Weavers and Whatnot

Social time

2012-02-01T19:18:00.003+03:00

Thought I'd post a picture or two from our weekend, which was highly sociable. A relaxed start on saturday saw playing at home before heading off to meet friends at a lodge for lunch, swimming and playing. We headed off mid afernoon for a 2 year birthday party in a beautiful garden with lots guests big and small, plenty of wine and water balloons, paddling pools and potato crisps and other alliterative attractions. Sunday saw me surrounding with small people in church creche and then off to a friend's house for lunch with owls in the garden, getting home just in time to wash the dust off the children, feed them waffles and get them into bed. Lovely!

Ballet dress

2012-01-31T14:34:00.000+03:00

It's amazing what you can find at Arusha's second hand textiles market if you are persistent. All set for ballet class 3 tomorrow (well, apart from shoes anyway...)

Christmas deliveries!

2012-01-27T18:26:00.001+03:00

Unwrapping...

Mama B managed to collect our post today, and we were pleased to find a range of presents, Christmas and even (for Mr B) rather late birthday cards! The last couple of years we've managed a seond Christmas thanks to visitors arriving in the New Year, this time it had to be the usualy delayed post. But at least it things arrived! Thanks to all for sending things...

What a haul!

Talking of visitors, it's occurred to me that we've made no official announcement of our current plans the 2012 yet, so (just in case you're not aware anyway) we're currently planning to head back to UK at the end of June/early July when the school year ends here - and once I'll hopefully have been able to burn a bit of Serengeti. So, if you've been thinking it would be good to visit, or simply want one last return visit before we aren't here, you'd better try and come before June... There's lots of fun still to be had for anyone who wants to come, and we'd love to see you! No-one is currently booked in for a visits at all... Karibu Tanzania!

Ballet

2012-01-25T19:28:00.001+03:00

Yes, Kitty has finally started ballet class, having wanted to for years. Last week we made it to the opening session of a beginners class that's just started in Arusha. This week I took my camera. As yet Kitty has no ballet clothes but it doesn't bother her too much. I think there's only one pair of ballet shoes between the lot of them, and the first week several of them were in fairy outfits or similar. Maybe by the end of term they'll all be properly kitted out... or maybe not. Fortunately it doesn't seem to matter too much either to them or the ballet teacher. The relaxed attitude to a lot of issues is something I like about the community here!

Camping fun!

2012-01-23T20:22:00.000+03:00

Mama keeping a close eye on kids at sunset...

Look carefully and you can see the tents...

It's been a while since we headed off into the bush with a car full of camping equipment, so we decided a couple of weeks ago that it was time it happened again. We invited a few folk, and in turn they suggested a different destination from our original idea - a new area we'd not been to before between here and Lake Natron, rather close to the Kenyan border. In the end it was a relatively select band of campers, but much fun was had by all.

Kitty being a lion

We set off on Friday afternoon, drove almost to the Kenyan border before hitting the dirt road and heading west into the hills. With the Mancub manning the GPS to find a spot on a sand river chosen in advance from Google Earth (check the spot: 2.707889S, 36.376861E) we soon found ourselves the perfect campsite and prayed that the rain would hold off. (Having seen how fast these river flood when the rain comes it wouldn't be a good camp site at times!) Rapid tent pitching and firewood gathering left time for tea before setting off up the river to find a suitable spot for sundowners, which also alloed us to find the nice fresh lion tracks in the river just up from our camp.

In a change from previous protocols we tried sticking the little ones to sleep in the back of the landrover - Kitty was fine with this, but the Mancub kept being woken by his big sister squashing him and ended up in the tent with us (where he spent most of the night patting Mama to check she was still there!). Both enjoyed playing in it during the day though! Other interuptions during the first night were the lion who decided that just as we were hitting the sack he'd start to call and every ten minutes or so he'd get a bit closer. Somehow Mama managed to sleep through the most impressive ones, being awake only for the first two, whilst I was lying there hoping that the kids would stay asleep despite the noise. Which, of course, ensured that 10 minutes after even I was impressed by how close he was getting the Mancub woke up and needed me to go out and get him. With no moon I had a good shine around with our little headtorch before hopping out of the tent... He was quiet after that, mind (in the morning we found is tracks about 100m away and he'd taken a detour through the bush to avoid us, I presume). And beside further Mancub calls unil we put him in with us the only other interruption was the sound of an earth bank collapsing next to one of the other tents - happily only showering them lightly...

Nice view - but you can't see how grumpy the kids were from behind!

Satuday we decided to climb one of the nearby rocky hills, hoping for a view of the plains and down to Oldonyo Lengai. We gradually lost the others until it was just a family adventure - but having scratched ourselves and scrambled up major cliffs pushing children before us we decided berhaps the others had the better idea in the ehat of the day! Still, it was a good view, even if we did decide against the final summit, and beautiful habitat to explore. The kids recovered quickly after lunch and more fun was had by all.

Sunday we set off looking for beasties down the sand river towards the swamp at the end and enjoyed lots of giraffe and gerenuk, but sadly none of the hoped for oryx - must have been somewhere else. It's great to be somewhere you can camp wild for a weekend and not see a single person but your company the whole time! The afternoon's entertainment was a quick trip across the Kenyan border to renew our visas before heading home to baths and showers. And no news of new babies (I think there's some sort of "Occupy Uterus" protest taking place)...

Can she beat Aunty Y to baby?!

Busy weekend

2012-01-15T19:14:00.000+03:00

There has been much excitement and entertainment this weekend. Last week school started for Kitty and the Mancub, but thanks to a public holiday on Thursday and a training day for teachers on Friday the weekend arrived rather fast. A couple of fun days led up to the highlights of the weekend, with Saturday largely being spent at the horse trials (yep, you'd better believe it! They happen even in Arusha). We were all well educated about dressage and the like, even if we didn't manage to stick around long enough to see the 'proper' bits (according to Kitty, at least), when they were doing some show jumping... Still, educational and quite a social event too!

I think the clothes are probably better suited to UK...

The stables round the back were fun too!

And then this morning the children and I left Mama in bed (though, I confess she didn't sleep though our departure...) and headed off with a box of nets and assorted equipment to a friend's house out on the edge of town to introduce the children to the joys of bird ringing, hoping to catch a few migrants as well as the local colour. Kitty hasn't seen ringing for so long she'd completely forgotten what it was about and was extremely excited - to the point that when I woke her this morning she didn't complain at all, but got dressed in a great rush! The Mancub, it would seem, has never had the opportunity to get involved at all. Which shows just how many of my activities have been curtailed by the joys of immigration issues. None the less, this morning we were determined to set these things to rights and after watching the sun rise on our final approach we were soon sipping coffee, waiting for the rest of the crowds to arrive and the first birds to crash into our nets. Unsurprisingly, although the catch was rather less busy than it could have been, there was an awful lot of interest from an awful lot of children (and plenty of visiting adults too!).

"I think you'll find it's a Whitethroat..."

"Can I let it go?!" White-browed Scub Robin

Yellow Bishop

After the first couple of net rounds Kitty discovered that one of the party was busy making pancakes in the kitchen, and I lost them for a bit! The Mancub returned for more birds, but Kitty soon discovered a bookshelf and nipped out only for viewing pretty birds after that! And (strangely) despite saying yesterday that she really wanted to catch a lovebird, when we did eventually get one she didn't come out at all! The Mancub, meanwhile, was perfectly game to let it go, provided I guaranteed it didn't bite him (having already drawn blood for the poor ringer...). Much excitement all round!

The wary approach to lovebird extraction...

Home Truths

2012-01-08T14:47:00.000+03:00

You can always rely on your children to build you up and encourage you.... Here are a few recent comments from Kitty...

from Kitty the fairy "I'm making a spell to turn you into a beautiful Mama!"

and while discussing my going away for 3.5 days to climb Mt Meru "We'll try to learn to like Daddy"

Portraits of an Uncle

2012-01-02T18:54:00.001+03:00

Said goodbye sadly to wicked uncle J this morning as he flew home after a great week with us. The children adore him and we like him quite a lot too. He might not like me so much after he sees how many photos of him are in this blog. He he! Here are some of my favourite pics...

Returning to nature...

The leap of doom

Survived!

Helping get stuck landrovers out of the mud in the middle of lion country is an activity we reserve especially for Uncle J's visits. He's an adrenaline junkie really. (Note that I took this picture from the saftey and comfort of the vehicle - after all, entertaining the children is really the hardest task...)

Good plank Mancub

Attack the Uncle!

Aarghh!

See that waterfall? We stood at the top of that after viewing the elephant caves, where they've used their tusks to gouge out bits of rock to eat for the mineral content.

Maybe this isn't Uncle J? Sometimes these pics are hard to make out...

Christmas and Boxing day fun

2011-12-27T12:12:00.001+03:00

We've just enjoyed two fun-filled days and swapped one grandma for a wicked uncle. Christmas started here with a little boy arriving in our room:

Mancub: "Can I watch a DVD?"
Mama B: "Do you know what day it is?"
Mancub: "No..."
Mama B: "It's Christmas day! Do you think Father Christmas has been?"

And that was that! Happily Father Christmas had been (as evidenced by crumbs in the tray, drink and carrot gone - though Kitty was starting talking about setting camera traps for him next year, which might be entertaining...) and stockings were soon being opened on Mama and Daddy's bed.

After breakfast a few more presents were opened from under the tree, which much excitement. Hapily after a couple were opened they had to be played with and a pause allowed us to head for Church where we recruited two others for Christmas lunch, which was very good. Lunch consisted of (somewhat burnt, ooops) red snapper in filo parcels with assorted trimmings (Mama B had even hunted down some nasty parsnips to roast). And Christmas pudding, of course, which it's always good to introduce to Americans. More unwrapping happened at some point too, can't quite remember where... We then enjoyed a lazy afternoon playing with presents and digesting, plus a couple of (rather poor quality, but appreciated none the less!) skype sessions with family elsewhere.

The Mancub loves sticking bits on his jewled box!

Tasted lovely, of course...

