ua = flower, maua = flowers

We are now halfway through our second visits to our colleges, and it is a good opportunity to reflect on how each one is different to the others. As we drive through the country, be it via an 8-hour bumpy ride on partial dirt road or a 5-hour roller-coaster-like car journey on tarmac, it is nice to observe how the scenery changes gradually yet quite drastically, which is also evident in the different fruit and vegetables that are available in each place. In Mpuguso you can buy 10-12 varieties of banana, some of which are just for cooking and not eating raw the way we are used to. In Iringa we import our bananas from there, and in fact most of the bananas in Dar will come from Mpuguso. In Tandala you can find peaches and even apples, which are apparently very rare here in Tanzania. As we drive between towns for hours at a time there is so much dust yet many oases of different shades of green. The purple jacaranda blossom that is so prevalent in the Southern Highlands has turned mostly to leaves now in Iringa, yet is still vibrantly purple blossom in Mbeya where it is slightly cooler. My favourite plant the Ficus lives outside in Tukuyu, however the cuttings we took back to Iringa have wilted from the heat. Songea and Sumbawanga both have spectacular scenery that surrounds which just shouts Mother Nature Is In Charge Here! Yes, the travelling can take its toll, but as a team we're very happy to be able to visit such awesome places, and also to be based in such a lovely town as Iringa.