4 months till summit day!

I'm excited and nervous and worried and happy ... all at once. It feels both VERY SOON and still VERY FAR AWAY. But I'm mostly excited.

Tanzania Tuesday #29 : Sheila Macdonald

Our fifth and final heroine is Sheila Macdonald, who, in 1927, became the first woman to reach the summit of Kilimanjaro.

Sheila Macdonald was born in 1905, daughter of Alpine Club member Claude Macdonald. At the age of 12 she climbed in Scotland with her father, and later climbed in Switzerland as well as Mount Etna in Italy.

At the age of 22 she went to East Africa with the intention of climbing Kilimanjaro. She stayed with relatives, then joined William C. West, also a member of the Alpine Club, and Major Lennox Browne, "a mountaineer of some experience" for the climb.

The party started out in Mombasa, driving to Marangu and then climbing from there through the forest to Bismarck Hut (near the current Mandara Huts, but I don't know if the building is still there). They then went to Pieters Hut the next day (Horombo Huts), and on the third day turned north toward Mawenzi and camped high up on the plateau.

On the fourth day, they climbed to the summit of Mawenzi, the lower but more difficult of Kili's peaks. Once there they added their names to the records of the two 1912 expeditions to that summit, and "celebrated our arrival with good wine drunk out of enamel cups and left the bottle by the record tin" before returning to Pieter's Hut that evening.

After a full day's rest, the party turned their attention to Kibo. They set out at noon and tried to find Hams Meyer's Cave, "but we had no guides, and the porters did not seem to know where it was, so we roamed around, and our intrepid lady companion found another cave which satisfied her womanly instincts for comfort."

Yeah, that's how William West described the events to the Manchester Guardian newspaper. Another newspaper account stated that they sheltered on the ridge near the Hans Meyer Notch.

At midnight, they set out for the summit, but their lantern went out and they could not re-light it. Because it was so dark they huddled together in a rock shelter to wait until sunrise so they could see their path. The following day, at 19,000 feet, Major Lennox dropped out, exhausted, but Sheila "pleaded to be allowed to finish the ascent", so she and West continued.

Here's his account of the rest of the climb:

… it was Miss Macdonald who set the pace when we started off again. It was a hard climb for a girl, but she stuck to it with wonderful grit, and eventually we reached the summit.

They reached the crater via Johannes Notch, having followed the ridge from their shelter near Hans Meyer Notch. Then they followed the crater rim around past Stella Point and on to the actual summit about 2pm on July 31.

They added their names to the record book, took some photographs – which, sadly, I haven't been able to find – and drank a bottle of champagne. "Only those who have done so can imagine how ludicrous one feels when trying to drink champagne out of a bottle at a height of over 19,000 feet."

They went back to their cave to rest briefly, then descended to Pieters Hut "where we arrived about 10 p.m., after floundering rather badly in the darkness, for we had no lantern."

Sheila's achievement was widely reported around the world as a "London girl's triumph". Though several men had by this time reached the summit, she was the first woman to do so. It was erroneously reported that she was the first woman to climb up to the snows, but obviously Gertrude Benham, Clary von Ruckteschell-True, Estalla Latham, and Eva Stuart-Watt had all beaten her to the powder.

Manchester Guardian, 30 Sep 1927

In a rare interview given by Gertrude Benham to the Adelaide Chronicle in 1937, Benham recounted how she discovered another woman had climbed Kili:

"Years afterwards – it was in 1927 – I saw a paragraph in 'The Times' to the effect that Kilimanjaro had been climbed for the first time by a woman."
"And you did not contradict it?"
"I was in the West Indies at the time, and the paper was some weeks old. I did not trouble to do so, but I understand that a friend of mine wrote and spoke of my ascent eighteen years earlier."

I can't help but wonder, had Gertrude Benham climbed with a European man, would her climb have been better reported?

Sheila Macdonald eventually married Harold Percy Combe, a colonel in The Queen's Royal Regiment, some time before July 1931. After that I can't find any record of her. I hope she kept climbing.

Resources 

"CHAMPAGNE ON KILIMANJARO: Girl Mountaineer's Feat." The West Australian [Perth, Australia] 1 Oct 1927: 13. Trove Digitised Newspapers. Web. 3 April 2017.

"CLIMBING IN EAST AFRICA: Woman's Ascent of Kilimanjaro. LONDON GIRL'S TRIUMPH." The Manchester Guardian [Manchester, England] 30 Sep 1927: 14. ProQuest Historical Newspapers: The Guardian and the Observer.

"KILIMANJARO. MISS MACDONALD'S FEAT." The Sydney Morning Herald [Sydney, NSW, Australia] 22 October 1927: 13. Trove Digitised Newspapers. Web. 3 April 2017.

"Kilimanjaro Climbed By A Woman." Times [London, England] 22 Aug. 1927: 10. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 10 Mar. 2017

"MT. KILIMANJARO. First British Ascent. AUSTRALIAN LADY TAKES PART." The Sydney Morning Herald [Sydney, NSW, Australia] 27 September 1927: 11. Trove Digitised Newspapers. Web. 3 April 2017.

"Points from Letters." Times [London, England] 13 June 1931: 8. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 10 Mar. 2017.

Where are we? Hike of the week : Otter Falls? Taylor River? Quartz Creek?

I'll just start off by saying that this wasn't the most satisfying weekend for hiking. On Saturday we only managed a short hike after backing out of both our first AND our second choice hikes. And on Sunday, well, we got a little lost.

We headed out early to get out past North Bend and into the Snoqualmie National Forest. It's a huge area, and we're looking forward to spending more time exploring some of the 1500 miles of hiking trails over the next few months.

