Tanzania
Ulanga District Council

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    • Day 15–16

      No signal

      November 20, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

      Around Mahenge a yet unknown mountain range opens to me. South of it, the landscape begins to get wilder, is less populated and very scenic. It is also dryer here and I am not going to get problems with muddy tracks.

      For the following 24 hours I will not meet a single other car! Just scarce mopeds and a handful of small trucks. Also, you won't find any touristic infrastructure. Nothing!

      Just like in the eastern Uluguru Mountains a few days ago I again see many rock formations made of black-white quartz sandstone which is "harvested" by the locals for further trade.

      And where there are mountains, there is a quarry. Always. And this particular one allows hiding so well from the road that I would be doomed if I didn't camp here for the night, being surrounded by pure nature sound and without having mobile network signal for the following day.
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    • Day 16

      Sali

      November 21, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

      How far will I continue here? Again I will have to return along the same route because all roads are ending (!) south of Mahenge mountains and the only option for a small round trip is blocked by yesterday's fallen tree and, presumably, by a missing bridge.

      On my paper map I read "Old Capuchin Mission" in Sali. Glancing at the topography it looks like an interesting ascent into the mountains. That is what I came for!

      Oh and what a wonderful ride this is! The remote villages are calm with only a few people working on their fields. With my car squeezing through the narrow paths I feel like an intruding alien, maneuvering a spaceship on the surface of a far and distant planet. Somewhat surreal. Do I have the permission to be here at all? How do the locals perceive me?

      Suddenly, where the slope starts to get increasingly steep: traffic signs. Haven't seen any for hours! And the "road" (2 m wide) changes from dirt to tarmac. What? Here? A fantastic scenery follows while I meander up the mountain.

      The road ends in Sali and indeed there is an old Roman mission with a primary and secondary school and many curious kids of all ages who are eager to train their English with me. Super strange to find such a noble establishment up here. Teacher Simon tells me that the compound must have been founded around 1911.

      I enjoy the fresh mountain breeze and walk around, catching locals with my camera. They are shy at first but then proudly pose for me!

      Later I will regret not having stayed here over night because the area would have also been perfect for a day's hike into the nearby pristine forest of which not much is left.
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    • Day 17–18

      Kihansi Spray Toad

      November 22, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

      I pass a signboard of the Kihansi Wildlife Research Station. It says "Kihansi Spray Toad Breeding Facility". What the heck? Here, in the middle of nowhere? Out of curiosity I turn back and ask for a visit. Granted.

      Felix the station supervisor and his volunteer Yoel are super welcoming and within minutes I dive deeply into the extinction history of this very "spray toad". It was once endemic to the Kihansi river flowing down in several waterfalls from the Udzungwa escarpment behind us. The species was strongly depended on the water spray in vicinity of the falls. When around 1996 a hydropower plant has been built in the upper areas, the water flow declined from 16 m³ to 2 m³ per second which resulted in much less waterfall spray. The following vegetation change among other factors lead to rapid vanishing of the whole toad population which was specialized on the humid environmental conditions, to be found in this very gorge only.

      Now, here we are at the breeding facility which conducts research on how to re-establish a stable population. The tiny yellowish toads are live-bearing and just give birth to 3-5 youngsters each iteration. The eggs are fertilized inside of the mother’s body and need around 3 months to hatch and to be "raised". Already these parameters make the species very fragile. I learn how at this breeding facility the young toads are fed with Collembola (springtails) and the adults with Drosophila (common fruit fly) and crickets, all being farmed just the next door. There is also another captive population in the USA which is going to be partly transferred here soon.

      It is 4 in the afternoon and Yoel spontaneously offers to hike up the steep path into the thick forest to one of the wetland areas, the former toad habitat. After the environmental impact assessment, the power plant operator TANESCO has been made responsible to maintain the gorge infrastructure for the government being able to conduct research around the resettlement of the toads. They have installed artificial sprinklers to imitate the humid environment 😅. The first toad release experiments here have not been successful and some of the following research questions are still open: Which influence does natural food have in contrast to artificial feeding? Which change in vegetation has the biggest impact? How does the immune system of toads raised in captivity deal with diseases such as chytrid fungi (the former population must have been able to withstand)? Is there an inbreeding depression on the population? A nice playground for students! There is still one rather intact wetland area left upstream which is promising for future release experiments.

      The three of us spend our evening at Kihansi Social Club which hosts all the power plant workers and also fills the gap of being the only place to hang out in this region. Felix got a Master’s degrees in natural resource management in Australia and one in aquaculture in Belgium. For his thesis he went to Vietnam. Yoel graduated with a Bachelor in biotechnology and laboratory science.

      For the night I get a room in the research station’s guest house 😎. With a burning heart I leave the following noon after catching up with some digital homework in this cosy atmosphere.
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    • Day 12

      Selous Game Reserve, Tansania

      September 6, 2024 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

      Nach langem Überleben haben wir uns dazu entschieden, eine Tagessafari nach Tansania zu machen.
      So ging es für uns morgens um 4:00 Uhr los zum Flughafen und in rund 45 Minuten in das Selous Game Reserve (heute heißt er offiziell Nyerere-Nationalpark) nach Tansania. Dort wurden wir direkt auf die Jeeps verteilt und die Safari konnte losgehen!
      Das Selous Game Reserve ist eines der größten Wildschutzgebiete Afrikas. Mit einer Fläche von über 50.000 Quadratkilometer ist es fast doppelt so groß wie die Serengeti.
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    • Day 12

      Noch mehr Safari-Momente

      September 6, 2024 in Tanzania ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

      Nach gut 1 1/2 Stunden machen wir die erste Pause. Danach geht es weiter mit der Pirschfahrt. Gegen 12:00 Uhr beginnt unser Auto Probleme zu machen. Deshalb haben sich die Ranger dafür entscheiden, dass es jetzt Mittagessen gibt, solange sie sich um das Auto kümmern.
      Dann ging es nochmal weiter auf Pirschfahrt, gegen 16:30 Uhr ging unser Flieger dann wieder zurück nach Sansibar.
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    • Day 28

      Tazara Zug nach Mbeya

      August 26, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

      Aufgrund der Verspätung war es leider zu dunkel, um Tiere im Nationalpark zu sehen, den wir durchquerten, aber dafür konnten wir die Berglandschaft bei Tageslicht bewundern.
      Der Zug ist ein chinesisches Fabrikat und hatte schon wesentlich bessere Zeiten, aber es gab einen Speisewagen, leckeres Essen und eine gute Aussicht. Um 20 Uhr lief der Zug dann endlich in Mbeya ein.Read more

    • Day 15

      Dead end

      November 20, 2023 in Tanzania ⋅ ☁️ 29 °C

      I want to follow a tiny side road along the border of Nyerere National Park (former Selous) which is supposed to exist according to my paper map. The beginning looks promising but then a huge fallen tree blocks my plans. Some locals accumulated and are waiting for the chainsaw man. They tell me that the newly planted trees around here are Macadamia nut trees!Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Ulanga, Ulanga District Council

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