27 SEPTEMBER – 1 OCTOBER 2011

Gorgeous leopard

SAFARI (meaning more photos of wild animals)

TARANGIRE NP, LAKE TANGARA, NGORONGORO CRATER AND SERENGETI NP

Returning to fetch my pack which was already packed as I was planning to go to Arusha today, I find chaos is loudly breaking out at the hotel. By the time I get there the Israeli girls have found out that this trip is not spending a night at Ngorongoro when they were told it would.

here kitty, kitty, kitty

This does not auger well, I feel but my money is already tucked down a sock. There is much toing and froing on the street in front of the hotel, accusations of being lied to (true), no change of itinerary and as the girls have only paid a deposit, they cancel. That now leaves four of us on safari – Carol and Miguel from Spain, Juro from Slovakia and me with our driver Mosha and cook, Anuary. We now have lots of room in the car and after several stops for this and that we finally get going. Next stop is Arusha to buy a couple of onward bus tickets for Juro and I because we are not returning to Moshi at the end of the safari from Serengeti. While waiting for Anuary and Mosha to come back to the car, I try to buy some peanuts – and the bloke tried adding another 100 shillings on the cost just because he could!! I am very happy not to have had to tackle the touts here because I have a feeling they may have been twice as bad as in Moshi. From Arusha we drive west for a couple of hours to arrive at Tarangire National Park. We spend the afternoon driving and animal spotting – the usual lions, giraffe, wildebeest, buffalo and herds of elephants.

The park is in great shape and seems very well managed. I get to know my fellow passengers: Carol, Miguel and Juro have climbed Mt Kilomanjaro together so are already very good friends. The Spaniards have a stash of Spanish smallgoods with them that they kindly share, but Juro who can speak English and Spanish insists on only speaking Spanish with them. I try to keep up but my Spanish is so rusty that I give up and figure if he would like to include me, well and good. Otherwise I will suffice with my own company as this safari is twofold – it takes me to Serengeti and Ngorongoro and it gets me further west towards Lake Victoria which I could not do without private transport through the national parks.

Hide me, mum

We arrive at Panorama Camp in the evening just outside the village of Mto wa Mbu – river of mosquitos – on the escarpment of the Rift Valley with fabulous views of the lake in the distance and the wonderful night sky. We have standing tents, but no luxury here and I am very happy to have my own mossie net to use here. Our cook, Anuary does a fab meal for us and afterwards we are entertained by The Black Tigers (and Terry told me there are no tigers here in Africa!), a local crew with great acrobatic skills. But why, of why do they insist on singing Guantanamero?

Big elephants and an even BIGGER tree

Lake Tangara in the Rift Valley

Carol tells me that their porters also broke out singing that song when they completed the Mt Kili climb and they thought it most unusual! I suggest that surely ‘The Lion sleeps tonight’ could be more apt?

The morning brings to light the fabulous views from our vantage point camp and Lake Manyara is visible in the far distance. The second day of safari we have a guided walk right by Lake Manyara out through the village of Mto wa Mbu and onto the outskirts of the NP. We see buffalo, hippos, Thompsons Gazelle (no springboks here) who pronk just the same, and far away in the distance flamingos! Lunch is followed by a cultural walk through the village’s banana plantations learning all about the different varieties of bananas (yes, I already know them but the walk was pleasant enough), call in at a Makonde carvers workshop and end with a visit to try the local banana beer – yuck – no better or worse than sorghum beer or millet beer.  Earlier this day I couldn’t find my drink bottle and a packet of chips are missing – I suspect the baboons have raided my tent?

Bet one of these baboons raided my tent

On our return I make a search of the campgrounds for my drink bottle with the thought that the baboons may have dropped it because they wouldn’t have been able to open it and it was empty. BINGO it is found and I have it back – unbelievable luck really.