We were aiming for the trail variously named Otter Falls / Big Creek Falls / Taylor River Trail, but even getting there was challenging. The last 12 miles is along Middle Fork Road.

Much of Middle Fork Road is amazing -- the USDOT has spent the last 3 summers working extensively to repair and improve the road. But some of it is as yet unimproved, or has been damaged by landslides and storms. And that part of the road is pretty hairy. Nothing life-threatening, just axle-shaking potholes that go on in stretches of 50 feet at a time.

Middle Fork Road potholes, posted on WTA.org by strideon

We went past the Middle Fork Trailhead (large, beautiful, and a definite future hike for us!) and continued bumping along the road to the Taylor River trailhead. 

Until we got here and decided that this was more than a pothole ...

For scale, here's Wil standing by one of the two washouts:

Somehow that doesn't look intimidating... but after we parked and decided we could just walk the last 0.4 miles to the trailhead, we watched a guy in a high-clearance roughy-toughy Ford pickup make the same decision. "I'm not that intrepid!" he said when we said hello.

The road to the trailhead had a bit of snow, which made us giggle a bit about how we brought our microspikes. Note that some people CLEARLY had driven through those washouts.

We made it to the trailhead and dutifully took a picture of the trail map.

We soon crossed a large bridge -- a remnant of logging days, apparently -- over the rushing Taylor River.

And then there was more snow...

... and some glimpses of the river.

But we followed the trail and kept going. The trail started to head uphill, so we put on our microspikes for some added traction -- even though the real problem was that we kept breaking through the crust on the snow.

And then, oddly enough, as we climbed, the path cleared of snow, and we were deep in a silent forest.

SASQUATCH! Oh, no, just Wil again.

Until it filled up with snow again...

Seriously, these two photos were taken only 4 minutes apart.

This snow was deeper, and more than a few times we found ourselves "post-holing" to our knees. We had been hiking for over an hour, and decided that we'd had enough and just wanted to turn back.

So we marked our farthest point with the obligatory hike photo:

Then we headed down the trail, admiring some lovely, mossy rocks:

... and a pretty little waterfall:

... and then discovering that, actually, we had taken a wrong turn by going up the wide path, 0.3 miles past the trailhead and that we should have taken a small path off to our right that would follow the Taylor River (hence the name...). However, even looking at it made us think it might not have been a great experience for us; the trail was super narrow and very snowy. In fact, when we got home I read a trip report from the previous day where the phrase "I sank crotch-deep in snow on a few occasions" was used, and felt glad we had accidentally followed the wrong trail and only sank to our knees.

For what it's worth, the Department of Natural Resources lists the trail we went up as a bike trail, and describes it as "steep and rocky so be prepared for a workout."

Eventually we got back to our car and steeled ourselves for the trek back across the potholes.

While we enjoyed our hike, and were out on a trail for about 2 hours, it wasn't really successful. (Given that we took the wrong trail...). But we got some fresh air, used our microspikes for the first time, and still got some hiking in.

Quartz Creek Trail, sorta

4.8 miles
300 feet elevation gain

Tanzania Tuesday #28 : Eva Stuart-Watt

"Afterglow on Kibo" by Eva Stuart-Watt

This week's heroine is Eva Stuart-Watt, who climbed to the crater rim in 1926. Eva was born in Australia in 1891, spent her childhood in Africa with her missionary parents, and then went to Ireland to school when she was ten. In 1913, she returned to Africa to serve as a missionary with her parents; her father and brother died of a fever in 1914, leaving Eva, her mother, and her sister to continue the work on their own.

Eva Stuart-Watt (center), her sister (left), and mother (right)

In Africa's Dome of Mystery, Eva recounted her experiences in Africa, notably her Kilimanjaro climb. All images in this post are taken from her book.

Eva Stuart-Watt "on the Kibo track", probably on her trip in 1925 with Professor Charles Hedley

She had already been on the upper slopes of the mountain, twice ascending as high as Bismark's Hut (8500 feet). But on this attempt, she resolved to reach the snows of Kibo.

No trouble was spared in provisioning the expedition, for a little extra attention to their comfort is appreciated more than cash by these men, who endure real hardships in the ruthless cold of the unsheltered heights. The usual rations of maize, beef and corn-meal were supplemented by home-made bread and Chagga butter, tea and coffee, sugar and cocoa, dried bananas and a little brandy.

She paid her porters the going rate of one shilling a day, and the loan of a blanket or an extra shilling to hire one. The headman earned three shillings a day, as did the guide – or more "according to his success in reaching the goal set by the tourist".

Her comforts were also considered, of course:

My simple outfit consisted of warm woollen clothing, fur gloves, alpine footwear, dark glasses, a helmet and tam-o'-shanter, a spiked walking stick and a couple of cameras. 

 I especially loved her description of her gear:

The flannel cover of the piano with some bamboo poles served as a tent, and a light camp mattress, over which were sewn two camel-hair rugs and two eider-downs, made an excellent sleeping bag.

 (Never forget that Mallory climbed Everest in woolen clothes, a Burberry raincoat, and hob-nailed boots!) 

Some climbers – including Professor Charles Hedley, with whom she ascended as far as Peter's Hut in 1925 – chose to ride mules partway up the mountain, but Eva resolved to go on foot:

… not only to avoid the inconvenience of feeding and housing a mule at night, but as a practical means of becoming accustomed to the altitude. A mount in any case cannot be employed for the last and most strenuous part of the climb; and to ride for three successive days to the base of Kibo, and then dismount with stiff limbs and a dizzy head for the final ascent, is a positive disadvantage to the mountaineer. 

