West Usambara Mountains

Last week we had a five day excursion to Same and the Magamba Forest above Lushoto.  This was essentially a birding expedition to increase Steve’s Life List but I found plenty to entertain myself as well!

We went with a Norwegian friend (who is far more familiar with Tanzania’s birds than even Steve) and a Tanzanian friend.  We had two nights in a hotel in Same and two nights camping in the forest.

Same is the town close to the Mkomazi NP and the birding we did was in woodland close to the park boundary.  Steve had a list of ‘targets’ but I was happy to see a couple of my favourites - the African Hoopoe and the Abyssinian Scimitar bill (these photos are Steve’s but not from this trip), a very interesting plant (Caralluma speciosa) and some industrious dung beetles.

The more interesting part of the trip was the time we spent in the forest.  Magamba Forest is a government forest reserve in the West Usambara Mountains.  The road up to Lushoto from Mombo is steep and windy.  It was built pre WW1 and is called “the German road”.  Lushoto was where expats went to escape the heat and humidity of the coast in colonial times.  The road is tarmacked and in very good condition.  Culverts and bridges are in bluestone with pretty arches.  It just shows if something is made properly it will last!  The down hill side of the road is lined with eucalypt trees - blue gum, spotted gum, swamp gum - all the way up.  This was supposed to stabilise the soil and prevent land slips and it seems to have worked!  At each hairpin bend there was a gushing waterfall - some muddy, some crystal clear, depending on the land use above them.  It rained all the way up the mountain and I was silently contemplating the folly of camping during the rainy season.

The road from Lushoto up to our camp in the forest was steep, wet and very muddy.  Slipping into the gutter would be disaster! But luckily it didn’t happen thanks to an ancient LandRover and some very competent Norwegian driving.

Our camp was in an abandoned sawmill so theoretically we were protected from rain but as we were in the cloud it was damp everywhere.  Getting a fire started took remarkable persistence  - no one had thought to pack firelighters, or even dry paper and corn chips!  It really was a very comfortable camp and despite the Forest Department officer’s concerns that we’d be cold - she sent a pikipiki rider up from the reserve’s headquarters with a bag of old curtains to use as extra blankets! - we stayed warm and dry.

 

The sawmill has been non-operational for several decades but in its heyday it must have been something special.  There was the mill building (where we camped) which still had some of the machinery. It had been powered by a steam engine undoubtedly fed with wood waste and saw dust.  There was a large shed stacked with sawn timber, now well and truly cured!  It is a resource that should be used by whoever has ownership.  Then there were the administrative offices in a solid brick building and still with all the filing cupboards and office equipment in place.  There were many residences I guess for the bosses, not the ‘workers’.  What we presumed to be the manager’s house was quite a mansion complete with swimming pool and magnificent garden.  There were assorted other, mainly weatherboard, cottages in various states of disrepair.  All had English gardens.  There were hydrangeas, fuschias and roses along the road and into the forest as well as arum and other lilies.  It was quite magical!

 

The ‘birding’ consisted of walking the road close to the camp.  The forest was too wet and too thick to venture too far off the road.  Birds are hard to hear and even harder to see.  It’s a job for which I have neither the patience or perseverance needed.  So I just enjoyed the walks!  Steve at one point tried to get a photo of the river we could see rushing below us and nearly ended up in it. His fall was arrested by a chameleon (the West Usambara Two-horned Chameleon) which didn’t seem to suffer too much from the experience.

Steve had to return to the scene of the crime to retrieve his binoculars

The Usambara Mountains are part of the eastern arc mountains that run from north to south in Tanzania.  The natural biodiversity both plant and animal is astonishing.  There are still new plants and animals to be discovered by those intrepid enough to try.  We know a herpetologist, a neighbour here in Arusha, who has identified many new species of frogs and toads just by going in to the forests and having a good look. He camps for weeks at a time in the forest collecting samples.

