Adventures with Julia

December 3, 2018

Before leaving Namiri Plains, I want to give you our count.  We saw 17 lion and 14 cheetah and some of them we saw more than once.  This was a record for us and we were very thrilled to have had the experience.  Moving on…..

Namiri Airport was full of safari guests moving from one camp to another.  Our next stop was the Mwiba airstrip and Mwiba Lodge, 25 minutes away.  We flew south over the Serengeti Plains and passed over another ecotone between plains and dense woodland.  What a different world.  The elevation is 5,800 feet, 600 feet higher than Namiri, the temperature is hot and the scenery is dense, with messy woods, tall, dried and crushed grasses and many broken trees.  The word Mwiba means “thorn” in Swahili and it is quite apt.  Our new driver/guide is a friendly man named Godson.  The vehicle is newer and beefier then our last one and needs to be, given the terrain. Godson drives just about everywhere including over bushes, small trees, boulders and whatever is in his way to get us into photo range.  As we drive toward the lodge, we see only small things–a pair of dik dik, a couple of Slender Mongoose, a few birds and an impala.  An inauspicious beginning.

At the lodge, which is in the middle of a dense boulder and wooded setting,  we meet the staff and are blown away at the architecture and decoration of the facilities.  The place is a deluxe version of a tented camp on steroids, as Brad put it.  There are 10 rooms and they are each beautifully appointed.  We were assigned Room 5 and have a view overlooking a small stone gorge.  From the deck we saw an elephant and a rock hyrax.

Brad asked us to guess what the closest living relative is to the rock hyrax.  The rock hyrax looks like a large hamster and lives in rocky out crops. He tells us to think outrageously with our guesses, but never did we think of an elephant.  Apparently this little creature bears common traits with the elephant, such as a long gestation period of 8 months which is quite something considering a rabbit is only 6 weeks and a lion is only 3.5 months (An elephant’s gestation is 22 months, so the point is that both are long). Then, just like its distant cousin, it has modified incisors, which form tusks, internal testes, and finally 4 toes at the front and 3 at the back – interesting stuff!

Brad has been coming here for the last 8 years, when there was only a rustic tented camp.  He knows the owner, Dan Friedkin, of the lodge and private ranch, which consists of 148,000 acres, as well as the contiguous Maswa Game Reserve, which contains 692,000 acres.  The Mwiba Lodge was built 5 years ago and is the only guest facility in the entire concession.  Because the place is private, we are able to go anywhere at any time to see game or have an interesting experience.

After checking into our tent, we enjoyed a delicious lunch and then headed out to see if we could find a lion that was reputed to be in the area.

After an hour of plowing through dense forest, we encountered Kalamas, a huge lion, larger even than Bob Junior, but not nearly as handsome.  He had lost his mane somehow and was only slowly growing it back and he had been in a fight with another male and injured his right leg.  We watched him yawn several times and finally get up.  When he tried to walk, we could see the pain he was in.  In a couple of steps he laid back down and did not move.  Brad and Godson were sure he would recover, but it was sad to see him in such a bad way.

We left him in search of other animals we had not seen and soon spotted a small group of kudu, large grey antelope with approximately 5 vertical stripes down their sides.  A very attractive animal.

After trashing through a lot more bush we find a new pride of lions composed of, Nala, and her two remaining cubs, a boy and a girl; Bahati and her remaining single boy cub.  The two females, who are not related to each other have banded together to raise their remaining three cubs.  With them is an unnamed male who is leading the pride.  Godson believes this lion is the one who fought and injured Kalamas.

While watching the scene, which was difficult to photograph because of the low light and the animals being spread out, Godson offered to let us name the male lion, as the staff had not yet come up with one.  Mark suggested Julius.  Godson liked it and called him Julius from then on.

By this time it was getting late.  We stopped for a short sundowner along the roadside and watched a colorful sun, set between the trees.   Driving to camp in the dark Brad used a large spot light to illuminate the vegetation around us as we passed.  We spotted Grey-breasted Spur Fowl, Steppe Eagle, mongooses and several Bush Babies, which are the world’s smallest primates.  After a nice dinner, we went to bed and crashed.