On September 9 Eva, her guide Jonathan – chosen despite being less experienced than "Oforo of Moshi" for the Kibo summit, but better known to her – and six porters set off through the forest. As they pushed through the wet undergrowth, they heard wild boar, hornbills, orioles, monkeys, and tree frogs. They spotted a herd of eland just before arriving at Bismarck's Hut (8500 feet), their stop for the night.

BISMARCK'S HUT, 8,500 FT

On their second day they climbed out of the forest and onto moorland, glimpsing Mawenzi through the mist to their right, while Kibo remained hidden by clouds.

But the scenery grew wilder and more weird was we left the forest and the grassland far, far below, and, following our undulating path in single file, trudged over gravelly ridges and into rocky ravines. The whole landscape as far as the eye could reach was a medley of dull grey lava slabs, dotted with red-leaved protea shrub and stunted heaths, which became smaller and smaller as we rose higher. 

SENECIO AND GIANT LOBELIA, 12,000 FT.

She described these senecios – one of the most typical Kilimanjaro plants – with "their black stems and greyish-yellow crowns stood spreading out their arms in the deep moist gullies, like ghostly sentinels of the untrodden wilds.

PETER'S HUT, 11,500 FT

After five hours of hiking they reached Peter's Hut (11,500 feet); as the sun set they got a clear view of Kibo:

As the rising night wind drove away in a long white column the clouds that had curtained her during the mid-day hours, she stood wonderful, dignified and pure in her freezing whiteness. Every Chagga heart echoed silently 'God Amighty!'" 

As she rested in the hut, Eva was excited for the next day: "Only one more day—and then, should He permit us, we were to stand within the very gates of His lofty temple."

PETER'S HUT INTERIOR

(Personal aside -- I'm now convinced that this hut, visited by both Eva Stuart-Watt and Estella Latham, is the same hut visible at Horombo Huts in 2013. I hope to see it on our climb!)

On the third day she rose before dawn, struggling to get the porters to move out of camp. They reached the saddle by 9 a.m., where a strong north wind slowed them down, much to the dismay of the porters, who complained until Eva "dealt out to each a little brandy and water." Later, as they crossed the sandy saddle, the porters "threw down their loads in despair half-way and were moaning on account of the cold and shortness of breath". Eva roused them by taking a photograph of them, saying, "Now, men, smile like heroes of the mountain and we can show your comrades this picture." 

"SMILE, HEROES OF THE MOUNTAIN"

At 2 p.m. they reached the caves at 15,000 feet and had tea and bread and butter around a campfire – the wood and water having been carried with them up from Peter's Hut. That night Eva sat alone with her thoughts:

I did not sleep; I could hear too well the beating of my own heart, and the high altitude had brought on mountain sickness. As the icy gale tore down from the dizzy heights above and whistled among the crags and crannies, I listened to its sighing and waited for the morning. In the clear, highly-rarefied atmosphere distances were misleading, and Mawenzi looked deceptively near, while the vault of heaven itself seemed to have come closer to earth. Myriads of stars shone in the deep indigo sky with a luster unknown to the inhabitants of the lower world. 

At 3 a.m. on September 12, 1926 Eva roused the porters by making them tea ("I broke bounds") and calling to them: "Haya watu, knoo! Chai tayari! Tufunge safari!" (Come along men! Tea is ready! Let us be off on the march!) She set off at 4am by the light of a hurricane lamp, wrapped in all of her clothes and blankets, with her headman Malawa and guide Jonathan.

Though their ascent was slow – "we could barely drag ourselves along and had to sit down every few yards to recover breath" – Eva noted there was no real obstacle apart from the extreme altitude and the loose shingle, "which mockingly carried us backwards at every footstep almost the whole distance of our tread." They revived themselves by resting, dropping items they deemed unnecessary (field glasses, a sunshade, a second camera), and nibbling Cadbury's Milk Chocolate.

One of the younger porters, Mikani, watched their slow progress from the shelter of the caves, and was inspired to join them and, "without even sandals to protect his feet, soon overtook us and accompanied the party for pure adventure." His energy raised the team's flagging spirits, and they continued climbing.

Near the top they spotted the famous leopard carcass, found earlier that year by Dr. Donald Latham. (Fun fact: Donald Latham is Estella Latham's brother-in-law and was saddened not to be able to join Kingsley and Estella on their climb in 1924.)

JONATHAN, MIKANI, AND REMAINS OF FROZEN LEOPARD

They reached the crater rim at 1 p.m., "where we were ushered abruptly from the heated rock into the cool, silent sanctuary of myriad snow crystals". Mikani jumped onto the snow, leaping back as his bare feet felt the cold.

WACHAGGA FEEL SNOW FOR THE FIRST TIME

Through a gap in the ice they could see the caldera, and stood in silence. Mawala suddenly said, "This is indeed the HOUSE OF GOD: there is no house in all the world clean except this one." Eva was "thrilled by these spontaneous words from native lips. We had, at last, reached the goal of the Fathers of the Chagga race!"

THRESHOLD OF THE "HOUSE OF GOD"

Shortly thereafter they began their descent, and within 24 hours were back in the lowlands. Eva Stuart-Watt was the fourth woman to reach the crater rim, most likely going as far as Gillman's Point.

ON THE RIM OF KIBO'S CRATER

Two years after her Kilimanjaro climb, Eva Stuart-Watt returned to Ireland, having spent 14 years in Africa. She founded the Young Ireland for Christ mission in Dublin, painted, and wrote many books. Eva died in 1959.

