Usambara mountains: 3rd Aug 09

Got up for an early breakfast cooked by Henry of Sausage, scrambled eggs and beans – we needed sustenance as a big walk was ahead – 6 hours up the hills to visit various places. The landscape around here is beautiful, but we’re not used to hill climbing – a good challenge! We encountered a chameleon in the roadside and all took turns holding it – after that we went to the Irente orphanage where babies and toddlers are housed until they can be placed with relatives or new families – some families that have hit hard times put their children into the orphanage for their first couple of years so at least they get all the nutrition they need at the start. The kids were amazing and took to Matt and I straight away – for some reason whenever we go to a place the kids love us – must have been all that playing with Stasia and Soraya over the years! I had three kids crawl up and spent ages playing with them. After that we walked to the view point where you could see for miles across the Masai Steppe, then on to a traditional lunch of cheese and jam – together (bit weird!). In the afternoon we hiked back to the campsite and relaxed for a few hours before Henry cooked us a traditional African meal and showed us how to eat it with our hands. Hmmm, beef stew eaten with your fingers – a challenge I rose to but Matt bottled it and used a fork! In the evening we all got a bit merry on the local spirit (Kanyaki – basically Gin). About midnight we were joined by a couple of drunk locals and had a laugh playing them the latest British pop hits on Matt’s ipod speaker – they love La Roux’s ‘in for the kill’, lots of finger clicking and head bobbing!