Back in time 30 million years

Since March 22nd I’m relaxing here on the spot and preparing my mind for the dawning apocalypse. Today I break out for a hike into Shagayu Forest Reserve (part of Usambara mountains) with the local guides Joseph and David accompanied by five dogs from the camp, of which three are Dagmara’s imported stray dogs from Morocco (all Poles I know are crazy about dogs!). We accomplish more than 21 km within seven hours and again I feel the past three months of sitting behind the driving wheel. Back home I will have to order a replacement element for my left knee on eBay :-P

The path leads us from Mambo through monotonous pine and eucalyptus forests which have been planted by Germans and/or Brits during colonial times, primarily to obtain fast-growing firewood and building material. Already back then the natives’ settlement pressure was intense in this fertile and smoothly-climatised region that the whites feared to loose more and more of the precious, pristine rain forest. This is why they erected a wall of eucalyptus trees to denominate a border between cultivated land and the Shagayu forest which has been declared a forest reserve during the nineteenhundrets. This tree wall persists until today and looks somewhat strange. The locals say that this system still works pretty well as they are allowed to gather firewood from the pine and eucalyptus plantations any time whereas from the primary forest they may only collect dead wood which indeed is strongly controlled by the current government. At least they seem to have realised that this old forest is the only source for fresh water during the dry season. It even sources water during droughts when it does not rain for two years in a row!

This "firewood thing" is really a problem. Tanzania is poor and has a huge population which uses wood and charcoal for cooking and heating all year long. Getting a hot shower in rural areas involves firing an oven. But in Zambia it is even worse! There the water reservoirs are depleting which also leads to hydro power shortages and whole Zambia’s economy and life seems to be concentrated around “where do I get firewood and where do I get charcoal?”. Even in Lusaka we experienced power cut-offs from early morning till the evening and running water was not available from 9 am to 3 pm. In their fuckin’ capital they cook daily lunch on charcoal! Here in Usambara mountains 30 % of the ladies are carrying veggies on their head and 70 % are carrying ... firewood. By the way, I don’t see any guys working here. They are just hiding or sitting around on crappy Chinese motorbikes (they say that they fall apart after one year).

So, back to Shagayu forest: it’s nice, you should go there. Don’t fear any leopards, they don’t come any more.Read more