On December 4, 2018 we had coffee and biscuits  and were in the vehicle by 7:30am.  We had several sightings including:  Defassa Water Buck, Eastern African Bush Buck, Grey Hornbill, and a herd of elephant we met on the road.

Godson stoped at an overhanging bolder to show us some, not very ancient, graffiti from 2005.  He and Brad surmised it was made by the Sukuma tribe of about 5 million people who live near Lake Victoria.  The Swahili markings appear to have been made by a hunting group who poached bush meat for commercial sale and marked the name and number of their kill on the rock wall.

That visit led Brad into a discussion of the unification of languages in Tanzania.  The first president of Tanzania, Julius Nyerere, eliminated tribalism by uniting Tanzania under one language, Swahili, in the 60’s.  This was very helpful in reducing tribalism.  Citizens now think of themselves as Tanzanians.  Unfortunately, according to conversations we had the general feel, he was a socialist and ruined the economy during his long tenure.  The current president, John Magufuli, is a capitalist and is trying to stop corruption, industrialize, support tourism and build railroads, electrical systems and harbors.  He has built a new pipeline to move oil from Uganda, through Tanzania to the harbor and is charging Uganda a very high price.

By the end of that discourse it was about 10:30 and, we were at a watering hole overlooked by a tree blind, which was perched in a Whistling Thorn Acacia.  Mark and I sat in the blind enjoying the view and usual animals, including giraffe, while Brad, Godson and staff who had arrived with breakfast, proceeded to build a fire and cook sausage, bacon, toast and eggs for everyone.  We had coffee and fresh squeezed OJ in the blind and came down when breakfast was ready.  Very nice treat.  I love all these little surprises.

After lunch, we head for a cultural experience Brad has been looking forward to sharing with us.  He has explained that there are 125 ethnic tribes in Tanzania and that the Datoga Tribe has many clans.  We will be visiting one of these small clans called the Darorajega, that happens to live just outside the Mwiba Ranch border.

We are accompanied by Kutita,  a Maasi tracker, as well as Godson, who speaks some Datoga as well as fluent Swahili, will help us communicate. He taught us two Detoga words–hello, pronounced “say you” in Detoga and thank you, which sounds like “da ba distaway” in Datoga.

 

It was a delightful experience and we took many photos and videos of them dancing and singing.  As soon as we arrived,  the married women, who were dressed in lovely beaded, goat skin dresses, formed a circle and sang and danced for what seemed like a long time.

Different women would take turns moving into the center of the circle and jumping a foot or so in the air without using any apparent effort.

They laughed a lot at each other with joy.  I became convinced they were mostly entertaining themselves.  Godson told us each song had a purpose, such as; improving fertility, having a baby, recovering from sickness, etc.

Godson pointed out a lady who had Datoga scarification and asked her if I could take her photo.  She admitted that the scarification was very painful, but a sigh of beauty, so she did it.

After awhile, I singled out one woman, who smiled at me and seemed willing to talk.  Godson translated.  Her name was Mataja.  She was very pretty and told me she was 31, married with 2 sons and a daughter.  Her husband works for the Mwiba Reserve and does well by their standards.  They live in a private boma near the large open compound, where we are being entertained.  I would like to have continued talking with her, but Brad wanted us to watch the men dance on the other side of the compound, so we left the women, who continued dancing, and went to watch the men, who had already begun to dance.

This dancing was quite different, with the men standing in two rows facing each other and making strange, but musical, sounds with their mouths, hands and voices.  A couple of them even played harmonicas. ( I was sorry I did not have recorders to give them).

After the men danced by themselves awhile, six young, unmarried women, began to join them in the dance.  They were dressed very differently from the married women and were covered in robes over their dresses.

They would shake their bodies and jump in unison to the beat of the clapping and singing without ever bending at the waist.  After a few minutes they would leave the men and step aside for awhile.  Then they would reenter the dance and shake and jump again.  Finally, they continued without stopping.  I grew tired of watching and don’t know how long they carried on.

Mataja joined us as we toured the dwellings in the compound.  One was for the men and the other two were for the first wife and the second wife.  The dwellings were  small, rectangular and made of tree limbs, mud and dung.  The roofs were made of straw, with a layer of mud on top to protect them from the intense wind that comes up nearly every day.  The ceilings are a little shorter than I am and definitely to short for the Detoga. I asked Mataja why this was.  She explained that the shorter structures were less likely to blow away.

