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The following is a travelog of Tanzania, made by Cathy's father, Gene Stringer from a recent trip he and his wife, Ida Mary, made. He has laid it out in nine pages. Arusha ArrivalWe arrived at Kilimanjaro airport at 10:30 PM local time. The Customs agent was taken aback when we told him the value of my cameras and telescope. He called his supervisor over and they questioned the use of the equipment. It seems that special permission is required for bringing in goods over $1,000 in value. We explained that these were not "goods" for commercial purposes, but were for gifts and personal use. After a discussion the agent said to his supervisor "I think we must look away on this one", and we were allowed to pass. Dan met us at the airport and drove us the 35 miles or so back to Arusha in convoy with another SUV. We couldn't see much in the dark, but the road was relatively smooth until we turned onto Ilboru, the road leading to the Smith's house. The road was unpaved and full of rocks and holes , treating us to some spine-wrenching jolts as we climbed up the hill and turned into the drive leading to the house. At the entrance we were confronted with a tall wrought-iron barred gate and two loudly barking dogs (mixed breed German Shepherds) named Thelma and Louise . The night watchman (duty hours from 6:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m.) opened the gate for us. The grounds were flood lighted all night. The front courtyard was graveled and was just large enough to accommodate two vehicles (a Mitsubishi SUV and a Toyota Land Cruiser) and a turn around space. House and Grounds The next day we toured the house and grounds and found them to be very comfortable.
The grounds are about 1/5 acre surrounded by an 8 foot chain link fence imbedded
into a thick hedge of thorn-bush (similar to Hawthorn). The house faces East, a ranch style (about 2,000 sq ft) on a concrete slab, with a small verandah from the front door forming an "el" around the north side. On the north side of the verandah is a picnic table where we eat lunches and have afternoon tea. The house has 10' ceilings, two baths, four bedrooms a large kitchen, and a living-dining area. The living room has a brick fireplace - the only heating unit in the house. The living-dining area and hallway floors are of glazed red tile. The kitchen and baths are tiled. The bedroom floors are sealed concrete with area rugs. All the woodwork (furniture, ceilings, doors, storage cabinets and baseboards) are of African hardwoods, very beautiful. The windows are all screened, with glass jalousies and protected with decorative steel gratings for security. There is a view of the top of Mount Meru (13,000ft.) from the dining room window. There is no need for air conditioning (at the altitude of 4500 feet the temperature ranges from low 60s to high 80s F in summer). Electricity is supplied at 240 VAC 50 HZ with English outlets. We use a traveler's power adapter for charging AA batteries for the digital camera. The Mac power adapter works fine on its own. Electricity is subject to momentary fluctuations and occasional power outages. We had one period of 22 hours without power while we were here. Water via the indoor plumbing is good for the usual bathing, clothes & dish washing, and general clean-up, but not for consumption before boiling. The Smiths use a Katadyne filter on the kitchen counter to process rain water during this wet season and tap water during dry. The staff includes Justin, the gardener and daytime gate keeper (6 days/week), two night watchmen (alternate weeks), Paulina, the housekeeper (5 days/week), an occasional maid as needed, a daytime driver, the dogs, Thelma & Louise, and two indoor cats, Rose and Safi (means "good"). The landlord of this estate lives next door and leases this facility to the Lutheran Church. |
There are small well manicured front and back yards and several tropical plants
and bushes with beautiful flowers. Justin, the gardener, used to cut the grass
with a machete until Dan bought a push-type reel lawnmower. There are clothes
lines (solar powered clothes drier) and space for a small garden in back. At
the front gate there is a small gate house, and at the back property line a
tool storage building is under construction (they poured the concrete floor
for the second story while we were there).