Blogs from Africa - page 3336

It's now officially 2 weeks before I leave for Tanzania for the next seven months! It hasn't seemed very real for the last few weeks but now that I have my ticket in hand, all the details that I still have to deal with are coming through with alarming clarity! What on earth am I going to be doing in Dar es Salaam? I will be working with the Legal and Human Rights Centre, doing some research and writing, as well as helping out in any way that I can. This is my test entry... just updating on my preparations (ask if I have my passport/visa?). Hope to see you all before I leave cold Canada for nice warm Tanzania (about a 40-60 degree difference?) ... read more

Gambia is one of the oddest shaped countries in the world. It is just a few kms either side of the Gambia river, surrounded on 3 sides by Senegal and the other by the sea. It has been 6 days since by last blog - in that time I have been in both Senegal and the Gambia. There have been several attempts in the past at uniting Senegal and the Gambia, which is not surprising considering the Gambia s strange geography. Some general points - the food in Senegal has been superb! I didn't come to Africa for the food, so the quality of the Senegalese cuisine has been a revelation. Also despite the groups of touts, street crime etc, in general the people are very friendly and hospitable. Since my last blog I left Dakar ... read more

"I love the smell of Dettol in the morning." Paul the driver stares through his shades at another bunch of raw recruits, timid and trembling at their first African dawn. Ok, so it takes a few days to adjust. The first thing you have to get used to is hygiene. Lots of dettol and no tea towel, so lots of flapping to dry plates, dishes etc. Then you need to understand how the truck and the camp runs which takes a bit of getting used to. A typical day so far: Get up at 5.30am, about an hour before dawn. Check around the tent for Lions with my headtorch. The wind rips through the campsite as we are high up on an escarpment above a large platea. Get the charcoal on the chicos (round charcoal burners) ... read more

NAIROBI (Oct 19-20) No previous life experience could have prepared us for our arrival in Nairobi. As soon as we left the baggage claim area we were bombarded by touts trying to sell us every possible service including safari packages, accommodations, city guides, taxis, and meals. Once we found one another in the sea of touts, we fought our way through the crowd to the ‘Government Tourist Bureau’ in hopes of coordinating transportation from the airport and accommodations in the city. After a quick orientation to the highlights of Kenya and a basic language lesson, it became evident that the tourist bureau was in fact a private tour company trying to make a hard sell on a safari package, which of course was leaving early the following morning. An hour later, we managed to leave the ... read more

I am now in Dakar, the capital of Senegal. I left Saint-Louis on Sunday morning. When getting the taxi to the Gare for Dakar, I had to bargain, one taxi driver tried to charge 3 times the going rate. At the Station they asked the going rate for the journey but tried to charge me 500 francs for the rucksack. I refused, so instead of taking a collective taxi to Dakar I ended up in a mini bus. Thinking about it I was arguing over very small amounts of money - 500 francs is 50 pence sterling. Having opted for the cheaper mini bus I then had to wait an hour for the bus to leave. They don't leave until they are full - and full means over full. The minibus would have been comfortable with ... read more