Boxing Day was a change over day - Wicked Uncle J actually arrived in TZ on Christmas night at about 11pm, but we left him to the airport lodge for the night. Meanwhile Grandma packed her bags and we left Boxing Day morning to collect from the lodge and head on to Maji Moto for the day, before dropping Grandma back at the airport on the way home again. Much fun was had by all - a good last/first day I think and the pictures should tell the story!

Kitty loved swinging on the palms...

Wicked Uncle J exercised against the current

Can you see who's jumping on the swing?

Weee!

Ready?!

"again, again" Maybe wait for Daddy to pop up too...

But it was Kitty's solo swings that surprised us most!

Mama (eventually) took the leap of doom

Wicked Uncle seemed uncertain...

But took the plunge too!

Splash!

Oh, and in case you were wondering the Christmas eve party was great fun - I think about 60 came and between them ate a comfortable 70 mince pies and drank 7L of mulled wine. Just as well some brought food with them too!

Christmas preparations - Guest blog!

2011-12-23T20:53:00.001+03:00

It's such a pleasure to be part of the run up to Christmas involving children. We've been to collect the tree from a roadside venue non too specific either in space or time but with the opportunity whilst waiting for a good coffee at the Snowcrest Hotel. The tree was a good metre taller than requested but proved a fine specimin when reduced by that amount with Mr. B's machete, the lower branches producing the basic constituents of Christmas wreaths. Tree decorating was an absorbing activity for everyone and at bedtime we had a last look in the night darkness with only the tree lights glowing, a magical memory.

Kitty designed the holly!!! Mancub, the central star

Fluffies, cars and Kitty the angel in her nightie


The Fluffies in a dramatic presentation directed, produced and orchestrated by Kitty	-A masterpiece- The Guardian

Mancub swam the width of the Safari lodge pool today in his swim vest, also underwater. Kitty is so confident in the water now it is a pleasure to take them both swimming. We're counting down the days till Christmas with the aid of 6 advent calenders, two traditional, two chocolate, one playpeople and one on the computer which is lovely. It's getting more exciting every day. It's party day tomorrow and we've made mince pies, gingerbread men and florentines. We've bought the ingredients for mulled wine and fingerfood.
Looking forward to roast rufus tailed weaver bird and stuffing, parsnips, roast potatoes and Christmas pud on the day. Will let you know! Happy Christmas all ye out there.

Eyasi and Serengeti again!

2011-12-21T21:02:00.000+03:00

So, I've quickly sorted some of the several hundred photos from our trip to Eyasi and Serengeti. As usual the story is best told by the photos themselves, I think:

The pool at Eyasis is still a firm favourite!

But climbing the rock for sundowners was appreciated too.

Mama and Grandma joined the Hazabe early the next morning

Yumm, Blue-naped Mousebird!

Mousebird and squirrel roasting nicely.


Not much meat on a squirrel

But it's very tasty!

More hunting...

Then fun times on the mudflats

And with the family of the new teachers - sprinklers are great!

Sundowners on the tower aren't bad either

Unfortunately the cloud was down as we drove up the escarpment road, and I didn't get any good shots from the forest where I had a new bird (getting to be a rare event in these parts now!) - a rather non-descript Brown Parisoma...

The migration was on the plains once we hit Serengeti though - always a highlight

Mama and Grandma got up very early for a baloon flight

You load in the basket horizontally...

BUt once upright it's great!

Spot the hippo!

And yes, you can have too much champagne for breakfast!

Seronera was rather quiet for wildlife though - too much rain

Serengeti is very pretty though, even if the beasts are elsewhere

We were at Dunia Camp (Moru Kopjes) for it's 2nd birthday

Much partying for all!

Here's the camp in the dry.

and lots of nice lions around Moru, all to ourselves (even one briefly hunting reedbuck, which was nice.

Gong rocks were good for a stop

Happily, we got Grandma her leopard too, even if it was a bit of a runt...

That's a wee big enough for an elephant!

Heuglin's Coursers are rather smart

Topi are always smart

And some of our fans need giraffe shots!

We even found some cheetah on our way out, not far from camp

Despite the sun in all the photos, it was incredibly wet and road conditions were, well, challenging! Happily, we didn't get stuck, but we did have lots of fun and did some good slipping and sliding. And drove through a few rivers...

Steel-blue Whydah are always rather nice!

And Usambiro Barbet is a good Serengeti endemic

Serengeti Safari

2011-12-19T09:18:00.002+03:00

Got back saturday night from a great trip to Lake Eyasi and Serengeti including visiting the Hadza (last hunter-gatherers in Tanzania), hot air balloon flight over Serengeti and 38 species of mammals including the elusive Leopard that Grandma was hoping for! Photos to follow.

Grandma arrived!

2011-12-10T10:07:00.001+03:00

Post for Auntie Judy: Last night Grandma arrived safely and this morning has been full of excitement! More to follow

Christmassy stuff

2011-12-06T20:03:00.001+03:00

Kitty and the Mancub have their last day of term this thursday. We've sent off the first batch of Christmas cards to the UK. Kitty had her end of term concert tonight and the Mancub is supposed to be in a nativity (though he refuses to dress up) and meet Father Christmas on thursday. Christmas seems to be almost upon us! And so we invited some friends round for Christmas crafts, baking and general catching up on Saturday.

Tonight Kitty's class were singing "Tanzania Tanzania, nakupenda kwa moyo wote" (Tanzania, Tanzania, I love you with all my heart...)

Today I decided to bake the Christmas cake...and today the oven broke again. The cake has now been partially grilled, partially left in a tepid oven for several hours and has partly sunk gently in the middle. A knife was coming out pretty cleanly by the end though, so it may yet be edible!

And here are two cheeky looking girls. J came for a sleepover last week.

Kitty has now lost another tooth - but not the matching top front one - on on the bottom on one side, so she slightly resembles an old crone, or perhaps someone who's not good at staying out of fist fights.

November Guide Training

2011-12-02T21:46:00.001+03:00

So, I made it back safely from two very wet weeks in the bush near Tarangire. We had lots of rain, but lots of fun. And we looked at everything! It was great to have Mama B and the littlies out for a night too - the Mancub particularly liked the mud, but most things were worth a look! We had 32 guides and 5 trainers plus camp staff, all camping in a field near a lodge. The aim was to provide training a bit different with a focus on walking safaris, which was great fun. I took massess of pictures, so the best way to tell the tale is through them, I think...

We arrived to a brown field just before the heavens opened...

We looked at everything - this and adult ant lion

Camp Commander Kinsey gets some snake therapy from a blind snake

Birthday cake made it safely through the mud and digging process!

But mud is much fun!

Mr B wresteled a baby rock python

Appreciated by children and guides alike!

We had our own 'Snake Boy' to do training who caught most of the snakes - this a sand snake

Sometimes the rain held off enough in the evening!

Kopjes obviously need strange hand gestures...

Baby short-necked Skinks are cute!

Tiger snakes are cool

Rain brought out the flowers

Me too! This is a boomslang. Please don't try it at home folks...

Most nights it did rain...

All good things come to an end

Scorpions were everywhere (2 in our tent!) but they do glow nicely in UV

Boomslang again

Look at the jaws on that centipede!

Rain flooded this lady's hole too...

Welcome Home Daddy Cake

2011-11-29T14:37:00.001+03:00

The Welcome Home Daddy Cake is chocolate this time and is currently baking in the oven. Power, please stay on! The Mancub helped me make it. Guess which is his favourite part of the process?

And his quote of the day: "Mama, one day can we watch REAL volcanoes interrupting??"

Toad-in-the-hole

2011-11-28T18:35:00.001+03:00

Thought we'd take advantage of Mr B's absence today and have toad-in-the-hole for dinner. (for those non-Brits among our readers, the 'toad' is actually sausage and the 'hole' is the batter they sit in..!) (and for those who don't know, Mr B is a vegetarian).

I've never cooked this before and, to the best of my knowledge, the kids have never eaten it before. But it turned out great and was a big hit!

All I want for Christmas...

2011-11-27T09:28:00.001+03:00

She's very happy with her gap. And generally cheerful and on the mend - not nearly so much coughing and the chance to sleep in till nearly 7 for 3 mornings in a row has helped too.

I'm feeling much better too. Friday was bad. Yesterday was much better. Mr B is due back on Wednesday, not a moment too soon. Kitty asked this morning "will Daddy be back for Christmas?" The last time he was away for a few weeks the Mancub pointed down a road in town while we were on our way to school and asked "Does Daddy live down there?"

Pneumonia again

2011-11-25T19:02:00.001+03:00

Kitty's been diagnosed with microplasma pneumonia or 'walking pneumonia' again. Second time in 6 months. Back on antibiotics and another tablet to help clear her airways quickly, although we may pass on that one as she felt awful and then was sick 40 minutes after taking the first dose... There's apparently a possibility of mild asthma as well - it seems the dodgy chest noises are hard to tell apart.

So, here I am with one child who wants to lie on the sofa and watch DVDs as her most energetic form of exercise, and one child who is bouncing off the walls in his need to run, jump, shout and generally burn off energy and high spirits. And I've hit my one week slump. I seem to do fine while Mr B is away for about a week, and then suddenly I'm exhausted, emotionally at least, and I go into survival mode - surviving the children till bedtime and then burying myself in escapist novels/DVDs till I collapse into bed myself. All my plans for catching up on the 'to do' list go out the window.

Today was hard. I wanted to hide under the bedclothes all day. I chose not to send Kitty to school, partly as she was exhausted from coughing in the night, partly as I would have had to collect her early anyway to get to our doctor's appointment, and also in no small measure because I turned off my alarm at 6.25 and promptly fell back asleep till the kids woke at 7. The Mancub's reverted to wetting the bed most nights and twice some nights (like last night) despite his reluctant encasement in nappies again, so most nights have gone back to being interrupted. So, with a tired grumpy Kitty and a tired grumpy Mama and a bouncing, cheeky, and yet still needy Mancub, it was a long day. And today my closest friends were all rightly busy with their own agendas and I wouldn't really want Kitty coughing all over their kids anyway.

