My heart and eyes go missing in the Serengeti (Part 2)

Strangely enough, the week I was blind (and blindfolded) in the Serengeti I must have been significantly less intimidating because all the Tanzanians I encountered seemed to go out of their way to talk to me.Unlike Kenyans, many Tanzanians are shy, reserved and usually don’t like to approach foreigners. Since I couldn’t do many of the activities with the rest of the group I ended up spending hours and hours just talking to the Tanzanian staff and learning all about their lives. Askari Bora (as he likes to be called) dresses in a trench coat and always wears a ski hat with a spider on it. He can detect that there is a lion or elephant within 300 meters just by sounds and he can track any animal just by a few footprints. As far as I can tell there is not a single animal that scares him no matter how big, poisonous, or fast they are. He is known to actually chase hyenas out of the camp and slap them on the head like bad dogs. Also, he loves to imitate lion growls (especially when they are in our campsite), and will actually go up to elephants and greet them with his big metal flashlight. Then there is Arthur, our head cook, who is one of the most obsequious people I have ever met. “What ever you want I will make you, no problem, no problem,” he always says. Somebody took him up on this once and asked for pizza. The next day we had a peculiar looking pizza that toppled 4 inches high with green beans, pineapple, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, onions, peppers, kale, squash, zucchini, banana, lentils, cinnamon, and about anything else you can find in our kitchen. “Mmm, just like at home!” we told him. Then there is Moses who helps out with anything and everything. He speaks 6 languages fluently (including several tribal languages, Swahili, and English) and will always convince you that you’re in a good mood. He couldn’t afford to go to college but knows more about chemistry and biology then most of us and is obviously extremely smart. He can fix all the cars and can solve just about any problem that Africa puts on his plate.

Throughout the week my eyesight slowly but surely recovered and I could occasionally take off my blindfold and barely open my blurry eyes. It was frustrating not being able to see lions when I knew they were only a few meters outside my car, but we did plenty of other interesting things that kept my excitement fired up. One afternoon I got to visit the famous “Lion House” where the top research on lions has been conducted for the past 50 years. The researchers there explained their work on carnivore interactions and how they have over 300 camouflage cameras placed throughout the park to record lion behavior (Tanzania has 30-50% of the lions in the world). Another day we had a lecture from the head vet of the Serengeti and learned about all the horrible diseases have passed through the area in the past century and how they have affected the animal populations. In the 60’s and 70’s Rinderpest killed off around 1.5 million wildebeest!
The last day in the Serengeti I was able to occasionally take off my blindfold and see things. One of my professors (who had lived in the Serengeti for several years researching lions) claimed that he was going to take me on the game-drive of a lifetime to make up for the week. He drove me to a herd of elephants with a tiny baby that was less than a year old. It looked so wobbly as it threw its trunk around and tried to play with its siblings. Soon after that we drove by a pride of 10 lions that were all sleeping in a tree. 4 of them were tightly snuggled against each other like a pile of stuffed animals. Not long after that we saw a beautiful leopard that was gracefully climbing a tree. It was the most rewarding feeling to have my vision back and see all these astonishing things and it put me in the best mood I think I have ever been in.
On the long drive home I mentioned to a friend that I had never appreciated being able to see things so much and it felt like I had brand new eyes. Living so minimally has made us all realize the value of the simplest things in life – like vision, and clean water, and milk (or any other refrigerated food), and couches, and toilet seats. Many people look at Africa as a place that is full of problems and discomforts – and in some cases it can certainly feel like that – but in the end it is the people that pick up your head and make you see things with a new heart, even when you are completely blind.

My heart and eyes go missing in the Serengeti (Part 1)

