Today was great! For the 8 year old travelling with us today was the day he knew he was in Africa and not in some other random poor country where the traffic is horrendous and the lights sometimes don't work. Today we saw lions, giraffes and elephants. We saw zebra, impala and wildebeest. We saw one lonely hippopotamus! We saw lots of birds including three species of vulture circling over the lions kill.

Our day started at 5:00 am when, yawning and half asleep we boarded the daladala our KiSwahili teacher Ben had arranged for and set off for Mikumi NP. The daladala driver was excellent! He only talked on his mobile phone while driving for a little while, he mostly kept to the left side of the road and his speed was moderate especially over the speed humps and rumble strips. The twice we were stopped by the police he was polite and respectful and we were allowed to keep going without any extra checking. He negotiated some fairly challenging tracks in the national park - tracks I would be thinking twice about in a 2WD car!

Our first excitement was seeing giraffes - they are the animals I most wanted to see. They are so graceful and so beautifully coloured and patterned and each one is different. My new binoculars brought them so close. Seeing the giraffes made the 5:00 am start worthwhile! We hadn't even seen impala before we saw the giraffes, (and if you've been on safari in Africa you know you will see impala!) but we saw plenty of impala and one small group of élan.

Mikumi has a pool, about 80m x 50m, called the Hippo Pool and the eponymous animal was there floating, drifting slowly and twitching his ears occasionally to show he wasn't just a rock! Exciting if you've not seen a hippo but disappointing for a veteran of the Zambezi Booze Cruise.

There were many impala, one group had some élan hanging around with them. We saw very many zebra - the sort without the extra shadow stripe - and often wildebeest were with them though they seemed much more shy of our vehicle. It wasn't until near to the end of our safari that we saw elephants close up but as a bonus, the group of elephants included a young one.

For most the most exciting sighting would be the lion, and we were privileged to see a single female guarding a kill and also a family group. The lone female was hard to see as she was so well camouflaged in the grass. The kill was out in the open and had attracted the attention of at least 20 vultures - opportunistic birds who circled about overhead and settled in the grass some distance from the lion and also in several nearby trees. A marabou stork was with the vultures - he looked quite odd perched in the tree! Many from our group clambered up onto the roof of the daladala to get a slightly better view. The second group of lions was lolling about under a tree. One was lying on her back waving her legs about and looking quite relaxed. We were able to get quite close to this group by backing the daladala down a bumpy track. Our guide was telling us to be silent so as not to disturb the group which seemed a bit silly as the bus' reverse warning system was very loud!

The rest area where we had lunch was like the rest areas in the northern part of Kruger NP - a cleared area with just a rope fence around the picnic tables and benches - certainly not animal proof. It did have a very large boab tree with a ladder that could be climbed in an emergency.

It really was great day. Steve interested many in the birds we were seeing and as a consequence had to share his binoculars. I happily handed mine around the daladala too. We hope to see many more animals in the next 12 months but is always fun to be with people having the excitement of seeing them for the first time!

See if you can see the lion in the picture below. She is there!! Look closely to the left of the kill.

Here is another lion

 This lion was much easier to spot.

Lion spotting from the roof of a daladala - Zoe, Abraham, Marike, the driver, Pepe and Lou.

The vultures waiting in the trees

Morogoro - Week 1

These two weeks in Morogoro are devoted to learning to understand, speak and read KiSwahili and to know a little more of KiSwahili culture.  The Tanzanian people are very conservative so showing respect by correct greeting is very important.  We have learned traditional greetings as well as the more modern forms and have practiced them on our daily walks to and from town as well as on the other residents in the Amabilis Centre, the convent where are staying.  Some rather forward youths have tried the sloppy Kenyan form of greeting "Jambo" on us but we have corrected them and indicated we know it should be "Hamjambo"!  Little children, excited by seeing Wazungu have wanted to try their english on us and we have been greeted with "Good evening, ladies" by infant school girls who then dissolve into giggles. 

I am enjoying finding the patterns in grammar in the language as we move through the various tenses but I struggle with the vocabulary - if I could only remember the nouns and verbs I wouldn't have trouble putting them into grammatically correct sentences!  I will just have to practice, and I'm sure when I have to use it seriously the words will come.  Our teachers, Benjamin and Perpetual, are very good.  They use a variety of teaching strategies, including, today, peer teaching where we had each to learn the use of one or two interrogatives and explain it to the class.  I had nini (what) and kwanini (why); Steve had the far more challenging ngapi (how many, how much) that is modified with prefixes depending on the noun class it is describing.  And all this on Day 4!!  I have especially enjoyed dictation.  KiSwahili is a totally phonetic language - nothing as ridiculous as 'ph' when an 'f' would do - so I just scribble it down and translate later.  You don't have to know what it means in order to spell it correctly!

Our day starts with chai (breakfast) at 7:00am and then the first lesson from 8:00 until 10:00.  Morning tea (chakula cha asubuhi) follows, then lesson two from 10:30 until 12:30.  We have an hour for lunch, which again we all eat together in the dining hall, then the third and least formal lesson runs from 1:30 until 3:30.  After that we are free to roam the town practising until dinner at 7:00.  The local beer, Kilimanjaro (It\s Kili time!) is available from the nuns and is very welcome at around 5:00 pm.  Steve has to fit his birding in around the KiSwahili lessons and homework, which we mostly do after dinner.  We fall into bed under our mosquito nets exhausted each evening and wake with the call to prayer from the mosque down the road at 5:15 am.  Now I'm over the initial jet lag I can usually get back to sleep until 6:30am. 

