Going to the birds and testing our luck

August 7

I walked around the area where we are staying to explore and to get some exercise. It has been very windy here but it is sunny every day and is a comfortable temperature by 10:00 AM until 6:30 PM. Then it is cold, at least if you don’t have a sweater…which we don’t have. While I was walking, a woman approached me and asked for money in Swahili. I wasn’t carrying a purse and I told her I didn’t have any money. She followed me for awhile and asked again. It was the first time that has happened here. It happened again when a man asked me on the way to meet Ron for lunch.

I typically work on emails, the blog and watch or read news throughout the day. I am also reading a non fiction account of a journalist in East Africa. It is a great read if you are interested in Africa and to want to learn more about the newspaper business. The book is Love, Africa. By Jeffrey Gettleman of the NY Times who covered 13 East African countries for ten years.

I got a call from Ron for lunch and walked to town. We went shopping first. Ron wanted to get some African print fabric for a shirt. I had seen a shop in town from the car on Saturday when we were out sight seeing. We had fun looking at several choices in his color range before settling on one. This particular piece came in a six meter length, a little over six yards. It cost $11.14!!!! I think a yard would cost that much back home. I will use the leftover piece to have a jacket made but want to get some more fabric to use for cuffs and collar if I can find something that will work. Think patchwork!

August 8

Today is a government holiday so Robin and Ron have the day off. Both need to work on their project but we decided to go birding for a bit in the morning. So on Monday they made arrangements with a guide and car/driver. We got picked up at 8:00. Leon was our guide. He was raised by a white family from the time he was nine. His mother had been their chef and his grandfather had worked for the family as well. The family lives here now. They had moved here in 2008 from Arusha up north near the Serengeti. Because we told Leon the guys had only two-three hours to spare we stayed nearby for the excursion.

bee eater

Robin Chat

First we walked through a field about four km from town and spied a number of birds including a green bee eater and Robin Chat and a . Then he told us his family had a deck with lots of bird feeders and he had asked his family if we could come out to bird watch from their deck It was  another few km on dirt and dusty roads. We stopped a couple of times to spy some birds including the drongo. We also saw a mongoose (very cute)

It turned out the his ‘parents’ have published one book and are preparing to publish another one that targets the best places for birding in Tanzania with maps and information about what birds you will see in each area.

Purple crested Tucaro

WOW! What an experience. Neil, Leon’s ‘dad’, was quite the host. We sat out back and couldn’t believe our luck. The birding was fantastic which you can see from the photos. But Neil was an added bonus. Their house is off the grid. Neil was a power engineer. They heat water with solar panels, they have their own well, they cook with gas so I assume they use canisters since they are way rural. Neil is a true environmentalist and stays up to date on what the Trump administration is doing. I was impressed. In addition to bird feeders they have areas for birds to drink and wash, small concrete bowls as it were. We sat still while three purple crested tucaro took their time to make sure it was safe to come down and have a drink. They are so beautiful and colorful.

Doves

We also saw doves and a small bird that flew in flocks

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A bulbul

Leon told us about two nearby restaurants. He drove by the Greek Club on the way back to our guesthouse. We would never have found it as there is not a single sign. It must be some sort of town secret. We asked to see the menu and said we would come back for dinner. Leon said he and his wife would join us.    The other restaurant is up the hill from us he said. So after Ron worked for awhile we decided to walk up the hill to the Sunset Hotel restaurant. It was much further than we had anticipated. You can have a perfect view of a sunset because it is a very steep climb up the side road, high above any other structures. But wow, this place is literally nestled in between huge boulders. I wish I knew more about geology to understand what was happening when these boulders were strewn about willy-nilly like ping pong balls. The boulders are 10-15 feet high. Our two sandwiches took an inordinate amount of time to be served. Fortunately we had a great view from the deck overlooking Iringa. Many people still cook with wood so there was a definite haze. There was also some active burning going on but it was too far away to see what was being burned.

Ron worked more in the afternoon and I rested after working on the blog. Robin and the two of us took our flashlights and walked down to the Greek Club on unlit dirt roads. Leon and Jacqueline joined us shortly. The restaurant had about six tables and a few on the outside porch where it is too cold to eat after sunset. Five different people came into the restaurant who enthusiastically greeted Leon, some of whom had worked with him in the past. All were white expats. After a delightful evening Leon and Jacqueline walked us back to our guesthouse then called his brother to pick them up. We later learned that Leon is one of the top five birders in Tanzania! We are so damn lucky!!

August 11

We left home July 30^th and it is now Aug 11^th. Neither of us has been able to sleep past 5:00 since arrival. Today I woke up at 3:00 a.m., 4:00 and had difficulty getting back to sleep and then again at 5:00. Ron was awake by then so we snuggled and tried to get back to sleep but we were unsuccessful so we got up and read until time to get up and shower and dress for breakfast. One benefit of getting up so early is we hear the call to prayer each morning and it is a lovely experience. I think I mentioned early on that about 35% of the population of Tanzania is Muslim, 35-40% Christian and the remainder follow more traditional religions centered on ancestor worship.

Ron’s work is going well. Today he finishes his information gathering, will write up his interviews and then start on his report of findings. He is pleased the project has gone so well.

For two days I had diarrhea and Ron did after my first day but it wasn’t food poisoning. I pulled out the sheet on the malaria pills we are taking and discovered one side effect is diarrhea. Great. So we didn’t take a pill last night to test my theory. Neither of us had trouble today. Now our dilemma is how to proceed. When we fly from here to Dar we are in a small plane for 90 minutes with no toilet. We have never seen a mosquito in Iringa probably because it is dry season, it is very windy and it is cold at night and in the morning. I suggested we go off the pills until we return to Dar and hope for the best. I also think I will take one every other day and use my mosquito spray religiously. I will take the pills while on safari as well. It would sure mess up our schedule if we get malaria but when we asked Neil on Tuesday what he did about malaria prevention he said nothing. He has lived here for years and said he gets it about once every ten years. When we lived in Sri Lanka the doctor there discouraged us from taking the pills daily. The prescription is quite hard on the liver. We have our fingers crossed on this one.