Bolero 2

We only cut seven trees in Bolero.

Oxcarts seem to be the favorite means of transport
in Bolero. Here is one filled with harvested maize.

Bolero had some of the prettiest Faidherbia trees.

Bolero

When we arrived in Bolero, in Rumphi district, we
found trees almost as large as the ones in Karonga.

Speaking of beginnings, the young man in this picture,
Herbert Jenya, is going to begin school in January at
the Forestry College in Mzuzu.
It will be quite a new beginning for him.

The trees in Bolero had a much heavier crop of
seeds still on the tree than anywhere we have been.

We found bicycle transport in Bolero, and in all the villages,
but in Bolero there is an older form of transport more favored
than bicycles. Check next week to see it.

I'm back!

Hi everyone, sorry for the hiatus, I had a couple of very busy months.

First, an announcement for Kiva:

http://www.kiva.org/

Kiva matches specific lenders to specific business-people in developing
countries who need micro-loans to develop their businesses. I have
used them for several years and can recommend them highly.


Back to Karonga....some trees there were very old,
like the grandfather tree here which is
losing limbs and struggling to hang on.

The favorite use for large Faidherbia trunks in Karonga
was for canoes on the lake.

One day we finished early, and went to the Tanzanian
border. This is the Songani river. We walked over
the bridge, walked around town for a few minutes
and looked around, and crossed back. No one
asked to see documents, even from me,
and I obviously wasn't from there!

Karonga

We found the most mature Faidherbia/maize
parkland in Karonga district.

Here you can see all ages of trees.

Some of the trees we saw were so old they were
broken down and hollow.

They were a lot of work to measure, but the
temperatures were lower than in Mwanza.

We did some work with axes on the trunks of the larger
trees, but I really didn't spend much time at that. I was
waiting to get back another piece of equipment.

Mixed bag

The pictures are a mixed bag this week.

See the license plate? The white plates mean
that I have diplomatic privileges (ha! ha!). The police
can give me a fine if I do something wrong,
but mostly, they don't bother to check us.
Minibuses get stopped and checked constantly.
Less nuisance with these plates.

I am airing blankets because I have some visitors
arriving Tuesday.

My neighbors all have satellite TV. I have something
better, I have satellite internet!



It must be spring, the mango in our yard is blooming!

Bwanje Valley 3

Measuring every inch of these trees is quite
a job. It takes a day to do one.

The thorns on these trees were larger than those before.

Packing the samples to take back to be dried.

Bwanje Valley 2

Well, Bwanje Valley is beautiful,

and it was not as hot there as in Mwanza.

Some of the trees were still blooming,

and all were making pods. This tree used to be called
"apple-ring acacia" because the pods looked
like an apple peel.

Bwanje Valley

Next we moved to the Bwanje valley. Actually, we slept in
Balaka. Our hotel had a small bar in the yard, with covered
seating area around the trunk of a tree.

Look closely at the building to the right and
you can see the tree branches
growing out of the roof!


Some of the trees there were
really upright,

And some were big, beautiful globes.

Look under this one, and you can see people
standing...it was really big.

Mwanza and Chitedze

Some of the trees we cut in Mwanza were tall,
even lying on the ground!

At Chitedze Research Station, it is the season for burning.
No, the station does not burn its grass fallow intentionally,
but small boys hunting mice set fires.
Yes, hunting mice...to boil and dry, and sell
on the side of the road as snacks!
The birds were hunting insects driven by the fire.

The cool weather has encouraged the roses
to set another round of blooms.

More in Mwanza

The Faidherbia trees are full of thorns,
and we ripped up half a dozen pairs of welding
gloves working on them.

We took soil samples, too. This tree is supposed
to be a really good builder of soil fertility.

One teacher brought his whole
class over to see what we were doing.

Mwanza (2)

Some of the Faidherbia trees were fairly small...

Some were a bit larger. This small boy is one of many
who came to see what we were doing with the chain saw.

This lizard lives in a tree in our apartment gardens.
A neighbor says that it is a baby of larger ones that also live there.

I'm Back

Hi Everyone,
It took longer than expected to fell the Faidherbia trees we needed, so I am late getting back to the blog. We felled
eight trees in Mwanza, Ntcheu, and Karonga districts, and seven
trees in Rumphi district. I hope that you enjoy the pictures.

We started in Mwanza district in southern Malawi. Most Faiderbia
trees grow in low-lying land near rivers.

The location in Mwanza was so low that the

road was posted, "only dry season." (see the
last line on the sign)


Most Faidherbia are scattered in corn fields, like
these in Rumphi.

Only in Mwanza did we also
find cotton fields. Notice the baobab tree
behind the cotton field.

Travel

The mantis I found on my window last week.

Three new baby swallows fledged this week.
Here they are with their mother.

Here is Lake Malawi from the overlook above the descent to
Karonga, where we were last week, and will be again next week.

I will be in the field for most of the next three weeks, so
postings may be sporadic.

Kiva update!

To Kiva's Blogger List,

We are thrilled to share the news that Kiva has won the Sam’s Club Giving Made Simple grant for $1 million dollars! Thank you to everyone who supported Kiva throughout the campaign. We could not have won without your daily votes, outreach to friends, and participation during the Double Points Days on Twitter.

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-The Kiva Team

PS - Our blog post about the Sam's Club campaign is at http://bit.ly/b3KM4o.

Faidherbia in Bolero

Over the next few weeks we will harvest Faidherbia
trees in four different locations in Malawi. One is
Bolero, located in an upland valley in the high,
rolling hills of the district of Rumphi.

Faidherbia have been inter-planted with the
maize there for many years. The largest of
the trees are two and three feet in diameter.

Faidherbia trees in a maize field.

Thyolo and Mulanje

After Zomba, we went through the tea fields of
Thyolo, toward Mulanje mountain.

The tea fields are beautiful, and the
tea is one of Malawi's major exports.

Mulanje mountain is huge, and is the highest
mountain in this region of Africa.

It is so big that even at this distance, it won't fit
into a single picture.

The tea fields that ring Mulanje are even prettier than Thyolo.