Before I could fully comprehend where I was going we were in the land cruisers again (at 5am), packed to the brim with camping gear, food, and water for the next week as we bumped over the rough, dusty roads. I wasn’t in a good mood because my eyes could hardly open I was so tired and I had an extremely long day ahead. From the minute I woke up I could tell something was wrong because my eyes were bloodshot and slightly swollen, but I didn’t have time to deal with it (which I later deeply regretted).
Driving throughout Africa is an adventure in itself because it’s almost inevitable to not have your car break down at least once. The car rides that you think are going to take 3 hours end up being 6 hours. I have spent many hours sitting on the side of the dusty roads bathing myself in sunscreen, dripping in sweat, and discussing what of ice cream I would eat if an American grocery store magically appeared in front of me. Cold food is something I have forgotten the feel of… Anyway, after about 4 hours of driving through the Great Rift Valley we stopped at Olduvai Gorge, which is where the famous anthropologist Louis Leaky discovered that humans evolved in Africa. It has been known as the world’s hominid fossil treasure chest ever since. The ancient volcanic ash in the gorge preserved fossils better than anywhere else and has exposed many human bones from numerous time periods. It is places like these that give Africa the timeless, esoteric thrill that many people crave.
The Serengeti is a sea of grass that is so vast that if you squint your eyes it looks like you can see the curves of the earth. There are hundreds of species of mammals spread across these plains and the circle of life is more apparent than anywhere else. When we arrived at our campsite we had to scare a herd of elephants away so that we could set up camp. I could feel the energy of the wildlife in the trees around me and there was never a moment of silence. Huge birds were always calling and singing, monkey’s screaming, elephants trumpeting, buffalo crunching and insects humming. We set up canvas tents and were reminded that if we weren’t careful when we went to the bathroom we would probably be trampled or eaten. As the sun vanished over the horizon my eyes slowly got more and more swollen and blurry until I couldn’t see anything. I thought I just needed rest and I would get better…
That night I didn’t sleep at all. My eyes felt like somebody was squirting acid into them, and lions were roaring less than 20 meters from my tent throughout the night. At one point the whole camp was awake listening to them and nervously whispering. They night askaris did the best they could to scare the hyenas away, but they chewed apart everything that was left out. An elephant decided it wanted the fruit from our steel food box and made a ruckus trying to break into it.
The next morning our alarms went off at 5am because we were doing an exercise on carnivore interactions (they are most active at dawn). I tried to get myself up in the dark but quickly realized that I was completely blind and my eyes were crusted over with puss. The pain was overwhelming. Everyone was in a craze to get going as fast as possible so I was handed a water bottle and told to just lie down until they returned. I wasn’t able to sleep so I tried to distract myself by trying to identify all the sounds around me. After about a half hour I felt liquid drip down my face and tasted blood in my mouth. I sat up and blood gushed out of both nostrils all over my clothes. I frantically felt around the tent for wet wipes and eventually ended up taking off the shirt I was wearing to stop blood from getting everywhere. After a few minutes I found the door of the tent and got out. I called out in Swahili and English to see if anybody was around to help, but nobody answered. Frustrated, blind, covered in blood, and helpless, I sat down with my back against the tent and realized that I was perfect bate for all the lions that had been wandering around our campsite. After what seemed like an hour I heard another tent unzip and realized that somebody was walking toward me. The askaris and cooks were taking a nap while everyone was gone and were completely unaware that I was left behind. They helped me to the bathroom and continually asked me what happened. A few of them sat me in a chair by the fire and I tried to explain what was wrong in Swahili. One of them came over and opened one of my eyes to see if there were any insects in them. Luckily he didn’t find anything…
Everyone was completely shocked at what I looked like when they returned and told me I needed to get to a doctor. I was led to the land cruiser and blind folded because the sun made my eyes hurt even more. I overheard my professors say that the nearest clinic was 6 hours away but there was sometimes a doctor at one of the fancy lodges within the park. We drove for an hour over extremely bumpy, windy roads and I got so carsick from being blind folded and full of blood that I started vomiting. I was on my last straw. I could smell the blood and vomit on me (which attracted tons of biting tsetse flies) and my eyes were throbbing with pain. It felt like some sort of awful joke to be blindfolded as I drove across one of the most incredible places on earth in such misery. I was scared to death that the doctor was going to tell me that I would be blind forever and that they couldn’t figure out what was wrong.
After another half hour of misery we arrived at the lodge and I was taken into a dark room. The doctor forced open my eyes, scraped the puss away, and used a bright light to inspect them. He then dripped something in each eye that hurt so much it felt like somebody was taking out my eyes with needles. My arms and legs were shaking from pain and I could feel tears oozing out of my eyes as I clenched my mouth so I wouldn’t yell. He told me I had bad bacterial infections in my eyes that were spreading extremely quickly and that I needed to be put on antibiotics immediately. I was so happy to hear that it could be cured and that I would be able to see again.
When I got back to camp everyone was extremely sympathetic and did everything possible to help me. People had to help me eat, walk, dress, get in and out of the cars etc. My imagination went crazy during this time because all my other senses were working over time to figure out my exotic surroundings. It made me sad to think that most Africans don’t have access to simple medicine like this and have to deal with the horrible consequences of infections – like going blind.
This is one of the few times in my life where I have continually had to convince myself to make it through the day and have a good attitude. I got to experience the Serengeti through sounds and smells though, which gave me a perspective that I will never forget.

