Blogs from East, Tanzania, Africa - page 8

Day One: The BA flight was good, very quiet so we could spread out across lots of seats and try to get some sleep. Getting our Visas was an experience - Anton struggled with the VERY laid back African systems...i.e. you just give a guy $50 each and your passport and wait for him to (hopefully) return at some point! The private charter flight was amazing thanks to George the pilot, the views were stunning, although the weather was very mixed today. We felt pretty special having our own plane and pilots with our cases just thrown on the back seat as if we were in a taxi! It was raining during the flight and the plane had no windscreen wipers so seeing the pilots hanging out the window to get their directions was rather amusing ... read more

The view from the train was pretty amazing, rolling hills, forests, villages and farmland. We seemed to stop very often, it was the ordinary train not the express. There were lots of little villages, but since we were at the back of the train all the people selling things on the side of the tracks would run down the train to sell things to passengers. Wehad bought most of our food in Kapiri Mposhi so didn’t need to buy much. We did however occasionally buy a meal from the train restaurant. Because we were in first class, a man would come along for each meal and take orders, then bring them to the room for us. The bar was a few carriages up the train between first and second classes. It was just a few lounges ... read more

Before coming to Tanzania I knew that I was in for culture shock, a real gut wrenching experience. I knew that seeing how people live in conditions that are seen all over the developing world would be difficult, and at times it can get overwhelming if you think about it too much. Whether its seeing people having to do most of the cooking and cleaning of dishes outside because they lack the proper facilities and running water; seeing how people function without electricity for most of the day, as sporadic power outages have plagued Tanzania and much of Sub Saharan Africa for years; witnessing the treat of malaria with every mosquito bite; or playing soccer with an 8 year old who is exhausted after 10 minutes because he doesn’t get enough nutrients throughout the day is ... read more

We are still at 8 climbers and we have 7 weeks to go! We have decided to arrive early and spend one night at KIA Lodge when we arrive and then the next morning we are off to Kambi ya Tembo for an elephant expedition. After that, one night at Springland and the next morning our trek begins : ) Very excited. We are still looking for two more people, but if we don't get to ten it's fine. We have all our shots, accomodations booked, flights and gear. Just waiting for departure : ) Working out continues.... read more

So here’s something you should know about Malawian Kwacha, the Malawian currency. It’s worth so little that even Malawian banks don’t want it. What happened is this, approaching the border to Tanzania, Kam and I had a big chunk of Malawian money left over, due to a slight miscalculation of how much we would need for the Nyika hike. Being in a rush (what’s new?) to catch a train in Tanzania, we didn’t have time to wait for the banks to open in the town where we had spent the night in yet another charming cold-shower paint-peeling-off-the-walls guesthouse, named the Princess. So, early morning crammed taxi ride to the border in the hope of changing the money there. And there actually was a little bank at the border post. But would they take our Kwacha? No. ... read more