golf?

there's a sugar plantation, a very very large sugar plantation, just outside of Moshi.  it's owned by some Mauritians and it's a popular place for westerners.  it's about a 40 minute drive to get there but it's a really nice drive.  no lorries and no buses driving crazy speeds and passing everything on the road.  the drive is lined by trees and the fields of sugar cane surround you once you enter the premises.  it is amazing efficient for a plantation in Africa.  

they have a lot of heavy machinery and a rail system that automates the delivery of the raw sugar cane to the factory.  if the wind is right, when they are burning off the fields it blows right over moshi and can be seen for miles.


one day a few of us went out for a tour of the sugar processing plantation.  i got physically sick and left mid tour.  the smell was making me want to vomit.  i left thinking that i would probably never consume sugar again.  a few weeks later when i was exploring the idea of vanilla sugar as product to bring to market i found out that this factory doesn't export as their sugar doesn't meet international food safety standards.  yummy. 

it's a huge plantation and has it's own school, hospital and other administrative offices and every western convenience.  so it's a popular place for expats.

they built a lovely club house which includes a room for ping pong and billiards and the restaurant overlooks the golf course which i've only seen one person playing any time i've been out there.  the food is lovely and there is tennis and a pool so everything one needs to be comfortable.  it feels like a different world from the chaos that is the cities of Moshi and Arusha.  we did walk around the golf course after lunch and it was covered with monkeys which makes one wonder if they steal the balls.