Out of Africa...

Unfortunately, I have not updated much on this blog, often because I have to use the majority of my internet time just uploading photos (most have ended up on my facebook page). However, we have successfully completed our sampling and have returned to Dar es Salaam for our international flight tomorrow (will get to add Zurich, Switzerland to my list of cities!). The last week involved 3 days of sample collection from the lake bottom, in addition to echo sounding, and 1 day of sample collection from the nearby hills. We took a taxi to do this sampling, and ended up in fishing villages where very few Muzungus (originally meant to mean European people) visit. Many of the children were very surprised to see some Americans around and a curious bunch followed us for quite a long way. However, I scared them off when I took a photo of them - will have to post it. We got to spend Friday snorkeling in the lake, where I saw lots of beautiful fish and neat sand ripples/waves, and Saturday packing and going to the markets in Kigoma. I also got to go the bar/restaurant called the "Website" where you get to see the live chickens before you eat them. The restuarant workers thought it was funny I wanted to take a photograph.

We flew back to Dar es Salaam on Sunday (yesterday), where our taxi only broke down twice on the way to the airport - apparently beating on engine parts with a large rock will solve almost any mechanical issue.

See you soon,
Kristen

Chasin' Chimps at Gombe National Park

On Sunday, we got a day off to visit Gombe National Park, where chimp icon Jane Goodall performed her many years of research on the behaviors of chimpanzees. It took nearly 2 hours by boat to reach Gombe from Kigoma, Tanzania, and we were promptly greeted by many baboons eager to see what treats we might have brought them. After paying the park entrance fee (a steep $100 per person for regular tourists; we were able to get in for $30 a person as we currently have residence permits), we met our guide who would lead us to the chimps (by communicating with trackers via walkie-talkie). We started with a relatively easy hike to a nearby waterfall; however, the chimps were very high up due to lack of food at lower ground, so we made a good trek up the mountain to meet Sandy and her sons, Sampson, Samwise, and Siri (? unsure of this spelling - it is the Swahili word for "secret" and I have yet to look it up for proper spelling and pronunciation). I got some nice photos and video of the chimps moving about the trees...they then decided to take off (quickly!) and we were all chasing after them for a good distance. I'm sure it looked like something out of a comedy - approximately 10 humans trailing 4 chimpanzees). They then proceeded to climb into rather dense brush and it became difficult to continue to view them. We were then taken to "Jane's Peak", where Jane Goodall would sit to listen for chimpanzee calls. Ending our hike near the office, we were greeted by about 15 -20 baboons, searching for a snack (food, not people). It was really neat to stand in the middle of a path while baboons ran around us. We finished the trip by visiting Jane's research house on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. All in all, it was a great day.

If you would like to learn more about Gombe, visit: www.tanzaniaparks.com/gombe

I also posted about 100+ photos on my Facebook page.

Enjoy,
Kristen

I"m on a boat!

We are well underway with sampling in Lake Tanganyika. We picked up our guide, Mupape, at the train station on Sunday - be thankful you most likely will never take the train across Tanzania. After nearly 2 days of travel, hordes of passengers disembarked from the train, all carrying luggage and suitcases on their heads, a feat I will likely never achieve. There is also zero order when it comes to finding taxis, buses, etc to leave the station - apparently honking your horn repeatedly makes things that much better.

We starting out on the lake on Monday of this week to test out our GPS and sampling equipment. Most of that time was wrought with seasickness, but I was able to not feed any fish. We are recording sonar images of the lake bottom across several transects and are sampling sediment and water at 5, 10, 15, 30, and 40 m water depth along various transects perpendicular to the shore line. So far things are going pretty well...we have only lost 1 item over the side of the boat so far, within the Luiche River, which drains into the lake. No one was eager to retrieve it, even though it was likely on 10' deep, due to the threat of crocodiles. As far as other wildlife go, we have only seen a few monkeys, in addition to your standard birds. I will likely get to visit Gombe National Park on Sunday to (hopefully) see the chimpanzees!

