Picnic at Zuzu

The Lake near Zuzu


Last Saturday, 3 of us MAF wives made a plan to spend the day together, as our 3 husbands were away working. We all piled into Mirjam's 8-seater 4x4 and headed off with her 3 children, and Angela (whose 3 boys are now all grown up and live in Germany) and myself with our 2 children. Angela has been living in Tanzania for 16 years and has a wealth of local knowledge and suggested a picnic together out in the "bush" near to Dodoma. A great idea!
So we set off with our picnic baskets and after only half an hour's drive, arrived at a beautiful spot near the village of Zuzu, just outside of Dodoma (Dodoma is not a very big city and so an expedition out to the bush does not take long).
It was a wonderful day out and a bit of an insight into some aspects of countryside life, which, although so near to the capital city geographically, is still very different.
We parked the car and set off to explore the area around the lake. The lake is severely reduced- a testament to the dry climate of Dodoma region- but is still a nice change from the city and is the local watering hole for the local livestock, which fascinated Ben:


After a short walk, we met a local "mzee" (older man) who was tending his plot of land. He was very welcoming and after some converstaion, invited us on a tour of his "shamba" (farm). The the papaya growing on his tall fruit trees were very impressive, as was the variety of vegetables growing on the land:


The land can get very dry at this time of year, especially close to the lake:


but the wells are vital as a source of irrigation:


We returned for our picnic and were glad of our comfy picnic blankets on the dry, brushy, grasses:


The children were kept entertained by the constant flow of animal traffic coming to drink at the nearby lake, including donkeys:





In turn, our children entertained the local herdsboys who were quite surprised to find us there on their patch!