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Published: June 21st 2007
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Kids
Some of the kids who join me every day while I wait for the dala dala home from work. Hi again
All is well here, thankfully, after almost dying on the rim of Ngorongoro crater. Ok, so I exagerate a little, but had a bit of a scary experience! Last weekend I went on a camping trip to Lake Manyara, the Serengeti & Ngorongoro crater. All the aforementioned places were stunning and we were really lucky with the different animals that we saw, without looking very hard. We saw quite a few lions....we sat for about 2 hours watching one hunt wildebeest, watched one run from a Maasai, and saw one extremely close up sleeping by the roadside. The sheer number of animals was amazing. The annual migration has just started also so we got to see lines and lines of wildebeest. The almost dying experience....all of the camping we did was very basic (being on a serious budget!), so we found ourselves sleeping in flimsy tents really in the middle of the national parks, very much exposed to the animals. While we were eating our dinner at Ngorongoro, one of the rangers told us to make sure we didn't keep any food in our tents as a couple of years ago a girl was mawled by a
hyena in the middle of the night. Well, I was woken up by a petrified Emily (a French girl who was on safari with us, and who I just met the day before ), saying that there was something pushing against her. I asked if it was inside the tent or outside and she said she wasn't sure. To cut a long story short there were several large animals right outside our tent, sniffing about and scratching at our tent. The ground was vibrating. I am not exagerating now. We ended up not sleeping after that and instead hugging each other and thinking how much we didn't want to die. I think the ranger must have really scared us! When we got up in the morning we found out that it had been buffalo and bush pigs, and then a lion had come (which we heard roaring) and pretty much scared them all away. Ni na furahi sana (I am very happy) to be here to tell the tale!
Quite a few other entertaining things happened on the trip. I no longer have my rough guide to Tanzania as a baboon jumped into our jeep and stole it. The
first jeep we were in also had a breakdown. Something to do with the steering rod falling off. I joke not. Spent a long time sitting on the side of the road in the middle of the Serengeti! Life is certainly not boring!
My Swahili is coming on great. I am probably spending about 4 hours a day learning it. I bought a book and everyone in town seems to be helping me. People really are so friendly here. One of the dala dala drivers who I travel with every day is helping me a lot, as is anyone who happens to sit next to me, the kids (who all seem to remember my name), the people I work with, and my Maasai friends. I am starting to understand quite a lot. Sammy and Paulo are also using the book to help with their English and I leave it with them for them to read during the night. They have stopped playing drafts and now sit outside with my headlamp and their heads in the book. They taught me my new favourite saying - "haraka haraka haina baraka'. It literally means something like 'hurry, hurry, is no blessing' or
good things come to those who wait. It's great to be able to communicate better with everyone.
The contract for the new school building was finalized yesterday. Being 'Principal', I was asked to write up the contract! You can imagine what it was like (me being such an experienced lawyer and all). The building also does not have an address so the contract is for 'a building in Kivu village'! We have started discussions about desks and hope to be able to move into the building at the beginning of next month. I have some pics but am having technical difficulties with my camera right now. There has not been enough electricity to recharge my batteries. Having said that, there is never much electricity. We have only had a couple of power cuts but the lights are always really really dim. I haven't had a warm shower yet either. I am not sure if I am getting really tanned or just really dirty! Having said all this, I am loving it here. Already I think it may be very hard to leave!
Not too much else to say for now. I'll try and put a few pics up
Another delicious meal
Definitely being sarcastic. Those would be bananas in that sauce. just now. They're older ones but they still might entertain you 😊
Until next time,
Joanna x
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mum
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glad i wasn't there!
Don't think i would have slept a wink all night after a comment like that. Enjoying hearing what you're up to. Keep on blogging. I'm printing them off and sending them to grandma so she can enjoy them too.