Tanzania: Stefan's Journal

Fri 23 – Sat 24

Dan: “You guys are anal, I’m high-maintenance. Could work out bad.”

1st flight is long, but I’m used to it. Never done 2 in a row. We’ll see.

Doze on and off on 1st flight.

How much will this trip change my outlook on life? It won’t change how I think about work. Changes likely more about perspective on humanity, not attitudes.

2nd flight is all white people. Americans, Swiss, Italians, Germans.

AMS airport is pleasant, but too smoky in places. No obvious preference of Dutch over English. People’s dress is European.

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Arrived Kili at 9:30p. Jet (767) overwhelmed the arrival area with its size. Humid, 22ºC. Smelled like grass exiting plane (by stairs to tarmac). Immigration building seemed colonial: functional, white walls, dark wood ceilings & floors. Drove with hired driver (Matt arranged) in 4WD jeep on dark roads to Moshi. 5th gear kept popping out; finally driver gave up and used 4th. Got to hotel, had beer upstairs at rooftop bar. Went to sleep at midnight.

2nd flight was just like 1st day in Europe in terms of tiredness. But worse, because flying is much more boring. Was OK most of the time, but had one painful period in which I tried to read but kept falling asleep – so book was falling from hands.

Movie (Seabiscuit) was good to keep me awake, but sleepiness made emotional reactions to movie stronger.

Sun 25

Woke up at 1:30, misread watch through bed net, thought it said 7:00 (upside-down), couldn’t figure out why still dark. Went back to sleep. Woke up at 5:00 and couldn’t sleep. Street outside window is very loud. Realized I had earplugs at 5:45; fell asleep again at 6:15. Woke up from very deep sleep at 7:30. Dan knocked on door at 7:45 – they’d been up since 5:00.

Breakfast: fruit, toast, omelet, passion juice. Staff in hotel are very nice, know some English and are not offended if I don’t try Swahili.

Matt says schoolteachers make ca. 85,000 shillings per month ($85).

Walked to church with others, back alone. A little uncomfortable with my big camera bag. Very hot, but wearing pants. Overcast day.

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Lunch in restaurant at top of another hotel. Airy, pleasant, completely empty. Outside of building was dilapidated. Most here are. Had Beef & Bananas. Bananas were a kind that is not sweet. Beef was bony, gristly, inedible. Before lunch, got accosted by a guy wanting to sell me a tour. I pretended only to speak German. It didn’t work, even though it had on another guy. Very persistent.

After lunch, rode dala-dala into country to visit a man Matt has worked with. Dala-dalas are small buses crammed with people. We had 27 in one. Toyota vans. Have Chinese characters printed on them because they are imported used from Asia – places where they drive on the left. Very, very crowded. You can’t be afraid to touch other people. At one point a woman with a baby got in, and another woman who had already been on the bus held the baby. They didn’t seem to know each other. Very hot in the bus, especially while waiting for it to leave: they leave when they are (very) full. Despite poor appearance, the bus had a fully functional sound system playing happy African music – rhythmic, full of harmonies. Chorus. Similar music playing at Matt’s acquaintance’s house.

The countryside is full of banana trees, often with coffee growing underneath. Houses sprinkle the entire roadside, surprisingly densely. “Houses” are sometimes just small, 4-wall structures, never elaborate. The ground looks wet and fertile.

Waiting for Matt’s friend after getting of the bus, we were spoken to by many people on the street. Everyone is friendly. One guy wanted Matt to finish his water, who knows why.

Matt’s friend: Ephraim Muro, married 1962 to his wife Olga. Retired music teacher, plays organ & leads choir at church. Has a house girl (servant). They served us Fanta, then food, then beer. A little awkward at first, but got better when conversation turned to music. Must remember to send pictures of them to Matt.

Dala-dala home, again very crowded. In spite of happy music, a passenger and operator got into a loud argument over fare. You don’t pay when you get in, just some time before you get out. A guy keeps track. Usually hanging out the door, usually young (11-16), usually more than one of them for some reason. Fare is 500 shillings.

Haven’t been taking enough pictures. Women really do carry stuff on their heads. Men too.

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Every time I lift the toilet seat, bugs scurry away. During the day they were small, but now (10pm) there were 1-inch roaches. Must turn on light before peeing at night!

