tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8285834420689203592024-03-13T02:24:57.091+03:00Shadow of KilimanjaroThe experiences and perspectives of a Mzungu living on the lower slopes of Africa's highest peak.Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-67634183709024703642012-04-21T22:37:00.002+03:002012-04-25T08:14:01.833+03:00Picking up the gauntlet<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">A clap of thunder tore through the charged atmosphere like a starter's pistol.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS";">It was quickly followed by the irregular, staccato beat of a dozen heavy raindrops clattering against the thin, tin roof of the climbers’ shelter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few seconds later an unremitting arsenal of liquefied bullets hammered down on the corrugated roof, threatening to distort its smooth undulations into a ragged, dimpled finish.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">At this point, we had not even passed through the gate into Kilimanjaro National Park, but already the mountain was squaring up to us.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://jonbigg.yolasite.com/kilimanjaro.php" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrOJKl0WPU-MI0X5zefq5YoFmFDvoi4avBrNYsEAiIhHBBTRgi4k4TBfwQrLICcyUasQE1crICYALepf6HqZw6tV7PaNEw4J8f_IzFvHaILUjXnx9NHc0Rbl-hgl6pJINpBxi3jFR06bA/s400/Kili+-+Eruption+of+clouds+(r).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kibo, the summit of Kilimanjaro, from Shira Plateau</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Read the complete story in</span></div>
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<a href="http://jonbigg.yolasite.com/kilimanjaro.php" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Picking up the Gauntlet</span></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">at the</span></div>
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<a href="http://jonbigg.yolasite.com/" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">Backpacker Diaries</span></a><br />
</div>Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-25921084351817625702012-01-04T12:12:00.023+03:002012-04-05T11:42:04.876+03:00Riding round the mountain<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">How difficult could it be? </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Anyone can ride a bike, right? So to assemble a handful of keen riders and train them up for a three day tour around Kilimanjaro... it would be as easy as, well, falling off a bike.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht0XxV7w9nxpmQDf48-lD4LlsFAEjbMQ2QKBYjR2c5trcEtU_VufnkEwtz0MT-67lBopvDYxxQ7OHxNFEDRoQS0ln-WkdaegwMPVu0w24-VU8MCvsNN9bao1ZegibOgrlN0htqNchlDQY/s400/Cycling+Club+2b.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three of my riders take to the dirt tracks around Shanty Town</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I became embroiled in this enterprise almost a year ago when I first learnt of the Kilimanjaro mountain bike marathon; you can read about my eager ambitions, acceptance of reality, and eventual resolution in a <a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/2011/01/kilimanjaro-mountain-bike-marathon.html">last January's blog post</a>.<br />
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This is the second chapter. It may also be the last chapter; we shall see...<br />
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I had never run a cycling club before, much less started one from scratch. But I like to indulge in the odd innovation now and again. It keeps my mind alive and I like to believe that the mental exercise will discourage the circling vultures of dementia as I slide inelegantly into the quicksands of middle age.<br />
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And so, with blithe disregard for the logistical obstacles, I set the wheels in motion:<br />
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<strong>STEP 1 – Evaluate resources</strong><br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Inventory: half a dozen second-hand bikes in various stages of disrepair; a surplus of unfit, lethargic teenagers; a score or so of youngsters with a vague inclination towards vigorous exercise; no tools; no spare parts; one inexplicably hopeful teacher (that would be me); and one exceptionally large mountain to circumnavigate.<br />
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<strong>STEP 2 – Announce the inception of the school Cycling Club</strong> <br />
At which point a motley crew stepped forward. They all knew that a bike has two wheels; most had had a go on one; some even owned one. It was looking good. I outlined my plans… we would start with short, gentle rides and gradually build up to longer, more strenuous ventures. Ultimately, those who showed the required commitment, endurance and appetite for challenge would be invited to join in a three or four day ride that would take us all the way around the base of Kilimanjaro. But first we had to have a technical crash course.<br />
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<strong>STEP 3 – Teach the students to fix stuff</strong> <br />
Let’s get one thing straight right from the start: I have no intention of playing baby-sitter to a bunch of mechanical incompetents on a 250 km ride around Kilimanjaro. Forget white horses and pink pyjamas; the 53rd, rarely sung, verse of “She’ll be coming round the mountain” reveals that she'll be fixing her own punctures when she comes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">For those unfamiliar with the full song, this verse comes after the six white horses have bolted and "she" has, therefore, elected to ride a second-hand mountain bike when she comes.</span></div><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>STEP 4 – Build up stamina</strong> <br />
</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Now this is where I, or rather some of my cycling protégés, hit a wall. They had quickly grasped basic maintenance skills. By now they could all repair punctures, tighten brakes and remedy jumping gears; some could correctly adjust their headset (the steering column on the bike, that is, not the thing that plugs into their ipod); one had even learnt to straighten wheels and re-link a broken chain. But for most, their base level fitness was never going to allow them to graduate beyond a short, slow crawl.</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1903070562/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=httpkilimanja-21&camp=1406&creative=6394&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=1903070562&adid=0Y4C17HQNX8VN5QYBN45&" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbocYwi9ARZnVO4RtQTXXfu3Fq35oZn4hokRulJ853KLbxFVicQc2xaZoY9w1kA7dxJfcGViBZwvFqINc9_kcp4zY4nQ3bpR0yCkj0u5-KVDtfIhhg1l7al0J8xerw2QTAokfTz7G97_4/s200/Moods+of+future+joys+(3).jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">I had expected my youthful charges to build fitness quickly; a capacity that I had always taken for granted throughout my own teenage years. But when, after six weeks, we were still struggling to cover more than five kilometres in an hour, I began to silently but seriously doubt the attainability of our ultimate goal.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, I quietly abandoned plans of riding around the mountain. I didn't tell the club; I don't make a habit of stating the obvious.<br />
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And then, out of the blue, one of my riders asked the question. "So, when will we be cycling around Kilimanjaro?" <br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Apparently, their blatant deficiencies in the cycling arena were not as obvious to them as they were to me. But the question came from one of the few genuinely promising cyclists. Maybe he was actually up to the challenge but, held back by the leaden legged majority, had not yet been able to spread his wings and ride. Really ride, with the wind pressing your shirt-front flat whilst the back fabric flaps wildly in your wake, hair tugged back from the forehead, knobbly tires bouncing across the dirt.<br />
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It is likely that that they had also been inspired by the visit of <a href="http://www.beyondthebike.org/">Stuart Block</a>, a former banker turned economics teacher from the UK who had recently cycled through Moshi on his way from Johannesburg to London. His Beyond the Bike cycling challenge aims to raise £100,000 for <a href="http://www.beyondthebike.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=7">three charities</a>: Beyond Ourselves, Right to Sight, and Alive and Kicking.<br />
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Of course, I had also sought to inspire them myself with tales of cycletours around the UK and mainland Europe. Some had heard my <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00j0kyx">BBC despatch</a>, later published on this blog as the <a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/2011/09/mzungu.html">Pied Biker of Kilimanjaro</a>, and had asked about my weekend rides through Moshi's hinterland.<br />
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But in my well-meaning quest to be inclusive, I had indulged weakness and neglected to nurture the talent of my most able riders; I had allowed the chaff to degrade the wheat. (On roadsides around Moshi, you may still see peasants engaged in the ancient practice of winnowing; tossing grain in the air so that the light, inedible husks blow away.)<br />
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Kilimanjaro's steep, dirt roads have already sifted out my strongest cyclists; it's time to leave the weaker ones to drift away on the breeze.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tkVPA6plWpA/TwQVNVYIevI/AAAAAAAAATQ/YMVi5insga4/s1600/Tabaq_winnowing+%2528s%2529+%2528wiki%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tkVPA6plWpA/TwQVNVYIevI/AAAAAAAAATQ/YMVi5insga4/s400/Tabaq_winnowing+%2528s%2529+%2528wiki%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Winnowing (photo: Wikimedia; reproduced under <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:GNU_Free_Documentation_License">licence</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, when school opens in January, I will preside over a second generation cycling club. The promising riders will face ever tougher challenges. If they (and their bikes) can cope with 20 km, 40 km, 80 km rides; if they can handle the lactic burn on never-ending climbs; if they are willing to come back for more after their legs have been reduced to jelly; then perhaps we can do this thing!<br />
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<em>To be continued… maybe.</em></span></div><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"></span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span></span></em></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="color: #674ea7; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em><strong>Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not leave a comment?<br />
Follow this blog to keep up to date with new posts, or share it with friends using one of the buttons below, so they can enjoy it too</strong></em></span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
