Back to Dar es Salaam

Updated: July 30, 2000

Now that we are back in Dar es Salaam, we no longer need the satellite phone for internet communication. There are numerous places in which to "connect" and we plan to do so with this latest update.

We are very sorry that the phone stopped working just when things got exciting at our excavation! We also apologize to the class of students from New Zealand who wrote to us. Our satellite connection broke down just as we were receiving your letter with questions. Hopefully, the questions will be forwarded to us here and we will answer you soon. (Webmaster's note: The New Zealand email has been forwarded to the team in Dar.)

We arrived today in Dar es Salaam around 12:30 PM during a rainstorm and through road construction. We finished up at the site, having run out of exposed fossiliferous deposits in our excavated pit, and not having time to remove enough overburden to uncover more.

We are quite pleased with our "take" for the trip. We collected a total of 369 specimens composed primarily of plant fossils. Second in terms of number are fish fossils, some of which are preserved in amazing detail. But, quantity is not everything. The mammal specimen found by Charles Msuya, at least for now, takes the prize for most exciting.

We said our good-byes and thank yous to the local villagers of Mwaru, about 10 of whom worked for us. We thoroughly enjoyed our relationship with them and look forward to seeing them again some day if we are lucky enough to come back.

Above: The team in Morogoro on Saturday.

Our trip back to Dar was long and dusty, but thankfully uneventful. We stayed overnight on Friday in the small town of Manyoni between Singida and Dodoma. Saturday night was spent in the town of Morogoro near the Uluguru Mountains. This is a lovely spot with beautiful views of tropical mountainsides. Our enjoyment of this place was enhanced by our stay at the Kola Hill Hotel, which included cold drinks, good food, simultaneously hot and cold running water for showers, and fairly new, clean facilities.

Above: The Uluguru Mountains.

During the night last night there was rain and we awoke to an almost magical view of the nearby mountains partially obscured by misty clouds. We enjoyed the view so much that we thought it would be nice to try and share it with everyone here.

Today's report prepared by Bonnie Jacobs