In the middle of the open area, there were skin mats laid out with hand made jewelry on each.  Mataja told me this was the work of the ladies and they were hoping we would buy something.  Each lady had her own mat.  I did not want any of it, but what could I do?  So I bought something from several mats including hers.

While some men and maidens continued to dance we said “da ba distaway” to Mataja and the elders.

It was quite an unusual experience for us.  There were no other visitors and the performances were not the least contrived for our benefit.  I felt very privileged to have seen the people and witnessed the dancing, singing and joy.

We drove back into the Mwiba Ranch property, stopped along the way home for a sundowner and a toast to the setting sun, whilst absorbing what we had just witnessed, and continued to Mwiba Lodge for dinner and bed.

We seem to be heading for bed about 9:30 every evening.   Each day is full of so many memorable experiences we have no energy to stay up longer.

December 5, 2018

We were in for another cultural experience with a completely different tribe, who happen to live independently on the Mwiba Ranch.  They are the Hadzabe Tribe, with only 800 in the world, and 500 who practice the hunter-gatherer way of life, like the small group we will see.  Godson drives to a prescribed place where we leave the vehicle and start walking.  Nkangala, a Hadzabe Tribe member, who is an anti-poaching ranger working for Mwiba Lodge, accompanied us to be our interface with the tribe, who had been primed for our visit.  He carries  machete and walks purposefully for about 10 minutes.  Then he starts whistling and shortly three women appear.  They approach cautiously and do not talk.  They are wearing tattered Salvation Army shirts, patched wrap around skirts and beads. and, when I get closer, have a strong smell.  We keep walking and Nkangala keeps whistling.  After another few minutes we hear the return whistling, a dozen figures appear out of the woods.  There are a handful of young, strong and very healthy men and a few more women.  The men are wearing shorts and wrap around skirts and have many beads criss crossed over their chests for decoration.

They shake our hands without smiling or making eye contact and then begin walking through the bush.

We dutifully follow.  Very soon they stop walking and grab bunches of leaves from a particular bush, Nkangala tells us is called Cassia, and rub them all over their arms and chests.

Mark learns this is good to keep away bees and reduce swelling and grabs some for his arms as he has had many tsetse fly bites.  Everyone laughs and that breaks the ice.

About 30 yards later the clan spots a Commiphora tree that they see contains honey and proceed to hack into it to get to the honey.   There is a tube that the bees make that protrudes from the hive to allow bees in and out while not allowing ants to get in.  Ingenious!  We each get a small sample and find it very tasty and sweet. They thank the tree for the honey and move on.  Within another 100 yards, one of them sees a bush baby up in a tree and expertly shoots it with one arrow.

He then climbs into the tree to fetch it and finds a baby bush baby still alive.  He brings both down and ties the not yet dead adult animal to his belt.  The baby is handed to one of the women who lets it snuggle into her chest.  On closer inspection, we realize that another bush baby and a dik dik are already hanging from the belts of other tribe members.

Continuing on, they stop at a Capparis bush, that Nkangala says is  used for healing snake bites.  They dug out some roots, peel off the bark, chew the root and rub it on the wound.  They also make a drink with the juice from the root and drink that to help clear the poison from the victim’s blood.

Further into the woods, they stop again and the women start digging energetically at the roots of a shrub called Tselelaloago.  The women make a powder of the root and mix it with baboon fat.  It is believed that by rubbing this mixture on her body, a woman will attract a man.  I asked if any of these ladies had tried it and they laughed and said no.  None of them had had trouble finding a man.

At another bush, the eldest woman began to dig under a plant Nkangala said was a Ipomea tuberlosam, or “long flowering tubor”, and soon we saw her pull potato like tubers out of the soil.  She pulled out 6 or 7 and covered up the rest of the plant, so more would grow.  On the spot they peeled the tubers and ate them.  They cut pieces for us, but I declined, as so many hands had been on them.  Mark took a chance and said it had a light potato flavor.  He did not get sick.