*****</span></em><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></span></em><br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><div style="text-align: center;"><div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html"><span style="color: #336699; font-size: x-small;">All images <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">© </span>Jon Bigg</span></a></em></span></span></div></div></span></span></em><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Unless otherwise stated</span></div></div></span><div style="text-align: center;"><div></div></div></em><div style="text-align: center;"><div></div></div>Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com0Mt Kilimanjaro, Kilimanjaro National Park, Mt.Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania-3.0664648 37.3506658-3.1081187999999997 37.3002403 -3.0248108 37.401091300000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-90759708169618099692011-09-15T23:59:00.007+03:002012-01-08T23:24:46.678+03:00Pied biker of Kilimanjaro?<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Ahead of me, the roadside lookout issues a clarion call: ‘Mzuuuunguuuu’. The cry is taken up by another voice far away on the limit of earshot. And then a swarm of black specks, transported urgently on stick thin legs, are scurrying through the recently harvested maize fields, converging on me from all directions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It can be disconcerting to become the centre of so much unsolicited attention. But it is a fundamental facet of Tanzanian expat life; and the black specks, when they eventually converge in a throng of curious faces lining the side of the track, carry nothing more dangerous than a smile.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi0vy4TJHC1HHrG3fx9RQjcANZIXsJyYWq7pKREnJvInGij1L1xNBaca8p6_hk0VueXS9vRH_bodxSFx8UFTPoflSwUNKK7zOOWWDRdW88SoVy58NIi3irWO7TpMRPMuRHqfVAaQyIQaM/s400/MZ1.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: small;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>Uninhibited fascination – a local child investigates my cycle-computer</em></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Mzungu means white person in Swahili and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Tanzania</st1:place></st1:country-region> is largely free of the political correctness that would forbid loudly defining an approaching stranger by their skin colour. Perhaps more surprisingly, such forthright dialogue is not the sole preserve of children. Even close to town, where European tourists are two for a Tanzanian Shilling, adults often greet me with, “How are you, white person,” spoken in Swahili.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Before, I appeared on the dirt track, the children had all, ostensibly, been gainfully occupied. Some had been watching the family’s goats; others were scaring birds from recently planted fields. The unlucky ones would have been fetching water or taking laundry to the river.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But the unexpected arrival of a bicycle riding Mzungu was akin to the circus coming to town. An exotic creature making a majestic (if rather sweaty) entry into their unpretentious world: fluorescent shirt and cleated cycling shoes perched atop a sleek, shiny mountain bike, which bears little resemblance to the two-wheeled beasts of burden that local people use.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60cZYfJlpp_pcVo1-9TdBdMrWll7Eq8ezeaI5cNz2HaCpptwprQRHCCN8TmMCuCpGsyeEnt-lTd_wIDuHbaNeNV-Fssr2BMAAeyT8lam_QFl0VMx58PpUAIc6gFnVbFw-PaTCOAt29XI/s400/MZ3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dirt road north of Moshi</span></em></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">When I ride out on weekend safaris through the maize and banana plots that spread upwards towards the summit of Kilimanjaro, the children who flock to the roadside have never strayed far from home and rarely see a white person. Most will have attended </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">primary school, which may be an hour’s walk from home, but that will probably be on the outermost edge of their world.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> But I do know local children who have seen more of the world than my own global-citizen offspring, though not the beaches and cities of travel brochures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Neema, our ten year old neighbour whom my daughter has befriended, appeared one morning at school-run O’clock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In her hand she carried a broom made from course straw bound to a rough stick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, she was going to school, she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But today, she was going to sweep, not to learn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe next term, after helping her family through a rough patch, she will be able to afford to take her place at a desk again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is unlikely that she will ever travel more than 10 kilometres from her birth place but she is already well acquainted with the world’s darker </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">territory.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Those who dodge such hardship suffer uncompromisingly strict teachers who, armed with canes and chalkboards, teach them English phrases, which they are keen to practice – will a real Mzungu understand these strange words? “Good morning sir,” they chorus as I peddle past in mid-afternoon. “How are you; I’m fine thank you sir; give me pencil,” they repeat parrot fashion, before moving on to a phrase from the advanced class, “Give me money.”</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyOChytz5DYBpoxLdhmrlAEYsgVdQblSRxvfr7wWQDq2T11WLFiIDdHX9yaJKhoh_uOc_Jvgeq9KDRqK1YjH52fIuoIJ9JlOLv-8Hq_LBTgXCMgS9uFrs-jOIwBKZ71kiufEwS7DDApu8/s1600/MZ4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyOChytz5DYBpoxLdhmrlAEYsgVdQblSRxvfr7wWQDq2T11WLFiIDdHX9yaJKhoh_uOc_Jvgeq9KDRqK1YjH52fIuoIJ9JlOLv-8Hq_LBTgXCMgS9uFrs-jOIwBKZ71kiufEwS7DDApu8/s400/MZ4.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5000 Tanzanian Shillings is about £2</span></em></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This last plea exposes a saddening, social blight</span> that is deeply lamented by my successful Tanzanian friends. On the whole, I am humbled by the determined independence of Tanzanians. Young men hauling heavily laden hand-carts; old men with stone-hammers breaking rocks into gravel; women walking 10km into town carrying 30kg of <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">bananas on their heads; and of course Neema, paying her way at ten years old; all working for barely a dollar a day</span></span>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But on the other hand, I am often asked for ‘loans’, which I know will never be repaid. And there are those who say that <st1:country-region><st1:place>Tanzania</st1:place></st1:country-region> is held back by a continual, institutionalised dependence on donor support. It’s sad to see young children already subscribing to the idea that a rich benefactor will distribute handouts.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZdIM8EbUPg6G49ma0UlPwFsomu4WyNJ2oOqYkNaZfAPPDt0kQRmXh676TofRloBnfq6nyC5VHR7MtOBCqHa5eSvTBpqCgDiGLAfrxNaa-5SDeTtPWkol2UULzaayJ1hTaeG5kcjvQoVM/s400/MZ2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em>Roadside butcher: no electricity so no refrigeration!</em></span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I have learnt to cry ‘Mafrica’ (African) in a tone that matches the excited cries of ‘Mzungu’ that herald my arrival. I also learnt enough Swahili to explain that it was afternoon, not morning and that I didn’t have any money. As my Swahili improved, I challenged the children to chase after me and asked them to give me money. Later, I tried asking for bananas, beer or a haircut. All such requests met with the same shy giggles and an expression that said it all: Mzungus really are the strangest of people.</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">*****</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">This post is adapted from a despatch written for the BBC. You can listen to the original braodcast here: <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00j0kyx">From Our Own Correspondent</a></span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">*****</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">You can read other cycling stories in two separate blogposts:</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/2011/01/kilimanjaro-mountain-bike-marathon.html">Kilimanjaro mountain bike marathon</a></span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/2012/01/kili-bike.html">Riding round the mountain</a></span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span></span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not leave a comment?<br />
Follow this blog to keep up to date with new posts, or share it with friends using one of the buttons below, so they can enjoy it too</em></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span></span></em></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><em><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html">All images <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">© </span>Jon Bigg</a></em></span></span></div><o:p></o:p>Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com6Moshi, Tanzania-3.3179032034820675 37.315578085693346-3.3582047034820675 37.279919085693344 -3.2776017034820675 37.351237085693349tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-73311505357125029272011-04-23T12:59:00.018+03:002012-01-08T00:05:29.053+03:00Counting ChickensI am, of course, familiar with the old adage: one should not count one's chickens before they have hatched. But when your hen is sitting on nine perfectly formed eggs and you know that the rooster was paying her plenty of special attention during the laying period, it is hard not to, well, count your chickens...<br />
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My faltering introduction to back-yard poultry farming started with two healthy birds, who the children named Mel and Freddy. Our first egg was laid within hours and we were soon collecting two fresh eggs every day. They tasted delicious and the yolks were that rich shade of yellow that suggests additives in the feed. But our hens ate nothing apart from what they scatched and pecked around the garden. It was the perfect start to a charmingly rustic self-sufficiency in free-range eggs.<br />
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Then Mel, our dominant hen and best layer, had a funny turn. She became listless and spent long periods in the nest box without laying. Broody, I hear you cry, but no, we think she had an egg stuck. After a couple of days she suddenly rallied herself for a few seconds of wild flapping and squawking before sinking quietly to the ground where she clucked no more.<br />
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The children were devastated, particularly our daughter. She was convinced that she had drowned the poor fowl, as she had been giving Mel a warm bath at the time (apparently it can help the passage of a difficult egg).<br />
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With egg production halved, our initial investment was looking increasingly illadvised. I was particularly disappointed that, without a steady supply of eggs, there were no longer any freshly baked cakes.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="217" i8="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkrX7mUo-08bwPEHCUW9IZ8PHslsZO4Jo7ujmaHlRZKwS-wHd87w5HwfDrDF45xXx5A-SPuyRVhf7B-Qy2JFObktxks9nALawF3FOoF6joi56xrBrGFJcddA7SYGzxk18c5Ss9Px7ehrs/s400/Egg+production.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>A week later, Freddy stopped laying too and took to the nest-box in an unmistakable show of broodiness. Perhaps, in the absence of Mel, she had developed a sudden urge to ensure the survival of her species. Fortunately, we had acquired a rooster, or else she would have been trying to hatch duds. <em></em><br />
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<em>Unfortunately</em>, in her rush towards motherhood, she had failed to lay a full clutch and was sitting on only two eggs. To be fair, there would have been more eggs in the nest if they hadn't already been in cakes.<br />
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And there is a reason why hens usually sit on clutches of 10 - 12 eggs: chick survival rates are low. Within a day of leaving the coup, one chick had vanished. A few weeks later, the other one was found belly up. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Left alone again we knew what Freddy would do. Within days, she was laying again and this time we let her keep all the eggs. Within two weeks, she was, once again, confined to the nest. This time, she had a respectable clutch with nine eggs quietly incubating. At this point, I started to count my chickens...<br />
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Three weeks later, eight of the eggs hatched. Freddy is now chased around the garden by a cheeping flock of fluffy yellow fledglings. And I'm left pondering whether or not it is too early to count either my eggs or my barbequed drum-sticks... It probably is; we won't even know the gender of the birds until they approach maturity.<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>*****</em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Storeys-Guide-Raising-Chickens-3rd/dp/1603424709?ie=UTF8&tag=httpkilimanja-21&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens: 3rd Edition" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1603424709&tag=httpkilimanja-21" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1603424709" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Raising-Chickens-Dummies-Kimberley-Willis/dp/0470465441?ie=UTF8&tag=httpkilimanja-21&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Raising Chickens For Dummies" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0470465441&tag=httpkilimanja-21" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0470465441" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Encyclopedia-Chickens-Esther-Verhoef-Verhallen/dp/9036615925?ie=UTF8&tag=httpkilimanja-21&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Complete Encyclopedia Of Chickens" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=9036615925&tag=httpkilimanja-21" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=9036615925" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0470465441" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></span></em><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not leave a comment?<br />
