Tanzania V – The Beaches of Zanzibar

Nungwi Beach in Zanzibar was a gorgeous and welcome sight

So we landed from our surprise Jet at the Zanzibar airport around 7pm.  Zanzibar is a small island off the coast of Dar Es Salaam.  The island is known for its beaches (and probably other stuff that I just haven't researched) and is 99% Muslim.  We got a cab to a hostel in Stonetown where Jen (Global Health Corps living in Lilongwe) and Amanda (Grassroot Soccer Intern living in Zambia) had already booked a room.  Unfortunately they’d only booked a room for the two of them.  They managed to convince the guard to let the 3 of us in to just “store” our luggage, where the plan was for us to shower and rest before going out and then sneaking back into the hostel later where we’d all just cram in that one room, but of course that didn’t work out.  We went out to a plaza on the water where lots of street vendors were serving food and drinks.  Honestly I didn’t think very highly of it outside the chocolate mango pizza which was divine.  After that we all went to a bar on the beach and stayed out much later than I would’ve thought possible after the grueling travel Hasmin, Mel, and I had just finished.  We got back to the hotel some time after 2am and snuck in, but just as I was falling asleep I heard the guard yelling at us that we had to leave or he was going to call the police.  I guess operation hostel stowaway was not a success.  Luckily they had another room open that they let us take for the night (grudgingly).  In the morning we walked around the city, first avoiding the fish-smelling streets at the docks and then heading over to a couple art markets.

Stone Town art market in the courtyard of an old fort

View from the plaza in Stone Town

Narrow Backstreets of Stone Town

At around 1pm the cab came to pick us up to bring us to our “villa” in Nungwi at the northern tip of Zanzibar.  In typical fashion the driver rode recklessly along a two way, one lane road that frequently left us racing into near head-on collisions.  We arrived after about an hour pulling off the paved road into a typical African dirt road, absurdly bumpy and riddled with giant holes and ditches.  Then we pulled off into a dirt drive way almost overrun by tall grass and weeds.  Past all the unkempt vegetation we arrived at our villa, a surprisingly cozy two story house of which one of the upstairs apartments was ours for a couple nights.  We met the staff, only one of which spoke English, and then headed out to the beach which was 15 minutes away, walking by nicer resorts along more dirt roads.  After avoiding beachside vendors we finally reached the promised land as we looked out onto a bright horizon over white sands and four different shades of blue and green calm ocean waters.  We all wasted no time getting into the water.

Nungwi Beach resorts (not where we stayed)

At high tide the water crashed into the upper part of the rocks on the left

The rest of the time in Zanzibar was filled with a ton of beach time (too much judging from the sunburn), fine breakfasts of eggs, bread, and fruit prepared by the Villa 24 hour staff, and nice dinners at other hotels or local spots.  On New Years we went to a party the famed Kendwa Rocks resort, just a short cab ride away from our lodgings.  There was dancing, a weird card pre-purchase bar system, lots of music and smoke, and fireworks at midnight.  We all made it home safely that night and the next morning it was back to Stone Town to catch a ferry to the mainland.  It was all a journey back to Lilongwe now, and what I didn’t know at the time was that that journey would take 3 days.  It was a wonderful learning experience and an adventure filled trip, but after everything getting back to my bed in and under my mosquito net in Lilongwe was one of the most rewarding moments I’ve had here.

