Rwanda - OUR journey continues

 A country known to many for different reasons, and sadly not all good!

First sightings of Rwanda

We discovered its nickname ‘the land of a thousand hills, is exactly right, although in truth, we didn’t count them as we trudged up and down narrow hillside roads with barely enough room for a car to overtake before the drop off, often a severe drop off in some cases - which kept us solely focussed on the road ahead!

An interesting small African country, the smallest we visited on this trip, but not our first landlocked one as we enter via the Rusumo border from Tanzania.  Keen and helpful, this is one of our more pleasant and timely border crossings.  That said the customs officials were super efficient at helping us empty a large part of the back of the landrover, open up the tent and make sure we were not bringing in anything ‘naughty’  Getting the necessary insurance documents to travel on the roads was a little more lengthy but only costs around £30 for the month, so worth spending time on this.

We enter Rwanda and find a camp site within the Urgo Women’s Opportunity centre.  A nice campsite, with sadly basic and in our opinion unclean facilities, we were allowed to use one of the lodge facilities instead.  A variety of women attend the centre each day to learn how to sew and to make things that get sold in the on-site shop, are buoyant and friendly.  At USD15 per person per night including breakfast, its one of the more expensive campsite, but in truth, its also a charity and these women do not have much, so we were happy to pay.  Of course once we’d peruse the gift shop, we, again happy to contribute, we bought some nice things from homemade yogurt to hand fans which are perfect for the hot weather. The break down in communication was such that we had thought we were buying yogurt and milk, but it seems we bought two bottles of yogurt; not great when we were making a cup of tea, but raised a smile nonetheless!

On leaving, the real Rwanda starts to unravel with a small boy, in his pigeon English saying ‘want dollars’  he wasn’t alone in his begging, but despite the persistence, there was no aggression, and you have to bear in mind, the begging is done due to a basic need; food.

We begin to appreciate the beauty of this country, similar in some ways to Switzerland, with its rolling hills and narrow roads- but thankfully without the snow!  Roadside children enthusiastically waving and grinning from ear to ear as we trundle by, and noticeably the older generations, more subdued and less enthusiastic.

Vast oasis of green dominate the scene with paddy fields in the lower ground working the land efficiently higher up to other crops neatly laid out in small squares proudly owned and managed by local people who traverse the slopes with ease brandishing their hoes, picks and forks working their small space of self sufficiency.

Down a horrible road with rain falls evident from the state of the road to a really nice campsite.  Umukoa Lodge overlooking Lake Muhazi, the same price at USD15 per person, this wasn’t a charity and it didn’t offer breakfast, but it did offer one clean ablution block which was rather weirdly placed right next to the kitchen with us needing to walk through the outside in various states of dress through the restaurant verandah.

Whether it was that road, or whether it was a final, ‘I give up plea’ from Andi the Landy, we noticed a drop of oil on the grass.  OK it is a land rover and therefore not unusual to see small drops of oil, but this was more of an avalanche.  And we were worried!

The kindly staff called a mechanic.  Sadly after a few hows pushing and tugging the one man band armed with only a few spanners couldn’t help and we ended up calling a recovery vehicle to Kigali.  By now all the oil was on the grass and not in the engine!

Andi was unceremoniously hauled upon to the flatbed tow truck, and taken away with

Poor Andi

us following in a taxi behind.  When you’re driving the roads yourself you expect movements to affect the ride, but when you’re watching from behind as your lovely land rover, your home, lurches from side to side as the tow truck hits another bad part of the road, or when you see the passenger of the towing truck climb onto the flatbed bringing a stick with him, you’re not really sure what’s going to happen next - this is Africa after all!

That stick was used to hold the overhead power cables aloft so the tow truck and the landrover can squeeze under - no regard for Health and Safely here!

Eventually we arrive at the Land Rover garage in Kigali.  As most of Rwanda seems to be, the garage is on a hill! The car park is busy with other cars parked up awaiting repairs.  The driver pulls to the side and starts to unhinge Andi with a deafening screech from the winch and clashes of chains the flat bed slowly climbs high from the cab tilting Andi to facing downhill, backwards - the tow truck was tipping Andi off the back.  Loud bangs, chains straining and I can barely look as a fancy parked up newer land rover looms large!  Andi slowly emerges off the now 45 degree tilted flatbed.  Eventually they move the two new land rovers aside and after lots of groaning, winch Andi into his resting place amidst huge sighs of relief from us.

