Ten hours of sleep and I was feeling good again. I decided to go for a run. It had been a while and I could feel it. Morning was also quite hot so I had to make it shorter.

Feeling good about the run I decided to finish unpacking and cleaning. Another three hours and all the dishes were washed and placed in cupboards. Even though it isn’t my house it feels great to see things in order. I am also happy to do something useful for return since I am staying here for free.

Then it was time to face Mama again. I had a feeling that there hadn’t been any progress concerning the money. Boy was I right again. She said that Friday might be the day and the earliest we could leave would be on Monday the 3rd.

So I have a week to spend doing nothing. Normally it would be great to have that kind of break. There is a lot that could be done in a week. But knowing that things might change in a blink of an eye and we could leave right away, I will just have to stay and wait. This will also put pressure on our schedule but as we have seen already so many times everything seem to work out somehow. So I will stay on stand-by until further notice.

Since we have everything in place in kitchen again we decided to stay home and cook dinner instead of going out to eat. Well, to be honest I am responsible of playing music and setting the table while Ulla-Maj does all the work. Maybe she already knows that it is better if I stay out of the kitchen. I promise to do my share of eating though; I am good at that.

Tomorrow I will go to the city and search for a cheap flight ticket to Mwanza. I heard that Tor (the person who I flew here with) is there and it would be a good opportunity for me to let him show me the local sights in Mwanza. I will make up my mind about leaving when I see the prices. If I decide to leave without Mama I know I have some explaining to do. We will see how I feel about that tomorrow.

This time I didn’t wake up for the bird singing. They are building something next door so today was the day to get the wall down. Well, their schedule is quite different from mine so I had no choice but get up at seven. That was ok. Waking up early means that there is more time in a day to do things. Like there was too little time in Africa. There is no hurry in Africa!

It was a beautiful morning. Sun was up and it was hot. I received SMS from Mama that there hasn’t been any progress with her money so she will call me again tomorrow. I decided to go for a walk and find an internet café. An hour later I was sitting in an air-conditioned internet café. Connection was poor but I didn’t mind to sit in the cool. I spent two hours trying to get stories on line and then the power went down. So much for trying.

I couldn’t think of anything else but go and see if my painting was still waiting for me at the store behind the corner. And yes, there it was. It was still calling my name so I bought it. I am ashamed to admit how much it cost but no regrets so far.

Feeling good about myself I celebrated the occasion by buying an ice-cream. I took a Dala Dala back to Onnela and again I was proud of myself how it worked out. I am just like home here already. All though I have to admit that they still try their best to play me. Fortunately I know the prices and aren’t an easy target anymore.

The lady who I am staying with has just moved in to Onnela. Two days ago she got all her stuff from the previous house she lived in. So there was lot of boxes around the house. I decided to help out and did some cleaning. Three hours later it was time to relax and take a swim. Next three hours I spent lying by the pool and studied Swahili.

Even though coming to Dar is like coming home, there is always a problem what to eat. The village next door is made for Mzungus so you can find almost anything from there; therefore the prices are also higher. The local restaurants on the other hand have less variety but the prices are at least half from others. Normally I can get through with 10 euros a day but in Dar it is at least the double. It depends on where I eat and also if I have lunch and dinner or just dinner. After being in the bushes for so long I decided to get wild and went for the Mzungu restaurant and ordered chicken fajitas. Yes, imagine chicken! I can still eat chicken but will pass cooked chicken wings.

And we all know what happens when you change your eating habits. After eating rice and bananas my stomach wasn’t ready for heavy cooking. So it was one of those nights again...

My perspective to local bus transportation changed totally after today’s trip. First I had to make a decision which company I was going to use to travel back to Dar. For some reason the Scandinavia sounded most tempting, so I went for it. It was a smart thing to do. At eight I was on the bus on my way to Dar. The bus had a toilet, TV, spacious seats and it was air-conditioned. It was awesome. The bus driver and the other staff were Muslims and very helpful. We were served sodas and coffee at the beginning of the trip and we had one lunch break in the half way. My seat was in the front, right behind the driver. I didn’t mind. I had two seats for myself all the way to the half way until someone wanted to sit with me after feeling sick in the back. She was a primary school teacher so we had a lot to talk about. She taught me Swahili and we talked a lot about the cultural differences. Again I learned quite lot about the facts of life. Why did I go to school at all? These people have taught me more in a month than I have learned in the lifetime. And we are talking about the reality not the theory. Eleven hours went surprisingly fast this time. Of course there were moments when you were hoping that it would be over but enjoying the scenery and discussing the facts of life helped to pass the time.

Road trips are probably the best way to experience the real life in Tanzania. Now that I have seen more than half of the country I think I have a good perspective of things. First I have to say that the Northern part is the most developed. It must have something to do with the tourism. The roads are in a better shape, people speak better English and prices are higher than anywhere else. Also I have found more sitting toilets in the North than from the rest of the country all together.

