July 19, 2025

The sun is setting in hazy glory on our first full day in Iringa. 

Yesterday - our third calendar day of travel - began quite early. We touched down in Dar Es Salaam in the wee hours of the morning. Before dawn, we walked from the international to the domestic terminal of the Julius Nyerere Airport along sidewalks lined with hibiscus, bougainvilla, and colorful tropical foliage. Traffic was already bustling on the adjacent highway, and the rumbling lorries (freight trucks) and horns drifted softly our way, reminding us that this city of roughly 7 million people never sleeps for long. 

It was shaping up to be a leisurely start to the day until I forgot I was wearing my watch at security and triggered a very thorough pat-down by a female officer, which is one morning ritual I will take a pass on for my return journey. Once it was determined that I posed no threat, we lugged our bags up to a mid-century lounge, where we watched the sun rise under soaring white ceilings. It was nearly two hours before we walked out to meet our plane on the tarmac. The moist air coming off the Indian Ocean was laden with smells of wood smoke and exhaust, and seemed to cling to my skin with salty fingers. 

The hour-long flight to the Southern Highlands was smooth and uncomplicated in comparison to the intercontinental flights and heavy weather of the past couple days. We joined a string of passengers trailing across the tarmac to a one-room terminal where we met our taxi. After dropping our bags at the Iringa Sunset Hotel - a bastion of tranquility, tropical gardens, winding paths, and charmingly rustic construction perched on a rocky outcrop off of Gangilonga Road - we walked to the center of Iringa Town for a late lunch and unfruitful visit to the regional Immigration Office to inquire about my work permit status. We were told to return Monday by a rather kali (fierce) official.

Lining up research permits and approvals from four distinct agencies is one of the most crucial and most difficult components of doing research in Tanzania - a process I began in fall 2024. Thwarted in our mission to finalize the permit and desperate to fend off the jet-lag, we walked up to see Gangilonga Rock. Here, the last leader of the Hehe people, Chief Mkwawa, is said to have kept watch over the German colonial occupation and strategized for the guerilla resistance of his people. Though it was beautiful, I was happy to return to the hotel for dinner and my first proper night of sleep in nearly three days.

Today was filled with introductions, errands, and trip preparations. This afternoon, we collected the field truck (a late-80's Land Cruiser with a somewhat grizzled visage) from the shop, then stopped by the central market (an aggregation of open-air stalls selling everything from vegetables to cooking oil to crafts) to load it with 20 kg (44 pounds) of sugar bags and other groceries. Each sugar bag will be gifted to people that opt to participate in our interviews about tolerance for sharing a landscape with large carnivores.

We wrapped up the day on the balcony of the hotel restaurant, looking out over the town as the sun passed out of sight behind the distant hills. I feasted on ugali (a thick, pasty maize porridge), mboga majani (cooked greens), and a decadent vegetable curry, which is traditionally eaten with the right hand. I was kindly coached on how to form a small ball of ugali in my hand and press an indentation in it with my thumb. This can then be used to pinch a bit of mboga majani and scoop curry, which turns out to be a divine combination.

Plans tend to change daily here as we adapt to the unexpected, so I can't say exactly what tomorrow will bring, but I look forward to seeing where we'll be when the sun sets again.

To join me on this journey, you can follow along with new posts in the Field Notes blog on this website or LinkedIn. My work is partially supported by the Center for Human-Carnivore Coexistence and the Salerno Lab. I am actively fundraising for the next phase of my research, and welcome referrals to funders who are interested in supporting work on global challenges including human-wildlife conflict, poverty alleviation, biodiversity conservation, and the impacts of a changing climate on all of these issues.