African Trails, The Journey South Begins to Tanzania we go!

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May 3rd

The journey with African Trails starts

After 6 months of eagerly waiting to start my trip to South Africa from Kenya, it had finally began. I met the crew and most of the other passengers in the morning while getting ready to go to Arusha, Tanzania. Everyone is very friendly and supportive of each other, but we’ll get to that later. We stopped at a supermarket in the morning (it was like a western market and reminded me of the manufactured strip malls that all look alike back in the USA), we all got money and bought lunch snacks for the day.

On the road we went, the trip had began and everyone was in good spirits. The road was not though and it was rough in some spots and took us longer to get to the border of Tanzania later than we expected, so we ate our lunch in the truck, no big deal. The whole drive was amazing, I couldn’t blink for fear I would miss something spectacular. I took lots and lots of pictures, but picked out the best for you, dear reader. I hope you like them!

We passed mountain after mountain and acacia tree after acacia tree, they are my favorite! There were lots of Masai people along the way too, they are the native tribe to Eastern Africa and are known for their bravery and fearlessness; they are the ultimate warrior. The landscape was stunning (if only the photos did it justice!) and several times I literally had to pinch myself and tell myself “Yes, you are in Tanzania!”. You can check out a video of us cruising into Tanzania here. I think I had an ear to ear grin the whole time in the vehicle, and even after we got off the truck.

We arrived in Arusha around 6pm and everyone got unloaded and setup the tents. The place where we camped is a point where lots of other companies traveling around Africa take there passengers. There is a great group of people from all over the world there, and since the beer was cheap and cold, everyone got chatty as the night got on. We had some a nice BBQ dinner and then everyone milled around the bar, drinking Tanzanian lager and chatting about the wildlife and landscapes people have seen and hiked.

I got to know the other passengers in the trip a bit as well, beer is that good social lubricate isn’t it?? Let me tell a little about them, first there is Wendy, an English mother who has kids my age that is traveling south as far as I am. She is a ray of sunshine and is the stand-in mother of the group, she is awesome and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Then there is Justin, a South African my age who is going as far as Johannesburg and who has loads of tickets to the cup (shame they are all spoken for). Next is Nicio, a Brazilian from Sao Paolo who also is going as far as Johannesburg, he is a nice guy and speaks Portugese to me everyone now and then, oh and he also has a badass camera. Then there is Sabrina the German student who has rendevous-ed here in Africa with her Dutch boyfriend Jasper. They are in loooove and are having a great time together, attached at the hip they are! Of course there are a few gap year students (high school graduates traveling about before they go to university). There names are Rachael, Xuxa and Nico, they’re from Barnet (North London), England and traveling as far as Zanzibar Island, before they return to England. They are a great group of women who don’t stop laughing and they do a good job making others laugh, shame they won’t be going as far as the rest of us! Last but not least is Cameron, a fellow American from Brooklyn. He is going as far as Jo’burg as well, him and I get along well.

Now for the staff, our driver’s name is Farron and is from Australia. He is a really nice guy who doesn’t stop thinking about the group and keeping us up to date with what is happening when, where, and how. Then there is Nick, a Botswanian and another staff for African Trails, he hitched a ride with us to Arusha so he can start working and repairing some of the overland trucks. In that same boat is Chris, a really cool English/Australian that has worked for the company for quite some time. Me and him get along well and it’s a shame he will be sticking around Arusha and not heading south with us.

So overall the group is great (I didn’t expect anything less), everyone is getting along well and it’s a good family. I look forward to all the adventures I will have with them, it should be an amazing journey and a trip of a lifetime.

Hope you like the photos and videos! Until next time, Pura Vida!

-Brendan


P.S- At the time of publishing this I still haven't been able to upload any videos as they take a long time and the internet cafes can't handle it. But they are high on my priority list! Sorry for the delay!

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Comments

[lerina]

Two thumbs way up
I love this pic!