Sat 25th Jan
Breakfast at Ocean. Bernard warned us he had work to do on the Landrover and he would pick us up around 14:00. We left our luggage in a stockroom and decided to pass the time at Mkonge and use the wifi. Just for a change I had a pot of tea instead of coffee.
We took the dala back. I went to Airtel for some Internet bundles.
Bernard arrived as planned in his 24 year old L Rover . We stopped to buy fruits along the way, before entering Muheza via the bus stand. Bernhard stopped at one location to observe a huge colony of large bats that apparently only resided near the hospital. The trees were crammed with bats.
It was an hour journey up to Amani nature reserve along a wide tarmac road for about 10 kms, followed by a very rough road up to the Reserve. We stopped along the way to admire the rainforest and some views and streams. We passed through a gate to Amani and said we’d pay the next time we passed. The fee was about 26,000.
We arrived at the Old German built house from about 1903. It was made of solid stone and original wood. In fact the wood was so strong that the floorboards and window frames showed no signs of wear & tear or rotting.
We were allocated rooms, then relaxed in the sitting room with beers. Dinner was spaghetti bolognese washed down with a bottle of Dompo from Dodoma. Dompo is strong at 18% and very sweet and more palatable if some water is added.
After that it was a matter of drinking beer and chatting until bedtime.
Sun 26th Jan
Early morning coffee…7:00 in our rooms. Breakfast at 08:00. Eggs and bacon, toast, fruit…all delicious.
I spent the day walking around the area…the outhouses, closed shops, admin building for the research station…and including the village just down the road.
By coincidence a half Greek lady came from Tanga with her family for lunch at a guest house. Bernhard knew her and they came to the big house for tea. But before tea we went for a long walk through the amazing rainforest, having all sorts of flora,trees,fauna pointed out along the way.
Dinner was a delicious chicken curry.
Mon 27th Jan
Morning coffee. Breakfast. We left at 09:30 to spend the whole day in the Amani Natural Forest Reserve and the huge East Usambara Tea estate…all part of the Eastern Usambaras. Rough roads and a couple of wrong turns meant it took about 2 hours to the picnic site.
It was a great viewpoint for a lovely steak and potato salad lunch. Anaali and Silvester did all the food preparation and cooking while we chatted and drank beer/cider.
Down in the valley was a large sisal estate and we concluded that it was Kwamdor(l)o outside Korogwe, where I was born and where Dad was working. I phoned Mum and said I was overlooking the estate. It’s funny what people remember…Mum immediately said “there were 2 very large trees in the garden”.
We made our way slowly back down the mountain. The roads seemed rougher on the return journey but the views were just as spectacular.
A couple of hours later were back at the house…feeling exhausted. A quiet evening followed with a simple dinner of pancakes and syrup/novotella. The dining table is always beautifully laid out, whether for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It makes me think that’s what I was brought up with.
Amani is magical; a hidden secret of a tropical rainforest. There is a 42,000acre tea estate as well, which Bernard suspected was being run down so that land could be sold off.
That was one of the best visits I’ve ever made. So beautiful and relaxing.