A jungle pool, pine trees and a dip in Lake Victoria

Sitting by the Jungle pool.  It was hard to resist not
dipping my toes in.

On Sunday I drove down with some friends to a nearby beach where I went swimming in Lake Victoria. Apparently the area has been tested for the parasite that infects the lake and was found to be clean - I certainly hope so. On the way we stopped at a small waterfall that had a stereotypical jungle pool at the bottom. Trees shaded the water allowing green light to filter through the canopy, one shaft of golden light hitting and illuminating the waterfall perfectly. I felt like I should have a vine and start swing from tree to tree like Tarzan. According to one of my friends there used to be an old Swedish pastor that swam in the pool. He apparently did it quite regularly, until one time he came face to face with a snake in the water. Needless to say, he stopped swimming there after that encounter. I would too!

One other thing about the path to this waterfall - there were pine trees! I know that most people who read this will roll their eyes at me and not find this nearly as exciting as I did, but I was so happy to discover that there are pine trees even here in Tanzania! Although I didn't have a chance to stop and see how many needles are in a bunch, I did notice that the needles were at least as long as my hand. Despite this difference from the red and white variety with which I am familiar, the smell is just the same and makes me feel at home no matter where I am. I learned later that these are actually attempts at reforestation and preventing soil erosion. According to a Denmark forester, they planted them because the area had been overfarmed and was becoming a desert - the solution was to import fast growing pine trees from, get this, New Zealand, so that the soil could recover, both nutrients and water, so that they could eventually cut them down and use the land for farming again. The biologist in me was very excited, although the tree hugger in me was very upset that any tree was going to be cut down, particularly a pine tree.

I have never even been to a drive-in movie, but I have been
 to my own private drive-in beach!

The beach was beautiful. The sand was white. We drove the Land Rover all the way down to the edge of the sand, where we set up our blankets. We shared the beach with some curly horned cattle, some children who were swimming, (one girl in a red dress), and some fishermen, who were pulling their small wooden boats onto the shore. These men had their feet spread, lined up grasping the rope, their bodies leaning back in a sitting position as they heaved the boat onto the sand.

On a random side note, African mosquitoes fly so much more quickly than north woods mosquitoes!