This lake is the southern extension of the Rift Valley and forms the southwest border of Tanzania and the northeast border of Malawi. We headed out on Thursday afternoon down T1, the major highway thru Tanzania. Our trip was slowed by construction zones where traffic is only one way (sort of) and by 7 PM we made it to the Moravian Hostel in the town of Mbeya. Hopefully, your Swahili is getting good by now so you can pronounce all of these words (e sounds like long a, a sounds like 'ah'). This is a busy little border town that serves mines and farms all around. The Hostel was pleasant but certainly not the Holiday Inn that Dale promised us. I thought you might want to see a typical Tanzanian bed. Note the mosquito net which surrounds us every evening. The mosquitoes come out after dusk and this is the primary way to prevent Malaria. Highlands such as Iringa are dry enough that Malaria is not a problem, but Mbeya is back in the valley and care must always be taken.
Friday morning we proceeded south again tho Matema Beach by way of a 55 km swamp road. We stopped twice along the way: once for Masoko Crater Lake and once for the German Barracks. The Crater Lake required a drive thru the rain forest and a hike straight up the side of a rain slicked hill. Sharon and I took a rain (forest) check and waited for the others to bring back pictures. Here is a picture of one of the Range Rovers as we approached the Crater Lake parking lot.
Now one would think that the truck is stuck. Not in Africa and not Dr. Ilomo's truck. No! This is where we found the park ranger who collected the fee. We stopped here to argue about how much to charge the Mzunugi (foreigners). The ranger wanted $3 and Ilomo would pay no more that $1.50. Negotiations continued for a few minutes (while we idled thru $5 worth of diesel) and we went on our way.
The next stop was the German Barracks. German settlers occupied this part of Tanzania in 1891 and by 1910 had established a colony here in this area. Later the tribes got together and attacked the Germans and drove them back to the coast. At these barracks, they had a parade grounds, a beautiful recreational lake and many facilities -- some are still in use by the local government.
By the way, did I tell you it has rained since Thursday night about 6 PM? Yup, we are hiking and sightseeing in a rain the modulates from torrential to a heavy drizzle. Anyway, we left the German Barracks and headed to Matema Beach -- a recreational area created by and still occupied by Germans over 100 years ago. We took a short cut thru the swamp and the rains came down. Even crossed the bridge over the River Kwai.
The beach was beautiful and the little village there very authentic and untouched. The area is famous for pottery, but with the rain and wind, we couldn't get to the actual pottery factory, but did lots of shopping in the market. This is a fishing town and about 30 boats go out every night to net fish. With the rough seas, they caught little except for sardine sized fish they dry and deep fry.
Saturday we shopped and rested and the kids splashed in the water. It was relaxing after two days in the car. We went into town and sat down for a traditional beach lunch: rice, ugali, dried fish and greens. Even Caleb and Tobie tried the fish (once I took the head off the little fish so he wouldn't look at us). We shopped for pottery and fabric. I was disappointed that we didn't find a refrigerator magnet from Matema Beach!
Sunday we headed back to Iringa. It took about 10 hours of driving. The first 3 hours were thru flooded fields and across new streams we didn't see two days before. We finally had to take a detour as the construction area we forded on Friday was flooded. We bounced along thru little villages and farms. The farms in the valley grow rice, bananas, cocoa, mangos, and papayas. As we headed up the surrounding hills we came into vast fields of tea (chai to the rest of the world). Tea is planted on any hill no matter how steep. We found prices here very cheap so we sent Dale out to negotiate for some bananas. Note the lady on the left. They have discovered that picture taking is a very profitable business (more than selling bananas in this cutthroat competition). So everyone wants money for their picture. I played the stupid American and just smiled.
By 7 PM Sunday we were back. Dr. Ilomo had only one flat tire along the way and a kind bus driver stopped to help pry out the spare. (Actually, we went on ahead once things were under control and don't really know if the other vehicle made it). The interesting part of the flat tire stop was the constant stream of monkeys crossing the road. But, anyway we are back and there are many more stories and pictures that Dale will upload. But we made it. Sunday night's dinner was followed by a little service where we talked about the Saints we have lost in the past year. Fish Lake celebrated 8 Saints and we talked about Tim Hall, Donna Bernhagen, Jill Gustafson, and the others. It is hard to be away from all of you.
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