On the bright side, mosquitoes have not been a problem at all yet. I sat out on my balcony at dusk for an hour and only later realized that might have been stupid. I don’t think I got any bites.

Mon 26

Dayhike on Kili: 1st day of Marangu route. 1st 2/3rds rainforest, last 1/3 drier. Finished around 10K feet (hike was 1800m-3000m) at a crater. Clear, windy, hot & cool. Trail is in amazing shape. Huts very elaborate.

People who climb to the summit use porters! Porters & climbers kept separate at camp. Saw blue monkeys up close, got pictures. Glimpsed a Colobus monkey’s bushy white tail; no pic. Got drenched by a tropical thunderstorm on way down. So perfect!

Our guide (Modestus Anthony) apparently had a college education. Like everyone else, he was able to carry stuff on his head. Porters balance huge, heavy-looking bags on their heads.

Everyone lives in rural areas, but there are so many people. Dense but rural.

Average attractiveness of people seems high.

Little girls look just like little boys, except with skirts on – they have the same haircut (shaved short).

Exhausted after climb tonight. Tomorrow begins 5 days of safari. Right now I feel like I’ll wish it were over after 2. Plus I still have to be here for 11 more days! Hopefully I’ll have more enthusiasm for the rest of the trip tomorrow once I’m rested.

Wed 28

Missed a journal day due to long safari activities. Yesterday: checked out of Kindoroko, got picked up 30 minutes late (typical) and drove to Arusha. Paid Australian safari company owner. He made payment very complicated. Told us of a camp we were going to stay at – but it has a man-eating lion he can't kill ("killed 4 people" – not sure I believe) and "just wouldn't be the same without the Australian manager", who is OOF. Stopped for like 17 errands on way out of Arusha, including at a nice supermarket (1 year old). Drove to Tarangire NP. Lunch in nice wood structure around a baobab tree. Immediately on entering park, began seeing animals. Before lunch, I had said I'd be happy if we saw elephants and giraffes. Saw both in first 5 minutes. Lots of driving around slowly on jeep trails. Drivers talk to get latest info. Weird thing: I began to think Busch Gardens is a much better simulation than I thought. Took way too many pictures; switched to Basic compression 2/3 through the day. Really enjoying 80-400 VR lens.

Got a flat tire; I was happy for the opportunity to get out of the car.

Exited park and took a tiny, almost invisible “road” to “lodge” – Naitolia Camp. Beautiful. Very romantic! Toilet has best view of entire cabin. Dinner – very good. Overall I am having no trouble eating enough to last between meals. Probably eating too much.

Night drive. Cool, but I was tired. Saw kangaroo-like animal (springbok). Dozed in back seat on way back. (BTW: thought of work for first time in a while on Kili – got there somehow by way of Euros from AMS ATM.)

Today: Dominated by driving. LONG road through Karatu. Started out super smooth, but went in phases to completely unfinished. VERY bumpy, slow. Stopped for 20 minutes in Karatu to get tire fixed. Had Fanta Passion.

Highlight of day was view into Ngorongoro Crater. Clouds’ shadows dancing on crater floor. Rain forest before that; no good pics taken. Oh, view from dirt road before/after Karatu was amazing too. The first landscape that looked completely foreign. Red dirt, hills, different farming patterns, different trees!

Lowlight: too much driving. Got to Ndutu camp (really a camp this time). But: saw zebras, got great pics. Early in morning, Camera began malfunctioning. Only widest apertures usable. No idea why.

Today had feeling of trying to memorize everything rather than actually enjoy/be involved in experience. Not sure if camera is to blame, or wish to relay it to others, or what.

Seem to be making friends with Matt – discussed whether Jennie is enjoying trip.

Must delete pics, still have too many.

Sitting outside by lantern now – bugs landing on me from everywhere! because of light.

