Blogs from Kibaya, East, Tanzania, Africa

that night we slept at the park hostel, which is rather expensive at 20 dollars a night per person. the night before if i didnt mention, we went to stay in the village near the burundi border and woke up early to catch a boat to gombe. the night in the park we met a very nice solo lady traveller danielle and spoke to her all night about her travells for the past 10 years all over east africa. the 2nd day at gombe was not near as exciting as the first because there was a major fire in the park. all of the researchers went to take care of the fire all night so there were none in the forest tracking the chimps. therefore, our guide who knew nothing took us up and down mountains ... read more

Tuesday 15th February Harriet had asked us before whether we wanted to go to the mnada earlier in the day and cut our Akie visit short, but we had declined as we were not particularly interested in seeing the animal slaughter which was taking place in the morning. We would miss some of the commerce and most of the cattle and goat selling, but the Akie visit more than made up for that. There would still be lots going on at the market in the afternoon and Harriet especially wanted us to eat some goat meat which could be bought and to meet a friend of hers called Mr Moita, who, although he is not old in years, is a Maasai elder and would show us around the market. Mr Moita spotted us immediately when we ... read more

Monday 14th February After a feverish night I swallowed some paracetamol and got up early. The morning sun was shining through the flimsy curtain, and there were African morning sounds coming from outside; chickens, dogs barking in the distance, askaris talking softly to each other. Harriet had left breakfast for us as she had gone briefly to her office, which is just walking distance from her house. We ate breakfast outside on the veranda, bacon, eggs and toast. Harriet’s houseboy Charles was in the kitchen cooking food for Dessie and the cats. We liked Charles immediately, he was a gentle person with a lovely smile. He absolutely adores the animals, and would miss Dessie I think more than anyone else when the family leave. The kittens had an eye infection and he would painstakingly put ointment ... read more