An eulogy for Landcruiser Nyekundu

 

From Kagera down to Mbeya...

 

It's time to say goodbye to our trusted vehicle, a short wheel base Landcruiser from 1990. We bought the car back in May 2015 when we lived in Moshi and it has served us well over the years. Affectionality called, "Nyekundu", which is Swahili for the color 'red'. Creative, I know, but unfortunately it got its nickname from the traffic police repeatedly identifying the unique color of the car.

The vehicles was manufactured in 1990 and as far as we can tell, it began its life in Tanzania at a coffee estate for several years in the early 2000s. After this it was sold to someone working a desk job in Moshi, who would turn out to be Ana's co-worker. When this person wanted to leave Tanzania we jumped on the offer to buy the vehicle. I remember very clearly that we took a trip down south via bus and it was filled with trials and tribulations and thus motivated us to purchase a vehicle. We struggled to find a vehicle that suited our needs as we wanted one with serious off-road capabilities but not unnecessarily large. There were some smaller cars like RAV4s and Suzuki Escudos but we ultimately felt like we wanted something with more power. The problem was that most of the Landcruisers and Land Rovers were retired safari vehicles and thus far too large for our needs. So we were extremely excited when Ana's co-worker told us the vehicle was for sale and jumped on the offer immediately.

We immediately put the vehicle to the test and quickly realized the four wheel drive was broken. This would be the beginning of an extended lesson in vehicle maintenance. I had never owned a vehicle before and a decades old manual diesel Landcruiser was certainly an interesting first vehicle. I went from barely knowing how to check the oil to being able to troubleshoot almost every issue imaginable.  One of the funniest moments was the seat debacle, I'd suggest you read the entire blog post.

Broken cross joint, clogged injector pump, busted propeller shaft, broken four wheel drive, road blocks, runaway vehicles in the market, and changing tires with a tiny jack are just a FEW of the issues...

Despite the challenges, the vehicle served its purpose. We've had some amazing trips with the car and put over 80,000km (50,000 miles) on it. It has climbed some seriously muddy and inclined hills while also navigating through some flooded areas. The most intense situation was probably when we had to go through a crazy flash flood risking flooding the engine due to a lack of snorkel. I loved the height of the car giving it very comfortable clearance through the most serious off road adventures. 

I've never been someone that's been really into vehicles but I will admit that once I got some experience with Nyekundu, it felt like I could go anywhere. It was painful to realize that we were not spending enough time in the areas that justified such a vehicle. We've since "downgraded" to a RAV4 but we'll still remember all the great times with Nyekundu.

New camp

 

View at the river

 

The first few weeks at our new camp in Pwani Region have overall been nice. We have a small piece of property near to the river. South of the property there is a small bluff and then about 100m of low-laying land next to the river. We would have liked to be right on the river but the area below us is vulnerable to flooding and seasonally farmed. The area we have has a very narrow patch of riverine forest, as well as a degraded mosaic woodland. I haven't been able to identify most of the trees but there are a few acacias, miombos, and possibly some coastal forest species that I am unfamiliar with. 

We are located just outside a village and very near (possibly too near) to the main road. I suppose it is a trade off of being close to the river and although the road noises can be annoying, it is not an incredibly high traffic area. The area is not extremely developed though one can still hear the call to prayer from the mosque or the young guys playing football in the evening. There is also a byzantine network of trails leading from the main road and village to the river. Local people are farming on both sides of the river and thus there is a lot of commuting (a story for an entirely other blog post!). 

The proximity to the river means we have a lot of wildlife in the area. We have an African Civet latrine in the back of our banda and we're kept awake at night by the screeching of the Brown Greater Galago as they scrap for territory. We've seen tracks and signs of waterbuck, dikdik, bushpig, and we've heard hyenas calling at night. During the day there are baboons and monkeys that come and try to steal our water and food. I've fortunately (or unfortunately) lived with primates before so I know how they can be a pain in the butt. The smaller Blue Monkeys don't seem to be interested in our wares but the baboons in the area are absolutely menacing. They have smashed our liquid soap, tore apart of laundry detergent, stole our bathing cup (?!) and tipped over our jugs of water. There is usually a group of around 10 of them and thus we have to be on guard to ward them off. It can be challenging living with wildlife for sure and I can only imagine if I had crops to protect. 