Tanzania Part IV - Kilimanjaro Part II

A view of the mountain

Day 3 – A Lunar Landscape and Lava Tower: Day 3 began with another breathtaking view of the summit in the early morning.  The ground was frozen solid and you could actually feel ice crunching under your feet.  Today would take us to an elevation of 4,630 meters before we’d descend back down again to camp at 3,950 meters.  It was a bright day in the early morning, but as it did on most days, by 10am we were shrouded in mist.  As we came nearer to the Lava Tower the temperature dropped dramatically and the surfaced resembled an alien planet, completely devoid of signs of life.  I could not see more than a couple meters in front of me and the elevation was felt by all of us as we went “pole pole.”  I was wearing more than 3 layers with the intense cold and at one point I stepped off the path for a bathroom break.  However, when I finished I had gotten turned around and everything around me looked the same, just different shades of gray boulders and rocks, atop a gray surface of pebbles and dirt.  The path was indistinguishable from the rest of ground and the mist was too dense to see through.  Luckily, I heard another group and followed the sound of their voices to re-find the path where I caught up with my group.  After lunch we continued rising until we reached Lava Tower.  When we asked our guide, Juma, about the history of Lava Tower he acted like he didn’t understand, shrugged and continued on.  Following this we took a pretty steep descent back down to where our camp would be.  Soon we were beneath the fog and could see again as the weather warmed with the drop in altitude and we started seeing some plants and trees again.  We also stopped at a stream to refill our water.  Waking up in the middle of the Christmas Eve night, I didn’t see Santa Claus, but I did see an incredible view in the clear night of the city of Moshi, lit up far below as well as the eerie outline of the mountain above.

The fog and cold were intense on day 3, hence me completely bundled up.

Mel, Me, and Hasmin at Lava Tower

Day 4 – A Christmas Hike: It was Christmas morning and fittingly it was freezing.  I kept all my warm clothes with me on today’s hike and our Christmas present for the day was a long, completely uphill trek of 13 km.  We started off crossing a running stream balancing on rocks to cross.  The stream looked shallow but when Mel went to dip her foot in she sank in up to her knee in mud.  Following this we scaled “The Great Barranco Wall,” which was the closest we came to rock climbing on the trek as we climbed vertically up using any crevice or available surface as foot and hand-holds with the stream further and further below.  Watching porters climb this was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen.  After this was once again a steady march toward our final camp before the summit.  Looking out we continued to see fast moving clouds swirling around, moving like waves up and down the mountainside as we observed great plains around us, miles above the earth below.  We again stopped to get water in a stream and then continued on to our site for lunch.  After lunch we began an extremely slow walk that at times felt like I was just standing still.  The pace was literally putting one foot maybe 6 inches forward, stopping, then the other foot.  This continued for 6 hours until we reached our camp, exhausted from what was a strenuous 12 hour day of hiking and acclimating to the altitude.

The Real Kilimanjaro Water - filled straight from the mountain's tap

Day 4 along an expansive frozen plain

Day 5 – A Night Climb and Looking Down On the World:   We all gathered in the dining tent for tea and biscuits before heading out at 11pm.  Hasmin and I supplied the light from our headlamps as Juma led the way up a steep, winding trail along rock and loose gravel.  My legs were still sore from the long day of hiking we’d only just finished and the extra weight of all my clothing did not help.  As we made deep zig zags up the mountain we’d take brief moments to look up where stars filled the sky like I’d never seen before, the sky was so black but the stars were so bright.  Looking down out past the mountain we saw the lights of Moshi like some deep underwater city and for some reason I thought of Zeus on Mt Olympus watching the world below.  With the cold and altitude, my breathing became deep, loud, and labored to the point that Mel actually asked me if I wanted to use her inhaler.  I declined.  As much as my legs burned and my lungs ached by far and away the biggest challenge was mental fatigue – sleep deprivation.  I’d been averaging at most 3 hours of sleep a night on Kili and I’d hardly gotten a half hour nap before beginning this night climb.  The slow pace of our hiking kept putting me to sleep and I kept slipping and falling on the loose gravel.  Luckily on the trail you’re not right on any steep ledges, but you’re not far off either and I tried intensely to keep my focus, even undoing my balaclava and scarf at one point to try and use the cold air against my face to keep me awake.  I honestly don’t remember the last 3 hours of the climb to the peak mainly because I’m pretty sure I was sleep walking.

