The Perfect Cup of Tea

The Southern Highlands are not only a good location for coffee growing (see blog entry below), but they are also renowned for their tea plantations.
The tea plantations are stunning: the vibrant green of the tea estates lend a sharp contrast to the dominant brown colour seen throughout much of the country at this time of year. As we rounded a corner on a bumpy farm track and discovered our first view of a tea plantation, we were struck by the beautiful colour and actually stopped the car to take it all in! Even the children appreciated the green!

The climate is much cooler up in the tea estates and after a long 6-hour drive in the heat of the day, it was great to wind the windows down and breathe in the fresher air.

During our holiday at The Farm, we had the opportunity to visit a tea plantation and see some of the process involved in getting the perfect cup of tea into our tea-cups!

First, the pickers work their way through the tea fields with baskets strapped onto their backs and are trained to pick the leaves at just the right moment- if I remember correctly, the ideal seems to be 2 green leaves on a stalk, with a small, curled green tip on the 3rd stalk (ever wonder where the name PG Tips comes from??).

Next, the green tea leaves are placed in giant drying areas under cover, with air gently blowing up underneath to dry them out to just the right temperature. Esther and Ben were quite amused by the channels of air coming up from under the leaves!

The workers then sift through and pack up the tea leaves into these bags, suspended here above drying coffee beans, and the bags make their way pon a moving ceiling belt into the factory, where a system of sorting, flattening and drying takes place, which can vary according to the type of tea required. We were told that the machines inside sift the tea a bit like an old fashioned clothes mangle dried out the washing.

When the process is complete, the happy customer can purchase ultra-fresh tea! Here is one such happy customer, with arm-fulls of tea to see us through for a little while! Apparently, this is the best time of year for the tea from this particular area of the tea-growing world and the very best quality too- so I have high hopes about the taste of my cuppas over the months to come (and watch out both of our Mums, we'll be sending you a fresh sample in the post as well!).

Tanzania's Southern Highlands

After Mikume (see blog entry below), we headed off down south for the Highlands of Tanzania. I was very excited about our holiday there, as it is at 6000 feet altitude- hence too high -and too cold- for mosquitoes, a variety of nasty Tanzanian bugs and even certain snakes!

I can't even begin to describe the relief that comes from being in a mosquito-free environment. Malaria is a constant worry out here, especially when one has small children, so I felt a heady sense of freedom from that nagging concern which is a part of my everyday life in Tanzania. The beds in our chalets had no mosquito nets and such a little fact seemed to make life so much easier! It seemed so simple to climb in and out of bed and to be able to reach my children to wish them goodnight, without having to grapple with a stubborn net around their beds!

I was also really looking forward to seeing greenery again! We are well into dry season here in Dodoma and it seems everything takes on the same dusty brown, sandy colour- buildings, roads, countryside, even the surfaces in my house- so it was a real treat for the eyes to see beautiful expanses of green; also, restful for the eyes to see full lakes, dams and streams after months without rain and bone dry riverbeds.

The cooler air and fresh breeze were another welcome aspect of our holiday in the Highlands- a lovely contrast to Dodoma, where the temperatures are rising as the hottest season arrives.

We stayed on a beautiful farm, with sweeping views. Here, Ben adorns the view from our chalet:

There were plenty of animals to keep the children amused. They even experienced their first ever horse rides! A proud moment, to see such Esther + Ben, despite being so little, sitting up so high on horses and thoroughly enjoying their ride:

There were also lambs to bottle-feed and cuddle:

For Andrew, some fun with fly-fishing at one of the farm's dams:

We enjoyed many walks across the farm to visit the pigs, see the trout in the fishery (this is the only place in Tanzania cool enough for trout), discover the amazing 2 acres of vegetables and fruit (including strawberries!!) growing in the specially made vegetable garden and watch the calves out in the fields with their mothers. It was nice to have the freedom to wander over such a large area of countryside.

