As evening falls here at Mibango the staff mess tent comes alive with the blare of whatever Tanzanian TV station the guys can get a handle on by manually manipulating the direction of a large black satellite dish off to the side of camp. The dish is almost twice the height of the tallest of the guys, so it is a precarious and entertaining show to watch. Generally the country's news is followed by a few hours of music and as dusk passes, the sounds travel the length of the camp and no doubt roll far into the surrounding plains. Mr Kauga's music collection is generally African gospel or catchy Tanzanian hip-hop, so it was a novel and somewhat surreal experience when an afternoon of Dolly Parton was offered up in remote Tanzania today. Now I'm not one to judge and struth I appreciate "Jolene" as much as the next guy, so with some nodding and involuntary foot tapping away the afternoon went.

After a few hours however I was not all together unappreciative at the discovery of a hard drive in the manager's mess,complete with Rolling Stones 500 Best Songs of All Time. With this gem in hand I have withdrawn to my hut to punch out another blog. Now, to choose something to match the rustic corrugated iron sheeting and red timber beams that make up the interior of my room. Something to go with the splintered beams of light coming through various gaps in the walls and shining against the white nylon of the mosquito net covering my bed. Something to compliment the relaxed freedom of it all…

Blondie-Heart of Glass? No theres a time and a place for that one.....

and there it is: The Kingsmen- Louie Louie perhaps followed up with a hit of ACDC-Back in Black, Black Sabbath-Paranoid and The Clash-Train in Vain and all is right with the world.

A lot has happened since I last sat down to put one of these together. Our last successful trip to Ikibulu village and school was very productive, though there have been some less successful attempts since. After a few brief stops to clear the occasional fallen tree on the long untraveled track to Ikubulu and navigating the landcruiser through the Lwegele river, I was able to take my baby (the Ikubulu student food garden) to stage two of development. The area has been cleared ready for cultivation, blue prints for compost bays drawn up and the plants are ready to go in the ground. We also brought some new sports balls for the kids and gave the schools blackboards a new lick of paint. Energised by the success of the visit we made plans to return on Tuesday on foot, for a day of gardening with the year six and seven students,weather permitting. I think the remainder of my trips to Ikubulu will be on foot. We have now transported all the heavy materials needed for projects at the school and as the wet season continues the rivers are rising and if anything goes wrong with a vehicle there is not another one to get us out of trouble.

Well the best laid plans will go astray and when Tuesday rolled around we awoke to heavy rain and decided it was too wet for our planned trek, instead agreeing on a return to our rooms and sleep in for a few extra hours. The rain passed however, during this sleep in and when we finally made it to breakfast at about 9:30 it was a beautiful day but with the trek taking a little over three hours each way our opportunity to venture out for the day was gone.

Wednesday arrived and with our bags already packed from the day before, we headed off, only to face a disappointing sight an hour and a half into the hike when we arrived at the river to find, although we had received little rain, it had obviously rained at Mwase (the area that feeds the river). The river had become unpassable, rising more than a foot, though it wasn't the depth that was the problem but the current, which was ferocious compared with the last time I had crossed. After pacing back and forward along the banks for a while, much like a caged animal hoping that something in the scenery will suddenly change, I had to give in to the fact that we weren't crossing the river that day, or any day after, if the rains continued. Bitter with frustration at being defeated by a few mere metres of water, we trudged back along the track,overgrown with towering grasses eight foot or more.The moisture of the place taunting me further with ever wet blade that fell across my face.

Nah, it didn't bother me that much, I just thought that last line sounded cool. Really, I enjoyed the hike and I'm not one to mope, so though the school hasn't been a possibility in the last week, I was able to work in our garden here, which is looking awesome and I'm pinching myself at the fact it was only three weeks ago that the seeds hit soil. The plan is now to go to the school on Monday rain, hail or shine (and it did hail the other day). We will take a slightly longer route to the village but there is a canoe ferryman that will take us across the river regardless of how much it has rained.

Anyway heaps, heaps, more to talk about and will try to fill you in on some other cool things before then but that will do for now.