Chitimba, Tanzania
Trip Start
Jun 08, 2008
1
8
28
Trip End
Aug 15, 2008
Chitimba,
Tanzania
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Another early wake up, this time at 5:30, but this time after a very good sleep - in spite of the freezing cold. I managed this good sleep artificially by taking a sleeping pill because I didn't want to risk a second consecutive sleepless night before another twelve hour day of driving.
We reached the Malawi border at 14:30 and managed the border formalities for both sides in just an hour. The landscape in northern Malawi on the way to our destination Chitimba was similar to that of Tanzania, but even more beautiful, with lovely rolling hills in addition to the huge, ocean-like Lake Malawi.
We arrived at the campsite in Chitimba again just in time to set up camp before the sun went down
01-Our trusty truck
. After a shower and dinner, I again went to bed exhausted.It might seem like the tour has been grueling so far - and it has, come to think of it. But in fact this is just what I was looking for. Well, not necessarily the grueling part, but a way to get from Zanzibar to Lusaka via Malawi in a reasonable amount of time for a reasonable amount of money with a reasonable amount of comfort. If I had gone by public transport, this two-day trip would have taken a week or more. And if I would have flown, I would not have seen anything of the countryside, which is, if not the whole point, at least half the point of traveling (with the other half being meeting people.)
On the subject of seeing the countryside: Nearly half of my tour group spend the entire day on the truck playing games to kill time - hardly ever even glancing out the window. In that case it seems like it was hardly worth coming to Africa at all. But what do I know?
And speaking of my tour group, I'll give a little information on us: We are a total of 21 tour members with one tour leader (Sammy from Kenya) and two drivers who also sometimes cook and otherwise help out. Eighty percent of our group are Brits, with a couple of Americans, one Swede, one Korean and one Australian rounding out the mix. There are twelve guys and nine girls, of whom three are lesbians. One of the lesbians is quite "normal" (i.e. nice and friendly); her partner (the manly one) a bit less so. And the third one, who is here without her partner, is sometimes downright unfriendly - at least to me. If I am nice to her, she seems to think that I am trying to convert her to heterosexuality. And if I'm not nice to her, it confirms her negative preconception of men. A lose:lose situation for me. In fact, though, she needn't worry as she is absolutely not my type. Nor is any other girl in the group, for that matter, although all the non-lesbians are with (male) partners. The lesbian couple sometimes get all affectionate in their seats in the front of the bus, which is fine with me as I usually have to pay extra for a lesbian show.
Contrary to what I said earlier in a more polite moment, only a few of my fellow tour group members are proving to be friendly - and a couple of them are downright hostile towards me. I know, it's hard to imagine anyone not liking me! Several of the people have made what I consider to have been totally unnecessary, unfriendly comments to me. For example, an American guy asked me, after three days on the tour, "So, how many days is that?" I asked what he meant, and he asked "How many days is it that you have been wearing the same clothes?" In fact, I travel with two pairs of pants, three shirts, and four sets of underwear. It just happens that the pants are identical to each other, as are the shirts - my trademark green safari-looking outfit. I choose my clothes for their practicality (durability, light weight, plenty of pockets, ease of care, etc.) rather than for their variety and fashion. Furthermore, with my new, sophisticated "kitchen sink" for washing clothes, doing my laundry is so easy that I could actually even travel with less clothes than I am traveling with now. In any case, I don't see what business it is of anyone else what clothes I wear (as long as they are clean - which they are.) In fact they are much cleaner than what most of the tour members are wearing in their extravagant variety - but I am too polite to comment on their dirty clothes. Somehow it seems to be more socially acceptable to wear the same dirty jeans (and dirty feet) day after day on a safari - but not the same-colored (but different) green safari pants and shirt. Go figure.
Another group member, upon seeing me spread the peanut butter on my toast at breakfast, couldn't resist making a comment on how thickly I had spread it. And when I went looking for a fork with which to eat the heavy, open-faced sandwich that I had made, his girlfriend couldn't help but ask why I needed a fork. What business is it of hers? I eat my open-faced sandwiches with a knife and fork. How could that matter to her?
And yet another group member often has to mention to everyone that I am always among the first to serve myself at mealtimes. The reason for this is because I am a slow eater - and we seldom have much time for eating. So if I'm not among the first to be served, I won't finish on time. But for some reason, this seems to bother this woman enormously.
In any case, I don't care how thickly people spread things on their bread; I don't care what they use to eat with; I don't care in which order they eat. In fact, I don't comment on anything the other group members do - even when it seems totally stupid to me - like playing games in the truck all day without looking out the window. But for some reason, most of my tour group members are so petty and dislike me so much that they care about all of these little details about me. For this reason, I have decided to end my tour in Lusaka rather than continuing on to Livingstone and seeing Victoria Falls again. And while there are a few really worthwhile members on the tour, the overwhelming feeling is of a pettiness that I don't want to be involved with for any longer than necessary. And as soon as I reach Lusaka, this tour will have served its purpose for me. I am slightly disappointed that things are working out this way (or rather, not working out), but even if I would have known that it would be like this, I would have still taken the tour as it serves my purpose of getting from where I was to where I wanted to go when I wanted to go.
Speaking of which, on this tour, we have seen groups from several other tour companies. I can't judge how the people are on the other tours, but I definitely think that we (Acacia) have the best trucks. Our truck is really ingeniously designed. It was purpose-built, and clearly a lot of thought has gone into its design. Some of the trucks from other companies (like Oasis, for example), are an absolute nightmare. I simply would not have been able to survive on a tour with such trucks, where the tour members are forced to sit facing each other across a long, narrow passageway - like on a subway, as my tent-mate Jace suggested. Can you imagine doing that for twelve hours at a stretch? I couldn't do it.
Comments
change of cloths?
Well, I really hope you did not only take regular showers but also a daily change of the outfit from underwear to shirt. You remember Mopeia when I told you that it were time to change what you wear, after 6 days? Hope don't offend you by this remark. I enjoy reading your blog!
Group dynamics
When ther are a whole bunch of 'them' - 'they' expect you to conform.
I was meaning to talk to you about that peanut butter thing.
Next time buy two colors of the same thing.