Jungle

What a dramatic change from the way my life used to be like! We’re up at 6:30 each morning and I roll out from under the mosquito net trying not to let any of the buggers in to get Ruth and head to the kitchen. I pour out the boiled clean water from the night before into the 1.5 liter water bottles that we carry in our packs and put a pot of water on to boil for oatmeal. Thankfully, I brought 4 boxes from Dar es Salaam. They were filled with moths, but I ziplocked and froze the oats when we got here to kill off the suckers. A little more protein is OK by me, but now that I think about it that might be why Ruth isn’t so excited by the oatmeal. After breakfast we make our peace with the porcelain god- a minor deity here since it’s really just a hole in the ground. However, our health and happiness depend on the whims of this god, so we pray earnestly and follow all of the recommended practices. Once our bags are packed with raingear, research equipment and leftover food for lunch, we don our rubber boots and head to the car. It’s a half hour drive on the muddy roads over to the village of Katarukila on the edge of the forest called Magombera where we work for the day. Ruth’s research is going to be in two nearby areas, the Magombera forest and the Mwanihana forest. Magombera is only 11 square kilometers and is cut off from the rest of the Udzungwa Mountains by a train tack and many sugar cane farms. Mwanihana is in the heart of the Udzungwas. The idea is to learn how the Colobus monkeys in Magombera are affected by the pressures of a shrinking closed off forest and to develop a conservation plan. Each day we meet up with our guide Aloyce and hike into Magombera and track monkeys. Needless to say, this is Africa and the forest is filled with a strange (to us) plants and animals. Aloyce has local knowledge that keeps us safe.
Ruth and Aloyce- Udzungwa mountains in the background


Ruth has hired Aloyce to help with all of the work she’ll be doing in Magombera. He lives in Katarukila and knows the forest well. He’s a really nice guy. The average daily income is around 2 dollars here so he’s not expensive to hire. Aloyce also spends most of the day teaching us to speak Swahili. Basically, when we’re in Magombera he takes point. That means he spots the monkeys and the hazards before we stumble into them. So far, in four days, the hazards we have encountered include the Black Mamba snake, stinging plants and bugs, Ciafu (fire ants), spiders and fresh elephant tracks/poop not to mention the mosquitoes and flies.
Harmless Spider


We literally RUN across rivers of Ciafu and stomp our feet to shake them off before they can sting. Yesterday, Aloyce walked into a patch of them unawares and had to strip his pants off, their sting is very painful. Thank god we have our tall rubber boots. We tuck our pants into our high socks and pull the boots up over all- this seems to keep the bugs out OK on the lower half. We try to wear long sleeves above, but it’s so hot and humid that, for me, it’s literally impossible and I have to strip down to the wife beater. I’m soaked in sweat and smattered with organic jungle matter from pushing through the undergrowth. I have a bandanna sprayed by repellant that I wrap around my neck or head or wherever the bugs seem to be the most densely populated. All I need is a cigar and with a 5 day beard will look exactly like Humphrey Bogart from The African Queen. Elephants wander into Magombera from the Selous game reserve which borders the forest and is the size of France. These elephants don’t like humans. We hope that we don’t encounter any, but if we do we are supposed to just turn and run. I think Aloyce and I are both secretly fearing and dreading the days when Ruth will have us out in the forest from before first light until after dark as these are the times when the elephants are most dangerous. I took point for Ruth while Aloyce was going to the bathroom and I made it 5 feet, hacking away with my panga, before something stung my hand. By evening it was difficult even to make a fist. No idea what it was and there were no marks above the skin, but it ended my career as a bush guide and we backtracked to where we were. I’ll stick with just being a porter. When Aloyce returned and we told him we wanted to go that way he took a wide route around the spot that I got stung. He saw something there that I didn’t. Perhaps it was one of these poisonous butterfly caterpillars.
Caterpillars


We have found the Red Colobus monkeys that Ruth will be studying. The trouble is identifying which group is which and pinning down their general location so that we can re-find them on another day.
Red Colobus


There are at least three other types of monkey that we have seen which are sometimes interspersed with the Red Colobus groups. We find the monkeys by scanning the trees for motion, listening for their sounds and waiting for Aloyce to tell us where they are. Let me just say here that Ruth LOVES monkeys. She’s been yearning for them since she was a small child. I learned yesterday that she got her Swahili language book when she was only 12 to prepare for this day. She can stand- in the heat- her neck craned back 90 degrees staring up with determination at a group for 10 straight hours. Whenever the monkeys settle in a tree I find a safe looking spot on the ground and sit with a faraway look in my eyes- perhaps from dehydration and mild heat stroke- rubbing the back of my neck cursing and slapping away mozzies, wondering at Ruth’s steadfast focus. She’s amazing.
Looking up at the trees


When you look up all day you see all kinds of neat creatures.
Chameleon


Owl


Battling Millipeds


We generally spread out our poncho near a monkey filled tree for lunch break. The first couple of days we were eating leftover oatmeal for lunch, but since Thursday we have had leftovers from mama Sharifa’s dinners! Ruth has hired mama Sharifa to cook one big dinner for us each day. She drops off 3-4 covered pots on our doorstep each evening and picks them up in the morning. It’s been fantastic. We get rice, beans, cooked mchicha, chapatti and even avocado. I went from starving to eating more than I should so as not to let down mama. I might already be getting fat, but we love mama Sharifa. Aloyce is supposed to bring his own food and water for the day, but usually has such a meager amount of either that we give him some of ours for which he is really grateful. I drink 2 liters of water per day while Aloyce has a small cupful.

At the end of the day, there’s a gaggle of kids running up to stand by our car while we load our gear and say our goodbye’s to Aloyce. They are afraid of the camera and run when I pull it out. They stare at us like we’re from another planet and sometimes if I make a fast movement they all scatter.
Kids Running


But after a bit of coaxing we can get them to stand there for us to Piga Picta.
Kids


Then they all gather around and laugh at the kids who were captured on film. Once they get warmed up then the boys always want me to take a photo of them doing karate with each other. I haven’t dared to show them the camera’s video function yet since the will go crazy over that and we’re usually in a hurry to get back home. As we drive through the village everyone stops what they are doing to wave at us and kids run up to the car. We feel like we’re in a parade waving to the right and left- it’s not possible to remain anonymous and unnoticed for us. Word spreads in advance of our vehicle. If we get home before dark we have this beautiful mountain to watch the sun set behind.
Udzungwa


And finally, it’s Bug (Mdudu) of the Day time! We thought that this bug was really interesting. It looks a lot like an elephant. I’ve never seen anything like it before.
Elephant Bug