Like an elephant graveyard, this landrover ‘graveyard’ of multiple landrovers in varying states of repair, that’s where we leave Andi - but not without insisting he gets chocked up first!   It’s Rwanda, there are hills, lots of hills.  

After a fairly stressful day and evening we check in late into the B Hotel as scheduled.

Breakfast balcony

A decent hotel overlooking the golf course which is set within two hills as we look down the valley the next morning.  The hotel is what we would call African standard, decent enough but not quite finished off somehow.  That said it served its purpose very well for us and our short stay.  Besides it was good to get a decent shower without parading ourselves to all and sundry!

After a fit full sleep with Andi on our minds, morning arrives quite early.

We jump into a taxi and check in at the garage who seems to have it all in order before we head off to play Kigali Golf Resort and Villas and golf course #68 of our Africa 100 challenge, and as it turns out our only golf course in Rwanda!

It’s not the only golf course in Rwanda, we did call off at another on route, Falcon.  After a long and arduous road heading towards the lake the golf course appears in all its glory, except it wasn’t so much glory, more long grass up to your knees and no-one around to help us.  We turned around and tackle that same road back onto the main road - maybe its that road which broke Andi??  Who knows, but we didn’t play it so sadly we couldn’t include it in our Arica 100 challenge.

Kigali on the other hand is a totally different proposition. Recent changes to the golf course layout and a few upgrades have left it in somewhat disarray on the day we visited, but in truth, the course played well.  Once the new signs are up, the new layout does make sense bearing in mind the impressive and overpowering building accompanying the course as the clubhouse - a clubhouse on steroids!

Caddies Jimmy and Patrick are scratch golfers and play for the Rwanda A team, pleasant but initially lacking the often forgotten human trait of humour, they did warm up eventually and revelled in our good play and empathised in the bad.  With 6 holes on one side of the road and 12 on the other, the only tunnel in Rwanda is on this course and links the two sides of the course. 

Some of the sapling trees just need time and this course will be up there with the best.  Already the larger trees on holes 5, 6 and 7 come into play, as does the water!

The 11th brings a 90 degree dog leg left with water on the inside of the dog leg, the caddies persuaded us to take less club to avoid the water, which was sound advise, these guys know their golf!  With the greens being cut fairly short, they did roll well and probably slightly faster than we were used to, but remained true to the roll with not too many subtle undulations.

Unusually the Rwanda government have a majority shareholding in the golf club and its impressive, still being built (when we visited) building,  doubles up as a super clubhouse and government offices.  

Talking to the caddies, (who seem to have warmed up a bit more now), the course plays easier than it used to, this was corroborated by the members we spoke to who said that some of the big trees had been taken out as they were in play, which is always a shame.  Today we are playing a fairly young course with scope.

It was great to see the birds of prey swooping down, their dark mass lending temporary light exclusion as their huge wings flap on the upward climb.  Even in the middle of the busy capital city, birds of prey are left to enjoy the open green space of the golf course, an oasis within the city.  And despite the city of Kigali having hills overlooking from most vistas, the golf course seems to sit within a bowl of contentment, where a chip and run is a good skill to embrace.

Atheistically, the eye has been considered and the water edges are fringed with rocks and softened with planting.  The course is manicured and it does sit well in its space, a space which will dominate in time, for now, its just biding its time and happily living in harmony with the bustling city with the forward tees having a huge advantage over the back tees!

Clubhouse food

The cafe clubhouse is a nice place to sit and enjoy the good food plus watch the players come in from the course - and revel in the win for Sarah.  Having played 68 African courses, the score is a friendly 34 each!

So with only one golf course we played, what else can we share about Rwanda?

One of the most heart rendering things we’ve done whilst travelling around Africa, is visiting the Genocide Memorial in Kigali.  It’s free to enter, but its good to give a decent donation.  Walking around the peaceful gardens its hard to comprehend the suffering this nation, this nation of beautiful soles has suffered.  In truth the country is still in the process of healing from the 1994 Genocide and visiting the memorial in Kigali is a moving experience, reading the accounts of the survivors and how families were torn apart, with only one or two survivors from large knit Tutsi families bought tears to my eyes.

Out of respect, we did not take too many pictures

Rwanda has, according the the 2023 stats around 46% are male and 54% women.  The modern day Tutsi’s we met still speak reasonably openly about the Genocide but covering their mouths, as if the subject is taboo.  But the overriding gist of the conversations we had with various people is positive.  With many citing with pride, their new families, their babies who will grow strong and build that family community back up.  It's a harrowing story of old, which in reality isn’t that old.

