THE MUSIC CONSERVATOIRE OF TANZANIA LTD.
Thank you very much for your letter of 15. 1. 93. and for the copy of the Bulletin of Tanzanian Affairs. We are delighted with the review of our book on Traditional Music Instruments of Tanzania. Please thank John Brearley most warmly on our behalf. We have plenty of copies and will be pleased to send them to anyone interested for $5 or £3 plus postage. Our grateful thanks for your help.
Mrs. L.E. Crole-Rees
NANGOMA CAVES
A friend recently showed me the article by Mr. Trevor Shaw on Nangoma Caves in Bulletin no.38, 1991. I would like to correspond with him over the details of the early German visits. Unfortunately, he does not give his address; would you please pass my letter on to him, explaining my interest. I am a zoologist who has lived in Tanzania since 1968, with broad interests, including speleology, bats, amphibians, reptiles, and birds. I do know that in 1924, a German biologist named Ahl described a species of frog endemic to Tanzania from Nangoma cave: the reference is Zool. Anz. 61, p.99. Perhaps this specimen was collected on an earlier visit.
I am told that local people are reluctant to allow biologists to collect anything from the cave, but would certainly be willing to try to organise a visit involving biologists from the University of Dar es Salaam. I was unaware of the larger caves mentioned in Shaw’s article. Thank you for any help you may be able to offer in putting me in touch with Mr. Shaw.
Professor Kim M. Howell
(Regret have not been able to trace Mr Shaw’s address – Ed)
SURVEY OF BIRD FAUNA
I hope to be taking part, with five other Oxford zoologists and two Tanzanian students plus Dr. P Lack, a world renowned ornithologist on East African birds and Dr. Neil Baker, in an expedition to Tanzania to study the bird fauna in the Mkomazi Game Reserve from June 26 to September 7 1993. The bird life in the reserve has never been studied and since birds are good indicators of habitat conditions, Mkomazi provides a baseline against which one may measure change elsewhere. The survey will monitor the ecological conditions and pressures inside and outside the reserve and provide the basis for a future programme of monitoring biodiversity in an African ecosystem. The project has the full support of the Royal Geographical Society, Oxford University and the Schlumberger Corporation but we still need further funds. If any persons or firms reached by the Bulletin of Tanzanian Affairs would be willing to sponsor us we would be most grateful.
Ben Underwood,
Huntingdon, Cambs. PE18 6PE