We also learnt about coffee growing, as the farm has a coffee plantation. We visited the coffee bean pickers at work and saw how they picked the red beans. They told us all about the drying process and how 2 outer layers must be peeled off each bean -1 before it is ready to be dried and 1 before it is roasted. Finally, it will be ready for your coffee cup! Esther examines the coffee beans as they dry out in the sun:

There was even a very green croquet lawn, hidden within a beautifully tended garden! We had a fun game of croquet, although Ben decided he didn't like this game at all: I can hardly blame him when the mallet is bigger than he is!

In the evenings, the children ate early and then went to bed in our chalet. Once safely tucked up, a Masaai guard kept watch outside the chalet door, while Mum and Dad (also carrying the baby-monitor machine, just in case!!) went to eat in the farm lodge next to the chalet, for civilised evening dinners with our host and other guests. No cooking, cleaning or shopping for me- what a treat!! A truly wonderful holiday! :-)

A Drive on the Wild Side

Happy Travellers off on our big drive!

We have just returned from our family holiday. We had a wonderful time away from the work, heat and dust of Dodoma. Since travelling to our holiday destination involved an 11 hour road trip, door to door, we decided to break the journey and spend 2 nights at a guest house near to Mikumi National Park, giving us a day inbetween to explore the game reserve.

A few photo highlights from our visit to Mikumi National Park:

A lioness with a recent kill of buffalo, moving her dead prey into the shade of the tree...
... and after eating her fill, resting happily without taking any interest in us nearby:

We startled this group of giraffes as we came around a bend- what an amazing sight as they gracefully loped away:
We found a few more giraffe, as well as other animals, happy to pose for the camera in various places around the park:

African friends

Ben has been making friends this week with some of the Tanzanian wildlife. Unfortunately for Ben, but perhaps fortunately for the bugs, they had already died before Ben got close enough to examine and touch them! This fact did not dampen Ben's enthusiasm and he is proud to show off his interesting creatures, including this large beetle and the 2 moths:

What a nasty shock we had yesterday when Ben fell, fully clothed, into the nearby swimming pool, rapidly disappearing head-down, feet up, straight to the bottom of the water! Three of us mums sprang into action and our neighbour hauled him out, feet first, fortunately none the worse except for the shock and a mouthful of water! There were lots of tears (not just Ben, but his shaken mummy as well!) but all is well and hopefully he and his sister have learnt a valuable lesson about never playing too close to water!

On a happier note, Esther and Ben enjoyed another birthday party this week, heading to a friend's 4th birthday party on Wednesday, with the theme of Prince and Princesses! Esther wore a dress from material she had chosen herself on our trip to town a while ago and a Tanzanian friend made the dress for her at home- a great skill, of which I am in awe, as I can only just about sew a button on, but could never make such a pretty dress!

At home, I have been continuing my Swahili language studies. A very helpful lady called Margaret comes each week to sit with me and go over grammar, vocabulary or help me with my conversation skills. This week, we had a go at translating a local newspaper- a very difficult task for me, as spoken Swahili is much easier than the more formal written language. Ben lent us his moral support, tucking into biscuits as Margaret and I got to grips with some very political articles in the lead-up to next month's General Election:
Andrew, meanwhile, has been out and about flying doctors and medical teams into rural areas and making friends with villagers and children, drawn by curiosity to get a good look at the plane and the foreign pilot and delighted to pose for his camera:

A multitude of Ministers

Quite a sight greeted us recently as we drove into town one Sunday morning, on our way to the cathedral. We were running late (as usual!!) but instead of rushing, we were delayed by this incredibly long procession of church ministers:

I have never seen so many ministers all at once! The procession lasted most of the way through town, with some great singing as they meandered through the main streets. There was a national Lutheran meeting of pastors here in Dodoma for a few days, so they were on their way to their Sunday morning meeting at Dodoma's main Lutheran church, opposite the Anglican cathedral. It was quite an event for the usually quieter city of Dodoma!