As I’ve mentioned, the climate in my village is far different than the hot, dusty weather of Morogoro. I live on the edge of the Ngorongoro forest and the abundance of trees, both natural and planted, creates a pleasantly mild micro-climate. The afternoons are warm and sunny while the evenings are breezy and the mornings chilly.
The village extends from the edge of the forest to the edge of the escarpment overlooking the Rift Valley, about a three hour walk edge-to-edge. After about an hour of walking the weather changes from pastoral wonderland to arid wasteland — there are scarcely any trees with foliage and the ground is covered in dirt and rocks. This part of the village gets very, very little rainfall and is scorching hot. It’s not a pleasant place to walk and if the view of the Rift Valley and Mto wa Mbu wasn’t so cool I probably would never go down that way again. The elevation drops a teeny bit, and the entire village is on somewhat of a downward slope from the forest to the escarpment.
The school takes up the grounds bordering forest and my house is just down the hill, a short walk door-to-door. There are five teacher’s houses in a row, one for the women, one for the men, one for the teacher with a family, and one for the mkuu and his family. The last is my own. To the east is a timid, grassy ravine and a river only when the rain falls. The village across the river used to be part of my own and the kids still attend my school. It runs along the edge of the forest for quite a ways and that’s where elephant sightings occur almost nightly. You can even see giant footprints and huge piles of dung scattered throughout the farm plots. Far beyond the escarpment drops into the Rift Valley and a small range of mountains sits, Arusha miles behind. To the south, a beautiful view of Lake Manyara, which has recently been expanding in volume as the area has been getting an occasional heavy rainfall. In the photo below you can make it out a bit, and if you look closely you can even see the mountains beyond. Southwestward is Karatu town and a lovely view of planted eucalyptus trees and farm land.
Enjoy the photos. More to come someday.
Looking eastwards from my house. Green grass and an abundance of trees, both natural and planted, cover the red dirt of this village. In the distance is a small range of mountains, Arusha and Mount Meru somewhere far, far behind.
A view to the South. Two students walk home from school, passing the primary school grounds on their way. There are no clouds in this photo, what you see in the distance is the land of Lake Manyara and a small range of mountains far beyond.
Southwestwards, towards Karatu town. Dozens of planted trees dispersed between farms of beans and maize with a small range of mountains beyond.
