And so we arrive in Bukoba!

Finally the day came and early Saturday morning we assembled outside the hotel to catch taxis to the airport.  Of course this is Africa (TIA) so only one taxi had been ordered for four adults, one child and heaps of luggage.  The taxis are not big here either.  We eventually arrived at Dar airport where I sent texts to all my St. Kilda supporting friends and relations after Essendon's third victory over them in a row.

We caught a turbo prop with Precision Air to Mwanza on the southern shore of Lake Victoria.  This was about two hours.  Then we caught an Auric Airlines Cessna Caravan (Google it! One engine, one pilot!) across the lake to Bukoba - about 40 minutes.  The plane obligingly did a big sweep around the town before landing on the grass strip.

We were met by Jenny's local colleagues and taken to our respective houses.  Mark, Michelle and Abraham are in a large house in the centre of town.  We haven't seen them since so don't know how they are faring.  Our house is high above town to the south with a great view over the lake to the east..  It's about a 30 minute work to Jenny's office and the same into town.  Walking back up the steep hill is hard for a couple of old mzungus and I suspect we will get to know a couple of the taxi drivers quite well.

Our house is larger than we were expecting.  It has three bedrooms, a nice loungeroom with a servery into the kitchen.  There's another room off the kitchen and a basic toilet (a squat type) and shower (cold).  We're buying a few bits and pieces each day to start making it a home.  We have a high wall around the house and the large back yard has the foundations laid for another, smaller house.  It's very untidy at the moment with bricks and rubbish lying around but we will tidy up and get some outdoor furniture.

If you are interested you can see our house on Google Earth at S 01° 20' 42.4", E 31° 48', 09.7" elevation 1285 m.

We have hundreds of neighbours who all return our greetings as they pass by.  There is a large girls secondary boarding school down the road so there is plenty of traffic but it is still really quiet for the most part.  The local kids find us endlessly fascinating for some reason.  Every time we step out the front we hear little cries of 'mzungu mzungu!".

We are surrounded by banana, coffee, pawpaw and avocado trees.  There is also a patch of huge eucalyptus just down the road that looks like it should have koalas.  Our yard is almost devoid of vegetation but there are trees and birds everywhere and I can happily spend an hour sitting quietly to see what turns up.

Some of the birding highlights so far are Fish Eagle, Augur Buzzard, Blue-spotted Wood Dove, Ross's Turaco, Eastern Plantain Eater, Yellow-rumped Tinkerbird, African Paradise Flycatcher, White-headed Saw-wing, Black-lored Babbler, Rüppell's Starling, Violet-backed Starling, African Thrush, Bronzy Sunbird, Green-headed Sunbird, Baglafect Weaver and Grey-headed Nigrita. One gets the feeling that just about anything could turn up.  I met Neil Baker of the Tanzanian Bird Atlas project in Dar last week and he has persuaded me to keep plenty of geo-referenced records.  One problem I'm having is the ability to identify raptors flying overhead.  One I've seen on several occasions seems to match Eurpoean Honey Buzzard but they shouldn't be here at this time of the year.  I'll keep working on it.

I've been a bit crook for the last couple of days but am on the mend and will take over the domestic duties from tomorrow.  Shopping is quite different here.  There are a couple of small supermarkets where it is possible to get most of what you need and luxury items like tinned fish and deodorant.  Prices in these shops is higher than from the market and small stores.  It can be really hard to find what you want at the market etc however and it all takes longer.  We have to keep reminding ourselves to operate in African time.

Wednesday 4 August, Bukoba