My Tanzania Adventure

Jan 5
a lion

a lion
Posted at 2:23am

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Positively my last post

Safari now finished, waiting for flight home, coming from 35 deg in Selous, with 80% humidity, home to lovely London.   It simply got hotter and hotter, as we were more on the plains than high up in Mbeya, and I found that really really difficult.  Culminated in a 4 stop flight in bumpy little plane into Dar this evening.   Whole experience made me feel iller than I’ve been in whole 3 months at TEKU, but camping by Great Rufiji river, and at Ruaha was unforgettable.   We had a lion & cubs in camp at Ruaha one night, and an elephant in Rufiji.  Actually seeing them close up was more scary than anything else, don’t think I’m a natural big game person.    Phone reception was dodgy to say the least, but managed to phone home on Christmas Day assisted by 3 Masai warriors who know where all the hotspots are, and when my phone didn’t work, all produced alternative phones out of robes, and swapped sim cards.

Kwaheri (goodbye) as we say here.

Posted at 2:08am

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Goodbye TEKU

Goodbye TEKU
Posted at 1:44am

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Victoria and Matilda 2 of my favourite students

Victoria and Matilda 2 of my favourite students
Posted at 1:35am

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Dec 16

Probably my last post from TEKU…

This may well be my last post from TEKU, as I’m leaving next week to go on safari where there won’t be any internet access.   I will have loads of photos, but will post them probably after I get back.   Anyway, although they will show lots of animals, they will be much more touristy, so I think in many ways not so interesting as for example the ladies of the quality assurance unit. TEKU has been something really special, and completely different from life in the UK.

So Merry Christmas, & Happy New Year to one and all, I know who you are, as I can access your IP numbers ha ha, if I could be bothered.   Many thanks to Alex for getting me internet today - always a bit hit and miss here, which Is why this may be my last post.   Hakuna matata as we say here!

Posted at 9:29am

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This is where the buzzards would be if they were here.

This is where the buzzards would be if they were here.
Posted at 9:21am

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The waterfalls

The waterfalls
Posted at 9:17am

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Three of us from TEKU hired a 4WD for the day, and went to Kitulo National Park on Sunday, which is about 2500 – 3000m altitude.   Its high above Mbeya (and Mbeya itself is higher than any point in the UK I think).   It was a long drive because the roads are bad, and there is nothing National Trust about the Park, apart from impressive sign and entry fees, no café, no tea towels to buy.   The park is an amazing grassland plateau, carpeted with flowers, of every colour, yellow, red, pink, white, orange as far as you can see.   There are unusual birds, and juniper and eucalyptus forest.   There’s a very rare monkey which lives in the forest, so we didn’t see it which was a shame, as our guide told us its unusual feature was it has one hind leg shorter than the other.  Surprisingly, this is not unknown in evolution, as Scottish member of our party said that its well known that haggises also have one leg shorter than the other.   However, we saw a family of baboons who all looked normal, like baboons should.The guide showed us the place where the rare buzzards live (they were away in Australia), so it was empty.   There are also lots of rare wild orchids, which we also didn’t see, but my experience is orchids are nothing special in the wild.   They suffer a lot from poaching of the orchids i.e. people digging them up, there are no large animals on the plateau.   Highlight was the incredibly steep climb down to the spectacular Kimani waterfalls, which was a “ten minute” walk according to our guide.  It was almost literally a scramble – no path in parts, and must have taken me for ever to make it back up.   I never would have attempted it if I had known, we all thought it was just a visit to look at the wild flowers, with no walking involved.   I haven’t done anything like that for years.   I had a problem both the actual climbing down and up, and also had to keep stopping because totally out of breath, which I put down to altitude, not being unfit.   We had to get out and dig the 4WD out a couple of times on the “road” through the park, and then getting down from the escarpment, we cruised 57 hairpin bends to the Mbeya road.  A great day out, but I think the Park not yet ready for mass tourism.   More cafes, tea towels, signs, toilets, roads, footpaths, disabled access, in fact more National Trust altogether needed.    But if you want undiscovered, and no facilities or infrastructure whatever, and are under 30, Kitulo is the experience of a lifetime.  

Three of us from TEKU hired a 4WD for the day, and went to Kitulo National Park on Sunday, which is about 2500 – 3000m altitude.   Its high above Mbeya (and Mbeya itself is higher than any point in the UK I think).   It was a long drive because the roads are bad, and there is nothing National Trust about the Park, apart from impressive sign and entry fees, no café, no tea towels to buy.   The park is an amazing grassland plateau, carpeted with flowers, of every colour, yellow, red, pink, white, orange as far as you can see.   There are unusual birds, and juniper and eucalyptus forest.   There’s a very rare monkey which lives in the forest, so we didn’t see it which was a shame, as our guide told us its unusual feature was it has one hind leg shorter than the other.  Surprisingly, this is not unknown in evolution, as Scottish member of our party said that its well known that haggises also have one leg shorter than the other.   However, we saw a family of baboons who all looked normal, like baboons should.
The guide showed us the place where the rare buzzards live (they were away in Australia), so it was empty.   There are also lots of rare wild orchids, which we also didn’t see, but my experience is orchids are nothing special in the wild.   They suffer a lot from poaching of the orchids i.e. people digging them up, there are no large animals on the plateau.  

Highlight was the incredibly steep climb down to the spectacular Kimani waterfalls, which was a “ten minute” walk according to our guide.  It was almost literally a scramble – no path in parts, and must have taken me for ever to make it back up.   I never would have attempted it if I had known, we all thought it was just a visit to look at the wild flowers, with no walking involved.   I haven’t done anything like that for years.   I had a problem both the actual climbing down and up, and also had to keep stopping because totally out of breath, which I put down to altitude, not being unfit.   We had to get out and dig the 4WD out a couple of times on the “road” through the park, and then getting down from the escarpment, we cruised 57 hairpin bends to the Mbeya road.  A great day out, but I think the Park not yet ready for mass tourism.   More cafes, tea towels, signs, toilets, roads, footpaths, disabled access, in fact more National Trust altogether needed.    But if you want undiscovered, and no facilities or infrastructure whatever, and are under 30, Kitulo is the experience of a lifetime.  

Posted at 9:14am

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Dec 9
Quality Assurance Unit

Quality Assurance Unit
Posted at 2:53pm

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9 December

Its been a while since I posted, and still a bit too slow to put photos up.   I was also struggling with a cold last week, so mostly slept when not working.   I have 2 Tanzanian ladies staying - a flying lecturer, her baby, and friend who looks after the baby.   Nobody does anything in this country on their own, which involves travel, without a friend or relative.   In fact nobody really lives alone - except Europeans!   They have mega efficiently taken over the kitchen and cleaning, and the baby drowns out the scary rustlings and scratchings in the roof and walls at night, which I seem to have become hyper attuned to, so I’m sleeping a lot better.   They have to spend ages preparing meals from basic foods here, no convenience foods or gadgets.   Oh dear, food obsession again.

We also had a couple of seminars cancelled yesterday because of a memorial service for a second year student who has died.   There is a lot of death here, even of young people, but to make up for it, everyone has a baby!

Have to go, 1200 students’ mid term tests to mark…

Posted at 2:44pm

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