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Day 17 - Monday 7th July
We had our new group departure meeting last night and met all the 'new kids'. Myself, Jade, Regina, Bob and Di are the originals, with 14 other new people - a mix from Australia, the US., Swiss and Russia. The group is generally younger too, average age being 24 ish. We luckily have Jacob continue on as our Tour Guide, and Juma as our Cook, but we get a new driver - Akyoo (achoo!).
After the meeting, we had a Pizza and milkshake dinner and watched the Wimbeldon Men's final with our old crew, before some of them head off to their flights home or other exciting destinations. We will miss these friends, as we all really have really clicked, gotten to know each other well, and have similar humour. I guess that's what happens when you spend 16 days and ALOT of driving time together.
So it's a 7am departure this morning. Having experience, we loaded up our new lockers and re arranged bags last night, meaning we were not fighting for space and time this morning, and enjoyed our breaky. Managed to get some scrambled eggs this morning too - yesssssssss.
Our drive takes us south this morning, out of Nairobi City and into a dusty and rocky abyss, until we hit the Tanzanian Border at Nagamba. The border posts are really just a few s***ty buildings with a few window counters and a germy 'state of the art' fingerprint scanner. We officially depart Kenya, and are faced with a lot of genuine fake Masai Woman, trying to 'gift' us with jewellery ... Which we didn't take, as we knew we would then be asked for compensation. Crossing over the border line, and we have to almost run and jump a massive ditch. Jade was having moonboot recollections, so we helped her make the jump so she didn't break her ankle again. We signed into Tanzania, a nice simple process, and then jumped back onboard the truck.
The outside scenery of Tanzania had changed from our normal green and leafy Ugandan view - This time tonnes of Acacia trees, red dirt soil and mountains in the background. We stop roadside for lunch - literally off the highway - and us original 5 assist Juma in setting up and preparing lunch. What's on the menu you ask? Why salad sandwiches of course!
More Masai decide to join us - 2 men who ride up on their push bikes (but still in traditional Red and Blue blanket attire) with homemade rubber sandals made from old car tyres. They only speak Swahili and are asking Jacob all about what we are doing. Another group of Masai woman also set up their wares nearby - hoping we will buy stuff, but we are yet to change our dollars for Tanzanian Schillings. As we were packing up lunch, I offered both the Masai men and woman our left over cut up watermelon, however they looked at me blankly, and spoke Swahili to eachother. I'll take the fact that they didn't reach for the watermelon as a decline. Once we boarded the truck, Jacob have us a further run down on the Masai Tribe - and explained that they have certain Masai Diets - by a lot of fruit - just a mix of Milk, Herbs and Cows Blood for breakfast and dinner. Tasty.
A little after 2pm and we arrive in Arusha, a main city of Tanzania, with hope to make a supermarket stop - however the only one that our truck fits in the car park of, has closed down - however we are lucky and manage to find a Bureau De exchange and a coffee shop! A very hot latte was consumed with a smile on my face.
It's approximately 430pm when we arrive at our destination - Mto Wa Mbu (I hope you are trying to pronounce this as you read it). The campsite is fairly busy, with the other Intrepid Group (with our fave Mt Isa crew on board), and a few other tour companies all lodging here. Mto Wa Mbu is a fairly close rural town nearby the entrance to the Crater, so is used as the start and end of most Safaris into the Serengeti. After speaking a little rap with Kate, Mel, Katie and Robbo, we walk over to the nearby general store and stickup on the necessities - TP, Water, Coke, Pringles, and a bottle of scotch, to take with us on our Serengeti Safari - in honour of Dad.
We head for the hot showers (gotta have them while we've got them), and then I prepare dinner as it's my teams duty. Jade finally has her appetite back after a bug for the last week, and is delighted that Jacob had "had a word with Juma" about lightening the load of butter and oil in his cooking! The mash potato still tasted delicious without the extra 'Medium Fat Spread' and she really enjoyed the Beef Stew.
Day 18 - Tuesday 8th July
Hardly got any sleep last night, as the campsite was super noisy, with so many people coming and going, others yelling out in Swahili, and the call to prayer wake up at 5am. I have found that generally all of the countries we have visited are very religious, all believing in some sort of Christianity, but Tanzania is predominately Islamic, and it's very obvious in contrast now we are here.
After breakfast we are met by about 5 new local guides who take us on a cultural walking tour of Mto Wa Mbu.
Our first stop was into the rice fields, where we learnt how to, and helped a local lady harvest her rice. It's quite a lengthy arduous process, in the middle of the days heat. She harvests the rice twice a year and if she's not cutting back the rice or separating and drying it, she is sitting by shooing away birds for the other 10 months of the year.
Our next stop along the way was at an embankment covered with bushes and plants, where another of the guides explains the medicinal qualities. We learnt about some new plants, different from those we learnt about on the Ugandan Village walk.
From here we visited a Wood Carving workshop operated by Tanzanians who immigrated from Mozambique, then to a Local art gallery, where I nearly passed out from the paint fumes. We walked through a local village and learnt about how they construct houses - starting with the inexpensive mud houses, to the stone walled houses. We walked through Maize farms and then into Banana plantations, with Yellow, Green and Red Bananas.
We went through a local school where the kids ranged from 3 to 8 years old, and were learning the alphabet in both English and Swahili. After the school visit, we head to the village pub (from kids to pub - perfect), where we learnt the production process of the local banana beer and wine. The beer was fairly revolting to look at - it was brown and pulpy and it required you to blow away the fermentation film on top, before sipping it. I passed up the offer, but those who obliged (and shared backwash) said it had an after taste of sushi rolls. I did try the wine though, which tasted like a really strong and sweet casked moscato. And the best part? A standard stubbie had 10% alcohol content - pretty cheap way to binge! After the pub we walked to the tour office where we were fed a huge local lunch - with at least 10 or more dishes to try. My favourite by far was the Pilao (wild rice) and the tomato salad. This continents tomatoes are so red and full of flavour - I wish I could bring them home. Lunch was definately a highlight! (Food photo uploaded for your mouth watering delight)
After lunch, we were collected by our Intrepid truck and drove about 45min to Kudu Lodge and Campsite in Karatu - at the foot of the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Park. It was a really lovely campsite and lodge, with a pool and pool bar. We spent the afternoon sunning ourselves, relaxing and reading.I have delved into my book (Gone Girl) with great speed, and am currently hooked.
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helen gunter Thanx Teneisha- I've jsut caught up with this one too. Imagining you all really well :)