The Sunrise was magnificent

A view from of rest of the world as snow and ice was now present on the mountain

All I remember is at some point becoming aware of the glow off in the distance that started spreading into one of the most beautiful sunrises I’ve ever seen.  You could see the sky ranging from absolute black, to the deepest blue, to an incredible amber, and then a solid dark red glow across the biggest horizon I’ve ever seen that stretched out beyond a sea of clouds, like it was the horizon for the entire universe and we had seats from up top.  And then Juma was pointing at me.  “You, you sit down.”  I looked around, we weren’t at the top yet, though I could see people up there.  “Why?” I asked.  “You need to take this.”  Juma started taking out the altitude sickness pills.  I didn’t do very well convincing him I didn’t need them when I fell over while trying to take a seat.  “I don’t have altitude sickness” I told him “I’m just sleepy tired.”  Eventually he put the pills away but I soon realized I wasn’t all there.  I felt like I was having an out of body experience and all my senses had gone numb.  I stood up and we started trekking.  I looked up and I could see the top, but it looked far, impossibly far, like a never ending staircase winding up further into the sky.  My legs moved but I couldn’t feel my feet on the ground and everything felt like it was in a dream.  Soon my vision got blurry to the point where I couldn’t see anything and my balance completely evaporated as I fell 3 times in 3 steps eventually just taking a seat on the gravel path only 50 meters from Stella Point.  Juma was talking to me but I couldn’t really understand what he was saying, nor was I really listening.  I was just looking out at the sunrise in the distance falling in and out of sleep.  Eventually, Juma came over and helped me up and I staggered in the most uncoordinated way possible to Stella Point where I looked out across at the top of Kili at the glaciers, the hard ice everywhere and took another seat wanting nothing more than to just sleep.  It was 7am and I was 5,685 meters high.  There was a green sign saying “You are here!”  I was on the snow capped peaks of Kili.  Juma just looked at me and said “you have to go down now.”

The top is covered in snow/ice year round

The three of us posing next to the official sign for Stella Point

Uhuru Peak, 200 meters higher than Stella Point where I was, is the highest point of Kili and Africa and at the time I didn’t really realize that I hadn’t reached the absolute peak.  I don’t know if that would’ve mattered, but I never did see it.  I took one last look around the top, at all of the ice, the crater, the endless horizon and then Juma was motioning me to start moving down.  Hasmin and Mel stayed with the other guide to go to Uhuru peak and Juma and I literally started skating down the loose gravel.  I was of course completely unbalanced and kept falling but Juma seemed oblivious to my very significant lack of coordination in my present state and would just look back and tell me to hurry down, that we needed to get down as fast as possible.  Eventually my mind started to come back a bit and I got the hang of it and we were soon moving at great speeds sliding in our boots over pebbles like skiing down the mountain.  What had taken us 7 hours to climb took us under an hour to get down.  My head still felt completely out of it and the closest thing I can compare it to is a concussion, like everything is cloudy and you just can’t put thoughts together and speech and conversation feel like they take more energy than you’ve ever used and balance is exceedingly difficult to maintain.  After a couple hours to rest back at the camp from the night before we all set off hiking yet again where we moved through thick fog, down through rocky upper echelons of Kili back into the forests of green walking along carved out rocky paths that were slippery with the consistent rainfall and our hiking poles to help us keep balance and take some of the stress off our legs.  Reaching camp that night I collapsed exhausted and slept through the night for the first time since I’d been on the mountain.

Some more views from the top

Day 6 – Back to Reality: My head was still out of it when I woke up the next morning, but at least I was well rested.  After a photo with all the porters we set off downhill and the forest quickly gave way to the jungle.  Ferns and thick trees canopied the walkway and we were covered in shade.  We reached our finishing point in the early afternoon.  Signed in and out and then left.  We met with Juma for dinner at 5:30 and to tip the porters and receive our certificates.  The Kili adventure was over.  I didn’t reach the very peak, but I didn’t regret it so much.  I saw all I wanted to see and although sleep deprivation may have kept me from the top, I was pretty close (200 meters below).  The next and last leg of Tanzania beckoned, a nice rest on the beaches of Zanzibar.

It takes a lot of people to climb Kilimanjaro, this is the crew that made our trek possible

The last day took us back down through jungle

Tanzania Part III – Kilimanjaro Part I

Kilimanjaro from our hotel room

My first view of Kilimanjaro came on the morning after our arrival to Moshi.  Stepping outside our hotel room, the mountain and its snow-capped peaks rose high in the clear sky above everything around it.  Before I get to hike (the second part of which will be in another post) here is some good to know background info.

