Gibbs Farm

The chairs outside the farm

The view from the farm

Our Lunch!

The path among the coffee plants

Cabbbage and Lettuce

This morning we tore down camp, which was quite a task considering we had about 8 canvas tents plus all of the kitchen supplies, chairs, tables, mattresses, and gear.  We managed to get out of camp around 10:00 am and drove our 4 safari vehicles plus the supply truck to Karatu, about 1.5 hours away.  The drive was really pleasant and we got to drive though the mountains on a beautifully paved road.  I couldn’t believe just how green the landscape was!  The few rainstorms we had must have done wonders for the foliage in the area.  There was even green grass on the ground in some places!

We arrived at the guesthouse in Karatu, dropped our stuff, and hung out for an hour before lunch.  Colleen and I are sharing a room again (of course!) and we discovered that we had a TV in our room! We watched the end of Batman and then loaded up the cars to drive to Gibbs Farm, a tropical rainforest resort just outside of town.  It was like walking into a completely different world!  It was so lush and green, and had tons of dark green foliage.  It reminded me of the rainforest in Costa Rica.  We ate lunch at the farm and it was one of the best meals so far.  It was buffet style and they had spinach salad, cabbage, cooked carrots, beets, pasta salad with sausage, pork with chutney, mashed potatoes, yellow lentils, beans, meat pie, tomato salad, fruit salad, bread, and spinach soup.  And for dessert, they had chocolate mousse, cake, rice pudding, and best of all, rhubarb crumble.  It was so delicious!  Many of us stuffed ourselves full only because we knew we wouldn’t get a meal this good in a long time. 

After lunch, Brennan and I took a walk around the beautiful paths on the farm.  We walked through rows and rows of coffee plants, and it reminded me so much of the Christmas tree farm in our backyard at home.  The landscape looked so similar, and the way the coffee was planted in rows made me think of the pine trees at the farm back home. It really made me homesick to see all the trees and forest.  Hearing the wind in the trees made me miss fall so much! 

When Brennan and I returned to where the group was hanging out, we found out that they had already left to go on a tour of the farm.  After much searching, we finally found the group.  We got a tour of the coffee plantation, the vegetable gardens, the cactus gardens, and the traditional healing clinic.  I loved the part where we got to see and try all of the vegetables and herbs!  They grow cabbage, lettuce, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, beets, turnips, celery, asparagus, beans, corn, and about a hundred other things.  It was so neat!  They use all the produce from the farm in their kitchen, where they cook meals for their guests.  After the walk, we headed back to the guest house where Colleen and I watched Spiderman.  There’s just something about having a TV available….it’s so comforting.  Normally I’m not one to watch a ton of TV, but here it’s just so nice to escape for a half an hour and not have to think about being in Tanzania. 

Dinner tonight is at our guest house and should be typical Tanzanian food: rice, French fries, beans, chicken, fruit, etc.  Then tomorrow we head to Laetoli to see the famous Laetoli footprints (the first footprints ever found, and evidence for the emergence of bipedalism in humans).  We camp overnight at the rim of the Ngorogoro Crater and then tour the crater the following day.  It’s nice to finally have a change of pace! 

That’s all for now, take care J

Erin

Swahili Word of the Day: Shamba [shahm-bah]=farm