Follow this blog to keep up to date with new posts, or share it with friends using one of the buttons below...</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span></em></div><div><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All images <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">©</span> Jon Bigg</span></em></div></div><span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=9036615925" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0715325671" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1603424709" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />Promoted by </span><a href="http://refzip.com/"><span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;">http://refzip.com/</span></a><span style="color: white; font-size: xx-small;"> </span></div></div>Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-12159169650587510282011-03-24T21:29:00.021+03:002014-09-05T00:03:48.133+03:00Loliondo magic man<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="color: #444444;"><em><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Deep in the African bush, a retired pastor threatens to eclipse </span></em></span></span></span><em style="color: #444444; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><city><place>Lourdes</place></city> as the destination of choice for pilgrims in search of faith healing.</em><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkIctCukQuHRT0R5YeYXcOYVRR90OR6aWsFdx03qdr4erhEf5BSVoo_91UG3r0CNiByo7G63prt5w3p0yLznHOrMRT5rB4wYsmWpgw7UIhAnzVgRJZj4UhPKSW6Mta6vJBaGE2yZL3678/s1600/Loliondo1b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkIctCukQuHRT0R5YeYXcOYVRR90OR6aWsFdx03qdr4erhEf5BSVoo_91UG3r0CNiByo7G63prt5w3p0yLznHOrMRT5rB4wYsmWpgw7UIhAnzVgRJZj4UhPKSW6Mta6vJBaGE2yZL3678/s400/Loliondo1b.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Thousands congest a narrow track in pursuit of healing</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A six hour drive from my home, a dusty trail leads to the isolated <place><placetype>village</placetype> of <placename>Samunge</placename></place>, deep in Loliondo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The track snakes between acacias and the backdrop is the rolling savannah of <country-region><place>Tanzania</place></country-region>’s northern safari circuit, home to such iconic attractions as the Serengeti, Masai Mara and Ngorongoro.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Not far away, the annual wildebeest migration is billed as the world’s greatest wildlife spectacle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a human pilgrimage of rival proportion threatens to upstage this renowned animal odyssey.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Loliondo has been dubbed, rather hastily perhaps, the new ‘Mecca of Africa’.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxoRIZ8uJe9KuXidQqVu1-2QSIHsJMSQNrhF68_F75_B6EOLBQ0OOK10hx95l8rS2BfSCwW4nDc2cEDQj0ULsZoLJXPqRa3IimgGxSAV0Xov_-pOln6OhW25eyBvxU4GbulFBKkfQXPXQ/s1600/wildebeest-migration-safari-02b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="198" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxoRIZ8uJe9KuXidQqVu1-2QSIHsJMSQNrhF68_F75_B6EOLBQ0OOK10hx95l8rS2BfSCwW4nDc2cEDQj0ULsZoLJXPqRa3IimgGxSAV0Xov_-pOln6OhW25eyBvxU4GbulFBKkfQXPXQ/s400/wildebeest-migration-safari-02b.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Fom a hut in Samunge village, Ambilikile Mwasapila, a retired Lutheran Pastor, treats thousands of people everyday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From cripples and diabetics to AIDS sufferers, his patients’ illnesses lie dotted across the entire spectrum of human ailments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Apparently, his miracle cure was revealed to him in a dream years ago but he failed to test the life-saving revelation until a second, more recent vision impelled him to act.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Unlike traditional healers across the region, Loliondo’s magic man has but one medicine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He treats every condition with a herbal concoction derived from the mugagira tree, a genus that safari guides would call giraffe food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet his patients, who range from peasants to <a href="http://www.dailynews.co.tz/home/?n=18259&cat=home">politicians</a>, are boldly testifying to the <a href="http://www.ippmedia.com/frontend/index.php?l=27472">all-healing</a> power of this god-given recipe.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi77n6-hnnod5CIBEJUKxiV0jNUN5X5t5_xZqonyOph1gPFJ_I3F9-aDtra5pevtVgttk-x4P2F6xmP9Nr-46x8OLcZdtc2pj61NX9u5AsrUK9dX743dMqUI4AK-Vj2hZH6rFhOQodRWD8/s1600/Loliondo5b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="198" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi77n6-hnnod5CIBEJUKxiV0jNUN5X5t5_xZqonyOph1gPFJ_I3F9-aDtra5pevtVgttk-x4P2F6xmP9Nr-46x8OLcZdtc2pj61NX9u5AsrUK9dX743dMqUI4AK-Vj2hZH6rFhOQodRWD8/s400/Loliondo5b.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I will refrain from commenting on the merits of his unresearched miracle drug.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A recent tragedy produced a sad irony which provides sufficient insight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Last week, two vehicles collided head-on along the Arusha – Ngorongoro highway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One was returning from and the other travelling to visit the pastor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Tragically, four people died at the scene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Another fourteen were seriously injured and were evacuated to the nearest hospital for emergency treatment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None continued their journey or returned to the healer; all turned to conventional medical treatment when faced with life threatening physical trauma.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDu6VhGLJrtnmR_5tZWFvqpZylI3YGiHcy_8DetoIdR2OYuxzpEhyM_1qBaHc6JRCP3IZlKRz5hHJN51e30akScDLaAHXlRtpH4_Ff_Oo7CctvXsMiCCdy1Pb4NWFCRbhyphenhyphenWyxAeCkY3Ic/s1600/loliondo3b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="198" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDu6VhGLJrtnmR_5tZWFvqpZylI3YGiHcy_8DetoIdR2OYuxzpEhyM_1qBaHc6JRCP3IZlKRz5hHJN51e30akScDLaAHXlRtpH4_Ff_Oo7CctvXsMiCCdy1Pb4NWFCRbhyphenhyphenWyxAeCkY3Ic/s400/loliondo3b.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Holding out for a cure: the 20 km queue on the track to Samunge village</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I suppose that when an ailment, or its causes, is not visible to the human eye, a ‘cure’ with similarly mysterious mechanisms may seem valid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when faced with lacerations, fractures or other visible injuries, even the most faithful advocates turn to treatments that they can see and feel.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I have, on occasion, exploited a rudimentary knowledge of </span><a href="http://www.articlealley.com/article_27364_35.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">endorphin release</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> and the </span><a href="http://www.skepdic.com/placebo.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">placebo effect</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> to ‘treat’ my own children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are not able to understand the physiological processes that cause, say, a headache, so they willingly accept the mysterious remedies I administer - 'sucking out the pain' from a a headache or kissing better a sore arm.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Crucially, they are still young and naïve enough to believe in my healing powers.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56kRpMA8PO4NPcqHXzxc08TzPhQenSftyu5xiJ_aQD7MtAWBBnso8omlYCouvIZRJiSmOG0sfFlZmnEfwGMy4MUsSvGhh5B1Dd6cciMCMi3e364yRSgD-pPYc0SI0f3NB4H4hItRjjpg/s1600/loliondo4b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg56kRpMA8PO4NPcqHXzxc08TzPhQenSftyu5xiJ_aQD7MtAWBBnso8omlYCouvIZRJiSmOG0sfFlZmnEfwGMy4MUsSvGhh5B1Dd6cciMCMi3e364yRSgD-pPYc0SI0f3NB4H4hItRjjpg/s400/loliondo4b.jpg" height="198" r6="true" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A 'golden chance that never comes twice': hope for sale at 30 cents a shot </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Are the Loliondo pilgrims childishly naïve?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps they are, but consider the two other key ingredients in the mix: superstition and hope.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">For those living desperate lives, mugagira, at TSh500 (US$0.30) a shot, offers hope that is almost universally affordable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Add to that a widespread belief in both witchcraft and religion and you have the perfect conditions to spawn any quantity of quack remedies.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">One prominent pilgrim, MP Beatrice Shelukindo, described the Loliondo phenomena as a “<a href="http://in2eastafrica.net/this-is-a-golden-chance-shelukindo/">golden chance that never comes twice</a>.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Golden ticket or fool’s gold – what do you think?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>*****</em></span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not leave a comment?<br />
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo credits: prideoftz.blogspot.com, southern-africa.co.uk</span></span></em></div>
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Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-23535377945437960422011-02-16T00:34:00.009+03:002012-01-08T01:10:06.668+03:00From the Middle East to Africa and back again<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As unrest creeps across the <place>Middle East</place> in an epidemic of disorder emanating from the catalytic events in <country-region><place>Egypt</place></country-region>, I’m heading into the thick of things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But not back to my old stamping grounds in the <place>Arabian Gulf</place>, where the melting pot of Shiite – Sunni rivalries is bubbling more vigorously than ever.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ5szwADnhW0-fMRzf5atwhEgzei77OVF5f95Q6lhFR9jVRVjmRuK_ycaoFXbWHHcGdpiazZ0Pgq3XiY8SkQUKVjOWtyfAtVvi1HvlYj3_BZqg59tEzbupOGOH-Be207Q6jTdo6etGAR0/s400/Demonstrators+in+Bahrain.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Demonstrators in Duraz, Bahrain (Photo: Hasan Jamali/AP)</td></tr>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Tomorrow I fly to <country-region><place>Jordan</place></country-region>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There, I will call into service my extensive experience in delicate politics, gleaned from five years living on the fringes of unrest in <country-region><place>Bahrain</place></country-region>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mission is simple; to bring understanding and tolerance to a sphere plagued by persistent misunderstandings.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In <city><place>Amman, where it is meteorological rather than political storm clouds that are gathering over the historic Citadel,</place></city> I will be a delegate at an international workshop where we will discuss the complexities of... delivering the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Science Programme.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html"><img border="0" height="201" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinkYCEm13nlL-XlzWb3T2cyXGYGVJshtmrcpdfkqLlR_zkHqewkBH3o6zMKJvjRpVyk3nGLbav4aTp0RDWzVb5gvlM9c3y-4zz-b6toKCOm0SRteO6gFOujzT6pQNa6I_XQIJJ5_GLGWE/s400/Citadel+%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Ruins of the Roman Temple of Hercules, Citadel Hill, </span><city><place><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 9.5pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Amman </span></place></city>(Photo: Jon Bigg)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We will grapple with the difficult compromises required when balancing ideological assessment rubrics with ambitious curriculum content goals. We will discuss the peaceful deployment of Areas of Interaction, and how this should be monitored by outside agencies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And I will return to <place>Africa</place> next week equipped for new and exciting educational adventures with my young charges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will understand the myriad complexities of MYP and a new era of peace will descend across my troubled cerebral cortex as the progressive international-mindedness of the Curriculum Model learns to live in harmony with the sacred dogma of fundamentalist educational doctrines.</span></div></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html"><img border="0" height="193" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm723oCSwbmum801RGOr47QfpwWNmqjDaeMU-oOhAbi61_XAf1LAl26Qr_V9CyEzNIu78EEn7jjMmz_00jJYeKKowhiHQwvWXqPaboa6iZKL5qLOTUmszSMgN_hff-eG3gKli-uI2ertM/s400/Ampitheatre+%25282%2529.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roman theatre, Amman (Photo: Jon Bigg)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm723oCSwbmum801RGOr47QfpwWNmqjDaeMU-oOhAbi61_XAf1LAl26Qr_V9CyEzNIu78EEn7jjMmz_00jJYeKKowhiHQwvWXqPaboa6iZKL5qLOTUmszSMgN_hff-eG3gKli-uI2ertM/s1600/Ampitheatre+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>*****</em></span></div><div style="border: currentColor; text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not leave a comment?<br />
