Todd Thille Blog

We are up early again to get over to ITV for a 9 a.m. presentation. Alex has made a strong point about showing up early so we can be all set up and ready for the presentation. Maina picks us up and we get to ITV around 8:15 a.m. It is a good thing that we are early, as there is a much lengthier check-in procedure now that we are not accompanied by Lema. We have to account for all of our electronic gear, of which there is a considerable amount. They want to make sure we depart with only what we brought in.

The ITV main studio space is made available for the presentation. There is not a really suitable place for us to project onto, so a large piece of white card is found to serve as a screen.

About 40 people turned out for our presentation.

Alex ran through a modified version of his Pixel Corps launch presentation. He managed to hold the crowd for a good hour and a half. The ITV folks had lots of good questions. They are the sharpest and most put together group we have met thus far. The room was chilled so as to be almost arctic. Alex enjoyed this be the rest of us were thrilled to be finished and back out in the sun.

Our next stop was an all you can eat Indian buffet. They were not quite open when we arrived but Hanif got them to let us in. They had the vegetarian food ready to go. I got to start while the others had to wait for the mixed entrees to be served. There were jokes about me always being served first, as i had previously related stories about being served veg meals on airline flights long before anyone else was brought food. A couple of times this caused a great deal of concern amongst the less seasoned travelers seated nearby. Our scrumptious meal cost about $3 a piece. I would be lucky to find a comparable meal in Los Angeles for four or five times that price.

Spent the rest of the afternoon in Q&A sessions with Alex and number of the DTP and DPI staff. Picked up some new tricks for making selections in Photoshop. Calculations are a wonderful thing. Tony came by after the Q&A session for some one-on-one with Alex. They went over a great deal of 3D while picking the Star Wars Episode I trailer apart shot by shot.

(Map of the Area)

Up at 6:30 a.m. again. We are hoping to get an early start for the long journey back to Dar es Salaam. There are low clouds and mist everywhere, so we will have to skip a scheduled detour to look at the Rift Valley. It is a disappointment, as it would have been great to get some shots of the 2000 ft escarpment and the valley stretching away far below.

This spider was hanging around on the outside of the main lodge. It’s body was a good inch and a half long.

We have Maina driving at the start of the journey. This makes us all a little more relaxed.

Seemingly endless kilometers of dirt road.

This guy had more hustle than anyone I have ever seen. He was running from car to car providing full service. I think he bit off a little more than he had anticipated with us, as our truck was filthy with loads of road grit.

Seemingly endless kilometers of tarmac.

Following are typical roadside scenes from Iringa to Mikumi.

Sugarcane salesmen.

Basket factory.

The local crack house. (Note the large crack running down the near wall.)

We stop to check out the snake farm in Mikumi. It is a little frightening. Behind rather insubstantial looking enclosures are some of the most deadly snakes in the world.

Nile Crocodiles.

This is my lunch (Chantal’s fist for scale.)

Maina and Mwanga were convinced that I would be needing a nap after eating that much ugali, the white blob. Mwanga was ready to wager my laptop that I would be asleep shortly. He was unwilling to put up his PD150 camera if I did not need a nap, so the bet was off. Needless to say, I didn’t need a nap.

Mothers transport their youngsters on their backs. I have yet to see the logistics involved with twins.

The Wu Tang’s World Domination has even reached Morogoro.

We get back into Dar es Salaam a little after dark. Some relatives from South Africa are visiting, so we have to shift our quarters to Hanif’s mother’s house. First we swing by the office to get our internet fix. We are all convinced that Hanif should switch careers and become a tour operator. The South African relatives own a PR firm. We all sit down to a huge family meal at Shafiq’s house.

Up at the crack of dawn so as to not miss any early morning lions. We had a small and much quieter vehicle today. More of the same animals. The highlights were a nearly fearless family of warthogs that were quite close to the road. We also had a great time at the hippo and croc pool. This was the first time we had seen hippos out of the water. They were quite impressive in their slow lumbering gait. As we were going about our documenting, one outsider hippo approached a larger group at the shore. A hippo in the group took offense and charged the outsider with loud bellows and bared teeth. This sent about half the group splashing into the pool. As soon as the commotion had started, it was over and the hippos on land froze. A while later the outsider hippo was chased to the far end of the pool.

We might have had better luck tuning into the “Big Game” station.

After a quick spot of lunch, we packed up and bid our farewells. We were hoping to make it to Mufindi before nightfall. The fork of the road that we opted not to take on the way in was supposed to be quicker by at least an hour. It had the ominous title of “The Neverending Road.” Hanif seemed determined to shave even more time off the journey. As we hurtled down the dirt road we came around a bend to find another car hurtling toward us. We spent the several white-knuckle moments slaloming down the road. Alex happened to glance up at the Clinometer and noticed at one point that we were three degrees shy of rolling the vehicle.

