All this is really to say is i'm now in Rwanda safe and sound..amazing flight in (was not feeling the 40+ bus journey effort and infamous boarder crossing) over a totally different landscape to Tz..the ground is very ver red - people say its because so much blood has been spilled here, but to be honest that is a line used in Uganda,DRC..and from very first impressions, this country is well and truely back on its feet - for a starter, they have TRAFFIC LIGHTS!Now there's a sight never seen in Tanzania!
But all i relaly wanted to say here is i'm spending a few days with some lovely lovely French people in a beautiful house with amazing food, a BATH, and Desperate Housewives boxset! Am i still in Africa? More when i've actually seen some of this tiny little country.
Wednesday, 25 July 2007
Trying so hard to squeeze Victor and Felister into my backpack!!!
My days at Nk have finally drawn to a close!! And on what a high did they end. of teaching were simply brilliant,and for the first time really (although i've probably said it before,i now can truely believe it myself) i feel like i've made a significant difference to the level of English of some of my children, and really got them to value their education. So many fantastic moments, but to highlight the best...SPORTS DAY!!!! 150 children doing egg and spoon races, sack raches, wheelbarrow races, 3-legged races...they were the best behaved i've ever seen them and just had so much fun! Even the teachers looked on with amusement (quite an achievement!). That afternoon, our teachers held a small party for me and Lizzie (only remaining teachers at the primary school), Geapson (our legendary teacher) made a speech and we were presented with beautiful Kitenge fabric as a leaving giftie. Our little house was then stormed by all our classes (and token random children obviously) and mass reading/drawing/recorder club took place for the last time. And when it was time-to-go-home-time there were ALOT of tears all round..fond the whole thing very emotional and wound up with a bizarre paradox of feeling insanely guilty for leaving them and just returning to my comfortable Muzungu life back home, but also feeling pretty proud to have had such an effect on them that they value our teaching and friendship that much.
Lots of you will know by now that my last weekend of partaaaay-ing in Arusha ended terribly as me and Daisy were mugged on saturday night, loosing everything (money,phone,most importantly camera and all my photos). More devestated about the pictures than i can write but just in case you wonder why theres a lack of recent photographic evidence on here..
Lots of you will know by now that my last weekend of partaaaay-ing in Arusha ended terribly as me and Daisy were mugged on saturday night, loosing everything (money,phone,most importantly camera and all my photos). More devestated about the pictures than i can write but just in case you wonder why theres a lack of recent photographic evidence on here..
Saturday, 7 July 2007
'Throw your heart away' - Bagamoyo
This is probably the most interesting place in Tanzania historically, as its the port from whcih the majority of the African slave trade routes were established. About an hour north of Dar es Salam (the unofficial capital), its a beautiful, very french/german/generally colonial looking town with meandering streets with vines growing up all the buildings and a white sand beach with plam trees..the sad part is that the 'ruins' are in fact really not that old but incredibly run down as there is just no money or real insentive to preserve them. The first Catholic cross planted in East Africa is located here, as is the first Catholic chuirch, established by French Missionaries (now accompanied by a very very small museum claiming that these missionaries basically put a stop to the slave trade single-handedly) and also the remains of the first Mosque,established in the 13th Century. The old German Boma ('British Overseas Managment Authority in English' - 'Enclosed area' in Kiswahili) is architecturally very impressive from the outside,but is so run down inside that it has received no tourism for the past 20 years and so much of the history has been lost. Equally the Old Fort (originally the Sultan of Zanzibar's home, then a prison, then a police station, then intened as a college but total lack of funds meant this was a no-go:info we got from a passing man who lives in the town) could be somethign really special but as it stands, has no infomation documenting its interesting past.
It seems to be a fairly common theme i'm picking up whilst spending more and more time living here that Tanzania's major problem all stems from the rocky education system - so so few young people are able to attend secondary school because of the cost, let alone university. With so little education it can be understood why so few people ask questions as to why potential tourism ploys like this arn't made more accessible. And for that matter, where all the money from American's back pockets spent on Kili and the Northern Safari Circuit doesn in fact end up, because it certainly isn't where it needs to be.
And mother, DMC stands for deep and meaningful conversations, standards are obviously slipping in my absence!
This is probably the most interesting place in Tanzania historically, as its the port from whcih the majority of the African slave trade routes were established. About an hour north of Dar es Salam (the unofficial capital), its a beautiful, very french/german/generally colonial looking town with meandering streets with vines growing up all the buildings and a white sand beach with plam trees..the sad part is that the 'ruins' are in fact really not that old but incredibly run down as there is just no money or real insentive to preserve them. The first Catholic cross planted in East Africa is located here, as is the first Catholic chuirch, established by French Missionaries (now accompanied by a very very small museum claiming that these missionaries basically put a stop to the slave trade single-handedly) and also the remains of the first Mosque,established in the 13th Century. The old German Boma ('British Overseas Managment Authority in English' - 'Enclosed area' in Kiswahili) is architecturally very impressive from the outside,but is so run down inside that it has received no tourism for the past 20 years and so much of the history has been lost. Equally the Old Fort (originally the Sultan of Zanzibar's home, then a prison, then a police station, then intened as a college but total lack of funds meant this was a no-go:info we got from a passing man who lives in the town) could be somethign really special but as it stands, has no infomation documenting its interesting past.
