Due to the fact that we have to wait for the car parts, we will be spending an extra day at Utengule. This is by no means a hardship; the longer we stay here the less chance there is that we want to leave. It is so beautiful and relaxing, I feel like I’m having a ‘real’ holiday.
This morning we sorted out the usual admin around the pool. I hear the weather in Jhb is so cold, around 13 degrees today and here we are in our costumes, dipping into the pool to cool off when we get too hot.
This afternoon we organised to go on a tour of the coffee plantation. To get there, it’s about a ½ hour hike through the mountains. The two lodge dogs, Red and Chico, were to be our guides; they ran on ahead and waited for us to catch up every so often, especially if we came to an area where paths crossed. The walk was through stunning forest vegetation and we crossed the odd little stream along the way. We were marvelling at our guides, until the end of the trip, when obviously enjoying their walk, they took us on an extended walk around a section of plantation.
Eventually, we arrived at the offices and the assistant manager took us on a guided tour of the plantation bushes and showed us the harvesting process. It is a lot more scientific than one would think; I had pictured a couple of beans being picked, dried out and ‘hey presto’ we have Nescafe, or if they have a crappy harvest, we get Ricoffy. Not so, there are different bushes, the main one here being Arabica but they are experimenting with hybrids. Picking has to be done at exactly the right time, when the berries turn a blood red, this is done by the local ladies and they are paid per bucket full. Then there is a whole process of depulping, cleaning and drying out. The roasting is done at their factory in Dar or the green coffee beans are transported overseas. Gray loves his coffee and now knows what goes into getting his morning cup.
Then it was time to set off on our walk back, I was mindful that a good deal of the walk there was downhill. I never realised how much of a downhill till the return trip, which was now an uphill. It was still enjoyable and at least we felt like we had earned our evening drinks.
I know we have bragged about some spectacular sun sets along the way but one could never get tired of the beauty of nature here; the pink skies spread over the distant highland mountains with the red sun sliding down behind them.
We had dinner with the managers of Utengule, Tony and Sharon, a stunning couple who obviously love living here but then who wouldn’t. I ordered prawns, sometimes a dodgy thing to do when you are 860km from the nearest coast line; I got 3 prawns on my plate, they were the biggest prawns I have ever seen and absolutely delicious, I struggled to finish them. We ended off another kak evening in Africa with our new nightcap – Utengule coffee.
P.S. Gray tried another local brew today, Ndovu and it looks like he has made a decision for his brew of choice in Tanzania - Tusker.
Sun set - you need to be here!!!!!!!!
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