Travel Blog Posts
November 23rd 2011
In fact coffee plants and the freshly picked beans don't actually smell but if they did I could literally wake up and smell the coffee from a nearby farm, as it is I have to make a cuppa (fresh of course not instant!) to do so. (More on coffee to come in a future blog entry as I have managed to arrange a tour for my parents around the Burka Coffee Estate, thanks to the kindness of the part owner/manager friends). I feel, after the aftershock (in this part of the world geophysical metaphors are obviously also acceptable) of chidbirth, emigration and previous years of believing I could not have children and stress and burnout in the UK ratrace, I am indeed waking up to smell the coffee, despite not drinking nearly as much as I ... read more
November 4th 2011
Well, the jacarandas are in bloom and the rain is here- everything has gone green and I find myself feeling less homesick for the 'green green grass of home' aka 'the green and pleasant land' (I frequently sing 'Jerusalem' to Benjamin and other equally patriotic songs which seem to jump from my schooldays and in to my head now that I am a Mother and in those desperate hours trying to sing my son to sleep!). Since my last blog we have ventured to Lake Manyara National Park. Famous for its' tree climbing lions apparently and yes we did (from a distance) see a lioness sunbathing at height. We did however, also see a lion in a tree in Tarangire National Park so it would appear that the marketing needs to catch up with the lions ... read more
October 6th 2011
The Somali 'land' pirates have come ashore and inland to Ngaramtoni village, Arusha. Well, just one to be exact (I'm not actually sure if she constitutes a pirate as she does not say 'aarhh' and did not have a parrot or an eyepatch). She landed last month. Lovely lady, came a-knocking at our gate with what I beleived to be her elderly mother asking all about our house, the rent we paid etc. as she planned to build on her plot next to the house we rent and then rent it out as our landlord (very important man in this story) had done. Well, only a few weeks later we find ourselves hostage in our own home unable to escape (at least not by motorised vehicle) as it turns out her plot actually extends across the ... read more
October 4th 2011
Hujambo Well, where to start, coming to live here along with motherhood are two of the biggest things I have ever done in my life and both seemed to just happened to me; I therefore conclude that both were just meant to be. So I have woken up from the whirlwind of both and find myself a mother of a gorgeous 7 month old and living in the foothills of Mt Meru in a village called Ngaramtoni close to Arusha in Northern Tanzania. I miss friends, family and the UK terribly and thank God for skype and the internet but people here could not have been friendlier. My week is much like that of any mother across the globe I imagine- I operate to a 3 hour rule- if Ben has not been fed, changed or ... read more
Tot: 0.046s; Tpl: 0.002s; cc: 7; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0301s; 1; s:notus w:www (50.28.60.10); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.4mb
