Ben Wilhelmi

Maasai herders

 

my early days in Tanzania as a volunteer pilot with Flying Medical Service. I often wish I could do the job again and do more pictures. I tend to be the guy who's never satisfied.

Engoveroni village, northern part of the Ngorongoro range. Cold weather due to altitude. These poor guys with only one blanket...

 

no clue why she didn't want me to shoot her cows. People think a picture captures their souls....fine I get the point but cows?

 

lonely cow on the edge of Ngaresero gorge, Rift Valley. Wonderful 2000ft deep and steep gorge. Got many fond memories of wonderful flights in there! Volcano stands in the distance;

 

how old is he? Less than 10 probably. Coming back from shopping I'd say.

 

young boy in charge at a waterhole

 

warrior tending his cows in the greater Ngorongoro. The rim stands in the background.

 

donkeys roam free but never very far.

 

2 Maasais greeting each other. A gentle stroke, not a strong squeeze as we do (normally) in Europe which is here seen here as a sexual offer.

 

volcano Lengai again, seen from an airstrip. Long line of cows. Wealthy man. 80$ a cow by then was the regular price.

no picture

just busy reading aircraft accidents in Tanzania.

last week, a pilot flying a Seneca ( a small twin engine) forgot to drop his landing gear on landing. The guy was quite quick to react though because as soon as he felt strong vibrations, heard metal noise scraping on something (that is the tarmac) and maybe saw sparks flying all over, he pushed the throttle full gas and did a go-around before coming back and land properly this time. The blade tips are damaged, twisted and torn beyond repair, the 2 engines are to be open and fully inspected at best. But a belly up landing would have been worse.

a Caravan hit an impala on landing in Katavi. Propeller to be replaced, engine to be open and checked as well. That was in March, the plane is still sitting out there waiting for parts, mechanics and some competence.....

a plane landed on its tail, minor cosmetic damages apparently...

40 bullet impacts....that was  some years back on a mining strip. Some robbers attacked after landing, sprayed the aircraft with bullets, even threw hand grenades! Far West style....

stupid passenger today: "oh you're not French? so how come you speak French then?". Yes guess where she is from....

or while flying

-the passenger: "oh look, Kilimanjaro! Sooo lovely, better than on picture...."

-me: "eerh, this is Oldoinyo Lengai M'am, 100 miles away and half the size of Kili....". Yes same country as the previous one...

or

-"how long have you been flying ?" but I understood "how long is the flight?"

-so I wrongly answered "20min"

-"and they already let you fly a plane on your own? waow..."

-realising my mistake but carrying on:" yep, this is Africa".

But she realised quite quickly her blonde moment and laughed.

 

or just me being naughty:

-the non pilot passenger: "good flight! you're such a good pilot".

-me: "hmm, well if I were so good, maybe I wouldn't have been revoked from flying at home..."

animals from the air

 

 

long shadows, at dawn somewhere in Serengeti.

 

last Friday, a big herd of buffaloes in Katavi Nat'l park, Katasunga plain.

 

similar view but cropped. I'm too lazy to count them but that much reach a thousand I bet.

 

....and a few waterbucks. I think the big footprints are elephants'...

 

on film, one of my early aerial pictures in Africa

 

 

Oldoinyo Lengai slightly glowing, one early morning.

lake Natron on film again

still sorting out my old films.

black water. Pure black like the background of the blog. Can't see the difference in the low right corner. Black water is always located on the deeper bits.

delta on the northern side. Where does that blue come from while drying out....

 

 

 

not many colors but the patterns are interesting. The variable wind must push the water here and there while the lake is drying out. Evaporation is quick since the lake is very shallow for most of its surface. This explains the overlapping curves.

 

 

miscellaneous

some competitor just got this big aeroplane, a De Havilland Dash 7, quite a monster with 50 passengers or so. But it so well designed for the bush that it uses all our regular airstrips without problem

here in Grumeti, western Serengeti

 

 

the volcano Oldoinyo Lengai at 7 am.

 

very top of Lengai. Nearly horizontal light carving interesting shadows.

 

Rift Valley near Lengai.

 

Katavi nat'l park, Katasunga plain, just before landing, a big herd of buffaloes.

