Arush: Day 2
Trip Start
Jan 11, 2008
1
19
28
Trip End
Jun 13, 2008
Arusha,
Tanzania
Thursday, March 20, 2008
We woke up to get our complimentary breakfast which was a pancake, potatoes, and beans (I never thought beans would be a good breakfast food). There after we walked to the United Nations Court.
It was a very interesting experience. The trials were being held in the Arusha International Conference Center which is the equivalent to a convention center back home. No cameras were allowed L but it is completely understandable. Basically, there were two public hearing rooms. The public is allowed to enter "open sessions" and not allowed when there is a "closed session". The closed sessions tend to be very specific details like names of people and places that might not have been discussed previously. The UN Court is set up differently from the USA's court system. There was a president instead of a judge, a consulate interrogates, and other counselors are present to observe and object. The witness/victim was sitting behind a curtain which did not allow the public to see him. A consulate was interrogating him and asking him very specific questions.
The public is allowed to walk into a viewing room, which resembles a doctor's office waiting room, and looks into the court through glass windows. There is a distribution of headsets with little electronic receivers that allow you to switch channels to listen to three different languages: English, French, and Kurwanda (I'm not sure how to spell it).
The man was stating things that he heard, how he had to run away with his family because he was a Tutsi, and the problems he encountered.
After the trials we decided we should look for a safari company. We came across the Tanzanian Tourism Board which helped us find legitimate budget safari companies. Outside, of course, were the "flycatchers" waiting for us. One of them was actually legitimate because he worked for one of the recommended companies and one of my friends went through the same company. We ended up walking back to the AICC where the safari company, Shidolya, had their office. Kim and I booked a 4 day 3 night camping safari to Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, and Serengeti. The scenery of all three is supposed to be breathtaking. I am very excited (I know it's cliché but this is a life time opportunity and it's not solely what I came here for)!
After the booking experience, we went to the Arusha Declaration Museum which is a nice place with some interesting facts and a "purchase stuff" art gallery. When we finished in the museum, we decided to get dinner which turned out to be quite the "hot mess" as a few friends back home would say.
We wanted to eat at a restaurant our guidebook and Tara recommended called Maasai Camp. We decided to walk to it from the Arusha Declaration Museum and that was quite the mistake. Of course, not knowing how far it was, we ended up walking a little under 10km. When we got there we had no clue it was actually a campsite. However, the food was really good (I had a pizza and Kim has chicken breast with potatoes cooked with rosemary). During dinner, the restaurant was blacking RANDOM old music which included Spice Girl's Too Much and Aladdin A Whole New World.
We hopped on a taxi back to our hotel and made sure to get some sleep for our safari the next day.
