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¡
Black and White Horned Bills flapped back and forth between the highest surrounding trees, cackling along the way. 
The campsite consisted of a large common area under a huge thatched roof, with a dining room and locally made adirondack chairs and cooking area, 5 bamboo & thatched roofs with permanent tents set up underneath, composting toilets and an outdoor bamboo shower. Small paths led to nice, flat spaces for additional campers, like us, but we had the entire place to ourselves, except for Mgumu, the resident blonde Lab mutt! 
We met our guide, Hamisi, and went for our first hike into the jungle. All along the way, the path was lined with moss covered trees and logs, colorful fungi, massive ferns and epiphytes. We made our way very slowly, taking tons of pictures, turning over logs looking for bugs and frogs and listening to the birds and insects. We stopped at the Amani Butterfly project and then took a "shortcut" through the jungle up to the Mbomole viewpoint.
After our amazing first day in the jungle, we went back to Emau Hill to cook dinner. Earlier that morning, the caretaker, Mzee Obedi asked us if we had any requests of plans for dinner. We brought enough food to last us the whole trip, but we maybe it would be nice if we could get a chicken and grill it over the fire. Well, when we returned to the campsite, Mzee Obedi presented us with beautiful, fat, LIVE rooster! Feeling very gung-ho and rugged after our adventures, I decided that it was my time to kill my first chicken! I always thought that if you can't kill the animal, you shouldn't eat it. (although that doesn't stop me from eating the occasional burger) I felt like I could justify eating chicken if I killed one even once in my life.. I'll spare the gory details.. it was just as gross as I expected, but I do feel like I appreciate my chicken wings a little more now. ;)
After dinner, we returned to our tents to pass out after a great day of hiking. Just as we were about to get into our beds, we heard one of the staff at Emau come round to say, "Hodi! Kinyonga!" ("Hodi" is what you say when you are entering someone's home, sort of like, "anybody home?" or "May I come in?") I had already told everyone there about my love for kinyonga and that I wanted to go out at night looking for them, I didn't expect one to get delivered to our tent! He handed us a branch with a beautiful 2-horned chameleon on it, left and went to bed himself. We stayed up just a little while longer to play with our new friend before I reluctantly let him go on the tree over our campsite. I ♥ kinyonga.