Sat 31

Camp Ndutu was nice, though it was actual camping, unlike Naitolia. (I heard from D & J that the reason we were woken up late at Naitolia was because the staff was afraid to go outside in the dark due to a leopard that has been hanging out there.) Actual camping, but we did have real beds. All meals were excellent. A lot of eggs – and strangely, I found myself enjoying the hard-boiled eggs in the box lunches. Day after first night at Ndutu spent in Serengeti park. Spent whole day till 2pm searching for cheetahs. That was D & J & M’s goal. I disliked the sense of hunt. Not simply taking in what’s there. (Turns out that’s a theme for the whole safari.) Drove from rockpile (with trees – oasis-like) to rockpile. Drove in circles around rockpiles. Had lunch at a rockpile. (Cool. Lunch on the Serengeti!) Saw lizards, birds. Finally found cheetahs in grass. 6 of them! Good pics. The rockpiles looked strangely similar to installations at US zoos. (Did I mention Tarangire = Busch Gardens?) I did manage to eventually get into the chase thing, but I still don’t super like it. Biggest disappointment about safari: too much driving, no walking. (a) You get no exercise, (b) the car is uncomfortable, (c) you don’t experience things as fully. No opportunity for macro shots, for example. No way to fully observe your surroundings. (And these surroundings are different – we’re in Africa!) Just the hunt for animals. My photos reflect it: they’re all shots of animals, one at a time: proof that I saw this or that. (d) You can’t position yourself for a photo, say to include something in the background. I probably could have been more aggressive in telling Moses (driver) where to put the car, but getting out to walk would have been required many times. You can’t because it’s too dangerous (reasonable). [I feel like I’m back in HS writing an essay exam.]

Once we saw the cheetahs, mostly headed back to camp. Cool thing: at all times, Moses knows where he is. Time to go home? Head that direction. No need to stay on roads in Serengeti NP. (And traffic seems low enough that it’s not harmful.) Before getting to camp, learned of leopards maybe nearby, went on hunt. Saw them, way up in trees, + dead baby zebra in the tree. One of my favorite things about Africa so far: Acacia trees. Flat-topped & yellow-barked are both beautiful – and so African. Also liked Baobab (live up to 5000 years), only in Tarangire. Back at camp, it started raining. Storming. We were stuck in the dinner tent, which partially collapsed in wind and got us wet. I wanted to be outside under awning, others didn’t. Great storm. 30 minutes. Shower blew over, so did kitchen tent. They served us dinner anyway. Camp fire, too smoky.

Forgot: morning that day (on morning drive) we saw an elephant practically in our camp. Cool. Too dark for good pics. Weirdest scene of safari: 1^st evening at Ndutu, 2 giraffes coming across soda flats of lake we had view of. They looked so out of place.

Final Ndutu morning, ants in breakfast tent. Spent rest of day in Ngorongoro crater. Beautiful, every kind of animal (except giraffe), but too zoo-like. Constrained space, you know they’re in there. Un-zoo-like in that it’s a full ecosystem: the lions kill the zebras (& we saw a dead zebra), the jackals depend on lions for food, etc. Must stay on roads in crater; much more traffic.

Finished day at awesome Serena Lodge, supposedly nicest lodge at (Ngoro)². Full-service hotel, nice (!) view, huge bathroom.

One thing: I think I’m learning how to do exotic trips. I’m glad to have Matt now, but I think I’ll feel OK doing one myself next time. Language, race, 3^rd world.

One more safari thing: we didn’t bond with Moses, our driver. Partly due to language. Probably just an American thing to do. But I missed it. I guess I’m American. Now staying at Klub Afriko, hotel chosen by safari company (East African Safar And Touring Company) not as close to Arusha as we expected. Dinner was 1h15 late!

Sun 1

Spent night at Klub Afriko. Room was nice, grounds were very pleasant. Kinda far from Arusha. Dinner was very late and not good. Noisy at night due to dogs barking in neighborhood, but I had earplugs and slept great. Relaxed morning – currently remembering fondly the 2 hours of relative cool temps in the morning. Have started taking showers only in evening – like when I lived in FL.

The interesting thing about Klub Afriko was the neighborhood. Very 3^rd world. Taxi ride was through “grid” (maze?) of unpaved, narrow roads. Power went out for 1h30 before/during dinner; Matt says it goes out 4x/week in Moshi. Lots of dogs. Scene before taxi ride interesting due to cast of characters: Driver, tall, sullen, angry not to be able to rip us off. Car, very dirty, beat up, no gas (got a little during drive with us). Wise man knowing correct fare. Office lady helping. Grounds working offering info on where destination is. Receptionist watching. Matt thinking he could get a better price. D & J & me, standing there.

