Kili Epilouge-Recuperating at Boundary Hill Lodge

So. We had finished the climb of Kilimanjaro and were feeling drained. Needed to catch up on sleep. I was having too many post-Mountain climbing tantrums. Needed some time out. And what better place to recuperate than Boundary Hill Lodge near Tarangire National Park, that we had had such an awesome time at in August.

We stopped in Arusha to pay the owner our money for our stay. We admired his garden and the sunbirds and the mongeese it contained.

The area around the Lodge all looked very different as we got there after the 2 hour drive off the main road. Last time we were there it was the dry season. Now, it was all so green.

The Masaai who worked there remembered us and the elephant/lioness dramas we saw last time.

There would not be some many animals around this time round as the rain and plentiful grass meant the big creatures would stay put inside the National Park. No biggie. There were tons of birds everywhere. The bird geek in me loved seeing a nightjar racing around at dusk catching insects.

For 2 days or so we just ate and napped and read and relaxed. Lots of balcony bath usage. All interspersed with the odd walking safari. Saw recent evidence of lion (pug marks near the Lodge) and leopard activity (dead impala in a tree). Followed a chattering honey guide bird as it tried to lead us to a bees nest to get the honey for it. Watched leopard tortoises newly woken from hibernation getting on with eating.

(wife and baby tortoise)

Tasted Marula berries from the bush (much more tart than the Amarula drink that I love). Saw a massive buffalo carcase that had been taken down by 2 lionesses some weeks ago. Pretty much picked clean. We noted vulture feathers in its ribs.

(hungry kiwi meets buffalo ribs)
I had a hot balcony bath one day at noon (dumb idea, noon sun=sauna) and as I panted in the heat, I watched local Masai cow herds coming in close into the conservation area around the Lodge. Illegal? Possibly. But who's going to tell Masai where they can or can’t graze. Not me. They have been displaced from a lot of conservation areas…whose rights prevail? A semi-nomadic grazing culture of long history or the vital-to-the-tourist dollar conservation areas? What does the ‘law’ mean in a country where the law is so poorly drafted and even more terribly enforced..My brain hurts. I blame the hot bath.

Our last nature walk on the second to last day was a bit melancholy. Possibly the last time I will walk near the Lodge outdoors-if not in the Tanzanian wild outdoors- for a while. Thunder rumbled overhead. Then a nice rainbow showed over the plain…a sign of hope? a portent of new beginnings? or just light refracting through water? I dunno. Getting maudlin. I will miss the outdoors here, so very much.


December 30th, it was time to leave. I tried to be stoic as our friends who work there asked us when we would be back. Dunno. Kwaheri Emmanuel, Moses, Lazarus, Loy and others, I'll miss your warmth and patience with our atrocious Swahili.

We travelled back to Moshi with some Aussies but I only half registered their earnest volunteer related conversations. No more nighttime baths under the stars listening to night birds and hyenas calling in the dark. No more tracking elephant near the Lodge on foot. No more plains outside my window.

Sigh. Roll on New Years Eve and drinking.