Millenium Towers Hotel Dar es Salaam

Well now since Zanzibar was booted, due to the state department telling us it's unsafe to be there, we decided to stay in Dar es Salam instead. Which is bitter sweet. We all went to this really fun Irish Pub called Willies last night and had a great time. It was right on the Indian Ocean. SUPER WARM and turquoise even at night. The city is absolutely beautiful and RICH with cultures from all over the world. It's so cool to hear 19 different languages in one ...

... were for sure giving these guys the cold shoulder. One of the old men was trying to keep his lady entertained and was talking to her while she boringly was texting. I'm just saying that it seems to me if your job is to sleep with men you should at least make an effort to appear a little interested and then maybe you would be more successful. Kinda sad to see these older men failing at even picking up a prostitute though. So at the bar one came up to us and so we ran to a table that ...

... pick up a friend of Kaseem's, a man who has no food for his family and who is footing it out to his cousin to ask for some kassava - a 15 km walk. Kaseem drives him there, takes a gift of lychees from the man's cousin, and gives the friend money for rice.

1.30pm We stop at a cottage hospital in Nungwe, in Northern Zanzibar. 'I am arranging an outreach here' says Kaseem, 'but it won't take long...' I talk to ...

Just a quicky. Longest train journey ever from Lusaka to Dar es Salaam, (coast of tanz)!! maybs 53 hours, can't really remember. we were all seriously sweaty and smelly by the end. cabins of four, me and georgie were with this two big mama's who really wern't that friendly,hogged our table in our room and kept on telling me off. was really lathargic the whole way, read talked slept. on the last afternoon on le train, we ...

... to school if he wanted to.  He lived in Mahenge (near Mikumi/ Morogoro.)  7/12 - I went to wash my clothes and the sheets for the kids for when they got back to school with Deo, Mohammed, Isaya and Alex. It was a relaxing day and Matilda had returned from UK. She was telling me and Deo how much she enjoyed herself and how cold is it etc. She then spoke to me about John returning to school but she had to talk to another teacher to contact a guy from John's home to bring him over ...

... Liz and a beach sleep for Nikki! Friday we caught the two ferries over to the beautiful island that is Zanzibar! First night had a group meal on candlelit table set up on the sand at our beach hotel. Spent the day walking along the beach to the local villages, enjoying the turquoise, crystal clear water and turning a fluroscent shade of pink (mum and dads, yes we have been wearing factor 40 suncream!). Second night ...

... fixed - because of the heat and humidity cameras often break here, but they managed to fix it, thank goodness! 28/10 & 29/10 - I went to school, did some teaching and basically it was my last 2 days of teaching before I was leaving which I found very sad, as I wanted to carry on although at the same time I was really looking forward to my next trip. I spent as much time with the children at school as I could. 30/10 - I went to Posta with the girls ...

Note: I have posted pictures in the Kilimanjaro entry. I am in Dar es Salaam right now, fresh off of a very memorable safari. Unfortunately, this safari isn't memorable for the scenery, hunting attempts or rare spotttings... nope, it'll be memorable for the hospitality and caring of the Tanzanian people and my day spent in the Moshi Police Department. Before I left for Kilimanjaro, I went through Moshi trying to find a safari option for my return. I checked all of ...

... Prime Minister and met one of the President's speech writers. The Bishop thought he knew where the Amex office was so we decided to look one more time. He led us to the South Africa Airlines office, which as it turns out, doubles as the Amex office. Who knew! The Amex lady told me we didn't need receipts, that the hotel lady was crazy and by the way, she could not print my receipts. But she could give me the approval codes. With approval codes in hand, we went back to the ...

... into a backpack, toiletries sealed in bags, checklists sitting under coffee cups growing longer even as more chores get the check mark. That is, until you realize you've been staring at a wall for 27 minutes, having dropped out of reality to avoid having a heart attack so that you can remain alive to get on a series of planes that may or may not crash you to a fiery death, to travel to a part of the world where ...