Ostriches on Safari Pt.3, Or "Huhhh huhhh" means "Cool" in Kiraqu

Campsite 3: The Nau (pronounced "no") Forest. Let us descend once again from the natural wonder of the national park. I loved my time in Terengiri (and yes I realize that I have spelled it a whole mess o' ways, but it doesn't seem like even the locals get it right half the time), but it almost was played out like a Disneyland ride. We weren't able to leave the truck (a realization that struck quickly with the insistence by Douglass to drink mass amounts of water), and every time we found something worth stopping for, we were surrounded by at least seven or eight other safari vehicles, overflowing with pudgy Europeans in homogeneously beige colored suits, the sound of million dollar cameras clicking and snapping at what now seemed like an animatronic lion rather than one in its natural habitat.

I digress. We descend from the bountiful wildlife playground and drive through the desert until we hear a combination of sounds that is far from promising: Hissssssss POW! Hissssss, followed by Habibu yelling "Aww man!". Our faithful behemoth had lost its steam, literally, and was proclaimed unsafe and unfit to drive in. Soon enough, however, we were met by a hopeful sound. The sound of clanking metal and a roaring, environment demolishing engine screaming down the dirt path. It was the MAN. Our back up truck a 1940s German army vehicle, literally engraved with "MAN" in bold letters on the grill, became our terrifying home. twice as wide as our original truck, green with the front not unlike a mechanical oxen, When we all jumped into the MAN we looked like some horrific nazi parade float, coming to invade Poland, binoculars in hand and sleeping bags in tow. I feared for the people of Tanzania.

Not 30 minutes after packing the MAN and rattling noisily down the first paved road in a week and a half, we break down again. After much deliberation, we (or Habibu, Douglass and Thad) come to the conclusion that a dangerous, hissing, popping truck is better than one that refuses to move. But fear not, faithful readers of this long and tedious blog...the MAN will return.

After several ostrich sightings and another grandiose ascent, this time for hours into the mountains, we find our surroundings quite different, and yet quite familiar as well. Rainy, cold, forest, it reminded most people of Portland if no one ever had lived there. In fact,the Nau Forest is so similar to Portland, our long strikes of homesickness were simultaneously eradicated and extenuated. I was torn: I was missed everyone back home and also never wanted to leave such an amazing place.

The Nau Forrest is inhabited by the occasional leopard, tons of freakin birds, lizards, and the Iraqu people. The Iraqu are a modest people who have a language that, to the untrained ear (aka Tim Howe) sounds like a bunch of muddled consonants. One of our favorite Swahili phrases is "safi" which literally translates to "clean" but is used by the youth as "cool". When we asked one of our Iraqu hosts, "Umesemaje 'safi' kwa Kiraqu", or "How do you say 'safi' in Iraqu" we were met with what sounded like Fat Albert's laugh. "Huhhh Huhhh", he bellowed, and again, so that we understood what he was doing was not some strange nervous tick, but a word. For the rest of our stay, we probably scared half the wildlife off with our low guttural throat clearings, exclaiming about the coolness of nearly everything "Huhhh Huhh". The Iraqu have recently made a huge quake in Tanzania, with a front runner in the political party Chedema, the strong political opposition to CCM, the political (and may I just say from an outsiders perspective, staggeringly corrupt) superpower in this country. The political tensions here are palpable, you can feel it in the air, much like the mist of the Nau Forest. I guess we have more in common in America than I thought.

Half the group became violently ill here. It was terrible. Vomiting, diarrhea, searing stomach pains, uncontrollable and frequent. I was spared, but it didn't help my inexplicable bad mood. After a rough night for everyone, we woke up and trekked for hours on a dangerous trail to one of the most spectacular sights I have ever come across: a gigantic waterfall, miles from any type of civilization anywhere. We swam in it. We cleansed ourselves (good thing too, because the Smell Off was not over and we were long overdue for some kind of natural hose down) We picked leaches off of each other, and hiked back, exhausted, happy once again, and for the most part, healthy.

I will never forget the Nau Forrest. The people so genuine and frank about their beliefs. The astounding scenery, when, from atop the tallest hill, is indistinguishable from any given scene in the forest of "Lord of the Rings". Perhaps all we needed was to get clean. I mean safi. I mean huhhh huhhh.

More to come,

Tim