Home » Tanzania » Arusha - Kate - 20/11/04

Well sorry you haven't had a recent extract from me in a while; I had an attack of the laziness. We are currently in Arusha, which is where we start our safari into the Serengeti, Lake Mayara, and the Ngorogoro crater in a couple of days time. Arusha is not very pretty, but is close to Mt. Kilamanjaro where we have just returned from visiting. We did not hike it - as funds wouldn't allow, but we did do a lovely day trip from Moshi to go to the base of the mountain. Kilamanjaro is 20,000 feet high, and as the clouds clear you can see the top, and the snow that covers it.. It was an impressive site.

Arusha - Kate - 20/11/04

Lasulo
2006-01-06 18:00:24

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Well sorry you haven't had a recent extract from me in a while; I had an attack of the laziness. We are currently in Arusha, which is where we start our safari into the Serengeti, Lake Mayara, and the Ngorogoro crater in a couple of days time. Arusha is not very pretty, but is close to Mt. Kilamanjaro where we have just returned from visiting. We did not hike it - as funds wouldn't allow, but we did do a lovely day trip from Moshi to go to the base of the mountain. Kilamanjaro is 20,000 feet high, and as the clouds clear you can see the top, and the snow that covers it.. It was an impressive site.

Loren arrives tomorrow, and we start our next tour on Monday. In 10 days, I am home for James' wedding. It seems strange sitting here in Arusha a typical crazy African city - thinking that civilization is only round the corner. It will be fantastic, I'm sure, and a welcome change for a couple of weeks, but it will be an adjustment after having been in the third world for four months.

I took my last African minibus ride today on the way back from Moshi. I am thrilled to say, MY VERY LAST minibus ride. It is an experience, or shall I say, an overcrowded, smelly, frustrating experience. Today was no exception. I was sat at the front of the minibus next to a very large heater, (obviously what you need in 100 degrees) on a seat that was barely a seat as it was basically lopsided and broken, with two seats next to me, and four people on them. So I was covienently squashed into the heater, while there was half a town of people behind me; with one guy sitting on the back of my broken chair. At the same time I was being elbowed in the back, by a girl who was also being pushed, from the sheer surge of people behind her. My god, I was dripping with sweat and frustration after this hour and a half., I can tell you. The other factor is that these minibus' (as if they are not full enough,) will stop every 100 yards to pick up yet more people.

Yesterday, we were on a similar journey, when the minibus stopped for ages on the side of the road, so that the conductor could wait to pick up his wife. I mean seriously how would the London public react, if one of our London bus conductors, stopped on Bond St. to wait for his wife to finish her shopping in John Lewis. Ridiculous, and so you can see, how delighted I am to have successfully completed my very final African minibus journey. Now I can look back at laugh at the hilarity of it all!