Karibo

Sitting here cramed into an office in a luxury hotel in Arusha Tanzania I am very excited to be heading to the tropical paradise of Zanzibar tomorrow. Henrik, Andres and I have got our flights rebooked and will be heading back to Norway next Wednesday from Dar Es Sallam instead of Kilimanjaro so we save nearly two days of extra travel etc meaning almost 48 extra hours on Zanzibar compared to what we had originally planned. We head east via Moshi to Dar tomorrow on an 8 hour bus journey. Once we arrive in Dar we will spend the night and then hop on the morning jet boat to Zanzibar for what should be a great extended debreif from a trip that has left many deep impressions on all of us. Historically one of the Indian Oceans primary trading posts and colonary desires and currently known as the island of spice and one of few relatively undeveloped tropical wonderlands on earth, Zanzibar should be well worth the effort.

This trip has been full of absolutely astonishing experiences some of wish I mentioned in the previous post, but I will write a more complete recap once I have had time to digest everything I have been presented with.

Here are a few key items since the last post:

- Safari in Tarangire National Park, saw a cheetah.

- Blew a police checkpoint in the Land Cruiser the other day. Driver; "I have nothing to give them, I never stop, no point". Life is simple and care free... Our driver is also underaged to be driving our 8 seater offroader, another reason not to stopf or the law.

- Visit with a Masaii family in their traditional compound, not something usual for tourists. One of our guides who lived in Tanzania for nearly 20 years had never been invited to such a family before. The man of the house had some 9 wives and dispite looking 80 was still making children...

- Trying to learn the art of bartering at the many markets here, they dont budge far with me. Andres can buy something for nearly half the price of what I can at the exact same shop for the exact same item, frustrating.

- Went to a cimema night in the bush an hours drive on double track from Katesh and witnessed 1500 tribespeople turn up to watch old music videos and a movie about the Gospel According to Luke for 3 hours in the pitch black and fresh east African night.

- The contrasts between rich and poor in this country are overwhelming. We have gone from literally living in the bush to living in a 5 star hotel in only a few days. Only blocks from our hotel you can find extreme poverty and near slum like conditions. At the same time most people rich or poor are incredibly open and welcoming. People here are thenkful for anything and everything, it is very refreshing.

Tanzania and Africa is an incredible place. Time to go and discover some more of it. Next report will be from Zanzibar. In case you were wondering my bowels are now functioning to 80% of their standard capacity and are thus ready for another week of challange.

5 days of this...