Author Archives: elizadeacon
The Rains
The rains are here and mornings dawn cold and grey. At night we are kept awake by the sound of it drumming on our tin roof; everything is damp, mould grows freely in cupboards and on clothes and I sit here typing this wrapped in a big sheepskin coat with, for once, slippers on [...]
A re-edit with colour in mind…
But I always find myself going back to black & white (well, at least I tried!)
On Safari with a “Funny Man”
I have to admit, I don’t usually hang out with ‘celebs’, they tend to be few and far between out here in northern Tanzania; or their visits are – unsurprisingly – so shrouded in secrecy, you would never know they had even set foot on the continent. But a recent photo assignment was a little [...]
Before the rains
It’s the time of year before the rains come, hot and dry, when dust rolls down off the mountain and fills the air. The sky is monochrome and dust devils whirl across [...]
People who dream…
“People who dream when they sleep at night know of a special kind of happiness which the world of the day holds not, a placid ecstasy, and ease of heart, that are like honey on the tongue. They also know that the real glory of dreams lies in their atmosphere of unlimited freedom. It [...]
What I’ve learned…
Things I’ve learned from living on a coffee farm – that everything has form and order, straight lines of coffee that follow the curves of Kilimanjaro’s foothills. In the distance, the lines stand tall and stately, a farmers dream. But then I guess no-one told this field of ‘Cosmos’, which blooms wild, unruly and carefree [...]
Everyone needs some creative inspiration…
Especially when you feel, as I often do, somewhat stuck out here in the middle of nowhere; and quite often stale. Brainstorming with other like-minded souls takes place over skype, or via websites, times when ideas flow and you remember all the things you wanted to write about, or photograph, but forgot. Madelyn Mulvaney and [...]
There’s a coffee farm out there somewhere…
Beyond this storm-hit windscreen, with me cowering behind it – fair-weather ‘apprentice’ farmer that I am – there are 370 acres of rolling hills, views of both Kilimanjaro and Meru, beautifully aged and remarkable trees and coffee bushes in every direction. And we are now its guardians! And these are our first “Mbosho [...]
Where the wild things are
We were in Mkomazi, a sprawling 3200 sq kilometers of wild open savannah, dusky mountains and glimpses of Tsavo in the far-off distance. It’s not far from us, up here in the north of Tanzania and bordering Kenya. It’s rugged and wild and probably the most beautiful part of Africa that I have ever seen. [...]
The mountain, rising
I’ve been up since 4am, wrapped in a blanket on our upstairs veranda. Staring up the sky which is inky black and swallows me whole. That and the silence…I’m lost in both, equally. Quiet, contemplative, realising I’ve sat for nearly an hour without moving. I’m afraid to now, not just because of cramped limbs twisted [...]
Across the Rift
We needed the break from routine, to escape from our skins even. Life had become stale and our eyes, focused on too many things, had stopped looking up; cast down, watching carefully each step, not taking flight. So we woke at dawn, left behind the cool foothills of Meru, still shrouded in cloud, and raced [...]
The Sea
Sitting on the veranda of the dhow house trying to write, lose myself in words, but their rhythm is not mine…rather the sound below of cloth being smacked again and again against chairs, chasing away the dust, always chasing the dust. Futile really as its ever present in the air, has nowhere else to go [...]
Out of Dreams
The moment at dawn when sleep still lies over your body and pushes you back into the night’s dreams. As you wake, fragments of memory fade too quickly before you can piece together their story; just as you grasp an image, any meaning attached to it is gone. This happens a lot and you are [...]