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May 7th The mornings are getting easier to handle, especially after a nice hot tea with loads of sugar. We were out of Snake Park on time but the weather wasn’t on our side, it was rainy and muddy, but the show must go on!
The whole group was together again and we were headed for Tanzanian coast on the Indian Ocean…awww bliss, beaches and snorkeling await us! First we stopped at the Cultural Heritage Museum and Shop in Arusha. This is a place for big spenders and collectors of all things African, art, sculptures, gems and tanzanite. This precious gem, tanzanite is only found one place in the world, at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. It is actually 1000 times more rare than diamonds. They are finding it difficult to find more of it right now and so the price of it is going up. It is a really pretty stone and for someone that really has no interest in jewels and jewelry I was amazed by the tanzanite. We were shown all sorts of types of it, from perfect gems worth more than $10,000 a carat to some that cost $80 a carat. Apparently there is a
piece of tanzanite that they have that is worth 1 million dollars, and strangely enough the owners of this piece are the owners of Cabela’s Hunting and Fishing….strange!!
We were also shown loads of gems and semi-precious stones of all shapes and sizes, it was really neat. I almost bought an aquamarine stone, which is my birth stone or however you call it. I did end up buying a piece of tanzanite, sort of an investment. Apparently the gem that comes from Mt. Kili is more valuable in South Africa, so I guess if I ever get low on money I can hock the stone in Capetown! Hahaha just kidding, I’d like to keep it as long as possible.
Anyways, after the Cultural Heritage place, we headed to the supermarket to pick up supplies, the women were in charge of cooking that night so they did that while the rest of us picked up what we wanted for lunch. We were able to get online for a bit but not nearly long enough for how slow the internet was at the café. Oh well, c’est la vie.
After we had got organized and back on the truck
we headed for the coast. A quick stop at a hotel to drop off Jasper and Sabrina, they were heading back to Kenya, (Jasper had to return to India for his studies). So then we were off on the highway south east, heading towards Dar-es-Salaam. The drive down to Korongwe, where we camped, was one of the most amazing drives I have ever been on. Again, I hope that the photos do it some justice, but I don’t think they do. You’ll just have to come to Africa, dear reader! But in the mean time enjoy the photos and check out the videos,
here and
here.The scenery and landscape was just breathtaking and we were glad that Farron, our driver and guide and friend and awesome guy, didn’t tell us what was to come before we left Arusha, he left it a nice surprise!
We arrived at our campsite in Korongwe as the sun was going down and us guys setup the tents while the ladies got to work on dinner. They cooked such a great meal consisting of mashed potatoes, gravy, peas and carrots, and sausages. It hit the spot and tasted so goood, I wish I had
taken a picture of it!
After dinner us men cleaned up the dishes and pots and pans and then chilled out for a bit. I got my pictures organized and categorized (loads of work really! It’s like a part time job!) and wrote a bit for the blog. Some of us endured the mosqitos and watched Blood Diamond before we went to bed. We elected for another early wake up so that we could beat afternoon traffic in ‘Dar’ and reach our beachside campsite at a decent time.
Hope you like the pictures and videos, until next time, Pura Vida and Hakuna Matata!
-Brendan
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lerina
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I DO!!