My Mum asked, if it affected me so badly, why did I visit? And I’m not too sure I can answer that, maybe morbid curiosity, but more likely the lack of understanding after hearing snippets on the news in the 90’s, as we are safely protected in the UK.  I don’t have the answers to many things, but I do know how I felt in the wake of those stories, and that is one of sorrow for their loss and two in awe for their tenacity and resilience to make a brighter and better future as one nation - the Rwandan people.

On a less harrowing note, we spent some time wandering around the market in Kigali.  Being tourists, we were pounced upon and we were grabbed to stalls we didn’t want to go to, but when we explained, actually all they were doing is driving us away which meant we’d buy nothing, they need to give us some space and time to browse - and we did buy some things from them.

Its not just in Rwanda, its common place in a lot of African countries for us to be seen as having plenty of money, and I guess in comparison we have, but coping with the constant hassle literally turns us away!

A few days wandering around exploring and we get the call - Andi is ready, so off we trot to collect our newly fixed, revitalised in life 30 year old landrover complete with new engine seals.

Sadly that night, we sprung a leak from the radiator, and a mechanic was sent out with a radiator fix the following morning- which by now means we’re really ready to get going again!

Leaving Kigali was genuinely a bitter sweet moment.  In some ways we couldn’t wait to get away from a big city and all that brings, and in others, we didn’t want to sever ties with the landrover garage that helped us so much knowing the further we went away the more difficult it would be to get Andi fixed again.

But the latter thought clearly didn’t make much difference as we head towards Lake Kivu.

There are tons of stunning lakes in Rwanda, hills and lakes and finding a nice pitch at one of the lake side hotels was good for us.  We were joined one of the nights by a couple of German guys in a short wheel base landrover, and of course the usual landrover discussions ensued.

We also jumped on a boat to explore Lake Kiva with Captain Julius.  Lake Kivu is one of the African Great lakes and is bordered by the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.  A peaceful serene looking lake with sinister undertones.  With its large reserves of natural methane gas stored beneath the tranquil waters.  Dotted with hotels and resorts, Lake Kivu is also home to the swimming cows.  The cows swim from one island to the next, in pursuit of greener pastures.  An ungainly sight, the cows don’t actually look that comfortable swimming but they do willingly go for a swim with the lure of fresh green grass too much to resist - well that and a slight prod from the herdsmen who we paid a small fee to watch the cows swim!

Fruit bats

Captain Julius is friendly and he spends time with us showing us the fruit bats on one of the lsland’s too.  You can actually swim in the lake with no crocodiles or hippos - in fact you can swim with the cows, but watching their legs splaying in an unruly way, I’m not sure a little unintended kick would be so little!

A pretty spot which hopefully won’t have a limbic disaster, but predictions aren’t great for this not happening!

We continue our journey around Rwanda and enjoy the friendly waves from children and adults, who now seem more friendly.  There is no side to them, just a nice little wave and a huge smile.

Swimming cows

The road to our next campsite was pretty dire, and narrow!  Lake Ruhondo in the North West of Rwanda, and its another spectacular lake. Near perfect circles of island, as if drawn by a compass, sit in the middle of the expanse of water, as do many other small islands spurting green trees like tufts of hair upon a bald mans pate.

Upon meeting a lorry coming the other way on that bad road, we decided to let him take the outer edge and get past us as we hug the mountainside as close as we dare, whilst keeping a watchful eye on the loose rocks above.  Totally unperturbed by the danger, the lorry simply barges past us, whilst our eyes are hidden in the palm of our hands we sit helplessly breathing in - as if thats going to make a difference!

The campsite was a skeptical offering, in fact it wasn’t really a campsite, but a car park - on a hill!  We got a very basic room and didn’t stay too long - which was a real shame as the location is stunning.

Rwandans farming their piece of land

Making our way to Ruhengeri and we’re struggling for some where to stay.  Ruhengeri is a good size town as its one the door step of the Gorillas on the Rwanda Side of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.  No campsites popped up on our search.  We drove around a bit and found a nice hotel, who allowed us to camp in their garden.  The Garden Place Hotel tucked between two churches and in its own little oasis of lovely gardens - hence its name.  We arrived on a Sunday and were treated to the most wonderful voices from the churches singing their hearts out as gospel music permeates the air accompanied by a zealous pianist whose repertoire was somewhat limited.  You’re able to walk around Ruhengeri too, with the odd tourist doing the same. Whilst out we stumble upon a church parade.  Each church adopting its own colours for its parishioners causing a riotous splash of colour as each church group went by singing and dancing with such fluidity to their bodies.  Smiling, their enjoyment is infectious, and we too were swaying and smiling too.  