Rest of day spent in Arusha.

Tue 3

Appreciated day in Arusha because I got to see more what a 3^rd world city is like. Disliked standing out as a tourist and being approached by vendors. But did OK once I told them no. (Worked better than ignoring them.)

Flight to Dar on Air TZ was like any other flight. Mix of whites & Africans; announcements in Swahili then English. 737 jet. Flight was 1h15 late. Immigration in Dar chaotic – turns out the correct thing was for us to walk past counter without talking to officer (because we had come from within TZ). Had trouble figuring out what to do next; directed by an officer along a seldom traveled route to next gate. Apparently Dar is a destination, not a transfer hub. Flight to Zanzibar 13 mins. No trouble getting to hotel.

Hotel: huge rooms, amazing antique furniture everywhere. A/C, but the power went out overnight during storm and it got very hot. I realized too late that heat = mosquitoes; woke up being eaten alive. Put clothes on to protect me; unfortunate side effect was to make me even hotter. Slept poorly.

Zanzibar Town (aka Stone Town) completely different from Arusha or Moshi. It has actual history. Mostly built by Arabs, & has that feel. Reminds me a lot of Spanish old towns. Not so weird: Spain was full of Arabs too. Zanzibar Town is much more run-down though. Matt said it reminded him of Córdoba; I agree. Visited fort (kind like the one in St Augustine), a German colonial house (House of Wonders, because it was the first in Africa to have running water & electricity (?)). Museum inside not impressive, though better than the one in Arusha (BOMA) – which had 3 Australopithecus skills and (strangely) an exhibit on insects. Lunch at Mercury’s – turns out Freddie Mercury was born in Zanzibar, then moved to India before doing Queen. Mostly white people there. People in Zanzibar mostly left us alone despite my huge camera. Lots of Muslims. I never thought of how Muslim women must wear head coverings – and they mostly live in very hot places.

Taxi to beach resort, on eastern edge of island (Stone Town is on west), 1h15. As soon as we left the town, we entered standard 3^rd world Africa: run-down “houses,” a lot of people, many walking on road carrying stuff or pushing trailers, small dirt roads off main paved road leading into dense mass of “houses.” Not sure how deep it goes past main road – at least away from town, it is only 1 or 2 deep. In Arusha it was blocks & blocks. Island is definitely tropical – palm trees everywhere, super hot & humid, lots of bugs, “houses” have no way to close windows & doors. Walls are breaking through – can see wood structure of walls; mud holding them together is disintegrating. Also (in Arusha, at least) see some large, concrete buildings – high-rises, 8-10 stories – standing without external walls. Unfinished? Now surrounded by corrugated metal fences. Look like bombed out buildings from a war. Area reminds me of Cuba, Haiti. Not that I’ve been there, but they’re both tropical, both 3^rd world. Not sure why most of 3^rd world is at tropical latitudes. What about cold weather makes people rich?

Now at Breezes beach resort. Very remote. You can’t leave to do stuff. At Zanzibar airport, saw sign for “2 most romantic places on Zanzibar.” Matt pointed at it and said we were going to one of them. Uhoh, I thought. Romantic = miss Renée. But it turns out I’m not finding it romantic at all. Fat, middle-aged Europeans everywhere. Mostly British. We are close to youngest party here, probably the only Americans. Beach & water are gorgeous; water is pleasant (not oppressively warm like I expected). But: due to Muslim culture, there’s a dress code! Should wear pants (not shorts) & shirt whenever possible; women may never go topless. Resulting perceived lack of freedom makes it less romantic. Also, remoteness makes it feel like we’re trying to avoid the locals & local culture (which I suspect some are). But, room has A/C, power mostly stays on, very comfortable. Too dark in room to want to hang out there.

Stormed this morning starting 4:30am. I like the storms. Unfortunately, it continued through the morning. We went snorkeling anyway. Plus I did 15 mins SCUBA. Very cool coral reef – lots of fish. I’m sure the colors would have been more vivid in sunlight though. Water was warmer 2ft down due to rain. SCUBA was just like breathing – and in fact the air seemed high in oxygen – very pleasant to breathe. Had no trouble equalizing ears – just swallow. Just a “discovery” dive, so I didn’t get to learn anything, & I didn’t get to control my movements – which cut down on feeling of flying. Still fun.