Full time safari duty

It is hard work being on full time safari duty! Since the day we arrived in Tanzania we have been leaving camp at first light and familiarizing ourselves with the famous national parks that are practically our next-door neighbors. All day we stick our heads out the sunroofs (safari hats, binoculars and all) and do a variety of research exercises on various aspects of the parks as well as the incredible diversity of mammals. One morning we spent 3 hours recording all the social interactions in a troop of about 50 baboons. As far as I can tell the drama in a baboon’s life is extraordinarily similar to the drama in a human’s life. Africa may be getting to my head, but they seem to love, gossip, play, show off, etc. and have a variety of emotions and personalities.
On election day the streets were almost empty because everyone had traveled to the voting booths. Unfortunately the same party won with about 60% of the votes, but it was by far the closest election Tanzania has ever had. The current president will remain in office and will hopefully be discouraged from his plan to build a highway right through the middle of the Serengeti (which would undoubtedly ruin the entire ecosystem).
One day we went to an incredible volcanic crater called Ngorongoro that is approximately 100km2 and has the highest density of megafauna in the world! The huge walls of the crater create incredible scenery for this tiny ecosystem and made me feel like I was living in prehistoric times. There is also an extremely dense carnivore population and throughout the day I could hardly keep up with the lions we drove by!
By the end of the week we were all exhausted to the point where people were falling asleep in their dinners. It was a bad time to be exhausted because we had to prepare for our weeklong excursion to Serengeti National Park – which is known to be the most thrilling adventure of the semester. The great Serengeti spreads throughout Tanzania and Southern Kenya and is where the great migration takes place. Every year 1.5 million wildebeest (along with zebra and gazelle) follow the rains of east Africa in a race to survive. This flow of energy has created one of the most incredible bionetworks on the planet and makes it feel timeless. As one scientist put it “the only living things which look as if they really belong to the Serengeti are the wild animals. Between the animals and Africa there is an understanding that the human beings have not yet earned." Also, the top research on lions, cheetahs, giraffe and many other animals is conducted in this area of Africa. I could hardly wait for the adventure to begin.

In the Land of Baobab Trees

The morning I left Kenya Mt. Kilimanjaro made its best appearance to say goodbye. There was not a cloud in the sky and it looked more majestic than I had ever seen it before. The small glaciers on top looked whiter than ever and I could clearly see all the steep ravines at the top. We piled in a bus at 6am and drove out of Maasailand, up into the lush forests that go part way up the side of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The road winded through banana tree forests and villages with small thatched roof huts. As we approached Arusha, which is a city in Tanzania, it was clear that the presidential election was approaching. Tanzania got its independence in 1962 and remained a one-party democracy until 1992. For the last 23 years the government has been dominated by a party called the Chama Cha Mapinduzi, which abandoned the former socialist ideology and has promoted a free market economy. Although they have been unsuccessful in promoting much economic development, Tanzania has remained a stable democracy which little political unrest. This is the first election where an opposition party actually has a decent chance of wining, which is creating a great deal of commotion throughout the country. There were pictures of the two presidential candidates posted everywhere and rallies were going on throughout the main streets.
After nine hours gazing out of the window of the bus my head started to bob up and down as I struggled to stay awake. Through my half alert conscience I heard the words “Mto Wa Mbu” come out of the bus driver’s mouth. The words electrified my mind and I immediately stuck my head out the window into the warm breeze as chills ran down my back. Ten years ago Luke and I came down with Malaria in this small town – which ironically means "River of Mosquitoes". I still had a blurred memory of what it looked like and it was incredible to piece it all back together as we drove through town. On the left was the beautiful Lake Manyara with thousands of flamingoes, and up ahead was the beginning of the escarpment that leads to the highlands. We even drove past the room of the clinic that I spend the most painful week of my life. I never would have thought that ten years from then I would be moving back and doing research on the ecology of the surrounding area.
My new home is located near a small village called Rhotia and looks out over the rolling hills of the highlands of Tanzania. It is absolutely beautiful here and although water is extremely scarce, there is significantly more green vegetation. The landscape reminds me of Italy in a way, with colorful hills of agriculture and tall delicate trees. There are also hundreds of huge baobab trees intertwined in the landscape! The first week here we will be visiting all of the national parks in the area and getting familiar with the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem and ecological issues that need to be addressed. We will then get to do directed research with Tanzanian professors on a variety of the concerns in the area. I have heard that one of them is head of the lion project in the area and another is an expert on elephants! Mt. Kilimanjaro isn’t there to guide me or look up to when I feel lost anymore, but being in such a beautiful place (without malaria) has rejuvenated me in an incredible way.