Driving through different villages has also been very interesting. I wish I only knew more about the different tribes in Tanzania. I don’t always know if the thing are common for certain tribe, or is it the way they do it in that particular area. Anyway, there are some differences in each village.

Driving habits on the road are still the same, where ever I go. I didn’t realise it until we were back in Arusha that it is forbidden to use the honk in the National Parks. It hit me when I was back on the road again. It is the most common signal on the roads. Some ways it is good because it certainly draws attention. On the other hand I think it would work also if the car slowed down a bit to let others pass or cross the street, instead speeding up and honking on the way. Well, it seems to work also.

Kids wearing school uniforms and walking on the side of the roads some carrying a gardening tools is also a very common scene. Only difference is the colour of the uniform. Not that they differ a lot; blue, green and red are probably the only colours you can find.

Women carrying stuff on their head is still noticeable. It can be anything that is very common for households from kitchen supplies to food. Laundry is also very commonly carried on the head. Women travel long distances to the nearest water to wash the laundry and dry it at the sight. I have seen quite a variety of places where washing has been done. Still I don’t see people wearing dirty clothes unless they are kids or men doing construction work.

Cattle farming is still very common all around the county. If we have a problem hitting deer or moose back home, here it is donkeys, cows and chicken. They don’t move for anything. There have been many close cases on the road.

On the main roads there is lot of police stops when entering towns. I don’t know the exact purpose for them since when asking about it I get many different answers from speed controlling to “voluntary” road tolls. I have also noticed that they seem to use us a lot for taking them from one place to another. We have given rides to at least ten officers so far. Not that I mind but it seems weird to me.

Short stops along the road are always interesting. If it is just to pay the “toll”, slow down for a speed pump which they have here a lot by the way, or a rolling-stop to let someone in or out, it is always amazing how quickly we are surrounded by people selling different things from handmade baskets to fruits or wooden handcraft to prepaid phone cards. In any case it is very useful and handy. There is no need for thirty-minute gas station break if you can do all these when car is still moving. I only wish that I learned to do the bathroom breaks on the move also.

When finally entering a town where you are about to get out it is smart to leave before or after the actual bus station. Of course there is a risk of not finding a taxi but in all cases it is always more calm. When you get out of the bus you are usually surrounded by taxi-drivers who are offering their services. Then it is time for negotiations. The worst thing is that you don’t usually know the local price level but it is a fact that it starts way too high. After negotiations the goal is to get somewhere close to 75 % of the starting price. 50 % is probably right but getting there takes a lot of work. So as long as I can’t hide the fact that I am Mzungu, I just have to settle with what I am ready to bargain for. In some places locals have noticed it and like yesterday I was faced with it. I tried to by myself two bananas. For 1000 (60 cents) you usually get like 10-15 bananas but here my price started from 10 000 (6 euros) for those two. In these cases it is better to leave that person and find another salesman.

Since most of the time I am walking alone on the streets, I am very approachable to locals. In most cases it is ok and I don’t mind them joining me. But sometimes it is annoying. Without an exception the conversation goes from having a husband and a family to what I do here. Since this happens quite a lot I have had time to observe and evaluate their reactions. And I have come to a conclusion that it is better to have a husband and kids than be a single. So now my only problem is that I need to know who knows the real story and who has my cover up story. And these people have really good memory. I don’t want to get caught with lying so from now on I am married with three children if someone asks. I am still in search for the best answer for what I do here. So far I have noticed that being a teacher is always ok. They are highly respected. Only problem is that then they seemed to think that I have a lot of money to come and teach in Tanzania. But so far that seems to be their feeling about all coming from Europe. Until I come up with a better solution I am a teacher with a husband and three kids. My neither husband nor kids have names yet but it is in process.

So I am back in Dar for uncertain time period. The plan is now to give time to Mama to get more travelling money for her to finish our journey. She has had four days to start the process but I have a feeling that nothing has happened since we departed. I will talk to her tomorrow, so we will see.

We have two zones and 13 more schools to go to. So far Dar es Salaam has been our base camp and we have always returned here. Now I think we will move our base to Mwanza which is the place where I will be staying when I am done with the baseline study. Mwanza is in the NW corner by the Lake Victoria. From there we will try to reach all corners of western zone and the lake zone. The roads are quite bad there so there will be times when we need to fly and times for a ferry. It sounds interesting, doesn’t it? I am looking forward to new adventures...