And yet, I write all this and I know full well that to my sister-in-law this is small potatoes. This would be a good night and day! Not that she won't be sympathetic. She will and is. And for most mothers of new babies, this is nothing too. Ah well. Moan over. Here's praying for a better night and more energy tomorrow (for me at any rate, I wouldn't complain if the Mancub had a bit less) and some inspiration for exciting but not too tiring (and preferably independent) activities to fill our day.

Internet again at last!

2011-11-24T16:08:00.001+03:00

Apologies for the long radio silence. No internet since the weekend. All fine here but Mr B is away for a fortnight and I can't shrink photos to post from this computer (or I haven't worked out how yet!) so text only for the moment.

BUT, you can see photos of the Mancub on a school trip to the snake park and taking part in Sports Day if you look at his school website http://www.thelearningspacetz.org/ !

Still no news of a permit, but the kids and I had an exciting time last weekend getting well and truly stuck in the mud on the way out to visit Mr B for his birthday last weekend. Unfortunately we stuck fast in a place with no mobile reception, but Mr B and co found us and pulled us out an hour later, just as I was about to try to create beds for the night in the car! Photos of Mr B in his new birthday shirt (made from a kanga (printed cotton cloth) covered in safari animals) and his new birthday bath robe (made from a maasai blanket) to follow... if he brings them back safely from the bush!

New dress for Jemima

2011-11-12T19:55:00.001+03:00

Remember Teddy and Jemima? Or "teddy and mima" as they used to be known? They have been with Kitty almost since she was born and have travelled widely with us.

Here they are over 2 years ago, investigating the Australian flora.

Well, all that love and travelling is hard on the clothes and Jemima's dress has been looking rather threadbare of late (not to mention short to the point of immodesty) ...

....and since Kitty and I have just had matching dress (her) and skirt (me) made from a local kanga (printed cotton) and there was a little to spare...I bravely took up needle and thread and got to work... Now, few of you will ever have seen me with needle and thread in hand (apart from a shocking knicker-mending session one skiing holiday following two months rotting all my clothes to holes in the jungles of Indonesia) and, indeed, it is something I only usually do when needs must and something needs urgent mending. Even then, funtionality definitely wins over aesthetics, or even straightforward neatness.

So, proudly presenting, for one time only, the rare spectacle of a hand-sewn article...

Ah - what a handsome couple!

Fireworks and Christmas cards

2011-11-08T19:01:00.001+03:00

Hi all, thought I'd post to say that we're still here, despite certain persons' efforts to browbeat us into abandoning ship!

Last friday we celebrated Fireworks night at Braeburn School, Arusha, for our 3rd time. Yes, we've now been here over 2 years! Lovely time with lots of stalls to spend ones tokens on as well as a big bonfire and lovely firework display, and lots of socialising of course!


Face painting was rather underwhelming this time but Kitty didn't seem to mind

and eating suspended donuts no handed was fun, if challenging! The Mancub also had a go later, but by that time I'd lost Mr B to some other dads and beers and couldn't manage the camera, one beer, one soda and various prizes all at once!


Other exciting activities have included getting started on Christmas cards


On Sunday afternoon we escaped Arusha, with it's water issues, immigration hassles, broken oven and all, and headed to the bush for some civilisation! I'll leave Mr B to post some wildlife shots. Here's the Mancub, refusing to relinquish his 'sunday sweeties' even in his sleep. Great parenting huh - letting the child sleep with sugar clamped firmly to his teeth....

A glimmer of hope?

2011-11-03T19:41:00.002+03:00

So, another stressful morning after recieving yet another call from immigration, wanting me down there immediately. This time I delayed a bitand persuaded a friend to accompany me, which might have helped a bit - I was out again within an hour or two, having had to rewrite the same statement from yesterday (but this time with a confusing range of dates from yesterday and today, plus without being asked to sign all the bits about my rights and the rest!) and answer exactly the same questions again. But I did come out again and had a nice lunch with friend before heading home. And an hour ago I got a call from the lawyer's contact in Dar who's been dealing with things, reporting that the National Security team I'd met last Monday had just called him, saying they'd completed their report asking immigration (in Dar) to issue my permit without further delay. I was told to start celebrating - but I think I'll still wait until I actually have the permit in hand! My contact will be meeting the immigration officer in Dar who's dealing with things again tomorrow in any case, and assures me that if he doesn't now come away with the permit tomorrow, it will be early next week. They think the last week of threats and harrassment have been Arusha's last attempt to try and get me to leave the country and that by holding my nerve we've won. But we'll see - until our friend here in Arusha is gone he's still got enough power to be a major irritant. And we'll not have the party until the permit is in my hands!

Anyway, in other news the Mancub has suddenly developed a neat (ish) colouring-in concept. Here he is getting excited about his school colouring in book this evening (doing the bits he wasn't around for at scool last week).

And here's his neatest job yet:

I think black and white zebra will be very boring after that one... Amazing, when last week he was turning out his regulation jobs, such as the one here.

stress

2011-11-02T15:42:00.000+03:00

Mr B got hauled off to the local immigration office again today while I was out. Rather stressful few hours before he was allowed back home again. Our lawyers got involved and in the end the officials' superiors elsewhere told them to jolly well back off. So, another episode. Any closer to final resolution? Who knows. Mr B hopes that it might be a reminder to the powers that be to get on and finalise things.

Meanwhile, this is the effect our children have on grandfather...

Teddy and Jemima decided to keep an eye on him, or maybe they can read upside down?

This one below is not grandfather, although there is a certain resemblence... I hadn't realised there were tree hyraxes in Arusha but here is one I spotted while lunching with friends at Shanga Riverhouse.

Children

2011-10-29T19:17:00.002+03:00

Being back home is wonderful in some ways, and frustratingly exhausting in others! Despite the arduous physical nature of the Meru climb, I did get a wonderful rest from dealing with squabbles, wet beds, endless "what if..."speculations that have replaced the endless "why?"s and the repetative "Mama.....". Having slept very badly last night, due more to a blocked sinus than my still painful legs, I found myself getting extremely irritated today by the continual demands, which began with the Mancub coming into our room every two minutes between 6 and 6.15 to ask various questions relating to getting up.

On the other hand, it's lovely to enjoy their cuddles, strange wisdom and ramdom foolishness and to know that, even if they weren't at all put out to have me gone for four days, they were still very happy to see me back. How can relationships be such a mix of opposites?

Trying out the mountain gear


Being remarkably cheerful about the long walks in Amani

Mount Meru climb

2011-10-29T10:07:00.001+03:00

Grandfather and I made it safely back home yesterday lunchtime after the physically hardest few days of our lives! Climbing Mount Meru involved almost no horizontal walking. Two days of steep uphill for 4-5 hours followed by a summit day of a solid 5 hours ascending 1000m in the dark over rugged terain, then 3 hours descending back down, with a short rest before another 3 hours descending another 1000m. Then a final day descending the further 1000 m down to the ranger post to be taken home. Legs are killing me but otherwise we're fine!

Anticipation - the view of Mount Meru as we entered Arusha National Park

Nice lunch spot

Oh dear - tired already

Strangler fig!


The ash cone, with our park ranger Vitus

First hut - Miriakamba

The view from the hut setting off on day 2

Beautiful forest to climb through

And then out into tall heather moorland with some other interesting plants...

and occasional tantalising views of Little Meru

Reaching the summit of Little Meru on the afternoon of Day 2, having first waited out a violent hail storm in our bunks.

No photos of summit climb as we set off at 2 am and did all but the last 10 mins in the dark. Here I am on the peak. Grandfather got to within 300m altitude (but with another hour and a half of gruelling up and down climbing to go) but exhaustion drove him back. I only just made it myself

We did the whole climb with a swiss lass called Hannah, who was great company. She and I were very pleased to be the first to the summit that day!

Views on the way down - thank goodness we couldn't see any of it on the way up!

interesting plants just below the summit

this little chap was waiting for us back at the hut, to see us off on the final 3 hours of the day back down to Miriakamba hut for 11 hours sleep...

Last day - lovely waterfall near the bottom.

and big beasties to negotiate - buffalo here

And finally driven back home for a hot shower and collapse. Great to have done it but I think once was enough!

Day 682...

2011-10-25T19:46:00.001+03:00

It's a long time since 11th December 2009. But still there's no final resolution to the saga. If we've not been updating about it recently, it's not because it's all over, just because nothing much happens and it's not really worth updating anything just to say, "well, we're told it's all going to be over by the end of the month..." yet again. But finally there is a new chapter to report on - no final resolution, mind, but a new set of tales about deniable meetings and shady encounters in airport lounges...

Whilst on the beach last Thursday I got a call from the lawyer's agent in Dar saying I needed to come to Dar on Monday morning at 8am to finalise things. Right, methinks, here we go again... What, exactly, was I going to be required to do? Well, turn up at immigration and meet some people who'd ask me about my statements on the matter and, possibly, then do something else he couldn't tell me about on the phone. I just needed to be there and it would all be resolved. Ah, I thought, so I'll need to bring all the passports then? Hmmm, well, they might be needed. Oh, so not definitely 'stamp in the passport' type resolved then? Right...

Still, after some last minute booking on Saturday I did indeed get myself to Dar on Sunday evening, via a brief trip to Zanzibar, and was happily put up by friends for the night. Early the next morning I headed off to find the shiny new immigration offices, prepared for a long wait. Ariving (on time!) at 8am, I then waited 45mins whilst the lawyer's agent arrived to meet me and after a brief explanation that I was to first meet a really rather high up official in the immigration department (actually, the one who'd originally signed by 'intention to deport' letter) and, if he thought I was genuine, he'd arrange a meeting with someone who really can fix it all up. Right. So we sat there for another 45 minutes before he arrived (though the class of seats inside the new building are much better than the hard wooden benches I've sat upon up to now), and we then had a 20minute chat about things, interrupted about 3 times by various things, before he decided I was fine to pass on to the shadowy Mr L. So he made a call, passed on my number, gave me his number and we concocted a story about how he had come to know about my situation and how the various people were involved without there being any significant paper trail.

