The post for today comes again from Carole (with a photo from me of a woman tending here field on a distant hillside).  Thanks, Carole…

Still no internet at Shellu Lodge in Mkuzi, so I’m jotting down (the old diary way) a few words on our ride through several high-perched villages.  After a breakfast that included peanuts and popcorn (no joking here), we were off… Again, the mud, the deep ruts, the steep hills brought us to the Usambara Highlands with its amazing vistas and friendly people. One hill in particular was horrendously difficult: a never-ending, rough and rocky, “straight-up” style slope! Impossible to take a break unless we wanted to walk the rest. Made it to the top without stopping, but I thought my heart was going to explode!!! The children cheered us on with squeals of excitement, waves, smiles and bursts of laughter (probably at our expense since we were going so “pole pole”); some were even running alongside our bikes (yes, that’s how slow the grind up was). The last few kilometres were a vertiginous descent on a slightly better road, but the Gods were not favouring us: the skies opened up and a torrential rain washed the red earth down the hill, covering our legs, our clothes and our bikes with reddish brown muck. What an adventure! What a day! But hey, on the plus side, we had a shower instead of a bucket to wash up that evening.