 Our third safari day takes us into Ngorongoro Crater which is absolutely HUGE – the biggest caldera in the world (Africa has been the making of my geography knowledge, I reckon).  Just the drive around the crater rim to the floor takes over an hour along the descent road.

jic you were wondering what Ngorongoro looked like

There are only three roads in and out of the Ngorongoro = a descent road, an ascent road and ascent and descent road that heads over to the smaller craters nearby. No views from the top due to cloud cover but heading down all becomes visible, including the diminishing Lake Magadi which does have flamingos. It is very, very dry here with vast herds of wildebeest and a sprinkling of animals but certainly not as many as I had anticipated. I think that if this was my one and only safari I would be disappointed. As it is, I have been thoroughly spoiled with only cheetahs and wild dogs on my ‘to see’ list now. One highlight though is seeing the Masai people up close and personal – no cultural visits as such, just lots of glimpse of them by the roads wrapped in their traditional brightly coloured blankets. On the way to Serengeti we spot a few boys with painted faces – new initiates. But I notice that women are not to be seen roundabouts – too busy working at home I guess while the blokes are gallivanting tending their cattle.

Late afternoon we enter Serengeti National Park and our driver heads straight to an area where we see two cheetahs – wow. I cannot think of anything else to describe how delighted I am, because they are absolutely gorgeous.

Gnus, wildebeest, call em what you like

When we arrive at the Twiga (giraffe) Rest House in Seronera there is no power because the generator is broken. But Annuary still does a fab job cooking up a storm, we still get hot water and the beds are netted and comfy so all is ok again.

Next day is spent driving and animal spotting – we see a great lion pride complete with males, lionesses and many cubs. There are many hippos, giraffe, wildebeest, elephants and even another cheetah very far away up in a tree. We drive back to house for lunch and while Carol, Miguel and Juro take a siesta I spot Mosha climbing into the car. He’s heading back to the airport, which is past the information centre, so I ask for a lift. It turns out to be really interesting and I spend a fascinating hour or two there..

Its a twiga

They show dvds of the Great Migration and Lions – both are really great to watch, especially after seeing the animals for real. I price the dvds in the gift shop - $12 each!! I pick up something else - $12!! Other tourists are all happily paying him dollars for the souvenirs but I suspect that this guy is plucking prices out of thin air. I ask him again how much, in shillings and the prices drop somewhat but not enough to tempt me. I reckon I can pick up a David Attenborough doco at JB HiFi when I get home for less and be guaranteed of the quality as these are all burned copies. There is an information trail here and I learnt many, many things including the fact that all baby wildebeest are born within the space of 3 weeks every year – and the baby wildebeest can stand within 10 minutes of birth and run at full speed within the hour of being born!!! The crocodiles living in the rivers depend on the great migrations crossings – one wildebeest is enough to sustain a croc for six months, until the next crossing!

This afternoon the short rain set in – but not so short this afternoon. I am happy with all we have seen but Juro is pretty determined to see more. After an hour of driving in the rain even he becomes despondent and lets us give up so heading back to our final dinner together at Twiga we meet up with its namesake right nearby.

Last day we have a morning drive before breakfast – two cheetahs far away, but the real highlight is a leopard right next to the road with a carcass high up in a tree that he returns to nibble on at intervals. We spot a lovely lion, hippos, giraffe and of course more wildebeest.

Juro and I get dropped at the bus ‘stop’ at Seronera around 10am with our packed lunches and we farewell our safari companions. Then we wait and wait and wait and of course I get chatting and end up drinking warm beer in the shade until the bus finally turns up at 1.30pm. Our seats are there and off we go, through more of the Serengeti to exit at the Ikoma Ggate. Bye bye Serengeti

FACT: Tanzania is home to a formidable number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites including Kilimanjaro NP, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Serengeti NP, Selous Game Reserve and Zanzibar’s Stone Town. The other ones I missed are the Kilwa Kisiwani & Songo Mnara ruins down south and Kolo-Kondoa Rock Art Sites (no idea where they are).  So even though Tanzania has one of the highest proportions of protected land of any African country - about 30% is protected in some form - limited resources limit conservation efforts whilst soil erosion, deforestation, desertification and corruption continue erode the Tanzanian natural wealth.