 

recycling in Arusha...I'm afraid that is also the way some 'daladala' drivers have learnt to drive...

Burmese market

 

 

 

sugarcane juice with a drop of lemon juice. I just loved it. Providing there was no blood from some crushed fingers in it. Same piece of machinery here in Tanzania though only in Zanzibar. Don't know why.

 

these monks were quite funny, either in Burma or Cambodia or Thailand, with their love for electronic junk. Cell phones, music players and so on. Of course they're only monks for short periods of time, not for life. One even asked me naively some money for gambling! Horse races if I remember well.

 

not only women do that cumbersome job.

 

striking face sand features. Not fully Burmese I thought.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Burma

 

lazy to prepare new pictures today...so some old ones, sorry.

 

lake Inle, water buffalo tended by a young boy. More manageable than the African buffalo which is a nasty piece of a beast.  When I was a volunteer pilot, I flew more than once a buffalo-induced wounded passenger. Never nice to see....

 

fisherman's house, or maybe a few families were sharing. Looks clean, roomy and light is allowed inside! Missing that here with the typical small windows.

 

I really didn't expect to see a drag queen in Burma. Ok it was during a festival, but unusual nevertheless. Since then I read a Nat'l Geo and it appears it is quite common!

 

smart contraption...

 

didn't try...

 

it is not dirt nor pieces of paper but money! Banknotes to be precise. Notice the glass windows all around that jade statue. One has to throw banknotes across the gilded bars higher up. The closer they fall to the deity, the more luck one receives. On the lap is the best spot. Schwedagon pagoda in Rangoon.

 

 

 

still the same pagoda, at night. Same fervor to keep on praying.

 

 

that horrible green light  illuminates a Buddha in each niche.

lake Natron on film

stories and rumors... always double check. Remember the story of the pilot-less 206 a few days ago? Well it appears that there was somebody on the controls but not a pilot, not even a mechanic. Just a ground handler who had been told to move the plane, meaning push or pull, on the apron. Too much effort so this rocket scientist thought he could start the engine and taxi himself. After all, it is easy, an ignition key, a yoke that looks like a car steering wheel...men , he must have shat in his pants when the engine burst to life, when the plane jumped forward, when he realised that turning the yoke left or right wouldn't do much. He didn't think of the brakes either. He still crossed one runway in front of a landing airliner!

then some mechanics and engineer of a big company here managed to drop a turbine engine from the nacelle! Ooops, kaputt....one million dollars for such an engine! It's already 400.000 for a Caravan engine.

anyway here are old stuff just dug out of some files. All shot with my first SLR camera, a Minolta X700 with a wonderful 50mm and a polariser filter, on film. Basic but dead good. Mom's gift for my 18th birthday. Did I mention that already?

 

view towards the north, that is Kenya. This old volcano, Shombole or Shompole, sits on the border.

 

those most common patterns and colors were already there.

 

flamingoes...

 

salty waves.

 

black water. Weird no?

 

turquoise!

 

that grey crust rose suddenly after some heavy rains. Water pushing up, the crust is breaking apart. Notice the black water again.

 

 

same story here but the water is rusty, and the breaking pattern is not the same either...

bits of Tanzania

 

after a big bush fire, Serengeti. Usually the strong plants don't seem to suffer from the fast moving flames. Here though it looks like a forest of white trees, burnt ...

 

Moun Meru, at dawn. Funny cloud that seems to mirror the mountain and surroundings.

 

clouds attacking Mount Monduli. The last plane crash happened in this forested area

 

Around Seronera Serengeti. If early enough one might catch an early hot air balloon, flying low and slow.

 

 

I wish I could have come closer but there was no radio contact. So in a huge effort not to fly by close, I preferred to avoid panic on their board. Am I getting smarter and more considerate with age? It reminds me a few years back when I used to buzz any truck or public bus very close...remember this is Africa. There are people on roofs too. I stopped doing these strafing exercises when I saw a panicked passenger ready to jump off one roof! Poor guy....then I restricted my targets  only to farmers, villages, Maasai shepherds...or passenger-free roofs of course.

 

the good ol' volcano Oldoinyo Lengai. One early morning, soft light, little clouds overflowing the ridge towards the crater.  I don't know what is that white stuff, why does it stay white....

