Livingstonia

I woke early in order to get some sunrise pictures from the beach.  Not much on the agenda today, more of a relaxing day for me.  The younger folk and those that like to tan will hang out on the beach.  Three others chose to hike up to Livingstonia, a mission dedicated to David Livingstone.  I wished I had joined them, but didn’t as the challenge seemed too great when they were planning it.  It is a 30 km. round trip hike up the Riff Valley wall, something like a 9 or10-hour trip, and I figured it would be just too grueling in the heat.   

Instead, I hung around the camp and photographed some of the flowering trees and plants and chatted with a fellow who was camped nearby with his wife and two young sons.  It turns out that they are travelling throughout Africa for a year.  They had purchased a used Land Rover and equipped it with two tents mounted on top.  He went on to explain that one of the boys had contracted Malaria and was undergoing treatment and that they had got it early and that he would be okay.

Getting back to Livingstonia.  Livingstonia Mission is located 3000 ft. above the lake shore near Chitimiba.  Scottish Presbyterian missionaries following David Livingstone's footsteps across Africa built the mission here after previous sites on the lake shore proved unworkable due to high levels of malaria at the time.

The David Gordon Memorial Hospital, Livingstonia, is a 100-bed mission hospital situated on the plateau near Livingstonia Mission. The hospital was established by Scottish Presbyterian missionaries in 1910 and came under the control of the Synod of Livingstonia of the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian about 40 years ago.  The hospital is well equipped and serves a population of about 45,000 people in the surrounding area.

This evening I got to bed relatively early as we have a long traveling day to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania tomorrow.