Hope all is going well back home.

Usiku mwema (good night).

Pictures (from top to bottom):

1) The road leading up to the hotel.

2) Sailboats on Lake Tanganyika

3) Working with the GPS/Sonar unit

Karibu to Kigoma

We have finally arrived in Kigoma, on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika. We are staying at the High Tech Lodge, facing the lake and down the red dirt path to TAFIRI, where our "lab" space will be. Not too much has been accomplished as our gear will not arrive until tomorrow on the train, but we did spend some time cleaning out the lab house (basically wiping away rat poo, reorganizing tables, and chasing away geckos) and even made a visit to the "Prison Bar" on the beach. Can't complain too much there...

Above are a few shots taken in Kigoma so far (from top to bottom):
1) The baggage claim at the Kigoma airport. Much faster than normal baggage claims...
2) The internet cafe in Kigoma where I am writing this - called "Baby Come and Call" - you can't make this stuff up.
3) The Fish House at TAFIRI - aka our new lab space.
4) Sunset over Lake Tanganyika.
5) Our hotel - the High Tech Lodge...just don't expect to get dinner in under an hour.

Scenes from Dar es Salaam

We are still in Dar es Salaam and after 4 days of hunting down paperwork and negotiating deals to obtain residence permits to work for the next two weeks (one of which involved a straight from the movies under the table bribe in which my passport was used as the transfer device), we will finally fly to Kigoma tomorrow (Friday) morning to begin the actual field work. In between working deals, we have managed to do some sightseeing and make a few trips to the market place...if anyone has specifics on a souvenir, let me know by email sometime soon...handwoven baskets, cloths, carvings, etc can be purchased...and if you enjoy the high society life, I can also get you some "authentic" Ray Ban sunglasses and Rolexes.

I was finally able to post more than 1 photo, so above are a few images taken in Dar. From top to bottom:
1) View of the Indian Ocean during a hike through Dar es Salaam.
2) Comforts from home.
3) Hanging out in Dar and enjoying a Coca (Cola)...very popular here.
4) Mass exit from the ferry ride.
5) Red snapper at the fish market - a common fish caught here off the coast of Tanzania.

Hello (Habari) from Dar es Salaam!

Uploading pictures is difficult because the internet connections are very slow, but here I am in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania!

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - The Fast and the Furious and Big Fish

After nearly 2 days of travel, which included a long layover in and short tour of Frankfurt, Germany, I have finally arrived in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania! First things first: learn the rules of the road - this basically means drive fast, don't necessarily stay in your lane, fly through intersections, and honk a lot. Also, if a car is coming quickly at you head on, don't panic - apparently this is normal.

We finally got checked into a hotel, and spent the rest of the afternoon doing some quick sightseeing in Dar with our tour and guide, Mupape. This included a trip to the fish market (I even held a puffer fish - no longer living, of course) and a ride on the ferry to a nearby island. I even was in line (or within the mass chaos that ensues when the ferry arrives) near a Tanzanian wearing an Oklahoma t-shirt...I'm taking this as a good sign.

I'll try to upload some photos - no guarantees, as the computers in the internet cafe are ancient.

Good night.

Less than 24 hours to go...

I'm continuing my world jaunt this year with a ~3 1/2 week trip to Tanzania, Africa! We will be traveling via Germany to Ethiopia, and finally into Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where we can hopefully secure work permits (and meet our translator and guide) to collect sediment samples from the bottom of Lake Tanganyika, Africa's largest rift lake (and also the world's longest at 418 miles; thanks Wikipedia!-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Tanganyika). During our field work, we will be based in Kigoma, situated at appx. 4 degrees south of the equator (see map above).

I should have internet access and hope to update with photos regularly. The comments function should be properly activated this time, so leave me a post or email me at krmarra@gmail.com.

(Map is edited from http://www.mapsorama.com/tag/topographical-map/page/2/)

Cheers!