff have been over-trained in customer service and can be a bit uncomfortable to deal with at times. Even though they know that we are normal people and their neighbors, they can't help but to be overly polite which borders on subservience. It's like they've received a training in how to welcome the customers, how to order drinks, how to explain the landscape, etc, and they can't stray from the script no matter what. There is a bit of irony in it though as most of Tanzania has not existent customer service so I suppose if you are a hotel manager you've got to find a way to deliver services in a way that most tourists will like, and I suppose we're in the minority of people that just want a cold drink and to be left alone. 

The place is about a 1/2 hour away so it's in reasonable distance to just chill out if we need to get away from camp and it's probably a fantastic place to take in the sunset (though we haven't yet). And, if you don't fancy staying in the bush, you can always stay here if you decide to visit!

A view looking towards Ruaha

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!

We'll be living in the bush on the border of Ruaha National Park (yellow/red dot in the middle

View from our backyard. 

In the dry season we get beautiful sunsets every night.