Resources:

Eva Stuart Watt. Retrieved March 24, 2017 from http://kilimanjaro.bplaced.net/wiki/index.php?title=Eva_Stuart-Watt

Eva Stuart Watt. Retrieved March 24, 2017 from https://www.moodypublishers.com/authors/w/eva-stuart-watt/

Flynn, John. "Looking for a literary leopard on the rooftop of Africa". SF Gate, 31 March 2002. Retrieved from http://www.sfgate.com/travel/departures/article/Looking-for-a-literary-leopard-on-the-rooftop-of-2857991.php

Nicholls, Christine. "Stuart Watt, Eccentric Missionary at Machakos." Old Africa Magazine, 17 April 2014. http://oldafricamagazine.com/stuart-watt-eccentric-missionary-at-machakos/

Nicholls, Christine. "Stuart Watt, Part II." Old Africa Magazine, 19 May 2014. http://oldafricamagazine.com/stuart-watt-part-ii/

Stuart-Watt, Eva. Africa's Dome of Mystery. Marshall, Morgan & Scott, Ltd. 1930.

Tanzania Tuesday #25 : Gertrude Emily Benham

In honor of Women's History Month, I thought I'd do a little research into the history of women on Mount Kilimanjaro. Full disclosure: I have only tracked European women... as you'll see, this has been challenging in itself, as women were seemingly only celebrated as part of a man's expedition.

Gertrude Emily Benham photo courtesy of ILAB.org

Our first heroine, Gertrude Emily Benham, is proof of this, having been largely forgotten from the climbing history of Kilimanjaro.

Born in London in 1867, Benham spent childhood summers climbing with her father in the Alps, becoming a skilled mountaineer and summiting both Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn in her twenties.

In 1904, having inherited some money after her parents died, Benham sailed to Canada to climb in the Rockies -- the first of many voyages she would make over the course of her life.

Between 1904 and 1934 she circumnavigated the globe 7 times, visiting Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, India, Egypt, Corsica, the United States, Argentina, Uganda, Kenya, Tahiti, Nigeria, Mozambique, Cameroon, Tibet, Syria, the West Indies, Belize, Peru, and Chile... to name a few.

Along the way she collected ethnological objects, many of which she donated to the Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery. (Why there, you ask? Apparently Benham had visited the museum once and was so impressed by their displays that she decided it would be the perfect place to leave her extensive collection.)

It seems that the museum is currently closed for renovations, but some of the collections -- like this coffee pot collected in Zanzibar and donated by Benham -- are available online in Plymouth's World Cultures site.

A pair of Tibetan boots Benham wore "on my tramps to Leh" was featured in the BBC's "A History of the World" project in 2010.

Benham traveled "alone" -- alone in the Victorian sense -- aided by porters and guides. She kept extensive notes, made sketches, and also embroidered and knit while traveling -- taking up her needles as she camped in inhospitable places. Clearly a woman after my own heart!

In 1935 Benham embarked on her final journey, dying on a boat off the eastern coast of Africa in 1938 and being buried at sea. I suspect it's the sort of death she wanted: while on an adventure.

Benham's Kilimanjaro Climb

In October or November 1909 Benham arrived in Moshi, where German soldiers confirmed that Kilimanjaro 'had never been climbed by any Britisher, man or woman, and very seldom by anyone else'. She acquired two guides, five porters, and a "cook boy", and set off for Kili at 6:30 in the morning. They hacked their way through forest, pitching camp at 10,000 feet. They left most of their luggage in a tent there, and continued up the mountain, with the porters carrying firewood and blankets. Two hours later they passed two skeletons, victims from an earlier expedition. This spooked the porters, who felt it confirmed their belief that the mountain was inhabited by evil spirits,

Despite pleading, threats, and bribes, the porters refused to continue, so Benham shouldered her own bag and set off alone. This shamed the cook boy and two of the braver porters, who followed her. The smaller party made camp in an ice cave. The boy collected some snow in a cup, wanting to take it home to show his family. When it melted by the fire, the guides thought it was bewitched and refused to go any higher.

The next morning Benham set off alone, after a guide had pointed out the route to the summit. She reached the rim of the crater at 2pm, and said, "My first feeling up there was that of being absolutely on top of the world". In the account she wrote of her climb, she said that the highest point was some distance "to the left", but as there was "not much difference in height" and "since the snow slope was steep", she decided not to make for the higher peak but instead descend. Despite the thick mist, she was able to follow the marks she had made with her ice axe and find the camp in the ice cave -- though only after spotting the bright red clothes worn by the cook boy. They all spent a cold night in the ice cave, descending to the first camp the next day. Benham sent the porters and guides down ahead of her, staying alone at camp for four more days sketching the views before returning to Moshi.

Her biographer Raymond John Howgego states that Benham reached the summit of Mawenzi; at 5149m the second highest peak on Kilimanjaro (behind Kibo, 5896m).  I haven't been able to read Benham's own account, but from what Howgego quoted (see above) it does make me wonder if perhaps she was on Kibo and reached what's now known as Gillman's Point or even Stella Point ... both on the crater rim, and from which the highest point would be "to the left" but "not much different in height". But without knowing more about Benham, that's just wild speculation.

It's sad that Gertrude Emily Benham has been overlooked in Kilimanjaro history. The other women who have been included as achieving "firsts" all climbed with European men. She even sent a letter to The Times in late November 1909 describing her travels and her ascent of Kilimanjaro, but it received little notice. Eighteen years later -- in 1927 -- Benham read an account of Sheila MacDonald, "the first woman to summit Kilimanjaro" (about her more later); a friend sent a letter under the pseudonym "West African" with information on Benham's own ascent. Finally in 1928 a brief article about Benham's 1909 ascent appeared in the Daily Mail. This, in turn, caused a Colonel Strutt to write to The Times to support Macdonald's claim as the first woman to summit, writing, "Miss Gertrude Benham, about 1911 [sic], reached the rim of the crater -- some two-three hours below the summit -- and never claimed to have gone any higher."

