A cat fight without cats

A quick update: Right now I am sitting in the sofa and watching Fanny and Linnea boxing the crap out of each other. Before that they stood on their heads... All just for fun! Nothing to worry about! :)

A short visit to the Rock city

Last weekend we went to Mwanza. A small vacation felt like a good idea after being here in Nkinga for eight weeks. 

The vacation started with a bus ride of 5 hours. The road between Nzega and Mwanza is really good. It is big and paved! Not at all like the roads in Nkinga, where big dust clouds form after every passing vehicle. Like here:

Upon arrival to the hotel we felt very spoiled, our room had a bathtub, a hair dryer and a view over the hotel swimming pool. The bed however, was extremely hard so one of us slept on no less than 8 pillows! Guess who...

Our hotel room!

Even though it rained every day we got a chance to try out the pool.

Maria relaxing in the hotel pool.

Mwanza 

Every part of Mwanza is not beautiful.

One of the thing we have missed the most is shopping. So upon arrival in Mwanza we walked the short distance down town and explored its various shops and markets. Some parts of the town are very nice while others are not.

When going to Mwanza we absolutly had to take a boat trip on the lake Victoria. We went to the national park Saa Nane island (two o'clock island). Us, two tanzanians and our guide had an adventurous journey out to the island. The boat ran out of gas. So the crew had to the only oar to paddle to shore to get some gas. 

After this episode we got safely to the island. We took a walk around it and then the tanzanians decided to go back while we stayed another couple of hours exploring the island by ourselves. This is what we saw:

Impalas were everywhere on the island.

Saa nane island has a very impressing nature with a lot of rocks.

The animals were not afraid of us.

However we were a little afaid of the crocodiles occupying the island. They hid in the vegetation lurking on us. That is what it felt like anyway!

The crocodiles' nest is just behind Maria.

A crocodile relaxing in the sun.

The last day in Mwanza was spent endulging in a luxorious dinner. We had Tilapia at hotel Tilapia. Whit a spectacular view of lake Victoria and good wine to go with it. 

We had dinner at Hotel Tilapia. 

Yummy yummy.. tilapia and mashed potatoes. 

Going home we met up with our new room mates, Fanny and Alexandra from Stockholm. We took the bus back to Nkinga together. Upon arrival in Nkinga we felt like home!

The view from our bus seats.

Time is quickly passing by…

And Internet has been really lousy the last two weeks. Maggan told us that it might be because of the rain. So we have not abandoned the blog it is just the Internet that has abandoned us.

We are going to Nzega today but we will try to upload some pictures from our visit to Mwanza later. Wish us good luck!

See you!

Ouch! You should not wish for too much...

Yes, we wanted rain! We even looked forward to the raining season! It has been so warm during the last two months so who could blame us?

However, we did not wish for rain during our mini vacation to Mwanza. So we were not exactly glad when we saw the weather forecast... it promises rain every day! Luckily for us that we brought our rain coats to Africa...

I'm singing in the rain...

At last the raining season has begun! We joyfully welcome it since it will bring a more favourable weather. It will be nice being able to stay outside more, now when it is no longer incredibly hot during the day! And maybe our soar noses will heal when the air is no longer so dry…

We greeted the rain in a good manner by going out for a walk just before the thunders and showers started. The result was an enjoyable but wet experience, a lot of peculiar glances from the villagers and completely drenched clothes.

In was nice to come inside and put on the fleece jacket! 

A drenched Linnea.

When we came home we warmed up some rose hip soup and ate it together with coconut cream and almond bisques. It tasted like a gourmet chef had made it! Thank you Linnea’s parents who sent the delicacies to us. 

Yummy yummy!

We hereby pronounce you “Lizard Mountain”

Last saturday we went to the Monkey Mountain together with the three medical students from Umeå. Maggan is in Dar es Salaam so we thought that it would be nice to show them some of the surroundings here in Nkinga. In addition, company is always enjoyable!

We have walked to the Monkey Mountain several times since Maggan showed it to us, but we have never seen even a single tiny monkey. However, we have seen loads of lizards… therefore we would now like to rename the Monkey Mountain to the Lizard Mountain! It seems like a more suitable name.

During our promenades we have stumbled across some amazingly fascinating lizards, have a look at these ones:

Why just choose one color when there are so many beautiful?

This lizard is sitting on a Baobab tree.

We are wondering if this might be the female of the same species as the one above.

A dying chameleon that we found on the road.

A close up on the chameleon.

A not so colorful lizard, even though very fascinating!

The totally amazing turquoise lizard. 

 And since we heard that lizards eat insects they have become our best friends. Long live the lizards!

Pigs’ heaven!

So, we had a great day today! It started with a day trip to a small village about an hour from Nkinga. We actually helped with the vaccination of children (oral vaccines, we didn’t dare give any shots) and we got to see more of the surroundings.

But the greatest joy of all – we had bacon for supper! For the first time in 2 months, we had bacon!  

Weighing of children under the tree.