http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/StephanVSO/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from StephanVSO en-us Sat, 26 Dec 2009 12:06:42 +0000 Sat, 26 Dec 2009 12:06:42 +0000 There is a strange custom in place not just in Tanzania but in many other countries of the developing world per diems nine years of studying Latin enabled me at least to translate this it simply means lsquoper dayrsquo. But it has a much bigger meaning for the people who receive it The lsquoper dayrsquo thing is money and it is a fixed amount one gets for not being in their usual http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-402537.html As it was the first time in Stonetown for all of us and the festival doesnrsquot kick off until the late afternoon we took the opportunity to expore the city starting off with the market. Once we found it got lost so many times until finally a nice Zanzibari woman guided us out of the little side streets we were quite disappointed. The smell from fish and meat was revolting. I also had pict http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Zanzibar/Zanzibar-City/blog-403194.html It started to get a little embarrassing Irsquove been in Tanzania for 4 months and I hadnrsquot been to Zanzibar yet at least it felt like it as whenever it came up in conversation I had to say no. It is not like that it is difficult or expensive at least as a Tanzanian resident to get there and I hadnrsquot just been anywhere in Tanzania but on the gateway to the island. Dar is con http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Zanzibar/Zanzibar-City/blog-403188.html There is a serious shortage of places to go outside Dar that are less than at least four hours drive if you discount the beaches. I know itrsquos a great privilege to have some amazing beaches right outside the city. But with being in a different country for a limited time you want to go and explore places and it gets a little boring just going to the beach every weekend. The various guide b http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-402538.html This months wasnrsquot less busy than the last. After the TV workshop the next event followed suit the annual Femina Youth Conference. Femina encourages the formation of inschool clubs to read and discuss the topics from the quarterly Fema magazine over 400 of these clubs have registered across Tanzania. A few representatives from every region were given the chance to come to Dar and attend t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-402199.html Time to write something about my placement again Like the print editorial team the TV team has an annual two day workshop to reflect on the previous year and to plan for the next. While they had an outside facilitator the previous year this time it was up to me to setup and conduct it. Irsquove taken part in countless workshops before but I never conducted one myself before so this was my http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-402196.html After a leisurely breakfast we got ready to drive back. So it was going to be the twohour track again to the main road. But on the way down we hadnrsquot noticed there was a turn on the way Many parts of Tanzania are so sparsely populated that there is only one little dirt track for hours and nothing else no crossings nothing. Well so went straight without noticing as it was in the middl http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Selous-Game-Reserve/blog-401925.html With the usual 24hour entry rule we planned for a game drive in the early morning and a second one in the late afternoon. With the camp only 10min from the gate we didnrsquot have far to go to get started. But our joyful mood was dented when we bumped into Katie and Kenny who were scanning the forest with other people for dead animals it turned out the monkeys we saw the previous evening w http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Selous-Game-Reserve/blog-401894.html Another Bank Holiday weekend so we couldnrsquot really stay in Dar This time the decision fell on Selous Game Reserve the biggest game reserve in Africa. Itrsquos about the size of Switzerland But only the NorthEastern part is open for photo safaris the South is for game hunting with rich Arabs and Westerners going there. We that were my housemates Ellen and Sara Rita and myself ch http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/Centre/Selous-Game-Reserve/blog-401869.html The last few days before Christmas the office and Dar altogether started getting more and more quiet. Christian or not as Christmas means public holidays Tanzanians and expats alike take the opportunity to leave the city. I found it hard to get into Christmas mood it had been getting continuously hotter and more unbearably humid so Christmas was really the last thing that crossed my mind. I kee http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/United-Kingdom/England/Greater-London/blog-401881.html Some prospective VSO volunteers have been mailing me about if it is possible to live on the VSO allowance so I thought I might as well publish something here about it.Currently the allowance works out at as about TZS 10000 per day that is about 5. If you consider the minimum wage is TZS 80000 per month and whole families have to live of that and that half of Tanzanians have to survive on le http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-401005.html The next morning we were up before dusk to go on our first selfdrive game drive. I had asked our driver to the boat safari the evening before where itrsquos best to go and with a map and corresponding numbers on all crossroads in the park it wasnrsquot difficult to find our way. We were surprisingly good at spotting the animals as well and I managed to juggle between steering wheel and photo http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Saadani-National-Park/blog-400433.html After one day back in the office for me the vols from outside Dar got the Friday off for travelling back it was weekend and Kevin and Sandra stayed in town so it was perfect opportunity for a weekend trip. Rita was up for going as well so with four people we had a perfect sized group. Our choice fell on Saadani National Park as it was one of the closest places around some 3 4 hours North http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Saadani-National-Park/blog-400402.html Having just finished the Femina workshop I was to head off to another one the annual VSO volunteer conference A three day event for which all VSO volunteers from all parts of Tanzania and the VSO incountry staff come together. While some of the other volunteers had a whole dayrsquos journey to get to the conference so many of them arrived at least the evening the day before or like Sandra http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/blog-398572.html Kev and Sandra had come to stay with us until the VSO conference next week. After working on Saturday another good reason to venture somewhere on Sunday We decided to explore Mbuya island just off the coast North of Dar. We drove to the North beach and took a small boat from Whitesands Hotel to the island. It wasnrsquot quite as beautiful as Bongoyo Island where we went a few weekends ago th http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/blog-398567.html This was going to be a rather short weekend we had a two day planning retreat at Femina on Friday and Saturday. In the previous years Femina used to go out of town for this with the whole team and spend a couple of days at a conference hotel. With too much work to do it was going to be in Dar only the management team present and one of the days being a Saturday without time off in lieuhellip http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Dar-es-Salaam/blog-398566.html We didnrsquot just want to drive straight back to Dar. As it was mainly downhill from here on we didnrsquot have to worry about delays with overheating of the car. So we went for a detour to a place our hiking guide Francis had recommended Sakarani Farm on the way down to the valley. Unfortunately it wasnrsquot just next to the road but up another mountain so we had to take some involunt http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Lushoto/blog-398002.html From climbing two peaks we were quite exhausted. So the next day we were all aching and unanimously voted to walk less and relax more. We drove to Irente Farm and walked to the Irente viewpoint We could have driven there as well like the big Indian families that came in coaches one coach per family. Irsquove read in the guide book about the view being good but this was really amazing We w http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Lushoto/blog-397996.html We decided to hire a guide for the following day as we didnrsquot want to have to rely on the manual again and there are no way markings anywhere. After breakfast we met Francis a tiny 70 year old man who was going to be our guide. Despite his age and small statue he was like mountain goat climbing faster than any of us young ones. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful we hiked through http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Lushoto/blog-397988.html With the car finally on the road it was more than time to go on a road trip. Fortunately there was a Bank Holiday weekend conveniently scheduled at the beginning of December. So we tried to round up some people and find a destination. First contestant was Ellen my second new housemate. She is a Norwegian nurse who was a friend of someone Sara had VSO predeparture training with and who was look http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Tanzania/East/Lushoto/blog-397904.html