Leaving Ngorongoro

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The night before I was told we were to leave at 6am, sharp. I know that really, there is no way we are leaving that early. This whole "No hurry in Africa"-rule has a tendency to win out so I knew that more than likely, we would leave around 7am if not later. But okay, I am ready by 6 am anyway. So I'm crawling out of my behemoth-sized tent (I slept in an extra empty tent so I could save time by having everything packed and ready from the day before) and it is very dark still, as the sun doesn't come up until about 6:30am... Someone walking by shines a light at me. It's Dr. Musiba. He is still in his shirt and sleeping shorts and holding a bucket of hot water for washing and he gives me this look like "Why are YOU awake???" And all I do is glare back, "It's 6 am!!!"

Needless to say, we left at 7:30am.

On the way a convoy of about 10-15 cars pass us going the opposite way. It turns out to be the Vice President of Tanzania. That's pretty overwhelming, considering gas is currently $15/gallon here.

Once in Arusha we stop for a bite to eat across the airport. The locals, I think, didn't know what to make of a young foreign female traveling with four older Tanzanians. As we eat another convoy passes - only three cars - the front and back shining bright lights in the middle of the day sandwiching a white minivan. Dr. Musiba tells me it's a UN convoy carrying perpetrators from the Rwandan Genocide to prison. Dr. Magori chimes in that the prison is right along the empty road continuing past the airport. They finish by telling me these people were tried around the same time as the Sullivan Summit meetings hosted a few weeks ago.

Just another day in Africa.

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