Keep your head down and they might go away

Nope they're still there

sample timber that makes...

these carvings

Ngorongoro Crater

Sunset on the Serengeti

Wallowing hippos

Lazing lionesses

25/26 SEPTEMBER 2011

TANZANIA– Country number 19 – Formerly TANGANIKYA

SECOND VISIT

After a very smooth, two hour ferry trip back to Dar, I disembark and get stamped back into Tanzania again. Walking from the port I manage to get lost again.

Smoking must be good for your singing?

There is something about these curly Dar streets that I lose my way every time, even when I think it should be straightforward. I cannot fathom it especially when I often have a reasonable sense of direction. So after walking twice as far as I should have, I check into the YWCA’s nicely netted room, dump my pack and get a dalladalla straight out to Ubungo bus station to book tomorrow’s bus to Moshi. AARRGGHHH As soon as I enter the general area of the bus station I am assailed by touts – “sister, sister where are you going?” They make money by taking you to bus companies’ ticket counters and claiming a commission on the cost of your ticket.

Naturally your ticket costs more so the trick is to find the right counter without any help. All the while being hassled by at least five or six blokes all yelling at me “sister, sister where are you going? Arusha? Moshi? Nairobi?” At first I don’t have much luck finding the company I want, while many tell me they are Dar Express – but I know they’re not so it is very frustrating. Eventually one man takes pity on me and says quietly “44 and 45, Dar Express.” Thank heavens some people are kind in amongst the rogues and I immediately find counter 44 and 45 to get my ticket to Moshi without any further ado.  Later I chat to a local about my experience here and he gives me some very invaluable advice – as soon as you arrive tell them “I already have a ticket” and they will immediately leave you alone. After the bus station trauma, getting the dalladalla back to town was easy and I lash out on a taxi to the Masani Slipway, a recreational spot for well-heeled locals and expats alike, to watch the sunset with a Safari beer in hand. Aaahhhhhhhh

HUH??

A nice easy evening packing for tomorrow’s foray west to Moshi and leaving the YWCA in the early morning, the guard fetches me a taxi. We soon find the traffic around Ubungo is so heavy  even at 5.30am that I get dropped a block away and walk the rest of the way to slip through the touts grasp at the entrance because “I have a ticket”. Easy but long bus ride to Moshi – why? The trip used to take six hours but now the government tells the buses they have to keep to the speed limit to reduce accidents (could someone tell that to bl**dy  Ng’itu Express). So now it takes nine hours to reach Moshi from Dar es Salaam. But all the way there is great scenery, as we head past the Usambarra Mountains here in northeast Tanzania towards the major coffee growing region of Tanzania.

More hassle here in Moshi on arrival but I manage to walk the kilometre into town unaided. First three places are full but each one kindly directs me onto another place and eventually I check into Kilimanjaro Backpackers Hotel. Tiny room but I’m only here one night to see if I can see the mountain – I have no intention to climb it for I am far too lazy. Walking around here in Moshi I gain new friends on every block – as soon as you shrug one off, there’s another guy (AND they are all blokes) waiting at the next corner. Honestly some of them run when they see you so they can be first at you to greet you, question you, be your friend and then sell you something on which they can get a commission.

There's a mountain somewhere under that cloud

I try looking for Mount Kilimanjaro but have to ask to know which way to look as the sky is full of clouds. Hopefully sunset may see them clear somewhat. Kindoroko Hotel is booked out so their rooftop bar is closed to non-residents. I spy another hotel rooftop from the street and head up there to find out that yes they do have a rooftop bar so up the stairs I climb to the fifth floor. It’s a funny place with a different warning at each floor about keeping quiet. Upon reaching the top floor there are no staff, but great views so I enjoy a peaceful view of Moshi waiting for the clouds to slowly lift at sunset. They do to a certain extent but there is no clear view of the mountain tonight. Soon enough an ‘old friend, remember me?’ turns up and sending me off back downstairs to the streets of Moshi for a sunset beer, dinner and early night to travel  to Arusha tomorrow.

