After yesterdays hard ride we have another day off the bikes at the Mazumbai Nature Preserve.  We are staying in the Mazumbai Guest house which adjoins the nature preserve. It is a combination of spectacular mountain vistas and manicured colonial charm.  The guest house was originally a coffee and then a tea plantation.  It is a quite nice place considering how remote we are.  Absolutely incredible views of the nature preserve and the surrounding countryside.

I think that we all slept very soundly last night after yesterday’s workout.  It was a late breakfast this morning at 8:00.  There is no food service here so Friends of Usambara has brought their own cook.  This morning we started the day with pancakes, fruit, popcorn and peanuts.  I’ve never had popcorn for breakfast before, but it actually seemed to work.

After breakfast most of us went for a walk in the forest.  The Mazumbai is called the Galapagos of Africa because of the diversity of the flora and fauna and because it has never be exploited by humans.  We saw a group of black and white colobus monkeys.  They are very shy, but we finally spotted them in the distance.  The picture below shows one of the unique trees we encountered.  It has huge roots that look like buttresses.  The ones on this tree were a couple of meters high.  Isa estimated that the tree was 100 meters.

We came back to the guest house for lunch.  Like breakfast, it was also very unique – and African vegetarian pizza.  At least that is what we called it.  It had a base of dough topped with various vegetables and spaghetti (left over from last nights dinner).  Without refrigeration the cook needs to make some adjustments, but Stuart seems to be quite adept at it.

After lunch it was time for much needed bike maintenance and then a very peaceful nap.