Follow this blog to keep up to date with new posts, or share it with friends using one of the buttons below...</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="border: currentColor;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span></em></div></div>Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-36966064087848289812011-01-29T16:26:00.010+03:002012-01-08T01:17:37.226+03:00Six months on the Kilimanjaro Dirt Road Hash<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><em>My first blog post, </em><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/2010/09/month-in-tanzania.html"><em>A month in Tanzania</em></a><em>, mentioned the Hash.</em><br />
<em>Here is six months of hashing in pictures</em><br />
<em><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;">All images <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">© </span>Jon Bigg</span></em></em></div><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><strong>22nd August 2010</strong></div><div style="text-align: center;"><strong>Vasso Estate near Kibosho on the slopes of Kilimanjaro</strong></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczNXaJlS_0GiXdRBDAAJFQBymGk0Hng23p3ejIxdjPD6-xzBy6NcaPwBBlW5NT6EqdYV0m7ylAZrnl4Fm6JolG-ay5tFvLZ8PYvwmk0HgTnszgXXE3s28XkVaPRT4_4SsWVkmqxHJr2o/s400/1a.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fraser takes the river crossings in his stride</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJEp8DXp57QoF5W0rUUHmIO4rWwYP14Llu8bPF7Q5uFHsPRoQhbhhIF_yfyC2WPTsKzsJ61FdOlaA9xNvXhKvu3Hf7M2-XE1QCS-PDsjJCiND_PlefxDWYedJUTFBhNfL6xF9VX9aV7SQ/s400/1b.JPG" width="396" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A slightly more cautious approach.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="173" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0ytaKvr88NsEVq8Vmep3pQ3o12pvGItfIkgtiswGQW1Bo_4i4UaBfIyBUl_sxvhckee2FoKXBhMwHEGM0FWzQAi3dXdWTl0wnZkulaL-cqvoIWhaLmyo3AFM-cvDsAvJ0Cjznx1O7t5c/s400/1c.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A field of blooms, soon to be harvested and airfreighted to European florists</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCRMmsJKhr3lhLS3_t0QOPGmt1aq0Uw2r6dgtZhpUkOplALSzpsgPEbFlhHZZfYtOnnDIxFhr9q2awXji7EqU9tOWkrkmdLpEs-Clf8sFdygk2GpZFDtgkZhDM6rT_j9josYuLheUr-0k/s400/1d.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The end of our first Hash: Sundowners with a view!</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>3rd October 2011:</strong><br />
<strong>Exploring the hilly plantations of the</strong><br />
<strong>Tanzanian Coffee Research Institute</strong></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="208" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8nr4cWAOGpTssquu6hPGL4nfUG3-zcIfsFtHN3nklXwE3HYoSxCWNHrgGO1_W6SpxDnfwKAsdEtpa07Fw1ecyS7wp64P5yxut5aryjlJAT_NtMvt30aCTeR1ySy4GiKJz0v0Ev9_RuaU/s400/2.+TACRIS+Hash+%25281%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An ornate spider strung between coffee bushes</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEX3U01nY78n_hoXg6TtyA5TGJGHMoOWmzob4alikY8i5sDSPu3fWW7FOmFFWH-q7e0pi8Lbp5ui6qLCcYAXvKJTWg88bitphvRd-UtDJ6DEcgP9dIZd4cKgkFRJdI_p9GLgVdb8WMLDQ/s400/2.+TACRIS+Hash+%25286%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annie and the girls</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="255" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOUi_bRgU4swlfj28r757rKLg9H5m30yix2eypObsVpg1al3QYNc_byhu-TRh9LU_6nxL1bAqGe_ZBtcCWV9ScxN1hChE3Kl1vdqrOsPOUmzJVL8dQY6wn-TWuCX6qpcu-jM6itEG8Yg0/s400/2.+TACRIS+Hash+%25287%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fraser and a stick</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimTZ-0NqSj_2G2-x3ejfIlQ3tt8gsLPLsAw3ocVQ5DqAbVsaWwP7z6Vm49wmWFr-AB7pxBlBsVdQFnWpIbj9uFAY6K4sGz5PEijDKiVF_BNfLYYFerJpimQASqTnWl2QgTZfq9e_euUDk/s400/2.+TACRIS+Hash+%25288%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Last dash for the finish line, where a cool soda is waiting</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Hh9-K1uIzNfKv6FMchDu35bkfXC2Cj8TuKyEuXPw_FSouKRKQ8k0TkS51qUpjNIy868sxUJ-E31QleibIh6YauWCoS4DWb6L3ToJkrgZDukLCsxnaqnBu0QbQY3UZwK910-F6nulAl0/s400/2.+TACRIS+Hash+%252814%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sundowners with a view of Mount Meru this time</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>13th November 2010</strong></div><div style="text-align: center;"><strong>Camping Hash on </strong><strong>Lake Ambussel</strong><strong> in Masailand</strong><br />
<em>There are more pictures of this hash <a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/2010/11/in-shade-of-acacia.html">here</a></em> </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/2010/11/in-shade-of-acacia.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="322" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmeFKC4n2xwnVfMnqiYccG3HA85ZP7PbUDGrX1Y-whhNr-so8xbGbpZNvQlNLBDCXZOu24u8bLFyIRzv-7aSbZj73Xvh8MZNhfS47221Yk-btvifwwD2pFVJOMo78YQFVfWGn8YrQSFNc/s400/3.+Lake+Ambussel+%252817%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sticks, shells and scorpions on the shores of a dried up lake</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>12th December 2010:</strong></div><div style="text-align: center;"><strong>Shanty Town Hash, around our own neighbourhood.</strong></div><div style="text-align: center;">I teamed up with an American doctor and set this hash. It was a great opportunity to take the kids exploring the river canyons behind our house.</div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9W-mXofimSA81ZBwtwQ4QsykftlplTEB3AtociqdO5VANc3WpNpRjDcE6X79VisxfSQNBP_lg6sf3U2ikcdbktgGCYeePIj1HV1HXO0tZEmU3vupSgfL6vaU1o8LKfqAIgSq-Zse0dYM/s400/4.+Shanty+Town.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A family home just a couple of kilometres from where we live</td></tr>
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<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>9th January 2011</strong><br />
<strong>Makoa Farm, Machame</strong></div><div style="text-align: center;">Starting from a field that (with the addition of a graveled Pay & Display car park) could have been plucked straight from rural England, we plunged down a trail into a river valley. This was Marcus's first Hash for a while - he had grown out of the sling a while ago, but we recently acquired a papoose...</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="255" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ih4lPxzwuEBN6k6owkNpDuyd-bP0OrAVQoeU_yrhTbP84HqlqjGKuJJkAw2Bb8UQJJAnTtsdLKgFjsTgKHAbZCWluhVq6PtoYEVBiIbbaWXkIDhGtfxy24FeADPrw4Xl_FpzIzPU8ME/s400/Jan+9th+%25282%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Marcus rides in style</td></tr>
</tbody></table> <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="197" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAj5cmFo-vy9YNHIOIeE2hAAgK2yXtuHtZFsfCowQBosBt-A5tzComVPNX_W6cXNErhOwa9zRiwpJly7-WNZsTkT8z00u9exAGcEn6AtQVlETZzBHK3-PK1U7kRBN26isqpdgscAWbWwc/s400/Jan+9th+%25284B%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annie and her friend Sana take a grandstand perch at the end of the hash </td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<strong>23rd January 2011</strong><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><strong>Somewhere near Weru Weru</strong></div><div style="border: currentColor; text-align: center;">Wide open farmland riven by a 100 foot canyon. The northern skyline stretches from Kilimanjaro to Meru with views over the Blue Mountains to the south.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHsHkoEUOpYxGnEEZG3lXnyjNEJaFNzvjpGopvEtWZ3I3JwO2d1caCj-CRE3O-DLXJM-3HyDNbacBEePiPW9vEd03UhTHy0O0n0sX6hZNJl5h3z8SvsPGklW7nweVYfjJxwJuOeWTv3Hc/s400/Jan+23rd+%25282c%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fraser and his friend Sill - it's all about sticks and sodas when you take small boys hashing</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCG2sSEuNwCK3d3FaSwuV7RVIque6vkDZlsHyS7pdez469daaMoIS8uyn3M6becNAnLgqxNNnmp2pzFRdNm7xXm92tYA2PDc01LQ0eWVkV8l35NujxLPnzKm7f-FrXb3u-QC7sP9F9oZk/s400/Jan+23rd+%25289c%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The house beneath the flame tree</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>*****</em></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not leave a comment?<br />
Follow this blog to keep up to date with new posts, or share it with friends using one of the buttons below...</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span></em><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><em>All images <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">©</span> Jon Bigg</em></span></div><div class="separator" style="border: currentColor; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-34408500524444818792011-01-24T22:50:00.025+03:002012-01-08T23:28:02.319+03:00Kilimanjaro Mountain Bike Marathon<img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=174104555X" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1741047692" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><a href="http://www.kilimanjaroman.com/" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="80" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNKGzHgrpGGkmw5k69imV9C78A1_rKk6q_3kT8BgER-_MfO7H1PyVz6Wm6IoNE1GoNN-sWAEiYqyKa-YyTqlUCIv-hSHzFFKMXKxfzX6olALyqnLxFymvqkMXe5kBUrBsgPWem00wq8iE/s400/Kilimanjaro-climb%252C-bike-and-run-marathon-challenge-2011.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="border: currentColor;"></div><div class="separator" style="border: currentColor; clear: both; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">10th January 2011</span></strong></div><div class="separator" style="border: currentColor; clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border: currentColor; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Just heard about this today and it's happening in February. Sounds fantastic but at the moment it could go two ways:</span></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I find more details, start training and give regular progress updates here</span></li>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span>
<li style="border: currentColor;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I realise it's a silly idea and delete this blog post </span></li>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></ol><div style="border: currentColor;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>The nitty (and very) gritty:</strong> Two day bike race around the world's largest free standing mountain. 246 km of dirt track with a total ascent of 2,844 metres - that's about 9,300 feet.</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXkRl6s1oLzhhUMyRdqbUJ5JQSAFJXdQWKLPPS0ubucoZlGocLL341RwMWVtJ28a6JLlEsjhjJICJyt3MM62qNH4NMiE2EXMEma_wzvUXJth_VYyAsDKDoJZIScA_QJwDVduhgWvyE_k/s1600/KiliMan+Bike+chart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="60" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXkRl6s1oLzhhUMyRdqbUJ5JQSAFJXdQWKLPPS0ubucoZlGocLL341RwMWVtJ28a6JLlEsjhjJICJyt3MM62qNH4NMiE2EXMEma_wzvUXJth_VYyAsDKDoJZIScA_QJwDVduhgWvyE_k/s400/KiliMan+Bike+chart.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">11th January 2011</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Spanner in the works, or handy excuse depending on which way you look at it: the dates are 25th - 26th February, ie: it starts at 7:30 AM on a <em>Friday</em> and I will have to work that day.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Still, I could just follow the route a day behind the pack... but half the fun is participating in a big event, so forget that. Long holidays are a real perk of the job but being told when to take them definitely isn't.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo7IhlIGyo_1Z_hQ9KzYBrm-BNesNqRZby_U5gFzYcAI9PSanFnhPnF8CdChVomfKUwpW6LojRa6oJtExXXAFVVgrYDCb7T4eQjRiCZhiEFWD_qzfHcZ8n4PegC0tcekC2CioMEJ1iI8s/s1600/kiliman-mountain-bike-marathon-2008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="261" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo7IhlIGyo_1Z_hQ9KzYBrm-BNesNqRZby_U5gFzYcAI9PSanFnhPnF8CdChVomfKUwpW6LojRa6oJtExXXAFVVgrYDCb7T4eQjRiCZhiEFWD_qzfHcZ8n4PegC0tcekC2CioMEJ1iI8s/s400/kiliman-mountain-bike-marathon-2008.