Over breakfast I get talking with three Israelis who are leaving on safari today. I ask them lots of questions about how they picked the company because I am so turned off by the street touts here. The girls tell me that it’s a wonderful company, they used them to try and climb Mt Meru, he’s a very nice man and you just have to give them a chance, they tell me. A Slovakian guy is also going on the same safari today along with a Spanish couple. When I ask Juro more questions he kindly gives me the company’s card – Totally Wild. This used to be a popular kids tv program at home, so on a whim I head around there and find they can fit one more person on board. I figure that the other travellers would have asked lots of questions and they are happy so I pay my money and I’m on. Or should that be off on Safari today!!

FACT: At 5896m, Mt Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa and the destination of many wannabe climbers because apparently you can walk all the way to the top without ropes or climbing experience. I remain untempted by this fact.

21 – 25 SEPTEMBER 2011

ZANZIBAR – Country number 20 – ZANZIBAR

STONE TOWN

A calm two hour ferry ride across the waters, which was most unlike the ferry booking offices the day before. Now Zanzibar is not officially an independent country, although its immigration is certainly alive and well here with very formal forms to be filled on and an exit form to return on departure of the island. Whist waiting in line, I notice one bloke has all his passport and visa photocopies but the chap in uniform is very unmoved – I’m happy I didn’t listen to Mr Rwanda’s advice!

It’s a two minute walk to Bandari Lodge, a traditional house and my room is gorgeous with lots of windows, mosquito netted wooden traditional beds and lovely thick whitewashed walls.
There is a kitchen to cook in and breakfast is provided. Cheap, cheerful and very atmospheric – very suitable for Stone Town and very like Rubys in Mozambique Island, just not as stylish.  Later, when walking about and trying to orientate myself to this Malindi area someone is waving to me from a café – it’s Fin whom I last saw in Harare and it’s lovely to see him again. He’s been here for a few days now and fills me in on all the tips and places to see. He recommends a spice tour, tells me where there’s free wifi, what the beaches are like andto go Forodhani Gardens for dinner where everyone meets up in the evening.
We chat about our travels and Fin is certainly doing it very well – meeting people and really getting to the countryside.
He’s leaving on tonight’s ferry to start moving northwards to meet his brother in Cairo from where they will travel the Middle East. I wish him luck on the overland travel up through Sudan and we both wonder if we may meet again up in Uganda. I have now decided to not be surprised at who I may meet again from here on in!! That night I head to Forodhani Gardens by the sea and it is very atmospheric here with lanterns lighting an array of stalls and many people strolling about with families and friends. Upon closer inspection it looks as if there is very little variety here with mainly two different sorts of stalls either selling sugarcane juice or various shellfish/fish kebabs at outrageous prices. I can’t understand how locals are affording this food and listen carefully to soon realise that there are two different prices being quoted – one for locals and another for the mzungus tourists. Next night I try Darajani market where the juice is half the price and variety of food available is very different to Forodhani Gardens. I finish my meals here with great masala tea.

I am staying close to the harbour where there is a fantastic fish market that is alive with boats coming in and workers wading out with baskets to carry in the catches to be auctioned on shore. I visit here a few times just because it is so lively and interesting especially for people watching. Returning to Darajani market in town, I buy a couple of pieces of very fresh tuna to cook up for my lunch on a couple of days. Another day I search out an indian restaurant to have a great vego thali.

One morning I meet up with Judi  who I was put in touch with by Tanzania Girl Guides. Judi is looking to start a Girl Guide unit on Zanzibar – originally from Sydney, married to a Tanzanian and running two restaurants and a guesthouse! They now have a little girl and Judi is looking at Girl Guides to provide an alternative recreation that is traditionally available to moslem girls (tv at home!) here.

