Zanzibar to New York (Monday - Tuesday, August 10-11)

We had to wake up early to pack this morning, and start our multi-part journey back to the US. A small propeller plane took us from the Zanzibar Airport back to the Dar airport pretty quickly.

Outside the Zanzibar Airport

Once in Dar, we had lots of time to kill before our flight to Dubai, and we said goodbye to a lot of the Envirovets who weren't continuing on to Dubai with us.

Me and Helen in the Dar Airport, feeling homeless and sad, and working on our crafting skills so we can learn how to live on the streets

The five hour flight to Dubai wasn't too bad, but getting on the thirteen hour flight from there to New York at around 1 am was pretty tough. I slept for a little while, and killed time watching terrible movies (Twilight, He's Just Not That Into You, and Confessions of a Shopaholic) and knitting.

We finally made it to JFK in New York, and said our final goodbyes. My dad was waiting at the airport to pick me up, bringing my journey--and Envirovet 2009--to an end.

Me and Val, the true Father of Envirovet

Last Day on Zanzibar (Sunday, August 9)

Today we got up early for our morning of snorkeling on reefs in the Indian Ocean off of Changu Island, which is a tiny uninhabited island off the west coast of Zanzibar.

The type of boats we took to our snorkeling site - I was in the orange topped one in the water

We collected a motley assortment of masks and flippers from a snorkeling shop and loaded onto small motorboats in the port. After about an hour on the boat, we reached the coral reef off of Changu Island.

Zanzibar style sailboat we saw on the way to snorkeling

Changu Island, where we went snorkeling

We hopped right in the water--which was a bit chilly at first but not bad once you got used to it--and went off looking at the huge assortment of corals and other invertebrates, and tropical fish. After a few minutes in the water, I noticed I was feeling really itchy all over my body. I ignored it, but a few minutes later it was definitely getting worse. I took a break to clean the condensation off my mask, and when I looked back in the water through the now-clear plastic, all I saw all around me was swarms of tiny jellyfish. Everyone else was starting to notice them too now, and we all swam back to our boats and clambered back in to find a better, more jelly-free, spot to snorkel.

We motored around to the other side of the island, and got back in the water. There were still a few jellies in the water, but they were tolerable especially considering how beautiful the coral reefs were. I've never snorkeled at a reef before, and it was amazing. We saw a spiny poisonous lionfish, and lots of huge blue starfish, in addition to tons of colorful corals and tropical fish. Too soon, we loaded back on the boats for our ride back to Stonetown. Helen and I spent the trip lying out in the sun on the front of the boat, taking a rare opportunity to tan our stomachs!

In the afternoon we drove south along the west coast to Bweleo village to visit a women's cooperative that raised and sold pearls and pearl jewelry. They talked to us about the farming process and the business practices they've learned, and had samples of their jewelry for us to buy.

Leader of the women's pearl cooperative, showing off her jewelry

Boy diving into the water in Stonetown Port at sunset

Since it was our last night, we had a special fancy dinner on the beach, complete with a huge and delicious seafood meal, and even dessert!

Stephen, Helen, Vanessa, Mike and I at the last night dinner

Afterwards, we went to a discotheque on the island. Being a Sunday night, there weren't too many people there, but we had fun dancing and drinking Kunyagi and Bitter Lemon cocktails. Back at the hotel, we hung out for a little while before turning in, much later than we should have with our early wake up time for the next day.

Dancing at the disco

Zanzibar (Saturday, August 8)

This morning we drove out to Paje village on the east coast of Zanzibar to visit the seaweed farms that are run by the women of the village. The village has a few tourist hotels that are really nice and perfect for the tropical setting.

Paje by Night, one of the hotels and restaurants in Paje

The ocean was like nothing I'd ever seen before. The tidal flats extended as far as the eye could see, just a few inches of water over white sand, and boats tethered there looking like they'd never make it out to sea.

Me in the Indian Ocean

Flower, from IMS, introduced us to one of the women planting seaweed. About half way through Flower's talk, it started pouring and we all huddled up until the shower passed.

We were this far from shore and the water was still only a few inches deep

The local woman showed us her technique for tying the seaweed onto lines that she tethers between stakes in about a foot of water. In about three weeks, she'll come back and collect the mature seaweed and sell it to international companies that extract the carrageenan for use as a thickener in everything from toothpaste to ice cream to shoe polish to pharmaceuticals. They also collect some for making seaweed soap and other cosmetics that they sell locally in markets and at the Paje hotels. I bought some to bring back as souvenirs for my housemates. Tanzanians don't really eat the seaweed, but we suggested that they start serving it as salads in the Paje tourist restaurants, since it actually tastes pretty good.

