USARiver

April 24, 2026

Thursday 23 April 2026

It's under 3 hours flight and I got a glimpse of Kilimanjaro.

It was beautifully green flying over Tanzania.

Arrived safely at Kilimanjaro International Airport, between Moshi and Arusha, I and got a surprise when they asked for my yellow fever vaccine. I'd forgotten about this but remember finding my vaccine book at the last minute. Did I pack it?? The last pocket of many in my bags had it - phew!!

I have two very full, very bags with my clothes, gifts, lots of wine and heavy things for the lodge. I split the wine equally but put both electrical appliances in one bag. First win was that they only asked for that bag to be checked. I heard them telling the guy next to me that duty is payable if value of bag contents is over 50 dollars. I was fine, but would be believe that. I confused him and myself with much conversions of the cost of the blenders from rands to dollars and convinced him they were inexpensive items. Being friendly always helps and soon he said I was welcome to go, no charge. Got away with my wine bottles (they are gifts for my hosts). Yay.

My dear friend was waiting for me, looking glam as always.

We helped Peter, a British soldier who's driver never arrived with a lift, and our driver left us a Rivertrees. I love it here.

We had beer shandy and were treated with Columbus monkeys playing in the beautiful trees. They have such beautiful long bushy white tails. There were also smaller Sykes monkeys.

Our friend, Erica and her driver arrived to fetch us and we swapped into the land rover for the last bit home as the road is in a bad state from the rains.

Twiga Lodge next to Arusha National Park is in USARiver. It's the home of Paul and Erica Sweet and is absolutely beautiful and they are so such lovely hosts, it's wonderful to be back visiting them. We unpacked the car and had a fun evening together.

Friday 24 April 2026

I woke up to Meru sneaking through the clouds.

We had a relaxing day in this magical spot.

Saturday 25th April 2026

I went for a run - enough of eating, drinking and sitting around.

The first road I took came to a dead end, but I got to pet a sweet old dog (growling at the younger one). I then followed a motorbike across a boggy field and ran through a village area, passing everyone in church. It was more walking than running because of the muddy roads but felt good to be out and exploring. I looped to the road we drove in on, passing the entrance to Arusha National Park.

Then I made pancakes. Lots of them!

We prepared puddings and Maetha cooked the chicken and ribs. Erica prepared salads and later we made konyagis and chatted on the deck while waiting for our guests.