Fine weather for walking all over town each day because I just love the great architecture here in Stone Town that is now very much valued; tiny shops, courtyards and laneways always winding through to somewhere else, and of course because of the high storied houses there is plenty of shade. It’s a melting pot of African, Omani, Arabic, Portuguese and Indian cultures. Stone Town streets and alley ways are lovely – full of children running to and from schools, little girls in full hijab and little boys walking to Madrassas. Women in black hijab and niquaya, men in kanzu and kofia walking to the many mosques dotted inside the town – the oldest dating from 1831, Msikiti wa Balnara. There is The Old Fort built around 1700 by the Omani Arabs on the site of a Portuguese chapel and is decorated by a very modern Girl Guide badge at it’s entrance!! The gorgeous Old Dispensary, being renovated by the Aga Khan Charitable Trust and the Anglican cathedral of St Monicas is built over the former slave market site and auction yards.

There is a Beit El-Sahel (Palace Museum), the sultan’s residence until 1964 devoted to the Sultanate era and Beit El-Ajaib (a House of Wonders) built in 1883 by Sultan Bargarsh as a ceremonial palace. Great displays at the latter: A Kanga display - kangas are printed cotton wraps worn by women that often incorporate a Swahili proverb. There is also a life sized mtepe – a traditional Zanzibar sailing vessel made without nails. Both of these lovely buildings have fabulous vistas of the Zanzibar shoreline and back towards the town from their balconies.

I book a ‘spice tour’ on Fin’s recommendation and because Zanzibar was founded on spices. We are driven to someone’s garden an hour out of town where there are a couple of each variety of spice including turmeric, nutmeg and vanilla. Our Spice lunch is very ordinary, but there is turmeric in the vegies. The tour’s highlight for me was to see the Hamamni Persian Baths, built by Sultan Bargash in the late 19^th Century. Other than that, forget about the spice bit – no plantations BUT I did get to see a vanilla flower.

Having a sunset beer at the Africa Hotel, I chat to an American couple who are renewing their vows tomorrow at the St Joseph’s Catholic cathedral.
Just for fun I try to get there but too late she cried after going to the wrong church. So when I finally get to St Joseph’s church I stay for the next local weddings – two together. One wedding party with hawthorn colours and the other a mint green. The brides are done up like princesses with their guests are all dressed in colours corresponding to the wedding party they are attending. There is much hooting, ululating and cheers at various parts of the wedding mass including the ’I DO’ bits. It was lovely to witness so much happiness and hope here, in a continent where these emotions can often seem to be very much missing in day to day life for a lot of people here.

Meeting up with the Colombian in Stonetown

Walking down through Kenyatta Rd a tourist passes and recognises me – he’s certain he knows me asking ‘do you remember me? Do you know where we met?’ He is vaguely familiar and I make a guess that it was probably in West Africa? YES, he tells me, we met in Mopti and then I remember The Columbian!! We took the boat together with a bunch of travellers along the Niger River up to Timbuktu. I last saw him at the Desert Festival where he could only stay one day because of having to catch a flight back home….. And he’s been home, worked and is now at the tail end of another travel through East Africa, flying off tomorrow morning back to Nairobi and Barcelona!!! I still find it UNBELEIVABLE to meet people like this. I mean this continent is BIG, the countries many, and even to be in the same town and then the same street at the same time to meet is amazing. Esteban is lovely to talk to and he has news of the Croatians we travelled with and we are both friends on FB with Temoris. I knew that a few of the folk we had all been together had been very ill with Malaria after that trip to Tim and he tells me he saw the horrible Dutchman another time in Spain and avoided him like the plague! We agree to catch up again some more tonight at Forodhani Gardens and chat for several hours there. We part ways wishing each other luck with promises to find each other on Facebook.