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">Image reproduced from </span></em><a href="http://www.kilimanjaroman.com/"><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">Kiliman Adventure Challenge</span></em></a><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;"> with their kind permission </span></em></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Alternatively, I could put it off for a year. I know, it sounds like I'm quitting already but actually I have a plan. I'll start a cycling club at school and recruit able cyclists. Then next year I'll enter a school team in the event. That way, I get to participate but technically I'm still at work! Another perk of the job? Perhaps.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">23rd January 2011</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Okay, entering the KiliMAN bike marathon this year just became a little more tricky. The weekend before, I have to go to Jordan for a workshop. Ditching the family two weekends in a row? I suppose I <em>could</em> but do I really want to?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, I've put out feelers about starting a cycling club at school. It was something I was thinking of anyway. The KiliMAN just nudged me forward. The plan is to train them to maintain their bikes too - they could even notch up diploma points doing it. You never got credit for going out cycling when I was at school!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="246" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyA8EiBu7LINvdXIAoIEXkYwRP1lsYBe8UYc3GTTKrxgizIn2zrsxPM0wMpTyvAVPl75bUiq51OdOgpezH2xKKuKekrvf2GYVvVMMc9410ZzkkrjDzPPzVPQziZc4PwIKPWwiYUUoy4Zo/s400/DSCF6902+%2528c%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Weekend biking: a steep climb up the dirt road towards Machame (Photo: Tim Hope)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">29th January 2011</span></strong><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I just returned from a week at the coast. I was in Pangani with all our 1st year Diploma students who were doing some field work for their Science courses. When I checked my email, I found two surprises:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>1st surprise: </strong>there are at least two Kilimanjaro bike marathons. As well as the February event, there's a much less strenuous 80 km ride in June. Plenty of time to train <strong>and</strong> it's a much easier ride. Sounds like a cop-out though.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>2nd surprise:</strong> A colleague and I may be able to take a day off work to do the two day ride next month. To justify our day off, we would either raise money for the school's scholarship programme or take some students with us. That all sounds fine BUT the ride is less than four weeks away and I've barely ridden for three months!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, will the June event be the first challenge for my fledgling cycling club? We'll see, but right now, I have some serious training to do. Tomorrow, I'll be having my earliest Sunday morning for a long time and will be hitting the dirt tracks at dawn!</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuitFXvZgulxnHDQ84MB4A4aLaheuC_-0oi_cuHxT4vVzeeBpHmcTkzu4S7CwFWfonKB0mF_6m-vshQRqVH9guSBhcyeV0Z4X4fVpSAfY44e3bF8Cfpm-d6RCsuIf6h-UfOVTKt_rsQj8/s1600/mtbiking.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="78" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuitFXvZgulxnHDQ84MB4A4aLaheuC_-0oi_cuHxT4vVzeeBpHmcTkzu4S7CwFWfonKB0mF_6m-vshQRqVH9guSBhcyeV0Z4X4fVpSAfY44e3bF8Cfpm-d6RCsuIf6h-UfOVTKt_rsQj8/s400/mtbiking.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">Image reproduced from <a href="http://www.mtkilimanjaromarathon.com/pages/the-bike-race.php">Marie Frances Mt Kilimanjaro Marathon</a> </span></em><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">with her kind permission </span></em></td></tr>
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<strong><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">3rd February 2011</span></strong><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">After a great training ride last weekend, I had to come crashing back down to reality on Monday morning: organising a student event at such short notice is just not possible. There are too many people and procedures to mobilise and simply too much else going on that we would clash with.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>Target: </strong>to do it properly next year - no excuses...</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="220" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgZugf8PdXq5bZOY_RHYd7PpJQwFK9Km0W6DNqIbCXi5hYye-EPf2K0Nc9MCgvUD4EVEwSXBLY4bkwhaFeL-Uo6GY8JlELaPKXr5GWj4r3Jq0eFxHusOphXL2yAPsL0wsvmFW8oOCjI-U/s400/Ride+-+30+Jan+%25281c%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The road from home: it just keeps on climbing all the way to the top!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=174104555X" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>*****</em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Follow this story as I start the cycling club and put the students through their paces in a later post: </span><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/2012/01/kili-bike.html"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Riding round the mountain</span></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS;">*****</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Tanzania-Country-Travel/dp/174104555X?ie=UTF8&tag=httpkilimanja-21&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Lonely Planet Tanzania (Country Travel Guide)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=174104555X&tag=httpkilimanja-21" /></a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Trekking-East-Africa/dp/0864425414?ie=UTF8&tag=httpkilimanja-21&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Lonely Planet Trekking in East Africa" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0864425414&tag=httpkilimanja-21" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0864425414" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Africa-Country-Travel/dp/1741047692?ie=UTF8&tag=httpkilimanja-21&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Lonely Planet East Africa (Multi Country Travel Guide)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=1741047692&tag=httpkilimanja-21" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=1741047692" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><em>*****</em></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Did you enjoy reading this post?</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Why not leave a comment and give me some inspiration or advice?</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Who knows, I might actually do this thing!</span></em><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></div><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">I am grateful to <a href="http://www.kilimanjaroman.com/">Kiliman Adventure Challenge</a> </span></em><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">and <a href="http://www.mtkilimanjaromarathon.com/pages/the-bike-race.php">Marie Frances Mt Kilimanjaro Marathon</a></span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">for allowing me to use images from their websites</span></em></div><div align="center" style="text-align: center;"></div>Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-81973993043641660992011-01-22T21:47:00.008+03:002012-01-08T00:15:53.118+03:00A fundi for everything<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I had never thought about it from the perspective of Danny, our gardener.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For me, fixing the wheelbarrow was such a simple matter; all it needed was a few new bolts. I had noticed the coat-hanger wire holding it together and he had commented on its dilapidated state. Once or twice I had absently wondered why Danny didn’t fix it properly.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Finally, I decided to go and buy some bolts myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I took Danny with me ‘to help’ but he had probably never bought nuts and bolts before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn’t that he didn’t have the will or motivation to fix the wheelbarrow - it was an unskilled task that was well within his capabilities.</span><br />
<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJQKeZ4xn2AMyq4uhY_nNN8oBJTyrl5xptpBouK6JV21H8_glEJGdCxP6DSbvG2V_H81FkgEcy1um3PRyXHnavaxNOmkIURdUOZ3S9TeUEJ7M3ly6zIhaKjIHtajQCoWDpbMmhg1NDWJw/s400/Fixing+Danny%2527s+wheelbarrow+%2528b%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But <country-region><place>Tanzania</place></country-region> is a country where there is a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fundi</i> (technician or skilled worker) for everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are plumbing and electrical <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fundis</i>, which is no surprise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But for anything more than a puncture, people will always go to the bike <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fundi</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no DIY; people don’t seem to fix anything themselves. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">On the face of it, this is ironic: Tanzanians are endlessly resourceful and nothing goes to waste.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But tools are simply too expensive for your average Joe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So something as simple as a missing nut on a wheelbarrow has to be fixed by a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fundi</i>, or patched up with coat-hanger wire.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And for Danny that presented a problem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The nearest wheelbarrow <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fundi</i> is in town, some 5km distant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He would have had to push the wheelbarrow all the way there and all the way back if he wanted it fixed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could have cycled into town, bought the nuts and brought them back… if he only had a spanner.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So last week, I loaded the wheelbarrow into our Landcruiser and took Danny to the wheelbarrow <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fundi</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could have just bought the nuts and fixed it myself but I thought it better to let a guy who had invested in spanners earn his crust.</span><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not leave a comment?<br />
Follow this blog to keep up to date with new posts, or share it with friends using one of the buttons below...</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">All images (c) Jon Bigg</span></em></div></div>Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-17154598229350529322010-12-28T00:11:00.004+03:002012-01-08T00:20:16.344+03:00Contemporary Tanzanian Christmas; Olde English Boxing Day<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Six weeks ago, the brilliant blossom of flame trees brought splashes of red to the avenues of Moshi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And like the sudden invasion of holly berries, marching through Northern Hemisphere hedgerows in their shiny red jackets, the sudden flush of scarlet-orange tree canopies heralds the start of the Christmas season here in East Africa.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="230" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcsU9d18BNu__0bi5DvQhPNK5kzL7uNv6Aes53-DqSaZRLak_mBP_hTehPpm8p8WHZRoyVoVBOqfpEJv3HgQ3VD5sLfZGzFsfcLjSW-Cth0cGiqklwqloJRg4F_A5pY02S7uz5jeUcSl4/s400/Flame+Tree+%2528b%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flame tree blossom makes East Africans feel Christmassy</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Back home, the autumnal leaf-fall creeps south from the <place>Arctic Circle</place> and snow flurries herald the start of a season of cozy nights by the fire followed by frosty mornings scrapping ice from windscreens.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile in Moshi, three degrees south of the equator, the temperature is rising and the view from my window suggests another summer’s day.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But that didn’t stop us from experimenting with mulled wine on Christmas Eve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It required some resourcefulness to track down the ingredients - no-one sells handy kits for mulling with all the ingredients and instructions all together in one over priced box.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the market had cloves and cinnamon sticks (my Swahili had to rise to the challenge because only the vendors of tourist trinkets speak English), oranges were easy to find (although unfortunately the home grown ones were not yet ripe) and we even turned up bay leaves in a small shop somewhere.