After the safari I decided to spend two days in Arusha. It is the gateway to all the Northern National Parks and also to Kilimanjaro. So as you can imagine I wasn’t the only Mzungu around. The first thing I had to do was to find myself a place to stay. I knew there was a Catholic convent hostel which was supposed to be very cheep – sounded great. Unfortunately it was full. Well, I didn’t know the city so I ended up trying the next Inn on the other side of the street – Oldvai Inn. They had vacancy for 20 USD/night so I decided to take it. It included hot water and breakfast which both sounded great after the safari.

Two hours later smelling like a human being again, or at least how I thought humans should smell, I decided to go for a walk. It was getting dark so I hurried up to make it to the city and back. I bought some bread and bananas, stopped at an internet café and started walking home. On the way I was joined by a Maasai boy who said that it wasn’t safe for me to walk alone, so he walked me to the hotel. I knew he wasn’t doing it for fun but didn’t care. When I got back to the hotel I thanked him and he left me alone.

On Saturday after breakfast I left to the city again. First I went to the bus station to get me a bus ticket back to Dar. Then I became a real tourist. I enjoyed the atmosphere of a local market where they sold everything from vegetables to second hand clothes and from car tires to kitchen supplies. I bought myself two Kangas. Where ever I walked I was greeted with lots of smiles. People came to talk to me all the time which was fun for a while but after a while started to be quite annoying. So I left the market and wondered up the main street. Soon I was surrounded by people selling all kinds of handicrafts. To get rid of them I ended up buying some things which I really didn’t need and later accidentally left somewhere. An hour later another Maasai joined me and started to show me the “sights”. Again at first it was ok but after an hour he started to be more annoying than fun to be around with. Well, he took me to a Maasai market where I continued shopping again for hours.

After having “used” him for several hours as a tour guide, I knew I had to buy something from him also. I didn’t feel like buying more garbage so I asked if I could by him lunch. That was a smart idea, I thought at the time. So we had lunch together. Afterwards the word got out and when I run to the other Maasai from previous night, again I found myself buying something stupid for just to get rid of him also. After very hard day of being a tourist I decided to go back to the hotel and relax. Now after few hours I have to admit that I was really played by the locals. How stupid have I been? Well, if I ever come back to Arusha I better not let anyone make me buy anything again. Hakuna Matata!

Imagine a column of wildebeest patiently plodding across the plain for hours. Now multiply that until you have about a million wildebeest, throw in some 300 000 zebras, another 300 000 Thomson’s gazelles and Grant’s gazelles, all in search of grass. This is how my drive through Serengeti started. It was amazing.

I made some calls, had an offer, thought it overnight and decided to go. I think I did almost everything what is said in all the travel books to not to do. Fortunately things turned out great. Of course I could have spent few days for searching other less expensive and more reliable choices but I didn’t have time and energy for it. So I joined a group of two German ladies in their thirties and had a blast.

I tried to do a budget safari but there isn’t really lot of ways to keep costs down. The safari companies charge of course their share but also the entrance fees are very high to all the national parks. So my 750 USD was “all-inclusive”. It included entrance fees to Serengeti and Ngorongoro, a four night camping fee with a tent and a sleeping bag, three meals a day by a very good cook, drinking water as much as needed, driver with knowledge of animals and car mechanics, and an open-roof car with enough fuel for the trip. Only other cost was 50 USD tips which were optional but highly appreciated.

I started my safari on Tuesday night when I was picked up from the school where I worked and taken to a camping site. These two other ladies had spent a day in Manyara where I had been the day before. So I was to join them for the rest of the safari. The first camping site was just out of the Manyara in a village called Mto Wa Mbu. Camping site was luxurious. There were real toilets (sitting) and showers and even a swimming pool. It was a great way to start the safari. I was very much surprised with everything. Even the food surprised me. We had a three course menu (actually for every dinner every night) with a soup for starters, main course which varied but was always delicious, and desert every time. It was amazing what they cooked in the “kitchens”. Maybe the hygienic wasn’t a restaurant level but when the food was served on the table it topped everything. I never felt like I was on a camping site. It was funny to see how the cooks cooperated and joked around while cooking for 1-18 people each. The noise was loud but the atmosphere seemed to be great.

We left the camping site at nine the next morning and drove to the gate of Serengeti. After all the necessary paperwork we were on our way to the park. First we climbed on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater where we had our first look over the remarkable scenery. It is 18 x 20 km wide area which consist grasslands, bush and woodland. There is some water also in the middle. It was really astonishing.

We drove down passing lots of Maasai villages towards the Serengeti National Park. We had planned to leave the Ngorongoro Crater itself for our last visit on the way back to Arusha on Friday.

So the Serengeti is where the legends meet the reality. Africa’s beauty can really be experienced here. Surroundings keep changing from treeless plains to different kinds of grasslands. The impressive natural cycles can really be understood here. Probably the most famous and the most numerous are the wildebeest. First you think that there must be hundreds of them but soon you realise that there are more than a million of them around you. I was speechless. At this time female wildebeest are separately with their newborn babies and males are gathered a bit farther. So where ever we drove we were surrounded by them.

