Dar es Salaam and Arusha

Dar es Salaam and Arusha

Dear all,

Adorable youngster

Safari smile

Vervet monkeys

Maasai herding 

Run!!!

 Kilemehewa 24 is the name of our home base for the next 5 months, located on the campus of the University of Dar es Salaam, a prestigious hub of learning for Tanzanians. Dar es Salaam bustles with 4 million people from innumerable tribes, Muslims and Christians, long-time city dwellers and recent rural arrivals, and a few Indians and Anglos.  The streets vibrate with the richness of many cultures and the chaos from so many people with inadequate infrastructure.  Driving is a fluid nightmare of cars (private sedans, taxis, some expensive SUV’s), 3-wheeled motorized rickshaws, overcrowded minibuses, large diesel-spewing trucks, pedestrians EVERYWHERE, and peddlers going window to window selling cashews and small electronics.  Yet everyone respects the unspoken rules of the road and is ready to forgive infractions with a gentle humph.  The only honking of horns seems to occur just prior to a near head-on collision, and then the offender slides back into their own lane and life moves on (although we have seen one accident so far).

Marketplaces overwhelm the senses with colorful cotton wraps on men and women, foods and sundry items spread on blankets everywhere, and people milling about seeking the best deal.  There is a supermarket with western foods, many outrageously expensive (a box of raw oats was $10 as it had to be imported and isn’t a food used by the locals) so we gravitate to the more colorful local scene.

The modest amount of Swahili we learned in Colorado serves us well and simultaneously fails to communicate anything complex; we are fortunate so many people speak bits of English.  We look forward to learning more Swahili in class with the students.  Lack of wireless at home still limits our communication with friends and with work contacts, but we purchase minutes on a USB-like device that connects to the internet via the cell phone network.  We eagerly await repair of the wireless so we can both be online simultaneously.

Last week we had a fabulous trip to the north to visit two National Parks (Tarangire and Arusha) so Jim could see where students will spend 4 weeks doing research projects. It was amazing to travel around the parks with an eagle-eyed driver seeing a wonderland of protected animals and birds. Apart from the spectacle of observing at least a thousand wildebeests calmly grazing alongside zebras, elephants, impalas, water bucks and wart hogs …….., we also watched a mother cheetah and her three well grown cubs elude a stalking female lion.  It was a chance of a lifetime.  Jim took a photo of me standing up in the vehicle with a huge grin on my face which probably best epitomizes my experience.

The program we direct offers ACM (Associated Colleges of the Midwest, such a Colorado College, Grinnell, Beloit, Carlton) students the opportunity to immerse themselves in a culture that will challenge their beliefs and values while doing research in their major field of interest. Students come from several disciplines: Biology/Ecology, Archaeology, Anthropology, and Geology.   The archaeology students will participate in a hominid dig, something that few well-seasoned archaeologists have had the opportunity to do.  Anthropology students, with the help of translators, interview locals about a wide variety of topics.  The Ecology/Biology students will study animals and plants in Tarangire National Park or in the campsite we’ll occupy for the 6 weeks we live in the field in tents.

Students arrive in a bit more than a week.  Until then, Jim will plan the orientation and research methods course and will meet with his colleagues at the university.  Together we will learn to navigate the bus system and use the motorized rickshaws, try to see the bushbabies (tiny nocturnal primates) we hear calling in our backyard, and revel in being immersed in a new, vibrant and exciting environment.

Kwaheri (good-bye), 

Carol and Jim

PS it's a concrete elephant chasing Jim