transport

tanzania offered a variety of transport options.
* the road from kongwa town to st philip's college
* this bit of another road out of kongwa was particularly slow. a
combination of mud and sharp rocks
* that transport contrasted with the 6 seater cessna 206 single engine
prop aircraft we flew in from dodoma to arusha

clouds in kongwa

1. rain mainly on the plain seen from the hills behind kongwa college.
note the rainbow.
2. clouds over the "ghorofa" building at college.
3. evening rain clouds lit up brilliantly by the low sun.

the goat from go to whoa

1 - paying goat tax at the market so we could take the goat

 

2 - getting to the right spot

 

3 - luke wields the weapon (and nearly changed his mind)

 

4 - getting the right spot under expert instruction

 

5 - censored*

 

*NB - the actual slaughtering deemed by us too sensitive for the blog. if your eyes are not too sensitive and you want a shot of the aftermath, email us privately!

the breadth of wildlife in Kongwa!

Here's just a taste of the array of fauna in Kongwa we saw in 5 short days...

 

1 - some kind of millipede

 

2 - an ants nest (but not safari ants, who come and eat whatever is in their way whether animal or human unless it runs away!)

 

3 - we were given a chicken... and put it under this basket for safe keeping (what does one do with a chicken?!!!)

 

4 - One of the Madindas pigs :-)

 

5 - One of the Madindas cows :-)

 

6 - a stick insect trying to blend into luke's t-shirt

 

7 - a millipede

 

8 - a centipede

 

9 - lambs in the local village roaming free (as most animals do, really)

spiders and snakes

some more wonderous creatures we found in kongwa.

 

1. a spider we found in our kitchen sink.

2. a furry red spider held by ruel madinda.

3. snake with sore lips.

4. george holding the black mamba that he killed (with luke's help). this brought the total number of significant animals killed by luke to 2. the goat was still living...

hunting the rat

1 - initial attempt to find the rat in the kitchen

 

2 - 2nd attempt on another day with a squashed toe of Janey and some squeals, the successful result.

 

3 - the state of the kitchen after the mouse was dealt with

kongwa sights

1. the view from the hills behind st philip's college, kongwa.

2. at the "mnada" near kongwa town where we bought a goat which luke
later slaughtered.

we're currently at RVA in kenya... more coming soon.

Back to Kenya

We're back in Kenya - staying at Rift Valley Academy (Luke's school yrs 9, 10, 11).

 

Internet's about as slow as Nairobi traffic (read slow)... but hope to put some photos up over the next few days of Kongwa.

 

Correction about the goats (thanks Hugh for posting about that!) - one goat we bought for a new year's celebration for the current principal of the college (John Madinda)... he sent us out to get it from the mnada (market). We looked for one that was a castrated adult male, apparently they taste best, but only found one with its bits intact. So bought that and popped him in the back of the car. Then as we were driving, someone who had bought a goat and lived in the village (Mlanga) next to the college asked us to give it a lift back to his place. So we took both back :-)

And we certainly did try the first goat over new year's - after Luke chinja'd it (photo to come which will explain what chinga means... vegetarians may want to avoid the blog in the next couple of days.)

Flying to Nairobi on Monday 4 Jan

We thank God that we are safely back in Dodoma after five special days in Kongwa. Early on Monday morning 4 Jan, we have a flight back to Nairobi, from where we hope to go to visit Luke's old school, the Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe, about an hour's drive north of Nairobi.