Today I had the chance to go to Bagamoyo, a little town about 70 km from Dar, with Thomas who had to give a speech. I would be able to wander around and explore the area and we would meet up later to return to Dar. This sounded particularly interesting to me because Bagamoyo has great historical significance to Tanzania and to Africa -- it was one of the three main exit points of the slaves who were captured here. Oh boy. Nothing like facing our horrendous history head on. Day three! Here we go. Away we went by daladala (of [View Full Entry]

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Hi Everybody! I have arrived safe and sound in Dar es Salaam, the "Haven of Peace", which may be overstating it a little but so far so good. The flight was absolute madness in the sense that no human being was ever meant to spend sixteen hours in the air, but I survived it. Although it will take three months before I'm ready to board another aircraft, I do think I'll be able to get back on without being drugged and dragged. Which is good news for those of you who were concerned about my never coming home, and bad news [View Full Entry]

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First things first, Happy birthday to me! As i realise it is only 8:00 in the morning in England i will forgive the lack of birthday e-mails, as i'm SURE nobody would have forgotten. And thank you to my Nanny and Grandad who had the forsight to send congrats yesterday so that i'd have it this morning! So, as you can see I'm back in Dar es Salaam, I left Mvumi yesterday and Ania left on Saturday - she will be beginning her ascent of Kilimanjaro today or tomorrow i think. I'm heading to Mbeya tomorrow and I'm thinking of visiting [View Full Entry]

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My final few days in Tanga were a mixture of happiness and sadness. There was lots to be doing; conservation, shopping, eating, drinking and hanging out. We had a couple of really nice meals, one with the whole group of volunteers and one with my Usagara hostel ‘family’. I said goodbye to my project and left everything in the safe (?!) hands of Martin, Kanuni, and Rhema. And I said farewell to a lot of friends who have become like family to me. My initial scepticism about Tanga I now put down to culture shock; I love Tanga! It is [View Full Entry]

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Lovely Lady Luck... This past month has been testament to the unpredictability of life. At any given time, one can never really know where you will be, what you will be doing, with whom, or what will befall you during any given event....... The following list is in no particular order: 1. Biking in Bagamoyo The decision to go to Bagamoyo, the original capital of German East Africa, was made about an hour before packing up and heading out the door (of course, after much waffling). After three rather unpleasantly long dalla dalla rides, we were settled in our romantic [View Full Entry]

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Hey guys! Sorry its been a while, i've been quite busy. I last left you with news of 'The Flood'. Well, after 'The Flood' we went out for dinner on the Friday night, and Toby and I ended up in this dodgy club called La Cassa Chica. We were supposed to be meeting the others there for a bit of dancing, but they never turned up, so instead we sat in the corner drinking conyagi (don't worry guys i'm bringing some of this stuff home so you can all taste it!!) and listening to ABBA. Its one of the dodgiest places [View Full Entry]

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Yesterday has to go down as one of the worst days ever recorded in the history of the Usagara hostel!! It is made worse by the fact that we had a really great night out on Thursday with all 23 volunteers going for a tasty meal, and then drinks and dancing at a 'club'. It was a great night. But that was before 'the flood'! On Friday morning i woke with a hangover and an urgent need to go to the bathroom. I untucked my mosquito net, and tried to peel myself out of bed, but as i put my feet [View Full Entry]

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Hello! You will all be happy to know that i am fully recovered from my malaria. For a few days i was really tired and drained and my whole body felt heavy, but by Thursday i was back to my usual self. This weekend we finally made the trip up to Lushoto. We have new housemates now; Toby, Ryan and Tom, and so Lisa, they and I headed up to the mountains in the mood for adventure. We got quite excited because it was a tarmac road from Tanga to Lushoto, and therefore a comparatively pleasnt journey. As we drove up [View Full Entry]

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There are many things that i have learned on my trip so far, but one thing will stay with me forever.... Never temp fate!!! It was only last week that i was explaining to you that i was in the malaria capitol of Tanzania, and joking to my brother that i 'hadn't caught malaria yet!' We had a good night out on Thursday, a kind of leaving do for Alex and Chris, which invloved a very tasty meal, a few rounds of the drinking game 'fuzzy duck', and a lot of killi beer and conyaggy, the local spirit. So on Friday [View Full Entry]

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So after two weeks of vacation, I am officially back in Dar es Salaam. The name of the city, by the way, means Haven of Peace . Alas, first impression upon returning is that Dar does not seem to be any more peaceful than upon my departure. At any rate, I am back and ready for work on Monday. Well...... I will be ready once I get more settled in my new house (going shopping tomorrow at the market!) and get some much needed rest. After 5 buses (more on these later), 4 hostels, 3 days of hiking, 2 dalla dallas [View Full Entry]

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