It isn’t unusual to camp in hotel grounds with no designated facilities, (some have toilets), with the ablutions being available in one of the hotel rooms, the Garden Place was like this.  A decent room with a decent shower and also a coffee shop in the garden too - locked away in-between churches and behind gates, we really enjoyed our time relaxing off the road.

A short break before we leave the Rwandan people and the countryside that offers so much and head to Uganda, wondering if the country side can be very different from one bordering country to the next, and secretly hoping it isn’t as Rwanda is very, very pretty. and their people are a delight.

You can view our Rwanda video here:

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Thanks for reading

Sarah & Steve

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Discover Tanzania by Road

We discover Tanzania by Road.

We've made a nice little video explaining where we stayed and what to do when travelling around Tanzania.

In the previous video, we've already talked about the golf and where to stay when playing golf, so let's see what else we can show you.

In this video you'll find:

* The myth busted about lions being able to climb trees in Tarangire National Park

* A day with the bushmen that nearly ended in disaster

* Beautiful places to stay, such as Acacia Farm Lodge, where growing and cooking their own produce is paramount and is easy access to the Ngorongoro Crater

* Navigating through the Ngorongoro Crater as we slip down from the crater top and its wondrous views to the easier driving flatter bottom before joining 

* The Serengeti National Park and staying in the partner lodging; Acacia Bliss Luxury Camp, a luxury tenting experience.

* But not before running into a large pride of lion whilst lost in the Serengeti - at night!

Please take a look, and please consider subscribing 

If you're after more frequent updates, please take a look at our Posts, stories and reels on instagram, facebook and X (Twitter) all @TRAVELLIFESTYLEGOLF

If you love golf, adventures, land rovers, or travel, or if you're looking for somewhere special to stay - we're here to inspire you.

p.s. knowing you're busy but want to see what were up to, we keep our videos tantalisingly short...

Enjoy.

Sarah & Steve

#justask #heretoinspire #travelafrica #playgolfinafrica #exploretanzania #roadtripinafrica #seeitlikeitfollow #nosalespitch

@experientialtravelafrica

Golf and Where to stay in Tanzania

Its fair to say it took us a while to get to the first golf course, partly due
to the weather and partly due to there not being that many golf courses (13) in Tanzania, especially on our intended route, which we had to change anyway!

Arriving we head north east towards Dar es Salaam.  

We found a wild camp site, Marry Leaky, by the river.  Very isolated and a lovely spot to just pitch up and break up our journey - then the locals arrived and asked for money to stay there - plus an entrance fee - oh wow, this wild campsite suddenly became less wild although it was completely off-grid, but we got on with it and paid our dues, only grumbling slightly.  There were no facilities, and we were glad we pulled off the road to stay here.  We fed the night watchman, gave him shelter as best we could - then went to bed as the sun went down.   Next morning, bright and early and we were told we had to pay the night watchman - wait no one said anything about that, we assumed it was in with the various fees we’d already paid!

After breakfast and seeking out where to pay, we hit the road again.

The nice thing about doing what we do, is we can just pull over and stay where we like and we found a lovely campsite with lodges at The Old Farmhouse, Kisolanza near Iringa.   Lodges and camping, we were a little spoilt for choice then the owner agreed to host us, and we were so happy as it’s the perfect spot for a stopover plus we had some luxury too!

Our thatch roof lodge had a fireplace in, great for the cooler African nights.  Being in the living come bedroom, we benefit from the open fire right up to falling asleep.  We loved the bathroom, large and with a shower that dominated the room.  A coiled structure which wrapped around in the middle of the bathroom, with the wall dropping down to greet the entrance.  We dined in a discarded termite mound - that’s how big these African termites make their mounds!!  This termite mound come dining room has a roof on it to prevent any further deterioration of the mud structure by the rain.  Where the walls don’t quite meet the roof in height, there’s a gap - simple yet incredibly effective, especially when you’re after a slight breeze. 

Enjoying locally produced food in the onsite restaurant, sat in amongst the interesting crags of the former termite mound.  Not really being close to any big towns, it was great to taste such fresh food and wonderful the owners had maximised their farm produce and served not just great eating food, but also good looking food.  

