Flora and Fauna I

Some Flora and Fauna

This episode was written 22 Dec, but due to hotel wifi shut down in the wee hours in the morning, I was not able to upload to the blog site.

Trying to rush through a blog episode does not work. Spent the first two weeks in December 2019 training in Morogoro, central south Tanzania. As soon as the bus got off the highlands and mountains, we could feel the humidity. In Mbeya, 82 degree F is just nice, but 82 in Morogoro is humid and clothes stick to people. I rinsed the sweat off my shirt every day, and it was so convenient that the guest house we stayed in had laundry facilities.

I am sleep-deprived to keep up with this blog. So I am taking the easy road this late night with some pictures of plants and animals, and when I was ready to upload to the blog site, the wifi was not working. Most of them I do not know their names, and I wish there were a botanist or a Tanzanian field guide book I can consult with. Some are familiar, some are not. Some are not native to Tanzania, but they thrive here. Some are wild, some are cultivated. I will reserve the big animals for another episode.

A very interesting insect while we bus passengers were stranded at the roadside between Mbeya and Iringa.
It had a round sucker as mouth parts.

lizard or gecko or skink-I know not.
These reptiles are sometimes inside houses.
They remind me of the PBS British
TV murder mystery "Death in Paradise", where a lizard is
the detective protagonist's friend.

Tiny lizard from Mbeya.
Photo by A.M.

  

Ah, a large millipede {junguu), harmless

Chura,an insect. It's not a frog

Camel spider in Zanzibar. Photo by S.V.

My very own photo! From Korogwe

The composition of this picture looks like a painting. Blue is the wall, white is the floor. From Morogoro

Large snail on the wall of my host family's house

Pied crow, a very large bird. It's everywhere

Dead rat on the street. The feet are measure marks

Bird on window ledge of Amabilis Center conference center
and guest house laundry room in Morogoro

Bottle brush - love this tree. It is on school campus and in city landscapes

I see this in my courtyard, and it is all over the country. Cassia??

A hedge of yellow trumpet flowers and morning glory in Mbeya country side

Yellow trumpet flowers. Others are white

Agarve plant that is used for sisal. Sisal was the dominant industry in Tanzania at one time. Our Target baskets - sisal....

Plumeria - fraggrant. In Hawai, people made perfume oils out of plumeria. One of my favorite aromas.

Another hedge plant -  cactus, in Mbeya rural

Kapok tree pods in full growth -  like cotton on the tree. More below

Don't know the name of this tree. Its on campus too

It is not a cactus. Name is mtelatela

Mtelatela blossom

Latana - common in Hawaii also.
Native to Americas and Africa

confound it-it is the same picture as above-but I am having a hard time removing this one without removing all the rest below. So Iam leaving it alone. I have better things to do than struggling with asthetics and the internet connectivity.

Left-A colorful bird among the leaves of a bush in Mbeya.  Middle-Turtle at Amabilis Center. Right-

Guineafowl pair carving at New Acropol Hotel in Morogoro.  See the real bird below. It is abundant also in Ngorongoro Crater in Arusha.

Yes, your eyes see correctly. Turkeys,
natives of the Americas, are raised in Mbeya
at the Catholic Youth Center and Guest House.

Above is kapok tree flower, bare trunk, fruit - a large pod with silky seeds, like cotton

Pencil tree in Morogoro

Jicaranda tree. It is also in California      

A pair of wild guineafowl on my host family's farm--double image

Notice

I hope that the Tanzanian government will issue our work permits before June 2020. The 2018 health volunteers are leaving Jan 28, 2020 due to no work permits issued by the  Tanzanian government. The class of 2020 Health volunteers has been cancelled.