A side note from a German wiki page, however, seems to agree with my wild speculation, namely that Benham was on Kibo rather than Mawenzi, based on other landmarks described in her account:

"Howgego, determining the Benham has climbed to the second highest peak of Kilimanjaro, thus the Mawenzi 5,148m, is of course wrong and be sure due in the ignorance of the local location of Mawenzi to the Kibo. Ratzel Glaciers directly on the crater rim Benham has reached 60m above the present level at the Stella Point a height of at least in 1909." -- Awkward translation from Microsoft Translator of "Gertrude Emily Benham" from Kilimanjaro.bplaced.net

I find Benham particularly inspiring. I mean, really, crafting to fund your travels? #lifegoals. I'm not alone here. She's been featured as a "History Centre Hero" by Plymouth Arts and Heritage. Her lifetime of adventures -- and collecting -- has even been the subject of a highly readable PhD dissertation by Catherine Cummings of Plymouth University. I hope to learn more about her in the future.

"The spirit of wanderlust has entered my soul." - Gertrude Emily Benham, 1928

References:

Cummings, Catherine. (2013). Collecting En Route: An Exploration of the Ethnographic Collection of Gertrude Emily Benham (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from PEARL. (10194687)

Gertrude Emily Benham. Retrieved March 5, 2017 from http://kilimanjaro.bplaced.net/wiki/index.php?title=Gertrude_Emily_Benham

History Centre Heroes: Gertrude Emily Benham. (2016, July 27).
Retrieved from https://plymouthartsandheritage.wordpress.com/2016/07/27/gertrudebenham/

Howgego, Raymond John. Gertrude Emily Benham (1867-1938) - English Mountaineer, Traveller and Collector - A Biography by Raymond John Howgego. Retrieved from https://www.ilab.org/eng/documentation/489-gertrude_emily_benham_1867-1938_-_english_mountaineer_traveller_and_collector.html

Six months to summit day!

In six months we'll be on Kilimanjaro, hoping to summit. We have been going to a lot of talks by the Mountaineers or at REI, and one of the speakers -- a guide with International Mountain Guides -- noted that she's now very careful when talking about climbing trips. During her talk someone asked what happened if the weather was bad, or if someone couldn't make it to the top -- "Do they get their money back?" 

Ummm, no.

There was a weird whispering among the crowd -- wait, if the weather is bad and I'm unable to summit I don't get my money back? That's a ripoff! 

Again, no. 

Climbing is always risky, and there are a lot of variables that are beyond your control. So what you are buying is a climb... and a summit attempt, not a summit. 

Of course, what I want to do is summit. But what I really want is to have an amazing time, come down safely, and share it all with Wil. 

The next six months have a lot of training, and a lot of things to work on. But we've made some great strides:

• We booked our flights to and from Africa -- using air miles. Woot!
• We booked our hotel in Nairobi.
• We booked our flight to Zanzibar.
• We applied for our Tanzanian visas -- the Tanzanian embassy has had our passports for a few days now; we expect to have them back by the end of next week.
• We made an appointment with Beverly, the pharmacist at Katterman's for a travel consultation next week.
• We started to sort out cat sitters for while we are away. 

Also, I took delivery of my great big 90-liter Catagonia, err, Patagonia Black Hole duffel bag. Bub approves.

Tanzania ... Thursday ... #24 : Mbio na Idadi (Running by Numbers)

I ran again today ... I've managed to complete all but one of the runs so far in my Couch to 5K program, and just ran the second run of week 4. Yes, it's slow going ... and it seems like I really need to force myself to get out there, but that's probably more due to the blustery weather than anything else. Today I almost didn't go ... but I knew that I would be absurdly proud of myself for sticking with it and just getting out there. And, yeah, I am.

The three runs this week in the NHS Couch to 5K program are, as always, intervals of running and walking. As I distracted myself by counting breaths and calculating the times while alternating between runs and walks, I realized that I should be practicing counting in Swahili. I mean, why not?

For example, here's today's workout, in Swahili:

Jitayarishe kwa muda wa dakika tano : Warm up for five minutes

Mbio dakika tatu : Run three minutes

Kutembea sekunde tisini : Walk ninety seconds

Bio dakika tano : Run five minutes

Kutumbea dakika mbili na nusu : Walk two and a half minutes

Punguza mwendo kwa muda wa dakika tano : Slow down for five minutes

Phew -- that probably took me as long to type as to run today...

Here's one GREAT thing about numbers in Swahili: they are very structured. So if you learn the basic building blocks, you can count to big numbers. Hooray!

   1 = Moja
   2 = Mbili
   3 = Tatu
   4 = Nne
   5 = Tano
   6 = Sita
   7 = Saba
   8 = Nane
   9 = Tisa
  10 = Kumi
  11 = Kumi na moja
  12 = Kumi na mbili
  20 = Ishirini
  21 = Ishirini na moja
  22 = Ishirini na mbili
  30 = Thelathini
  40 = Arobaini
  50 = Hamsini
  60 = Sitini
  70 = Sabini
  80 = Themanini
  90 = Tisini
  99 = Tisini na tisa
 100 = Mia
 101 = Mia na moja
 111 = Mia na kumi na moja
 200 = Mia mbili
 201 = Mia mobile na kumi na moja
 300 = Mia tatu
1000 = Elfu moja

On Tuesday I saw a guy walking around Green Lake reading a book -- a full-on, paperback book. I wonder if I could run with flash cards? (Mmmm, no. I'm clumsy enough!)