A walk before breakfast the next day takes us across the farm lands, open and refreshing, we were ready for our breakfast back in the termite mound for a good feed before we drive towards Dar es Salaam - or so we thought.

Helpful owners told us of a cyclone that was hitting Dar es Salaam so playing golf at their coastal courses might not be a good idea, so instead we flex and changed our plans and headed north.

Stopping to buy roadside produce, the avocados are huge and taste great from the roadside, and of course they are cheap too.  Served by children is always fun and of course you cant haggle here!

Our next stop is at TPC Moshi.  TPC is not as we’d expect in the golf industry but instead the name of the sugar company that own this land and golf course.

Staying in one of their lovely clean fresh open lodges we were able to enjoy all TPC Moshi had to offer, including a nine hole golf course for its members and sugar plantation members. 

Grabbing a couple of caddies we set off, and before long our socks are full of cut grass.  Now I’m a real princess and a pea kinda of person, so this did irritate me, but I was having such a nice time, I forgot to be irritated as the grass stuck like needles into my socks.  A flat course with monkeys darting from the sugar canes to pick through the cut grass which was piled high in places.  It is a fun course to play and not massively difficult or arduous to the walk, it’s fair and we both scored OK.  The ants on the green were a hit it and move on quickly moment, but the large trees, often in the way, were lovely to see.  Some quirky holes where you might double back on yourself to get to the next tee, and you can tell this is a course you’d need to play a few times to get the measure of it.

This is golf course number 64 of our Africa 100 challenge and the score, once played is Stephen 32.5 and Sarah 31.5   Looks like I’m on the back foot once again, but as that back foot is covered in spiky dried out cut grass, theres not much i can do about it!

Dinner in the restaurant overlooking the course is a family affair with the workers bringing their families to join them at this friendly bustling main hub.

Next day, we were given some bikes to cycle around the estate.  They weren’t the newest of bikes, and not being as fit as we’d like, it was a lovely albeit short ride as the sun set over the sugar cane fields.

With Kili golf calling, we leave TPC Moshi and head towards our next accommodation, The Safari House, on the Dolly Estate.

The Safari House is a luxury boutique hotel with a just 10 rooms.  Served by a central common area outside which is the pool, its a popular spot to stay when on safari or when playing golf.  It was a bit rainy when we arrived, so the once clean Andi the Landy, was now dirty again.  Realising we were fighting a loosing battle, we didn’t worry about the new red earth colour Andi had now adopted.

Dining on long trestle type tables you can either join someone or make your own space.  We met with a nice German couple doing the safari run.  She was vegetarian and I was curios to see that she was only given.  Her plate consisted of  vegetables, the same ones we had on the side as meat eaters, nothing else.  she said it happened a lot in Africa. 

The Safari House is pristine and managed well, but as we’d been via the golf clubhouse and eaten there, we didn’t really want a full dinner at $25 p/p, instead we opted for soup and a bread roll which we were told was $10 p/p.  reasoning that if the soup is $10 and the full meal is $25, we might as well have the full meal, at which point we were told, no they had made a mistake, it was $35 for the full meal?

Some rooms had a kitchenette, others like ours, whilst big, spacious and comfortable, didn’t have any options to make your own food.

Our room overlooked the back garden where you often saw dik dik grazing on the lush green foliage.  Skitzy if they heard any noises, their presence made for nice breakfasts views.

A lovely place to stay set within a tropical gardens with everything you might need for a special stay.

Getting to Kilimanjaro Golf and Wildlife Estate to play golf is easy and just a short drive from the Safari House.

Kili Golf is, was, going through a major transformation whilst we were there, nearing an end, it was quite clear this transformation is a massive success.  Post covid the resort had been left but with new hands on Management, it will once again get the reputation it deserves.  That said, it was still worth playing in it’s current state, as it really wasn’t bad at all.  On the day we played it was slightly wet underfoot, but buoyed up by promises of our first sighting of the infamous Mount Kilimanjaro, we set off in high spirits.  The golf soon took over, its difficult to remain focussed on a non-golf thing when you’re presented with such a nice course.  even the slightly longer grass, which when wet stopped the ball from rolling so far on the fairway, (but weirdly rolled well on the greens), didn’t deter our overall impression of love at first sight for Kili Golf.  A narrow exits off the tee at number 7 from the back tees, opens up to be a little more friendly from the forward tees.  Houses, of all shapes and sizes line the fairway, without intruding on the golf views or giving us a feeling of being closed in by concrete.  Green is my favourite colour and seeing the varying shades contrasting with each other as they graduated from grass to shrub to trees, was easy on the eye.  Hole nine allegedly has views of Mount Kilimanjaro, but as it was covered in cloud the day we visited, we just have to take their word for it!

