The roof is now ready for thatching.

The first roof is thatched.

Chris' new TOYS!

The Dumper and the Bobcat arrive at Lupita.

Kassam drives the Bobcat off the "Tumbo". Note how the whole boat tips as he drives it off the edge of the boat and onto the island.

The Grader arrives in Kipili but in order for it to fit into the container the transporter has had to remove the 4 rear wheels. The question was, how would they get the grader out of the container? Answer: Tie some strong ropes to the back of it and PULL!

Out it comes, back first. Once it was out this far Chris was able to put the two rear wheels onto the Grader.

Slowly the driver, Kassam, inches the Grader out of the container using the 2 rear wheels and the two front wheels only.

The Grader comes crashing down out of the container, breaking the ramp of poles that it was on.

Finally it is almost out. Just two more wheels to be put onto the Grader and Kassam was then able to drive the front portion out of the container.

The Jetty on the north of Lupita.

The guys start work on a second jetty on the north side of the island. This jetty will be used on days when the wind blows from the south as this bay will be lovely and calm. To build the jetty the guys carry enormous rocks on their back or heads and throw them into the lake where the jetty is to be. Eventually the rocks form what you see below. Later Chris will build stone columns with a wooden deck which will cantilever out over the lake. The boats will be moored to this deck.

The rocks are first broken and then taken from the shore to the end of the jetty. It takes days and days for the guys to complete this mamoth task.

Chris supervises as the guys build the new jetty. Very slowly after tons and tons of rock are thrown into the lake, the jetty takes shape.

The new jetty on the north side of the island.

A view of the crystal clear water from the new jetty on the north side of the island.

Our Gym on Lupita

After owning a Fitness Club in Arusha for 2 years, exercise is very important to Chris and me. Six days a week we either run, cycle, do weights, Calanetics or Yoga to keep ourselves in shape.

We have built ourselves a small, thatched area in our compound which has become our open-air Gym. Tom very kindly left us a set of his adjustable weights when he was here in April and this we supplement with a home-made bench, 2 dumbells made from 5-pound hammers and 2 concrete barbells.

Our exercise regime has become quite infectious. The askaris (watchmen) on the island, join us for our runs and even accompany Chris when he does his eucalyptus pole workouts. Each man chooses his “girlfriend”, a short eucalyptus pole that is used as a weight, and with much grunting and groaning the guys do a full upper and lower body workout with their “girlfriends”.

My exercise equipment consists of a Yoga mat, exercise ball and some concrete weights made from old water bottles.

Who says you can’t keep in shape on a remote island?

Chris and Madonna on our meditation rock.

The Lupita Island football teams in their new football strip.

It's a dog's life.

Or is it a cats? Either way our animals LOVE the Island. And who can blame them?

Finally the grass is complete!

Months seem to have passed since we received our first bundles of uncleaned grass for the thatching. It did not take long for the word to get around that we were paying for bundles of uncleaned grass delivered to the workshop in Kipili. Fishing boats arrived from far and wide loaded with bundles and bundles of grass that were counted and then piled up next to the lake on the mainland. It became so overwhelming that Chris had to tell the villagers that he would only accept grass on Mondays and Tuesdays so that he could have the rest of the week to take the grass over to Lupita Island.

We soon realized that this was not ideal either. It took hours to load the grass onto the Tumbo, then transport it over to Lupita Island and then hours and hours for the guys to carry it up the hill. Chris employed an extra 40 workers just to move this grass but it was still coming in faster than we could move it. And this was just the start of the process. The grass still needed to be cleaned and bundled, ready for use by the thatchers.

Chris set up a team of guys on Lupita to clean the grass that had been brought to the island and one on the mainland. Every day for weeks and weeks 40 guys took bundles of the uncleaned grass and pulled them through a rough comb of nails to pull out the unsuitable sheaths. By the time a bundle had been cleaned it was half its original size. The cleaned grass was then neatly bundled and stacked.

On Saturday the last bundles of cleaned grass were loaded onto the Tumbo and brought to the Island. It took all day for the 140 workers to unload the grass and a day and a half to bring every last bundle up the hill. The grass is now neatly stacked and ready for use. I will never be able to look at another thatch roof again without thinking of the hard work that has gone into getting it to look like that.