Life in Africa Fifteen

My interest in Africa was first stimulated when as a lad, I was taken to watch the movie Were No Vultures Fly. I recall very little from the story, but in my mind's eye, I see the vultures flying. Rarely in our travels did we see vultures circling a kill, but when I did I would look at them and remember that movie. Their dowdiness is no comparison to Lilac-breasted Rollers but everything in nature has its beauty.


'A horse in striped pygamas' The patterns on a Zebra are always fascinating. Sometimes the white is covered with the red dust of the savanna but more usually the white is quite sparkling!
This was taken on a trip through the Ngorongoro Crater.

A brick kiln near Karatu had the environmentalist in me grumbling.
To produce these bricks there is a lot of fuel-wood used - equating to trees. Brick works decimate the land leaving huge craters where the soil has been excavated.
On the other hand, building materials are needed and people need to be employed. Burnt bricks are much cheaper than concrete ones, and can usually be manufactured close to the building site. Cost is a huge factor and a newly built burnt brick house looks very good!.

 Wildebeest and Zebra congregate together which is protection for them against predators. This herd in Tarangire keep a watchful eye.

A Kori Bustard roams the grassy plains. These are quite large birds and apparently are the heaviest bird in the world capable of flight. They do not fly much though preferring to hide from predators rather than fly away from them.
Kori Bustards eat mainly insects but will take lizards and similar prey.

These Baboons were in Tarangire National Park but we saw Baboons regularly when we passed through Arusha National Park on our way to to work in the Ngarenanyuki area.
Looking at those darting eyes, it is interesting to speculate what is going on behind them - certainly they have a measure of intellect - after all they are primates. 
Watching them groom and feed is much like 'people watching' at an airport!

A large male baboon sitting on a termite mound in the Tarangire National Park. I wondered if there were and live termites in there and if they nipped his bum!
Termites aggressively defend their homes and trails.
Anyway the baboon looked like he was enjoying himself.

There are plenty of elephants in Tarangire and we had a couple of frights when a bull ran at us aggressively. One time in Manyara National Park we sat in our car  surrounded by elephants - young Vai was wide-eyed and fearful.
When you look at elephants and how they live, you have to admire their strength and poise.

As water becomes scarce, the creek bed slowly dries up. This one is quite sandy so the elephants are able to dig  little holes to reach any underground water with their trunks.
They don't use their trunk like a drinking straw! They suck up some water, then put their trunk to their mouth and fill their mouth. Anyone who watches David Attenborough will know that anyway!

An area of Tarangire National Park and the river crossing. Down on the flat was a good area to spot lions coming to drink.
These are wild animals rather than zoo animals so you can't expect to see animals all the time.

Sunset in the Tarangire. Baobab on the skyline.









I took some special people on a trip to Tarangire - locals seldom  have the opportunity. We have Upendo, Mbise, Mama Upendo, Vai and Eriki.
They are standing below a Mbuyu (Baobab) a favourite of mine. It was a good trip.

A young lad managed to sell us this big tortoise so we took it into the park where we released it - a good outcome for the lad and the tortoise.
From time to time we were offered thing that in reality we had no person had good reason to own. Things like ostrich eggs, lizards and small animals. We mostly bought them and took them some distance and released them.



Way up above Lushoto township, we found and old man who had a tree nursery. I regularly bought a few trees from him - more to give him some money [probably to buy pombe - the local booze].
These kids were usually around to help - the old man's grandchildren. His daughter lived with him, or should that be the other way around?

 Kids at Mateves. Our activities at Mateves involved working with the village people and it was not until later when we found the primary school.
The school was pretty much in need of major infrastructure assistance but we were able to contribute with desks, text books and teaching aids.
There were 'science kits' available but they were not to a high standard at all.
These kids were beside the road where a friend of Joshia was growing maize.

Muriet village where we carried out an reasonably extensive planting project. There was a mixture of tribes there - mainly Maasai and Arusha.
Always keen to pose for photographs these kids give me a big smile.
The new power line was installed right above the village, but these people were unlikely to afford the electricity or even the wiring to use it.
Then the Arusha Council established a stinking rubbish dump  closeby. A sad thing to happen to the village.

A German woman brought her grandmother to our house at Makumira. The elderly woman was the second wife of the farm manager who had lived in the house. We conversed in Swahili and because she didn't speak English and we didn't speak German and it turned out that she was proposed to by her husband in the room this picture was taken.
There was an urban myth that the first wife was buried in the compound but her grave was robbed because of the likelihood that she was buried with a gold cross. I found no evidence of the grave - which means nothing.