Back from the bush

Hamjambo? Has everyone survived the holidays?

Here everything is all fine. I thought it was time again for another update on the blog. Since last update Christmas and New Year’s Eve, an unfortunately timed journey to Kenya, and a bush-trip by car have passed. Let’s start with the day before Christmas. First however, (referring to the Dutch expression “rather late than never”) I would like to wish you all ‘heri ya mwakampya!’

When I just came back from the previous up-country trip through the Southern Highlands, it was time to start arranging the prolongation of my visa. Therefore, I went to the Immigration Office at the day before Christmas. Spending half of the day waiting in traffic jams and at Immigration it appeared that I could only prolong the visa one or two days in advance. I had already been warned that it was almost impossible to arrange such things without paying a bribe. I suspected the immigration officer of making up a rule in order for me to be willing to pay more when the deadline was closing in. Also, he did not want to give me a document with all the required red tape to bring next time (and here you just know that they invent all kind of crap, which means that you will always have to come back with specific documents etcetera). In the end he asked me why I did not just buy a new visa at the airport. I mentioned that that was not possible as I would then have to pass customs. He however insisted that it was possible. After two hours of traffic jams I found out at the airport that I was right. I made up my mind; I was not going to waste any more days. Kenya would be my destination

Yet, Kenya could wait until after Christmas. At Christmas night I had dinner with Pepijn, Christine and Leanne (Pepijn’s wife and daughter) at an elegant restaurant overlooking the surf. In the night I stayed over at their place in order to make a boat trip on Christmas day. However, once we arrived at the Yacht Club the boat trailer collapsed with a shock; a wheel had come of. Pepijn had already asked a technician in advance whether he had fixed the trailer (there had been a small defect). The technician, untruly, confirmed that he had fixed it. Luckily, there was no real damage.

At Boxing Day we visited Rob, a client of Pepijn that owns a house at the beach, to bring him some solar panels. Rob, a friendly Dutchman from Rotterdam, built himself a brilliant place; the stylish house is situated 35 km south of Dar in the middle of nowhere. As a result, Rob “owns” a private beach, mangrove forest and coral reef, since no-one is around! In the night he needs to close the doors to avoid monkeys stealing his food and regularly antelopes join him at the beach. At Rob’s place we enjoyed some beers and a meal. On our ride back we had to take the ferry to Dar. To save some energy Pepijn had switched off the AC and opened the windows. When looking back that is not the smartest thing to do (the day before in the night someone had already tried to open a door while we were driving). Pepijn was making a phone call when suddenly out of the blue a hand snatched his mobile. Instantly, Pepijn and I jumped out of the car, but a chase would not have made sense; as quick as the hand arrived it disappeared in the dark African night. Furthermore, it is wiser not to pursue a thief (although at that moment you just want to catch the guy) if only because if you would be able to safely take hold of him it is probable that he will be killed by an angry mob. We arrived at Pepijn’s place in the night. Four hours later I would get up again to leave for Kenya.

As I mentioned; timing could have been better for a trip to Kenya. Only when I was in the bus to Mombasa I found out that it was Election Day. Oops; I knew that elections in Kenya tended to result into violent situations. Unlike Tanzania Kenya is afflicted with tribal violence and like in too many African countries politics and tribal issues are intertwined. Locals in the bus warned me to lay low and stay all day in my guesthouse. After the 10 hour bus ride I arrived in an eerily silent town; although Mombasa is Kenya’s second town hardly anyone was on the streets out of fear of violence. When I arrived at the Tanzanian Consulate I found out that it would only be opened after four days because of the elections. Luckily, I could get hold of some telephone numbers through a guard. I made an appointment with a lady who would call me back the day after (of course she didn’t). After some calls I could pass by since she had to be at the office for a while anyway. However, she couldn’t help me and I would just have to buy a visa at the Tanzanian border (which means that in three months I will have to do the same). I decided that the trip would not have made a lot of sense if I didn’t check out Mombasa’s Old Town. Mombasa, unlike Dar, has a nice old city centre with old Swahili-style houses which is worth visiting (Dar does not have such a thing as a city centre; the city centre is more of a ‘business district’ and most interesting places can be found on a peninsula where many expats reside, at the beaches to the north or south of town, or at the colourful markets). Also, I had a nice glance at Fort Jesus; a massive fort built by the Portuguese in the 16th century. After having had some dinner I quickly went back to the guesthouse; at around 19:00 the election outcomes would be made public. In the night I barely slept; all night cars were horning, and people were screaming and fighting. I left early in the morning and bought a visa at the border. It was wise to leave; I have heard only bad news about villages that were burnt to the ground and large scale fighting. In the end it took me four working days to prolong my visa, but at least I was now sure that I would have it in time and did not have to pay any bribe.

Back in Dar I joined Pepijn and his family again at the Yacht Club for a nice fish barbeque and a nocturnal dive into the ocean. But after three jellyfish stings we went back ashore. Then, after a regular working day it was the moment for attaching the black-tie for the New Years Eve party at the Yacht Club. Everything was dressed-up nicely (even without decorations the location is attractive with terraces and bars on a slope overlooking the sea and with a private beach) and with good champagne, wines, dinner, live music, and the best fireworks of town we had a great party. A contributory factor was that finally I could party and drink in a safe expat-environment. Although it is nice and quite safe to go out in Dar, you always have to make sure you do not drink too much as there are many people willing to take advantage of the situation. Now I could just party without even the slightest worry.

