Amani Peace Amani

After my 7.5 hour drive yesterday to Seronera (by myself) I have finally named my car, Amani Peace Amani. The license is T 664 APA so people here in Serengeti refer to their cars by the letters, as I said, mine is APA which I decided in long form is Amani Peace Amani (Amani means peace in Swahili). I decided on this mostly because my ride went fairly smooth and without a hitch. There was twice I had to engage diff lock and go off road around two loris that had become stuck in the mud in the middle of the road. After doing this the first time my car started making clunking noises that got me worried, but I made it here and my car is now in the garage. I also lost a windshield wiper during the downpour (see picture), but considering what could have happened things went really well (hopefully I'm not jinxing myself for the rest of the trip). Here are some pictures:
Giraffe
Armageddon, as I was driving the last hour and a half I saw a storm in front of me and it was the most ominous thing I had ever seen. I saw only one other car as I was driving strait for what was obviously a torrential downpour.

All's quiet on the blogging front

Hello all,
Reporting here, all alone, from the Arusha house. I've been quite these past few days sorry. I've been busy getting my manager questionnaire finished and starting my interviews. I've talked to two and a half companies (don't ask about the half), one of which I didn't think I'd be able to talk to (they are very secretive). I have plans for two others and I plan on heading out to Serengeti on Tuesday to talk to 4 other area managers. Oh, I also spent a day in the garage getting the car fixed up after my trip to the NCA. Yes, almost a full day, but the car works better now. I'll go back to the garage tomorrow and just check on everything before my long drive to Serengeti.

Pictures in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are

Except in this picture, yet another one from my time in the crater last Wednesday. In this picture the lions were closer than they appear. One lion pride decided that our car offered great shade and 7 grown lions descended on our car. Ifura (another lion researcher) was able to touch the back of one of the lions and another lion’s tail hit the rear view mirror. With 3 females lying on my side of the car, trying to eek out an ounce of shade I rolled up my window. Good thing, because one of the males walked over and looked right in my window (nose basically touching the window and he was tall enough that he could look straight in the land rover!). I don’t have a picture though; I was too busy leaping into the lap of Dennis on the other side of the car. Somehow a windowpane is not thick enough for comfort when a male lion is staring right at you.

Ngorongoro crater

So the purpose of our crazy scary drive yesterday (see next blog) was spend a day in the Ngorongoro crater. I was with yet another Lion researcher and thus our day was mostly filled with searching for lions on and off road. We saw 42 lions (about half of the total crater population) and I’ve tried to spare you from more same old same old lion pictures ;) and just post the really cute ones.

This is the oldest lion alive in the crater (and older than any of the lions in the Serengeti research area). She is 18 years old and at first Dennis Ikanda (the lion researcher) though she was dying because she looks so thin. But, the entire pride was thin, they probably had not eaten in about 5 days and as long as they catch something soon she should be fine.

Here are some other pictures from the crater:

This is a picture from atop a large hill in the middle of the crater. To get there we put my car in diff lock, kept it in first gear, and drove basically straight up a 65% grade. Kind of freaky, but the view was worth it.

This is a baby Thompson’s gazelle, probably born that day. They are hiders, meaning the young lay flat down like this and do not move when there is danger. We also saw a baby wildebeest with its umbilical cord still attached trying to learn how to walk, but no picture of that one.

Here are three black rhinos, very exciting for me since I have not seen a rhino since my trip to the crater in 1999. They are rare and it was a treat to see them. Despite the fact we were off road we stayed a good distance from the rhinos (so we did not disturb them), hence their small size in the picture. However, this is better than with my 400x zoom lens picture from 1999 where the rhino is literally a dot on the horizon.
Here is a female ostrich. I realized I do not have that many (or maybe any) ostrich pictures because they are so common and usually run away so thought I better start working on my ostrich collection.

