Rain Delays Play...

24/12/09

A few days ago I was complaining about the weather, and how it should never be hot on the run up to Christmas, it just didn’t seem right. As it turned out, I was making a prediction of sorts. The weather was actually cool...no blazing and offensive sunlight, just overcast and cool. By cool I am guessing it was probably about 18-20°C, but it still felt chilly enough to put on a jumper!
Today I had another day off. I know it seems that I am not working a tremendous amount at the moment, but technically I have not yet started. I was told that today I was going sightseeing, and that I should bring my camera. I dutifully obliged. Salum and I headed in the general direction of Mwanza (another town on the shore of Lake Victoria), but after a while we turned away from the Lake and the car was pointed at some mountains. Our destination was the huge Bugonzi Waterfall which is fairly close to Kamachumu.
The road was generally quite good for most of the journey, so I wasn’t too upset when there were bumpy areas of the road! As it was about 80km from Bukoba to Kamachumu, of which about 5km was on bad roads, I certainly had no complaints! The weather was slowly crawling in on us as we drove towards the waterfalls which made a lovely addition to the already stunning scenery.
On the approach to the plateau where the waterfall is located you can just about make out a thin, almost silver, line that cuts down through the rocks. This, is the waterfall. From far away you get a great impression of the scale of the waterfall, and a chance to admire the rock formations and the entirety of the setting in general. We stopped a couple of times en route so that I could take a couple of pictures and Salum could make the occasional phone call.
It took just over an hour to get to the village of Kamachumu. Along the way Salum had told me about how the village was very pretty and how it seemed to differ from many other Tanzanian villages. I was somewhat sceptical about this but as it turned out, there was something that set this village apart. I have no idea what it was though. For the most part, Kamachumu looks very similar to most villages, but there was something special about the place. The people seemed friendlier and they seemed less curious to see a white man arriving at the village, despite my assumptions that very few white people do pass through that area. Along the roads are trees that have a bright yellow flower that behave in similar ways to the blossom trees in England. Underneath these trees the road looks golden with all the petals that have dropped down.
Bukoba is somewhere around about 4,000 feet above sea level (I tend to get confused with that measure because the Lake is so big that it seems almost like it is a sea). Kamachumu must be somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 feet above sea level. As the clouds started to roll in the nearby radio mast was completely covered by the clouds. The clouds were so close to the mountains that it would have been possible to kick a football into the clouds and lose sight of it. I’m sure the clouds were no more than 10-15 metres above head height.
Having made an enquiry into the population of the town, Salum set off to find out from the locals. We asked random people on the street, members of the local CCM organisation and were advised to ask at the hospital and other significant institutions. I decided that this would be a bit much. Instead we started to drive to the hospital, apparently it was very modern and a nice building. Salum was then going to take me to the top of the waterfall, and he was about to show me the hydroelectric dam, but because the weather had closed so fast it was not safe to go close to the edge of the plateau.
Instead we started the drive back to Bukoba through a curtain of rain that was ridiculously heavy. Salum kept describing it as “big rain” which has a certain charm to it. The rain continued until we had arrived back in the house. I was meant to be going on a half day tour to Musila Island. The weather put a halt to that idea though. I am still waiting for the opportunity to get out to the island. It sits so prominently off the lake shore that it is so appealing. I hope the weather holds off for a day soon so that I get to head out there.
I spent the rest of the day at rest. I am getting good at doing very little each day. It’s quite a talent. Anyways, as tomorrow is Christmas I hope that I’ll have something interesting to entertain you all with then. For now, I am off to do something strenuous...maybe go to bed.