Almost 15 000 sq km Serengeti is famous of its animals migration. The number of animals varies depending on the time of your visit. Our visit during the rainy season was perfect since most of the animals widely scattered over the Southern section of Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation area.

Treeless plains, areas which have few rivers and streams are filled with zebras joining the wildebeest. Their cooperation with zebra’s sight vision and wildebeest’s sense of hearing is just one example of nature’s way protecting each other from the enemy.

Serengeti is also famous of its predators, especially lions. We were lucky to see lions every day and even two leopards. Leopard is solitary and spends quite a lot of time in trees which is where we spotted it, all though from a very far distance. On the way to our camping site we also saw a pregnant spotted hyena and some golden jackals. They are fascinating predators of the eco-system. They are the ones to do the “cleaning”.

The day at the Serengeti was something else. We stopped for a lunch in somewhere and shared the place with some zebras and elephants. Probably there were lots of other eyes staring at us which we didn’t notice but let’s just say that our bush break afterwards wasn’t far from the car.

There was some excitement also in our first night when we had some problems at the gate. We were held for two hours which left us only 45 minutes to get to the next gate and to the camping site which was 45 km away. So we really drove fast to get there just in time before it was too dark. Well, the place was packed and we had to find spots for our tents. We were on the outer rim and my tent was set up in the far corner. Well, it didn’t make me feel comfortable when I saw the sign which said “do not get out of the campsite, animal may attack human beings”. That at least meant that no bathroom brakes in the middle of the night for me.

Next morning we had our regular breakfast of tea, pancakes, toast and eggs. Then we hopped in the car and headed to the bushes. We spent five hours just driving around and stopping when ever we felt like it just to see what was going on around us. It is not about ticking animals off the checklist. It is about experiencing the nature. It took four days for me to realise it. To sit in one spot and let the nature come to you is the way to do it, instead of driving impatiently in search for something. I got better at it as the time went by.

Lions were probably the laziest animals we saw. They live in prides but we also spotted some solitary yellow ears. In three days time we spotted around 20 lions. In most cases they were just enjoying the sun and didn’t seem to be bothered by anything.

Baboon troops of 20-30 are the most seen visitors at camp sites. We drove by many troops and sometimes were held up by some of them while they were sunbathing on the road.

Elephant groups of 20 were seen along the roads. If they had babies we knew it was wise to keep the distance. One time we had to hurry away since one wasn’t happy to see us. Their weight is few times more than our vehicles so it was a smart thing to do.

Zebras with their individual stripes are a sight of beauty from the front, from the side and from the behind. Harems of zebras with newly-born babies may seem an easy target for lions but seem to survive quite well in cooperation with the wildebeest.

Warthogs with their little babies were the most amusing animals. You could watch them play for hours. Their straight up-pointing tails and fast-moving feet are described quite well as the “Kenyan express”.

Hippos lying in the water were an experience. They were usually accompanied with some crocodiles. I didn’t feel like joining them for a swim after seeing how they do their need to go experience. The use of the tail seemed to be very handy. I loved looking at it.

Ostriches aren’t as good-looking as I thought. It is also funny how in the nature all the males look so much better than females. I wonder why it is the other way around with the humans!

It might need another safari for me to appreciate all the birds around us but on this trip I think I divided them into two groups – big birds and small birds. And we saw a lot of both.

Even though the famous search of the BIG five was also in my mind, I have to admit that there is much more to experience on Safari. The name BIG five has been given for the lions, leopards, elephants, buffaloes and rhinos for their rareness, protectiveness and famousness among the Mzungus. To me BIG five consisted elephants, zebras, hippos, warthogs and giraffes. I wasn’t so into lions and leopards. Of course it is great to see them but to search them for hours was not worth it.

The first day was long and exhausting. We didn’t do anything else but sat in the car. But the energy what runs through you when you see things is just remarkable. So after dinner at nine, we were again in sleep quite soon. Of course it takes a while to fall a sleep since you are just imagining what is going around you while hearing all the sounds of nature.

The second morning at Serengeti was an early morning. We wanted to experience the sunrise and morning rituals of animals. It was amazing to see elephants wondering over the grass fields, buffaloes waking up, giraffes walking elegantly, hippos out of the water and lots of Topis, Impalas, and Thomson’s gazelles and waterbucks gathering around.

We came back for lunch, packed our stuff and headed to back to Ngorongoro where we were to spend our last night on the top of the crater rim. It is indescribable to define how it feels to find water (cold but running) after three days in the bushes. Face is covered with safari powder (read dirt) from the days spent on the dirt roads. I felt like a new person after washing my hair.

