More oversized wildlife

Took a trip out to Lake Duluti today, about 20 minutes east of Arusha. The Mountain Village Lodge nearby provided an extremely tasty (and very reasonably priced) lunch with a view over the gardens down to the lake and complete with battalions of staff all of whom seemed to take delight in our children. Needless to say the children were on their best behaviour... rolling around on the floor, clambering up and down the steps, driving toys buses through the 'tunnels' (no smoking notices), racing out of the french windows, round the balconies and back in the main door repeatly and shouting "MORE CHIP!" The Mancub was a hit for a) being small and male; b) eating voraciously (he particularly liked the carrot balls and green beans - I didn't even get a taste) ; c) being small and male; d) chatting away loudly and e) being small and male. Kitty, despite her greater size and the indubitable disadvantage of being female, won approval for joining in a chorus of "Jambo Bwana" being sung to a birthday guest.

Having eaten our fill we ventured out to find a way down to the lake. Then we ventured some more having received instructions, then on our return from the vegetable patch we attempted to venture out again but were warned seriously that the path round the lake was extremely hazardous and totally impossible for children and that we would also have to pay $12 each and take a guide, but that we could drive down and take a look. So we drove down and discovered that, being (almost) resident, we could pay only 3000 shillings each (about £1.40) and that the path was delightful and entirely manageable with a bit of hand-holding over the steepest parts.

It was the first time we've really been out walking and seeing wildlife in beautiful wild place (you have to stay in a vehicle in Tarangire) and we spotted, amongst other things,  Malachite (below), Pied and Giant Kingfisher, several species of herons and egrets, several Nile Monitor Lizards (below) up to 1.5 metres long and an enormous millipede.

So, apart from the big news that it is saturday night and WE HAVE POWER! (i.e. the power rationing seems to have stopped now we've had lots of rain), let me leave you with some pictures.