Blogs from West, Tanzania, Africa - page 5

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Africa » Tanzania » West » Kigoma July 19th 2012

How do you fit 18 people into a 14 passenger van? ... simple solution ... just make the seats narrower ... that way the van can announce proudly that it is for 18 people and not just the standard 14 people. I thought I'd be travelling in a bus for the majority of the trip to Kigoma in Tanzania. Turns out the van was the best part of the trip. The road south of Bujumbura was paved but pot holed. The road north of Buj is in much better condition. The good news is the pot holes work as natural speed bumps. I was sitting next to a Burundian who works for UNHCR. He's very energetic and ambitious. I think he'll do very well in life, considering how hard he's been working so far, and how ... read more
Flags at border post
Share taxi to cross the border

Africa » Tanzania » West » Mbeya June 14th 2012

Leaving Kigoma, I wanted to get to Malawi as soon as I could. I knew that this wasn’t going to easy, but it really was worse than I could have imagined. The South Western part of Tanzania is one of the most underdeveloped parts of Africa I have been to. My journey began with a bus trip from Kigoma to Mpanda. I was up at 4.30 a.m. to get a taxi to the bus station. It was a fairly big bus, but was absolutely packed, with many people standing in the aisle. I was reasonably lucky as I got a window seat, I thought. The bus was filthy and got even worse as the day went on, as dust came in through any open windows. The bus passed Mahale Mountains NP, but any chance of seeing ... read more
Toilet Break
Break on the Road
Southern Highlands

Africa » Tanzania » West » Kigoma June 13th 2012

Bujumbura and Kigoma, Tanzania are only 170km apart and I naively hoped that this would be a straightforward and relatively short trip. I got to the bus station in Bujumbura early enough, only to find that the only bus going direct to Kigoma had gone at 6.30 a.m. I had to get a taxi to Kinido district and find a minibus going to Mabanda, near the border and hope to connect to Kigoma there. This minibus took about an hour to fill up, but I got quite lucky with a seat in the front. This minibus was well and truly packed like a tin of sardines by the time we got going. The drive was painfully slow as we stopped every half kilometre, or so it seemed, to let people in and out. However, it was ... read more
Zebras
Kids
Lake Taganyika

Africa » Tanzania » West » Mbeya June 8th 2012

This was supposed to be posted the first week of June, but things got crazy, and I never got around to it. So here it is: The last week of May, Njavwa (my fellow intern) and I travelled across the country with Mary, her daughter and another intern, Alex, to a place called Kyela where the organization I am working with has a project. The funny (or not so funny) part was that due to some miscommunication, we thought it was only 6 hours away by bus, and when we werein the 5th hour, I asked how much longer it would be, and Mary responded, "Oh we still have about 8 hours to go!" I thought she was joking. But 18 hours later, we finally made it to the village. It is the longest I have ... read more
Judith's house
Judith's kitchen
Photo 4

Africa » Tanzania » West » Kigoma April 10th 2012

The departure After leaving Dar es Salam and getting on the bus towards Mangula A (and yes there is both an B and C villages in close proximity) with the Sister and Soudi a.k.a. Shadow we soon realised that this would be the last time we meet in a couple of months. This because of my previously rather ambitious plans of crossing back through Kenya and accompany the Sister from Dar es Salam to her flight home from Johannesburg in the beginning of May. However realising this was not possible we had to make our quick farewells when the bus stopped to let them off. So from now on I’m alone, kind of scary and a little sad but at the same time exiting. The Sister and Soudi dropped an hour before reaching Morogoro and I ... read more
Time for a swim
Sonje view point
Bridge over the river ?

Africa » Tanzania » West » Kigoma December 2nd 2011

Western Tanzania is a very vast unpopulated place and getting anywhere is in terms of days. It is really of the beaten track and it is easy to see why, transport here is scarce and the sights are a long way apart. It is a place to go if you have time to spare and can be stuck for a few days in one town or along the road if it rains. The main reason for us heading here was to visit Lake Tanganyika which is the longest and second deepest lake in the world but we did not realize that arriving there would be such a challenge. Leaving Rwanda you can soon see the differences in the efficiently of the transport. No busses or dalla dalls’s (minibuses which is the common local transportation) scheduled in ... read more
The lonnng train
Sunset
Train view

Africa » Tanzania » West » Mbeya September 7th 2011

Like all border crossings in Africa, a feeling of apprehension and vulnerability takes over. You remain polite and smile, filling in the paperwork while handing over crisp new United States dollars. As you pass immigration, your eyes scan the local surroundings, watching for hawkers and money changers. Knowing boarders are crime hot spots, you secure your belongings and empty your pockets, preparing yourself for any eventuality. As you wait to be processed outside a small wooden shack, a local approaches asking where you are from. He asks why Mzungus come and take all the jobs. He asks why the English enslaved the Tanzanian people. He says the English aren’t welcome here. He asked how I would feel if he took out the slave trade on me, right here, right now! Surrounded and outnumbered, I felt intimidated, ... read more
Tukuyu Market
Back to School

Africa » Tanzania » West July 1st 2011

We reluctantly vacated our room and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast before beginning the long journey home.... read more

Africa » Tanzania » West June 30th 2011

One of the highlights of the entire trip was taking a short boat ride to a small fishing village. Unchanged for hundreds of years, they had only recently begun receiving visitors from Lupita Island. They were very friendly, especially the children, who immediately swarmed us. Begging for money? No! They were fascinated with our digital cameras. We spent a good hour taking dozens of photos of them, then showing them on their camera screen. They just couldn’t get enough of this! I showed them pictures of animals from the Serengeti and they would call out their names in Swahili. They knew them all! Then our liaison brought out a soccer ball and they went nuts, running around the village, kicking around the ball.It was so much fun to wa... read more
Photo 3
Mother and Children
Photo 5

Africa » Tanzania » West June 29th 2011

The next day we were taken to a beach on the lakeshore, where we swam, snorkeled and sunned while enjoying drinks and snacks. Lake Tanganyika is home to hundreds of cichlids, many of which are unique to this lake. There were also otters, water cobra and tiny freshwater jellyfish. Some of the others fished, kayaked, and went water skiing.Yet another group took advantage of a side helicopter trip to nearby Kalambo Falls on the Zambian border. I headed back early via complimentary golf cart for my scheduled massage. Perched high on the island, it was a breezy balmy open-air affair with an excellent view of the lake. One of my best massages ever, and I’ve had a lot! In the afternoon the kids played at the pool, or in the game room, where there was ... read more




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