Lookin' good in Gombe Stream
Gombe Hills
Looking down at the lake from the park
Jessi, Brie and Kate- Foreground. Chimps- Background.
Thinking deep thoughts...
Fleas, again.
Boat Taxi to Gombe
Baby Chimp
Baby Chimp checking us out"It's a long long road, it's a big big world, we are wise wise women, we are giggling girls, we both carry a smile to show when we're pleased. We both carry a switchblade in our sleeves." -Ani DiFranco
March 28- April 11, 2010
The night before my birthday and the day before we had planned to head up to Dar, was spent in the company of friends at the one and only Njombe Standi Bar (Standi- meaning it is literally inside the bus stand.) The next day Kate and I boarded a bus for the 10-12 hour ride to the Port of Peace. We decided that my official birthday would start at sundown because no one wants to spend their real birthday doing the Njombe to Dar bus ride. So Kate told me that my birthday would start at sundown and continue for as long as I wanted. That is what real friends are for. :-) My birthday involved trivia, a swimming pool, the stars, fajitas, some of my favorite people in TZ, a giant inflatable octopus... There were even Masai there! Great day to turn 26.
The reason why we were in Dar to begin with was to attempt to buy plane tickets from Dar to Kigoma (look at a map- It is all the way on the West side of the country on Lake Tanganyika). Our friend, Jessi, who is a first year education volunteer, was supposed to be going to Zambia but when she got to the border she realized that her passport had been stolen. So we invited her to Kigoma with us. The plane tickets proved to be a huge problem. Everything is possible in Tanzania but there always has to be big problems before anything can happen. We were told everything from that there were no tickets, to that there were no flights, to expensive prices... Kate was ready to give up. I was not. I have wanted to go to Kigoma and Gombe Stream for most of my life. This trip was going to happen. I was even willing to take a bus for days across the country to get there. Luckily, Kate was not and talked some sense into me. So with perseverance and patience we finally got three tickets booked over the phone. However, when we went in to pay for them, they had three tickets booked on the wrong day to Tabora, not Kigoma. UGH! Suddenly, magically, three seats appeared on the Kigoma flight on the right day at the right price. Wonders never cease. Sometimes I just shake my head and wonder how anything ever happens in this country at all.
Flight: It is a plane that holds about 50 people. We actually know the pilot, who is white Tanzanian and we have talked to him at the Irish Pub in Dar. The flight was three hours and then suddenly sparkling in the distance appeared the world's longest, second clearest and one of the oldest lakes: Lake Tanganyika. We landed on a mud runway. Mud spattered the windows until I couldn't even see the actual landing, but it was smooth and somewhat exciting, just because it was my first ever no runway landing. Out into Kigoma!
Kigoma is hot! It is green and tropical. There are beautiful green hill covered in palms, banana, and other tropical trees that roll into the lake. The hills of the Congo rise up tall on the other side of the lake and give the feeling of really being in the heart of Africa. Kigoma town is fairly quaint. There is electricity and cell service. Almost all the cars are aid vehicles- all landrovers marked with: UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, Pride Africa, Catholic relief services, International Crisis Relief, Refugee this and that....Kigoma town itself feels safe. I was talking to a Tanzanian guy yesterday who was telling me that the town is Tanzanians but the outskirts are the camps are are not as safe because the people from Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo, and Uganda live there. But Tanzanians like to think of themselves as better than other Africans because their country is at peace, so I am not sure that the camps are really that dangerous. Kigoma town does have the most beggars that I have ever seen in Tanzania though. I can't really figure out why this is, they don't really seem poorer than people in Njombe. I loved Kigoma though. It is beautiful and people are very friendly and helpful. There are a few tribes that live here and they are very beautiful people.
There was one huge expensive resort on the lake, we went there right before sundown, and had a glass of wine on a bar that was floating on the lake. The Tanzanian staff were so pleased that we could talk with them in Swahili they said nothing as we went swimming in the resort's pool that looked on to the lake and the blue hills of the Congo as the sun set over them. I felt for minute that I was living the life of luxury until we got out of the pool and went back to our 4 dollar a night guest house... hehe.