As well as, or even possibly despite, the natural diversity there are invasive species in the forests in both the Usambara and Pare mountains.  Locals like to plant eucalypts which are fast growing and have no natural enemies.  There are also pines, which along with eucalypts and Australian acacias, have ‘escaped’ from managed plantations.  It is sad to see them but I don’t think the native trees are suffering too much from their presence.

As we plan for what may be our last week here in Tanzania we can reflect on having made the most of our time and maybe we’ll sneak in one last trip to Arusha NP before Friday next week when we are due to fly home.  Fingers crossed that they’ll be no last minute SNAFU though as the acronym makes clear they are ‘normal’ especially in this part of the world.   

 You’ll all know soon how it goes, keep watching for a blog from Steve with his perspective!

Love from Jenny 

Almost done

 I know it’s a long time since the last post!  So much has happened it’s hard to know where to start.

I left you last post as we were about to fly to Namibia.  The covid certificates arrived as they should via email and we printed them.  We printed scans of the receipts from our phones too but they weren’t needed as they are at the road border.  We filled in all the paper work the Namibia Tourism site said was needed and we prepared our selves for long queues and being asked for all the things we didn’t have!  As it turned out everything was stress free and the paperwork we’d meticulously prepared wasn’t needed.  We had a wonderful time in Namibia travelling from south to north through spectacular landscapes and seeing as much wildlife as anyone could want.  Steve’s blog will tell you all about it. And no problems with a new 3 month tourist visa for Steve at KIA on our return so Mission Accomplished!

Namibia shares some colonial history with Tanzania - both were German colonies before the Great War then became British - but their paths have diverged significantly.  Historically Namibia was divided into rectangular blocks and each was assigned to a (European) farmer settler.  The people who had lived on that block were legally allowed, almost expected, to be shot by the new settler.  It was a genocide that Germany is now trying to recompense the people for after more than 100 years.  More atrocities followed including apartheid a la South Africa, as Namibia was governed from Johannesburg until1990 when it gained Independence.

A 1966 map when some parks had been declared but you can get the idea.

All of the land area was assigned but much was totally unsuited to farming and has ended up as national park or conservancy.  Nothing was left to the ownership of the indigenous inhabitants though now the conservancies are often managed locally by the historic owners in partnership with the government.  

At Cape Dias near Luderitz

There are some major differences between Namibia and Tanzania.  In land area they are about the same but Namibia has a population of about 2.7 million compared with Tanzania’s nearly 60 million!  As you drive around you see the difference - Namibia is empty of people!  The difference of course is water.  Namibia has none!  In the entire country there are only a handful of rivers that flow permanently and of those at least one that only happens because of a dam.  There are some excellent bridges - most freshly painted - over dry, sandy river beds.  And because there is no rain the roads, mostly wide, well graded gravel, are also excellent.  We drove on a road that said “Danger - serious washaways”  and just laughed.  It was like our road on a good day after it had just been mended!  We did seriously want to bring the HiLux we hired home with us - no offence to our RAV4 which has been marvellous. It was a joy to travel in.  Anyway, much as I love Tanzania and her little ways, having a holiday somewhere where things just ‘work’ was lovely!

So Rocla Pipes aren't just in Baranduda!

While we were away the death of the President of Tanzania John Magufuli was finally announced after three weeks of uncertainty and official silence.  A few days later the Vice President was inaugurated to serve out the remaining four and a half years of the five year term.  President Samia Sululu Hussein will be the first female President of an East African country and one of few female heads of government in Africa.  We are yet to see what changes that will bring and what effect it may have on our lives here.  Her official picture has started to go up in businesses and offices.

We arrived back on a Sunday and the next day saw me lined up for another Covid test so I could go to Kenya.  My passport expires in October and as travelling in the last 6 months of its validity can be problematic I thought I should renew.  And that means an in-person interview at the High Commission in Nairobi.  The shuttle bus services are only offering morning runs because covid has reduced the number of passengers so that meant a three day expedition - one to get there, one to do business at the HC and one to get back.  The distance Arusha to Nairobi is less than 300 km, all on tarmac, but can take 8 hours if the traffic is bad and the border crossing is difficult.