Tanzania Tuesday #23 : Maisha ya Familia (Family Life)

It's Thanksgiving this week, so I decided to learn some vocabulary about families.

"Freedom from Want" by Norman Rockwell. Rockwell said of the turkey in the painting: "Our cook cooked it, I painted it, and we ate it. That was one of the few times I've ever eaten the model."

Being of the Tofurkey tribe, myself, this picture isn't exactly what we have planned. I personally prefer this Rockwell:

#teamturkey !!!!

Team Wil-Sun will be going over to my brother's house for brunch in the morning, stuffing ourselves silly, and then sleeping it off in the afternoon. Perfect! My mom, my brother, my sister-in-law, my nephew, and his girlfriend will all be there.

Thanksgiving is, of course, an American holiday, but one could translate the term "thanksgiving" or "gratitude" as "shukrani". And "feast" can be translated as "sikukuu".

shukrani = gratitude
sikikuu = feast
ndugu = relative
baba = father
mama = mother
mwana = son
binti = daughter
kaka = brother
dada  = sister
mjomba = uncle
shangazi = aunt
mpwa = nephew OR niece
shemeji = brother-in-law
wifi = sister-in-law
mpenzi = boyfriend OR girlfriend, or "sweetheart"

Tanzania Tuesday #22 : Furaha maadhimisho ya miaka na sisi! (Happy anniversary to us!)

A few words, in English and Swahili, about weddings, anniversaries, and LOVE.

On November 15, 2005, Wil and I got married in Gretna, Scotland.

So to commemorate that -- and our eleven years of marriage, here are some Swahili vocabulary words.

maadhimisho ya miaka ya harusi = wedding anniversary
kumi na moja harusi maadhimisho ya miaja = eleventh wedding anniversary
ndoa = marriage
harusi = wedding
mume = husband
mke = wife
nakupenda = I love you
mpendwa = beloved

Tanzania Tuesday #20

An Introduction to Kiswahili

Kiswahili -- "the language of the Swahili people" -- is one of two official languages in Tanzania. (English is the other one, but spoken by fewer people.) Most Tanzanians speak their mother tongue -- one of some 128 languages spoken in the country -- within their own communities, using Kiswahili for official communication, or to communicate across groups.

According to the official national linguistic policy announced in 1984, Swahili is the language of the social and political sphere as well as primary and adult education, whereas English is the language of secondary education, universities, technology, and higher courts. The government announced in 2015 that it would discontinue the use of English as a language of education as part of an overhaul of the Tanzanian schools system.
- Wikipedia, Languages of Tanzania. Retrieved October 23, 2016.

I wanted to learn at least some basic Kiswahili before going to Africa next year, so I have been attempting to follow a Pimsleur course, albeit with little success. But on my fourth listen to the first lesson, I could almost follow along... The language is so different to anything I've ever heard or attempted to understand, that -- apart from some very random words in "The Lion King" (!!!), I don't know any.

For my Tanzania Tuesday posts in November, I'm going to include some of the very basic words I am learning. I thought this exchange, cribbed from words in my Pimsleur lesson #1, might come in handy. (Who am I kidding? I will NEVER have this conversation...)

Samahani bwana. Unafahamu kiingereza?  (Excuse me, sir. Do you understand English?)

Hapana. Sifahamu kiingereza.   (No. I don't understand English.)

Ninafahamu Kiswahili kidogo. Unafahamu kiswahili?  (I speak a little Kiswahili. Do you understand Kiswahili?)

Ndiyo dada. Wewe ni mmarekani?  (Yes miss. Are you an American?)

Ndiyo bwana.  (Yes sir.)

A note on spelling: I've found multiple spellings of many Kiswahili words... I'm just going to use what seems like the most consistent spelling. And probably get it wrong 50% of the time.

Header image taken from Bongo5.com, from an article advocating for increasing the use of Kiswahili across eastern Africa: http://www.bongo5.com/makala-kiswahili-na-changamoto-za-kujitakia-08-2016/

Tanzania Tuesday #19

Recipe for Barazi (aka Mbaazi wa Nazi) and Mandazi (aka Mahambri)

I should come totally clean here. I don't really cook all that often. Wil cooks, I cobble. So this project of making some Tanzanian recipes has been both interesting and challenging. For this week's recipe, I wanted something different ... and perhaps a different type of meal. 

I found a recipe for Mandazi and Barazi on Sanjana's korasoi.com food blog (a great resource for vegetarian recipes from East Africa and India) that sounded delicious ... but I didn't want to faff with waiting for dough to rise before breakfast ... and because I couldn't find a key ingredient, well, I figured I should find perhaps a more complicated recipe that would have additional flavors. 

Barazi (also called Mbaazi wa Nazi) is a porridge made from pigeon peas, coconut milk, and spices that's commonly served for breakfast. One key problem: I had NO IDEA what pigeon peas were, and where to find them. 

T'internet told me that pigeon peas are also known as gungo peas in Caribbean cooking; gandul, guandu, or chicharo in Latin America; toor dal, towar, tovar, or tover ki dal in various Indian languages. I struck o ut at my local supermarkets (though I may just not have brought a complete translation list with me...), and even attempted to find them at East African Imports, but to no avail. 