Looking forward to Dar. Hoping it will be more “real” Africa. And looking forward to getting home!

Wed 4

OK, way too much downtime here at Breezes. I’ve been really wishing to go home all morning. I predicted it would happen, and then when I was OK yesterday I thought it wouldn’t, but this morning it came full force. I’m a little better now (11:30a) that it’s almost time to go. Slept great except 5:45-6:15, during which time I couldn’t stop thinking.

Two things I’ve been meaning to write for a while.

1) In AMS airport I decided I want to speak French more with Renée. I think she can help me learn. I realized that English is the primary global language, but French is the second.

2) Part of “3^rd world” is pollution. Arusha smelled bad, like diesel but worse. Cars & trucks spew exhaust like crazy. Arriving in Moshi, we saw trash burning in a dumpster. Flying Kili-Dar, I could see more fires than lights in some places. Plus there is trash everywhere.

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Ferry ride to Dar. Saw some flying fish – cool. Ride wasn’t bad – same type of boat as Victoria Clipper, but without A/C. Fun on front deck. Very warm air. Across part of Indian Ocean! Ferry dock in Zanzibar rather makeshift; I wouldn’t be surprised if a few people get killed every year getting onto ferry. Zanzibar harbor not well protected, so dock & boat jostled a lot. Dock in Dar better, but they put the exit plank just right so you couldn’t open the ship door all the way. Brilliant. Dar is a bit more of a city than I expected – a real (if small) skyline visible from water. Big waves on channel crossing, but no one got sick.

I think I may be doing too much self reflection. This journal will be nice to help me remember things later – including how I felt on the trip – but once I get home, things are going to very much go back to normal. I’m not coming back a changed man (so much for that fear), just a man with more experiences.

So have I gotten everything I wanted from the trip? I went into it not knowing what to want. My resulting attitude was a little passive – I don’t know what I want, what have you got? Now in Dar I have a chance to be a little more active – that is, seek out what I want. I should probably decide what that is….

Thu 5

Just one full day in Dar. Which turned out to be just the right amount. Matt took us shopping and then walking around the city. Walking is exactly what I had wanted – I got a good sense of what the city looks like. (I’d need to be here longer to know what the city is like.) Shopping – first Kanga district, then carver’s market, then Tinga-Tinga market. Dan is a bad negotiator, but he seemed to enjoy it – seek it out. Things were better at the carver’s market – I think they learned each other’s roles. I impressed Matt a little with my negotiating, even though I didn’t feel that good at it. Got some good prices though. What impressed him was my willingness to walk away – which is the key to negotiating. I walked away from one guy and learned afterwards from Matt that the price I had refused was actually very good. At first I felt bad for insulting him with such a low offer, but then I felt good that the negotiating process had produced the correct results. Decided to be a little less hardcore negotiating for the paintings.

Now sitting in Dar airport awaiting my impossibly long flights, which will end with me eventually, finally talking to Renée. It is way too hot here at 11pm, with no A/C in terminal. Had Thai food for last dinner with D & J & M – how ironic, considering I’m going back to Seattle.

Other important observations about Dar: traffic lights! The first I saw in the entire country. Still fewer than you’d see in any US or Euro city. Roundabouts, inherited from British. A few nice, wide (4-5 lane) boulevards, strangely with smoothly flowing traffic. (Matt says there is a rush hour at 5pm.) City center is quite small, 6-8 blocks square. Outside that, only major arterials are paved. Most streets are very poorly maintained dirt roads on which you cannot go faster than 3mph. In general drivers have a very healthy respect for bumps. The country is covered with speed bumps – even on the dirt roads! – and they seem quite effective. Even on paved roads, sidewalks are frequently absent or unpaved. Saw a bumper sticker: “Stop being negligent – avoid accidents.” Hmm.

I don’t know what it is that attracted Matt to Tanzania. It’s a great place to learn from, but I wouldn’t choose to live here. Stuff doesn’t work. His friend Connie (we met her for 15 mins) told a story about the fridge at the house they both stay at, how it’s not cold and her containers fill with condensation and ended with “you can get used to anything.” Maybe so, but why?