When the sun went down, it got really dark and cold. For the first time I had to find my long pants and long-sleeved shirt to wear for the dinner because of the cold and not because of the mosquitoes. At dinner I was the only one to eat from our group of three since the others had upset stomachs. I don’t know if it is the magical cholera medicine I swallowed before leaving home or the tablets that I am taking everyday but for the first time I wasn’t the first from our group to get the diarrhoea. I know that it is not that I have been more careful than others by washing hands and staying out of the vegetables. I think I have reached the point when you just can’t be too careful anymore. I haven’t been stupid but I haven’t been careful either. There is only so much you can do in the wilderness. Anyway, I couldn’t finish the three person meal so we passed the food around to others who seemed to have less food served that night.

While having dinner we had a visitor at the campsite. An elephant came to drink from the water tank. We were told that they are very common visitors at the campsite but are harmless. Just don’t keep any food in the tent and you will be fine, we were told. Well, that was nice to hear. What was I going to do with the peanuts that I had in my bag from my trip from Mtwara? I had to get rid of them.

After dinner it was so cold that we quickly used the bathrooms and went to tents. Most of the campers did the same. Being a bit cold it was hard to fall a sleep so I listened to the sounds. I could here something eat grass outside but wasn’t really sure what it was. When we woke up in the morning we were told that it had been a buffalo. There was also living proofs around our tents. They had eaten quite a lot judging by the size of the piles they left behind. Most of them still fresh. I am glad I didn’t have to use bathroom that night. My German friend with the diarrhoea hadn’t been so lucky. I am sorry for her. She hadn’t slept at all since she was in the need of bathroom but was too afraid to go because of the buffalo. Imagine having diarrhoea with a buffalo outside your tent. Not funny!

The last morning was also early. We got up at six, had breakfast, packed our stuff and drove down the crater in search of a rhino (at least I was). Poaching for their horns has made rhinos Africa’s most endangered animal. I knew it was going to be hard to find it but I was hopeful. I was rewarded after four hours. We saw one rhino from very far distance. I could see its horn but if I hadn’t been told that it was a rhino I would have thought that it was a stone. But what a relief it was seeing it. Now I could start enjoying everything what was going on around us again.

In the crater there are no giraffes or other animal which can’t climb over there. And most of the animals that make it there never leave. There is plenty of food and water for them so they stay there. This makes it a perfect place for lions also. This is probably why we saw many lions at the crater. One couple was lying in the sun while there were lot of zebras and gazelles around. Either they were full or lazy to see the lunch possibilities around them – probably both.

We enjoyed a packed lunch by some nice pond. Unfortunately eating outside was like a seen from Hitchcock movie Birds, so we ate in the car and enjoyed the atmosphere afterwards. After the lunch it was time to leave the crater and head back up to the gate and back to Arusha. On the way we rescued probably the fifth car from engine troubles during our safari. I don’t know if we had the only driver with maintenance skills but when ever there was a car in trouble, we stopped to help them. It slowed us down a bit but was a good thing to know for our own possible car trouble ahead.

Four days and four nights in the bushes were well worth the money. Even though it was a camping safari there were times when it was more than usual camping experience back home. The campsites have fenced cooking places (kitchens) and fenced patios. These were all built in past few years. We heard lot of stories about people returning to the campsite while the cook was still in the tree being scared of the lion visiting the campsite. I guess they had to build the fences around the kitchens. Also most of the sites had bathrooms - hole on floor but still. I would prefer the nature in normal cases but not knowing what is in the bush makes it quite calming to use the hole surrounded by walls. Other thing which is quite luxurious is that you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want. They put up the tents for you and take them down for you. You just sit in the side and wait. Well, we didn’t want to do that but instead made more harm than good while trying to help. But it is the thought that counts – right!

So for the future safari attendees, I have some suggestions. Even though I was lucky with the quality of the tent and the sleeping bag, it is not a bad idea to bring something inside the sleeping bag – like a sheet or something. Also for the cold nights those who freeze easily might find it comfortable to bring jogging pants or long underwear for nights. Nights are very dark and flashlights demand a use of one hand so I highly recommend a headlight which can be used hands free. Then there is the joy of seeing and capturing things. Bring your own binoculars since there is no time to pass them around when something great is there for a short time. Bring camera with a good optical if you want to take pictures of lions, leopards or rhinos. Other animals come close enough for picture taking. One last thing, study as much as possible beforehand about the animals since there is just so much more you want to know when you see them. So the more you know beforehand, deeper you will get while at the sight. Also remember that not everything the driver tells you is true. In cases of uncertainty they have a story anyway.

Imagine meeting this fellow in the middle of the night on your way to bathroom!

Little red spots on the way to Serengeti

One of those nights again. I Woke up again with the mosquito bites. The war gets worse. I have to think of something else for tonight. They don’t know who they are messing with.