 

not many changes lately.

lake Natron again II

 

another bunch about Natron. Same series as yesterday, shot within 10 min...

 

 

 

 

these two here are from the dries part. Still the colors an the patterns are wonderful.

 

 

a good example on how the colors fade away when drying out, from the left side in this example.

 

such a scenery pays off when I've got a boring day of flying...

aeroplane accidents

 

last week saw the 4th lethal accident of the year in Tanzania. A small Cessna 182 hit mount Monduli a few miles north-west of Arusha. Bad weather, inexperienced pilot... all 3 persons died  This is the 5th crash north of Arusha in 10 years or so.

that reminds me that I got my very first job in Tanzania in '99 because of a similar accident and similar conditions in '98. Weird feeling I must say. That pilot was quite experienced...so, my little self just out of a flying school, I paid a lot of attention to my 2 mentors...Tanzania is indeed a country full of free standing mountains. Kilimanjaro for instance holds 2 records, one is the highest mountain in Africa, the other one is the highest free standing mountain in the world.

last month, a police helicopter crashed a few miles off Arusha. 6 died on impact when it exploded. No known reason so far.

one nearly miss with a Caravan. I showed the pictures on this blog a few weeks ago.

And then yesterday, a real idiot was flying AGAIN north of Arusha in the clouds. Looking for a hole to dive in and find the ground, he said. One pilot jumped in on the radio and yelled at the guy: "Get the hell out of there or the only hole you'll get is a six foot-deep hole!". So luckily that idiot obeyed some common sense and left the area, in one piece, lucky him.

another real nearly miss was 2 planes that nearly collided into each other last month, while one absent-minded pilot cut off the other one, the latter and passengers only survived thanks to quick and violent action on the controls...

and should I mention the total idiot of flight engineer who after working on a Cessna 206, started the engine for a check? He forgot to put on the parking brakes and the wheels chokes, just leaned in the cockpit, nobody in the aeroplane! Of course the engine burst to life at full roaring power and the 206 left in a rush without him, crossed one runway before stopping by miracle in the grass thanks to a hole! I'm wondering if the "engineer" was, like in a good movie, running after the aircraft....

as already said, 30% of the world aviation accident happen in Africa while there is only 3% of the world traffic. And Tanzania is not even that bad if compared to Sudan or Congo...so I'd be curious to know the rate of accidents in Afghanistan or Iraq for example. One of us here has left for Iraq amidst criticisms and reminders on how dangerous Iraq is. Well it depends how one looks at it. True a missile hit makes headlines.

as for me, it has been pretty quiet. Just one idiot of a fee collector in a park who didn't seem to be in a hurry to collect the landing fee with the receipt handy. 10 planes a week in that area and he can't even do a quick job. So when I was done with the passengers and so, I started the engine and backtracked the airstrip. On turning around I was quite surprised to see his Land Rover 'parked 'across the airstrip and that clown walking away, showing me that I could now stop the engine, go and pay. Well if I can avoid wasting my time with assholes....so I saw a bit of room between the jeep and the windsock and I just took off, veering a bit off centerline, the wing zooming above the roof. Too bad I had to concentrate on the maneuver. I wish I could have seen his face.

flamingoes and lake Natron

 

sorry if it's bring to hear about flamingoes again but personally, I love the subject.

 

a very old picture, shot on film. Each pink spot is a flamingo.

 

and this morning, just a quick buzz, 100 photos. The contrast between the white feathers and the dark water makes it difficult for any camera to judge the light properly. So this time, I underexposed by 1,3 and the birds are much better...

 

...like on this one, cropped from the one above. I'm still struggling to fly and get the sharpest pictures....

 

 

 

  

these dots on the dry surface are the old nests I mentioned last month. I didn't see any grey chicks. I assume those from march are full adults by now. But what about the eggs from last month? Is it possible that they're already teenagers, flying with the big group? I must say that there are different kinds of flamingoes in the flock, some are not showing full pink wings. Maybe young ones that are not fully grown up.

 

the nests, like egg holders. Eggs here and there. Probably some that were not fertilised...

Meru again

 

view from a village

 

preparing for paragliding above the low clouds.