Anyway, Mr L promised to call, and we went outside to wait with tea whislt it was explained to me that, as things stand, there are only really two options for a final resolution now - either I get deported, or the guy at the immigration office in Arusha who caused all the trouble initially gets the boot. And the mysterious Mr L, as a senior field agent for National Security, is just the man to do the latter job, if he, too, was convinced that I'm an honest guy... So we waited, and there was no call. So I called, and spoke briefly "I'll call you in 10mins" was the message. 30mins later I called again - "Ah, change of plan, I'm on my way to the airport. Where are you?" After a bit of discussion on a bad line, we decided the best option would be to race him to the airport and fix things up there before he carried on to his next engagement. Fast taxi already on standby, we zoomed around, making the airport at 11am, preciely as arranged. No-one there. We called again, and said we'd wait in a cafe. 11.15. Call again - yes, 3ks away, be there soon. 11.30 Call again - I'm coming... 11.40, ah ha! Here he is, excellent. And so we went through the events of the fatful day again in the airport lounge, Mr L taking notes and asking questions once more. Eventually, we copied a pile of the vairous letters from various people - from University of Aberdeen to the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute and a whole host of others, shook hands, and said goodbye. But not before being told I should get some valid stamp in my passport.

So, we called immigration again, explained how things had gone and were told we couldn't get another extension this time, we'd have to do it another way. Suggestion being either to take a brief trip to Kenya ('just pay a little something on the way out and you'll be fine'), or to find someone to take our passports there on our behalf so it at least looks like we've been there ('just give them a little something...'). And so we have it! The lawyers assure me it all went perfectly according to the song sheet and that this is the man who will solve the problem. But we'll wait and see...

Meanwhile Mama and Grandfather have now left on their grand climb, making it safely to the first hut today, jsut before a huge thunderstorm struck, apparently. Yellow-crowned Canaries and Eastern Double-collared Sunbirds the avian highlights so far - tomorrow their mission it to find out if there are still Scarlet-tufted Malachite Sunbirds up there...

ABC 123 Nursery

2011-10-23T09:15:00.002+03:00

ABC 123 Nursery is the Mancub's favourite game at present, and fortunately Kitty is quite happy to play it for hours on end as well (unless she's in the middle of a particularly gripping book). I'm not sure if it was a joint creation or Kitty's idea but, unsurprisingly, she is the teacher and the Mancub is the pupil. She sets him up with lots of activities, has created a sticker reward book for him and has promised a special reward when the book is complete (according to her this will be a special activity, according to him it will be bags and bags full of presents... hmmm). They are really enjoying sharing a room at the moment (the Mancub's room doubles as our guest room), apart from the inevitable mess needing to be tidied up before bedtime.

The Mancub is definitely more interested in colour than form at the moment

Amani and Pangani fun with Grandfather...

2011-10-22T17:05:00.000+03:00

Surprisingly, our adventure began in heavy rain. Normally, mid October should be fairly dry, but this year we've had rain for several weeks, most days already. So having met Grandfather off the plane on Thursday evening, we got him up and out promptly Friday morning for the long drive down to the coast. In the rain. Which was sufficiently heavy to have washed many of the temporary pot-hole fillings out of the road, making the whole trip rather more traumatic than necessary. And although it had switched to showers by the time we hit the turn-off from the tarmac road for the final 40kms up to the Amani Nature Reserve, the road was still more than a bit sticky and what could probalby be an hour or so drive in the dry, turned into a three-hour ordeal as we waited for lorries to be dug out of the mud and took things very gingerly ourselves, having decided the Suzuki would be fine for a quick coast trip...

Did cause us a bit of delay. The rescue vehicle on the left was still there, even further down the side on our return on Monday!

Rivers were full though...

And the forest rotting quietly...

Grandfather was brave...

When the sun came out in the end, so did the butterflies - here a glden-banded forester

We rested on logs occassionally...

And spotted strangly behaving birds at times too - this a Shelley's Greenbul, doing what they do...

Even looked at plants - these are wild African Violets

Trees are fun!

Juvenile Usambara Bush Viper - I'm fairly sure, but no-one seems to have a pic to compare with...

Walks are great!

Cute seeping prinias on our night walk

Usambara 3-horned Chameleon (wonder why they call it that?)

Still, the waterfalls were spectacular and our three days in the hills were filled with interesting birds and other beasts. The sun even came out on the last day for a bit! Lots of wet walks and muddy fun though, with the highlight for me a night walk to hunt for chameleons. I was very pleased to see not just one, but 5 of the endemic Usambara Pygmy Chameleon, as well as two other species of larger jobs (also endemic to the mountains here). And a night walk in the mud also allowed us to see some sleeping birds - very cute! We stayed at Emau Hill Forest Camp, which was very rustic (and quite damp!), but very good fun!

I like these guys! Usambara Pygmy Chameleon

Tree frog of some kind...

Still, after all that hard work it was down to the beach for four days to play in the sun, with the rain holding off until we woke yesterday morning to begin our drive back. All very good. Much fun was had by all - Kitty was even persuaded into a mask to enjoy seeing the fish when we headed out to Maziwe Island for some snorkling, which was a first for her. Dolphins on the way back were a treat too.

Fun in the sand for all - bury your brother..

Grandfather's wave machine

Daddy's multi-coloured sandcastle.

To the sea!

A selection of terns and noddies were awaiting us on Maziwe

Kitty and Grandather hunt fish...

Now we're back in Arusha for a bit, though I'm making an overnight trip to Dar tomorrow for what I'm told will be a final interview on Monday morning to end the (now nearly 2 year old!) immigration fiaso. We shall see whether that happens or not! I'll be back Monday night in time to take over family duties whilst Mama abd Grandfather head up Meru (hopefully with the rain still holding off...) on Tuesday morning until Friday.

Mancub'sclass presentation

2011-10-12T18:14:00.001+03:00

One day I may be allowed to sit in the audience and watch, but not yet!

In other exciting news, Grandfather is due to arrive tomorrow night! We're heading straight off on friday morning, to the beach, but via Amani Nature Reserve for 3 nights. Back on the 20th.

And even more exciting, yesterday I managed to do all the sit ups and other crunches in the 'Abs' part of my excercise DVD. It's taken 10 months, but I got there in the end! Am now fighting fit for climbing Mount Meru the week after next!

Sports Day

2011-10-11T19:57:00.001+03:00

Kitty had a sports day last thursday and the Mancub and I went along to watch... we found ourselves participating too!

Artist of the Week

2011-10-10T19:22:00.000+03:00

Christmas pudding!

2011-10-10T19:20:00.001+03:00

Figured that 2.5 months might be the optimal length of time to soak up brandy.

Nusery class

2011-10-05T19:26:00.001+03:00

The Mancub's nursery class went on a '5 senses walk' today and some photos were taken, so here he is with his wednesday class (on thursdays it's the same but with the addition of a little swiss girl).

Yemimah, Jasmeen, Mancub, Collins, Hedrin, Namyaki and Ronnette.

Timber...

2011-10-02T17:35:00.001+03:00

Yesterday we were having a nice skype session with Auntie T and family when we heard a loud crashing noise from the drive. Looking through the window behind the computer we witnessed a large tree falling onto both cars. Cue rather hasty end to skype session (sorry guys!) as we rushed out to inspect the damage. Amazingly, thank God, total damage consisted of some scratches on one of the Suzuki doors and part of the roof trim popping out (which we later popped back in). The garden fence suffered worse as it was attached to the tree...!

Each new day holds its own excitement!

Black Mamba

2011-09-25T18:35:00.000+03:00

A friend just sent us this picture - a mammoth black mamba at 6.5m long, fortunately not found close to us! It was in a cemetery in a sugar cane plantation in South Africa. Just thought I'd post it as Granny likes them so much...

Catching up 2...

2011-09-24T11:15:00.002+03:00

Wildebeest heading for the plains for the night

After Serengeti our next weekend activity was a trip to Tarangire and Manyara Ranch, leaving after picking up H and M from the airport and Kitty from school and after a slow lunch. We arrived about 4pm and headed straight out for a short drive around the Small Serengeti. For a 2 hour drive of no more than 10kms it was pretty spectacular, withalmost noone else on the road and huge numbers of yellow-throated sandgrouse to be seen. Mammal highlights were 8 lion cubs with a female in the tree above, another young male nearby, then coming back to camp we were treated to the sight of two male cheetahs chasing wildebeest on the plains. (little bit distant, but quite spectacular!). Soon after the monkeys were shouting 'leopard' all around us, but we couldn't find it and had to get back before curfew... With the usual elephants and assorted plains game it made for a spectacular evening drive, my only gripe being the lack of a decent sunset!

Lions and admirers

Next morning H and I went for a walk along the lodge site looking for birds ( and whilst nothing spectacular was playing, we had a nice time before breakfast and then abandoned Mama and littlies at the pool before on down to Silale. Approaching the river we found the lions from last night being very obliging by the main road (and now attracting a typical Northern Tarangire crowd!).

Most of them seemed to miss the main highlight of the bridge area though some obliging painted snipe.

Male Painted Snipe (the females are brighter!)

Mutant Buffalo

I pulled through the first two river loops, finding a nice female lion with a newly killed impala lamb (and a crowd of admirers) in the riverbed, before leaving the crowds and heading south. Highlight of the drive down was a couple of huge buffalo herds, including this extraordinary beast bringing up the rear: looks like the sun got too hot! Not in particularly good condition either (presumably it can't graze with these horns), but obviously survived a number of years.

Siliale had over 500 elephants visible from the picnic site, but the birds weren't quite as good as a couple fo weeks ago - we missed rufous-bellied heron and wooly-necked stork - but was still heaving with life. The highlight was probably the three pythons I found in trees nearby - never guaranteed to find even one, but Silale's the place!

Python - one of 3 (two in this tree alone!).

Heading back along the north of the swamp, via boundary hill, we stopped first to admire yet more lions under the trees, and then a rather nice leopard in a tree. Being the middle of the day there' wasn't much to be seen coming over the kopjes near boundary hill, but it's nice to see the woodlands there looking good. And then when we hit the river again we immediately found a cheetah sitting in the cool shade, being the highlight of the trip back.