We were trying to take the ferry from Kigoma all the way to the last stop before Zambia. But we wanted to book tickets before we left for Gombe. People keep telling us it might not go, it is full, etc. etc. lies... We thought we might be stuck in Kigoma for the rest of our lives. I asked a random guy on the street where the ferry dock is for ticket buying. He said- oh, I work there. We don't work today because of Easter, but let me give you the manager's number. Kate called him and he booked us for first class tickets leaving Kigoma on Wednesday... sweet. First class sounds really fancy probably to you Americans, but the other classes are the equivalent of steerage on a slave ship. And we thought we might die in the depths of the boat packed in with Africans. And we wanted a bed because the trip lasts for about three days.
One night we went out in Kigoma looking for some night life. We found none. We sat outside at a bar eating chipsi and drinking Safari and talking loudly in English. Then we walked home and went to bed. The next morning we got ready to head to Gombe. The only way to get there is by boat. It is about a three hour boat ride. We were warned that food at the hostel in the park is out of our price range so we stocked up on essentials: peanut butter, bananas, bread, popcorn, avocados... And we headed to the port.
March 28- April 11, 2010
The night before my birthday and the day before we had planned to head up to Dar, was spent in the company of friends at the one and only Njombe Standi Bar (Standi- meaning it is literally inside the bus stand.) The next day Kate and I boarded a bus for the 10-12 hour ride to the Port of Peace. We decided that my official birthday would start at sundown because no one wants to spend their real birthday doing the Njombe to Dar bus ride. So Kate told me that my birthday would start at sundown and continue for as long as I wanted. That is what real friends are for. :-) My birthday involved trivia, a swimming pool, the stars, fajitas, some of my favorite people in TZ, a giant inflatable octopus... There were even Masai there! Great day to turn 26.
The reason why we were in Dar to begin with was to attempt to buy plane tickets from Dar to Kigoma (look at a map- It is all the way on the West side of the country on Lake Tanganyika). Our friend, Jessi, who is a first year education volunteer, was supposed to be going to Zambia but when she got to the border she realized that her passport had been stolen. So we invited her to Kigoma with us. The plane tickets proved to be a huge problem. Everything is possible in Tanzania but there always has to be big problems before anything can happen. We were told everything from that there were no tickets, to that there were no flights, to expensive prices... Kate was ready to give up. I was not. I have wanted to go to Kigoma and Gombe Stream for most of my life. This trip was going to happen. I was even willing to take a bus for days across the country to get there. Luckily, Kate was not and talked some sense into me. So with perseverance and patience we finally got three tickets booked over the phone. However, when we went in to pay for them, they had three tickets booked on the wrong day to Tabora, not Kigoma. UGH! Suddenly, magically, three seats appeared on the Kigoma flight on the right day at the right price. Wonders never cease. Sometimes I just shake my head and wonder how anything ever happens in this country at all.
Flight: It is a plane that holds about 50 people. We actually know the pilot, who is white Tanzanian and we have talked to him at the Irish Pub in Dar. The flight was three hours and then suddenly sparkling in the distance appeared the world's longest, second clearest and one of the oldest lakes: Lake Tanganyika. We landed on a mud runway. Mud spattered the windows until I couldn't even see the actual landing, but it was smooth and somewhat exciting, just because it was my first ever no runway landing. Out into Kigoma!
Kigoma is hot! It is green and tropical. There are beautiful green hill covered in palms, banana, and other tropical trees that roll into the lake. The hills of the Congo rise up tall on the other side of the lake and give the feeling of really being in the heart of Africa. Kigoma town is fairly quaint. There is electricity and cell service. Almost all the cars are aid vehicles- all landrovers marked with: UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, Pride Africa, Catholic relief services, International Crisis Relief, Refugee this and that....Kigoma town itself feels safe. I was talking to a Tanzanian guy yesterday who was telling me that the town is Tanzanians but the outskirts are the camps are are not as safe because the people from Burundi, Rwanda, DR Congo, and Uganda live there. But Tanzanians like to think of themselves as better than other Africans because their country is at peace, so I am not sure that the camps are really that dangerous. Kigoma town does have the most beggars that I have ever seen in Tanzania though. I can't really figure out why this is, they don't really seem poorer than people in Njombe. I loved Kigoma though. It is beautiful and people are very friendly and helpful. There are a few tribes that live here and they are very beautiful people.
