Lion Rock

Dodoma is as flat as a pancake. Except, that is, for Lion Rock:

This is the largest rock around Dodoma. We do have one or two other rocky hills around the other side of town, but Lion Rock is the tallest formation on our side of Dodoma. It is famous for its appeal as something to actually climb in a mostly flat place! It is also notorious for the thieves who like to "relieve" would-be tourists of their possessions as they climb or descend the rock.
In my 3 and a half years in Dodoma, I have never ventured up The Rock. Partly out of fear, because of the tales we hear about knives flashing in the sunlight as innocent climbers are threatened by petty-minded robbers! And partly because I often feel too hot here to face the prospect of a hot- and therefore sweaty- clamber up to the top of a rock!

This omission in my Dodoma experience changed last week. May 1st, Wednesday, was a public holiday, meaning the children had the day off school. It occurred to me that now I had the perfect opportunity to "tick the box" and venture up Lion Rock! So, after a few emails in the proceeding days, a group was organised and 17 of us duly set out early on Wednesday morning to conquer the heights of Dodoma!

We met at 07:20 and by 07:30, off we went, complete with back-packs to carry toddlers and bags containing our packed breakfasts to munch at the "summit"! Any cameras were carefully concealed on our persons, while phones and watches were prudently left at home!

And up we went.... to the first little plateau, all smiling happily:

Time for the dads-with-toddlers to pose precariously on rocks like mountain goats (!!):

Onwards and upwards we climbed, until we reached the great summit of Lion Rock!

Breakfast was unpacked. Children were warned to stay well away from the edge of the rock-face (no ridiculously restrictive Health and Safety officials here to spoil the fun or take away the thrill for adventurous children!!). Esther, Ben and Joel sat down for a few brief moments with their friends to top up their never-ending energy with a spot of breakfast. Appropriately, the Parker packed breakfast was pancakes- in keeping with the flat landscape spread out before us!

The mums had a few minutes of well-deserved rest:

 No expedition would be complete for a Brit like me without the compulsory cup of tea...so out came the flask (you might recognise it from last week's blog- now that the rabies vaccinations are used up, I have a very nice, new flask to use!!), the tea-bags, the milk and the tea-spoon! Mmmm, what a tasty cuppa, with such a great view below!

I was a little nervous about Joel wandering off the edge at the top, so held on to him tightly after packing up the picnic breakfast! I think he was a bit taken aback at the slight wind-chill, sucking his thumb for comfort after being woken so early and carted up a bumpy hill to a cold place where he wasn't allowed to run freely!

Just to give you an idea of the general landscape around Dodoma, here is one of my photos- it is flat, flat, flat!! Maybe as you look at this, you might get a glimpse of how exciting this little outing was for us Dodoma-dwellers! (Ben and Esther were so excited about this trip that they were up and fully dressed by 6am, ready for our 7:10 departure!!)

 As we descended just over half way, I tried to get a photo of the MAF compound and hangar. It was harder to spot than I imagined, as Dodoma still has some lovely patches of green after the rainy season. For those with sharp eyes, perhaps you can pick out Dodoma's runway- that will give you an idea of where MAF is based!

Back down on the ground and the children keep going, full-pelt! Is there no end to their energy??

Joel was delighted to be out of his back-pack; he tramped happily along the sandy pathways:

Finally, back to the cars, a short ride home for the kids in the boot with friends and the whole day still stretching out ahead of them to have fun!

 We were home by 10am: time to put that kettle on and have another brew, at a lower elevation!