Blogs from West, Tanzania, Africa - page 7

Day 5 Highlights: (1.) Beautiful sunrise in Kampala. Sunrises around the world unite us; (2.) Loved riding to Mutukula (Uganda/Tanzania border) with Ben our trusty driver and Carsten, our new friend from Denmark. Watching Steve 'see Africa' for the first time is something I will not forget; (3.) Reunited in Kayanga with old friends at the ELCT (Evangelical Lutheran Church of TZ) Headquarters - Vincent, Treasurer George. My heart melted when I saw Edina! Genegeva!; (4.) Walked around Kayanga with Steve. Hello red dirt roads! Hello crowded shops! Hello smells teasing of food and then compost! Hello stares for Wazungu! Karibu sana Steve! This is Kayanga!; (5.) Our friends gave us a warm welcome reception with Bishop, Rev. Ngambeki, Venant and Carsten. Ahh, Edina's cooking at the Kayanga Hotel. We are officially "here". NARRATIVE: Ahh - ... read more

May 17th It was the normal routine in the morning, we all creeped out of our tents to the African morning and had our tea and toast. We packed up the tents and in the process I realized I had a friend sleep with me the night before. Okay not exactly with me, but rather underneath me. Coiled up under the tent was a huge centipede or millipede, it was about a foot long! I took a couple pictures and then showed the Germans, I remembered they loved insects because they were taking picture of cockroaches the night before. The six of us said our goodbyes to the Tan-Swiss lodge and headed for south Tanzania. We were to go through the Baobab Valley and along side the Ruaha River. The drive was really really pretty, and ... read more

Dear all, So, I’m in Kigoma! - a busy town situated on the eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika, far west Tanzania - a lake which is also bordered by the Congo to the west and Burundi to the north, both countries of which you can see from Tanzania, and particularly well from my house, on a clear day. I arrived in Kigoma now just under three weeks ago, laden with everything I brought with me from England plus a bit more! Arrivals consisted of a small room and ‘luggage collection’ of two men wheeling the luggage directly from the plane to a small wooden table, somewhat (refreshingly) different to Heathrow. I was greeted by Thangale, my new ‘boss’ and adopted father-figure who gathered my luggage from me and off we went to the guest house in ... read more

My trip began luckily, just before buying a bus ticket I learned of a friend traveling to Mpika (about 3/4 of the way to Mpulungu) on Monday morning. She, kindly, agreed to give me a ride and so for the first time I traveled without waking at some horrible hour of morning, no legs pressed against my legs, no shoulders invading my shoulders' territory, no babies being changed on my lap (actually happened the last time I went to Mpika) and instead rode in a spacious leather seat with air-conditioning comfortably (and free!) to the North. As we drove the season appeared to reverse itself into a North-American fall with the Miambo Woodland trees producing blood-stained pomegranate colored leaves which, with the progression of spring, turn slowly yellow and then green. In Mpika I booked a ... read more

Half the minibus to the Tanzanian border is filled by a family of Indian extraction. The husband, not a subtle man, gets his youngest child's attention then points at me and exclaims "Mzungu!" as though I'd just landed from one of the many places on the planet where being pointed at from a metre away and having your ethnicity shouted at you is considered as courteous and welcoming. I tut, roll my eyes, and shake my head - things have reached a pretty pass if even non-Africans are calling me mzungu. The road runs close to the shore of Lake Tanganyika for most of the distance to the border, and we even pass a paddling hippo at one point. There are three other English speakers in the minibus. Two of them are Rwandans working for a ... read more