wrap up from Moshi

Today is my last full day here in Moshi and it's bittersweet.  I am certainly looking forward to the modern conveniences of house - namely hot showers without a hand-held nozzle, clothes that actually get clean when you wash them, high-speed internet, and friends!  I will also miss many things about Moshi, and about my time here, but after being away from home for a month, I am ready to return. 

Today will be full of wrapping up all the loose ends with work.  The final version of my survey has been translated into Swahili, and then back into English.  Today I am working with Berny to make sure that the translation is good enough, and to make any last-minute changes.  Then, it's just a matter of logistics and paper-pushing when I get home to get the questions incorporated into the final survey in November.

While Berny and the other people in the office were working on the translations, yesterday, I went on a short 1-day safari in Arusha National Park.  It was much different than the safari I did last time I was in Tanzania, 6 years ago.  Up here, there is much more forested area, and therefore, no lions :-(  You can imagine my disappointment since they're my favorite animal.  While this is a bad thing for me, it's a very good thing for the rest of the animals in the park.  For instance, giraffes in the Serengeti must sleep standing up because of the constant fear of predators, but here in Arusha, they sleep laying down.  I even caught a few pictures of a sitting, resting, giraffe.  I had the opportunity to add on a 2 hour walking safari, which was the best part of the day.  I was accompanied by a park ranger, who carried a gun just in case any of the animals decided to charge us!  The ranger was also one of three women rangers in the entire park of about 40.  She spoke very good English, and it was really fun to talk with her for the few hours we had together.  I think the sweetest, and saddest animal story was of the dik-diks.  They are small antelopes that are monogamous.  They choose a mate early in life and stay with them until they die.  When one of the pair dies, it is common for the remaining dik-dik to either eat a plant they know is poisonous, or to stop eating until they also die.  I told the ranger that it reminded me of Romeo and Juliet, but I think the analogy was lost on her.

Anyway, I will be sure to post pictures and videos when I return (I get back to Durham on Sunday, so check back sometime after that).  Keep checking back - I've got a months worth of visual stories to tell...

And for now, I am getting ready to say goodbye to Moshi.  As I said before, it's bittersweet, although it's looking more and more likely that I'll be returning in November, so maybe it's just goodbye for now.