Moivaro Lodge

After driving about a mile or so down the village road, we came to driveway with a gated wall. There was a man there to open the gate for us to enter the lodge compound. At this time, it made me think that the wall and gate were there to protect the visitors from the villagers. Again, I was thinking "where am I and is this going to be a good place to be?" As it turns out, all of my fears and doubts would soon be erased.

We drove 100 yards or so and stopped at the front of the lodge. There were three men there to greet us and take my bags. It was very dark out when we arrived. We were seemingly surrounded by forest. The air was slightly damp and had a sweet forest smell to it. We walked up a couple of steps into a central foyer with a check in desk on one side and open in the back to grassy area. We were in a breeze way that was open on both ends. Although the employees were all wearing a light jacket or sweater, I found it to be very pleasant temperature wise. I was offered glass of juice that looked like orange juice. It actually was passion fruit juice and was absolutely delicious. My first bit of African cuisine and it was a big hit.

After getting checked in, David led me to my room. Moivaro Lodge has about 30 small cottages scattered through out the 40 acres of the walled plantation. Moivaro is a coffee plantation and the lodge is a part of the plantation. We the main lodge, which I will describe in more detail later, with a flashlight in hand. David led me down a path into the forest. The path was well maintained and lighted with round globe lights about every 40 to 50 feet. We made several turns passing several other cottages and path intersections along the way. The three or four minutes it took to get to my room seemed like a whole adventure in itself. I had no idea where I was going or what was ahead of me, and loved every step of it. All of my senses were on high alert. I could hear birds or bugs singing in the night. The smells were like nothing ever smelled before but pleasant. David stopped at one point and told me to look at the path. Between us was a black line across the path. The line was moving! There were literally thousands of ants moving back and forth across the gravel trail. Their movement had actually created a little smooth road in the gravel. I would find many more of these lines in the next two and a half days.

I love being out in the wild of nature and enjoy any walk in the woods. This was a walk that no other could compare to. I found myself thinking about the possibility of running into some wild animal. But then, realized I was within the confines of a walled compound in the middle of a village. I could hear chickens and cows outside the walls. There were children's voices playing and the sounds of a radio playing music. This was all a fascinating part of the adventure that was already beginning. I tried to think about what was really going on outside these walls, what was the village really like?

THE ROOM
The room or cottage, has two main sections. You enter into the sleeping area with two single beds, surrounded with a mosquito netting tent (picture above). There was a small desk with lamp and a small fireplace in one corner. After a short hallway with closet and storage for my clothes was a toilet room and a shower. This was not a lot different from some rooms you could have in rustic lodges in the U.S. But yet is had a more rustic feeling to it. The room was slightly cool and damp. This was the general feel of the whole environment here. We were just coming to the end of the rainy season for this region.