Life in Africa VI

The road to Mkonoo village (and Nadasoito) in the early days. Just beyond Unga Limited, which is a suburb of Arusha, an industrial area but there are many houses there too.

This is a dusty market area and I always wondered how the food and mtumba - secondhand clothing - was kept dust-free.

We were giving the Mkonoo village environmental chairman a lift and as he had a shop at Mkonoo, we stopped here to collect bulk bread. As the bread was being loaded, a young man reached into the Maruti and made a grab at Mag's bag which was between us. How he knew the bag was there, I have no idea! He was unsuccessful with the bag, and ran off into the village and Joshia took off after him. As Joshia closed on him, he called back, 'I have nothing, why are you chasing me?' Our friend was embarrassed over the incident.

The taxi stand in our early days in Arusha. Much different now but worth recording. The Lutheran church is to the right and in the road to the left there are the tourist shops and Kase Bookshop.

The Catholic church, Lushoto taken from the road to the Grand Mandarin hotel where we stayed many times. Even from here one of the things to distract tourist is the honking of the bus horns early in the morning to attract custom.
There is much that can be done to promote Lushoto but the buses are a distraction - even an annoyance.

The Irente Lookout is a very striking area to look over a large part of Tanzania. The road, red clay, used to be greasy when wet and we were lucky to have our own car to get there. Boys wanted to guide us and some wanted to guard the car - we really had no need for either, but I felt it worthwhile to pay something out of politeness.
Now ex President Mkapa has built a huge lodge that actually blocks the foot track out to the lookout. How he managed that - well that is the business of the country, but it is a spoiler.
At a small bar perched on the side of the track, I took Upendo, Eriki and Vai for a soda and a vervet monkey aggressively decided it would like some of the soda! It frightened the kids and I had to really threaten it to chase it away!

It might look a bit murky in this photo, but the views are stunning from the lookout. It is a pity that a lodge now dominates the area.







The main reason we visited Lushoto was to visit the National Tree Seed Project to purchase seed. The project was originally set up through assistance from Denmark and was a very efficient and well run project. To my knowledge it still is. The seed I purchased was very high quality and cleaned to a high standard.
I sat with the workers cleaning seed and talking to them - the best way to to gain rapport.


Cleaning a few Croton seeds at NTSP. It was a species I didn't need to buy because we were able to collect it locally at Makumira/King'ori.

Grant's Lodge is/was one of the more expensive places to stay at Lushoto - we never did. It is some distance in the hills beyond but a very pleasant journey - even passing through orchards of apple and pear. Much further on is a girls secondary school - the name of which eludes me - but we visited there when the guy from the Grand Mandarin asked me to give him a lift there. It is a very good school from what I saw and what he told me.


A moth at Sanawari with a six inch wingspan! Locals are afraid of such insects and fear that the dust from their wings can cause blindness. Totally outside my experience and I do not know the science behind the myth. There was the story that the fur from caterpillars causing irritation on the skin - well I found that to be correct when on a couple of occasions I had caterpillars down my neck!


Boys with a toy. Very often kids, or perhaps their older brothers, made made their own toys and chasing a wheel is fun and a skill. In this photo to the right is Roger. I wrote about him on a couple of occasions, and his life was not easy. I wonder on his progress now.
They stand in our yard - a pleasant place to live.




We passed the Meserani Snake Park many times on our travels and stopped by only once. It is a very good park and our kids have stayed there too. I have been to few snake parks and this one rates well.
I always though I could outrun a snake but I don't think that is so from one of my experiences at Ngarenanyuki.



Mama Baraka and Nai have a laugh on our porch. People seem to have the idea Africa is all about potbellied kids who are starving and dust and famine. There is plenty of good. Mama Baraka and Nai shared a special bond that is not at all that unusual in Tanzania. Mama Baraka was one in a million to us but that was our connection. We found treasures wherever we went.