And the answer is...

The oil cap, of course... Just a gaping hole in the top of the engine. Hmmm. (Got a nie shiny new yellow one now though) And the glass object is, apparently, a milk rattle. Nothing to do with small babies (no more of them around here, thank you very much...), but saves you making quite such a mess when boiling the milk if you want to have milk deliveries from a local cow and avoid TB and Brucellosis, etc. It was supposed to stop milk bioling over, but I have a talent that overcomes such devices...

Otherwise not much excitement to report. I'm sneaking off to the big outside world tomorrow morning with a safari guide who I met out in Grumeti when I was there and if I'm with him we can more or less claim I'm being a tourist. In return, I'm going to teach him a few new birds, which seems like a fair deal to me - hopefully it won't be pouring wet in the morning. And as to whether there ever will be a resolution to the current issues, I've been down with the lawyers again today. The letter for the minister is now all ready and sitting on my desk, but it's delivery has been delayed by the lawyers being in Dar earlier this week and having one last try at sorting things with immigration down there. We spoke to the senior person today, who's trying to get the instructions from Arusha overturned and he's asking for a few more days to try things, before we involve the minister. But I've explained that I've been asked to talk at a conference in Nairobi at the end of the month and wouldbe very keen to have my passport back by then, one way or another. And I'm told I really will know what's happening before then - certainly next week, I'm told. Which I take to mean, we'll probably hear something soonish... But definitive? Well, I'll believe it when I see it...