Written by Andi Antal, Liam Sjolande-Jaspersen & Jessica Smith
The seventy-five mile drive from Arusha to the outskirts of Tarangire National Park proved more challenging than anticipated. What was meant to be a four-hour drive took an impressive eight hours. After a slight mishap with getting lost and driving through a dust storm with open windows, our patience was further tested with the impassability of a dried up riverbed and low-hanging tree. We attempted to build a road out of stones across the sandy banks, which would have solved our first problem, however the tree was a more permanent blockade. We were not allowed to cut it down due to the role it played in erosion prevention. A rescue mission was eventually put into action that involved several trips provided by the local staff of the site we were to visit. We emptied the bus of all our bags and equipment and boarded SUVs and pickup trucks to be chauffeured to our campsite, leaving the bus in the protection of some of our trusted Bunduz staff to fend off the wildlife of the bush. This whole process created a logistical nightmare for our staff and left us all thoroughly exhausted.
Despite this tiresome journey, the rest of our stay in Tarangire was great. Classes had the opportunity to interact with many of the villagers who lived nearby. We were transported daily to the surrounding communities in a retired Serbian Army troop carrier, which was more successful in overcoming the barriers previously described. Each trip proved exciting as we dodged the vicious thorns that lined the roads.
Day one for anthropology students involved the stocking of books in a local primary school’s library, built by the Tanzania People & Wildlife Fund (TPWF). This visit ended with a brief discussion with teachers and administrators at the school. Some secondary scholars who had won scholarships from this fund came and spent the afternoon at camp, allowing us to collect some life histories, gaining greater insights into their daily lives, struggles, and environmental interests.
As we are quickly learning, field school brings unexpected predicaments and it is better to have no expectations at all. The geography class experienced one of these situations on their first day; they drove two and half hours to a village only to find out there was a miscommunication issue – they thought they were meant to arrive at 10AM (on March 9th) but their hosts had understood that they were arriving on the 10th of March. Oh, field school! Back at camp, we got to experience the thrill of bucket showers, where many a student shared a bucket with the intention of conserving water – a high commodity in the hot, dry environment of Tarangire, where our water was collected from rainfall.
Day two: boma, bees and beads. The Anthro class visited the large boma (house) of a highly accomplished Maasai man of 12 wives and approximately 110 children. He had received a “living wall” fence by the TPWF. The “living wall” is an initiative created to reduce human wildlife conflict, using the planting of living commiphora tree posts connected by a chain-link fence. Planted in the dry season, the trees grow in the wet season and provide greater defense against predator attacks than the low thorny fences that are traditionally used. The women of this boma and nearby homesteads are in the beginning stages of establishing a bee-keeping community group, named after the Maa word for love, “Enyorro”. We sat down with these ladies and with the help of a translator, learned about this new and exciting livelihood and their hopes for the project. We then met a similar women’s group, this one focusing on beadwork. We had the chance to interact with these women in small groups as well as support their business by buying souvenirs we will be bringing home. Geog students had a jam-packed day, squeezing two days into one by covering both the class they were meant to have the day before and this day’s class. They conducted a land survey using drones and questionnaires regarding opinions on conservation in the region.
Day three, both classes went on a hike to an observation point overlooking the park. On the way, local staff showed us how to identify hyena, eland, buffalo and zebra tracks. We were escorted with vehicles up a portion of the hill with greater bush density, risky due to the increased probability of a buffalo encounter. From the saddle of the two hills, we hiked the final portion to the summit, from which a herd of said buffalo looked like marching ants. We were then all whisked away by the aforementioned military vehicle to promptly begin packing up camp in preparation for our early morning departure the following day.
Canadian Field Studies in Africa - 2015 Edition 