Here we are!

On a hike in Usa River. It was a great day as we hiked along trails, a creek, roads, and through small fields of maize. Once I stopped worrying about nyoka (snakes) I had a great time! :-)
It's not hiking in the traditional sense (although you can do lots of that here) but it's a great chance to see how people are living out of the city.

We passed a huge old water pump that was working hard and generating electricity. We followed the paths up to a small bridge with a sign for a safari lodge. As we climbed the mossy brick steps past irrigation channels and hanging vines, it felt like we were in an Indiana Jones
movie. We swung open the gate and stepped into perfectly manicured lawns and gardens, surrounded by the lodge buildings. Ava was immediatley captivated by the horses and camels grazing on the lawns. Suddenly the tranquil scene was interrupted by two enormous snarling foaming...Dobermans! They tore around the corner of the lodge and headed straight at us. Cameron and Noah turned to run and I was shouting at them not to run, Mark was shouting at the dogs...Ava was determinedly making her way to the afore-mentioned horses and camels. Finally someone came out and retrieved the dogs and "welcomed" us. Yes, we did take a back way onto the grounds, but the bridge was marked with the lodge sign so you would think they might realize that someone might walk up. But I guess not--we're just the crazy people who actually walk without a specific purpose--since Tanzanians would never go there and "normal" people would drive up the main road. So now we can add "attacked by killer dogs" to our list of adventures here!




Along a spillway we ran across a couple of these interesting guys. I don't know--I didn't expect to see a nice-sized crab in a fresh-water resevoir. He wasn't very big, but he put up a tough show, clicking his claws and waving them at us as he sidled by. Cameron poked him with a stick and the crab grabbed it, then took it away and dropped it in the water, thereby disarming him and retreating safely.

Too bad my pic of the GINORMOUS spider (legs about 2 inches long--no lie) didn't turn out. Or maybe that's just as well.