Well, we had finished all the work in the Northern zone so it was time to relax. The principal of the Monduli Teachers College had planned a day for us at the Manyara National Park. I was very excited. The drive to the Park took an hour and on the way we passed Maasai villages. He is a Maasai so he had lot of inside information for us. I really enjoyed it.

The Manyara National Park was quite an experience. We saw lot of animals but lions were hiding. Even though the elephants and giraffes aren’t very rare they still catch my attention. Impalas and other antelopes, baboons and birds are just some amusement anymore. But when ever I see a hippo, buffalo or zebra it sure takes my breath away. Buffaloes are quite hostile and most of my pictures are from their behinds. But I was told that behind is good – that means food. If you see the front – that means danger – run! So most of my pictures are from their behinds.

At the end of the tour we stopped in a hot spring which has about 80 degrees hot water. I even burned my feet there while stepping on a mud hole. Well, my shoes are already in such shape that I don’t care anymore.

So today (Monday 18.2.) is all about spending time and waiting for Bush to leave the country. I know it demands quite a security but in this country it takes a bit more. I keep using this time to arrange myself a safari. I hope I will get lucky. If you don’t here from you in a while, I have succeeded.

Impala or five

Buffalo taking a bath

Maasai ladies chatting

16.2.2008. Today’s school visit was quite near town called Arusha. It is packed with tourist. Arusha is the centre for all the safaris and hikes to Kilimanjaro. Also now that president Bush is coming to visit the town there are even more people around. Fortunately we are staying in a near town called Monduli.

This was probably the most advanced school so far. It was also the first Teachers College to have internet. The principal has been over 20 years and it shows. He has taken very good care of everything. On the other hand I have been told that he is very corrupted. So what do I know? If things work there is always something behind it. Who am I to judge them?

Well, the principal was really taking good care of us. Mama was tired so she decided to take a nap at the lodge. I left with the principal to see the surroundings. He took me and two students to a visit at the Snake Park. There I saw black and green mambas and many other local snakes. I even held one which was dangerous but I was told only afterwards. Well, no more snakes for me if they aren’t served on a plate.

Another visit was to a Maasai village. The principal told me all about their tradition. How there is no meaning of their age. It is all about the stage of their status in the society. Every seven years they have a chance to “upgrade”. Circumcision is still very popular for boys and girls. It is how they become women and men. In boys circumcision you are not aloud to even blink or you won’t become a man. Afterwards they have a party when all men get drunk. When Maasais drink the aim is to get drunk but it only happens rarely.

Women and men are in very different positions. Men need to have three things wives, children and kettle. Land has no value. Men go away for months with each having one cow. They come back after eating the cows. So the amount of cows determines the length of a stay. During these gatherings they teach youngsters and share other knowledge among each other. So among the Maasais the governmental school system has no value. All the important things are thought in life. After hearing the stories I have to agree with those in some extend.

One man owns many wives. We met a Maasai who had 14 wives and 40 children. They are aloud to have sex with any woman they want. And if children are born they belong to the husband no matter it was his child or not. So one village is usually a property of one man. The richer the man is, the bigger the village is. All wives are supposed to have their own hut.

We also drove by a medicine man. He is a much appreciated man. If he asks for something you better get it for him. If he is in touch with the spirits it is better to obey him. He usually has many wives and a bunch of children. In this case there was even one school established for only his children. I was happy to pass the place quite fast. I wasn’t ready to get married and if I was proposed I don’t know what the correct answer would have been. So better stay away.

After the long day we stopped in a market and a Tingatinga store. It is an art form that simplifies everything. I think they looked great but were smart not to buy anything this time.

Tingatinga paintings and two shoppers

15.2.2008 What a night! Fortunately it is over. I am officially declaring war against the mosquitoes. Boy I hate them. This was the first night without a mosquito net and there weren’t supposed to be any around Kilimanjaro. Well, guess what – yes there are. They are jut a bit weaker than the others. What do I care? They make the same annoying noise and therefore keep me awake. So I don’t think I slept more than two hours. Mainly because I was trying to hide underneath the sheet but it was too hot and I could still here them circling me and trying to hit me again and again. Well, when it was six o’clock, I gave up and woke. It was a smart move. I went straight outside and kept staring at the beautiful Kilimanjaro just in front of me. They say that the mountain is very shy for visitors. It was partly true because after an hour it was covered by clouds. But I could here it calling my name.

At nine we were on the road again. Mama had made arrangements for us (which I wasn’t aware of) to visit three schools again in one day. What a change. First it is very hard to make one school a day but now she is turning this into a real marathon. I think the pace is bit too much for me. Yes, I am the one who takes all the notes and writes the reports. I am also walking around the whole compound while Mama is resting somewhere in the shadow. That is all right, she is a lot older than me. But still, three schools in one day. I am taking notes and taking pictures to remember everything but six schools in two days. I can’t tell one from another. We have to slow down.

