In spite of being on the doorstep of Tarangire National Park, we were in a rush to get to Arusha and we've decided not to visit anymore Tanzanian parks until we can organise a Tanzanian-registered vehicle to avoid the crippling costs associated with foreign-registered vehicles, so we set off once more.....
Arusha was only about 100km away, but the road was truly dreadful in parts, truly beautiful elsewhere. The old road is being replaced by a nice new road - the sections where it's been completed are stunning, but the rest is just plain dreadful roadworks with rough diversions through the bush, round the backstreets of towns, along sections of the old road that don't seem to have been resurfaced since the 8th Century and generally slow.
We'd been recommended by Iris in Senyati (a long time ago now) to look up Manfred in Arusha - her directions seemed rather basic - however they were perfect - we found his workshop within minutes of arriving, met him when he returned from lunch, and agreed to meet him again at 5 when he would be returning to his farm. In the meanwhile we visited the "cultural centre" - this is in fact a great big shop - they display a huge amount of "cultural items" from around Africa (some old, most new), but almost all for sale. We spent a coupe of hours looking around - the gallery was fascinating, particularly the lower floor with a lot of old masks and carvings etc. We drove to Manfred's farm where we met his wife Maria - they are both extraordinary characters, and are both lovely people to meet. They suggested we camp there for the night and offered us the use of the facilities in their guesthouse. the following day we had a look at their on-site compound and decided that this was the place for us to make a break.