Other important facts: Food for the entire trip went way beyond expectations. Local food was good except 2 times; breakfast always good, especially the fresh fruit. Passion juice every morning. (Name in Swahili is ‘jusi passion’ – ‘juicy passion,’ haha.) My favorite drink for the trip was Fanta Passion – apparently only available in E Africa (well, of the places I know). Everything in TZ is cheap – at a local bar, Fanta cost TSh 250/- ($0.25) and beer TSh 650/-.

That bar we went to (today) was a story itself: the kitchen area was made of a shipping container. (“Unfortunately” the container was in good shape, not rusted out.)

Said bye to D & J & M. I think I expressed enough gratitude to Matt (bought him dinner today; proposed toast yesterday), but I realized I should have thanked D & J more: it was nice of them to invite me, since it would have been a family trip without me. Will do something for them when they’re back. Photos? Jennie liked babies of anything and any kind of kitty (though mostly housecats). Dan’s favorite may have been cheetahs or leopards, or just the total score of what we saw.

I finally learned a little Swahili after all. I think with another few days  (a week?) I could be able to talk to waiters. No full sentences though – I didn’t learn much of the noun-class grammar rules.

1-5=moja, mbili, tatu, nne, tano. Water = maji. Big = kubwa. Postcard = posticadi. Good = nzuri. How are you (today) = habari (za leo). I don’t like X = Sipende X (Matt said this a lot to street vendors). Thank you = Asante; You’re welcome = Karibu. Karibu is a greeting (welcome to my store) and also “I’m happy to do this for you.” The result is that most people say “you’re welcome” (in English) a lot. Without a “thank you” preceding it, it sounds presumptuous in English. It got to be a joke with the 4 of us. Toward the end, Dan started saying “I’m welcome”…

No problem = Hamna shida. OK = Sawa. Sir = Bwana (I never got fully used to that – it sounds condescending to me).

Taxi drivers never have enough gas to get you where you’re going. Also they never know where you’re going. Always stop for gas; frequently stop for directions. Hotel staff was always on our side when negotiating taxi fare.

It is now 7am it TZ (Friday), 5am in AMS. I’ve been doing Thursday now for 24 hours…And Renée’s dance class is just starting (8pm Thurs in Seattle). The disconnection between our lives freaks me out, the time difference being a big part of it. Even if we had talked every day, I would have felt very far away – I definitely did the one time we talked.

Fri 6

I’ll call it Friday now – it is here in AMS at least.

Another important fact: TZ was originally colonized by Germans, but they weren’t very committed and did not leave much of a legacy. The British “won” it after WWI, and held it until independence in 1962. (Before all that of course there was mostly Arab influence, plus some Indian, on people with ties to W Africa (Bantu).) The British left legacies like driving on the left, speaking English (really everyone does enough that you don’t need to know Swahili…except maybe taxi drivers), building style, etc. But the point of this entry was to talk about current influences. Apparently “everything” is owned by South Africans. Juice, cereal, books, etc. are imported from SA, and Matt says many hotels and other businesses are SA-owned. Many other goods are imported from the middle east, particularly Dubai. Lots of Coke cans with Arabic. It made me more interested in visiting Dubai and learning how Arabic writing works.

Another: The Zanzibar resort had lots of British people. They are so strange. The men are all ugly or funny-looking, but the women are always overdressed and showing too much skin. If Americans are badly dressed, they get the gene for it from the British.

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Stray cats at Zanzibar resort. They came to dinner, knew how to get guests to give them food (meow). All appeared young, all had very large ears – bat-like. Same for other cats we saw on Stone Town & Dar.

Afraid to walk on beach alone at Zanzibar. Fear of villagers coming to mug me. Matt & Amy have both been mugged – they say it’s just a rite of passage. He knows people who got mugged on the beach in Dar as a group of 5 – by a group of 10! Another reason why I want to go to a different beach with Renée. And another reason I don’t understand Matt’s desire to live there.

