Third letter from Africa.
It's four weeks today since we arrived here at Karonga so we feel like part of the landscape now - a hot and dusty part at that!
You may be wondering what the climate is like. Up until the last few days the inside temperature has averaged around 31 - 32oC in the afternoons dropping to 29oC at bedtime and 25 - 26oC at dawn.
However this week it's warmed up and was 34oC inside yesterday, over 30oC at 11pm and 27oC this morning - and we've been told it will get worse :)!! It's been a lot windier lately too so everything gets covered in fine dust. (The fan we purchased is getting well used!)
We've noticed a strange phenomenom here. We were told all the dead looking trees on the barren hillsides would turn green once the rains come in December, but in the last few weeks we've noticed new leaves on many trees and shrubs. The chief told us that a month or so before the rainy season begins the water table starts to rise and this causes the sap to start flowing in the vegetation - interesting and encouraging!
After the first few busy weeks things have slowed down and we're trying not to get impatient playing the waiting game - waiting for Ed to get back from Australia (another week? 10 days?) to interview applicants for the position of our Agricultural Assistant, after which he (our new assistant) will contact village leaders to arrange our visits.
Meanwhile some of the highlights of the last two weeks are:
- A weekend in Mzuzu which is a fairly big town about 3 hrs south in the cooler hills. The steep winding road with slow or broken down trucks was tortuous and the music festival we went for was a bit of let down though the beach resort location for it was nice.
- Coming back we diverted to have lunch at "The Mushroom Farm" 10 kms up an incredibly steep road with 19 hairpin bends (one of which has to be negotiated with a three point turn!) to the very basic, quirky restaurant and accommodation perched on the edge of the cliff with the most incredible view of the lake. They didn't have any mushrooms (!) but we did enjoy our meal and consider it a very memorable occasion!!
- More time spent digging up and potting plants for rehab. of the tailings area.
- A really good public meeting on Monday with the chief, local agricultural advisor and about 30 of the local women from the village near the minesite who will be involved in producing vegies for the mine kitchen. They are friendly, enthusiastic and rearing to go! They said they will bag up cow manure for the gardens (something they don't usually do) and get a whole lot of garden beds prepared by Friday. We will then transport the manure to the gardens and help them plant the first gardens. I'm sure they could do it themselves, but because they are not familiar with a lot of the vegetables we want them to grow they want us to make sure they do it right! We got a range of packet seeds in Mzuzu and have put in an order for cans of various seeds for later on.
- On the weekend I worked with the gardener at our house to plant a personal vegie garden. C and K had a whole lots of seeds someone sent out from Aust. and said to feel free to get some going. Paladin rents the house and employs a young guy to look after the established gardens and he seemed happy to have something to do besides watering.
- C and K got back from Australia yesterday and had to go straight up to camp with a car load of workers while we were driving an hour south to pick up a South African Biologist who also needed to get to camp - Chris took him up after lunch.
Well, enough of my ramblings, cheerio until next time,
Love, Chris and Anne.
It's four weeks today since we arrived here at Karonga so we feel like part of the landscape now - a hot and dusty part at that!
You may be wondering what the climate is like. Up until the last few days the inside temperature has averaged around 31 - 32oC in the afternoons dropping to 29oC at bedtime and 25 - 26oC at dawn.
However this week it's warmed up and was 34oC inside yesterday, over 30oC at 11pm and 27oC this morning - and we've been told it will get worse :)!! It's been a lot windier lately too so everything gets covered in fine dust. (The fan we purchased is getting well used!)
We've noticed a strange phenomenom here. We were told all the dead looking trees on the barren hillsides would turn green once the rains come in December, but in the last few weeks we've noticed new leaves on many trees and shrubs. The chief told us that a month or so before the rainy season begins the water table starts to rise and this causes the sap to start flowing in the vegetation - interesting and encouraging!
After the first few busy weeks things have slowed down and we're trying not to get impatient playing the waiting game - waiting for Ed to get back from Australia (another week? 10 days?) to interview applicants for the position of our Agricultural Assistant, after which he (our new assistant) will contact village leaders to arrange our visits.
Meanwhile some of the highlights of the last two weeks are:
- A weekend in Mzuzu which is a fairly big town about 3 hrs south in the cooler hills. The steep winding road with slow or broken down trucks was tortuous and the music festival we went for was a bit of let down though the beach resort location for it was nice.
- Coming back we diverted to have lunch at "The Mushroom Farm" 10 kms up an incredibly steep road with 19 hairpin bends (one of which has to be negotiated with a three point turn!) to the very basic, quirky restaurant and accommodation perched on the edge of the cliff with the most incredible view of the lake. They didn't have any mushrooms (!) but we did enjoy our meal and consider it a very memorable occasion!!
- More time spent digging up and potting plants for rehab. of the tailings area.
- A really good public meeting on Monday with the chief, local agricultural advisor and about 30 of the local women from the village near the minesite who will be involved in producing vegies for the mine kitchen. They are friendly, enthusiastic and rearing to go! They said they will bag up cow manure for the gardens (something they don't usually do) and get a whole lot of garden beds prepared by Friday. We will then transport the manure to the gardens and help them plant the first gardens. I'm sure they could do it themselves, but because they are not familiar with a lot of the vegetables we want them to grow they want us to make sure they do it right! We got a range of packet seeds in Mzuzu and have put in an order for cans of various seeds for later on.
- On the weekend I worked with the gardener at our house to plant a personal vegie garden. C and K had a whole lots of seeds someone sent out from Aust. and said to feel free to get some going. Paladin rents the house and employs a young guy to look after the established gardens and he seemed happy to have something to do besides watering.
- C and K got back from Australia yesterday and had to go straight up to camp with a car load of workers while we were driving an hour south to pick up a South African Biologist who also needed to get to camp - Chris took him up after lunch.
Well, enough of my ramblings, cheerio until next time,
Love, Chris and Anne.
posted by Chris & Anne Mattinson @ 3:34 AM
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