Maina and Mwanga testing for cellular signal. Both are hooked on SMS (Short Message Service.)

We blasted through Iringa.

The local Blockbuster looks like a happening place.

The rest of the trip was a 160 KPH white knuckle ride from Iringa through Mafinga and on to the Fox Family Farm in Mufindi. The farm is in the southern highlands of Tanzania. We have been warned that it is quite cold. I am not convinced that it will be that bad as it is only 5000 feet in elevation. It is a bit chilly and I am glad I have my windbreaker. As we climb up, we begin to see pine trees and eventually come into the tea plantations the region is famous for.

We manage to pull into the farm just before dark. All of us are quite glad to have made it safe and sound. We get settled into our rooms and get our battery chargers plugged in before heading over to the main lodge for dinner.

Can’t get enough of that electricity.

We finally get to meet the Fox family patriarch, Jeff along with the only son in the family business we had not yet met, Bruce. Jeff has been trying to retire for a while but has gotten dragged back into action with managing the Farm. Bruce has recently returned from the UK where he was working on promoting the Fox Family camps and lodges to British adventure tour companies. We are excited to chat with Bruce about the DVD we have been working on. Dinner is a rather noisy affair as the lodge is completely full. We are all excited to get some sleep and tuck in after dinner.

Up at 5:30 a.m. after a scant three hours of sleep. None of us were moving very fast, so we were about half an hour late meeting Mwanga. Got all seven of us crammed into the Nissan Patrol. I am glad that we are down one and not trying to squeeze eight into the truck.

We are headed out on the same road we took to Mikumi last week. I noticed some of the same mini-buses, including one with a full sized portrait of the Pope on the back. We stopped at the junction for breakfast. The shop we patronized before is closed and the one we end up at was not nearly as good. Alex was all ready in his Star Wars Episode I ILM VFX Crew shirt, but his friend at the junction was having his Star Wars shirt washed that day, so there was no photo op.

At the Morogoro BP station Alex bought some cushions to use on the top of the truck when we get into Ruaha Natl Park. He is immediately pegged as sucker and every tout within 100 meters comes running up with something to sell.

We keep on travelling along the same road all the way up through Mikumi Natl Park and on beyond the town of Mikumi. Around 1 p.m., we are finally into new territory. We wind our way up through some low hills and into more mountainous terrain. We catch sight of the Great Ruaha River cutting its way through a fairly deep channel.

Our forward movement is slowed to a halt periodically by road work. On one particularly hairy stretch of road that Mwanga said was very dangerous, they are busily laying in a foot of concrete as a road bed. It is a world of difference compared to the old tarmac which looked like a squishy mess.

The next stop was Iringa, which is the last bit civilization before we enter the park. We gas up and grab some lunch. Lunch is brought out in a rather hap-hazard manner. The waitress only has six of our seven orders and she comes back with not enough mugs of tea. Alex has gotten hooked on the Indian Chai we have been getting in Dar for breakfast. Today he has been determined to get some of it out in the countryside. This is the second time he has failed and ended up with a mug of hot milk. He does not make a good impression on the waitress by changing his tea order. Mwanga and I both have ugali and beans. Ugali is a sticky meal made from maize. It is similar in consistency to a steamed dumpling.

We all grab some shots as we head out the backside of Iringa on our way to the park. They are busily making road improvements here as well. Very substantial culverts are being laid in under the road and the surface is being groomed and graded.

We opt for the scenic fork of the road which takes us through a number of villages. We all try to get some photos in the failing light. On one particularly desolate stretch of road we pass a Maasai on a bicycle. We stop to ask him if we are headed in the right direction. Mwanga asks him if he is afraid of the animals in the area. He says that he isn’t and that after all, he is an animal. He is carrying a long stick with a nasty looking burl on the end so he should be able to fend for himself pretty well. Mwanga informs us that a male Maasai must kill a lion to become a man. Just before sunset we have a blowout. While we are stopped to change the tire, we get in some shots of the sunset before starting in to work. We are all a little wary of predators and are contantly looking over our shoulders. Sunset is hunting time and none of us have an illlusions about outrunning a lion or faring as well as a Maasai in the event of an attack.

We pass the chief ranger who gives us intructions for getting into the park after dark. Our interaction at the park gate guard is punctuated by his omnipresent AK47 assault rifle. We get through without too much trouble and finally get into the Ruaha River Camp around 7:45 p.m. As we pull into camp we spot a hyaena. None of the rest of the folks are very excited about getting out of the vehicle. We drive around to the two bandas we will stay in and drop our things. Back to the dining hall for a scrumptuous dinner. None of us last much past the end of dinner and the comfy beds are most welcome.