Hence, for me 2008 (as for so many people) started with a moderate hang-over. Since Pepijn’s trailer had been fixed we went jumping the waves in his dingy. I have to admit I felt a minor seasickness (but that should probably solely be attributed to the beverages I consumed the night before), but of course I couldn’t have Pepijn notice that. Near Mbudya Island we stopped (making sure that the boat would not get stranded on the coral) for some snorkelling.

Since it has already become some kind of a tradition I will dedicate some words to health issues as well. On the contrary to my expectations I appeared to be completely clean; no abdominal parasites or bilharzia could be found. I was surprised, but now I know what did cause the trouble. For cooking and making tea I used to use tap water. I assumed that it would be OK after cooking. Someone warned me however that even boiling the water may still not be sufficient. When looking back it is not surprising; the water from the tap is brownish and you can actually see particles floating around. Since I now only use bottled water all problems have vanished. With regard to malaria I found a very reliable precaution; get home after 6 am; the mosquitoes are only active when it’s dark. Yet, life expectancy would probably not rise if you would do that every day;) Still, I did have some uninvited guests in the house. On a night, when I wanted to step into my bed I almost stepped on a scorpion. After quite some labour there was no live in it anymore (it takes quite some effort to kill the tough creatures), but the day after I found two additional specimens. One of them I found in the bathroom; I was showering without my contact lenses in and was amazed to see a gecko between my legs. When bending down it appeared to be another one of “my friends”. I know that some species in Tanzania can be life-threatening. Although I don’t know about these ones, I would not like to be bitten as a bite must be quite painful whatsoever. But hey; it’s better than having a spitting cobra in your kitchen closet, isn’t it, Dan?

When going out in Dar I met some nice people from China who are here to start up an expansion of their business. Actually I found myself one of them as a snorkel-buddy; Rachel joined me to Mbudya and Bongoyo Island to admire the colourful underwater world. Again I spotted some scorpion, lion and bullet fishes. Additionally, we found a place where about 20 murenes (the ugly carnivorous eel species) resided. Furthermore, we went to a Chinese restaurant, but Rachel’s attempts to teach me to eat with chopsticks failed. Still, the Chinese food was much better than the monthly menu we regularly ate at Lorre. Also, I met the new neighbours; a nice young French couple. The first day they arrived we went out for some drinks at the beach together with a bunch of their French friends. The way back was hilarious; the car of a friend started making really weird noises. So we went out of the car and started pushing it. However, after only 10 meter a wheel fell off. We were lucky that we stopped in time! It’s quite nice to practice my French again, although I tend to mix up Kiswahili words every now and then (which would imply that I’m improving);)

As mentioned, I have also been up-country again. This time however I went by car and was accompanied by Sharifa, my colleague, who would give trainings as well and translate my presentations. The dealers we now visited were small dealers in villages and many of them only spoke Kiswahili (before I visited more professional branches of a larger company and the majority of employees was able to speak English). The reason we went by car was because we would visit the nearby Morogoro region and distances between the villages were not too large (and it would have been quite a logistical challenge to find buses etcetera).
It was nice to travel by car through small villages and the bush. Since it is now the period in between the two rainy seasons the dirt roads were quite accessible. Though, with a very low 2 WD Toyota Corolla station wagon it was sometimes quite a challenge to avoid all the potholes. We crossed landscapes in all kinds of green, which contrasts beautifully to the red African soil. Views were dominated by springs and waterfalls, steep bushy slopes, overgrown rainforests, and occasional fields of sugarcane. And not solely avoiding potholes required concentration; we also had to avoid people, livestock, many monkeys (baboons, velvet monkeys and blue monkeys), snakes (I thing I recognised among others the infamous black mamba; I jumped out of the car to take pictures, but he was rapid like hell and the picture is of not of too high a quality), a turtle, and a giraffe that crossed our way. Since we crossed Mikumi National Park twice we were able to admire elephants, giraffes, buffaloes, zebras, warthogs, gazelles, impalas, baboons, and vultures up to only a meter away. The brilliant thing was that we now could stop to make some pictures. Much quicker than expected we were able to go back to Dar again. Because of having a car at our disposal we could visit the dealers and give promotional presentations in villages efficiently. But then we worked for 7 days in a row and on average 10 hours a day, which is not to big a sacrifice as half of the time you are driving around. Actually, it is convenient to be back early as I really need to work on my internship report and now I do not have to hurry to be back in time for the holidays together with Suzanne who will arrive already next week. Actually, my parents are going to visit me as well; in a month I will spend some days with them on Zanzibar.

Oops, I did it again; my apologies for another lengthy story. I should consider starting with a management summary;) Anyways, that was that. Next time I will probably have some nice stories about the beaches of Zanzibar, the Ngorongoro crater, Lake Manyara, the Usambara Mountains, Mount Meru, and who knows.. maybe even Mount Kilimanjaro (which predominantly depends on the willingness to pay an inevitable USD 1400 since a guide and at least one porter are compulsory; boring!).

Tutaonana baadaye!

Peter