The Third day of Christmas

Today belongs to our adorable cat, Maverick. He is a HUGE cat with an attitude to match. Both Asterix and Madonna know that he is the boss (and he does a good job at keeping Chris and me in line too).

He is very vocal and talks to us all day. He loves his food, is constantly hungry and really lets us know when he is not impressed with the selection of food on his buffet by pretending to cover it as though it is poo.

He also loves affection and will walk in front of us doing summersaults and landing on his back with his tummy exposed so that we can tickle him.

Maverick is under the impression that this is HIS island and that everything and everyone on it are for his benefit. Our dogs have 2 masters, but our cats have 2 servants, Chris and me.

Maverick is a very relaxed cat and the Island life really suits him. Here he is enjoying yet another hard day on Lupita.

The Fourth Day of Christmas

The fourth day of Christmas is for Phoebe. Phoebe is Maverick's sister and in contrast to him she is very shy and rather highly strung. She spends most of her day exploring the island, returning to the house at night for food and to curl up at the end of our bed on one of our feet.

Like Maverick, she is also a great talker and in the evening she talks and talks to us about what she has done during the day. How I wish I could understand kitty talk. I would love to know what she has seen and where she has been.

She also loves to be ticked and will prod us with one of her paws if we are not giving her enough love.

Phoebe really loves her brother, they are the best of friends.

The Fifth Day of Christmas

Today reminds us of our family and friends all over the world. Thank you for your continued love and support. We hope that you will all be able to come and see this beautiful place for yourselves.

One such friend is Howard. We met Howard in Arusha 6 years ago and have been firm friends ever since. Howard is Chris' backgammon partner and together they have turned this game into a contact sport. They often stay up into the wee hours of the morning playing backgammon and drinking whiskey. Here Howard and Chris are playing yet another game of backgammon in our tent (when we were still living on the mainland). 

Chris' sister, Amelia, and her husband, Eric, were the first guests to stay with us on Lupita Island. As they live in South Africa it was quite a journey for them to come and visit us. First they flew to Nairobi, then to Arusha and finally to Sumbawanga, where Chris drove to meet them. The last leg of their trip was a 4-hour drive from Sumbawanga to Kipili on a bad, dirt road followed by a 20-minute boat ride to the Island. After all that travelling they certainly deserved some relaxation, and Lupita is the perfect place to do just that.

Us with the Lupita Island Scrabble Champion! Amelia loves to play Scrabble, so every day included at least a couple of games of Scrabble. At the end of their stay, Amelia was declared the winner after a lengthy Scrabble tournament with Chris.

What a small, small world it is! Imagine Chris' surprise when he drove past our friends, Hassan and Karen, on the dusty, dirt road from Sumbawanga one Saturday afternoon. Karen and Hassan had been on safari to the Katavi National Park and were on their way back to Arusha. Katavi is a four hour trip by vehicle from Kipili and is a very remote, untouched National Park, well worth a visit (or two). If Chris had been half an hour earlier or later on his trip back to the Island, he would have missed them.

Hassan's chef, Kasi (which means "work" in Swahili), was with them. He taught us how to cook pizzas in a metal suitcase with hot coals on the lid and around the sides. Thank you for leaving your metal suitcase for us so that we can cook our own pizzas. We will think of you when we use it to cook our turkey on Christmas day. Now that you know where we are we hope to see you again. KARIBU SANA (which means "you are very welcome" in Swahili).

The Youds' joined us for 2 nights on the Island. They had driven all the way from a mine site near Lake Victoria so that they could see where we were and what we were up to. What great friends you are! It was such fun having you to stay. Thank you so much for making such an enormous effort to come and see us with your clan. We hope that your new life in Papau New Guinea is everything that you want it to be. 

And of course, The Lithgows. Who could ask for nicer bosses! From left to right is Lauren, Belinda, Daniel and Tom. 

The Sixth Day of Christmas

The sixth day of Christmas belongs to Lupita Island. As you can see from this satelite photograph, the Island is very close to the mainland of Tanzania, approximately 3.8km from the Kipili Village. We lived in a tent on the mainland, just outside the Kipili Village for several months while the manager's house was being built. Every day we would go by boat to the Island (a 20-minute ride) so that Chris could monitor the progress of the building.

Lupita is linked to a larger island called Uwile, by a narrow sandbar, which disappears at some times of the year when the level of the water in the lake rises.

Our house looks onto Fisherman's Island and next to this is Karenge Island. We plan to build one of 2 airstrips on Karenge Island, with the second airstrip being built on the mainland, just outside the Kipili Village. This will ensure that airplanes are able to land and take off here at any time of the year.

A close up view of Lupita Island. The Island itself is shaped like an upside down pudding rising out of the lake. It is covered in trees and has plenty of lovely big rocks everywhere which will be incorporated into the designs of the various rooms and other structures.

The water here is crystal clear with a visability of over 35m. Lake Tanganyika has more species of siclids than any other body of water in the world, and these brightly coloured fish love to feed off the rocks around Lupita. The island is a snorkeller's paradise!

Lupita Island from the east side. This is the side that is closest to the mainland and is where we currently dock our boats.

This really is a unique Island. There are no wild animals (apart from 1 male baboon who we have nicknamed, Bartholomew, and our resident otters), and no mosquitos (so there is no threat of malaria).

At night when the rest of the workers return to Kipili, the only noise on the Island is the lapping of the waves on the shoreline and the occasional owl or nightjar.

There is no pollution here so during the rainy season, when the dust has settled, we can quite clearly see the valleys and mountains of the DRC on the other side of the lake. If you look to the right hand side of this picture you will see the DRC.

The skies are beautiful and clear at night making the stars seem so close that we almost feel as though we can touch them. And on the nights when the moon is full I sometimes wake up thinking that we have left one of the lights on. Yes, Lupita Island really is very, very special and we try to make the most of every day that we are here.

The Seventh Day of Christmas

Today we are reminded of the gorgeous sunrises that we get from the east side of Lupita. The pictures speak for theselves. Three times a week Chris and I run up and down the hill with the dogs as exercise. This is our view. How could we not get up early for this?

 

 

The Eighth day of Christmas

Of course the eigth day of Christmas belongs to the glorious sunsets that we are treated to on Lupita. Some evenings the sky is a wash of orange, dusty pink and brilliant blue.