I had a 10 am appointment at the HC on the Friday.  I arrived early with all my photos and all the other needful documents.  Getting through security was fine - thorough checking of everything I had with me was required and my phone was confiscated for the duration of the visit.  Problem number one was my photos.  I’d had three goes in Arusha to get photos that fitted the DFAT specifications - no, 36 mm from crown to chin is not ok if the rule is 31-35 mm! - and thought I’d nailed it.  But no, I was told the photos are ‘dazed’.  Not me dazed in the photos but the photos being dazed.  I couldn’t get an explanation of what that meant, and being told that they might look at my age and overlook it didn’t help! 

The AHC in Nairobi when it was under construction and what it looks like from above.  These are from Google Earth - if I'd tried to take a picture there I think I would have been shot.

Then we had the problem of a document that proved where I live.  This was not on the requirement list but I was told it was a new security thing.  Tanzania does not do ‘residential address’ .  Our street (track?) doesn’t have a name and the block does not have a number on the gate post. The official told me I’d have to find something and email it to him if I wanted my application to proceed. (Luckily our tenancy agreement with our landlord has a Farm Plot number and Steve scanned it so I could email it before I left Nairobi.)  

The official asked had I paid - this has to be done before the visit either as a phone money transfer in Kenyan shillings, only possible from a Kenyan registered phone, or as a US dollar bank deposit into an obscure bank that seems to have very few branches. (On the Thursday afternoon after 6+ hours on the bus a taxi driver and I spent 20 minutes in the city at the intersection where the main branch was supposed to be and we couldn’t find it - he’d never heard of the bank.). In the end we went to the Nairobi General Hospital which has a small sub-branch - thank you Google Maps! - and I paid there.  So I handed the bank receipt over to the official at the HC and he says “Where’s the other part?”  What other part!!! I told him this was all the teller had given me.  He wasn’t happy.  Neither was I.  His less than reassuring response was “It might not matter”.  

He wandered off, then wandered back, then returned to the photos.  “I think you should get more” he said.  So, back out through security, back to my patient taxi driver, and off to the local mall to get DFAT regulation, undazed photos.  Twenty minutes to get that done, back to the HC, rescanned and phone re-confiscated and after handing over the new photos I’m told they’ll let me know by email if there is anything else needed.  I was shattered by this time and just wanted to go home.  “Interview” sounds so cosy.  In reality were standing on opposite sides of 1” thick glass passing documents through a sliding drawer.  He was poking at a computer, I couldn’t see what was on the screen, and he kept wandering out the back where something more interesting must have been happening.  I didn’t see a single Australian at the HC, no-one to discuss the upcoming footy games with.  Very disappointing.

Nairobi traffic is horrendous.

In Nairobi I was staying at Flora Hostel, a lovely little hostel close to the major hospitals and run by the Sisters of Consolation.  Flying Medical Service use it often.  I’d only just arrived back at Flora when the news came through that President Kenyatta had announced an immediate lockdown of Nairobi - no-one in or out indefinitely from midnight that night.  I was stuck!  The head nun was sympathetic and said I could have my room as long as I needed it as long as I paid!  I talked to Steve and we tried to find where the new regulations were written out.  I texted the shuttle bus company and the Nairobi rep thought there’d be no problem getting back to Arusha the next morning - general consensus on Twitter was that “Nairobi leaks like a sieve”.  Turns out that’s correct.  The shuttle bus breezed through all the checkpoints and the only time we were actually stopped by the police was on the Tanzanian side of the border where I had to show my passport and visa to the immigration police and show I could speak Swahili - the first requirement was official, the second was for his own amusement.  Sister-in-law Natalie kept me updated with footy scores as I travelled down the highway and I arrived home happy with a Demons win and not so happy with the remote possibility that I might get a new passport in the fullness of time - couriered here at great expense as I can’t travel to Kenya, and if I have to send my current passport to the HC in order to get my new one I won’t be going anywhere.

