Adventures in the Nou!

Photo credit Nick Sheehan. Some of the students celebrating their arrival at the Nou Waterfall after the long hike.

Photo credit Jen Lo Dico. Local Iraqw children surround photography student Amelia Wang in awe as she shows them pictures of the soccer game.

Photo credit Amelia Wang. Karoli’s mother shares her wisdom by advising the students to respect their elders.

This image was captured by the wildlife group’s infrared hidden camera around camp depicting a timber poacher, that was used to help capture the thief the next day.

Photo credit Jen Lo Dico. Karoli approaches his mother’s traditional Iraqw home in the village.

We woke up to a cold, windy morning. The calls of the Schalow’s Turaco filled the air as we stumbled from our tents, nestled in the mossy trees of the Nou Forest. Venturing out before dawn, students photographed the mesmerizing sunrise with Jon. After breakfast, we left for a guided hike around the Nou Forest finding traces of leopards, hyenas, and elephants.

Returning to camp we had a relaxing afternoon filled with Swahili lessons and yoga. While on the way to capture the sunset, students saw blue monkeys and ran into local Iraqw children tending their cattle. United by soccer, a game broke out despite the language barrier. Laughter was heard on both teams and only finished when the children had to return to their cattle. After dinner, we huddled around the campfire gazing at millions of stars and were even lucky enough to see some shoot across the sky.

The next day, after breakfast, Karoli, an Iraqw forest ranger, welcomed us into his farmland home and taught us about the Iraqw’s traditional way of life and the importance of agriculture. With the help of Maggie, our Swahili instructor, we were able to sing the Tanzanian National Anthem with Karoli’s son, friends and neighbors.

The wildlife group set up infrared cameras every day to attempt to capture images of wildlife activity.  Some of the pictures that came back included two porcupines and a poacher holding a suni, a small forest antelope. The most exciting image they captured was a timber poacher, which is a serious offense in Tanzania. Karoli is going to use the image to bring the poacher to justice and use him as an example for future thieves.

The last full day in the Nou Forest was spent hiking the challenging, muddy, six-mile hike to the Nou waterfall. Despite the cold, the students eagerly jumped in and stood beneath the roaring water.

Once returning to camp, we were able to add words to our growing Swahili vocabulary and had a viewing of the photography group’s, “Why I came to Tanzania” video projects. The wildlife group continues to work on their daily surveys and have added the Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, Montane Nightjar, and Olive-flanked Robin-chat to their checklists, among others. Today we arrived at the Yaeda Valley and met the Hadza, a hunter-gatherer tribe.  Check back to learn about our new friends!