I also read that black-eyed peas were a good substitute ... so went with it. I think it affected the color of my finished dish -- not green, but golden -- but don't know how it affected the taste. 

ingredients for barazi

The barazi was super easy to put together -- basically just chop up all the ingredients, sauté the onion in a bit of olive oil, add everything else but the coconut milk and the peas and sauté a little longer, and then add the peas and coconut milk and let simmer for a while, stirring more often as the porridge thickens.

While the barazi was simmering away, I made my first attempt at Mandazi. Commonly translated as "beignets" or "African donuts", these deep fried bits of delicious dough are seasoned with cardamom and coconut. Traditional recipes call for yeast and time for the dough to rise and prove ... but I didn't want to wait. Luckily AfricanBites.com had a simple recipe for "easy mandazi" that seemed more my speed.

It's your typical "dough" recipe ... combine dry ingredients, combine wet ingredients, then combine the two together, slowly. Roll out the dough, shape into triangles, and deep fry. The most complicated part was braving the deep fryer and managing not to burn myself while turning the little guys.

The result?

mandazi and barazi

A delicious breakfast of little not-quite-sweet-but-slightly-spicy dough triangles dipped in a rich, hearty porridge. I would make this again -- and I can't wait to try "proper" mandazi because they'll be light and fluffy.

Barazi / Mbaazi wa Nazi

Adapted from K.O Rasoi's "Barazi" recipe.
Serves 6-8

Ingredients: 

• 1 T olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2-inch "thumb" of fresh ginger, peeled and finely diced
• 3 or 4 "fingers" of fresh turmeric, peeled and finely diced
• 3 fresh jalapeños, finely diced
• 15-ounce can black-eyed peas -- or, heck, use proper pigeon peas if you can find them!
• 2 14-ounce cans of coconut milk **note: if making mandazi, save 1/4 cup of coconut milk to add to that recipe**
• salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Sauté the onion in olive oil until translucent, 3-5 minutes.
2. Add remaining ingredients except for peas and coconut milk; sauté an additional 5 minutes.
3. Add peas and coconut milk, simmer on medium heat for 30 minutes. Porridge will thicken as it cooks; stir more frequently the thicker it gets. 

Easy Mandazi

Adapted from Immaculate Bites "Easy Mandazi" recipe.
Makes 24 mandazi.

Ingredients:

• 1¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 2½ Tablespoons sugar
• ¼ t salt
• 1 cup all purpose flour plus more for rolling out
• 2½ Tablespoons grated coconut or coconut flakes
• ½ teaspoon cardamom
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ cup coconut milk
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tablespoons melted butter
• Vegetable oil for deep frying.
• If desired, powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar for dusting.

Instructions:

1. Combine dry ingredients in a bowl until well blended.
2. Combine wet ingredients in a bowl until well blended. 
3. Slowly add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until dough is smooth. If dough feels too sticky, add a little flour. If too dry, add a little water. 
4. Roll out dough to 1" thick or less. Cut in bite-size triangles.
5. Fry in vegetable oil at 350 degrees until golden brown; 3-5 minutes per side. Make sure the mandazi have room to move around -- in my little fryer, I fried this recipe in 4 small batches. 
6. Remove from oil and drain on a paper napkin.
7. If desired, dust with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar. Serve warm, with barazi or a mug of chai.

barazi and mandazi for breakfast: the most important meal of the day

Tanzania Tuesday #17

Zanzibar Doors

Stone Town door, image from Zanzibar Stone Town Heritage Society

Zanzibar is famous for its heavy, intricately carved wooden doors. Those these doors are associated with Swahili culture and found across East Africa, the large number of them in Stone Town has given them the name "Zanzibar doors".

Doors were traditionally the first part of a new house to be built. And the bigger / the more elaborately carved the door, the greater the wealth and status of the house's owner.

Older doors reflect an Arab influence, with geometric designs. Doors dating from the late 19th century, however, reflect an Indian influence. Many doors are fitted with brass spikes, which may be a modification of the Indian practice of studding doors with iron spikes to fend off the attacks by war elephants. (Apparently, when Marco Polo visited Zanzibar in the 13th century, he wrote that the island had "elephant in plenty". Pity there are none left.)

The remaining doors in Stone Town date primarily from the 18th and 19th centuries and are maintained by the Stone Town Conservation and Development Authority.

Source: Zanzibar Stone Town Heritage Society; http://zanzibarstonetown.org/pages/stonetown_architecture.html

Tanzania Tuesday #16

Recipe for Mchicha wa Nazi: A Tanzanian Spinach, Coconut, and Peanut Curry

In honor of World Vegetarian Month, I've decided to branch out a little and post a couple of Tanzanian recipes here on the blog.

As you probably know, Wil is the chef here at Camp Wil-Sun, but I've been trying to cook more often. (And by more often, I mean "once or twice a month"....) But given my unexpected time off (cough), I've actually been cooking pretty regularly, and trying some new things. Let's just say that this recipe is the newest of the new things I have ever tried.

Mchicha is the Swahili word for "amaranth greens" -- though in the west spinach is commonly substituted. Which is good, because I had never heard of amaranth before. Here's what I learned:

Edible Amaranth grows very well in warm climates. This fast-growing vegetable can be harvested 30 days after sowing, by the cut-and-grow-again method. Seeds are very small and will germinate best at temperature above 65 F under dark conditions. Thin plants during the growth if necessary and thinnings can be eaten. Edible young leaves and stems are cooked like spinach. The amaranth family has many groups of plants found in various regions in the world. Soft texture and tender leaves are excellent for stir-fry and soup. -- Evergreen Seeds

photo of edible amaranth from Evergreen Seeds - you can buy seeds there, too

Given that most recipes I could find online just called for spinach, I figured I could do the same. (I do wonder, however, if our awesome Asian grocery stores around here might carry amaranth greens? I'll do some sleuthing and report back.)