The next weekend was Easter and we decided to give ourselves a treat with a day in Tarangire NP, a night at Africa Safari Glamping and a day in Lake Manyara NP.  We spent time in five different national parks in Namibia.  Each had its own peculiarities at the entrance but all were efficient and straightforward.  At  Tarangire NP the entrance gate is new since my last visit in October 2019.  It has not increased its efficiency!  It was over half an hour of waiting, indecision, malfunctioning technology and general phaffing about before we could get through!

It is the rainy season at the moment so we’d expected the roads to be a bit rough - and they are!  Puddles in the roads have been filled with rocks so while you’re worrying about getting bogged in the mud the greater danger is a hole in a tyre, or the sump, or the petrol tank!  The RAV4 hasn’t quite forgiven us.  All the picnic areas need work - Silele Swamp picnic ground looked like it had been abandoned.  But we saw some great birds and enough giraffes and elephants to keep me happy - some at very close range.  Also cheetahs quite close and lions within touching distance.

We had stayed at Africa Safari Glamping on a couple of previous occasions.  This time we were surprised to find that the lake, usually a couple of kilometres away, had spread to be literally lapping at the steps of the dining room.  It rained heavily most of that night so we decided to give LMNP a miss the next day as we’d narrowly avoided a disastrous bogging incident on a previous trip during the wet and were anxious about what might happen.  Advice on roads is not always helpful from the gate staff.  On a trip there with the Drummonds in January last year I asked if the road down to Maji Moto was ok.  “Yes”, he said.  But what he didn’t add was “but the bridge has been washed away”! So we didn’t risk it.

You used not to be even able to see the lake!

Steve has been worrying on and off about his visa situation.  His new one expires on June 19 and our tickets home are booked for July 1.  So he convinced me to see if I could get our tickets moved to an earlier date.  I assembled all the information - booking references and e-ticket numbers - and rang Qatar’s help desk.  After 30 mins on hold I did get a very helpful officer and we were just on the point of establishing what I needed having proved who I was with birthdates and passport numbers and phone numbers, and how and when I’d bought the original tickets, when the line dropped out!  Boo!  Skype wasn’t being very helpful with what was the problem and I probably pushed the ‘top up’ button a few too many times after an argument with their algorithm about when my MasterCard expires and I was eventually able to reconnect for another 30 mins on hold with 5 $10 top-ups on Skype that will take years to get through!  This time I knew the answers to the questions before he asked them and at the point of what I needed he said I was very lucky as tickets had just been released for May 7th. So quick decision time!  Steve said ‘yes’ so I said ‘yes’ and we have new tickets (The officer said best not to try to change the itinerary again as we only had these because someone “cancellated”).  Now I have the stress of will my new passport be here in time, or will I be allowed to fly home on a passport with less than 6 months validity.  Life is never boring!

So now we have less than four weeks to be organised on the chance that these new flights are not cancelled.  We will miss many of the things I would have really liked to do - a 2 day walk up to the crater on Kili, a trip to Uganda and a trip to Bukoba so there may have to be a next time! - but the idea of seeing all the family again is something we’re so excited about.  We have packing to do, but not so much that we can’t keep living here and a car to sell.  Selling of the car was nearly not a problem.  We knew we had an oil leak and Steve was dutifully checking levels to make sure there was no problem but turns out he was checking the transmission oil not the engine oil and the mechanic discovered just a scraping in the bottom when it went in for a service on Monday but it’s all ok now with a new gasket and no leak and we have a  working car to sell.

Between all of these adventures I have been working at the Olkokola centre.  Two grants submissions have gone in and maybe there’ll be money for a small gym to help our clients who have mobility issues get some exercise.  We’ll need to find a physiotherapist to help in the planning if the money comes through.  The menstrual pads scheme lurches along - I heard for the Dutch NGO today and they still want to collaborate but aren’t quite sure how or when!  I have plans for sourcing /writing and distributing literature about Cerebral Palsy, I’m waiting on some help from another NGO - this time German.  The library and education room is going well and being well used. So all is good on that front.

Sorry there is so much to read.  Let me know if you reached the bottom!  

Love from Jenny