West Coast Reconnaissance : Kipili

I decided to save the best for last when talking about this trip...

After struggling through a 9 hour bus ride on mostly mud roads and finally reaching Sumbawanga, then traveling another two hours the next day on to Mvimwa Abbey, Charlie and I decided we still did not have enough of the backcountry rainy season travel. We pushed on to see the beautiful site of Kipili village and the house that the monastery has there on the shore of Lake Tanganyika.

Here is a view of the road...and this is when it is dry. It seems that there were repairs planned, but during the time that we were driving on them there was no one to spread out this new gravel...so that made for about half an hour of straight speed bumps. not fun...

But when we arrived, it all seemed worth it. Here are some shots from the grounds...

Charlie standing in front of the dormitory building...
This is looking back at the property from the water.

The water reminded me of the Carribbean, only it was freshwater! It was great to be able to swim in a lake again. We even got to take a boat ride. It made us a little nervous when we rode out into the lake for about twenty minutes and then the motor suddenly cut out...but we were close enough to shore that we could paddle our way in. And it was all for the better. If the motor wouldn't have cut out and forced us to paddle to land while the operator made the repairs, we would not have had the chance to swim at this picture perfect secluded beach. simply beautiful.

Me and Charlie with Br. Joseph

Here is Charlie with the open lake behind...and the mountains of the Democratic Republic of the Congo rising on the other shore...

We stopped at another small village on the lake as well.

The kids were pretty excited to have their picture taken. Though I am not sure what the deal is with the karate poses always...

Our second night there seemed to be a lot more commotion in our little bay area. We found out that there was a large passenger boat called the MV Liemba making its weekly pass through the area. The boat has been on the lake since the Germans used it in WWI! this was pretty neat to see, even though it was too dark to see much... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Liemba

Here we are with Br. Simon of Mvimwa Abbey on the left, Br. Teoton (also from Mvimwa, but now stays on the lake to run the guest house there) and Br. Joseph on the right by me.
Before we left, Charlie and I carried on the tradition that Br. Theodore of Hanga started when he was visiting last Fall of planting a tree. Charlie and I both planted our own papaya tree. Maybe the next time a Benedictine Volunteer from Minnesota visits the lake house there they can eat the fruits of our labor :)

This concludes the pictures and posts of this reconnaissance mission to the west. All said, it was a long, exhausting bit of travel, but well worth it to blaze the way for volunteers in years to come, and just to see more of this beautiful country for ourselves.

There is not much time left for me in Hanga. I will leave to start my journey back to the USA on March 24. There will be a few more posts from Hanga before I leave...

Thanks for reading. Please leave comments if you wish.