Tanzania: Week One

I am so glad that internet is a scarce commodity because it has allowed me to realize how dependent my generation and my society has become upon it! Taking a break from the good ole world wide web has been awesome. The only problem is that SO much has happened since I last wrote! Thanks to those of you who sent me emails asking for more posts. I read the emails and grinned.

The day I arrived, I traveled through the entire city of Dar es Salaam. It's not very big, but we did do a lot of the things that are typically associated with Tanzania which was a blast. We had madafu (coconut juice straight from a coconut), sugar cane juice, mishkaki from the streets (yes, mum, I ate it and my tumbo was fine!), mohogo, dagaa, ugaali, and too much chai all in that first day that I was here! This trip has been such a rollercoaster. No joke.

I landed at about 6 AM. By 11 AM, were in the city touring. We got home at about 9 PM after mishkaki njiyani (mishkaki cooked on the streets; mishkaki are little pieces of beef that are put on a skewer and then grilled) so we could catch the futbol match. Afterwards, Suhail, Aabida, and I stayed up until Fajr time (5 AM, morning prayers) chatting and laughing on the balcony in the back. Suhail and Aabida are my first cousins.

Life here really is more relaxed and slower paced. It is refreshing. Dar is nuts. The streets are ALWAYS lined with people, carts, and trash. The city really needs to reform its sewage system. There is a Project for Peace program that Smith (my university) organies. If you win the grant, you can spend three months in the summer working on your own civil service project, and they provide you with $100,000 to do it. I'd love to apply and work on something in Tanzania. It's all I've been thinking about since I landed!

After praying Fajr, the other two went to bed and I slept for an hour before getting up to take a bus called The Kilimanjaro Express to Moshi. It was a nine hour ride and the temperature was through the roof but I am so glad we elected to take a bus up north instead of a plane because we got to see so much scenery!! Tanzania is the most beautiful country I have ever visited in my life. There is such a diversity in landscape and terrain here! We have plains, mountains, tropical rainforests, heat, cold, rain, humidity, dryness - you name it, we got it! I feel like a commercial.

We arrived in Moshi at about 3 PM and were greeted by my father's old friends. They own a touring company called Mauly Travels. I would recommend them to anyone in a heartbeat. They gave us such a reasonable price for the safari that we went on and were so helpful / accommodating!! We spent that night at my dad's friend Shariffah's house. She has four daughters. Two of them are married and she lives with her mother as well as her mother in law and neice. The house is always full of noise and laughter! Oh, and she loves futbol which was such a relief because we did not miss a single game on our entire time up north!

The next morning, we left Moshi for Mount Kilimanjaro and Marangu. Marangu is the eastern half of the where the Chagga tribe are based. I learned so much. The Kinukamori waterfalls are there and are absolutely breath-taking. You are surrounded by tons of foliage, and the climate is pleasant with a cool breeze. In the background, you can hear the sound of water falling many yards into a river, crashing into the rocks as the birds chirp from different angles of the forest around you. I mean, wow. And the people here are so beautiful. Everywhere we went (even the waterfall!), someone came out to offer us chai (tea), kahawa (coffee), and biscuti (biscuits)! Also, everything here is locally grown which is fascinating. You can feel the difference in the food as you consume it.

After checking out the waterfalls, we sat around and chatted with our driver Hashim and guides Roy and Gabriel. Such great people. They really took to Ally. Hashim even told her that he had a room in his house that she could stay at on her next trip! When I asked Gabriel about where they get their coffee, he told me that every member of the Chagga tribe has a shamba (plantation), albeit a small one, that he grows things on. He showed us three types of banana trees (ndishi - large and fat bananas used in making the local brew aka mbege, kisukari - small and stubby bananas that are eaten, and then a third one that is used for cooking; I can't stand that not remembering the names of these things! I'll blog about it next time, insha'Allah). Under the banana trees, they had planted coffee trees. He showed us how coffee was made - peel the red outer layer, let it dry so the yellow, jello layer hardens and can be peeled off, and then grind away! He also showed us different bean plants like maharage (kidney beans) along with other trees like guava. We tried a guava straight from the tree. I have never tasted anything like it!

Oh! The third type of banana was called mchaare. It is long and thin and used primarily for cooking. Whew. Alright, after the plantation, we went to Kili. There were groups of climbers and porters getting ready to go up as well as a group of children from a school in Moshi taking a tour. These kids are so adorable. Any kid we walked / drove by waved at us, grinning their toothy smiles. So endearing! The porters can carry up to forty five pounds on their backs!!! Insane.

I need to hurry. Only five minutes left. That night we drove to Manyara. The next day we did Serengeti, spending the night there along with half of the next day. The day after that we went to the Ngorongoro Crater, spending the night there as well. On our last day, we stopped in Arusha and then went back to Moshi to catch an early bus back to Dar the next day. We arrived in Dar yesterday evening. I wish I could tell you everything in detail, but there is just no time! Ngorongoro is fantastic. The crater is surrounded by tropical rainforest, but nothing grows in it except a large grassy plain! We saw everything on this trip. Giraffes, rhinos, elephants, gazelles, zebras, lions, cheetahs, a leopard, wildabeast! Oh, and hippos! Which are the dirtiest animals e-v-e-r. Our time in the north felt surreal to me, as thought it wasn't a real experience and I wasn't really there. It was nice to see animals in the wild, but then I got to thinking. We saw two cheetahs who were literally within fifteen feet of our car. They didn't move! They were totally unscathed by our presence. How is that possible? Are these animals any different from animals in the zoo (apart from them being able to stay with their families and enjoy killing their own game) if they are so immune to human presence, which is not something that they are naturally immune to? Regardless, had a great time. Would do it again in a heartbeat.

We also met the most wonderful people at each of the hotels where we stayed. Most of our favorites were in Manyara and in Ngorongoro. We ran into a whole bunch of people who were from Masailand and part of the original tribe in Ngorongoro. Really interesting people. We exchanged email addresses with them and plan to keep in touch. One of them (Mollel was his name, he was a driver for one of the safari companies) told us that he had heard that women in California walked around in bikinis. He was so frightened, almost repulsed by it. I can't wait for the day when he comes to the States. Now, that will be a culture shock.

Alright, my time is up. I must go. Tomorrow, I will be attending a wedding at the mosque with Ally and the family. Then, we leave for Tanga the next day and come back on Saturday night in time to go to Morogoro on Sunday, insha'Allah. We begin working in Kibaha on Monday morning. I am so glad Ally is here. I could not have taken this trip with anyone else. She is so easy to be around and to work with. She's also picked up so much kiswahili. I have a feeling she will be teaching me soon.

She's sitting next to me. I didn't know she was reading this and just said, "You know, Hanna, you said that in the last post. Verbatim." Apologies on repeating myself! I am laughing now. Last thing! We have been meeting so many Spanish tourists! Well, more than I thought I would be. There are so many in the area that three of the guys at this Masaai hut SPOKE SPANISH. I know. Insane.

Okay. Now I'm really going to go. More soon, insha'Allah!!!

PS. I'm going to move here one day, I think.