Selous Safari Camp Selous Game Reserve

... Happy wanted some western traditions in the wedding as well as Tanzanian. One was the procession in to Pachebel's Canon in D. Problem was the piano player had never played it. So as he rehearsed, Amy and I played the parts of each person that would walk in so he'd know when to pause the music before Happy entered. After a pause, she's was going to walk down the aisle to the final section of Canon. When Jeremy and the guys arrived, a brass ...

... smile. If I lived in Dodoma, I find a room where the window does not open over the chicken coop. I like waking to lowing of the cattle and the high pitched bleating of the goat kids. I don't like knowing that they will most likely be food at some point but I still eat meat. I like the musical rhythms of Swahili and am slowly learning more. It feels like I've been gone for weeks when it has only been days. What will I write 15 days from now?

... the guests. I'm glad I got to hear them and at least peak out the window to take some photos and video tape. They were so good! Finally it was time. We all hid in a room and waited for Jeremy to arrive. Suddenly, it went black. The power went out. Perfect timing. Luckily, they live in the same area as many high level government homes, so the power got restored quickly. We emerged into the room of relatives. Jeremy had to select Happy from the row of women. Next the ...

Decided to stay in the camp for a morning bird watch rather than another game drive. The camp was full of birds and it was easy to see them. At midday had lunch then a swim in the camps pool which was pretty unusual for camps of this sort. Pat was being too nice to the local monkeys who clearly thought she was a soft touch. Generally they were pretty neverous and we later found out why. Told Pat she was too soft with ...

... in the hotel. (not sure hotel actually did them but she seemed happy enough) Evening was a grand dinner hosted by the Tanzanian MP's and the deputy speaker. Dinner not so great but pretty good entertainment. We were all forced to dance, one of which involved dancing about waving a white tissue in the air. When I asked what this meant I was told it meant 'I love you please sleep with me'! I thought we had enough problems in Westminster!

... there ;) We arrived around 5pm at the Hippo Camp along the Rufiji River. We quickly were taken to our room and told the river safari would begin soon. We did about 2hrs on the river. We saw birds, baboon, hippo, crocs, and other animals that I have no clue of their names. It was an interesting observation going along the river and being told not to take the locals pictures unless we wanted to pay them. I felt bad for them as they live and bathe along ...

... like this for the chilfdren there, unlike in the US. Ilula is a place where water is extremely scarce. We took one bucket bath abotu every five days. The girls and everyone in the community live like this...water conservation takes a new meaning there. The few sources of water that the town has are often far away and dirty. People become sick from drinking the water. Often women must make the journey to the source and then wait in a ...

... was completely flooded apparently, as was Zanzibar) so we weren't surprised the tracks were so muddy. We continued on this muddy track for several more metres, but as we were literally just inching ahead, continuing on like this for several hundred more kilometres seemed plain silly. We decided not to risk it and after a slippery 3-point turn, we returned back to rejoin the perfectly good tar road which we knew would be passable. We looked at our ...

... Dodoma things actually proceed pretty smoothly until almost halfway into the drive (just after the point I start congratulating myself on making it this far) our fan belt shreds. It is dusk by now and we spend 45 minutes at the side of the road replacing the fan belt in the glow of the mechanics cell phone. We then drive another 2 hours until we reach a police road block. These road blocks are set up primarily because they ...