There was one huge expensive resort on the lake, we went there right before sundown, and had a glass of wine on a bar that was floating on the lake. The Tanzanian staff were so pleased that we could talk with them in Swahili they said nothing as we went swimming in the resort's pool that looked on to the lake and the blue hills of the Congo as the sun set over them. I felt for minute that I was living the life of luxury until we got out of the pool and went back to our 4 dollar a night guest house... hehe.
We were trying to take the ferry from Kigoma all the way to the last stop before Zambia. But we wanted to book tickets before we left for Gombe. People keep telling us it might not go, it is full, etc. etc. lies... We thought we might be stuck in Kigoma for the rest of our lives. I asked a random guy on the street where the ferry dock is for ticket buying. He said- oh, I work there. We don't work today because of Easter, but let me give you the manager's number. Kate called him and he booked us for first class tickets leaving Kigoma on Wednesday... sweet. First class sounds really fancy probably to you Americans, but the other classes are the equivalent of steerage on a slave ship. And we thought we might die in the depths of the boat packed in with Africans. And we wanted a bed because the trip lasts for about three days.
One night we went out in Kigoma looking for some night life. We found none. We sat outside at a bar eating chipsi and drinking Safari and talking loudly in English. Then we walked home and went to bed. The next morning we got ready to head to Gombe. The only way to get there is by boat. It is about a three hour boat ride. We were warned that food at the hostel in the park is out of our price range so we stocked up on essentials: peanut butter, bananas, bread, popcorn, avocados... And we headed to the port.
The port was busy and bustling. We met three Norwegians at the port who are studying abroad in Dar. So the six of us together boarded the wooden boat. About this time we realized how much harder it would have been to do this trip without Swahili and how much more money we would have had to pay. The boat gradually began to fill up with Tanzanians and their goods/supplies as they headed from Kigoma back to their respective villages. The guys who worked on the boat were heavily using us for marketing yelling out to the Tanzanians on the shore, "Hey, the white people use this boat! You should too!" Eventually we were underway. There was a lot of people crammed onto that boat with a lot of stuff. It was hot, someone threw up, a small child fell asleep on my backpack, a few chickens were on board... making it basically normal Tanzanian transportation. The villages we passed on the shore line were beautiful. So remote, with no road access. When the boat would pull up to the shore of a village a bunch of little boys would run toward the water, strip down naked and wade out selling chapatti to those aboard the boat. I tried to picture what it would have been like to grow up in one of those villages. What a different life. It was interesting to see how the livelihoods in the west are so tied to the lake. Tanzanians, resourceful as ever.
Finally we stopped at a beach without a village and only a sign that it was Gombe. Lush green hills towered over the lake and like Corcovado National Park in Costa Rica, it felt to me like somewhere special. For some reason, I think because of my parents, I have always been attracted to the remote. The harder to get to, the less visitors, the farther into the bush equals in my mind the bigger adventure. Kate was convinced that I absolutely could not live in Kigoma because there was nothing to do. I was thinking it would be kinda nice for a bit, as long as I had one companion with me. That is probably why Image village and I get along so well. It doesn't really bother me that it is further away from everything than everyone else's villages. Anyways, Gombe fit the bill for me. I have wanted to visit Gombe since I was a child. Always fascinated with Jane Goodall, a young woman able to live alone and research chimpanzees in the wild, I wanted to see her research site and her chimps. As a senior in high school, I was lucky enough to meet her in person. But going to Gombe was always a distant dream until I was placed in Peace Corps Tanzania and it became more of a possibility. Out of the boat and into the hostel which was right on the banks of the lake. We were told immediately by the Tanzanian staff to keep the door of the hostel closed because the baboons like to steal. Shortly after our arrival this had been forgotten and a large male baboon ran into the hotel and stole part of a pineapple out of the trash. The Tanzanians scared him out where he was met by another younger baboon and a mama baboon with a baby in tow. They waited patiently for the alpha baboon's handouts.