The Mountain: Mount Kilimanjaro, at 5,985 meters high, is the tallest mountain in Africa.  It is located in Tanzania near the border with Kenya.  According to our info packet the name, Kilimanjaro, has various interpretations from “Mountain of Greatness,” “Mountain of Whiteness,” to one interpretation which means “impossible journey.” 

Hasmin, Mel, and Me at the Machame Gate

The Machame 6-Day Route:  According to our information packet is considered to be the most beautiful route up Kilimanjaro and is also nicknamed the “Whiskey Route” (note this did not influence my decision to take this route).  One of the great things about the Machame route is that it takes you through all types of climates and ecospheres.

The Equipment:  The first thing we had to do was rent necessary equipment for the trek which included hiking boots, a sleeping bag, hiking poles, rain pants, rain jacket, balaclava (face mask thing), and more.  Basically we had to rent everything they had.  Finally once we’d packed everything into two bags (one of which would be carried by porters) we were off.

Our tireless guide Juma...napping

The Guide: Our guide was a 5’5” 90lb Tanzanian named Juma who had just returned from a 6-month hiatus from the mountain.  What he lacked in size he made for in experience as he had climbed the mountain hundreds of times.  His interaction with us usually revolved around him saying in his soft, barely-above-a-whisper voice “pole pole” (pronounced pole-A) which means “slowly” in Swahili.  Although he was our guide he probably spent more than 80% of the trip hiking well behind us.  He was also prone to mid-hike naps.

One of the porters using the head balancing technique

The Porters: There is nothing more impressive than struggling with all your might to literally pull yourself (pack and all) up through a vertical wall of jagged rocks to half a ledge and to repeat this process for 20 minutes and then to watch a porter do this while balancing huge bags, tents, sacks of food, and various equipment on their heads or the backs of their shoulders sometimes scaling the wall while having no free hands.  On Kilimanjaro the standard is generally 3-4 porter for every climber.  They rush ahead through each part of the trip so that camp and food are ready upon our arrival and are also responsible for getting water and other things throughout the trip.  Any comfort we enjoyed on the trip was a direct result of their tireless efforts.

Camp Day 1

The Camps:  The end of each day finished at a large campsite shared by all the climbers.  Porters would arrive early and set up our tents and just had to find the right color tents.  There were generally pit latrine toilets located at each of these places which were generally in pretty poor conditions (certainly by US standards), but no worse than what I expected or have seen in many parts of Malawi.

The Nights:  December is summer in this part of Africa, but night time on Kilimanjaro is definitely winter.  Every night the temperature dropped below freezing with it falling to below -20 degrees Celsius further up the mountain.  Unfortunately, the sleeping bag I rented was woefully inadequate and each night I’d go to sleep wearing more and more layers of clothing.  Sleep also proved to be a problem because of a constant need to urinate since everyone is strongly encouraged to drink large amounts of water to help combat altitude sickness.  Unfortunately this meant waking many times to brave the elements in order to release my H2O build up.  The upside to this was getting time to see the incredible array of stars, more than I’ve ever seen sparkling in clusters up above.   In the long run though, lack of sleep would cost me late in the trip as I managed only 2-3 hours of sleep a night.

Machame Route Day 1: Sometimes muddy, but easy to follow

Hasmin and I in front of a giant tree

Day 1-The Rainforest:  The first day took us through a rainforest in thick, humid air with everything damp and giant trees providing cover from the sun and much of the rain.  The path was well-kept and easy to follow and for the most part not too steep, just a steady incline.  It really was a very pretty walk through the jungle.  At one point we passed a group of porters resting.  Mel immediately offered to help them carry their weight and somehow I ended up with the giant sack on my shoulders.  After struggling through maybe 400 meters I stopped and set it down sweating.  Then Mel tagged in and promptly went almost a km uphill carrying the weight embarrassing both me and the porter.  Soon we arrived at the first camp and signed in.

Mel putting us all to shame

Me shortly before collapsing

The view the morning of day 2.

