Tanzania Diary – Day 1 & 2

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During the half-term break me and mum went on safari to Tanzania and had a great time and saw many amazing things. The Adventure Company organised the trip although our guides were from Tropical Trails. I am going to write a day by day diary of our trip starting with day 1 & 2 together as they were spent travelling. Some of the photos that mum took will soon be added to the photo library.

Day 1 & 2 – May 26th & 27th
We drove to Heathrow Airport and met Dad who had got there on the bus because he was working in London. He drove the car home with Clara so that we wouldn’t have to pay to park our car for a week. Then me and mum checked in and waited for our flight to Adis Ababa that left at 9.50PM. We met the other families before we got on the plane.

The plane was delayed for a bit and the journey wasn’t very good as the food was bad and there wasn’t much to do. Luckily for me I’d already had a pizza that I had made at school that afternoon. We arrived in Adis Ababa early in the morning ready to catch our flight to Kilimanjaro Airport that was due to leave at 10.10AM Ethiopian time (2 hours ahead of the UK).

Whilst we were waiting for the plane we had fantastic views of a pair of Black Kites as well as lots of Little Swifts, Common Swifts, Red-rumped Swallows, Pied Crows and several Common Buzzards. I also saw a Common Fiscal which is a type of Shrike (Butcherbird). Rather annoyingly at about 10.15AM we were told that our flight had been delayed until 12.15PM, but we got free cake as a result, so I didn’t mind much! Finally we got on the plane although the plane didn’t actually leave until about 1.30PM The journey took about 2 hours and we had great views of Mt. Kilimanjaro from the plane.

When we arrived at Kilimanjaro Airport I saw a Grey Kestrel as well as Little Swifts, Common Swifts, Red-rumped Swallows and several more Common Fiscals. Also a Grey Heron was in the long grass on the side of the runway. Around the airport there were a lot of Superb Starlings, spectaculer birds with many colours although these turned out to be very common. We then were driven to our hotel in Arusha, the Ilboru Safari Lodge.
On the way there we saw the usual Swallows, Swifts and Fiscals as well as lots of Superb Starlings and 2 Grey Kestrels.

When we got to the hotel we had a swim in the very cold pool! Whilst swimming 3 Glossy Ibis were flying around overhead making a racket. In our room we found a lizard that we called GordonBob. Then we had dinner which gave us a chance to get to know the other families. For dinner we had soup for starters and chicken and chips for main course. Mum had a vegetarian meal although I can’t remember what she had! Then we went to bed although the Ibises were still making a racket so we couldn’t get to sleep for a bit.

The Perfumed Garden

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I’ve alluded previously to my great debt to John Peel. For several years in my teens I listened with religious devotion to Peel’s show. Finger poised on the pause button of my reel-to-reel, I recorded anything that piqued my interest. These were the days when brilliant new singles from likes of The Cure, Buzzcocks, Jam, Undertones and Specials seemed to emerge each week. Typically though, it was the mavericks who inspired me. Obsessions with Captain Beefheart, Ry Cooder, Van Morrison, Loudon Wainwright, Black Uhuru and Misty in Roots were initiated by Peel’s shows. I was infected with Peel’s affection for great soul singers: Millie Jackson, Bettye Lavette, and ‘Starting All Over Again’ by Mel & Tim, which JP played on his 40th birthday show. I was first exposed to African music, via Pablo’s ‘Bo M’banda’; in our ignorance we were satisfied with the generic description, African, years before we learned the subtleties of Malian, Zimbabwean or, in this case, Zairean pop.

Now I find a contingent of Peel obsessives are blogging the praises of the great man. The John Peel Tape & File Project, and right place, right time, wrong speed are both publishing whole shows from private collections. The Perfumed Garden runs a complete Peel session each week.

Perhaps it’s time to dust off the reel-to-reel.

Make Music! with Chris Redmond

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Every year during the half-term holidays about this time I go to the Tower Arts Centre to do a workshop. Sometimes it has been art and crafts, drama or singing but this year and two years ago (2004) I went to the Make Music! workshop with Chris Redmond. The aim is to write and record or perform a song. But, with so many different ideas and styles our songs always end up a little strange. In 2004 we made a song called No Driving Tonight and this year we made a song about evil hamsters trying to take over the world.

