You can thank the ever recurring electricity cuts (every 15 minutes in Tanzania) at this time of year (according to the internet guy) for the very quick email.
it seems that my friend who said "don't stress, don’t rush, it's africa" before i left london was on the money: nothing is a rush and most things either don't work or are held together with sticky tape! That said it is a wonderful place – full of warm people, ready to help, host and take your cash!
I arrived in dar es salaam a few days back and had a choice between a 20 minute flight or a 4 hour wait and a ferry that might arrive and may take 3 hours, may take 4. remembering calebs great idea from all those years ago - to get the train from bangkok airport rather than a taxi and missing all the fun - i organised a taxi and headed to the port. dar es salaam is awesome. the taxi had to stop 8 or 10 times while people came up to the cab to touch my skin, offer me their sister – then when I declined offer me a newspaper from two weeks ago instead. i wasn't allowed to take pictures for less than $10 but they all asked the usual question: where you from mr. when i said australia the answer was usually kangaroo meat (weird) and viduka (weirder).
Anyway, after several hours of being chatted up by local ladies and local policemen, and enduring a 30 minute rain storm that dropped more rain on me than in melbourne in 2006, i enjoyed some fruit and sardines for breakfast before being offered chilli bannana on toast! Tasted much better than it sounds.
the "flying horse" ferry arrived 2 hours later than anticipated and took at least an hour to fill with me, two dutch couples (rude buggers) and about 200 kids and their families from a local school. The kids also wanted to touch my skin and kept calling me jumbo (nice).. or so i thought.. but then i found out it means hello and i thought to myself that it was far nicer than being an elephant..
after a nice boat trip I arrived in zanzibar (great!) and was swamped by touts, beggars and some poorly prostitutes who swore they were in love with me. i found another "taxi" read: truck and a coconut and headed for matemwe beach.
i spent 4 days there and soaked up some sun, drank a couple of local beers, played football on the beach, swam, went dirt bike riding on a great XR250 - got lost several times including finding the local army barracks - not a good idea. it is a lovely island with little to do but relax and eat swahili fare. well worth a trip.
i left there earlier today (Tuesday). turned up to the airport for my commercial flight to arusha - meant to be a 767 or something - but as I was the only person who wanted to fly to arusha they decided a cessna would do. given it's the mini rainy season and tropical storms are everywhere.. me and the goat cargo were a little nervous. however, a quick call to my mate tones (pilot) to revise pitch up, gear up, flaps up - identify dead leg dead engine I felt a lot better. He also suggested "when I doubt – power out" not sure what that means. the goat decided to pike on the trip so it was just me and james (don't think it was his real name.. or that he had a real pilots license - looked like a photocopy). One always worries when the pilot feels the need to give proof that he is qualified… anyway, we got here in the end and endured some terrible weather that james didn't even put his coffee down for!! the flight went past kilimanjaro and meru so I was pretty excited.
finally, i found a place to stay, ate some ethiopian food - chilli goat and milk and blood. excellent. tomorrow I am off on a safari to see some lions.. rhinos.. etc etc etc.. PUMPED.
oops.. i've done too much again and the power might blow... lucky you!
hi to all and i will send some pics after my trip. after safari - nairobi and back to london.
xx
