-
Noloholo, Day 2: Game Drive
When I wake, I find myself on a knoll above rolling hills of tawny gold. Dark green trees spindle their way across the landscape, like candy from a party piñata. I feel the closest civilization must be a hundred miles away, for I cannot see it, and yet, there is Laly’s incredible camp all around me. This sensation persists throughout the day. ( Read more... ) -
Noloholo, Day 1: Arrival
We leave Arusha at 5pm, when the day is already late. And yet, a day’s worth of activity follows. In Laly’s expert hands, the Land Cruiser “Indiana” rumbles and rambles down roads the color of rust and potter’s clay, following a path that carves southward to Noloholo. Homes stand squat and square along the way, their red-clay color a striking, ( Read more... ) -
Link to the Photo Album
I'm almost out of battery and this is the last of my internet for the day, so here's a "post" to keep you going. I'll be posting the best/most interesting of my photos here:https://picasaweb.google.com/107008221702828637339/ArushaNoloholoTanzaniaArushua, Day 2 - Repurposing, Gay Rights, and the Low Data Tips
Breakfast is a fried egg and toast at the hotel, Lunch is Indian food at Big Bite, and dinner is Ethiopian at a lovely tree-covered restaurant called Spice and Sage. In the intervening time, we meet Buddy and Laly for the first time, wander around town for some hours, and finish the last of our errands ( Read more... )Arusha: Day 2 - Modems, artists and english
When I wake in the middle of the night, it really is pouring rain, and the next morning is soggy with clouds and sleep. Morning errands consist of sitting on the internet trying to figure out my modem situation (do I need a separate SIM card slot, or no?) and sitting online updating the last of my software.
Christy and I head out at last to wander ( Read more... )Arusha: Day 1
I wake to the sound of rain pounding on the window, only to hear it fade into the distance and realize that in fact it was the sound of a metal bike careening across the dirt road. In fact, the day is bright and only speckled with clouds. The light glints off the metal roofs of the nearby shops, and the city glistens green from the recent rains.
( Read more... )Dry Tortugas NP, Day 5: The Impacts
We leave at first light on Friday. I find that in these days I have come to live entirely in the present. As the terns focus singularly on their tasks of protecting themselves, their eggs, feeding, I have also fallen into a state of immediacy. There is no planning here, and no schedule. We catch and band birds until Sonny says stop. The work is not ( Read more... )Dry Tortugas NP, Day 4: Fort Jefferson, the Unfinished Refuge
Fort Jefferson is the largest masonry building in the Western Hemisphere. Its millions of bricks were brought by boat from the mainland, and mortared by slave and prisoner labor. It was in turns a naval station to combat piracy, a guard post against invaders to the Gulf, a harbor, a lighthouse to warn ships from the teeming shallow reefs nearby, a ( Read more... )Dry Tortugas NP, Day 3: Wildlife Extremes
We've been eating very well on this trip. Janie, one of the NPS crew, has been whipping up decadent meals. Barbeque ribs one night, coconut french toast another morning, and gourmet sandwiches for lunch, not to mention desserts like pecan pie with ice cream. None of us students really know what to make of it - we eat better in this week than any of ( Read more... )Dry Tortugas NP, Day 2: Wind, and where the terns go
On Tuesday after lunch we look at the data logger information, and find that the birds meander south-east after leaving Bush Key island, down to West Africa. Then in December, they turn tail and fly all the way back in just 12 days.
Outside the wind is picking up to 37 knots - gale force, says John, one of the NPS boat crew members. The wind. It ( Read more... )