So this Northern zone is the most easiest to reach. Roads are made of black top all the way excluding the last 10 km to each school. The distances between each school are also smaller. So six schools is quite manageable if you don’t have to have a clear mind while doing it. Well, I will stop complaining now. We caught up our schedule so we are back on the track.

This Northern zone is also the most interesting one. There is the Kilimanjaro which takes four to six days to climb up and enjoy the water falls around it. Then there are six different national parks which all take time to explore them thoroughly. So after tomorrows visit we will see if these shoes are made for walking…

The scenery change again. There is lot of coffee plantations here in North. The world famous Tanzanite is minded here near the Kilimanjaro. Did you know that this is the only place where you can find Tanzanite but still India and Kenya are the world’s biggest importers of Tanzanite? That defines well what one of the biggest problems here is in Tanzania.

The main road from Dar es Salaam to Arusha is mostly flat. Normally you would think that well at least it is safer that way but no. This means that you can really break speeding records.

I learned today more about the gravity. Did you know that the gravity isn’t as strong near the equalizer as it is closer to the poles? That is why everything what weighs less than 500 kg needs to be chained on something here in Africa. Other wise it will float somewhere and be gone by morning.

Despite the fact that everything made of iron has such a big value I can’t believe what people are ready to do to get it. We visited a school today which had built a concrete wall around the school compound. One day they made a concrete playground for basketball with regular baskets that have a rim with wooden boards. Six hours later the fence was down and the poles were gone. Now there is an empty playground with broken wooden backboards on the ground. This site can be seen in almost all the colleges we have visited so far.

As much time as I have already spent on the roads here it still amazes me how the kettle is walking on the road. It doesn’t matter if you are in town or in some rural areas there is always kettle crossing the street or just eating the grass on the road. Only difference is that sometimes it is guarded by a four year old Maasai boy and sometimes with an angry Bantu lady.

Another thing about animals is their freedom. I didn’t know that if you let your chickens out they would come back for the dinner at night. So where ever I walk I see lot of chickens. And now I wonder which one of them will be on our next menu.

Did I already mention that George Bush is coming to town? He is supposed to visit a hospital next to the Teachers College where I am right now. So for three days now they have been doing lot of road construction so that Bush would have a clear way to the hospital. Funniest thing is that today they heard that he will be coming from the other directions so now they are working over night trying to prepare the other end also. So half of the people are mad, since lot of money was wasted for the wrong end. The other half, who lives on that end, is very happy since now they have a good road which would have never happened if this visit wasn’t taken place. Anyway, we ended up having a good debate about these visits. Should they see the reality instead of fixed truth or should the visit show the best side of the country. Personally I feel that all third world countries should always try to look as realistic as possible and even a bit overrated so that they would get more support from the good-hearhted givers.

Wake up at four. Taxi waiting at 4:45. Drive to the bus station. Pass locals sleeping in front of their booths. Make it to bus station where life is as busy as usual. Meet Mama who seems to have forgotten all about our little encounter day before.

Bus moves exactly at 5:45 but stops 10 meters after for a jam that is caused by all the 40 buses which are to leave at the same time. So 40 minutes and thousands of different kind of honking signals later we are on the road to Korogwe. The bus is big and we have the two front seats which are the only ones Mama approves. I hate them. First of all you can see the road which makes sleeping impossible and secondly you are in the most dangerous spot in case of an accident. The bus is quite nice but built to be as economic as possible. There are five seats in a row so there isn’t any room for my butt really. So there I try to sit for four hours sweating and feeling uncomfortable while Mama sleeps with her hat on and two jackets covering her from the cold that is getting closer to us, she says.

We hop out from the moving bus. I am entertained by the locals while Mama finds us a taxi. Five minutes later we are at the school where nobody knows about us or expects us. The principal has retired during the Christmas and now there isn’t anyone who is taking care of things. Well, we start from the scratch and are done four hours later. Afterwards it felt like any other visit so far. The school is a bit shamed of the fact that they didn’t know about our coming so they offer to take us to Marangu which is three hours away. Of course I have no idea what is going on since Mama has decided to handle things in Swahili again. Well, I just hop into the car and go with the flow.

Sitting in a car another three hours started to get on me. I don’t know if it was the run day before but I seemed to have lost the feeling in my butt. The ride to Marangu was interested in many other ways also. We were stopped by a policeman who wanted to ride with us. We almost drove over a donkey. And I sat in the trunk with some local who laughed at me all the time without a reason known to me.

So at six we were in Marangu which is located right by the Kilimanjaro Mountain. It sure is an impressive sight. I couldn’t get my eyes of it. I wish we had time to climb it right away but it seems that I have to come back for it. I need to be patient again.