Day 2- Trees to Rocks: The second day began with a breathtaking view of the peak, seemingly directly over us, which would become a daily gift as the cloud cover often present at dusk was gone at dawn.  With the sun out it was warm and Hasmin, Mel, and I set off up a relatively steep incline, surrounded by hundreds of other climbers and porters.  This was the start of high season on the mountain and it meant that unfortunately we had to share the journey with many others that crowded the narrow path.  We were out of the rainforest now and as we moved further and further up the trees grew increasingly sparse.  At one point, after a brief restroom break (restroom in this case and almost every case on trek meant a spot behind a boulder or trees a couple yards from the path), we climbed atop a couple boulders at the ledge of a steep drop to get a better view of the surrounding mountainside.  As we all looked on we spotted clouds gathering maybe a half kilometer below.  We watched, amazed at the speed it began rising toward us, like a gravity defying avalanche rushing upwards in our direction.  Within minutes the clouds had reached us and we were shrouded in a dense fog.

Pre-fog we had a great view of the surrounding landscape

With the fog our camp looked like the setting for a horror film

We returned to the path, having let most of the other hikers pass us, and enjoyed the space as we marched onward and upward.  There was a light rain coming down us for the rest of the hike, but we reached camp around 3pm and then went off to find a cave in the area that Juma had told us about.  With the help of the porter we found it and then returned just in time to get cover from a huge downpour that flooded our tents with our bags inside them.  When the rains stopped the porters moved the tents to drier ground and we tried to dry clothing that had gotten soaked in the rain.  As the sun slowly showed its face I spent the time looking out over the expanse below as the clouds slowly departed unveiling minute-by-minute a breathtaking view of surrounding peaks and the world below.  Tomorrow Lava Peak awaited.

Hanging out in a cave.

Hanging out in a waterfall.

As the clouds retreated we were left with spectacular views

Tanzania Part II – Dar Es Salaam the “Rest Stop" of Vacation

Classic Dar

My first impression of Dar Es Salaam (which means Haven of Peace), the capital of Tanzania, came at 3:30am as Mel and I groggily exited our bus somewhere in the city.  There were cab drivers waiting outside the bus and as soon as I walked off they pounced on me yelling “Cab! Taxi! Hotel!”  Being the fantastic planners that we are we hadn’t booked any reservations for lodging and needed a moment to gather our thoughts.  Unfortunately, it was late and we were not in a particularly nice looking part of the city (though later I saw that probably a majority of the city isn’t particularly nice looking).  We half ran away from the onslaught of potential rides and found a dry part of sidewalk under a light and looked at the travel information we’d brought on Dar and identified 3 cheap hotels that were supposed to be near each other.  We found a cab driver that knew the places and off we went.  I was nearly blind with exhaustion.  Even though I’d done nothing but sit on a bus for basically the past 33 hours all of my senses were off kilter and I knew nothing about this new country and city, especially the language, Swahili.  The first place we stopped at was full.  We went to another place around the corner and after knocking for a bit, a sleeping desk clerk woke up and unlocked the doors to give us the same response, “no space.”  Mel and I looked at each other, we didn’t even have enough Tanzanian Schilling on us to pay the cab driver to take us anywhere else if the next place didn’t work out.  We went down a back alleyway to the Safari Inn.  Another sleeping desk clerk raised himself from a couch and came.  Desperate I made a small lie, telling him we’d called earlier about a room.  He couldn’t find a record of the message (because there was none), but said he had space.  Without even looking at the price we gratefully accepted and thankfully found a place to rest.

Obligatory Pepsi Promo, Tanzanian Tag Line "Dare For More" -  I like it.

The next day we had a couple of errands to run to be ready for Kilimanjaro.  Hasmin, the third member of our Kili group would be arriving from Lesoto at around 7pm at the airport.  The first thing we did was take out money and then we wandered around the area of our hotel and found a booking office for buses to Moshi, where we’d be staying for Kilimanjaro.  Soon we were covered in sweat.  That is one thing you realize immediately about Dar, a port city, this time of the year; it is humid, like Houston, Texas humid.  The air was thick and it was raining off and on the entire time we were there.  Then we found an internet cafe and saw the email from the Kilimanjaro Tour Company finally telling us the packing list and itinerary and we'd be staying (needless to say the email would've been more helpful 5 days before).  We decided to walk around to try and see the water, but instead we just walked in the completely wrong direction for about an hour.