Flower demonstrating seaweed tied on lines

We ate lunch in one of the hotel restaurants in Paje, and they served us a specially made seaweed salad from their seaweed farms. After lunch we got back in the vans and drove back towards the middle of the island to Jozani-Chwaka Bay National Park and Forest. Here we walked around through the tropical forest, mangrove forest, and through groups of habituated endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus monkeys.

Endemic Zanzibar Red Colobus monkeys, found only on Zanzibar

In the mangroves we actually got to walk off the raised platform and into the mangroves, over their raised roots and low-hanging branches.

Mangroves in Jozani-Chwaka National Park

Stephen, Mike, Helen, and I climbing on the mangroves

Back in Stonetown, we had dinner at Mercury's Restaurant, named for Freddie Mercury of Queen fame, who was actually born on Zanzibar.

Mercury's Restaurant, from the beach side

We went back to the Africa House after dinner to hang out and relax before bed.

Lounging at the Africa House hookah bar
(from L to R: Dee, Stephen, Fidy, Me, Mike, Reti, Vanessa, Boris, Jenny)

Zanzibar (Friday, August 7)

We had lectures at the Institute of Marine Sciences, part of University of Dar es Salaam, this morning, about the coastal ecosystems here in Stonetown, and the environmental problems they're facing. We did an exercise with Jonna to quickly develop project ideas tackling marine environmental issues, like the pumping of raw sewage directly into the ocean at the port in Stonetown. We also talked about the tragedy of the commons and the state of marine fisheries with John Erickson, Pat's husband and an environmental economist at UVM.

Old buildings along the road from IMS to our hotel

We got the afternoon off to explore Stonetown a bit more, which was really nice. Helen, Reti, Vannessa and I went off to the market in the Old Fort for jewelry, paintings, and scarves, and then wandered around the historic district, browsing the shops and bargaining for souvenirs.

Market inside the Old Fort

Kids diving off embankment into the water near the port

We met the group for dinner at Archipelago, where I got a delicious Zanzibar curried fish dish. A bunch of us were still up for hanging out after dinner, so we went to the Africa House Hotel, one of the few places that serves alcohol in mostly Muslim Stonetown. It was a beautiful old building--a remnant from colonial days no doubt--and had a hookah bar and great patio. We had a drink and lounged on the pillows, feeling very decadent after the surroundings we'd been in for the past couple weeks.

The Africa House hookah bar

Sokoine to Zanzibar (Thursday, August 6)

We packed up and left SUA first thing today, and drove to Dar. The trip was supposed to be about three hours, but with traffic ended up almost four, so we were a bit late getting to the Landmark Hotel for our lunch and lecture break. I had planned to meet up with my friend Cathy, who's here in Tanzania working on her Ph.D. on water issues in Saadani National Park, through the University of Rhode Island. She was really interested to meet Meing'Ataki, since Ruaha has been having similar water problems to Saadani, so she could compare the two. Although it was a hectic lunch, it was really nice to see her, and she met Meing'Ataki and Deanna and Liz, so I think it will be helpful for her research.

We left Dar in a hurry to get to the airport--or more realistically to sit in traffic on the road leading to the airport. But we made our flight on time, and the super short twenty minute plane flight made all the airport preparations--packing, weighing baggage, security, x-rays, the patting-down I received--seem somewhat pointless. Upon landing at the Zanzibar airport, we discovered that our luggage been loaded on to the plane in Dar, and then promptly removed from the plane, still in Dar, because the plane was overweight. So while we were in Zanzibar, our bags were still in Dar. Making the best of it, we loaded into buses to head to our hotel, happy that we had a little less to carry for the time being.

Our plane to Zanzibar

We're staying at the Abuso Inn in Stonetown for the four nights we're here--and sadly, the last four nights of Envirovet. The hotel is beautiful, and positively luxurious especially compared to the SUA dorms we came from. We have our own bathrooms with sit-down toilets, toilet paper, and showers with hot water, and the rooms are all really nice and historical, and look out over the Indian Ocean.

The inside of our room in the Abuso Inn

We had some down time before dinner, so a big group of us went out walking around Stonetown, exploring some markets, the Old Fort, and Forodhani Park on the water. The feel of Stonetown is really different from any of the places we've been in mainland Tanzania. Both the colonial and tourist influences are much stronger here. Most of the architecture in the historical district where we're staying is very reminiscent of European cities, and there are huge old buildings left from the days when Zanzibar was a slave trade island.

Nighttime food market in Forodhani Park

We met up again for dinner, and happily Liz and Deanna had figured out the luggage situation and our bags were all safe and sound in the hotel, with nothing even stolen from them. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant, and got to bed early in comfy, clean, and cozy beds.

