http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Laura Lawler/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Laura Lawler en-us Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:32:59 BST Tue, 14 Oct 2008 20:32:59 BST The road from Dodoma northwards to kondoa was very bumpy and very dry. The houses are flat and rectangular and made of bricks by the warangi people mostly. Spent one night in this small townwalking around and spending lots of time speaking with the women selling fruits in the market. The bus to Babati and then to Arusha where I am now was also completely dusty though not crowded at all so en http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/North/Kondoa/blog-190953.html greetings from dodoma where i access the internet in two consecutive days i only have some minutes so i will just write a little from the journal i carry I love cheap hotels with verandas. It feels like a very noble place for only 6000 shillings 5.50 and now im settling in for a few days. my morning walk yestyerday was nice though most everything was closed except for the fabulous fabric s http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Dodoma/blog-188183.html So I am typing at the computers at hall 7 of the university of dar es salaam where i have spent so many hours last year. its nice being back to something of a home. i collected on campus really nice small bright red seeds that i will use someday for something. yesterday i arrived in dar from zanzibar. i had spent my 21 birthday in the village of bwejuu in the southern east coast of zanzibar. http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-181120.html Im back From washington dc to new york to amsterdam to nairobi nairobi to samburu national park in middle kenya to lewa downs rhino sanctuary next to isiolo town from where you can see mt. kenya to massai mara. this was the luxery part of the journey so far. ive seen all of the animals. kweli kabisa I could describe all of these experiences but already they seem far away and my head is cl http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/Zanzibar/Zanzibar-City/blog-178346.html After the trip back from Mbeya I had one day to take a shower say goodbye went to my roomates mom's house which has a nice garden i wish i had known about and where her mom made me my last plate of peas and rice and had a last dinner at angiti a nice indian place where i filled up on delicious paneer before the midnight flight. the last tanzanian i spoke to was a rasta guy who was exactly li http://www.travelblog.org//North-America/Mexico/Morelos/Tepoztl-n/blog-117538.html I arrived in Matema village on the shores of Lake NyasaLake Malawi and set myself up in a 10000 shillings 9 dollars accomodation right on the beachit was a splurge of an extra five bucks or so because I was alone there are only 3 accomodaton options I didnt have my passport on me so I didnt want to make problems for myself with the border police it was my last few days...After justifying http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/West/Matema/blog-116489.html dont have energy to say alot right now being as i slept on the street under the bus last night. i just travelled in buses for 26 hours and the last four hours we had to stop because the police wouldnt let busses pass because it is around the christmas season and thus lots of armed robberies on the highways i guess or at least a potential for.short trip summarywent to iringa by bus 6 hours whe http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/West/Mbeya/blog-112286.html friends moved into a house in kinondoni in a nice neighborhood with lots of small shops on an unnamed street and lots of delicious streetfood. one of the thigns i will miss mostwent up to a table with chicken heads chicken feet chicken intestine wrapped in a ball different organs displayed in piles on newspapers. i stood staring for maybe five minutes after she told me the pricesin luck http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-110010.html yummy seafood in outdoor evening food marketwatched the fishermen bringing in hundreds of octopus all strung together http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/Zanzibar/Zanzibar-City/blog-107384.html SO classes have slowed to a trickle and exams creep up next week which gives me plenty of time now to daydream and nap and dance in my room. Last thursday was Thanksgiving and after class I went to a nice house in a neighborhood near campus where some foreign students live amongst chickens and children. tenesko. nice walk across a large soccer field for 20 minutes to get there. past one of th http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-106415.html ended up negotiating a tent to sleep in which was lovely. camp fires beach sounds village sounds and even animal sounds including lion roaring yesterday morning rocked me to sleep. went on safari the next day. got ripped off by the park ranger. hired a local vehicle. took a local amazing guide who knows so muchfor any travellers coming across thisandrew starting a new warthog cam http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/East/Saadani-National-Park/blog-102670.html went to bagamoyo again this past thursday for another art festival. saw some energy dancing and a man playing one of those pipes that put snakes into trances. asked all around town for ways to get to the mysterious saadani park that seems impossible to get to unless you are rich enough to hire the private car from bagamoyo which is more than 200 dollars us. and its the semirainy season now so http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/East/Saadani-National-Park/blog-102667.html So I spent the last week in Zanzibar famous as a honeymoon getaway...an exotic spice island with lots of slave history. I went for ide the celebration at the end of islamic holy month because Zanzibar was really vibrating with parties street food fairs families sitting on blankets in the parks chatting music betting games....everyone was gathered together that could afford to get to Stone T http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/blog-98505.html we have water. i have showered. even washed my hair. Happy nyerere day. people here have so much respect for this first president the great socialist leader i wish i could find this spirit in the rest of my life here.had amazing food out yesterday. and massage. treated myself because well because i can here. all because of the difference the dollar has...A local person eats for about a http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-95490.html last pictures were of bagamoyo so since im at an awesome fast internet cafe now i will put the pictures of tanga too..... http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/East/Tanga/blog-93377.html went to tanga last weekend with my austrian friend biate. tangas a fairly large town 6 hours north of dar by big bus. got there just as it was getting dark and found our way to a nice hotel called sea breeze with ocean view for about 6 dollars a night for the two of us. though the town is dying. i made the mistake of bringing an old travel book so we went around looking for restraunts bars e http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/East/Tanga/blog-93370.html so i left everyone in the dark because the country left me in the dark..been out of electricity alot lately since the hydroelectric dam that the country relies on has been drained to its lowest level ever and there is a bit of a draught. also water hasnt been put on. its almost 3 weeks now without water except strangely one odd day. taking a shower with a bucket i haul up the stairs from the t http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-90801.html Its been raining here in Dar.... lots of rain and then sunshine.Also the water has been out and Im getting a little stinky.Our toilets havent flushed in a few days and everyone on our floor has decided the stench is better than constipation.Next time the rain starts coming down again Im going to hang a bucket off my balcony.I had stored a reserve bucket but i used that already for my Bucket bat http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-87789.html Feelings much much better back in Dar came back right in the middle to end of the registration process when will that end going to eat some really delicious ethiopian food now at Addis in Dar had a healh and society class today as well as an art class which was playing theater games with the art students nice relaxed atmosphere in that class. saw some old african films last with the film http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-86926.html that night we slept at the park hostel which is rather expensive at 20 dollars a night per person. the night before if i didnt mention we went to stay in the village near the burundi border and woke up early to catch a boat to gombe. the night in the park we met a very nice solo lady traveller danielle and spoke to her all night about her travells for the past 10 years all over east africa. t http://www.travelblog.org//Africa/Tanzania/East/Kibaya/blog-85987.html