The most memorable incident was one night there was a rustling noise outside of our banda and I thought it may have been an ungulate. I grabbed the head torch and went slinking in pursuit. I had the torch aimed low to the ground and when I scanned the area 3m/10ft in front of me, I saw the silhouettes and eye shine of at least three elephants. I immediately turned around and ran back to the banda, likely not breathing until I reached inside. We listened to them walk cautiously through our camp as the moved with a hurried pace. They went out across the main road and then a few minutes later we heard someone in the distance shouting and banging sticks together. Must be the elephants!

Although I am an avid naturalist, one of the more shocking discoveries is both the volume and variety of spiders. In the first week we saw around 10 different species at our banda alone! There aren't even a ton of other insects around as it's the height of dry season though I suppose the proximity to the water will always keep this area full of life. We've enjoyed the bird life as well with several species of Bee-eaters, including the spectacular White-fronted Bee-eater and Bohms Bee-eater. Overall the wildlife is plentiful and an interesting variety of flora and fauna.

It's been a challenging few weeks because we've had to organize all the finishing pieces of the camp and thus haven't been able to really settle in. The first trip we came down with a fridge, stove, mattress, and food. We quickly realized we needed cookware, storage containers, bedframes, tables, chairs, and various other items which required the 5 hour drive to Dar es Salaam. We had a solar power system installed but had to wire the camp as well as hand drill for water. We're in a good spot with the camp and hopefully we'll have more time to relax and settle in.

Local lake walk

Checking out some African openbill storks.

There are a few lakes nearby that we've eyed for exploration. We had some time this weekend to get out early to a lake about a half hour away. It took us about two hours to walk around the entire lake at a slow birdwatching pace. The lake was used by local people harvesting worms for fishing as well as fishing both from the shore and in small canoes. It was not crowded by any stretch of the imagination, I think we saw around five or so people throughout the entire walk. 

We enjoyed the birdlife with a variety of waders and other waterbirds present. The early hours were really pleasant but as the sun got higher the heat became oppressive. The last quarter of the walk was at a much more hurried pace than the beginning!

Catching some shade.

Flying from Iringa to Dar es Salaam

Boarding the plane in Iringa

 

There is currently only one airline servicing Iringa to Dar es Salaam and it's a small 13 seat plane that flies only once per day. The low demand and low volume of seats results in a relatively high ticket price. To put in relative terms, the bus ride from Iringa to Dar es Salaam takes 10-12 hours and costs 28,000 tsh ($11) and the flight costs 556,000 tsh ($222), literally 20 times the price of the bus. This has not stopped the volume of passengers to increase as the flights were previously only offered 2 or 3 times a week and on some days there are even two flights. 

The service is relatively reliable and for those that can afford it, a massive savings of time. The Iringa airport is very close to town and it only takes about an hour and twenty minutes to reach Dar es Salaam. However, sometimes the airline company makes stops in smaller airstrips along the way. Passengers are not alerted until they arrive at the airport. The most common stop is Ifakara, a sleepy airstrip that services a massive sugar cane plantation. This only adds a half hour or so to the journey but in the rainy season the dirty airstrip can be harrowing. I've also had a stop in the much further town of Songea which added an additional hour or so but I believe it is relatively rare. Still, if one has a very short connection time or needs the flight to be punctual, I highly recommend calling the office the day before the flight to ensure there are not additional stops. 

The views on the flight are beautiful, especially in the area surrounding Iringa. There is some nice topography that can be admired from above with clouds hugging the tall hills and rivers carving out the landscape. A fair amount of the flight is spent at lower altitudes and thus if it's not too cloud you can get some exclusive views over some still wild areas of Tanzania.

Beautiful views coming into Iringa

Airstrip in Ifakara

Southern highlands