The very BIG tree

Apparently there are also lovely beaches here on Zanzibar but alas I didn’t have any interest in visiting them proving how very slack/selective I am becoming! Soon enough the calendar tells me its time to return to the mainland and with my return ticket in hand it is only a matter of turning up, getting on board the Sea Express and waving farewell to Zanzibar. aahhhhh after the rain the waters are as smooth as…. Aaahhhhhh And onwards through Tanzania again

FACT:  Zanzibar was one of East Africa’s great trading centres for centuries, where Africa, India and Arabia met. Persia was arriving from the 8^th Century and trade in gold, ivory, wood and slaves prospered along with the adoption of Islam. Along came the Portuguese in the 16^th Century, then the British and then the unlikely Omani Arabs whose empire prospered with slaves, ivory and cloves. SO much so that the Omar Sultan moved his court here in 1840. By 1860 Zanzibar became independent from Oman with Omani Sultans ruling under a British Protectorate until 1963 and full independence. In 1964 a declaration of unity was signed with Tanganyika and Zanzibar became part of the new United Republic of Tanzania.

19 - 21 SEPTEMBER 2011

Stalled in DAR ES SALAAM TANZANIA

What else to do in Dar? Go Monday armed with dates, itineraries and credit cards to buy Ethiopian Air tickets – but the boss says I have to buy two international fares in and out of Ethiopia to qualify for the domestic vouchers. The salesman quietly tells me to try again in Nairobi  where there will be no problems.  Check out a photography exhibition at Alliance Francaise – SOUTOURA by Angel Luis Alsai – lovely photographs of West African women. I also spend an inordinate amount of time over at the Holiday Inn using their wifi. I purchase 24hr blocks and despite being told that it is strictly 24 hours, I find a way to stretch it out over 3 days access. I look online and find a return ticket to Madagascar for $500 return from Nairobi with Air Madagascar(half of Kenya Airways pricing, ) and I allow a couple of days either side of the GAP tour that I anticipate joining – I’ll wait until closer to the time to see if I can get a last minute pricing. Thank you Lesley for the heads up on the tour because I had given up on going to Madagascar after she fell sick and couldn’t come.

There is a huge indian population here and that means there are many Sikh, Parsi and Hindu temples all centered in one area nearby. Mohammed tipped me on where to get chai – but each morning I try they have sold out - but their samosas are the best I’ve had yet!

I visit the tourist office in case I have missed something interesting to see around town and pick up a brochure for the Dar zoo with photos of various animals in concrete cages and enclosures. The publicity highlights ‘Finally, there is THE DREAM RIDE a chance for our visitors to ride animals of their own choice, a camel, a horse or a donkey and set out on CARAVAN safari around the zoo. What a lifetime experience this promises to be for you and your family and friend.” I remain unmoved and give the zoo a BIG miss.

Eagerly ringing the Rwanda Embassy Monday re the visa – no, ring this time tomorrow. More time to walk along the seafront and check out ferry prices in anticipation of leaving the mainland tomorrow.

Eagerly ring Rwanda Embassy again late Tuesday morning to be told off and instructed to ring this afternoon at 3pm. OK, now this afternoon’s ferry is a no go so another tonight here in Dar.  I telephone again at 3pm to be told that my visa is ready, come and pick it up. Try to get there myself again on the Dalladallas, I make it out to a stop called Morrocco and am nearly within touching distance but just can’t find the right dalldalla – a chap wants to help and takes me there in a tuk tuk (yes they have them here) because he wants to help me. I enter Rwanda’s visa office to find the bloke online on Facebook and he proceeds to write me a receipt, paste my visa in my passport and hand it back to me saying “you have thirty days, effective now.” WHAT? My thirty days are ticking by now? But why? “Didn’t they tell you?” NO and I didn’t bl**dy ask either, so more fool me. Not the end of the world though and I quickly get a dalladalla back to Morocco and back to Posta then straight to the ferry terminal to buy a ticket for tomorrow. The reputation of the ticket touts here is well known and they are very persistent, so after a couple of false starts I eventually purchase an open return tix over to Zanzibar and will avoid paying a Ports departure tax in Zanzibar. Now I am happy again with plans to be moving again.

