Sept – Oct 2017
I had a packed week in Tanzania; I was in Kilimanjaro for a Tropical
medicine (RSTMH) conference, then had an outstanding safari with Saba Lambert and
did leprosy teaching with Steve Walker to the East Africa DTMH students.
Phil Gothard (EADTMH course organiser) persuaded the tropical medicine
society (RSTMH) to have an African focussed meeting in Kilimanjaro linked to his
course. Many young African scientists submitted papers for the conference and I
enjoyed networking with people. We tried a speed dating type mentoring
scheme to link African scientists with older colleagues. My colleague Saba, a
gifted story teller, described “Mapping leprosy in Ethiopia” and won the best
presentation prize. We ate spicy Tanzanian food under a vast open air
thatched roof for the conference dinner.
She and I had a 3 day safari in a jeep with a roof that raised to allow
safe game viewing. Our driver was young and one of 250 operators working out of
Moshi, the safari industry is so big there. We drove to
Arusha and had nice coffee there; but we then tried to buy toilet paper in a huge
store with only empty shelves. The Tangire national park is in a huge, dry
landscape. There were many vehicles with
firangis for game viewing. On a 3 hour drive we saw zebras, giraffes and
wildebeest. We witnessed a dramatic
chase, starting with seeing an old lioness under a tree she then sat across our
vehicle, which caused 10 vehicles to crowd around us to see her. Some gazelles
were by the river bed and she raced after one that was limping, but the gazelle
escaped. The lioness returned looking tired and worn out. As a veggie I was relieved not to witness
animal slaughter but the lioness probably went hungry. Many elephants were grazing
and extracting water from a dried up river bed below a cliff face. We saw a
huge python up a tree and drove across the landscape and up to the edge of the Ngorongoro crater. We camped in posh
tents with beds and sheets with views of the bush, i felt close to nature, the
forest is all around.
Ngorongoro Crater, was formed when a large
volcano exploded and collapsed three million years ago, is 600m deep and has a 2600
square kilometers base. The visitors
centre at the park entrance explains the unique geology. In the morning mist hangs across the
crater. We drove up
to the crate edge through a green acacia forest and had fabulous views across the
crater. Descending one traverses different ecologies and we saw huge cacti. On
the crater floor we stopped by a stream where ducks, ibis and herons fed; a
trio of jackals trotted by. We crossed the plain full of grazing animals,
numerous zebra, endless wildebeest, gazelles (several types) and antelopes. The
land is desert-like but broken up with rivers and streams. At the “hippo pool”
there is water and what I thought were rocks until they moved and I could see
they were 20 hippos there. There were many birds there, plovers around the pool
and pelicans crash landing the water surface. We had lunch next to an acacia
tree on a volcanic rock, lovely to be outside the vehicle and next to water. In
the afternoon we crossed the crater floor pausing to look for rhinos (unsuccessful).
We climbed up the edge of the crater on an excellent metal road up through the
forest zones.
It was the best day of
game viewing I have had, there were so many animals and birds all peacefully
grazing and at close quarter. There are many vehicles but not so many that one
feels crowded. The landscape had contrasting
terrains, the flat dry crater bottom, the areas of water and the forest on the
sides. We returned to our posh camping
and were well fed.
Woke to a hoar frost outside the tents, because the area is at
1200m. I enjoyed the descent to the
plain to Manyara park where we saw many different trees and thousands of water
birds (herons, plovers and ibis) at a small lake. A fish eagle perched in a tree. We drove up to a viewing point. We drove to Arusha
and had lunch under the trees there. I
was surprised at the large scale of the safari industry, all the lunch boxes
come from a central place and have meat, sandwiches and samosas, after a couple
of days there were recognizable and the drivers get weary of them. There are
many tourist shops selling Tanzanian and Kenyan work. The drivers are also in close phone contact
and share game sightings.
We had a day teaching leprosy, i gave three lectures, we then taught the
students the leprosy practical skills, such as nerve examination and making slit
skin smears in small groups. 6 treated leprosy patients from the moshi area
came up for teaching sessions. The patient for my group was an elderly man who
had been diagnosed aged 10 with BT leprosy and a patch on his foot. He then
dropped out of school. fortunately he was later able to return to his village
and get married so although he had bad deformities he was not stigmatised. So
there was lots to discuss and showed that leprosy is not always stigmatising. I
had fine views of Kiliminjaro in evening light as I was driving to the airport.
Next time I shall walk on a short mountain walk there.
i had a very long journey home, there was severe winds at Schiphol so my
flight on to London was cancelled. `I was booked on a flight the next day, so i
booked myself onto a Eurostar train and at least got home that day. I ate
herrings for breakfast and shopped for Dutch foods in Schiphol!
