unidentified exotic plants in my backyard!

One thing that is really amazing about northern Tanzanian ecology, is the plant diversity. In one garden you could find giant cactus and succulents, birds of paradise, banana trees, thorny acacias and over sized, climbing philodendrons. In my garden alone, I have starch bananas, lemongrass, cassava, pomegranate, elephant ear and flowering succulents! I picked up a great field guide to East African trees and shrubs, but it's missing a lot on the tropicals you see at the elevation of Arusha or Moshi. It seems to me that you can grow just about anything here, with the right conditions of course. Here's some of the more photogenic flora around my house in Arusha. This is a fantastically symmetrical tree in my front yard that is all over town, makes a great shade tree...I haven't found out what it is yet...

Starch Banana, (musa paradisiaca) Swahili name; Matooke. I did not know, that banana trees are actually considered perennial herbs and the banana itself is a "5-sided berry fruit".

Cute little unidentified flowering, creeping succulent.

large, unidentified leafy-like succulent

AWESOME seriously strong and thorny plant with adorable little dainty, pastel flowers, unknown.

Everyone I ask about these just says "bird of paradise" but I want to know what kind! There are several really amazing, alien looking, hanging bird of paradise flowers around here, all of which were definitely imported as ornamentals. I know they are not indigenous here.

Cassava plant, which, silly enough is a major food staple, but is not in the book. In case you don't know what cassava is, it is a delicious potato-like root that is absolutely amazing if you fry or bake it and eat it with sweet chili sauce! I can't tell if my Pomegranate tree is ornamental or not, I've only seen one fruit and it was tiny and waaaay to tart to eat!! although I tried...

Its tough to find a good book on East African gardening or imported species. Any fellow plant nerds care to identify some of these mysterious exotics, (2 great "african" keywords right there) Please let me know!

Here's a couple of interesting sites I found while trying to look up my plants;

http://plantsarethestrangestpeople.blogspot.com/

http://gomestic.com/gardening/amazingly-unique-garden-plants-from-around-the-world/

1 week in Dar es Saalam to acquire 2 permits…ready…go!

Last week I spent many hours reading and waiting in various offices for both the Photo & Filming permit, and the general research permit for Tanzania. Spending a fortune on taxis, darting around between the U.S. Embassy, Ministry of Information, the Commission for Science & Technology, the printers and the atms weren’t the only frustrations I experienced last week, but all that matters is now I can OFFICIALLY commence my documentary project. Fortunately for my budget, I didn’t actually need the Costech permit, which also saved me from having to spend the weekend and this week in Dar. Not that Dar is that terrible, but its huge, congested, and expensive like most cities. Knowing basic Kiswahili at this point definitely made the trip more comfortable. I ate at some pretty decent restaurants, talked to some reaaallly interesting people and managed to get my filming permit Friday afternoon, the evening before my return flight. It was (and is) SUCH an amazing relief to finally have the correct permits, I decided to take myself out for some celebratory sushi, ice cream and shopping! (kidogo!) With my lovely, shiny, laminated filming permit, I can officially go camp in the bush and start my photo/video documentary on Human / Wildlife conflict. My plan is to first go to Esilalei (ess-ill-la-lay), a large area between Tarangire and Lake Manyara national parks and home to the Manyara Cattle Ranch, hundreds of Maasai bomas and a very busy migratory corridor. On the main road just before the entrance gate to Lake Manyara, development within the last 5 years has drastically narrowed the 1 mile wide corridor that was left between the park borders. Since Lake Manyara is literally up against the Eastern Valley Ridge, migratory wildlife has no choice but to travel along the steep path between the ridge and the town of Makiyuni. Now waste from the villages and lodges are actually altering the pH levels of the lake itself. The road from Esilalei that winds up into the Ngorongoro highlands is steep, narrow, and very busy in peak season. Sadly there are a numerous accidents between Land Cruisers, elephants, buffalo, antelope and cattle. Just last week, on a day trip out to Esilalei with a friend who lived out there for 2 years, we saw a massive hyena on the side of the road, just across from a boma that was maybe 100 yards away. She told me that there is almost always road kill on that route.The congestion is the just the same around the entrance to Tarangire national park. There are constant issues over grazing space, predators attacking cattle and villagers, and proximity with a large elephant population. The AWF manages a Maasai Women's Cultural Boma in Esilalei, and I hope to interview the women about their experiences with wildlife conflict and their involvement and dependence on the tourist traffic between the 2 parks. There are hundreds bomas in Esilalei, and I am looking forward to setting up camp, spending time in this beautiful area, visiting the Maasai and hearing their stories.

After Esilalei, I hope to continue visiting villages that have on going problems with wildlife, interviewing and photographing Maasai men & women, and if I'm lucky, witness some wildlife conflict first hand. Most villages within 5 kilometers of a park border have regular issues with various species, from grazers, predators and elephants. In many areas, it is unsafe for children to walk the many miles it takes them to get to school. This is a long pressing issue in so many communities in northern Tanzania that are affected by local wildlife, rapid development and the pressures from a tourist economy. I certainly have plenty of material to work with, now its up to me to organize, coordinate, and shoot an interesting documentary! First, I get to stock up on supplies and some basic camping gear in preparation for my first real trip into the field!

my new friend in Esilalalei¡