FACT: Since 1973, Dosoma has been the official capital of Tanzania and the headquarters of the ruling Party. However Dar es Salaam is Tanzania’s major city and its capital in everything but name, being the unrivalled economic and political centre of the country..

14 - 19 SEPTEMBER 2011

DAR ES SALAAM TANZANIA

Finally checking into the YMCA, I sing the song, making all the hand actions,

OF COURSE in memory of the Village People and disco!  My room has a balcony overlooking huge mango trees in the centre of town and backs onto a church with lovely bells at 6.30am each morning. There is a great cafeteria and bar here along with lovely folk working here. Even the voracious taxi drivers out the front are very friendly accept my daily knock back in response to their offer of a taxi ride, with grace. Granted there are power cuts each day but with a generator so we are never indisposed for very long. And we are right across the road from the Holiday Inn, with its fab rooftop bar and fantastic wifi.

Try making my way around using the dalladallas – get directed to Uganda street and get a taxi to the Uganda embassy . Pay at the bank come back and “one minute, madam”.  30minutes later I have the sticker in  my passport and I figure its not too late to try Rwanda as well this morning. No luck finding my way with the dalladallas so I get a taxi who insists he knows where the embassy is – I try to tell him it’s the other way, but I am reluctant to be so sure. Turns out he was wrong, I was right, they have moved and nobody told him! Sorry madam, sorry madam – but yet there is something to be said for a bargained price because even if they get lost you don’t pay extra.  Back we go to Old Bagamoyo Rd and find their lovely big new house with little sign of offices or workers.  The security guard leads me to a back room where there is one desk with a lovely young Rwandan woman who is very excited that I am Australian and wanting to travel to Rwanda. She has never been there (to Rwanda) but is hoping to visit next month. I fill in the paperwork and then receive a post it note with a telephone number to call tomorrow along with an account number to pay US$50 into if the said telephone call says its ok. Half of the day is gone now, but I message Zohra from Girl Guides Tanzania to arrange to visit their HQ tomorrow.

I try for the tourist office and Ethiopian Airlines but both are closed by the time I make my way back into town. In the morning I head to the now open tourist office and I am successful in getting decent instructions out to Mwananyamala, where I want to go, using the dalladallas. When I get to the Mama Zakaria stop, I telephone Stella who comes out to meet me and we walk back to a house that they are using as a headquarters while they await a new office to be built – it will take 2 years!!!  I meet some of the Region Leaders who are in town to learn a new training project to make girls aware of the dangers of alcohol. At home our health departments take this type of education on board but here it is left to small organisations who petition for funding to do it. Apparently here in Tanzania alcohol consumption is a real problem, with many rural folk in some areas using it to settle their babies and tots without any knowledge of the danger in doing so. Hmmm Stella tells me there is one woman on Zanzibar who is looking to start Girl Guides and I ask if I can be putin contact to meet with her – no problems. We wish each other farewell and Stella sees me safely onto the Dalladalla back to town.

Wise words

Back I come to the city and visit Ethiopian Airlines to get official confirmation that if I fly in and out of Addis I am entitled to internal airfares at much reduced prices. This is great news unlike the Rwandans who tell me after calling them that yes I will be approved for the visa and it will be ready on Tuesday. TUESDAY – and what will I do till then, methinks??  I explain that I had planned to travel to Zanzibar but without a passport that will not be possible. He reassures me that I can travel to Zanzibar using a copy of my passport but I just don’t believe that and think it would probably be my luck to catch the ferry over, only to be sent back because of no passport. He suggests I ring Monday but he is not making any promises. That means I will be here in Dar until Tuesday if I can catch an afternoon ferry to the island, fingers crossed.

Friday evening I am finally reading Thursday’s Tanzanian Daily News and I notice an article about Tazara Railways who are celebrating Tanzania’s 50^th year of Independence and their own 35^th anniversary by running a special train down to Selous Game Reserve. “It includes the annual beauty pageant winners for them to enjoy the beautiful landscape along the railway line! Moreove, other people are allowed to buy the tickets and enjoy the trip at a low cost.”