 

Twin Otter taking off in the morning.

 

 

the double rainbow is just visible.

in the morning, Kilimanjaro in the background .

 

 

 

 

 

Floating Meru in the mist.

 

 

and floating Kilimanjaro.

 

 

Kilimanjaro again with Meru in the foreground

versatile Mount Meru, Arusha

 

 

 

after a heavy hailstorm. Unfortunately, it melts quickly....

 

sunset.

 

slopes of Meru, slightly foggy

 

another hailstorm.  They don't happen very often though.

 

view from the airport.

 

 

Kilimanjaro on the left like a flat hat.

Lengijave the end

 

 

 

I quite like this one. I don't know why the 2 of them look like they're about to lose balance. Imposing Meru in the distance.

 

 

 

 

 

deforestation and firewood go together. Years back, the government had tried to keep fuel cheap so people wouldn't waste time and forests to cut firewood. to no avail unfortunately.

 

4 goats....not too hard to handle I suppose. Kids under 10 are often charge of a full herd of cows or goats....

 

these curves are not included in the picture. This artifact happens sometimes on internet pictures because the resolution has been heavily reduced.

 

Mount Meru dominates Lengijave area.

long flight II

 

south west of Arusha. Interesting patterns, different crops, different use of water too I suppose. I like the way the green culture perimeters are not always straight at all. It looks like each farmer got what he could grab and started to harvest.

 

 

 

these pictures are continued from the yesterday flight. In more than 7 hours, one can see a few bits of the country, from Arusha to Mahale, then  Katavi and finally Ruaha, all nat'l parks.

 

these elephants were digging holes in a dry part of the Ruaha river. Why I don't know since the river was wet a bit further. I noticed these guys just next to the airstrip before landing. So I nearly kicked my passengers' butt out of the plane and took off quickly before they disappeared....

 

 

I took off tailwind, the wrong direction, to overfly them and shot a few snaps. This one here is quite enlarged.

 

and a bit further I met these hippos. Notice the footprints on the low right part of the picture.

 

great color for the water, patterns like art drawings....

5 to 10 min between the takeoff and this shot here. Some parts of the country are really amazing, either you press your nose against the windows or the eye gets glued to the camera....but even so you'd need more than one pair of eyes. Or maybe a chameleon system would be even better.

long flight

 

 

sunrise over Mount Meru, Arusha airport. 7 am departure for more than 7h of flying. Luckily, common sense prevailed and I got the only Caravan with an autopilot today.

 

 

Ok it's only fog. Common scenery in northern countries. But here we're in Africa, close to the equator...we don't see it that often, moreover under a blue sky.

 

 

colors on the ground, human made. Probably some Dutch farmers growing flowers or something else than corn anyway....

 

 

Mt Meru. Notice the ugly white blurb that is the sun. Typical digital signature. Films were better at that excessive light. But the newer digital cameras are improving that flaw by the day.

 

clouds attacking a forest on top of the Rift Valley near Lake Manyara.

 

 

here again some different colors inside corn fields...better water system to help probably.

wildebeest migration

 

Northern Serengeti, between Kogatende and Kleins Camp to be precise, last weekend.

 

more than one million they say...here they're seen crossing the Mara River. Unfortunately this is a narrow bit of the river. Nothing really spectacular like the famous chaotic crossing on a wider part of the river with the crocodiles waiting for their snack.

 

 

 

 

 

and just a bit further, there were the Cape elands. The biggest antilopes, the best jumpers nevertheless their heavy weight, up to 800 kg. I was once running in a nat'l park when I bumped into a herd. Suddenly they panicked and ran and jumped across the path. One flew nearly above me, at 3 m high! Nothing special with that number, except when you happen to stand  below the beast. Quite impressive.

 

Another time, an eland was walking and came across a zebra, which refused to give way. So the eland, equally stubborn, just jumped above him and carried on walking.

 

and zebras like water too, here crossing with a few wildebeests a marsh near Grumeti.

mean Grandma.

 

 

 

nice Grandma....

 

up to a point....

 

with such a weapon, I don't want to be the husband coming late and drunk with lipstick on his "shuka" (the typical masai wrap around blanket).

 

"yep, my dear, don't piss me off" ....