Very spotty...

Leaving the park 5mins before our 24hr permit expired, we headed straight onto Manyara Ranch. Stragely, the clouds had come down and the wind got up, making this rather a cold and dusty drip, but we found a new bird for the ranch (short-tailed lark), which was rather nice and we got to camp in time to pick up drinks and head off for a last drive. With noisy children in the car we opted against joining the other client at the hide by the dam and took ourselves to the far side of the (dry) river, passing a beautiful group of lesser kudu en route. Parking up near the river, we hopped out and enjoyed some birds and 7 big bull eles nearby, with the kids enjoying their drink on top of the car... A short drive back in the dark with the spotlight found a nice family of lesser galago and a few hares, but nothing too spectacular. Kids in bed, we had a civilised meal before heading out again with the spotlight. Highlights of this drive were one (possibly 2) Aardwolves, Bat-eared Foxes and many Spring Hares.

Doe lesser kudu

Rosy-patched Shrikes

The others went for a good walk in the morning, tracking very recent lion spoor, but not quite catching up, whilst the kids and I explored around the camp, nearling walking into Aldo the rather large, but fairly friendly bull elephant that seems to have taken up residence in the camp area this season. I also found some white-tailed larks displaying, which was rather nice, and the camp birdbath pulled in a single Fischer's Lovebird among the large flock of Yellow-collared, another new one for the ranch list. More birding followed second breakasts (H catching up with the rosy-patched shrike I'd heard from my bed in the morning...), before we headed back to Arusha mid-afternoon. A nice weekend by anyone's standards...

Catching up... 1

2011-09-20T21:13:00.000+03:00

So, lots has hapened since we last posted here - lots of visitors and lots of safaris. First we had a couple of days with Grannie and Grandad and other visitors from the UK overlapping, which involved an obligatory trip to Arusha NP, for some excellent birding (I've finally found all the birds that I know breed in the NP, so that's a good sign!). And the colobus were neat too.

C & S may remember this Albino Baboon from last year - he's grown!

Then it was goodbye to my parents, and see you soon to H and M as we sent them off on safari a few minutes before more friends arrived from UK. So, it was Mama's turn to lead an Arusha NP trip the following morning, with more colobus and more fun! The adventure really started the next afternoon when we piled into a tiny plane and headed to Northern Serengeti for three nights of safari adventure, hoping that we'd encounter a few wildebeest crossing the Mara on the way, and refinding H and M for the weekend as their treck co-incided.

Mama likes bushbuck

For now, I'll leave you with some pics from this adventure, with the subsequent trips to come in due course... We did see the wildebeest go swimming (though no croc action, shame...) and it was beautifully green up there, thanks to Lake Victoria rainfall which made a nice change from the dry around Arusha!

Weather was too wet for proper sunsets...

But the wildebeest made it!

Young leopard was rather nice for the first morning too

We even looked at Mwanza Agamas

And we dressed up silly for the rain!

Oribi were enjoying the green again though

And this guy liked wildebeest. All on the first morning!

Spring may be in the air, but Kitty's desire to see them make babies will have to wait for another time.

Wattled Plover is neat

This young cheetah and her sib were nice to see

Mum put on a show chasing hares too - great!

Too full to snap up wildebeest I think...

Many wildebeest had drowned making the river very stinky. But also the ideal pillow, apparently...

Hippos are cool!

Zanzibar

2011-09-07T23:20:00.002+03:00

We're in the midst of a veritable whirlwind of visitors, which is great fun, if slightly chaotic at times! Granny and Grandad were safely delivered to the airport this afternoon and should now be sitting in Nairobi waiting for their onward connection. H and M have set off on safari - we'll next see them in Northern Serengeti on Friday evening! And Mr B is on his way back home from the airport bringing our next arrivals!

So, having half an hour or so to spare, I thought I'd better put up a few photos of our fabulous time last week in Zanzibar, before we're onto the next trip! (Captions to follow as they've arrived and it's now very late!)

The view from our verandah - a bit of a damp place to sit at times!

Tarangire Safari

2011-08-28T21:54:00.000+03:00

Just back this evening from two days at Oliver's Camp, Tarangire having had a fantastic time - lions, leopard, and lots of special mammals you don't normally see too. A selection og photos to prove we had fun before we disappear again tomorrow to Zanzibar.

What was Mama thinking?!

Boy sees Ele, ele sees boy!

Bath time...

For the giraffe fans

Fringe-eared Oryx were a treat

Temminck's Courser with cute chick!

Kitty with cute chick...

What's up doc?

Lesser Kudu are smart too!

We love Tarangire!

10 years and grandparents

2011-08-26T07:41:00.000+03:00

Yesterday marked 10 happy years of marriage for Mr and Mama B. How lovely. I've have posted more but there was no power at the critical moment last night. For those waiting to hear, Grannie and Granddad arrived safely on Wednesday, we're all off on safari today for a couple of nights. Hopefully there'll be more pictures to show then too!

What's the place coming to?!

2011-08-22T20:01:00.000+03:00

So, as our series of visitors are now just about upon us and probably fixed on their travel plans with no way out of it, I thought I'd share a little of the joys of being in Tanzania at the moment, as many of our usual minor irritants are at full strength and a few new ones are thrown in the mix too.

So, the big discussions on the street are all to do with power. At the moment most of the country has 'scheduled' 17 hour power-cuts. At least, there's supposed to be a schedule, but really it depends on who gets to pull the fuses out as to where goes off when. And, of course, even if you're schedule dto have power it doesn't mean something won't break down and the whole town go off anyway - that's just normal! So, no power. Not too good. Why? Because no-one's invested in the national power company for a decade or so, the population has grown and demand grown massively. And we're most supplied by hydro-power and there was precious little rain last wet season so the dams are dry.

Last week the news was all about fuel shortages, with several hour long queues at petrol stations and several of our friends not venturing out in order to keep fuel use to a minimum. An artificial crisis caused by government price setting angering supplies to the point that they say they were required to sell below import prices and consequently stopped shipping fuel around the country.

And now we're out of water - apparently the pump that supplies our neighbourhood died at the weekend and won't be fixed until Wednesday. We'll see if that happens on Wednesday! Meanwhile, we're ekeing out our water tank with minimum use policies...

The good news for our visitors is that there now seems to be fuel in the petrol stations again (albeit rather more expensive!), and somehow, whilst the rest of the country lives in darkness, we on our power-line up here rarely get long powercuts. Rumour has it this is a hang-over from an early presidential decreee that Ilboru secondary school - just up the cable from us - would be a model for the rest of Tanzania and never have things like powercuts. Which is fine by us! Water, well, we'll see. There are always swimming pools...

Fun fun fun

2011-08-21T19:45:00.000+03:00

Playing in the ~~mudpit~~ sandpit at our friends house yesterday, and then party time with bouncy castle today - what could be better? Only an enormous aubergine donated by the owner of a field we walked through...

Sayings of the Mancub 4

2011-08-21T08:10:00.001+03:00

The Mancub is now 3 and very very chatty. Good entertainment too. Here are some of his recent comments.

I'm giving my baby a small number of sweet cereal because she's small and has a smaller liver.
Note parents who have been explaining why small chidren shouldn't have alcohol

I found a good path back to the Bible cottage
Walking back to our friends' house at a Bible college

Before we came to Tanzania, were we dead?
From a boy who's trying to understand the concept that we haven't always lived here and we won't always live her.

I think I got this tub out Easter day
you mean yesterday

Russia's a very big country
rather randomly in the middle of a phone conversation with Grandma

Oh the grand old Dupe of york
He had thousand men
He marched them to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again
And when theywerenup theywerenup
And when theyweredown theyweredown
And when theywereonly half way nup nor down

and my current favourite, from a Mancub who's discovering letters and which words start with which letters, and knows that his name starts with an A...

Look! I did a letter! I writed the letter 'willy'! For William!

See earlier sayings of the Mancub, sayings of the children and very early sayings of the Mancub

Views of Eyasi

2011-08-17T19:09:00.000+03:00

I found a missing set of pictures today from our visit to Lake Eyasi last week. Here are some of the nicer ones. All courtesy of Mr B.

Safari photos - Lake Eyasi and Mwiba

2011-08-14T20:30:00.000+03:00

We're home and clean again. Everything that was in the car (including us) was covered in a thick layer of dust by the time we got back - the perils of the dry season and a holey landrover.

Had a WONDERFUL time! So nice to get to bits of the bush that are not overpopulated with visitors (we were the only ones in Mwiba, joined for our last day by a friend from Arusha), and generally nice to get away from it all.

Here are some photos. We spent two nights with friends at Lake Eyasi. They run Kisima Ngeda tented camp which is a beautiful camp in an idyllic location. There is also a campsite, which we have used twice on previous trips, though this time we stayed in the owners' guest cottage. Thanks guys!

We then headed to Mwiba - a private game reserve in Serengeti, staying at Mwarabushu tented camp for four nights. Can't find a website for them, probably because they only opened to visitors a month ago. We thought we'd be roughing it (relatively speaking) in the conservation area manager's camp but ended up being lodged luxuriously in the visitor's camp itself, in the biggest bed we've ever seen (7-8 ft wide at a guess). Mr B was there to discuss burning plans with the manager, having made a previous visit in January, and we tagged along for the ride.

Swimming pool at Kisima Ngeda

Driving up the escarpment from Lake Eyasi to reach the Serengeti

Lunch stop


Kids playing in camp, happy to have reached Mwiba aka "The Scorpion Place"

Much clambering to reach a deep waterhole carved into rocks

Nowhere shallow enough to stand made catching the kids interesting...

Some of the local Manyati tribe were watering their cows at a nearby but lower pool. They were fascinated by our binoculars (and by us being able to swim!)

Also fascinated by the camera, and in hysterics when they saw themselves reproduced in the view finder. Some of them didn't want to be snapped but these young lads thought it was very entertaining.

Lots of game. With the visitors camp only opening last month they were still unused to vehicles and a bit skittish. Defiinitely our duty to help them accustomise to people watching them!

Lilac-breasted roller. These beautiful birds were very abundant.

