Day 1: Travelling
The group sets off from Heathrow Airport.
By Susie McIntyre, Kettle Produce Ltd
1 June 2015
Susie is one of nine senior women from the UK food industry taking part in Farm Africa's Big Beehive Build.
My only perception of rural Africa is from our Farm Africa fish pond dig 2 years ago.
The trip from Kilimanjaro to Babati brought back many memories, but also many new sights. The city of Arusha split our journey. Whilst the physical stop was a welcome break for us all, the change in landscape on leaving Arusha was a shock.
The road from Kilimanjaro to Arusha is incredibly green and lush...the long rainy season is coming to an end and it leaves a legacy of excessive vibrant green, a sense of good harvests and plenty. Beyond Arusha, towards Babati, the landscape changes, it is barren and somewhat more desolate - life appears harder and more challenging. The Masai graze and water their herds on these vast expanses of land - often walking over 25km simply to find water, only to return with the herd as night falls, some 50 plus kilometres later. Arusha appears to be the divide between two different worlds.
Arusha itself is a metropolis of the traditional and the new. On one side of the street are very Westernised new buildings, and the other very traditional African homes and stores. But the two give an impression of being a natural fit, with herds of cattle meandering between lorries, busses, cars and vans. It appears to be a busy, eclectic city - quite unique from anywhere else we passed through, save for the fact, that like every village and town, it is sponsored by the likes of Coke and Vodafone!
So with our day of travel almost over, we headed to our home from home whilst in Babati - the hotel bar, for our first gin of the trip and brief for our week ahead. Starting tomorrow, we will be working shoulder to shoulder with the local Erri beekeeping community to help them build modern beehives designed to improve their honey quality and productivity. This in turn will also help protect and preserve the local forest from further deforestation.
If we had been remotely daunted at the prospect ahead, seeing with our own eyes, one of the beehives we are about to build, has really put into perspective what we're about to do. It's no easy feat - quite the opposite. Nine women....90 beehives....less than three days. The challenge has been set and success is the only thing in our sight.
Follow and support us at #BigBeehiveBuild or @FarmAfrica as we help a community develop a new industry
Inspired? Sponsor Susie here.
