Flora and Fauna: Acacia–Commiphora bushlands and thickets

 

Sunset over the wooded grassland.

The dry season here can be extremely harsh. The habitat is commonly referred to as Acacia–Commiphora bushlands and thicket. Species of Acacia and Commiphora dominate the landscape and although they vary, words that come to mind describing the habitat are words like, "robust, harsh, tough, and gnarly". The dry season forces trees to adapt and they do not just adapt to the weather. Elephants and other wildlife frequently consume the bark and even the trunks of trees in a search for moisture. Most of the species are very slow growing, full of thorns or spines, and are generally unfriendly! 

I have personally grown to love the environment though in the dry season one must start and finish excursions early in the day. In stark contrast to the rainy season, where there are critters everywhere, vast areas in the dry season can appear completely lifeless. Still, if you keep your eyes peeled you can see some pretty cool stuff.  It's exciting to find new plants, insects and other flora and fauna that have adapted to flowering, breeding, or other activities during the harshest time of the year.

Wooded grassland, these trees are neither Acacia nor Commiphoras but you can see the have similar features.

A burned grassland in a commiphora woodland.

This is one of my favorite flowering trees, Sesamothamnus busseanus. It flowers in the dry season and these white flowers stand out. 

Commiphora woodland. They are very slow growing trees.

Acacia trees on a dried riverbank.

Local fruit

I've written about it before(one and two) but I absolutely love the ability to buy fruit and other foods on the street here in Tanzania. It's cheap, cut to eat, and there is often a decent variety available. I recently found myself in a village for a week and enjoyed the local services. 

Apart from the actual consumption, I enjoy the vibe at the fruit stand as well. I usually take a seat and eat a few oranges, maybe a piece of pineapple. It's nice to chat with the fruit vendors as well as the customers that come for a piece. Although there are a fair amount of processed food and candies, I appreciate the fact that the working class and average person will still prefer to purchase a fresh piece of fruit. It's also great that it is affordable making the decision easier.

Piece of roasted corn 500tsh (21 cents). A piece of roasted corn is a popular

Loaded fruit stand.

Each slice is 200 tsh (8.6 cents)

A quarter is 2500 tsh ($1.07) and a half chicken is 5000 tsh ($2.14)

200 tsh (8.6 cents)

Nyerere National Park

Lakes are like an oasis.

Nyerere National Park is one of Tanzania's newest national parks. It consists of land that was formerly gazetted as Selous Game Reserve (SGR). Most of SGR was designated for hunting but the northern part around the Rufiji River (Matambwe sector) was designated for tourism. It remains the best area for tourism in Nyerere National Park due to the Rufiji River and a set of lakes that are scattered around the wide river. 

The story behind why the national park was gazetted from SGR is an interesting one that I encourage you to research independently. 

We had a really nice game drive seeing plenty of impala, kudu and giraffe. We had a great sighting of elephant cooling off in a lake as well as a nice herd of buffalo. We did manage to see a pair of lions which was nice though after about an hour there were too many cars for my taste. When we arrived there was only one other car but by the time we left word had spread and there were more than 10. 

The landscape was dry and the grasses had mostly been eaten or burned. This made the lakes and river even more stunning and the roads were in decent shape. I imagine in the rainy season the majority of the shoreline drives would be impossible in the black cotton soil.  

Another lake.

Ruaha National Park in August

 

Group of lions with the sun setting in the background.

 

This past month I had some fantastic trips in Ruaha National Park (RNP). Tourism has really picked up and the number of vehicles and lodge occupancy is almost back to pre-covid times. RNP is already one of the lesser visited parks in Tanzania and during covid the numbers plummeted dramatically. I suppose we got a little spoiled having the park nearly empty but obviously it is good for tourists to have returned and pump some money into the national parks. 

The park is already very dry with very little flowing water in the Ruaha River and the Mwagusi only harboring some small pools of water. In most of the area around the Mwagusi River the grasses have been consumed and game-viewing is easier. Although the wildlife density is low relative to other places in Tanzania, the Ruaha "vibe" is in full force.

Two impala with a "Sausage Tree" (Kigelia africana) and palms as a backdrop.

The Mwagusi River, dried.

Maps of tribes in Tanzania

I have no idea what the source is for this map but it is one of those files that has been floating from computer to computer as I've lived in Tanzania. The richness of tribes in Tanzania is especially interesting due to the low infighting and tribalism exhibited by the tribes. Many Tanzanians credit Julius Nyerere's nationalistic focus and support of a "one Tanzania" which can be contrasted with Kenya's extreme and sometimes violent ethnic divides.

While these maps are interesting, one can't fully appreciate the richness of the tribes until you start to move about and travel to different areas of Tanzania. When I first moved to Kilimanjaro I frequently interacted with Chagga, Maasai, and Pare. But when I moved to Iringa the variety of tribes seemed to increase. Although the area is dominated by Hehe there are plenty of Maasai, Gogo, Bena, Nyakyusa, Barabaig, and Mbulu just to name a few. There is so much culture and I am grateful that Tanzania has a relatively nurturing environment for retaining deep cultural histories and values without provoking tribalism.

I've always found historical maps like this fascinating.

(Source: Lindemann and Putzel, unpublished paper)

Dry season vibes

Checking out a raptor in the distance.

The dry season can be harsh due to the heat but there can also be some upsides. Due to the lack of vegetation it is much safer to walk due to increased visibility. This allows us to do much more bush-walking than in the rainy season though we still have to keep our eyes out for straggling herbivores. It's not entirely uncommon to come across an dehydrated and agitated buffalo or hippo so we still have to be extremely alert and duly note all the wildlife tracks and signs. 

We have some areas that we love to walk in, in particular an area along a river. It has varying levels of water at this point in the year but it's a fantastic spot to walk. Although it is dry we are technically in our "cool" season so it's kind of a sweet spot for hiking. We took this hike in the early afternoon which is something we would not do in the peak dry season. For whatever reason (I can't claim to understand the patterns) there were also no tsetse flies in this area at the moment making the hike even more enjoyable!

We saw a few kudu and enjoyed listening to some elephants across the river. We were careful to not get too close to them while still enjoying their presence, which is a fine line!

A nice little elevated point gives a nice vista. 

This photo is only a kilometer or two from the first photo which demonstrates how quickly the river dries.

 

Transition to dry season

 

Walk in the woods

After two very wet years, this years rains were way below average. Something strange happened with the weather whereby the late rains were later and heavier and/or the normal rainy season was earlier and shorter. This resulted in above average rains in January and February with rains nearly completely subsiding by March with a few showers in April. As a result the onset of the dry season has been earlier than usual.

The transition from rainy to dry season is a slow and creeping transition. The rainy days less frequent changing from raining every day, then every few days, to finally having a week or two pass before it rains. A sporadic rain will then be welcome but then there is always a day where one realizes that it is not going to rain for another six months! Evidence is usually through the drying of leaves or the lack of germinating grasses and shrubs. Intermittent influxes of termites and other insects become less frequent and the oranges and brown overtake any green and yellows.

The rainy and dry season are so long that the transition times feel like they pass so quickly. A few weeks of sunshine with the absence of rain will sap all the remaining moisture from the air and ground. It will signal all the flora and fauna to pack it in and hold on tight until the rains come again!

Sometimes it reminds me of the fall colors in North America.