One of the flooded neighborhoods that we saw

On the walk we did see some of the devastating effects of the recent flooding with entire neighborhoods under water and a river that had clearly overflown its banks as fallen trees and more flooding showed.  Later on the walk a man approached followed by a couple kids holding a clear, plastic juice bottle which inside housed a black snack.  “Black mamba” the man said as he thrust the package in our direction.  Mel screamed and jumped back while I tried to get a closer look.  I don’t think I’ll ever know whether it was actually a Black Mamba, but if anyone can tell from the photo please comment or let me know.  Eventually we realized our folly and turned around.  When we finally reached the water we got information on the ferry times and prices to Zanzibar since we planned to taking one after our Kilimanjaro trek (this of course would not end up working out).  It was after this that I probably experienced my first real “vacation.”  We had looked up movie times for a movie theatre earlier and since there are no movie theatres or malls or really anything in Lilongwe we were both pretty excited about this.

Black Mamba? You decide.

We got a cab to the mall, but Dar also has very bad traffic and we missed the showing of Sherlock Holmes we’d been shooting for.  Luckily we were in an air-conditioned oasis of retail stores and restaurants.  After walking around we both agreed what we needed was a good old-fashioned unhealthy fast food fix.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that the first bite of that hamburger was maybe the best bite of food I’ve ever had in my life.  The exhaustion from the travel, the home-sickness, the diet of stale peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and street vendor food washed away in a beautiful wave of mayo/ketchup soaked cheese burger.  It was heaven.  I washed the bite down with a sensational gulp of fountain Pepsi, that’s right Pepsi because Tanzania is apparently a huge Pepsi country since it’s EVERYWHERE.  After this I also got a doughnut.  My stomach was full of food that tasted like America.  It was glorious.

Jumbo Burger - I <3 U

The proper way to eat a doughnut.

After the movie we met Hasmin at the hotel and after relaxing for a bit we all went out to see what was going on, on a week night which was basically nothing around our area.  There was a local Casino so we just went there and sat at the bar watching a soccer match and swapping Africa stories.

Overflowing river from the rain, it would lead to a big delay in our travel plans to Moshi

The next morning we woke up early to go to Ubungu bus station on the far side of town.  It was raining hard and had been all night.  We could already see some streets were flooding in our area and as we drove to the bus station we much more.  At the station we learned that part of a bridge that is used by many of the buses on their way out of Dar had collapsed and so there were heavy delays.  Our bus hadn’t yet arrived because of the backups and we were instructed to wait on a curb, exposed to the torrential downpours.  Two of the entrances to the bus station had already flooded and so there were tons of congestion.  Eventually though it arrived and we were on our way out of Dar on to the next part of the adventure, Kilimanjaro.

Tanzania Vacation Part I – Best / Most Ridiculous Travel Moments

Travelling often required "flexibility" and dealing with unforseen circumstances...hence Mel in a trunk

Below was our holiday transportation from December 18^th – January 3^rd.

