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.