Wageni geni

Yesterday was very interesting. I was told there would be students coming to stay in my backyard again, but a small group- only 5. I have been doing a lot of computer work as the crop season is finished so being wholed up in the house all day is making me a bit antsy. Needless to say, I was happy to have some visitors in the afternoon, although it was completely unexpected. Answering to the upteenth "hodi" of the day, I hurried to the door to find an askari with four wazungu. I greeted him and then said hi to the wazungu, probably inadvertently portraying my confusion at their presence in my territory, as the tourist camp is on the opposite end of the ranch, and my end might be considered an eye-sore for paying guests. However, the purpose of their visit was quickly revealed. One of them had lived in my house for a year in 2001. He wanted to see the house, how it has been renovated and then offered me a picnic lunch... with WINE! Ends up, both of the guys are chefs. One owns a ritzy restaurant near Arusha. The food was absolutely fantastic. When I tell you we had sandwiches it will not adequately portray my delight in the meal. I haven't had bread, cheese, or lettuce since I have arrived... and of course there was the white wine. It wasn't just any bread, cheese, and wine. It was really nice food. Even as I write I know nobody will understand how great it was, but what else can I say? I excitedly offered to take their garbage... including the wine bottle that still smells of its contents. Yay wine. I will even take a picture of the bottle because it makes me so happy.

Nyama's drama.

I thought it would be a good idea to get Nyama spade professionally before she had her kittens. Like most seemingly simple tasks, this became quite an ordeal for me... and for Nyama I am sure. There is a veterninarian who occasionally brings guests to the ranch with his horses for horseback safaris. I met him last week and anxiously asked if I could send my cat with him when he returns to his farm near Moshi. He agreed to spay her even though I knew she was pregnant. By the way, normally, I would be very much against this but under the circumstances, I had to first of all keep in mind I am here for research, not to raise puppies and kittens. Secondly, sure I could find homes for kittens, but the animals are treated so poorly here that I didn't want to have to be worried about their welfare. And third, the puppies have provided me with enough tragedy for the whole of my seven month stay. I just wanted Nyama without being worried about her having kittens and galavanting around with disease ridden stray tomcats. On Tuesday the vet and his wife were leaving with the guests. Challenge number one was getting Nyama down to the camp where the vet was staying. I didn't have a box. I didn't have a harness or leash. However, I found a scrap of Masai shuka and fashioned a primitive harness/leash so that if she jumped from my arms at least she couldn't get away. Nyama didn't like my clever invention. At all. We made it about 100 meters from the house when she began howling and trying her darndest to get out of my arms. We took it slow and eventually made it to camp after an hour. I think it is about 3 km but really don't know for sure. Challenge number 2: find a box. There was one box in the tourist camp. Nyama quickly figured out how to use her claws as box-cutters and the box was no more. Challenge number 3: wait... for 4 hours... in an open hut without doors. At first, Nyama was afraid of leaving the hut which was fine with me but it didn't take long for her curiousity to take over. She started venturing out and after carrying her back several times, I decided to just watch where she went. She bolted to some long vegetation and I was ecstatic to discover she just really needed to poop. After this feat, she was completely content to sit in my lap and have my undivided attention. Finally, the car was ready to leave but we had to fashion a bucket in a bag as a makeshift cat carrier. I haven't heard the full story from the vet, but I am sure Nyama also grew tired of that scene.

Tuesday night they arrived home and on Wednesday morning, Nyama had 4 kittens in her cage with her. I guess the trip stressed her enough to pop them out. I did manage to find 2 very willing and capable owners and the vet will keep the other two. The downside is, now Nyama has to stay with the vet for awhile so that she can provide milk for her kittens before she can have surgery. So, alas. At the moment, the house is pet-less... except for a lingering Safari who seems to have it in her head that she is my dog... or my askari... as she sleeps on the porch and warns me of danger.

One year ago today...

Wow, life was different on July 14, 2007. It was our wedding day one year ago. Honestly, it seems an eon ago because the setting was so different. One year later, here I sit in Tanzania pondering the irony of it all and missing the touch, the laugh, and the voice of mapenzi yangu.

Mbwa mtoto alikufa.

The puppy mentioned in previous posts was very sick yesterday morning. I attended a first communion of one of Rose's relatives and then a party afterwards. It was not a very good day because I was worried about the puppy. At 6:00, I passed by Rose's house and he was doing worse. I brought him to my house so that the other puppies weren't exposed and so that I could check on him throughout the night. At midnight, I woke up to him screaming and gasping for air. I knew I had to put him out of his misery. Thankfully, he wasn't coherent at all. I used a damp cloth to cover his nose and mouth and in less than a minute he was gone. This is why I don't want any more animals here. Why am I posting tragic stories about the pets rather than my research? It doesn't seem right at all.

Napenda twiga, kweli!

After I saw Stacy off, I made my way to the waterhole. There are a lot of guests at the tourist camp at the ranch now so I was expecting a lot of visitors, but only two groups came through. There were four groups of elephants that came to the waterhole- 47 animals in all. This is absolutely fantastic for the research. At the end of the day, I was putting my things away, ready for the trek home for dinner when I was amazed to see 10 giraffe approaching the water. I had never seen a giraffe drink before so I was ecstatic. Not only did they drink, but they wrestled with their necks as I had only seen on PBS, and the elephants were there at the same time and ended up chasing them away with lots of trumpeting and dust. I took about 115 pictures although most were directly into the sunset.

A preparation climb...

For dinner, we had more Masai meat that was given to Stacy as a gift. I think she really enjoyed being there more as a guest than as a tourist. The following morning, we woke up really early to try and catch the sunrise from the top of a hill. We were trying to simulate Kili because her next venture was up the mountain. Well, the hill was no Kili, but the conditions were similar. We climbed in a cloud and reached the top in a cloud so unfortunately we weren’t able to see as much as we would have liked. On the way down, the cloud broke and gave a very dreamy appearance to our pictures. I guess I will have to climb again in the afternoon. It was a short visit, but I really enjoyed a break from the research and a chance to really enjoy my surroundings and share my stories.

Naomba game drive?

After the party, Stacy and I went on a game drive with my friend and a guide of the ranch, Jimmy. We got to see a lot more of the ranch and I realized just what a small part I look at from the treehouse. We saw elephants and giraffe and heard all of Jimmy’s guide stories about the birds and trees. It was very enjoyable.