1. Muhamed Bus: Lilongwe – Dar Es Salaam, 33 hours

2. Dar Express Bus: Dar Es Salaam – Moshi, 12 hours

3. Nomadic Adventures: Moshi – Kilimanjaro, 1 hour

4. Nomadic Adventures: Kilimanjaro – Moshi, 1 hour

5. Kilimanjaro Express Bus: Moshi – Dar Es Salaam, 9 hours

6. Private Plane Service: Dar Es Salaam – Zanzibar, 20 minutes

7. Taxi: Stone Town, Zanzibar – Nungwi, Zanzibar, 90 minutes

8. Taxi: Nungwi – Stone Town, 90 minutes

9. Springlands Ferry: Stone Town – Dar Es Salaam, 2 hours

10. New Force Bus: Dar Es Salaam – Kiyela, 13 hours

11. Taxi: Kiyela – Malawi/Tanzania Border, 30 minutes

12. Random Hired Car: Border – Kuronga, 1 hour

13. Minibus: Kuronga – Mzuzu, 5  ½ hours

14. Bus: Mzuzu – Lilongwe, 6 hours

As you can see from the itinerary above, I had quite an active vacation in terms of transportation, but I suppose that’s what happens when you don’t plan anything and just keep moving from place to place, learning as you go.  It was frustrating, exciting, eye-opening, fun, uncomfortable, and almost always longer than it should have been.  In the end though I’m glad I went through it.  Below are some of the highlights from the various modes of transport.

Hasmin and I approaching the plane, but will we be let on?

1.       Booking a plane from Dar to Zanzibar – So we missed the last ferry to Zanzibar by 5 minutes.  Desperate to get to our next destination we bought plane tickets on a private plane from a legitimately insane Tanzanian travel agent named Ali who demanded our money upfront, drove us in the most fast and wreckless way possible to the airport, and spent most of the ride screaming at a combination of me and other motorists.  Bonus points: The car ran out of gas and died on a dirt road 10 minutes from the airport, but somehow it started again and we made it.

Success! Zanzibar here we come!

2.       We actually get to board the plane- While sitting in the airport, 70% sure we’d all just been completely robbed by a crazy person it was a giant relief when an airport official (aka guy in orange vest) ushered us out of the waiting area to the tarmac heading toward a small 16-seater propeller plane.  Safety be damned, it was just good to know we hadn’t been robbed.  Bonus Points:  I was laughed at when I asked if I needed a boarding pass.

3.       Preachers on Buses- The first 30 minutes of our bus trip from Lilongwe to Dar was filled with passionate gospel from a preacher reciting the bible word for word (in Chichewa of course).  Bonus points: he decided that the aisle directly next to my seat was the perfect podium and I was rewarded with an almost steady stream of spit from his fiery pulpit.

Our Chariot for the 33 hour trip from Lilongwe to Dar, complete with free preacher service

4.       Chickens on Buses- As anyone that’s travelled on public transportation in Africa knows, no trip is complete without live poultry which we had on our return trip from Dar to the Tanzanian border town of Kieyla.

5.       Almost getting left behind at rest stop- Because we don’t speak Swahili, when the bus driver said 10 minute break, we didn’t understand him.  As Mel and Amanda were in line to buy food the bus pulled away with Hasmin and me literally running after it.  Bonus points – Hasmin jumped onto the bus while it was still moving and then just as I caught up it stopped while the driver yelled at us and kept honking until a sprinting Mel and Amanda also caught up.

6.       Air Time in the Back of the Bus- We were so grateful for getting the last 3 seats on the bus from Moshi  to Dar that we didn’t think about the implication of being in the last row…without seatbelts.  As soon as we started hitting the bumps we realized why.  At one point while I found myself flung 3 feet into the air above my seat with my arms up to keep from crashing into the ceiling I thought maybe I shouldn’t have eaten right before boarding.  Falling luggage and pieces from the roof of the bus were a nice touch.  Bonus points:  The little Tanzanian girl that came and hung out with us in the back of the bus was first adorable and then violent as both Mel and I got slapped in the face multiple times to the child’s clear delight.

Sure she looks adorable, but she slaps like a teenager

7.       Being Blatantly Lied to and Taken Advantage of- While searching for a way back to Lilongwe we were told we could pay 40,000 TZ ($30USD) for a bus to the border and then we would immediately board another bus to get to Lilongwe.  We arrived at 6am to find that we’d been transferred to another, cheaper bus without getting any of our money back.  Then we did not make it to the border until after it had closed with absolutely no evidence of a transfer bus.  As we frantically called Frank, the guy that had lied to us, he was nowhere to be found.

8.       Buying Fuel on the Black Market- Nothing says you’re back in Malawi like pulling over to the side of the road and having two men run up to your car with a funnel made from a 2 liter plastic bottle and a gerry can of diluted petrol.  When we got into the car we hired for 2,000 MK ($10USD) to take us from the border to the Malawian town of Kuronga I quickly saw the tank was on empty and asked how we’d make the 1 hour journey with no gas.  The driver just turned around and said “in 1 km black market.”