The blue sky appeared on the back nine and the difference was remarkable, giving us a spring in our step.  Hole 12 had water right, in fact water does make an appearance a number of times and of course whilst in renovation mode, you have to look through rose tinted glasses to see the real shape of the hole and what it will be when it come back from its harsh cutting and clearing - and all we can see is the what it can be. (and we’ve heard since we left, what it has now become)

People digging, scraping and clearing like worker ants, we loved seeing the course taking its shape once again.

Hole 16 from the top has some breathtaking views down the long fairway, then as tee box 18  appears any trepidation sweeps in like a tidal wave as you’re confronted with an island green par 3, with little let up.  Playing

160 yards from the forward tees, its all about club choice.  Stephen chose wisely from his 173 yard shot and landed quite close to the pin.  I was a little short of the green, but over the water.  Not that this hole was important, but we were half standing on the 18th tee - so of course its important!.  Steve made his putt for a birdie and took the match, I made par.  Now Steve was 2 games ahead of me at 33.5 to my 31.5.

Must get one back at least - onto the next course with my fingers and everything else crossed.

Change of scenery as we check into a local B&B, Bushbaby Cottage.  A quaint cottage in the garden of its owners.  Greenery aplenty and the nightly presence of the bushbaby made for a pleasant stay.  We were self catering and we did have a problem with the water supply, but we got by, as we always do.  A big bed in a  family small bedroom, or maybe the bedroom was a good size but the bed dominated, anyway, we had a spare bedroom to lay out our clothes.  And we just relaxed and enjoyed our down time in comfort.

Next we’re off to play golf course number 66, Arusha Gymkhana, a short drive away.  A nine hole zig zaggy course which meandered its way around a water course, that came into play far too often for me!.  Lovely and green and set within trees, it was a bit tight in places and on hole 4 it criss crossed the water twice before you got to an elevate green set on high.  So high you couldn’t see from the fairway.  At stroke index 1,

its certainly a hole you need to play more than once, as unbeknown to us, there is a body of water at the top of the hill, directly in front of the green.  Pretty silly to me, but then I lost about 3 balls on that one hole, and I was feeling quite disillusioned at the course  by then.  But being a professional I had to put that aside to appreciate its actually, nice layout.  The enclaves of trees hugging onto the sides of ditches and despite the greens having been recently tined and top dressed, and therefore not looking their best, they played OK.  Hole nine is a weird one as its almost squeezed into the space to make a longer par 4 finishing hole than opting for a par 3 finish.  With a couple of longish par 5’s, maybe a finishing hole as a par 3 might have thrown it out of balance?  With Arusha Gymkhana being in the centre of town, and bearing in mind that space is always a premium, they have actually carved out a nice course, with 10 greens and 18 tees to mix it up a bit.

When we left Arusha we jump on a ferry across Lake Victoria to stay at Rocky Bay campsite.

With one more golf course to play in Tanzania, Lake Victoria Golf and Country Club.  We were told about this course, so wanted to visit, not only because it was located on a golf mine - honesty!

We arranged entrance into the mine and were escorted to the golf course to meet our playing partners.  It was clear from the very beginning that we were in for a bit of a laugh as these guys obviously work hard and also play hard.  Off we go in our six ball - yep a six ball, and every person contributed to the fun element whether good golfers or not, and thats what its all about.  The first thole is a ninety degree dog let right, and you can choose to take on the corner or not on this stroke index 11 hole.  Steve went over, I went round and we both ended up with a bogey.  Then the fun starts as hole two is over a dam.  I asked about the surface of the golf course as it seemed very hard to me with little green grass growing.  Amazingly they had carved a golf course out of the

laterite surface, so no wonder it was hard.  But actually it didn’t play too badly and as our exuberant six ball came to it zenith the final hole once again was one to watch as all I needed to do was play to my handicap.  Sadly my handicap eluded me and I blobbed the final hole whilst Steve played it like a dream and made a par.  Unfortunately this wasn’t enough as I did finally get one back with the final score now sitting at  Steve 34, Sarah 33.

We did a lot of exploring Tanzania as we drove around, but this article is just about golf we played. We did plan to go to the coast and add two more to our tally, but that wasn’t to be, so we only managed 4 courses, that said, they are 4 very different golf courses you could ever image, and for that, we loved it.