Sunset in Stonetown over the Indian Ocean

Sokoine, Day 2 (Wednesday, August 5)

Today we split the day in half, first talking about biomarkers and pollution in fish. We had a couple lectures, and then went outside to practice bleeding and taking post-mortem samples from catfish, and to look at a few different types of potentially toxic cyanobacteria.

View from where we were testing fish outside the vet school

Preparing to bleed a gigantic catfish

The second half of the day focused on the problem of Influenza in Tanzania. We had an Avian Flu lecture from one of the SUA faculty, and then a lecture on the H1N1 Swine Flu from a visiting professor from UC Davis. In the afternoon we had a lab, practicing chicken restraint and sample collection for AI testing. We each got our own chicken to handle and test, and it was really and the chickens were nice and calm and friendly.

African chicken restraint method: a towel

My test chicken

For dinner, we drove into Morogoro and went to Dragonaire's, a pizza restaurant. The food was delicious, and we hung out there after dinner at the bar, dancing and playing pool.

Group at Dragonaire's

Sokoine University of Agriculture Veterinary School (Tuesday, August 4)

We spent most of the day today in lectures from various SUA vet school faculty on everything ranging from Rift Valley Fever to molecular techniques to identify illegal bushmeat traders to small animal practice and animal welfare in Tanzania. We also took a tour of the vet school, and it certainly made me appreciate what we have at Cornell (and UCSF for that matter) all the more.

The lab mouse facility: no barriers, and the ventilation was an open window

The small animal clinic here is fairly new, since the idea of small animal medicine is a fairly new one in Tanzania, and they have one big exam room with two tables, plus a surgery room and radiology room that are shared for all the animals they see.

Hospital at SUA: This was the main exam room, for large and small animals

One thing we saw today that was really unique was the facility for "Hero Rat" training. In Tanzania, these giant Gambian Rats are trained to sniff tuberculosis from sputum samples from people in the hospitals in Dar. The rats are also used elsewhere in Africa to sniff explosives from old land mines in war zones, and are light enough that they don't set off the mines, so they can be safely located and removed.

View from the Hero Rat training facility on SUA's campus

Rat sniffing TB sputum samples

We got to hold the giant gambian rats!

Udzungwa Mountains (Monday, August 3)

We left Tan-Swiss bright and early (well, not bright, since when we left at 5:30 am it was definitely still dark out) to get on the road to Udzungwa Mountain National Park. We stopped at the park headquarters, where we saw yellow baboons, black and white colobus monkeys, and Iringa red colobus monkeys, which are endemic to the Udzungwa region. After a short introduction from the park ecologist, we went on a hike up to the top of Sanje Falls.

Trail sign for our hike to the top of the falls

Sanje Falls

It was a beautiful hike, stopping at different levels of the falls to see the pools and take pictures. On the way back down, we took a detour down to the very bottom of the falls, and we were able to swim in the icy pool at the bottom and dive off the rocks.

Me diving into the pool at the base of the falls

It was only probably 8 km or so round trip, but pretty steep in parts, with stairs and bridges built out of stick slats that really didn't look like they would hold some of the larger members of our group. It was much more what I expected from this trip, and I was again surprised by how little actual physical activity we've done since we've been here--especially since I can't exactly go for a run once the day is over in most of the places we've been staying, whether because of the danger from wildlife or humans.

Panorama view from the falls over the area around Udzungwa

Porter carrying camping supplies up to the campsite on the falls

After a late post-hike lunch, we got back in the coaster and drove on to Sokoine University of Agriculture (SUA), in Morogoro, where we're staying for the next three nights. The vet school at SUA is one of the critical partners with UC Davis for the HALI project and for Envirovet itself, so we're spending a couple days here to see the school and learn more about the veterinary program and some of the challenges of veterinary medicine in Tanzania.

Travel Day, Ruaha to Mikumi (Sunday, August 2)

Another elephant at Ruaha

After a quick breakfast at Ruaha, we got on the road for our long travel day back to Mikumi town. We planned to stop in Iringa for gas, then at Riverside campsite for lunch, before traveling on to Tan-Swiss for the night.

Giraffe skull in Ruaha

On our way out of Ruaha, though, our Hiace got a flat tire, and then only about twenty minutes after that the radiator overheated and blew. With these stops, it took a lot longer than expected to get to Iringa, and we switched out the Hiace and two of the Rovers that had been giving us trouble for one of the big coaster buses. With this switch we also lost Anton, the driver of the Hiace, who was the best driver, and saved me a seat in the Hiace on our long journey days. He's applying to work with Deanna and the HALI project, and we exchanged email addresses so we can keep in touch, and I have a great driver if (or when!) I make it back to Tanzania.