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Later, for the first time in their lives, our children hung their stockings by a real fire place with a chimney that a slim Santa could conceivably wriggle his way down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, I know there is no such thing as a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">slim</i> Santa, but if you will be picky, there is no such thing as <em>any</em> kind of Santa. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the weather is hot, there was no fire in the grate but I suppose our make-believe slim Santa would prefer it that way.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinzY7fbZe1maj1R-SxV1lzIOPkDSSyFt5iFHEflKlshlSVIZ1VkKqmsos4_6szhC4i9AS7pPoFGTAgdm-Z8C9MzO5N2Ct8XQqtNJpiJQPhT1Ab9cF-J-w18xZCi9hPBsTLJ4L_V8f6Yio/s400/Christmas+2010+%25282b%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annie and Fraser and the chimney big enough for a slim Santa</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">On Christmas day, there was no turkey or Brussels sprouts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, Christmas dinner was grilled on a friend’s BBQ and was more Antipodean than European.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After consuming an elegant sufficiency, we splashed on insect repellent and chatted on their veranda rather than sinking into a sofa to watch Christmas editions of the soaps or dusted off episodes of Dad’s Army and Blackadder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And then, overnight, we turned back time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll tell you about that in a moment but you must bear with me while I digress…</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">10 years ago in <country-region><place>Brunei</place></country-region>, as the new expat on the block, it took some time to adjust to the idea of employing house staff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have become used to it now, which is not to say that I am no longer capable of doing anything for myself (that has more to do with being married).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I came to realise that although we <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">could</i> wash and iron our own clothes and scrub our own floors, if we did, someone in need of the income would be unemployed.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">In <country-region><place>Brunei</place></country-region> and <country-region><place>Bahrain</place></country-region>, our staff were economic migrants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mostly they came from the Indian sub-continent and were there to carve out a better life for themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Although their salaries seemed modest, they would eventually return home and retire in comfort</span>.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="203" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcIYoNlixSVY7JY1kAiZKy4Cy1qSquoJMBNCGPwDjtloy5F6Z7oFf37RPnm7EnvjwG_oW2yvY8pVsE_mtGInQuyoFGz4Nq59sWA1H1KiVdrBzz68duGmdM0U3bs4fr9FKf-jNQhUu1Mqw/s400/Danny%2527s+family+%25283d%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our gardener with his wife and two daughters</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But here, we employ local Tanzanians.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They don’t have the opportunity to go elsewhere and neither is there a generous welfare state to pamper them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Earning £40 / month as a house maid is a lifeline that they will cling to tenaciously.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we treated them abusively, they would still work for us, which makes treating them well so much more significant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So we decided to mark Boxing Day in the spirit of days gone by.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We assembled boxes of staple provisions, together with a few treats, and wove our ancient Landcruiser along narrow dirt tracks to visit our servants’ homes.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Our house-girl is the poorest of them all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are slowly assembling small fragments of her life history into a coherent picture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the moment, it is enough to know that she lives, with her father and teenage daughter, in a one room house measuring barely three metres square and furnished with only a bed, sofa and coffee table.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Along one wall is their kitchen: a paraffin stove and three plastic buckets – one contains water; the others are used to store provisions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A curtain divides their tiny home in two, separating the sleeping quarters from their ‘front room’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is no running water or electricity and they share an outdoor toilet with neighbours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But each morning she walks some three miles to our home, always arriving on time, always immaculate and always smiling.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbyngPIlUygArXrH23UprCrr-ndCwAyIQNGXNmsa-_C2Q2OfteKdweBb5zk4CaOumXKByJbt-v-n5x0GZHaGRsyURUBpvQLVksfz_oy1raydaHdxtjqZftSwLwWk74Z40SaDWDivg_iAk/s400/Christmas+2010+%252823c%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boxing Day visit to our house-girl's family at their home</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We had told her we were coming, although we hadn’t told her why, which resulted in a humbling irony: she had prepared a meal for us, even serving meat, which is an expensive luxury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She told us again how grateful she was for her job and her heartfelt appreciation brought tears to our eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She also told us with frank sincerity that we are always welcome at her home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I doubt that she has read any<span style="color: #0c343d;"> </span></span><a href="http://mayaangelou.com/"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Maya Angelou</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> (she can barely write her own name) but she would no doubt agree that ‘among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver’.</span></div><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="327" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikfVsADbd-3mH7gfLO-6fZJ10il2daoKKXy4XQDkkXh36Vce_D309NhSzpxrWQYr9wOZlyxDp9B74AvMzoF0OXrhnEiXN5QiqQ6uYTZ8B2OPMu1s87cSmOhbVF4uRXhQtSwPTEgfT6bEw/s400/Paulina+%2526+Marcus+%25285b%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our house-girl caring for baby Marcus</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not leave a comment?<br />
Follow this blog to keep up to date with new posts, or share it with friends using one of the buttons below...</span></em></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;">All images <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">©</span> Jon Bigg</span></em></div>Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-32431804097890330462010-11-19T14:44:00.011+03:002012-01-08T00:30:46.582+03:00Lake Ambussel - Camping and scorpion hunting in Massai Land<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It was fortunate that the Swahili words for left, right and straight ahead were part of my limited vocabulary, because the traditionally attired Massai in the passenger seat beside me spoke not a word of English and he was guiding us on the final leg of the journey.</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A spare seat in our 4x4 had resulted in my promotion to Leader of the Convoy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The road was a dust track woven between thorned acacia bushes, a plant so fiercely barbed that the Massai use them to build their <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">enkangs</i> – tangled enclosures that serve as goat pens or protective rings around groups of huts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even lions will not attempt to breach such a vicious fortress.</span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggfCbEzCbqvlH6xBrM-JsQ0BPFfQJE2I_rdv-x2ld1ygOc0I7BJD7-y7XHW7AYAEZ6zmE7zJWUcFHCMbXmBreTDJmCNlVipGBZ3d1tN34QnRHZQmV5osBiep48cIFy60xAtQEXg3DF6t0/s1600/MaasaiEnkangandHutb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="223" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggfCbEzCbqvlH6xBrM-JsQ0BPFfQJE2I_rdv-x2ld1ygOc0I7BJD7-y7XHW7AYAEZ6zmE7zJWUcFHCMbXmBreTDJmCNlVipGBZ3d1tN34QnRHZQmV5osBiep48cIFy60xAtQEXg3DF6t0/s400/MaasaiEnkangandHutb.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We had already wound our way through the Lelatema mountains where the track had crept across rocky outcrops and dived down steep banks into dried up river beds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But most of the way we splashed through deep, red dirt, which swelled over the bonnet in auburn waves when we plunged into the many deep, dust-filled ruts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Our destination was <place><placetype>Lake</placetype> <placename>Ambussel</placename></place>, a 20 kilometre squared expanse of flat, salty silt, parched to a crunchy mosaic crust.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once upon a time, I guess the presence of water, at least on a seasonal basis, must have given the arid salt pan its name.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But a change in climate, or simply a build up of sediment, has pushed the water table deep underground.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, although mirages glimmer far out on the baked surface and occasional, shallow sink holes suggest underground trickles, there is no water to be seen.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXS8YUroPrIBV6BXbnKTpmtA9L-P0LlaX-lXJwwORKhnOL2KMaG5gT49geQY-Tv4ecHjJBz48z1uEjx0OaEKyVAgJtHs3RBkyVZoH_OaP7Vav2NZmtrAw015tP7Gb2sNfVstVYVQCcGhI/s400/Lake+Ambussel+%252840b%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">It was a bleak spot indeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had seen little wildlife and it was over an hour since we’d passed a village.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even insect life was sparse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, although there was not a green leaf to be seen anywhere, ornate blossoms decorated some of the small trees that peppered the landscape.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Tree growth here is perennially stunted by the scorching heat and parched climate but their incongruous blooms were clear evidence that this barren land would soon change dramatically.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Flowering right at the end of the dry season gives their seeds a valuable head start when the rains finally give the land a brief respite from near permanent dehydration.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP5w9h64gfNFKpobgmmLXr2VuLLxgEeCQq1VnZLLjnHdxiGoxPtFYkRRWTKw4HemX0BJwLeJXxbJ_hc9sIMSNQsFu3_REn4kgnV257HrojkW9_AI1GjgGd-W8NJyfYW4XX-VcEf4k4Law/s400/Lake+Ambussel+%252814b%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">This isolated spot was the venue for the 200<span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span> Kilimanjaro Dirt Road Hash, a fortnightly run through the lesser trodden byways of Moshi’s rural hinterland.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was too far off the beaten track to drive back that evening so we were going to camp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only were we in one of the least hospitable landscapes I had ever visited, a three hour gruelling drive from anything resembling civilisation, we were staying the night!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="311" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixCKml2Z8d9FIGsLZdbS6UkNVKwFf8PNFJT0DtV85H343bkh7CAvxO_wovU_jFN_rO1MNd7ZencsTt-fk4K2bKxaAp2Kr30veT29KtbPI0-H34vHFSOIjDoBUhnlExcXjzxpntPWDF-As/s400/Lake+Ambussel+%252817b%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Why do we do such things?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It certainly makes no sense to most Tanzanians: with an average per capita income of less than a dollar a day, every journey has a clear purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> You go out to buy meat, fetch water or visit a sick relative; y</span>ou don’t simply venture off on foot or by bike, much less in a car, for an <em>excursion</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Which emphasises how fortunate we are. Despite working hard on a day-to-day basis, we have the luxury of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">leisure</i>, both in terms of time and pursuits.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="173" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQzNTTEC96-fCyH0ghludscqWT_I5ejn-Z25rOrDv-uo2POVE9kFddKfvCBT4_j6NGZWGnH7icUv6WYsJEcxNN5oUNtScv6WweWk2_y6j3e0rPnv2_U5RP4hJr7FfE29uFOGIzwSmuYf8/s400/Lake+Ambussel+%25288b%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And yes, the 200<span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span> Hash was fun.