Mama had slept all the way from Korogwe to Marangu so she was very much up for doing the work in Marangu when we got there. I on the other hand was a bit tired from the early morning and sitting in the bus or a car for seven hours that day. But if Mama is up for it, so am I.

After work we were taken to school hostel which was quite ok. We had our usual on the road dinner, guess what, chicken which means bananas and rice for me. I am starting to miss our office cafeteria’s lunch buffet in SLU which I swore that I wouldn’t miss. I only hope that they will stop serving chicken when I get back there.

Tomorrow we will leave to Marangu which is quite close to hear. Maybe I will get to admire the view over to the Kilimanjaro a bit more. I know you are waiting for me.

13.2.2008 Getting into the rhythm in Africa takes some time especially for a person who likes to sleep late. Sun rises around 6:30 and that is also the time for birds to wake up. It isn’t anything pretty that puts you on a right move. It is more or less one of those moments when you feel like picking up your shoe and target it towards the noise. Anyway, at eight you have to give up and get out of the bed. I wish I could fall a sleep a bit earlier and this waking up would not be a problem.

This morning I decided to go for a run. I took my usual path and almost made it home before my stomach started to have its own will. Despite the minor problem it was a good run and I felt good afterwards. I only wish that it hadn’t been so long since my last run. I will be sore tomorrow.

Before I left for my run I sent a message to Mama that I was a bit worried about our postponed departure and asked if I should continue the trip without her if she wasn’t up for it yet. So when I got back from my run Mama was in Onnela and she was so furious that it scared me a bit. This was my first encounter with Tanzanian temper. So for ten minutes I was lectured about not trusting her and thinking of continuing by myself. I tried to explain that we (I of course blamed it on the organisation) were concerned about the time running out since we were already behind the schedule. And that I would like to continue the trip with her but was also ready to proceed alone if she couldn’t. Well that didn’t help. She got angrier. After the lecture she told me that she had bought the bus tickets for tomorrow. I don’t know what had happened between my text message and her coming to Onnela but it had worked. We had tickets for next day’s bus. So the plan changed in a minute and now we are going on the road again tomorrow.

So tomorrow we will leave at 5:30 by bus towards North. The original plan was to continue from North back to the central zone and then to West but now it looks like we are coming back to Dar after finishing the North. So Onnela is our base camp and all the roads lead to hear instead of Rome.

The Northern part of Tanzania is for me the most interested part. Kilimanjaro and Arusha National Park are there. My dream is to have few days off to go on a safari to one of the national parks. I try not to get my hopes up so that I wouldn’t get disappointed. One day at a time, you’ll see.

After Mamas visit we decided to go shopping. And by us I mean the Finnish lady who I am staying with here in Onnela and me. I had already decided not to buy anything since I still have a long time before going home and I also don’t want to carry the stuff around where ever life takes us on this journey. But when women go shopping you know how it goes. I ended up buying some handicrafts for my apartment and also one painting that has everything I have experienced so far on it. It was calling my name so I couldn’t pass the opportunity. Now I only need to find the money for it. I didn’t actually get the painting yet instead I paid part of it and they will keep it for me until I am ready to pick it up. How convenient – right!

After the very tiring shopping day I decided to spend the rest of the day at the Onnela pool. I had an hour rest (or should I say work) in the sun before it was time for Wednesday night volleyball. Well, this time there were too many people and too many competitive male players. It wasn’t fun at all. I just hate to play with men who don’t trust their co-players. And I think of myself as quite ok player as being a woman anyway. Well, those two hours were a torture. I didn’t even feel like staying for after game chatting but instead hit the shower and started getting ready for my early morning leave.

Today was quite a successful day otherwise. I was proposed once and had few offers for day time activities which I kindly passed. All though these offers seem to be everyday life here in Dar I don’t feel offended or scared when it happens. It is part of the culture here and it just makes you smile when you run into these offers. They are so ridiculous.

Another thing that I have gotten used to so far is ordering food and waiting for it quite a while. You should never go to a restaurant when you are hungry. Always plan ahead. The moment you place your order is when the whole process starts. So for example if you are ordering chicken they will first find the chicken and you know how it goes before it is on your plate. I don’t think that I have received my food in less than half an hour yet. Usually it takes an hour.

I probably told you that George W. Bush is visiting Tanzania on upcoming weekend. So today we saw some helicopters flying around the city. He is going to visit also Arusha where we are heading so let’s see if that will change some of our plans. It is also funny to see how the road to the airport changed over a week. Now it looks pretty good. You could almost say that the roads in Tanzania are in good shape.

And the President of Tanzania rushed to appoint new cabinet. So the whole country is talking about that. So far I only know that the deputy ministers of education and vocational training are Mama Kabaka and Mama Mahiza.