Have I mentioned “African Socialism”? Matt described the “program” to us, put forth by TZ’s 1^st president, Nyerere (of whom there are pictures hanging all over the country – 11x14 mostly, on people’s home or business walls). Prior to 1962, people mostly lived apart from each other on their farms. They subsisted at the family level, but there was no strong sense of national identity. This is what Nyerere wanted to fix. He at first encouraged and then required people to live in villages, where they could develop / learn a common culture and identity. To get it done, he pushed “African Socialism,” which is like standard socialism but at the village level. Everyone in the village contributes what he can, receives what he needs. What it translated to was subsistence at the village level. Nyerere did succeed (well) at establishing a sense of TZ national identity, but as Matt put it, he drove the economy into the ground. There is one exception to the identity success: Zanzibar likes to think of itself as a separate entity. They check you passport when you enter from mainland TZ. (One more stamp for me!) Zanzibar is different in one respect: seemed like majority there were Muslim.

Forodhani Gardens – a park on water in Stone Town. Very stinky, of trash & urine.

Ngorongoro detail I missed: on way out of crater, up very steep ascent road, we saw a jeep that had fallen off the road into a ravine. It was lying, overturned, about 50ft down hill. It was a white land rover just like ours. This totally freaked out Jennie, & she gripped the seat tightly the whole rest of the way up & moaned at big bumps. We learned later that the jeep had fallen only a day earlier, and that (miraculously, in my opinion) no one had died. The next day we saw people using a huge bulldozer to begin excavation. That was just as crazy a scene: a guy, driving a bulldozer straight down the hill, not thinking a thing of it (by his expression).

Second day in crater was useless, BTW. We were all ready to get back, out of the jeep, and we had seen all the animals the first day there.

More Swahili: matako = butt. It’s plural of tako.

Lunch in Ngorongoro crater was at a beautiful spot by a small lake next to a stand of acacia trees. Beautiful. There were hippos in the lake, and they stank. (But only from one side of the lake.) It wasn’t as tranquil an environment as it could have been though because of the black kites (birds) who were very aggressive in trying to steal people’s lunch. One swooped at me but got nothing, then one swooped M & D & J and actually hit Dan in the head. The 3 of them immediately got into the jeep to eat, following Moses’ advice that “most people choose to eat in the car.” I reluctantly followed.

One thing I missed on the trip was music. I’ve craved it for the last few days. KLM had a great mix on 1^st flight (even including Kate Ryan!), but NW’s sucks.

On the subject of music: they played “American Top 40” on the shuttle from Arusha to KIA. One song was Jessica Simpson singing “nothing but a t-shirt on.” I was deeply struck by how totally incompatible the lyrics were with the culture of the people on the bus.

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Another incident I forgot earlier: leaving Ndutu for Ngorongoro after the rain storm, the road was quite muddy – and slippery. On 3 occasions, the jeep slid out and turned sideways before stopping. Moses was losing control due to the combo of slipperiness and ruts in the road. The first time freaked us out a little – the final jolting stop reminded us we could flip. The next 2 times we were already used to it. Moses apologized, of course, just like whenever he went over big bumps. Memory of the incident did make us a little more nervous on the way out of the crater when we saw the overturned jeep – that was also in the rain.

Come to think of it, that was one of the strange things about the trip – how much rain we saw. On Kili, at Ndutu, in crater, in Stone Town, all day at Breezes the day of diving, and all day in Dar too. I liked most of it, or at least the 3 storms, but it was annoying while diving and made the pictures of Dar grayer. We were supposedly there during the dry season, but apparently it never rained in the wet season this year, so everything is screwy.

Buildings in TZ do not have physical addresses – mail is delivered only to PO boxes, so there are no street numbers. From what I could tell. I don’t know what they do for FedEx deliveries. To give directions, you just have to say what it’s near. Paved streets do have names, but I never saw a label for an unpaved one – and there are lots of unpaved ones!

Flights today haven’t been bad. I now have 1h left on 2^nd. The 2^nd has been unfathomably long, but I’ve been 100% comfortable the whole time. I have a free seat next to me – just like the 1^st flight on the way to TZ – and I think that makes all the difference. Also I am strangely not sleep on this flight, except at the beginning when I actually slept (for 2h maybe?). Maybe jet lag will be no problem…

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I’m really looking forward to seeing all the pictures and typing this up. It just occurred to me that this journal is very similar to the one Pop found of his trip to England way back when. I remember being struck by how young he seemed in it. I wonder if my grandson would have the same feeling reading this…