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We camped in the dusty and hopelessly inadequate shade of an acacia bush. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On the run itself we collected shells and bleached bones; relics from the lake’s fluid past and desiccated present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, by moonlight and armed with sharpened sticks, the children hunted scorpions in a place where, fortunately, they were unlikely to find any.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile, the adults listened nervously for yelps of pain whilst drinking and playing cards with a couple of Massai tribesmen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">If you've read this far then, like me, you are fortunate enough to enjoy the luxury of leisure. Kuwa na siku ya kufurahi - have a relaxing day.</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlnsuOnijfvgf87NPLFYY8g9UuXrYV_f_MSykmdPQ2JZGvWFHZbmfOESklEhASmHX3qkn4JrLjI1Z6a2hhlNCXcF1c_ewt_8deuVFsFc7Ur8eVXLu0kxf5ELdbfCzsKqsU9YaHm6MoK_0/s400/Lake+Ambussel+%252831b%2529.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Did you enjoy reading this post? Why not leave a comment?<br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">Massai Enkang image sourced from Wikipedia and </span></em><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">reproduced under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence.</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;">All other images <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">©</span> Jon Bigg</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: white;">Promoted by </span><a href="http://refzip.com/"><span style="color: white;">http://refzip.com/</span></a></span></em></div>Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-84004990222605185152010-09-27T21:18:00.054+03:002012-01-08T00:59:55.529+03:00Fantasy versus Reality in the Pare Mountains<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">When I awoke on Sunday morning, the world had disappeared, which was really quite a shame. The previous evening, I had perched upon a deeply weathered boulder just below the summit of Kindoroko peak in the </span><place><placename><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Pare</span></placename><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><placetype><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Mountains</span></placetype></place><span style="font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>African rhythms had drifted up from the valley far below.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Close by, a precipitously steep ridge rose towards the velvety green contours of an adjacent peak.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Deep fissures running down its sides formed dense wrinkly shadows as it caught the last of the afternoon sunlight.</span></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="182" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhALGIhRtWbIf_CQoKNFDyfohuC3s-n45au4PUqf-xz9CPyjubBIukwZgThdqvqVuv6_q9qpwdR6cSTQnTqrCMNX2ThMI5J3cTvI-Ca4LBf2RENGk8UqDWf0roSI4dyikCNVnQxOYYU9XY/s400/P9190054b.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">The Massai Steppe stretched away into the middle distance where Nyumba ya Mungu Reservoir shimmered sleepily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Far, far away, peeking over the horizon through its own orange haze, sprawled a seductively rugged-looking mountain range.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And beside me, an ornate, horned spider bided its time at the centre of a web strung between the bracken fronds.</span></span></span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="171" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil5BOhPFNXjy-uiMEsAiTsuzoCbYqRng5pMA8eF8WgsZXKE4sgQ7VvA6JLriifI3GMTddZClKq43kUZq-K-IsI5EB09ryBUYZ5-LxUTdE3K94RDa_8IrhU6pLxdKITceMTbL7RzFOgWAQ/s400/P9190026c.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But overnight, a chilly mist erased everything.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our tents clung limply to the rough grass of an uneven clearing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just before dawn and the hope of catching the sunrise had coaxed me from warm dreams and an even warmer sleeping bag.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had imagined the first light of dawn cutting through the crisp morning air to highlight the distant pyramidal peaks of the Hanang range, but those hopes now lay in sodden tatters on the dew soaked turf.</span></span></span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="167" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGFHQrHk6yqx-LNgQ3WbutUVn0Z3tpyQWws-LFCAeVh-nBWJ3Aww-en12seNi0OG8oHpL8zQAW_6YymLF5NXW0x4fV8cn_8Y6P5HXrjwqXkiIMzQGIGZBajvTf_Ecoxy09aYZkGijp5ng/s400/P9200058c.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">What's more, it was cold in the high altitude mist and the porridge wasn’t ready yet so I retreated into my fantasy world where a crisply dressed waiter stood with a towel over his arm seducing me with the breakfast menu.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my fantasy world, I had already enjoyed a warm shower in a bathroom sparkling with white porcelain; the newspaper lay half read on the table and the slightest nod was enough to summon fresh coffee…</span></span></span><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqKCsJFy-cs9SoXL4eQFEOwE3-ETYWgfCSGRLt-BUZ-NkCQ4rjv8VAodR_KKogzuxbrmvHK5VlO9urRg-IYgZ8AdGKvaAPtsYJPKAexuIXvsyljb_MwMnw_oFSEXQStjynWa-zlPgWaFk/s1600/English_Breakfast+c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="148" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqKCsJFy-cs9SoXL4eQFEOwE3-ETYWgfCSGRLt-BUZ-NkCQ4rjv8VAodR_KKogzuxbrmvHK5VlO9urRg-IYgZ8AdGKvaAPtsYJPKAexuIXvsyljb_MwMnw_oFSEXQStjynWa-zlPgWaFk/s400/English_Breakfast+c.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">As the waiter’s brisk footsteps receded, I indulged myself with a slideshow of memories from the previous day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The truck had taken us up and over the Pare range on a road that gripped the hillsides like a twist of celestial spaghetti flung carelessly across the landscape.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Our drop off was Lomwe village, close to the birthplace of David Msuya. It comprised an assortment of buildings scattered across a wide valley floor and lay confined beneath a ring of soaring peaks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It took all afternoon to climb the calf-wrenching red-soil paths that led us through tiny farm plots until we reached the almost untouched woodland that thrives above 1800 metres.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html"><img border="0" height="176" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaNolSvexJBJ5KpugjMugZcM99zwqPGzw2ctlQCQGa6zjFwiTU0GQWa9lakA-zO6DDHBZSRk1kFgMsipvQRohaP1O3rOYVUgWBa3-xCSsKCGDkXZ1C5w3_29SjQoiICREPkfxGA89TNJI/s400/P9190008d.JPG" width="400" /></a></span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">An hour before sunset, we had reached the highest point in the </span><place><placename><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">North</span></placename><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><placename><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Pare</span></placename><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"> </span><placetype><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Mountains</span></placetype></place><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">: the tiny, table-top summit of Kindoroko, 2113 metres above sea level.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bracken and small trees lay scattered across the peak and tiny paths led to secluded and spectacular view points.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The air was fresh and clear as I gazed out over a mosaic of banana, sugar cane and vegetable terraces crammed together on the steep valley walls.</span></span></span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="146" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju7MHYiNXxJH4D85Bs2idXvaJvNLLQ4OqJ1vPbtH7IhtFQqG2y_ivbZIbsIysna2LJwG613SYMFFzQWppj7ms6V5nvfB_lodBRex8VkCOhlDEyf9ewQHy6mf2dlUda9qzTGVgf1UWu8lo/s400/P9190019c.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">But there was nothing to linger for the following morning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the tents struck and the porridge eaten, or rather drunk (memo required regarding oats to water ratio), we slithered off the edge of Kindoroko onto a treacherously steep path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Damp leaves and perilous roots littered the knee-jarringly precipitous trail and the world was lost in an eerie, mist muffled silence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that was okay because in my fantasy world birds twittered and an escalator whisked me sedately down through a centrally heated, virtual mountain experience.</span></span></span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="162" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxlB2CJDw1iOBrC0ccIU-SmhO4gVMSUiGO9BHJzK31QeMzOo-u1NvjDuHVKnUum-NDBj2wx0D3MrOwd1SOBLzlwjlBI8ECVtF0LCyuXiDni5PYU0pwV9t3ECGop9HjskVtiTEjX8stc0A/s400/P9200059b.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Then suddenly, the cloud lifted and the real world took centre stage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I dropped back from the herd and as the thundering hooves of twenty trekkers faded into the distance, real birds started to tweet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If I knew my birds, I may have been able to identify the call of an Olive Woodpecker, Moustached Green-tinkerbird or perhaps an African Hill Babbler – just a few of the exotic sounding species common in the North Pare.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I happily skipped the twitcher’s checklist in favour of a rainbow of unidentified, colourful flashes flitting through lichen laden branches.</span></span></span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="177" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_fZZf9iaxqsLGtsYY8CpqNnAYcIggZX1uzL3d-C6rVXISfCurd5m9YByVI2i5cULedWlSk6LUgIO7z6VyXZMW4bxpIILE8ZID9_bQFQaVyKyph9vQDk4MuG5Gfebu-DjMht0jJsAXLCw/s400/P9190009c.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">For the remainder of the hike, my fantasy world lay largely unexplored as our descent meandered through isolated small-holdings; chickens scurried off the path ahead of us, clucking their reproach and mud bricks lay baking in the sun or piled high waiting to be fired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eventually the trail levelled off and I tramped a dusty track flanked by the vicious spikes of katani (sisel) succulents, whose tough fibres are spun into course rope.</span></span></span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="155" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCLuq_JQwLxdWVZQYsIPctDT_D0J5iB4RNHrNz8sPaigOt1fVrZVU-bDSDXEJm3KFfgM7Ywf2rtR_exSLhZHxqMif-wx4_hDMx4ReUjzJ31e6NeZLqehy0S0z4zi9D3az0hdChRUkT1b8/s400/P9200073c.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt;">Finally we wandered the eroded dirt streets of Lembeni, a dusty hamlet straddling the Dar road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A tiny grocery store bore the name ‘Simple Store’.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wondered if the name referred to the stock or the merchant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe only simple clients are served.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I didn't stop, just in case. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 11pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Parked nearby was a lorry with ‘Man to Man Truck’ emblazoned across the top of its windscreen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps 'Man' is a place and the lorry plies a circular route.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe the driver offers more than just haulage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I quickened my step, just in case.