Generally tidying up and attending to smaller jobs including wiring over the windows in the hut to stop bats, birds, lizards and mice etc. from entering, finished off an enjoyable visit. Especially good was eating the very first .. well actually the second .. mango to ripen on one of my established trees.
Naturally this proved to be the sweetest mango I had ever eaten .. perhaps I was somewhat biased !
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Honestly and perhaps a tad foolishly, Babucar shamefacedly owned up to the fact that the first mango had also been delicious and received a lecture on his rules of employment .. notably on the primary rule which states that you make sure you look after the person who pays your wages first, more especially when he happens to be in the country at the same time that his fruit has ripened !
- Luckily for him, he was a bit too quick for me and easily avoided going swimming in the well !!
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Despite the above 'heinous crime', he had been working hard in my absence, so I treated him to a new set of knobbly track tyres for his bicycle .. which remarkably was still in one piece .. gave him a bonus pay rise and thanked him for his continued efforts, which I trust will continue in the same way.

 In three weeks the Cassava had really spurted into growth in the ideal growing conditions.

Further additions to the fruit tree orchard were made with two new avocado pear trees to replace our only failures from last year .. attributed to termite damage.  Completing the planting were a grapefruit and two ugly fruit trees, a couple of banana plants and a selection of papaya cuttings grown by Babucar in his "greenhouse" .. which was formerly his grass-sided shower cubicle ! 

As I prepared to return to the UK, the weeding and cleaning had been finished .. or at least caught up with, until hidden grass and weed seedlings burst into growth. It will take a long time for all the unwanted growth to be cleaned, as the ex-forested land is full of seeds which can lie dormant for years before springing up with the onset of rain. Gradually, with his hard work and dogged perseverance, it will become easier .. something Babucar will be very pleased about.

The Date Palm on the left is slowly taking shape, whereas the Morning Glory climber, three tiny tendrils planted at the base of an established tree last year, has grown strongly .. soon to flower.

It will be fascinating to see how these scenes have changed when I return later this year.