West Kilimanjaro Scenery .....

It's so dry in Tanzania at the moment, although we've had a little rain recently it is soon soaked up by the arid earth. The photo above & below shows what the landscape is like opposite our farm in uncultivated areas - to give you an idea of how dry it is at the moment.

The base of the mountain which you can just make out in the photo's, is Mt Meru (Africa's 5th highest peak, and a dormant volcano).

The photo below shows the foothills of Mt. Meru. As I've mentioned on the blog once before, several climbers consider Mt. Meru to be a more challenging climb than Mt. Kilimanjaro - although Kilimanjaro is the better known of the two - so everyone wants to climb her !

We have a huge problem with illegal cattle grazing on our farm right now. They are coming across the Kenyan border at night - by the hundreds - grazing on our precious maize crops destined for the local Tanzanian market (a huge food shortage is predicted this year if the rains aren't plentiful enough, so maize is like gold at the moment). Our neighbours have had so much damage done by these cattle on their farm, too. Hundreds of hooves churning up their neatly ploughed fields ready for planting - or trampling crops just beginning to germinate.

The cattle below (crossing a road which borders our farm) are in good condition compared to many I've seen around, which are nothing more than skin & bone. Generally, the smaller herds are in better condition that the larger ones. I feel sorry for the poor, starving cattle - it's not their fault, they are just helpless & hungry animals.

Below is the sign (about an hour from our farm) for the Machame gate/entrance to the Kilimanjaro National Park - the mountain is situated inside the park. The 'Machame Route' is one of the routes used by climbers to climb the mountain (although not the most popular one).

I hope that you enjoyed this quick tour of what the area around & outside our farm looks like !