In a small clearing was a large Commiphora tree.  One of the young men climbed the tree and declared that there was a good supply of honey in it, but the hive was made by African killer bees, as opposed to the previous hive, which was from the African stingless bee.  He came down and the men began preparations to get the honey.  First they built a fire by rubbing sticks together. Everyone gathered wood. One gathered straw for starter and soon they had a roaring fire going.  They built it in such a way that the smoke from the fire blew toward the bee hive to smoke them out.  Then one of the men cut down the tree and they all went after the honey combs.  There was not as much as was hoped, as the bees had eaten a lot keeping themselves alive.  They made short work of the honey and we did not get any this time.

Then it was time to cook the meat they had killed.  First the dik dik and 2 bush babies were skinned and thrown into the fire.  I saw the woman with the baby take it off her chest, wack it on the head and throw it in the fire, skin and all.  As the meat cooked, it would be turned over, then pulled out of the fire and the cooked part broken off and eaten.  Eventually everyone got some meat, although not a lot.  Some of the dik dik meat was stuck on a stick to cook.  When done it was handed to me and, knowing it had not been handled while cooking, I took a piece.  It was very tasty.

Last of all was a bow and arrow demonstration.  Each of the men had their own hand made bow and several arrows, used to kill different animals.  For a target Mark volunteered his ball cap.  The very second shot went directly through his visor.

After that all of us took turns trying to shoot a plastic bottle.  I got closer with each shot, but was not given any more arrows.  Mark was not successful either.  Everyone had a good laugh.  The Hadzabe people were finally comfortable with us and gave us hugs all around.  We were each given a bead necklace as a gift.

A group photo with the Hadzade people

At each stop along the path we had taken, the Hadzabe would sing and chatter and laugh.  They seemed to be having a good time and enjoyed the bounty they had collected.  Mark measured the distance we walked with them to be 2.2 miles in 2.5 hours.  They walked with us back to our vehicle and bid us good bye. Then they all turned away and walked down the road singing and laughing.

We had just finished another thrilling cultural experience.

However, it turned out our day was just beginning.  We had heard there were Wild Dogs on the ranch and wanted to find them.  Fortunately, Brad and Godson had the co-ordinants of where they had last been seen.  It was an hour and a half away and rained hard most of the time, but we did not care.  Wild Dogs had been an unfulfilled goal for years.

Along the way we saw a few huge baobab trees in the dense forest.  When we reached the spot, the dogs were not there.  We drove in circles hoping to see them and were about to give up, when we ran into an anti-poaching team, who had just seen them and directed us to an open meadow.  There they were, the 13-member strong Mwiba Pack, lounging around.  We stayed with them over an hour enjoying their relaxed antics.  These animals appeared very healthy and full.

On the way back to the lodge, we identified a few more creatures, not to mention the many we have already seen: a Eurasian Roller; a small antelope, called a Grey Duiker, which is unusual because it eats birds; a few Red Billed Hornbill; a pancake tortoise, which is thinner than the leopard tortoise; and a white Headed Buffalo Weaver bird sitting on a nest.

Just a few minutes from the lodge, at about 3:15, we suddenly spot a leopard sitting in a tree next to the road.  What a sight.  He was very handsome, healthy and full.  We watched until he came down from the tree and walked into the dense bush.  Unable to find him again, we returned to the lodge.

Brad did not give us any time off.  At 4:30 we went for a 1.2 mile walk from the lodge to a nearby hill.  He would not tell us why, just insisted we do it.  Nkangala joined us and stopped to pick a couple of branches from different trees.  I was pooped, but went along without paying any attention to Nkangala, and barely made it to the end……until I saw padded chairs waiting for us at the top.  Suddenly I had more energy, got to the top and plopped into one of the chairs.

The staff had built a fire, set up a bar, laid out snacks and pointed our chairs toward the not yet setting sun.  Nkangala proceeded to make a bow and arrow the Hadzabe way.  It took him an hour to make the perfect bow and arrow.  We put Mark’s hat out again and he shot the arrow right through it.  Mark now has a hat with a story.  The sunset was lame, but we sat in the dark for quite a while watching a multidirectional lightening show in the distance and reminiscing about the very special day we had just experienced.

Back at the lodge, dinner went quickly, as bed beckoned.