It seems to be a fairly common theme i'm picking up whilst spending more and more time living here that Tanzania's major problem all stems from the rocky education system - so so few young people are able to attend secondary school because of the cost, let alone university. With so little education it can be understood why so few people ask questions as to why potential tourism ploys like this arn't made more accessible. And for that matter, where all the money from American's back pockets spent on Kili and the Northern Safari Circuit doesn in fact end up, because it certainly isn't where it needs to be.
And mother, DMC stands for deep and meaningful conversations, standards are obviously slipping in my absence!
Monday, 2 July 2007
4 days on a train
Title pretty much sums up this entry!Took a train form Lousaka to Dar with the girls im travelling with, and picked up some strays along the way..lots of DMC-ing late into the night about the state of africa with some not-as-racist-as-you'd-presume africaaners..ok they were called Villi,Fritz and Antoin does that prove their africaan-ness?! But they were travelling with a little stove and lots of food which,i'm sure you'll all know,went down very well. Also with two finnish ladies and a girl from DRC. Not much to say about the train really, apart from stayed in pj's the whole time, ate lots of cereal,nearly fell out of the bunk as one of the carriges kind of de-railed, and how nice it was to finally get back to Tz and be able to write on our immigration slips 'returning residents'..and speaking Swahili again!
Now in Zanzibar (yes, for the third time)for the international film festival of the Dhow Countries-which is amazing! Stone town is really buzzing with live music and art exhibitions everywhere. Last night went to see a Mexican film (wasn't aware Mexico classed as a Dhow country but anyway)called 'The other side' - really beautiful and made even more so by the incredible atmosphere in the open air ampitheatre crammed with people under a full moon and starry sky. Thsi mornign saw a series of short films, one called Kiboko Kid set in a slum outside Nairobi and is set to be made into a feature film..very cool to understan the swahili without subtitles. This was followed by lots of shopping and kangas have been bought for you all :) more soon, big love x
Now in Zanzibar (yes, for the third time)for the international film festival of the Dhow Countries-which is amazing! Stone town is really buzzing with live music and art exhibitions everywhere. Last night went to see a Mexican film (wasn't aware Mexico classed as a Dhow country but anyway)called 'The other side' - really beautiful and made even more so by the incredible atmosphere in the open air ampitheatre crammed with people under a full moon and starry sky. Thsi mornign saw a series of short films, one called Kiboko Kid set in a slum outside Nairobi and is set to be made into a feature film..very cool to understan the swahili without subtitles. This was followed by lots of shopping and kangas have been bought for you all :) more soon, big love x
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Zambia
Actually ended up illegally in Malawi for 3 days as the visa expired but got away with it no problem..eventually got from Lilongwe (a really pretty capital,certainly the nicest i've seen although very very ex-pat) to Chipata, a small but quite lovely town about an hour from the boarder. From there we took a hilariously entertaining taxi trip to SOuth Louangwa National Park (7 people, 6 backpacks, a dirt track and one toyota carolla..) where we stayed in possibly the craziest campsite in Africa! Platforms built into trees on which campers can pitch their tents while elephants, hippos and even lions stroll around below!i kid you knot, the campsite has no boundries and there were lions footprints outside our tent on morning. Same morning we watched from our side of the Louangwa river bank a family of elephants swimming across (inc a baby), climb up the other side and dry themselves off with dust showers, accompanied by a soundtrack of 3 male lions clearly marking out their territory. Did a night safari here which was a totally different experiene form our serengetti etc extravganza..the drivers shine UV torhes all around so as not to damage the animals eyes. Honestly the first hour and a bit i was doubting how good this would turn out to be as we saw little other that Poku (like gazelles) and birds of various varieties. BUT THEN we 'stumbled across' a pack of wild dogs, apparnelty only found in some parts f southern afric - and they were really surprisingly beautiful. BUT THEN even better we spotted a lioness on the hunt and followed her for about an hour on her chase for Poku. In our completely open roofed safari cars it was a little disconcerting when one ran right up beside our car!The whole experience was entirely different from our big Tz safari..far less tourists with few set paths to follow etc.
Back to chipata and then a longlong bus ride to Lousaka - i'm cnvinced by the end of this trip a world record is in order for time spent on african bus trips. There we were met by the Nowa's and treated like absolute princesses for 2 days, shown round Lousaka (shopping malls included!) and taken to church and the Kafue Misson..what a treat to see it all at last after so many stories and photos. ALthough a boarding school along the same lines as the secondary school in our village the differences were huge..they have so much space there! Met lots of teachers and were shown round the health centre..all very special and so lovely to see the Nowa's again.
And today i threw myself over the Victoria Falls!! And absailed down the cliffs of the Zambezi gorge and generally have turned into an adrenaline junkie overnight! WHat can i say about the falls..truely spectacular (and we got absolutely drenched!)