I assembled the ingredients... spinach, a tomato, an onion, some peanut butter, some butter, some curry powder, and ... WHAT IS THAT IN THE LOWER RIGHT OF THE PICTURE????

Good heavens. IT'S A COCONUT. The Swahili word for coconut is "nazi". Just gonna leave that there.

Let me come clean. I don't really like coconut. It's not even the taste I don't like ... I mean, I love Thai curries with coconut milk. And who doesn't love a piña colada? And I have really fond memories of eating "young fresh coconut" -- where the "meat" is so soft you scoop it with a spoon -- in Indonesia.

My issue with coconut now is the mouth feel ... which I assumed comes from the desiccated version usually found in baked goods. (BTW, if "mouth feel" isn't a thing, well, it is now.)

But having never opened a coconut or cooked with the fresh stuff, I figured I should give it a go. First hurdle... finding coconuts at the store. Second hurdle... how does one get in there???

I found a really thorough article on how to open a coconut on WikiHow ... which probably saved the day. It taught me that there is a "soft eye" ... and only one "soft eye" ... where you can poke a hole in the nut and drain the water. (See the little hole in the picture above? That's the one. And before you ask, of course it was the third one I tried!)

Water drained, and it was time to get to the meat of the matter. The WikiHow article showed lots of options including how to make nice even halves "for a bikini top or whatever". I actually wanted my pieces on the small side, since I would be grating them by hand ... so the less curve in the pieces, the better.  So I did the simplest method listed: put the coconut in a plastic bag, then put the bag on a concrete surface, then hammer on the nut until it breaks open.

This is probably easier said than done. It took an awful lot of standing on the sidewalk in front of the house whacking a small brown object with a hammer. It's a good thing we know and like our neighbors, because it looked like I was killing a small rodent. In a plastic bag. With a hammer.

That (above) was after 5 minutes of serious thumping. This (below) was after 15. Honestly, it took a lot of hitting to get to these chunks.

The good news is that on most of the pieces the outer shell came off ... which made it easier to "flatten" the pieces and grate them. I ended up with a pretty big bowl of grated coconut.

Was it worth it? I still don't know...

Which, when added to the coconut water and a couple of tablespoons of peanut butter, looked like this.

After wrestling with the coconut -- yep, still doing prep work! -- I had this IM exchange with a foodie friend:

She then sent me this lovely video of the Freddy Martin and his Orchestra -- featuring a young Merv Griffin on vocals! -- performing "I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts":

 (Wikipedia informs me that it was a top ten hit for them in 1950 and sold over 3 million copies -- despite Merv having the second worst English accent ever recorded...)

Coconut processed, things were much easier... chopping up an onion and a tomato:

Sautéing them in 3 tablespoons of butter with a tablespoon of curry powder -- next time I would use more curry powder!

And then starting to add ALL THE SPINACH IN THE WORLD. How much spinach? TWO POUNDS. Which, raw, is impossible to fit into a the pan. So I just added it a little at a time so it would cook down, then added more.

Once I got it all cooked down , I added the coconut water / coconut meat / peanut butter mixture and simmered it for 15 more minutes:

Rather than serving it with the traditional ugali, I decided to serve it over rice. The result?

mchicha wa nazi

While I was cooking Wil came home and asked what smelled so good, so that was a good sign. As someone who refused to eat cooked spinach as a child (my poor mother!), I was a little worried that maybe I wouldn't like it. But it came out nicely -- though as I said above I would add both more curry powder and more peanut butter.

Also ... if I made this again I would do the sane thing and use a can of coconut milk rather than spend a quality hour with an actual coconut. And... it's probably heresy, but... I might just buy frozen spinach rather than fresh. That would take the prep and cooking time down to about 45 minutes total. Much more do-able.

But all in all, I liked it. I liked the peanut - curry - coconut mixture. I couldn't "feel" the coconut, and the taste blended well with the other flavors. And I could see how this would be great with ugali, making little scoops out of the ugali and using them to eat the greens. Maybe next time.

Mchicha wa Nazi

-- serves 4 as a main course

Adapted from Um Safia's recipe on Food.com

Ingredients:

2 lbs spinach -- I made it with heaps of fresh spinach, but I think you could very quickly make this with frozen spinach. You could also make it with different greens, say collard greens or chard.

2 T peanut butter -- could up to 3 if you really like it peanutty

1 tomato

1 medium onion

2 t curry powder -- next time I'll up this to 3 teaspoons / 1 tablespoon

1 coconut, both water and grated meat -- let's be honest ... just use 1 ½ cups of coconut milk out of the can. It'll turn out way creamier... and it won't take you an HOUR to prep one ingredient. SAVE YOURSELF!

3 T ghee or butter

1 t salt

Instructions:

In a small bowl, mix peanut butter and coconut water and meat (or coconut milk); set aside.

Wash and roughly chop spinach, set aside. (If using frozen, thaw and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.)

Peel and chop onion and tomato.

In a large saucepan, melt ghee / butter over medium heat. Add onion, tomato, and curry powder and cook for 5 minutes, or until onion is soft.

Add spinach. If using raw spinach, it will take some time to cook down the bulk! Just add a big pile to your pan, stir, and cover for a couple of minutes until it wilts down. Repeat until you have all of the spinach in the pan.

Add coconut / peanut butter mixture and simmer for 5-10 minutes more, stirring frequently.

Serve over rice, quinoa, or with ugali.