Home time

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I have now been home for a week. I left Arusha on the 5th of February and made my way to Ethiopia for an overnight stay. I then travelled to Johannesburg and then home to Sydney. My final days in Africa were spent organising a safari for mum and then exploring Arusha on my own once she left. I visited many markets and experienced daily life. Staying in the one place for quite a while allowed me to see how people live. Sitting up on the rooftop bar at my hostel and looking out onto the streets of Arusha, I could see and hear the daily lifestyle of the african people. So many are unemployed and walk the streets all day just trying to make ends meet. The noises at night were so loud I felt like I was sleeping on the street. Many buses, also known as dalla dallas, would hoon down the street honking their horns and trying to make a sale. Many men would hassle you as you step foot on to the sidewalk trying to make money by any means, or to just simply talk to you and see what they could find out. There are beggars on the sidewalk and many small vendors selling fruit, cigarettes and lollies. Children shout 'how are you', 'Mzungu' (white person), 'money' and the occasional 'pi pi' meaning lollies. This happens everywhere, not just in Arusha, but as I was there for quite some time everything just seemed amplified. The place is chaotic, compared to the quiet town of Moshi where we climbed Mt Kilimanjaro. It ended up being in my favour to stay in Arusha for quite some time as I fell sick with a terrible stomach bug that lasted a week.


Looking back on my travels, I can't believe the places I have been and the experiences I have had. I have met the most amazing people and experienced the most amazing things. It feels like a blur. Africa is truly a place like nothing I have ever seen before. It has so much to offer and it's beautiful. Life here is so different. Africa is an eye opening place and I'd be shocked to hear that you weren't changed by it once you travelled there. It's hard not to be touched by it. Just the daily livings of people, even the smallest of things shock you and you realise how good we have it back home. I frequently saw ladies carrying things on their heads, sometimes a case of beer or an eski- most often they were heavy items and they carried them with such ease. On the way to the airport my driver kept switching from neutral to drive in order to save petrol and not hit empty. Something we take for granted here. People are lucky to own cars, but they are cars that we would consider a wreck. They are literally falling apart but that's normal. If you don't own a car you move items around in a large wheel barrow looking device that is extremely heavy. People regularly will steal or mug others for money or any valuable item. We figured this out the hard way when mum was mugged on her final day, she was fine and nothing was stolen but it was still scary. Often African people have a strong smell of body odour, they don't have enough money for deoderant. Its just basic needs and little things you realise we take for granted and these people don't have these little luxuries. There are so many more, the list goes on but I'd be here forever writing if I listed them all.

I am still on a high from being home and seeing all my friends and loved ones. The post travel depression hasn't set in just yet, but I'm sure it won't take long when I begin work again. I do however miss the people I became friends with in Africa. Some of the people you meet stay with you forever and I know I have definitely made some great friendships as a result. I'm already getting ideas of where to travel to next and the places I want to re-visit when I go back to Africa. I can't wait to see where I end up next, but I know for certain I will miss Africa and all it's beauty.

If I didn't already, I believe I now definitely have a bad case of the travel bug- Goodbye for now and until next time 😊

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