Typical scene outside bus at every stop, vendors selling all sort of things

9.       Window Shopping-If you’re ever hungry on long African bus travel trips you don’t need to leave your seat.  At each stop there are eager vendors banging on your window pushing their products in your direction.

10.   Being the Center of Attention- Every time a group of 4 white people exits a bus in Africa you can rest assured they’re going to get immediate attention from anyone trying to sell anything.  Tactics include yelling, pulling, hand holding, poking, and lots of grabbing.

11.   Flooding in Dar- Our bus from Dar to Moshi was delayed over 2 hours due to intense rains and flooding in Dar.  Since we waited almost the entire time outside in the downpour us and all our luggage was soaked by the time we boarded.

12.   Seeing Water Buffalo, Zebras, Giraffes, and Waterbucks – The bus ride from Dar to the border town of Kiyela brought us through open savannahs spotted with trees and surprisingly abundant and visible wildlife that was a great and gratifying moment in traveling by bus.

Holiday VCT Tournaments

GRS Coach Linda Mvula (in yellow shirt) with her winning team

Our interventions for the first term of the school year ended in the first week of December and schools let out for holiday break on December 9^th so it was time for Grassroot Soccer Malawi to hold our school’s out celebratory Voluntary Counseling and Testing soccer tournaments.  We held two, a day apart in different areas of Lilongwe.  The first, in Area 25 in northern Lilongwe, was a great example of issues faced every day here, but how our team just moves past obstacles to get the job done.

Action rages on at the Area 25 Tournament

Poster with Coach's Responsibilities for the day

The first obstacle was simple – all of the printers at the clinic were down and we couldn’t print the roster of roles for coaches at the tournament or the schedule for the day’s events.  We just old-school pen and papered it and decided to write the roles on large posters at the event which ended up working better anyway and is now something we’ll do every tournament.  Then, on the way to the event a giant rainstorm came out of nowhere.  Godfrey was on his motorbike followed by Cossam and myself in the car and we had to pull over because it was raining too hard to see anything.  We got to the venue 20 minutes late, but the grounds were too wet to start setting up and the DJ hadn’t shown up because they needed special transport because of the rain.  The clouds dissipated though and we were left with sunshine and our coaches worked on overdrive to get the tournament ready by the start time of noon.  Then a local chief came up to me and told me there had been miscommunication as they all thought the event started at 8am and had shown up here with many people from the area only to find no one there.  I apologized for whatever caused the mixup but assured him there’d be an event with games and music beginning at 1pm.  As things tend to do, thanks to the great work of the GRS team, everything sort of fell into place.  The quality of soccer was fantastic, the coaches were energetic, and the two site coordinators for the area, Mary and Gloria, were awesome in running the tournament.  After a slow start 4 local village chiefs showed up to give their support, we tested over 100 community members, The winning team from Dzenza school played liked a barefooted Barcelona on the dirt pitch.  It was a fantastic tournament.

Everyone gathered around to watch the award ceremony 

Kawale Test 4 ur team banner

Two days later we were at it again, this time in Kawale, a heavily populated area just south of our office at the Baylor clinic.  This time the DJ was already there when we arrived playing music, and the fields were quickly set up and the testing and counseling rooms all made available.  Unfortunately, less than an hour in the DJ lost power and they had forgotten their generator.  Having loud/live music is essential at these tournaments to get people from in the community to come and enjoy the atmosphere.  Without the music and sound system we can’t announce to the community the testing services available and the key HIV/AIDS sensitization messages that are so important.  Our own MC used our megaphones to try and make up for it and they were passionate in their announcing, adding to the atmosphere.  Luckily the DJ had gotten their generator in time for the final and we managed to get many community members to come watch, get counseled, and test in the last half hour as we tested over 70 community members.  It was an exhausting but rewarding last couple of days, The next day I’d be leaving by bus for my holiday trip to Tanzania.