Hartebeest

Plenty to be found when we went looking under stones, but none took us by surprise at any other point, thankfully!

Kitty the Klipspringer. We saw several of the real ones - a new mammal sighting for me! No good pics though.

Sundowners in the bush is one of my very favourite things...

Greater Kudu - another new mammal for Mama B!

Sundowners the next night. Beautiful setting but freeeezing cold! We were shivering in our sweaters and wishing we had hot chocolate with a wee dram of something in it rather than cold beer...

More rocks to scramble over - kids loved it

Eles appeared in camp as we had our lunch one day.

Swivel chair mounted in tree - what a great way to watch game coming to drink at the waterhole! Getting the Mancub up was a challenge but some great teamwork made it possible!

Roan antelope - the other of my three new mammals for the trip!

So, back home for 'normality' for the next ten days until Granny and Grandad, the first of a veritable rush of visitors, arrive. And then off to Zanzibar and lots more safariing - we're making excellent use of all of the free bed nights Mr B earned while training safari guides!

On Safari

2011-08-10T11:08:00.000+03:00

Live from the bush, I've posted some pics of birds from Eyasi over here! Off to Mwiba shortly where there's NO contact with the world!

Some answers (and a shorn mancub!)

2011-08-05T21:29:00.000+03:00

Some answers to recent comments:

The Hedgehog is a different Genus to the European ones - here we have Ateleterix albiventris, European is Erinaceus europaeus. The size is about the same though- just the angle of the camera makde this one look larger than the car!

The plover is nesting as circled here - cute! No-one gets the prize. And it's an African Monarch, not the Diadem (check the white points on the hindwing). But I was quite pleased to see that the male diadem that was flying around there was confused too and chased her about for a bit! They really are ticky.

And in other news, Mama shore (sheered? Past tense of to sheer...) the Mancub...

Garden visitor

2011-08-04T20:25:00.000+03:00

This little chappy turned up today. He's obviously taken a bit of a bashing by something (dog?) but seemed to be trundingly around OK and stopped for a little snack provided my Mama B, so hopefully he'll perk up a bit.

White-bellied Hedgehog.

Here he is again, and that's a bit of our garden, if you've not seen it before!

Otherwise all is well - busy planning a trip next week to see one or two of the places I'm planning to burn, which will be fun. And, of course, looking forward to a mad invasion of visitors starting with my parents in three weeks time.

Happy Birthday Mama B!

2011-07-31T19:30:00.000+03:00

Although the cake didn't rise as much as perhaps hoped, I took a cunning picture from above so you can't tell. Otherwise all went well! And I even produced scones fora birthday tea this evening too. Hope Mama B has enjoyed the weekend as much as me!

Nice day ar rivertrees

2011-07-30T21:49:00.000+03:00

We had a fun time at Rivertrees today, just relaxing and hanging around. Some braver folk braved the pool, I chickened out and took photos of wildlife in the garden. Now Mama B is out with a bunch of ladies forr a birtday meal and I've been trying to back a cake... Here are a few pics from the day, if you know the mystery butterfly or dragonfly, do let me know!

Brown Pansy

Anyone know this? Maybe a Charaxes

Another dropwing perhaps?

African Dusky Flycatcher

Beach wildlife

2011-07-28T20:13:00.003+03:00

Mama B decided to leave it to me to put some wildlife pictures up, so here they are. The beach is always fun! I've also put a few up on the safari blog if you want more biology (and I'll add a few more on this theme there in time too...).

Prize for anyone who can spot the White-fronted Sandplover on it's nest (first breeding record for N coast of Tanzania, it seems)

Black-bellied Startlings are a good sign you're at the coast too.

Flower sp. Quite pretty.

Mating millepedes. Look where they keep their genitalia! Very inconvenient, I should think.

Sunrise makes pretty pics

Another flower sp. Butterflies liked this one.

So, African Monarch, or it's mimic, the (female) diadem. Prizes here too!

Dark Blue Pansy

Bronze Mannekins are very cute, especially newly fledged.

These guys liked the early morning sun and were nesting in many trees.

Acraea calderena, Black-tipped Acraea

Acraea serenna They're very diverse!

African Cuckoo-Hawk

Odd snail. After buying himself in the sand he popped both eyes out to watch us. Can you see them?!

Pretty shells!

Ushongo Beach

2011-07-25T20:14:00.000+03:00

Back this evening after a long drive home from Ushongo beach where we had five nights with friends in their banda aka 'Susan's beach house'. Lovely time. Lots of wave jumping, sandcastle building, shell-hunting, dancing on the sand, bird and butterfly-spotting and beach wandering. Added highlights included watching a Green Turtle nest being relocated to safety, numerous pairs of mating giant millipedes and a sundowners trip in 'The Grasshopper' (the bounciest open landrover I've ever experienced) to see Hippos. The heat of each day was happily frittered away dozing, reading, stickering and playing bananagrams. Thank you so much Susan and co. for sharing your holiday with us!

I'll let Mr B do a beach wildlife post tomorrow and share some kid shots (and, of course, obligatory sunset) today.

Relocated nests carefully marked. The original nesting site is now regularly inundated, killing the eggs.

The nest is normally about a metre down, so a similarly deep hole is dug.

173 eggs carefully 'laid'

Last evening dip

The Friendly Eland place

2011-07-19T20:33:00.000+03:00

Yesterday we took our friends with the gorgeous one year old to the Friendly Eland Place (aka Mount Meru Game Lodge) for the first time. Fun feeding the Friendly Eland and a Porcupine and generally getting dirty (the kids that is) rolling and spinning on the grass and creating a 'mouse restaurant' in a thick clump of bushes.

Arty Zebra shot courtesy of Kitty (Mother and Baby)

Tomorrow off to the beach, so no more posts till Monday night at the earliest.

Shop names

2011-07-18T17:34:00.000+03:00

One of the things that frequently amuses us about Tanzania are the delightful names that shops get here. I finally managed to get a picture of the third on my list of names I wanted before posting the blog a couple of days ago, so here, in reverse order, are the three best-named shops I've found in Tanzania so far.

(3) For cuteness value alone, who wouldn't want to shop here?

(2) But if you're interested in somewhat more unusual purchases, this is probably for you

(and they are rather adorable, it's true, but I won't let Mama have one)

(1) But my favourite of all isn't actually in Arusha, but down the way in Mto wa Mbu. To go with the Sham, the car salesman, would you be buying electrical goods here?

Beach

2011-07-17T19:54:00.000+03:00

Hurrah! The friends who invited us to stay with them at the beach last October have invited us again. So this wednesday or thursday, depending on how work goes, we'll be heading to the coast for several days. Here we are enjoying it last time. This time should be a little cooler. It's a whole day's long, hot, noisy and dusty ride in the landrover, but lovely when you get there! The accomodation is basically pitch your tent under the friends' thatched roof in the middle of the coastal woodland, so we'll be taking all our food, drinking water, bedding etc. Looking forward to it!

Had a lovely day today. Kitty set the table before we got up, AGAIN (!), then church and later (me) enjoying a nice afternoon playing Settlers of Catan with friends while Mr B looked after the small ones. Also enjoyed skyping a few people when the power came back on this evening. Happy 92nd birthday Great Granny!

Peacful Saturdays...

2011-07-17T08:49:00.001+03:00

Monitor Lizards are always good

We've had a good day today – Kitty started well by setting breakfast things out for us whilst we were still in bed. Amazing! Then we had a lovely walk around Lake Duluti, which Kitty normally moans about but today just had fun the whole way around – and even the Mancub walked the whole loop without being carried too. They did, at times, disappear further around the corner than we would have liked, but there you go, which meant that Mama missed getting as good views as I did of some of the prettier birds that turned up, but it was still a treat. Now we're waiting for power to come back on to post this, and friends to come over for an evening of food and games (possibly by candle light...). Still, a few photos from Duluti (and a more detailed discussion of mixed-species bird flocks over on the safari blog if you want! Best photos are here too though...). It's a beautiful walk and lovely to just be able to stroll without hassle (although sometimes to the background noise of the local animists worshipping loudly in the caves above the lake),

This African Darter was making nice green squiggles

Streams of siafu

Grey-olive Greenbul, bit of a birder's bird...

Soldier Pansy, lots of these whilst enjoying coffee after our walk...

Red-capped Robin Chat, very smart

Ruppell's Robin-chat- I think!

Mancub and S enjoy a story before bed...

Multi-legged friends

2011-07-15T17:24:00.000+03:00

Kitty found this wolf spider in a cardboard box earlier today, and she and the Mancub enjoyed it for a while. I now.

Having looked it up briefly, it looks like it's a Tanzanian Giant Wolf Spider, and there are obviously bigger fans out there than Mama, as we could have sold it to some for $15, it would seem! Always a bit depressing just how much of Tanzania's wildlife you can buy in Europe / Asia / US.

beware the leak water phenomenon

2011-07-13T18:29:00.001+03:00

I bought a hot water bottle today. At least, that's what I thought it was, but the packaging names it a 'rubber heat water bag'. The packaging also gives a long list titled 'direction' which I quote below for your edification. I never knew that using a ~~hot water bottle~~ rubber heat water bag was so complex.

Heat water bag is used in medical treatment health and common live to get warm
The water temperature that the heat water bag used should be around 90 degrees C. The water should not over 2/3 than the capacity of the heat water bag.
After filling water, must let the air in the heat water bag out and let the screw tight. Check if there is leak water phenomenon.
When baby use the heat water bag, should let the heat water bag a little far from baby.
When the heat water bag is used or storage must avert it to be weight on or stabed, not touch sour, alkali, oil and sunlight shoot.
Storage heat water bag should fill a little air inside. Put it in shady environment.
The dirt on the heat water bag can be washed by soap water than use water wash it clean.
The heat water bag should not be put in the display window so long time, especially the display window in the sunshine shoot.

