Kijambo from Dodoma!

Updated: July 14, 2000

A dhow on the Tanzania coast of Dar es Salaam.

Kijambo (greetings!)

We are now in transit to our field site in Mahenge. Gregg, Beth, Pat, and Jason arrived in Dar es Salaam on the 11th after a timely flight and a pleasant layover in London. All the necessary arrangements for fieldwork were completed on the 12th, and we packed our venerable Land Rovers at the Natural History Museum on the morning of the 13th.

Ready to leave the Natural History Museum on the 13th.

Seated in front: From left: Gregg Gunnell, Ferdinand A. Mizambwa (Antiquities Unit), Frank Kikwa (Driver), Gregory Mkude (Driver).
Standing from left: Metteio Macarios (Cook), Kent Newman, Beth Kowalski, Jason Head, Pat Herendeen, and Charles Msuya (Muhimbili University). [Photo by Bonnie Jacobs].

We left Dar es Salaam around 8:30 AM, intending to reach Dodoma at around 6:00 PM. The drive was an amazing experience, as we drove through areas covered with coconut palms and bananas, then past extensive sisal plantations, finally giving way to woodland that is dominated by Acacia (a tree in the bean family) and Baobab, which look like trees which have been stuck in the ground upside-down. About an hour and a half into the trip we started climbing the Central Plateau, passing between the Uluguru and Nguru mountains, and gigantic Precambrian inselberg outcrops. The road is heavily traveled and very busy, with roadside stops where women wearing beautiful, rainbow-colored vitenge sell beans, yams, tomatoes, oranges and spinach.

Tanzania's Nguru mountains

As we were driving between Chalinze and Morogoro, a small troop of yellow baboons (Papio cynocephalus) crossed the road in front of us. One of them was a mother with a young baby hanging on her back! As we continued down the road, another troop watched us from their perch on the roadside. After a quick stop to check the safety of our luggage (which is strapped on the roof), we discovered that one of the Rovers was overheating and its battery wasn't charging. Both the alternator and fan belt were loose, and a new fan belt and several screws (borrowed from the front bumper) later, we were on our way.

Field-expedient repairs on the Land Rover

We traveled on for another several hours when the same Land Rover had to stop because it had a broken rear axle. So, we shifted into front-wheel drive and continued on at a leisurely pace of 25 MPH. This same Land Rover also has a broken fuel and temperature gauge, so we were forced to stop again to top off the tank and let the engine cool. Several additional pit stops later, we arrived in Dodoma around 9:30 PM. Our intent was to find a hotel- unfortunately, Parliament is in session, and every hotel was sold out. We made an arrangement to camp on the grounds of one of the larger hotels, and had just pulled into the hotel's drive when the crippled Land Rover suffered the loss of the front axle. So much for front-wheel drive. We pushed the Rover into the parking lot, and went for a hot meal.

Arrangements were made with the hotel for us to sleep in a conference room instead of outside, and after a nights rest, we are having the Rover fixed in preparation for arrival in Singida tomorrow. Despite car troubles our spirits are high.

The weather in Dodoma is very pleasant, sunny, cool and breezy, making our stopover a comfortable one. We have made arrangements with the officials in Singida to meet tomorrow, even though it will be Saturday, to obtain a letter of introduction for the officials in Mahenge. We are all looking forward to being in the field and getting to work.

Everyone is well, and having a great time.
Kwa Heri,
The Tanzanian Adventurers.