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="187" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHWAXnM3na911_xICyICfRkwOdCCfSP7XYDWRZZLL1iY_RWU5XnJNlbzdwsWs4Lx1MqdBKVuAyow7qRUytE5E8-4f3K_kvLk7s3Id9ftTcLP18TUY1qxZzyYE8cH8GcwxzSBmuwS0pz6U/s400/P9200076c.JPG" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Birds-East-Africa-Tanzania-Princeton/dp/0691126658?ie=UTF8&tag=httpkilimanja-21&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="The Birds of East Africa: Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi (Princeton Field Guides)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0691126658&tag=httpkilimanja-21" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0691126658" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Birds-East-Africa-Field-Guide/dp/0007285116?ie=UTF8&tag=httpkilimanja-21&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Birds of East Africa (Field Guide)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0007285116&tag=httpkilimanja-21" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0007285116" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0547247958" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Common-Africa-Collins-Safari-Guides/dp/0002200341?ie=UTF8&tag=httpkilimanja-21&link_code=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="Common Birds of East Africa (Collins Safari Guides)" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL160_&ASIN=0002200341&tag=httpkilimanja-21" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=httpkilimanja-21&l=bil&camp=213689&creative=392969&o=1&a=0002200341" style="border: currentColor; margin: 0px; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">*****</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">Breakfast image sourced from Wikipedia and reproduced under the terms of the Creative Commons Licence.</span></em><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;">All other images (c) Jon Bigg</span></em></div>Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-34010286826862585162010-09-15T20:42:00.001+03:002012-01-08T00:36:21.937+03:00A body blow for consumerism?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJpNOJkUB9AqmoyRE5LWn6tQ48BzbH_AXbKUyjgRVQUaT2DNah7jTZvoTD4SO0Mmye1Y02_rxMsKZSWQY-YKQtMkvtcccoR2MbHEybsBM8vTVNh8LyjrSE58n3HZKiMBgvcRh_dF3g7s/s1600/Dirt+Road+-+Moshi+(DT).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHJpNOJkUB9AqmoyRE5LWn6tQ48BzbH_AXbKUyjgRVQUaT2DNah7jTZvoTD4SO0Mmye1Y02_rxMsKZSWQY-YKQtMkvtcccoR2MbHEybsBM8vTVNh8LyjrSE58n3HZKiMBgvcRh_dF3g7s/s200/Dirt+Road+-+Moshi+(DT).jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2UfAsXZ2_KOM9Fcp7gHVrWKjy2z0Irw-1gFVw97xl7TCzuE7qhF8mQv5geluD9WcnD8Mm6cwNtQYAWQwzVfdquNd03vOXPuQtyDNf8ZPFb80kXYYOPiRZ0VleWJhJ-Ai1KtlI6qGSqsU/s1600/P9160005b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2UfAsXZ2_KOM9Fcp7gHVrWKjy2z0Irw-1gFVw97xl7TCzuE7qhF8mQv5geluD9WcnD8Mm6cwNtQYAWQwzVfdquNd03vOXPuQtyDNf8ZPFb80kXYYOPiRZ0VleWJhJ-Ai1KtlI6qGSqsU/s200/P9160005b.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">As our 16 year-old Landcruiser bounced along the corrugated dirt track, an altogether more decrepit vehicle was being pushed enthusiastically in the opposite direction. The young boy may well have made it himself: a piece of wood formed the chassis; four cans had been crushed into crude wheels and a stick provided propulsion. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Catching sight of the boy, our own children sniggered from the jump seats in the back. It was an entirely understandable reaction. All their lives, we had surrounded them with first-world greed. They had been bombarded by advertisements precipitating the capitalist mantra of buy-to-be-happy and had grown up amidst the sickening wastefulness of </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">planned and perceived obsolescence</span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">. A child with a junk-yard toy was fair game as an object of ridicule.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">But understandable does not equate to acceptable. And so their relative wealth was put into perspective and the boy’s ingenuity and uncluttered happiness earned their respect.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Which brings me to the <strong>sad story of a small bear</strong>:</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSGGJ9ywEfzj5CgmhojM5T4keFvDWtguC3VGH55C7ddwuufHtk9wcN9HTC40wNbyOPux-doyG2oDvS-4Jlz79CtYt_ESVo8KTcsNfKxtzAP_nrOV0lb1sFxC8Jg8awEiNFdGWH5r-XVtk/s1600/kc_pooky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" qx="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSGGJ9ywEfzj5CgmhojM5T4keFvDWtguC3VGH55C7ddwuufHtk9wcN9HTC40wNbyOPux-doyG2oDvS-4Jlz79CtYt_ESVo8KTcsNfKxtzAP_nrOV0lb1sFxC8Jg8awEiNFdGWH5r-XVtk/s200/kc_pooky.jpg" width="178" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">A week before we came to Tanzania, Fraser lost Pooky. It was the second time he had lost Pooky. The first fist-sized incarnation of Garfield’s teddy bear had disappeared a year or so before. A replacement Pooky was eventually sourced and was treasured with equal gusto. Pooky the 2nd went everywhere with Fraser and it was this devotion that brought their relationship to a premature end. Inevitably, Pooky was left behind somewhere, never to be seen again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Fraser missed Pooky terribly and often asked if we could get a new Pooky (third incarnations are not uncommon in teddy-bear karma). But one night Fraser told me that, although he still missed Pooky, every time he thought about it he remembered the boy with the toy car… Life in Africa has given my six year old something many adults never attain.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Not a body-blow for consumerism – Fraser is just one of the millions of capitalistically inclined children carelessly scuffing the delicate shell of our fragile Earth. But if you’re going to change the world, start at home with your own kids’ perceptions, right?</span><br />
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<em>.</em>Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-828583442068920359.post-4410786883929442012010-09-10T09:11:00.011+03:002012-01-08T01:16:57.708+03:00A month in Tanzania<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><strong>It’s been a tough month</strong>, filled with frustrations that I never anticipated. A single, all-pervading frustration, really. The largest free-standing frustration in the world, in fact. Every day I see <strong>Mount Kilimanjaro</strong> towering above me, its summit less than 25km away. And every day I cannot climb it, at least not yet…</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html"><img border="0" height="190" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh19aSdJ2jO3XHpjLaer9H2uNex0Hjohm9Z9AnQHUX8d7iSzOvr-XrJqwPSrf31jJT9DpeVO1joN5nqnDhzJwgSKuR6PJKER_tqSnwMhyWgLQ2tXwWaO6vY05gSMzWahM2TfDpkbU_uXDs/s400/P8230428b.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We’re living 900 metres above sea-level on Kili’s verdant lower slopes – volcanic soil and regular high-altitude precipitation preserve a fertile micro-region with abundant greenery.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="border: currentColor;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_rsaPixiNtWqWLsEXYd7rtM65ux_n5xenod9lyFC3x6kz_fBQFgDxP54dShPI2c1FMp2sne07vOpzB1iMPAlKfncwef__tk2LpNn3OwMag3cPsYXY9SeYhqlc6r93LDYMUfugFkRJKZ4/s1600/P8080386b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_rsaPixiNtWqWLsEXYd7rtM65ux_n5xenod9lyFC3x6kz_fBQFgDxP54dShPI2c1FMp2sne07vOpzB1iMPAlKfncwef__tk2LpNn3OwMag3cPsYXY9SeYhqlc6r93LDYMUfugFkRJKZ4/s200/P8080386b.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB3feznr_5YEXwy95LqKpDJ-62d6PiNN3iYXBAOgLjyuclPfI0nxrwHC6BNxFiqWiblcxTox3cGZ-DEcsNcLAGtsNQdKns5zCUgiSfk6pnSIinUmyas2lDdz66R4xPfISlsEoY2QrUdw8/s1600/P8070361b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB3feznr_5YEXwy95LqKpDJ-62d6PiNN3iYXBAOgLjyuclPfI0nxrwHC6BNxFiqWiblcxTox3cGZ-DEcsNcLAGtsNQdKns5zCUgiSfk6pnSIinUmyas2lDdz66R4xPfISlsEoY2QrUdw8/s200/P8070361b.JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsU0eNxNrJY-zbQZi4hYCYk4deMjIJ9C2iWYjR5jtcqRsWh8h5Yew7iYYDApVe4ED51YZaF3LnIqcwcHjWmvodVuXs72hASUjSxUlOtor46S4_PBj8fmy39naQnzHT23lIHDXlRRbxHKQ/s1600/Toto+and+Palina+(b).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsU0eNxNrJY-zbQZi4hYCYk4deMjIJ9C2iWYjR5jtcqRsWh8h5Yew7iYYDApVe4ED51YZaF3LnIqcwcHjWmvodVuXs72hASUjSxUlOtor46S4_PBj8fmy39naQnzHT23lIHDXlRRbxHKQ/s200/Toto+and+Palina+(b).JPG" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_rsaPixiNtWqWLsEXYd7rtM65ux_n5xenod9lyFC3x6kz_fBQFgDxP54dShPI2c1FMp2sne07vOpzB1iMPAlKfncwef__tk2LpNn3OwMag3cPsYXY9SeYhqlc6r93LDYMUfugFkRJKZ4/s1600/P8080386b.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"></span></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">My orientation week, which kicked</span> off the morning after we arrived, was a chaotic whirlwind of information. But it culminated with what has proved to be one of the highlights so far: a staff camping trip to <strong>Lake Chala</strong>, an ancient flooded caldera straddling the Kenyan border. School organized and paid for the trip and families came too, although Nina opted to stay home with Marcus. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Now, four weeks into term, we’re beginning to settle into a routine. Each morning, Nina walks to school with Annie and Fraser, who often cycle the ½ mile trip, which follows a quiet dirt road. I usually leave a little earlier but often see the children during the school day.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">We’ve bought a 16 year old, eight-seater Toyota Landcruiser Prado and hired <strong>Palina</strong>, a lovely Tanzanian nanny / maid who speaks only Swahili, which is providing a little more incentive for us, particularly Nina, to learn the native language!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">ISM has an excellent OP (Outdoor Pursuits) programme and in a couple of weeks, I’m heading to the <strong>Pares Mountains</strong> on a two day trip before tackling a four day <strong>Kilimanjaro trek</strong> at the end of November – not to the summit; that will have to wait…</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There is a fortnightly <strong>Hash</strong> here, which we were introduced to recently. It couldn’t have been better! We spent an hour or so meandering through banana groves, across streams and in and out of remote communities. Annie and Fraser forged ahead with a dozen other excited youngsters while Nina, Marcus and I brought up the rear. For large sections, we were followed by a crowd of chattering <em>Chagga</em>* children, excited by the sudden appearance of a herd of <em>Wazungu</em>*.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And then there are the bike rides and walks. Just behind our house, a river courses through a deep gully littered with boulders for the children to jump between. Beyond the river, the track slopes steadily upwards through coffee, corn, maize and banana fields. This is where I ride each weekend, with Kilimanjaro as the constant backdrop.</span></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="border: currentColor; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_288840177" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV8dp-zwbTTceNoY3cUsY274IVAkY_HTiPumReH_8abvjBgcz-6_KG4GiSZLlVXqcBQ5caW5N-YFzJ66ooB528NLudgpOlrFmm0zY9kSkVWrmEBkrVeJ6b4mrXKEXXoN-zyzwtfPwsgdk/s200/P8230418b.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_288840177" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgogEfun1ilf60mtDk-SlMfHeykJIItObNOFhDMLTesemHscfsUaKGy6-qjZennmiqs0Aw8W1HSapCH8JSSe3f5Tn6obx6GOjEOsVnVw3QRT4Gbdz5nDK4-ETSRb4KQnmdB0VU8CJ9zxk4/s200/P8070379b.JPG" width="150" /></a><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpKSHHszmjjpGsdhAK_E3O4yAM92jPFOJgtNkyxHk1USFUoST93e3jdn384AVlMn3pXn5BztsPreRFWRRR21bE7qkDyehsiK2h6lwzSXIcFrU4S1qfRxHmvLz6BODGIJOcHbl24qcfBjk/s200/P8080399b.JPG" width="150" /></a></div><div style="border: currentColor;"><br />
</div><div style="border: currentColor;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">There’s a week long break coming up and we hope to finish unpacking, visit a nearby wildlife park and go back to Lake Chala for the day. There are also some <strong>hot-springs</strong> not far away which we may try. So much to see and do and all so close to home!</span></div><div style="border: currentColor;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="border: currentColor;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Each morning I walk 10 minutes to work along a tree lined track. I watch the <strong>fiery red African sun</strong> rise as I walk and when I arrive I glance up towards the majestic roof of Africa before settling down to work. The people are cool, our kids are really happy and the school believes in children as well as grades... all good, except when it's really good.</span></div><div style="border: currentColor;"></div><div style="border: currentColor;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* <em>Chagga</em> are the predominant indigenous tribe in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania</span></div><div style="border: currentColor;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">* <em>Wazungu</em> is the plural of <em>Mzungu</em>, the Swahili word for a white person</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: x-small;"><em><a href="http://kilimanjaroshadow.blogspot.com/p/copyright-notice.html">All images <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS"; font-size: 10pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">©</span> Jon Bigg</a></em></span></div></div>Jon Bigghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04958147516562408968noreply@blogger.com2