It is the classic story of evil hamsters trying to invade but we fight back by spraying white power on monkeys’ heads to make them fly and the monkeys round up the hamsters. The hamsters think they will be made to suffer but instead the monkeys take them to a rock concert where our band plays and the hamsters realise that Earth isn’t so bad after all because it has rock music and hamsters and humans live in peace together.

There isn’t really a storyline to ‘No Driving’ but it is almost as strange.

Hear them here:

No Driving Tonight

Evil Hamsters

"Gotta get through January, gotta get through February…"

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January is bitter. It sometimes feels as if you spend the month locked in a darkened room. 3 foot square. Fed on nothing but white bread. Nothing ever happens. The exception is when something bad happens.

Perhaps it was the imminent end of the month, but a chink of light entered the room on my long drive north yesterday. Something reminded me of Woody Allen’s famous soliloquy in Manhattan. In his own pit of despair, Woody reminds himself of all the reasons why life is worth living:

“Groucho Marx; Willie Mays; the second movement of the Jupiter Symphony; Louis Armstrong’s recording of Potato-head Blues; Swedish movies; Sentimental Education by Flaubert; Marlon Brando; Frank Sinatra; those incredible apples and pears by C’zanne; the crabs at Sam Wo’s”

As I drove, my own list took shape:

A live recording by Van Morrison with the Caledonia Soul Orchestra; a brisk walk on a cold clear day in Dorset; the Glastonbury sauna; a play by Stephen Poliakoff; sunshine on my skin on a secret beach; old friendships renewed; establishing clarity from confusion at work; a goal scored in front of the Chapel stand at St. Mary’s; Clara’s smile when I return from working away; Tom’s joy at seeing a bittern; making lists; the kindness in my lover’s eyes and the touch of her cheek.

February’s a little brighter.

Winter Warbler

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For the last few days we’ve had a blackcap visiting our garden. Here it is sharing the feeder with a couple from our troupe of long-tailed tits.

Animal of the week – Zebra

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The Zebra is a wild member of the horse family that can be found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. There are three species of Zebra – the Common or Plains Zebra that is found all over Eastern and Southern Africa. The Mountain Zebra that is separated into two races, the Cape Mountain Zebra and the Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra. Finally the Grevy’s Zebra is the largest and rarest of Zebras and is found in northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. Zebras are large animals and often overcome attacks from Lions. When being chased by Lions the stallion goes to the back of the herd and violently kicks out behind him. This method often deters Lions, as they cannot risk injury or even death. It is also believed that the Zebras stripes make it harder for Lions to see them, as Lions are partially colour-blind.

Common or Plains Zebra
The most common of the Zebra family that has the widest range of the three species. It is split into three different races that are shown below.
Grant’s Zebra: southern Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia and northern Zimbabwe.
Chapman’s Zebra: Namibia, Angola and western South Africa.
Burchell’s Zebra: South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

The Common Zebra is very common throughout southern and eastern Africa and often forms mixed herds with Wildebeest. It lives in herds of up to 100, although normally these herds would number 15-20. It is a grazing animal and prefers open plains but can be found in bush thickets, woodland, wetland and semi-desert.

Mountain Zebra
The Mountain Zebra has a smaller range than the Common Zebra and is harder to find in its upland habitat. Although they are named Mountain Zebras they are not really found on mountains, their preferred habitat is high-altitude plains and hills. There are two sub-species of Mountain Zebra, the Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra and the Cape Mountain Zebra.
Cape Mountain Zebra: western South Africa, Cape Province, northern Namibia.
Hartmann’s Mountain Zebra: southern Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Northern South Africa, Swaziland and southern Mozambique.
Both sub-species are endangered although we were lucky enough to see them both on our holiday to South Africa in October 2004.

Grevy’s Zebra
Grevy’s Zebra are the largest and rarest of the three Zebra species. They have been over-hunted and persecuted for many years in east Africa. There are now as little as 3,000 remaining in the wild. They are a desert animal and are found in the scrub and aridlands of northern Kenya and southern Ethiopia. They used to be common in Somalia but became extinct there in 1973.
Zebra

The Great Egg Hunt

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I have also found The Great Egg Hunt entry so here is the link. I’m afraid these were all I could find though.

Web Reports are Back!

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I have found the Compton site again but some of the reports have been deleted. I will put the ones I can back on our site.

Web Reports-Link Error

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Lots of people have been complaining about links not working on my entries about web reports. Unfortunately the site for Compton Primary School seems to have been deleted (or maybe moved, please tell us if you find it) soon after we left, along with all the reports. I will delete the entries soon.