On friday we're taking a ptentially 4 day train trip back up to TZ and then to zanzibar when i'll do some more blogging - we have free internet here but there's an insanely long queue and i'm being shouted at!Lots of love xxxx
Back to chipata and then a longlong bus ride to Lousaka - i'm cnvinced by the end of this trip a world record is in order for time spent on african bus trips. There we were met by the Nowa's and treated like absolute princesses for 2 days, shown round Lousaka (shopping malls included!) and taken to church and the Kafue Misson..what a treat to see it all at last after so many stories and photos. ALthough a boarding school along the same lines as the secondary school in our village the differences were huge..they have so much space there! Met lots of teachers and were shown round the health centre..all very special and so lovely to see the Nowa's again.
And today i threw myself over the Victoria Falls!! And absailed down the cliffs of the Zambezi gorge and generally have turned into an adrenaline junkie overnight! WHat can i say about the falls..truely spectacular (and we got absolutely drenched!)
On friday we're taking a ptentially 4 day train trip back up to TZ and then to zanzibar when i'll do some more blogging - we have free internet here but there's an insanely long queue and i'm being shouted at!Lots of love xxxx
Sunday, 17 June 2007
Tales from Malawi
And now i'm in Malawi! AFter a hectic month back at school, Mummys trip out to see me (and take me to a luxury hotel in zanzibar again!), a craaazy football tournament between our various schools in Arusha, lots of laughs,nights out,teaching,clothes-making etcetc and now its the school summer holiday. 3 long days travelling through TZ (thorugh 2 National parks in the south, v beacutiful - although bings about a completley new conception of the country..its just so vast and seemingly sparcely populated in the south) and we arrived in time to take the ferry down Lake malawi and to Likoma island..we were practically the only people staying and we camped on a beautiful beach about 10m away from the lake, on the horizon of which is the amazing mozambiquian (?) coast line. THe lake is so incredibly clear (largest freshwater lake in the workd i think), and basically looks just like the sea. After a weeks indulgant chillage, we made our way back to the mainland and Nkhata Bay. One sunset cruise and a few drinks later a girl i'd just met pursuaded me to do a weeks Naui ocurse (same as Padi..ie scuba diving) begining the next day and how glad am i that she did! Absolutely loved it, was with a great group of people form all over the place and i honestly never knew how much i like pretty little fish!also did lots of pot-holeing..but 18m underwater!vair vair cool i'm sure you'll aggree.Travelled down to Lilongwe yest with some new amigos and have managed to negociate a visa waver into zambia so moving on on tuesday..and will update more soon!
Exploring the East Coast and Zanzibar
So this is insanely out of date for which i appologise muchly..haven't actually been able to get onto this thing in ages. Lots to catch up on but will begin by filling you all in from where i left off a few months ago..over easter we had 3 weeks off school for travels and so did lots of exploring in Tz..first went across to the NorthEast and Usambora Mountain range and a small town called Lushoto..seriously beautiful and much more authentically african than the ex-pat-ed and touristy Arusha. Went hiking through a rainforest and up to IrenteView point (via a farm house with CHEESE!!)..reportedly a stunning view across the expansive valley, although, typically, when we got to the top it was entirely covered in cloud..turned out to be quite special in the end though as the clouds randomly parted giving little snapshots of the incredible view below.
Headed next down the East coast via Tanga to a beachy place called Peponi..camped practaically on the beach,swam in the warm bath that is tjhe indian ocean, took a Dhow saling to a sand island in the middle of the sea, ate amazingly for the first time in a while (to be fair it wasn;t that oong after safari but the importance of yummy food on this trip should not be 'mis-underestimated').
THen it was ZANZIBAR!!!!! Stone town was fab,totally mixture of cultures and great fabric shopping,night market foodi etc..met up with lots more of our mates and headed all together first to the East coast and Paje..long stretches of white sand and tourquoise sea and a site all to ourselves, followed by a trip up into Nungwi on the northernmostpoint of the island, where i celebrated my 19th with Africa's finest! Massive meal out with everyone, duringin which the girls negociated lots of free food for the birthday girl (although the next day i realised that no fool gives away decent Lobster for free) followed by cocktails and antics on the beach..details and photographic evidence when i get back!
Headed next down the East coast via Tanga to a beachy place called Peponi..camped practaically on the beach,swam in the warm bath that is tjhe indian ocean, took a Dhow saling to a sand island in the middle of the sea, ate amazingly for the first time in a while (to be fair it wasn;t that oong after safari but the importance of yummy food on this trip should not be 'mis-underestimated').
THen it was ZANZIBAR!!!!! Stone town was fab,totally mixture of cultures and great fabric shopping,night market foodi etc..met up with lots more of our mates and headed all together first to the East coast and Paje..long stretches of white sand and tourquoise sea and a site all to ourselves, followed by a trip up into Nungwi on the northernmostpoint of the island, where i celebrated my 19th with Africa's finest! Massive meal out with everyone, duringin which the girls negociated lots of free food for the birthday girl (although the next day i realised that no fool gives away decent Lobster for free) followed by cocktails and antics on the beach..details and photographic evidence when i get back!
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