Shores of Lake Tanganyika

Well -- I made it! I am now sitting in the beach-side office of Emmanuel Mtiti, the Director of the Greater Gombe Ecosystem project on the beach in Kigoma! This is a stunningly beautiful place -- Lake Tanganyika is much larger than I expected and the colours are extraordinary -- the earth is a rich red (think more red than PEI) and the vegetation is a bright green. There is nature everywhere. This morning I saw a huge troupe of monkeys just outside my hotel room at the Hilltop Hotel, and last night I had the pleasure of seeing a rare Dik-Dik at the Kitwe Forest.

But I should backtrack a bit. The flights from Canada to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania were totally uneventful but very long! Arrived on time at 10:30pm in Dar -- no problems with visas or luggage. Caught a taxi into town (after some bargaining around the price). Sounds and smells of a large tropical city in the developing world -- smoke from cooking fires and the sweet smell of tropical vegetation. The city centre is relatively small, surrounded by sprawling suburbs (which don't look anything like Canadian suburbs, but they are suburbs all the same!)

Quiet night at the Protea Courtyard hotel -- although didn't sleep much from the excitement and the fact that is was only 4pm Toronto time when I tried to go to bed. Up early to head back to the airport to catch my flight to Kigoma -- much earlier than needed as it turns out -- the flight was delayed by three hours, so I spent some time in the domestic departures area of the airport -- fortunately the tea and croissants were good and, get this, they were provided free by Precision Airlines to make up for the delay! Take that, Air Canada!

Flight to Kigoma took 2.5 hours in a small plane. Couldn't believe the expanses of green we were flying over -- seemed very unpopulated but as you come down you realize much of the land has been cleared for small, subsistence farming. Incredible views of the Lake and town as we were landing.

Airstrip made of packed red earth. Tiny one-room airport. Crowds of singing women and children in brightly coloured kangas there to greet (no, not me!) some pilgrims returning from Mecca. Wonderful low-tech luggage retrieval system consisting of pick-up truck and brawn.

I am met by Emmanual Mtiti and Mary Mwanza who give me a warm welcome. They deliver me to the Hilltop Hotel in a JGI-labeled four-wheel drive which is critical around here -- most of the roads are like driving on river beds, which apparently is what they literally have been since it is the rainy season here. The weather on arrival is spectacular, however -- cool compared to Dar and dry, brilliant sunshine.
The Hilltop occupies a spectacular location on top of a hill with views of Lake Tangayika on all sides. Somewhat rundown but my bungalow with view and four-poster mosquito net makes up for it.

The late afternoon and evening are spent viewing an oil palm hybrization project on the outskirts of town. The project team explains in detail how the new hybrid seeds they are developing yield four to five times more palm oil than the local variety, as well as producing more fruits per palm, and maturing earlier. This is an important generator of income for the local population, and the Greater Gombe Ecosystem team is doing great work.

From there we visit the Kitwe Forest -- a reforestation project. To get there we take the four-wheel drive along the beach (faster than any of the roads). Seems like the whole town is on the beach, washing themselves and their clothes, collecting water for their homes. We just plough through the whole lot, often needing to drive in the waves because the soil erosion, which is a huge issue here, has created massive gullies down to the lake. The water is a rusty brown as a result.

At Kitwe Forest we see what GGE is doing to combat this problem -- they have taken land that was completely deforested and over a short period of three to five years have brought back one of the only native forests in Tanzania. The progress is astonishing. The team shows me interesting techniques for propagating the Ninga trees by wrapping branches with a mixture of soil and compost and encouraging them to generate roots so they can plant a small tree directly rather than from seed.
We finish the evening at a look-out spot at the top of Kitwe forest to watch the sun set. Almost the entire Kigoma office has assembled here and brought cold drinks and biscuits. The sun sets over the hills of DRC and I am truly amazed that I am here at all.....

Great sleep in my four-poster. And this morning I am viewing the GGE offices (on the beach as I said), and soon will take off to the highland villages to spend the day viewing coffee farming initiatives and microcredit schemes. Then tomorrow I take the boat to Gombe where Jane Goodall is currently. I will spend the night there and do some tracking of wild chimpanzees and meet the research team. Next report in a couple of days!