The whole of April has been relatively uneventful; my time has been spent self isolating at the border just waiting for Kenya to lift its lockdown restrictions.
My daily routine consists of having breakfast of mandazi and chai. I then go across the road to buy 3 ltrs of water for the day. I return to my hotel to leave one bottle there and take one with me to my isolation hill a short 5 minute walk away. During the first week I explored a little more of the hill each day, until I found a shed snake skin and decided not go that high again. I had worn shoes and socks that day as in the back of mind I was aware if the possibility of snakes.
The view from the hill is fantastic…across the plains into Kenya. To my left I can just see Lake Challa , then Kedong Hill, then all of Taveta in front of me, then Grogans castle, then Lake Jipe and to my right the start of the Pare Mts. I spend an aimless 2 – 3 hours up there….sometimes accompanied by passing cows and goats and a young Maasai herder. I do spend a lot of time on my phone and I managed to finish reading a book on meditation that I first brought out to Kenya one and a half years ago.
From the hill I go back to my room and shower and put on jeans and long sleeve shirt and go to Dubai for Mamka’s kiti moto. From 28 Mar to end Apr I’ve only not eaten there once because the kitchen was closed…so a total of 33 kiti motos. After that, back to the hotel…catch up on more messaging….and one last pint before going to bed.
A couple of weeks ago I went with Kibosho in his car to the other side of Moshi to visit his ageing parents at their banana plantation. It had been raining non stop for a number of days and the road was particularly muddy and we were lucky to reach our destination. He has his own house on the plot and I thought we might be staying the night there. The return journey under normal conditions would take 5mins but due to the rain it took over an hour. We slid sideways across the road and got stuck in the ditch at least a dozen times. He had friends who followed us on foot and pushed us out each time. It took me back to my childhood when my brothers and I would cower in the back of the car as Dad drove us home on those incredibly muddy roads. Not sure if we ever had to spend the night in the car.
The only things that can break the routine is going down towards the border to buy credit for my phones, or to go to the only ATM which is at the border on the TZ side. Fortunately, being right on the border, my Kenya SIM card gets excellent reception, as it’s the one in my better phone.
The only other thing of note to happen were a couple of trips to Moshi. My TZ visa was expiring on the 30th and the TZ govt said visas could be extended by one month at no extra cost. Moshi only about 25 miles with an immigration office there. I couldn’t extend at the border immigration. I went last Monday but was given a form to fill in and told to get two referees. Spent Tues sorting that out then went back Wed. All was fine…waited a couple of hours….they had to return my passport by 3:30 as that when the office closed !! Managed to 3 refs in the end, just in case. The top council official. And the most senior govt official of the district …the committee chairman of the local ruling party. And one from the hotel as they are hosting me. I was very pleased with myself!!!
Nothing more to relate. At least I have more freedom here than in Kenya. The bars are open and there’s no 7 p.m. curfew. I think I would’ve gone nuts had I been in Kenya during lockdown….and it’s been extended by a further 3 weeks.
Mandazi & chai. Kina ni wakati ni wakari ni chai. I can’t think of a better place to be stuck…except possibly Malini ? or even Lamu?