In October last year, my husband ordered a new tractor for the farm, all the way from Holland. It was put onto a container in December & sent via ship across the ocean to the Tanzanian coastal town/port of Tanga. It arrived, and was cleared by customs, just last week - not too bad as it made it here in less than 6 months. It was then transported by truck from Tanga to the farm, and arrived last Saturday amidst great excitement ! Here's a photo above, of the container being opened. (There were actually 2 identical tractors 'on board' but one was for another farmer). We had to bring in all the spares and spare tyres too, as these are hard to get here !
The staff look on and help where they can, as the new tractor is slowly unloaded - it actually took us most of the day on Saturday to offload them both !
The tractor is a brand new 2008 model, voted "Tractor of The Year" and is a New Holland T7050 model. It has aircon in the cab, GPS, sound system and is beautifully carpeted & finished. The body is made of a thick, durable plastic which I have never seen before. Equipment like this, whilst quite common in Europe, is just not found here and as far as we know these are the first 2 tractors of their kind in Tanzania, and possibly in East Africa ?
Mikka, our most experienced & trusted driver, is being trained by hubby on how to drive and care for the tractor. (He's driving it above with our zero till planter behind it, planting maize).
Our farm staff are very proud of the fact that our farm is the first to have such a smart tractor, and news has quickly spread around our region to both the nearby villages and large & small subsistence farmers. Local cattle & goat herders stop in their tracks & gawk when they see it from afar as they pass by the farm and we had visitors on Sunday who came out to see the tractor, and more coming out today and tomorrow, too. We've all been for a ride in it and everyone has been posing and having their photo's taken with it - it's actually quite funny to think what a sensation it has caused !
My husband of course, is like a little boy at Christmas time and this tractor is like his new 'toy' ! So .... excuse me if you will, I have lunch to prepare for the next lot of visitors due to arrive any minute to see the new tractor, have their photo taken with/in/on/next to it and go for a quick ride.
The things we do in Tanzania for weekend entertainment, 'eh ?!