Playgroup

2011-07-12T13:26:00.000+03:00

Yesterday I made a mistake. When you have two rather tired children and a very tired Mama, the best way to spend the morning is not to take it easy at home - going out and seeking distraction ~~from the bickering, fighting, moaning~~ would have been more conducive to maintaining sanity. Today, hurrah! playgroup at the best playground in town aka my friend J's house. They have a pool (though far too cold to use at the moment), sandpit, trampoline, climbing wall, swings, bikes, toy trains, chicks, rabbits,.... not to mention three children. Two very happy children and one very relaxed Mama. Ahhhh.

The Mancub made it to the top for the first time today after much perserverance. He was VERY happy!

Camping

2011-07-11T18:57:00.001+03:00

We took some friends (the ones with the cute one-year old) camping to Maji Moto at the weekend. This is a lovely warm spring set in a grove of shadyf fig trees about an hour and a half from Arusha. We went for the first time earlier this year.

Lovely swimming, daring jumps from high branches, inelegant swinging from ropes and lots of nocturnal wildlife to keep us entertained in the evening and awake all night!

Maji Moto


7 people and lots of camping gear in one landrover. Poor S got packed in the boot but was thoroughly uncomplaining!

Mama summoning courage to jump

Mr B, not to be outdone

Tarzan aka S

Kitty did some great swimming


The Mancub had fun too

Setting up camp

Well, some of us worked hard

Fig trees make a great jungle gym

Pygmy Kingfisher

Greater Galago or "Bushbaby"

Common Genet

Lots of fun had by all. Not so much sleep, but worth it to lie awake listening to the sounds of the African bush. The background low roar of insect life was overlaid by squabbling bushbabies, genets padding through dead leaves and fruit bats sounding annoyingly like a digital alarm clock.

Bubbles and burning...

2011-07-07T19:18:00.000+03:00

Some time ago I mentioned my desire to burn Serengeti, and someone asked if fire was actually a part of the habitat and, well, yes it is. Which is why I want to burn the place. I've popped a post over here on the other blog including some of the background to burning if you're still interested C. Meanwhile, we had fun with bubbles this evening:

'Finger' paints

2011-07-06T20:01:00.000+03:00

Playgrounds and friends

2011-07-05T19:19:00.000+03:00

Nice morning.

More sayings of the Mancub

2011-07-04T19:08:00.000+03:00

The Mancub often entertains us with his odd outbursts. This morning out of the blue he declared "there are a lot of people in Brussels". Which, whilst factually correct, seemed a slightly surprising observation in the middle of breakfast. More entertaining still are his attempts at knock-knock jokes:

"Knock Knock"
"Who's there?"
"Boo"
"Boo who?"
"No, cows don't go boo, they go moo!"

or the obviously related, but rather funnier:

"Knock knock"
"Who's there?"
"Cowsgo"
"Cowsgo who?"
"Don't cry, it's only a joke!"

Which I think is probably a surrealist improvement on the original - at least, it makes me chuckle!

He also has a new addition to his comfort items - his 'silky thing', which is a sort of mini-blanket, silky on one side and velvety on the other, with a kitten's head in the middle. This has now become his 'baby'. It's called Jemma cat and, apparently, even though his is its Mama, it didn't grow in his tummy, it grew in his teddy sheet instead. His teddy sheet and silky thing are very VERY important, especially at bedtime, which makes washing them quite an ordeal.

One nice result of school holidays is that he and Kitty are learning to play well together quite often. Latest favourite games include the Mancub's baby going for a sleepover at Tinkle's house (Tinkle is a fairy) and (to continue the surrealist theme) two little kittens hatching out of eggs in a quilt nest on Mama and Daddy's bed.

Both mad as hatters. Can't think where they get it from.

Sleepover

2011-07-02T18:19:00.000+03:00

Last night we had our Aussie friends over for another sleepover. Lots of chatting, good food (indeed, excellent prawn curry - thanks Mr B!), adult time to chat undisturbed in the evening, carcassone, craft activities, DVDs for the kids when the adults needed some quiet, and a vast amount of washing up and cleaning up spilled food (5 kids between us aged 1 - 6). Very well worth it!

and one of the mancub just out of our friends pool (after 2 minutes - VERY cold!), just cos it's cute.

What do you think - needs a haircut? Or should I resist for another few weeks?

Dust angel

2011-06-29T08:18:00.003+03:00

Have a look at our friend's blog for a lovely photo of Kitty making dust angels.

And you can see some of the more interesting things I learnt at the ATBC / SCB conference a couple of weeks ago over here on the safari blog...

Catch up photo time

2011-06-27T20:16:00.000+03:00

A few photos from recent weeks that have been waiting for a chance to get on-line!

End of term presentations

"Graduation" for Kitty, as she heads to a new school in September.

Some of the friends she'll miss from her class

A bit of babysitting

And finally, some improvised holiday fun - rolling down the step slide.

All quiet on the southern front

2011-06-26T19:36:00.000+03:00

Greetings fellow earthlings, and apologies for the overlong radio silence. Please be assured we are all alive and well and not incarcerated in any buildings, goverment-related or other. It's just been a bit of a busy fortnight!

Mr B was taking part in a conference the week before last. It was, conveniently, here in Arusha. A friend of his from Dar es Salaam, and his wife, were also participating. One way or another, their two girls, aged 6 and 4, ended up spending lots of time with us during the week. They are delighful girls and got on wonderfully with our kids, but what with end of term activities and everything it was quite busy!

We had a meal out with the whole family on the tuesday, invited them here for a meal on the wednsesday, ended up hosting them overnight on the thursday and the we all headed off to Tarangire National Park on the friday, after a Music Makers session and some catch-up work for Mr B. Just before leaving the house on friday I discovered that th three plant biologists (from the conference) we were meeting up with in Tarangire were coming back with us to spend the night on the saturday (and then on the saturday I discovered that they and Mr B would all be out at Arusha National Park all day Sunday and then staying another night). Lovely people. Nice to get to know them, but all in all rather busy (and obviously our marital communications systems were severely malunctioning). It's also interesting touring a National Park with three committed plant ecologists. Lions in the riverbed? Ahh, who needs to see them - lets go the other way to check out the grasses.... Fortunately we passed a cheetah en route (which they consented to stop for) and the camp was full of elephants on saturday morning, so the kids and I did get a bit of a wildlife fix.

this little one was very excited, running between the other, more sedate, groups of grazing elephants, with it's legs, tail and ears flapping wildly!

view from our tent

With three people in the car with a passion for fire experiments, it transpired that a visit to the current (planned and orchestrated by management) fire in the Park was neccessary. When I commented that the fire was heading towards us, fast, Mr B said gleefully that that was the precise reason for choosing that particular spot - this way we could get a really good look...

this seemed quite close enough to me...


At this point my slightly strangled tone of hysteria finally convince the men it was time to move on.

A wee, tree, coffee and gingerbread stop to recover. How many people can you fit in a Baobab?

Mobile jungle gym? One of a landrovers many uses. Opening beer bottles is another...

Last week Mr B was teaching a course on 'R' - a statistical program useful, amongst other things, for analysing ecological data. Teaching all day, then revising plans for the next day in the evening, so another busy week. And the kids and I were doing 'animal' week - the first of our themed weeks for the holidays... We investigated the Art Gallery for pictures/sculptures of reptiles and invertebrates (there are LOTS of lions and leopards), touched baby crocodiles at the snake park (and rode camels), played with a friend's pet rabbits and chicks, checked out the tortoises of varying sizes at the German Boma and popped into the pet shop (yes - there is one and we found it!)

So, an eventful couple of weeks. What with us all being in the UK in April, then Mr B being away most of May, returning only to frantically write his course, then attend the conference, then run the course, he hasn't been responding to many emails, for which he apologises. He will be back at the desk tomorrow and for the next several weeks, so do try agan if you need to!

p.s. we've also just had a lovely lazy weekend to get to know each other again. I decided that the kids needed time to re-bond with their father, so I generously stayed in bed till 10.45 on saturday to allow them the time and space they required. Self-sacrificial - that's me alright.

Moving day...

2011-06-10T08:49:00.000+03:00

Except we're not! Finally our current landlord came around yesterday to negotiate directly after hearing that the tenant he had lined up to move in is being thrown out of his current house by the landlord for wrecking the place, and having heard from one of our guards who came with the house and is a relative of our landlord, that he wouldn't work for this person. So after an hour or so of delicate negotiations (including my having to explain that to my mind negotiation meant both parties having to be willing to compromise...) and a brisk house inspection we have an agreement that should keep us here until we finally leave the country. We're paying more (probably more than we should), but on the other hand we avoid all the hassle of moving and although we saw a number of houses that would work, our current house is definitely nicer. So, after all the angst and hassle we're still here, though a bit poorer... Anyway, still got a course to write, so I'll get back to it.

what could possibly go wrong ...just did

2011-06-06T19:06:00.000+03:00

Another day, another abandoned house move, another headache ~~and another box of belgian chocolates brought back as a potential gift but opened and consumed myself as a result of despair~~.

4 people, 3 of them our own Askaris (guards) have told us we should ON NO ACCOUNT CONSIDER MOVING TO THE HOUSE that we had been planning to move into on Friday. One Askari said he wouldn't work there, another said he'd only work there if there were 3 askaris on duty each night. Apparently people dread having to pass that way at night because of the robberies and assault... and apparently the house has been empty for over a year (not that the previous tenants, who had been there a year, just moved out). So, possibly we've been lied to by yet another landlord. I know I should be grateful to find this out now, rather than after we've moved in and paid 6 months rent in advance (standard here). I AM grateful, really, but that feeling is overlaid by a stronger one of OH NO, NOT AGAIN. PLEASE NO!

Result, I feel like I'm running out of time, energy (and potential houses). We have to be out of here by 15th June - 9 days time. Mr B is taking part in a conference here in Arusha all next week and teaching a course the following week. The two houses we've taken...and then rejected, were the only 2 of the ones I saw a few weeks ago that seemed both suitable and affordable. And I feel too dispirited to do more than put the kettle on and eat far more chocolate than is good for my health ~~and curse the fact that we're out of tonic again~~.

Fairy Godmothers? Send them our way! Friends with beautiful houses who suddenly need to leave the country for 10 months and are looking for trustworthy house-sitters? Send them our way too! Large quantities of cash? Well I wouldn't say no. Lie detecting equipment for use when meeting potential landlords? Definitely. More chocolate? Oh well, go on then...

