mckrob
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2007
- Messages
- 2,020
I'm currently about a five hour drive west of Mtwara in Tanzania in a mineral exploration tent-camp. I am here doing a favour for a friend; training some of the local guys in the use of dual frequency geodetic grade GPS, and straightening out some issues with the local map datum. The GPS work involves positioning survey grid lines that will be machete-cut and later used for geophysical surveys (electromagnetics).
While bushcrashing on my first day, I came across this beauty. The locals call it "Upupu" in Swahili, or "Buffalo Bean" in English. I believe it's latin name is Mucuna pruriens.
The locals hate this stuff like the plague, and with good reason. It's fine hair is the main ingredient in itching powder, and walking through this stuff is enough to make you go mental. Walking through it, it works it's way up your pant-legs (snake gators remedied this problem on day two) and when it gets on any exposed skin it feels like a combination of instant-acting poison-ivy mixed with fibreglass insulation. Luckily the effects are short lived; with a bit of water the itching stops in about an hour or so.
This stuff is everywhere, and it's a climbing vine so it grows from just about anything. In the afternoon when it gets hot, the beans dry out and the hairs will dislodge in the wind, so it is possible to get it all over oneself even when being extremely careful.
In the photo above, the Upupu is extremely dense, it's growing all over the scrub behind where the guys are standing. This stuff has to be cut by machete as you are walking and the stuff gets all over you.
Here are few more pictures of the local people and scenery.
And finally some knife content; the gear:
The local guys here use their own machetes for line cutting, and most of them are very old and well worn. I've lent my Cold Steel Kukri to one of the cutters to see how well it holds up after some extended use (I'll try for some photos later this week). So far the guys love it and they are fighting over who gets to use it. I only wish I had brought my Battle Mistress to wage war on this damn Upupu !!
