Ifakara (2)

Whilst we were waiting for the mid-term exams to finish at the college and so free-up our tutors, I popped down to Ifakara to see Jennifer (who I met on the SKWID - Skills for Working in Development - training course in Birmingham) and Birgit (who I met here in Tz on our In-Country Training). It was a fantastic mini-trip and I had a wonderful time with the girls! We went around Ifakara on bikes (hired for 200 Tsh an hour...about, I don't know - it's about 2,500 Tsh to £1 - you can work it out!), went on a boat trip up the Kilombero River, Birgit cooked pizza and bread, I made pasta, we played my favourite Bananagrams game, met some other lovely people, drank wine and chatted LOTS. I even got a tour of the marvellous St Francis hospital. I'm sure I missed some stuff out too. Hard to believe I was there for less than 48 hours. And it made such a difference being able to catch a lift for the bit between Mikumi & Ifakara BOTH WAYS(!) which was 2-3 hours depending on who was driving (not me!), then it was just the bus Iringa to Mikumi and back which was between 3 and 4 hours depending on which bus it was. I took lots of photos, so here you go....

First up, the journey from Mikumi to Ifakara - now that is one HECK of a bumpy dirt road!

The Udzungwa mountains and lush greenery on the way.

Sanjo Falls in the distance.

Amazing how much can be carried on a bicycle.

The awesome 'flame' or 'fire' tree.

We would like to get the train sometime, but it's so irregular and unreliable I don't know if/when that'll happen.

Coming into Ifakara town:

These are sacks of rice: there are a lot of rice mills here.

Turned off the main road towards the hospital where Birgit and Jennifer are working:

Birgit's pizza!!!! Nom nom...

 Heading out to the river for our boat trip:

And on the river where we saw some of Mother Nature at her finest:

Now, apparently there ARE hippos and crocs in this river, so I was mighty glad to learn we weren't going in one of these boats.

  

This is a snake track apparently.

These next 2 tracks are lizard: the long line is from its belly and you can see the footprints each side.

A dragonfly? Wings like a bi-plane.

 

When you touch this plant, the leaves shrink back as if it's playing dead. Clever!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did ask his permission before I took the pic ;-)