Moving House

2011-06-05T15:09:00.000+03:00

Well, we hope we're all set to move house on friday. The particular house we are moving to has changed over the weekend, as we discovered that the landlord whose tenants we were about to become had unceremoniously kicked out the previous tenants two months before the end of their contract in order to make room for us (at a higher rent) and lied to us, assuring us that they had been going to leave at the end of May all along....

Didn't sound like the sort of action to be encouraged (or the sort of Landlord to take on) so, as of yesterday afternoon we have a verbal agreement on a different house! Also just down the road. Rather less exciting garden and titchy kitchen, but an extra bedroom so Mr B can have his home office and the children can have separate rooms. And in rather a better state of repair and decoration.

Busy making plans for moving - get the men with their monster wheelbarrows and the friends with large cars and nothing better to do on a friday morning, hope the Landlord fixes the various little things that need fixing over the next 4 days - and hopefully we'll be installed by next weekend... what could possibly go wrong?!

Red-billed Buffalo-weavers

2011-06-04T09:49:00.001+03:00

I sometimes look at the stats that blogger supplies about what people are reading and how they find your blog, and it's been puzzling to me that the most popular page on the blog (by a very clear margin!) is this one about weavers. Most people seem to find it by searching for either white-browed sparrow weaver (obviously a popular species I'll have to revisit), or some variant on "black bird red beak". And they must all be rather disapointed, because there's no picture of a black bird with a red beak for them. I finally took a not too bad picture of a Red-billed Buffalo Weaver back in January, but didn't think to do anything with it as it's not the best. But in order to no longer disappoint quite so many readers, here's the picture you've been waiting for:

Red-billed Buffalo-weaver at Naabi Gate, Serengeti, Jan 2011

And actually, they're quite interesting birds too, though mainly overlooked as they're incredibly common. The most interesting thing about them ecologically, is that they are one of very very few birds to posses a phalliod organ. In fact, the only other one is the White-billed Buffalo-weaver (NB some other birds - notably some ducks and ostrich - do posess pseudi-phalli, but they're not the same as the phalliod organ of a red-billed buffalo-weaver. Honest.). Yup, this blog is finally degenerating into one of those blogs blocked by all sensible filters for discussing (pseudo)-phalli. Interstingly, both males and females have them - but males are much longer, and those male with territories are longer still. Size obviously matters! Unusually for birds, copulations in this species can last several minutes, and the species is very much a polyandrous breeder with both males fathering chicks in the same nest, feeding the young and defending the nest together. In fact, in some nests although there are several territorial males around, it seems that a lot of the time the female sneaks off and finds non-territorial males to father young too. So it follows that there's a lot of competition among males to be fathers, even though genetics tells us that the cooperating territorial males sharing a female are at least sometimes related. What the phalliod organ actually does isn't entirely clear - it's not the route for sperm to flow through - but apparently it needs stimulation before females can be inseminated by the male, and they're the only birds to experience anything that looks rather like an orgasm, so we think it must be related. Somehow. Interesting things huh? In fact, it goes on - they've got some remarkably evolved sperm too - but that's probably enough for now... Amazing how the dullest of birds often have the most unusual mating habits... Still, hopefully people searching for these terms in the future won't be quite so disappointed now?

And actually, it's useful for me to write all this down, as it was one of the stories I was telling the guides on the training session last week, and we've just started a new blog that is (hopefully) going to house all the science and stories we talked about (I'll pop this there in time) - and a whole lot more too - over here. We've called it safari-ecology and hope it's going to get lots of stuff of interest to guides and other visitors to East Africa. I've even put the answer to my big sister's question about exactly how doves drink over there, on this post... So, if you want more science and savannah things that's probably the place to start looking...

The Learning Space

2011-06-02T18:49:00.000+03:00

What HAVE I been doing with myself since Easter when the Mancub started going to nursery at Kitty's school 3 mornings a week?

Paying bills, shopping, re-discovering my swahili learn-at-home course... but also largely putting together a website for the kids's school - The Learning Space. It still has a few technical kinks and issues to iron out, but if you'd like to find out a bit about this amazing school, please do have a look. And for a lovely photo each of Kitty and the Mancub, see the Recent Activities page. Some families, like ours, are fortunate enough to be able to pay the school fees in full. Others, particulaly local families, sacrifice a huge proportion of their income on the fees but also need topping up by sponsors. Interested? Find out more.

Shameless plugging, but I really do think it's a very special place. The Mancub will carry on their after the long holidays bu sadly Kitty has outgrown it and will be moving to St Constantine's International School. I'm hoping she'll be inspired by being in a school with lots of older children too, seeing the things that they can do(or to put it more bluntly, I think she would benefit from not being a big fish in a small pond any more!)

School Fun day

2011-06-01T21:33:00.000+03:00

Today was fun day at school where we all got to join in for part of the morning doing various sporty type activities. Pictures speaking louder than words, here they are...

Meanwhile Mr B has been getting to grips with emails again, and thinking about the next course I'm running in a few weeks time - this time on statistics. I looked over the registration list today - it's a course that's been advertised alongside the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation and the African chapter of the Scoiety for COnservation Biology's big meeting. So I was expecting a pan-african contingent of student ecologists - all very good. But I new see I have two registered from the "Office of the Chief Government Statistician" down in Dar, which will make for some interesting differences. How can I make things relevant to those studying Bonobos and those more interested in developing retail price indices and measures of national growth. Hmmm...

There was also a rather interesting bug turned up at funday - at first I thought it must have come off a fancy skirt...

Training in Tarangire

2011-05-29T13:49:00.000+03:00

Can't go to Tarangire and not photograph an elephant!

Well, much to Mama's relief I survived the trip and made it back on Friday afternoon, brining back one of the other trainer's for a night on his way back to Kenya. It was a lot of hard work, but great fun too! There were aroud 48 guides at the training event, with seven different people involved in training and a staff of eight running the camp (keeping us all fed and provided with warm water - great!). Most of the guides are either resident guides at the various Asilia camps and lodges around Tanzania and southern Kenya or drivers that take people between these locations, some fairly experienced, others newer to the business. My task together with one of the other trainers was to give four groups of 12 guides at a time some new knowledge about ecology and birds, whilst other trainers were dealing with guiding skills (from what to check on your car before you head out, to table manners for western guests!) and psychology, so a pretty wide set of skills being passed around. My groups were up for chai at 6 and out on a drive / walk at 6.30 for a couple of hours birding and learning stories about birds (one morning meeting a large buffalo at a waterhole while I had my back to the hole talking aout how doves drink - think that traumatised some of the newer guides who are only used to being in cars!), back for breakfast, then out again by 9.45 to cover over three days the main habitats within the savannah ecosystem: grasslands, acacia woodlands, combretrum woodlands, riverine forest, kopjes and swamps. Back for lunch around 1 - 2pm, then into the classroom at 3.30 for a couple of hours identifying the plants and beasties we found in the morning but didn't identify, then working through "10 things to talk about when there are no lions", a list of things that I think are interesting in the savannah and should give folk ideas about how to pass time on the off days... (FYI the titles are (1) grass - they're interesting, honest; (2) geology; (3) climate and weather (well, at least you have to talk to British tourists about the weather...); (4) Fire; (5) Thorns and why nothing seems to stop plants being eaten anyway; (6) Termites; (7) Birds - of course!; (8) Other invertebrates - butterflies and dragonflies in particular; (9) People and cultures and finally, (10) conservation issues.)

Lots of fun, lots of time in the field, and just great to be out and about in Tarangire, even exploring some areas I'd not been to before. Very pretty:

Hildebrandt's Francolin stumped a few as the bill is always black in the guide books...

We watched this puff-adder face down a black spitting cobra, before a boomslang shot past us in disgust!

Plenty of bees around too...

Cottonstainer - we were looking for much more than just lions!

These fringe-eared oryx were rather special, with the first returning zebra too.

Yellow-striped blind-snake was rather a nice find one morning - might well be new to Tarangire

Red-billed Quelea were quite a spectacle with the grasses all setting seed

This had a nest rather too close to the road methinks!

Saw four of these in various trees around the park - but amazingly my groups never encountered a lion!

All in all a great training session and lots of fun. But it's nice to be home for a bit now! Got to end with a sunset though...

Gaining perspecive

2011-05-25T10:13:00.001+03:00

Okay - thanks for the messages of support. I'm having a better day today!

Have agreed to rent a certain house form 15th June, so feeling better that that decision is made.

Have arranged for oven fundi to come at 10.00 this morning (Ha ha! It's now 10.05...think he'll come today?)

Spent an hour last night re-reading bits of my favourite child-raising book to date: "How to talk so Kids will listen and listen so kids will talk" by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. If you have kids over 18 months and haven't got this book, get it. I gave it to a whole load of people for Christmas one year. My copy is dog-eared because I refer to it so often and have lent it to several friends.

Anyway, helped me get some perspective on my issues with Kitty, and start to see her as a 6 year old child with some issues she needs help dealing with, rather than seeing her as 'A PROBLEM' that's driving me nuts. Had a more peaceful start to the day today. It also helped that a friend picked her up from school and took her back for a playdate till 5pm yesterday, so I had a good long stretch with only one child.

Apologies, apparently I write much more humorously when I'm stressed out, so back to the mundane today. Don't worry Basia - I'm sure there'll be more stressed out posts coming soon!

p.s. am trying to plan some fun activities and themes for our 12 week break from school. Anyone know good websites for ideas, activity sheets etc?

p.p.s talking of gaining perspective, look at my sister-in-law's blog about the 5 year old girl she knows who has complex medical needs. Rania is about to be deported back to Algeria, away from the only family she knows and the medical interventions that keep her alive and enable her to attend mainstream school. Her family say that deporting her is the same as handing her a death sentence. The medical interventions she needs are not available in Algeria and epilepsy, one of her conditions, is there considered to be demonic posession. I have just signed this petition asking Theresa May, Home Secretary, to reconsider her decision. Will you?