We sat at a picnic table in front of the hostel by the lake and played cards with the Norwegians. They taught us a game called, "The American" fittingly enough. The American is basically about making and breaking alliances, we now call it "The Norwegian." Then a Tanzanian guy came up and said in perfect English, "Oh, good you guys made it." We replied with "What? Do we know you." Turns out when we were at the bar speaking loud English about Kigoma's lack of nightlife and our plans to go to Gombe the next day, Gombe's Park Warden was sitting right behind us. He said , "Yeah I thought about offering you guys a ride on my boat, but I didn't. I can give you a ride back to Kigoma though." As much as an adventure as the boat ride was to the park and we were glad for the experience we were eager to take up the Park Warden for a speedy return trip. A mama came over who introduced herself as the Park Manager and asked where we were from. She is Mbena so we greeted her in Kibena which thrilled her to no end. We had discovered meals in the park were 20,000 shillings or about $18... whoa! So there was some talk in Swahili until both them agreed that we could pay only 5,000 shillings for the meals. The poor Norwegians, however, were not aware of this since they had no Swahili, so the discount and the boat ride were only extended to us.
The next morning we woke up to start hiking around Gombe in search of the chimps. There is only ever 36 visitors in the park at any given time and it was the low season, so it was actually just us and the Norwegians visiting. Our guide stated us climbing up a steep trail through the woods. It was like Oregon-green, damp, mossy... beautiful. Everyday there are researchers with the chimps. They record what they eat, where they go, what they do, etc. It is nice because then the researchers can walkie-talkie to the guides and tell them where a chimp family is located for the tourists to see. However, some days the researchers can't even find the chimps, or the chimps are too far into the forest for visitors to find them. So there is no guarantee that a sighting will even happen. Our guide suggested that we climb up to Jane's Peak, where Jane Goodall used to hike up to be able to find the chimps in the valleys below. Sometimes she would camp up there all alone so that she could be with them when they would rise early in the morning. After the steep climb we could see Lake Tanganyika glittering below and misty green hills with trees reaching for the blue sky. But most excitingly, we were able to hear the chimps, who were making calls that are called pant-hoots, which they use to locate other families. Our walkie-talkie buzzed to life and we heard a researcher tell our guide in Swahili that the chimps were just a bit further down the trail. We were actually going to see them!
We just came around a corner and there they were. Just like that. We were told to crouch down and basically act like chimps. We weren't supposed to make eye contact or fast movements as they see it as threatening. If a chimp came toward us we were supposed to grab onto a near by tree to keep them from dragging us away. There were four adults present- the alpha male of the family group, two other males and a female. The female had a baby in tow which we were told was about five months old. The alpha male had apparently been violent toward people in the past, so we were told to exercise caution. The adults mainly sat and groomed each other. The baby did what all children do and you could almost hear him yelling "Watch this, guys!" As he swung on branches, climbed on the grown-ups and was all-around annoyingly adorable. And we were so so close to them. You are not allowed to enter the park if you are sick because they share so much of our genetic code that it is easy for them to catch our illnesses. They were so human-like. Their expressions and behavior was very easy to relate to, you knew exactly what they were feeling. They were not fully interested in us besides the baby who enjoyed an audience. We just squatted down a few feet from them and tried to blend in with the group. At one point the alpha male made a quite movement toward us, we had been told never to run and just get out of his way while holding tight to a tree. Surprisingly, when a large chimpanzee is headed toward you, all you want to do is get away quick! We all immediately started backing up at a fast pace when our guide reminded us to stay calm. Turns out he was just switching positions to groom a different friend, so all in all it was a false alarm, but even me who loves wild animals, had my heart pounding after all the warnings. One is only allowed to spend an hour with the chimps before they have to move on, but our hour was spent in the beauty of the park watching an endangered species in the wild. It was certainly one of the most memorable hours of my life. We hiked back down, ate dinner and played cards. The next morning we got the Norwegians in on our free boat ride with the park warden and sped back to Kigoma.
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