Frightful drive back from the NCA

To get to the crater and back in a day required us leaving the house at 4 am. The drive there was not bad, Dennis Ikanda (a Tanzanian lion researcher) drove and I got to sleep most of the way. Dennis also drove us all around the crater all day so once we got to the NCA gate on our way home I took over driving. Now at first things were fine, but it started to get dark and I started to get pretty tired. If you were reading my blog last June you might remember another drive in the darkness story where I tried to explain how freaky it is here. During that drive though, I was within city limits and not exhausted. This time however we were out in the rural country. Imagine one-lane each way, no median, no shoulder, no street lights, no reflective guard rails, people and animals on the sides and middle of the road. I’m driving a land rover, which is not an easy car to drive. You can move your hands, while holding the wheel, from 2 to almost 4 o’clock and still not cause the car to swerve. The last 3.5 hours getting home were on roads with potholes large enough that you get a sufficient thump if you hit them (and I worry about the shocks and tires). The light on the dash board for the bright lights is so bright that it almost blinds you, definitely ruining your night vision. This was not a problem the entire time because my brights went out about halfway through the 5 hour trip (we had to take an hour and a half detour to take someone home). So, I’m driving on these lovely roads, I’m tired, my brights aren’t working, I can’t see well anyway because of the light on the dash board, I’m trying not to hit the potholes, there are people and animals to watch out for and there are loris (TZ semis) coming towards me with their brights on. Twice the lori did not switch to the low beams and I almost ran off the road. I was further frightened by Dennis tell us that the lori drivers are often drunk and/or sleeping (which frankly I believe after last night) and so I always would start flashing my lights at them from a safe distance to get them to respond with a flash back so I was sure they were awake, all the while slowing down and preparing myself to go down the embankment should they not give me enough room to pass (which many only barely do because they drive in the middle of the road). Dennis took over driving with about an hour left, which was nice other than he drives faster than me (I was only doing like 45 mph the entire time) and I was still worried that a lori was going to hit us. On top of it all, this car passed me, then slowed down and stopped, I was worried there was a reason (like someone in the road, a car in the road, etc, all possibilities). As I slowed down Dennis says “don’t slow down, don’t slow down, keep driving, there are bandits on this road, don’t stop”. Now yes, there have been bandits on the road, but not often, but it just added to my anxiety. I mean if I didn’t get run off the road by a lori I was worried I’d hit a pothole, pop a tire and have to change a tire all the while hoping someone didn’t run us over or stop and mug us. I can be so frank now because I’m fine, but I really was pretty scared for the first time in this country and I will not be driving outside city limits at night again!

Mambo

This is our dog, mambo (which is a greeting in Swahili). We actually adopted him in December during my last trip, well rather he adopted us. Apparently while Dennis and I were in the field the dog started to hang around and Susan fed him. When she left Mambo was sort of kicked out, but did not go very far. When Dennis, Craig and I returned home from Serengeti he was lying outside our gate. Try as we might, we could not convince mambo that he was not wanted (Craig hates dogs, and Tanzanian dogs are often dirty and annoying). After determining that he did not belong to anyone around us we overruled Craig and adopted him. He is quite friendly and does not bark too much, except when Craig locks him outside our gate (which he does just to be ornery). I brought him some treats from the US and I am trying to teach him to sit and not to jump (kaa and chini are respectively the Swahili commands). He is listening to me, sort of, probably because I have taken it upon myself to feed him and I give him treats. He still needs his shots so we have sent requests to the dog vaccination team in Serengeti that works for Craig to get some vaccinations sent back to Arusha. I have no idea how old he is or much else about him, but for a Tanzanian dog he is quite clean and friendly.

And again

Hello all,
As many of know, I am again back in Tanzania after a christmas break in the US. I flew back out yesterday and will be here for 5 weeks. The plan this time around it for me to talk with all the managers of the conservation areas and see what community projects they have done in the villages to cross reference with what the villages have reported they are receiving from these managers. Not as exciting as going into villages, crossing raging rivers, etc, but I'll keep you all updated nonetheless. :)