 

seriously, I guess it is a gardening tool before being a weapon. But it still reminds me a Marine instructor who was showing us a military spade and different ways to kill or maim with it. He had finished the lesson with "oh yes and by the way you can even dig holes with it..."

 

well fed apparently....

 

  

fetching wood, all girls and women....same story for water.

 

 

bits of Lengai or the Moon...

 

doesn't it look like the Moon surface? Most of these pictures show the southern plateau of the volcano which is inactive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

these last 2 shots are enlarged for details. It looks there have been some serious showers of 'bombs' as the scientists call them...

lake Natron.....

Internet  is pretty crap here sometimes...that's why I have to send 2 posts a day because one didn't go thru for 2 or 3 days. Or like today, I'm sending a second one because I'm going away for 2 days. So here we go with a bit of anticipation. For once the morning flight tomorrow will be a scenic flight around the volcano Lengai!  Let's hope for some nice weather conditions around.

in the meantime today, the lake Natron and some flamingoes.

 

little flock of flamingoes

 

another bunch of nests.

 

similar picture as the one above but enlarged. The grey mud nests are visible.

 

 

the 2 following pictures are enlarged from the previous one. Check the white eggs in the nests.

 

 

 

 

maybe I enlarged too much, but for documentary purpose.....

 

 

 

same lake, western shore.

 

and remember that petition last year to save the lake from some greedy bloody company which wanted to mine and destroy the lake for salt? The project is back to the loo where it should have stayed. On top Walt Disney has produced a film to promote the lake. Let's hope now it will be classified as a park or whatever else for good.

landscapes and others

 

hope nobody minds that I change subjects on an irregular basis...

 

after bush fires in the Serengeti. Interesting patterns.

 

 

2 hot-air balloons over the Serengeti while I was having breakfast in a lodge.

 

 

check the bright little spot in the low part of the balloons: the burners in action.

 

 

 

the volcano Oldoinyo Lengai with mount Gelai in the background. The northern range of the Ngorongoro in the foreground. Daily flight to the Serengeti. But different vista everyday.

 

about the same legend as above.

 

opposite view, the Ngorongoro mountain range now in the background.

 

I know I know guys, I can hear you screaming "where is the naked girl in that pool??". Maybe another day, sorry....

 

stormy night in lake Manyara.

 

Mount Meru, that warm light lasted a few minutes only...

 

 

art everywhere....

 

  

 

around Arusha II

 

more in Lengijave area...

dunno where she got to pose like a western model...

 

 

 

precious piece of corn!

 

 

 

Mount Meru in the back ground, seen from Mount Monduli slopes.

 

 

one tends to forget that digital also allows B/W pictures....though I always carry my Leica loaded in B/W. But that takes a bit of time for processing.

 

this boy, above and below, was quite shy. From the moment I saw on top of that curved path, he frequently stopped, reassessed the situation, resumed walking and so on...

 

but even very close, he looked puzzled by the jeep and our ugly faces...

 

he just smiled, returned my greetings and carried on. Just the way I love.

 

and a lady to close this post... interesting face. Influence from North Africa, no doubt.

around Arusha

 

miracle!! Finally got a bloody day off after more than 2 weeks of flying! So we took the Land Rover, which hasn't run for more than a month since I go to the airport everyday by bicycle, and we headed 40 km north towards masai countryside, though other tribes live there too. No need to go far to get out of 'modern' life...

 

 

Karine took the opportunity to test her Nikon D300. Fabulous camera in high sensitivity. 6400 iso equivalent to 1600 on my D200! Maybe Nikon will notice the advertising I'm doing some day...  ;-)

 

 

 

Rough rutted tracks, away from the main road. Very hilly area. Drier than Arusha because of a ridge running between Mt Meru and Mt Monduli that separates the 2 zones and the wind prevails from Arusha, leaving most of the moisture on one side.

 

the area is named Lengijave ("place of strong winds" in masai) is a lot less populated...

 

Here few people ask for money in exchange of a shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

at an early age, boys get responsibility of herding the cows. Hardly no school. Happy kids at that stage? Girls though go and fetch water, tend for the younger siblings. Not so free to roam and play....

 

sometimes, I can't help thinking kids look older....