The Rufiji River

Walking to the water.

The Rufiji River is 600 kilometres (370 mi) long, fed by the Kilombero and Ruaha Rivers. It's the largest river in Tanzania and signifcant portions run through protected areas, most notably Selous Game Reserve and the newly established Nyerere National Park. We took a work trip out there and had a fantastic time poking around the river and understanding the landscape. We were maybe 100km from the ocean but the river was already quite wide with numerous tributaries, islands, and other seasonally flooded areas. I was surprised as farmers put crops in the sand either on the shore or other parts of the riverbed. There are nutrient rich bushy areas before you reach the sand, and finally the water.

Hippos and crocodiles are in the area though local residents told us hippo numbers are reducing due to poaching. It was very unclear how we could cross the river but we eventually got someone to show us the crossing. There are a few community-owned boats that are communally used among community members. Apparently the going rate is 200tsh per person if it's in a big boat and 1,000tsh per person if it's chartered and anyone can offer this service. We thought we'd find a regularly run type of local ferry service but the system was far more informal than I expected. It also appeared to be a BYOP (bring your own paddle). When we successfully crossed to the the other side of the river, our guy stashed his paddle in a bush. It was a good move. When we came back our big boat was gone and what remained was a small boat a quarter full of water, with more seeping in every second. We heard a voice from around the bed and though we were in luck. Alas, an even more precarious boat came around the bend...

Yeah, I think I'll pass on the lift in that dudes boat.

Our guy took the paddle out of the bush, bailed the boat, and went to pick up the larger one. We waited in the shade and sure enough he came back with the larger boat. The larger boat was quite sturdy, seemed to leak at an acceptable rate, and held six of us with room to spare. The paddler had a long stick to push through shallow water gondola style and a small paddle for open water. We passed a group of hippos and a crocodile basking in the sun, so it's safe to say we were all carefully examining the river-worthiness of the carved out log. Although I wish the paddler had a larger paddle (or even two, canoe style?) the boat was sturdy. We all held our breath when we got temporarily beached on a sandbar. Stepping out of the boat to dislodge the boat in crocodile infested waters is not recommended but sometimes necessary. After a small push we were off.

It was a lot of fun to explore the river and cross over to see the temporary farming and grazing camps. People are living rough with small solar panels and basic houses. Many will only farm temporarily and frequently cross the river to go to town but it still must be rough. People were friendly and welcoming though notably surprised to see us!

Turtle on the loose

Larger and smaller boat. The guy had a long pole, it was just like Venice.

This is what a house off the grid looks like.

These two mamas were weaving mats and baskets.

Member from the Sukuma tribe with his cattle going for water. I was hoping to see some carnage with a crocodile but alas, there was none.

Community protected area bridge

Still quite a bit of water in the river.

Last weekend we drove through the community protected area (WMA) bordering Ruaha National Park for the first time since the rainy season (Previous Trips I and II). We are planning to do some work next month in that area but we are pretty much the only people that access a large area of the WMA. We wanted to survey the condition of the roads as well as check out the water levels of the rivers.

The journey was somewhat uneventful; we did get stuck in a sand river as well as stuck in a rocky gully. The roads weren't too terrible but one of the places we really wanted to reach was not passable due to a washed out bridge (see photos below). We need the water to recede a bit more in order to perhaps cross the sand. It might require some work on the riverbanks but I'm confident we can make it to the other side!

A few years ago....

That bridge is gone...

Dodoma city

While I"ve visited Dodoma several times before I had never spent more than a night. However, this last week I found myself marooned there as I had a meeting on Friday delayed until the following Monday. It didn't make sense to make the four hour drive back to Iringa so I decided to spend the weekend.

What I didn't know is that Dodoma was holding a large political rally over the weekend and everywhere was booked. I should have gotten a clue when on Thursday evening I asked the hotel if they had occupancy and they told me yes, but they wouldn't have for the rest of the weekend because someone booked the entire place. I found that to be a little strange but shrugged it off. It was only on Friday after I decided to stay that I realized the magnitude of the problem.

I drove around Dodoma for 2 1/2 hours checking every single accommodation option possible. Dodoma, and Tanzania in general, isn't quite up to the AirBnB or standard internet search/booking standards so much of the work still must be done on foot. I checked guesthouses and hotels ranging from $5 a night to $100 a night, with internet presence and on foot. What I found was that seriously, everywhere was booked. I even drove about 20km outside of the city but the clusters of guesthouses I found were booked. I was about to give up and go back to Iringa when a place inside the city had a room. It wasn't much but I was relieved to have gotten a place and settled in.

I spent Saturday and Sunday mainly strolling around, still wearing my mask for C-19 precautions but only spotting a few others doing the same throughout the weekend. Since I was staying downtown it was easy to walk around and check out all the wholesale shops and frantic business. I also had to get some clothes since I had come with literally no suitcase or extra clothes. I found myself one day in Market Saba Saba, a quite lively place with a mix of different types of sales. I initially tried to buy a t-shirt at a "bale auction" whereby sellers rip open bales of freshly imported second hand clothes and frantically auction them off in front of an enthusiastic crowd. I spoke with some buyers, most of whom were weeding through the bales to get good deals to sell at their larger stalls. Some people were like myself, just looking for a cheap shirt. After 15 or so minutes I did not see anything I liked (it appeared the bales were coming from a female dominated household) so I moved on and bought some underwear and a shirt from a more formal stall.

The rest of my time was quite uneventful and unlike Dar es Salaam and Arusha, Dodoma lacks cosmopolitan restaurants and hang outs though the numerous local spots are quite nice to chill at. They are just slight variations of each other, mainly outdoor bars with grilled meat and cold beer available. I'm sure there are some nice spots that I'm just not hip or privy to.

One the thing I enjoy about Tanzania is that people are quite friendly. Since I was in a "no hurry to get anywhere" mood I engaged in conversations with all kinds of people. I'm always so curious about the life story and business models of the various businesses and hustles of Tanzania but Tanzanian culture is not one that invites direct questioning. So in order to get answers one must establish some familiarity and then construct an indirect way of teasing out these questions. I spoke with fruit vendors, wholesalers of massive plastic drums, clothes sellers, and a variety of others. My other highlight was probably having the Tanzanian football league finish on Saturday night. The streets were rowdy and shouts and screams were heard when players scored. I saw a man run down the street with his shirt off like a maniac. I took a short video (below) of a procession that occurred after the game.

The hustler making customized mud flaps for motorcycles. These are very popular in Tanzania with either a god-fearing or cheeky phrase tacked on the back of a bike.

This guy has an ingenious way to beat the ink cartridge cartel.

Parking like this is acceptable. Sometimes ya gotta think outside the box, or, lane.