MIss Tanzania and bodyguard

A return day trip to Selous with Miss Tanzania and her four runners up on board? Nothing else to do tomorrow so why not! I head out early Saturday morning to the Tazara station to find crowds around Miss Tanzania and Miss Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth in the flesh! Tickets are still available so I lash out for a ticket in first class and join two pommy blokes in a compartment decorated with a flower arrangement of roses! It turns out we are the only mzungus on board and they are both here for work here (economics etc). They bought their tix days ago when the trip was first announced and they assure me that our tickets are all inclusive!  
We are asked if we mind another passenger – no, plenty of room and we are joined by Mohammed asks if he can join us and he who is a mine of information having been in the railway industry for 30 years. And it seems as if he knows everyone on board, knew the rail line backwards and even had a timetable for today’s trip. The train leaves ON TIME and soon enough we were served a packed breakfast and delicious masala tea – chai. This is followed by quickly by offers of beer! I walk through the train to the airplane equivalent of ‘the pointy end’ to find Miss Tanzania Salha Israel,  dining off real plates with Tanzania Railways ‘Deputy Managing Director. Because Tazara is a joint operation between Zambia and Tanzania so there are two Deputy Managing Directors – one from Zambia and the other from Tanzania. We have the Tanzania’s Deputy on board, Damas Danial Ndumbaro who is very happy to meet a mzungu and promises to call in on my compartment later. Photos are taken, I get a guided tour of the pointy end to see a real double bed, a full sized bath in the bathroom and I get to shake many hands, introduce myself and where I come from. Enough of the pleasantries I wander down through the rest of the train where techs are trying to get the PA going – because its just not a celebration unless here is loud music happening. Everyone is on board with friends and workmates and I wonder just how many of them actually have purchased tickets! Second and Third classes are full and there is a great anticipation about today’s trip, everyone is happy, smiling and wants to know who I am and where I’ve popped up from!  I am really in search of another chai now but no luck there so after the many more offers of a beer I relent and find myself watching the scenery fly past drinking my first Safari (beer) of the day at 10am!

A full sized bath on the train JIC??

There are tv crews on board from both Zambia and from Tanzania recording this momentous day and I am interviewed by both stations. Some chap pops into our compartment at regular intervals to keep us informed of what is going to happen next. Mohammed keeps us up to the minute on how much time we have gained or lost at the various stations we pass. And by this time the music is blaring but we find the volume control in our compartment actually works so we are all happy travellers. Another update on our travels tells us that the rail line cuts through the Selous Game Reserve, the train will slow down when it passes through and if we spot animals  the train will stop to allow us to view them more easily. What a civilised train ride! The animals didn’t seem too keen on the train and obviously knew that this was not a timetabled arrival – but we did manage to spot various (and fleeing) giraffe, zebra, elephants, antelopes and birdies. We then reached the small station of Kisaki where everyone disembarked and the women were off like a shot to the village for a spot of shopping. So naturally I followed the women because they ALWAYS know what is going on and what is good.
Local kids were employed to carry back the kilograms of fresh produce purchases – I really didn’t think there would have been a tomato left in that village after those passengers had been through! Later when we’re back on the train returning to Dar, Mohammed lamented that he didn’t get to the village for shopping because he didn’t know about it – no train line there I think and you didn’t follow the women! lol  Mohammed also laments the lost time and gives us a very accurate estimate of our late arrival time. He also kindly offers me a lift back into to town and the two poms jump on too.
A long day but really a lot of fun on a once off journey!

FACT: The short rains have started here and just like a tropical monsoon.  Known as mvuli, they are very heavy but usually over in ten or fifteen minutes.. But beware getting caught out in them because you will most certainly be soaked to the skin within a couple of minutes.

I thought this was a really cool wheel cover