Day 264 - 265 / 29 - 30

Date: 1 and 2 January 2023
Sleeping location: Hippo Garden Lodge, Sitalike,Tanzania 
Distance (km today/total/total Part 2): 40 / 16297 / 1460
Estimated climb (m today/total/total Part 2): 200 / 141100 / 23100
Sponge: food
Day in three words: Restorative hippo therapy

I woke up late (for me in Africa) and spent the rest of the morning lazily repacking and trying to wash as much mud as possible down the drain. I went for a leisurely lunch after this, during which I did some research into the Mlete Mzungu song. It’s by a female Danish-Tanzanian artist, so the mzungu in question is her, and it has been co-opted by the fans of Simba FC since they signed a Serbian player. I found the lyrics and translated them into English, and they represent such beautiful poetry that I’ve included them at the bottom of this post. I only had 40 flat km on tarmac, but despite the ease of the ride Maggie was grumbling at me as she still needed a proper strip down and clean. I didn't want to lube the chain, as it would be a lot easier to clean her with it dry, so I kept squirting water onto the chain and cassette to keep her quiet. 

I stopped in Sitalike, just outside Katavi national park, and went to a camp with a good reputation for animal spotting. It was quite rundown but quiet and delightful. The owner lady seemed like she couldn't really be arsed to prepare a room for me but eventually relented when I hung around for five minutes. It was a lovely place. I had a big balcony looking down towards the river with trees next to it providing partial shade. There were lots of hippos in the river, it was hard to tell how many because they are mostly underwater, but seemingly dozens. They made funny noises frequently and always backed up out of the water to do a poo, which was flung out vigorously in all directions. 

I lugged a table out onto the balcony and sat, writing and reading and watching the hippos and other creatures, including lots of interesting birds and some water monitor lizards. At sunset a troupe of monkeys came back to the trees above me and huddled up in pairs for the night. Close to darkness the lady came by and I asked where I could go and get food nearby; she was so horrified at the idea "because of all the dangerous animals" that she immediately brought me a tasty plate of rice meat and salad. Maybe it was hippo meat. I didn't figure out what the hippos did at night because I didn't dare get close to the river in case they came out where I was. 

The next day was a full rest day and I lazed around until lunchtime, then gave Maggie a thorough strip down and clean: cassette off (full of mud), jockey wheels out of derailleur (full of mud), re-lubing brake cables and re-indexing brakes (full of mud). After a couple of hours she was purring again. It was a sunny day and there were thousands of dragonflies over the river, and one blue one kept landing on Maggie whilst I was fixing her up. 

After this I went for a well-earned siesta as it was hot. I knew that Charles and Anne-Claire were heading here today and upon rising again I saw that they were now in the chalet next door. I also saw that the troupe of monkeys had come back and had pinched one of my dish sponges. Thankfully they discarded it once they found the pineapple remnants from the day before that I’d thrown into a bush.

For dinner we pooled resources and I made a bean stew thing which was surprisingly nice (and a lot better than the one you get in every single cafe here). In the twilight Anne-Claire suddenly noticed that a hippo had come out of the water on our side and was coming towards us, and it got within about ten metres before deciding it didn't fancy it and flopping back into the river. We carried on cooking before suddenly realising that a hippo had now managed to sneak past us, despite weighing one and a half tonnes, and was moving around the camp munching on grass. Subsequently we had to play hippo hide and seek every time we stepped outside, in case it was there lurking. Now I understand why the lady thought that walking around at night was a bad idea.

**********************************************

Mlete Mzungu

Ohhh ohhh ohhh...
Play in step
Don't step on your partner
We play in step
Don't step on your partner
And the party don't sleep
Don't sleep don't sleep
We are always awake
Don't sleep don't sleep
And the party don't sleep
Don't sleep don't sleep
We are always awake
Don't sleep don't sleep
And wings
When I'm drunk like wings
When I get drunk when I get drunk
Bring the white man
Bring the white man
Bring the white man
Bring the white man
Bring the white man
Oh oh oh oh oh
If you see me, I am there even if I am not
Adequate protection
Too many people
Burning burning in the kitchen sector
No kurun run is taboo for us
Ash ash glass sip sip oh
Ash ash like grandpa and kiko
Aaah the two of us
Keep your upper body down
Aah, it's not a secret
When I play white and kill it kill it
Aah grind hard
Trample, trample what smart
Chicha we are chicha
Chi chi chi chi
Chicha we are from chicha
Chi chi chi chi
Chicha we are chicha
Chi chi chi chi
Chicha we are from chicha
And wings
When I'm drunk like wings
When I get drunk when I get drunk
Bring the white man
Bring the white man
Bring the white man
Bring the white man
Bring the white man
Chicha
Chicha


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