Our flat tire

We got to Tan-Swiss with no more trouble, and had an early night. The electricity, real beds, indoor plumbing, and water heaters at Tan-Swiss seem absolutely luxurious in comparison to Chogela and Ruaha, which had none of these things. I'm still not sure which I like better, but I think a good mix of the two makes me the happiest--and makes me realize all over again how lucky we are to take things like electricity and toilets for granted. Living for a week or so at a time with dirt floors and thatch roofs, peeing directly next to the tent in the middle of the night because walking alone to the squat toilet across the clearing is too dangerous, and showering only when you're too hot and dirty to notice the coldness of the water trickling from the hose above your head--all these things can be great and challenging and fun, for a short time. But we've definitely met a lot of people so far on this trip who live in this way every day, for their whole lives. Just experiencing that here has been really amazing, and totally unlike anything I can imagine in the US.

Ruaha National Park (Saturday, August 1)

We went out into a different area of the park today to survey fire management plots for signs of animal presence. Meing'Ataki and the other park staff have been conducting surveys on four different fire management regimes: burning early in the dry season, burning late in the dry season, burning both early and late in the season, and no burning. They've been monitoring the vegetation, and we were there today to look at the animal distribution in the plots.

Lunch at the fire site

We were looking for elephant, impala, giraffe, and zebra poop in each plot, to determine who was using each area. We counted up piles and compared the different plots, and gave the data to Mzee Mbano so that he could do some statistical analysis, and compare it to the data that the Envirovet group collected last year at this time.

Meing'Ataki and Harrison, our Tanzanian experts

Initially, it looked like the elephants used the unburned areas more, while the impala used the early and late burns--in my mind, this difference might also be due to the fact that in the unburned area the vegetation was much thicker, and we may have missed the small impala poop that we had no trouble seeing in the more sparsely vegetated burned areas. It was cool to be able to get out of the cars and walk around in the park, and the weather was really nice. Quartz is really common in Ruaha, and I found some really pretty pink, orange and white pieces.

Liz and Deanna, our course leaders

The drive out to the fire plots was about two hours long, and we took extra time on the way back to look for more animals by the river. We saw more lions today, a male and a female sleeping under trees, and lots of the usual twiga, swala, and tembo. We also spotted some Roan antelope in the distance, and a couple of dik-diks. I saw a squirrel climbing up a tree, which I didn't think was weird at first, but then realized that it was probably the first squirrel I'd seen since leaving Ithaca for the summer. We also stopped under a tree full of vervet monkeys to watch them eat the elephant sausage, the fruit of the tree that the elephants really like, and that's shaped like sausage.

Giraffe along the drive back to headquarters

Because it was our last night in Ruaha, the staff had a special barbeque for us, complete with bia (beer), bbq mbuzi, and homemade cake.

The banda I shared with Valentina at Ruaha

Ruaha staff barbecuing mbuzi for our last night

Around sunset, a big bull elephant came up out of the riverbed that runs behind the bandas we were staying in, and walked lazily through our banda site, grazing on some of the trees that shaded the fire area. Though I'd heard the lions and some hippo noises the past few days, this was the first actual animal I'd seen walking through our campsite, so that was pretty cool.

Group at the BBQ on the last night in Ruaha

After the barbeque, Meing'Ataki invited us all up to a dance party that he organized for us and the Ruaha staff and residents. When we first got there, all the lights were on, the music was blasting American pop from the 1990s, and no one was dancing. Finally some people started to trickle onto the dance floor, and when the DJ switched to Tanzanian pop, everyone was much more comfortable. Deanna kicked off the party with Dr. Alex, both of them breakin it down in the middle of our little dancing circle. By the time the speakers caught on fire and the DJ had to move out of his booth to a new spot with different speakers on the floor, we Envirovet mwuzungu had started to mingle with the Tanzanians on the dance floor. Lots of us girls got pretty good at finding the happy medium between dancing with the Tanzanian men for a little while, and then running away from them when they started getting too "grabby," as Joanna put it. The drivers of our vans and Rovers were also at the party, so it was fun to include them and dance with them too.

Ruaha dance party!

The end of the night came quickly around midnight when Harrison and some of the other Evets started a waterfight, and everyone ended up soaked and cold. Back at the campsite, still too excited to get to sleep, Mike, D, and I sat by the campfire watching for animals. We saw a couple black-backed jackels and a mongoose, and made friends with the guard, who explained how to use his AK-47 rifle and let us all hold it. Now that was a Facebook photo!

I'm holding an AK-47