We are staying at the Amabilis Centre, a convent and conference centre with an associated boys' secondary school, on the edge of the town of Morogoro.  Some of the nuns seem so very young but they are always smiling and seem to have a great life - it is nothing to come around a corner and find one flirting with a workman or chatting on her mobile phone!  Everything here is fresh and clean but there is only flywire in the internal 'windows' and every sound travels and reverberates so there is no privacy!  We would rather not hear the voices of the Scottish Catholics, who share our corridor, planning their next day's proselytizing;  but then we hear the gentle, peaceful sung offices of the nuns in the morning and at night and everything seems much better.  The food here is wonderful - fresh and tasty though limited in variety.  Most days we get fish or chicken, chips, beans, rice, a mild meat curry, plantain and greens.  We get fruit for dessert - oranges, mandarines, bananas or watermelon.  Today we will revise the vocabulary for shopping learned over the last three days and go to the market to use it to buy produce for tomorrow's lunch.  Tomorrow we will learn to cook Tanzanian style using the kind of basic equipment and utensils we are likely to find at our placements.  Zoe has volunteered to kill the chicken!  These days' lessons will be very important for Steve and Mark (Michelle's partner) who will be the chief cooks when we get to Bukoba.    Saturday I am planning an early night as the current plan is to depart Morogoro at 5 am Sunday for a day's Safari at Mikuri National Park.  It will be wonderful to see giraffes again.  I hope you enjoy the pictures - I think my 'blogging' is getting more coherent. 

More soon, Jenny 

PS. Keep the comments coming.

The KiSwahili lessons are going well though it is intense and difficult and sometimes makes my head spin! Today we practised on people in the community - it seemed to go quite well. I thought I had a photo of my notebook to show you - maybe next time!

The food is great and our stomachs are coping (so far anyway).

More soon, Jenny

We have spent a week and will spend the next fortnight with VSOTz’s July intake of vols. I need to introduce them to you as you will hear a lot about them.

Michelle is Australian and we will work together in Bukoba. We did our initial training in Melbourne together so know each other quite well. Michelle’s partner and their 8 year old son are with her. She and I are the only vols in this group with accompanying partners.

Louisa and Marike are also in the education sector. Louisa is an English primary school teacher, she goes to Kiteto in the Dodoma region, to train primary teachers especially in teaching english language. Marike, a young Canadian, goes to a brand new secondary school, built by the President’s wife, specifically for vulnerable girls, to teach science.

Zoe, another English lass, will go to Linde region in SE Tanzania to manage a medical laboratory in a Catholic mission hospital. Cynthia, from the Philippines, will work in HIV-AIDS in Kagera region an hour south of Bukoba. Nareema, another Canadian, is on Zanzibar working as a teacher in a tourism college – the locals get little from the influx of foreigners into Zanzibar as all profits go back overseas to Italian and Arab resort owners. Katrien, a Belgian, will be in Dar at VSOs office working in secure livelihoods development.

Over the past week we have come to know each other and become friends. The presentations and workshops we have participated in have given us a lot to think about and discuss but we have also had a lot of fun together.

Yesterday all the incoming vols except Nareena came from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro for the next part of our training. Benjamin, our KiSwahili teacher, travelled with us. This journey was truly an adventure!

The traffic in Dar es Salaam was horrendous. Benjamin said Saturday was always bad for traffic as all the population is either trying to get in or out of Dar with shopping. The road to the bus station was bumper to bumper with daladalas (minibuses), trucks, taxis and 4WDs. Motorbikes wove in and out of the traffic. Motor bikes and taxis were also driving on the footpath dodging the pedestrians, cyclists and icecream vendors. To enter the traffic flow or cross it from side streets a driver just indicates his intention with a gesture and a honk of the horn and nudges in. There are millimetres or less between the vehicles. The traffic is travelling very slowly and in fits and starts. Touts selling food and water, pillows and traffic hazard triangles walk between the lines of vehicles banging on the sides of dalas where they see Mzungu as they feel sure a mournful look will ensure a sale. Our trip from the hostel to the bus station was in a privately hired dala dala – I don’t know how we would have managed it with all our luggage (Louisa goes straight on to Kiteto so has all 70 kg of resources with her!) if we’d had to catch a public one from Posta.

We unloaded all our luggage onto the correct platform at the bus station – there were about 30 platforms each with people, luggage, boxes and furniture and building materials all waiting to leave or just arrived. Then there are people selling food and drink to sustain the passengers and those either seeing them off or greeting their arrival. Those meeting arrived passengers just drive their vehicles through the bus station – motorbikes, 4WDs and tuk-tuks. You can apparently drive wherever you like provided you’ve indicated your intentions with a honk of the horn!

We watched several buses arriving and leaving while we waited for our bus. The quantity and variety of goods stashed into the luggage hold was astounding – no livestock though!

Our bus arrived, we stowed our luggage, found our assigned seats and headed back out into traffic that hadn’t abated in the hour or so that we’d been at the bus station.

Travel on a Tanzanian highway is not for the faint-hearted! There was one official lane of traffic in each direction and several unofficial. There was lots of honking and gesticulation to show intention. There must have been layers of paint scraped, as not a square centimetre of roadway was unoccupied.

Gradually the traffic thinned and the bus increased its speed as we passed through agricultural land and scrub, and through small and larger villages where poverty seemed to range from dire to absolute. As in Botswana and Zambia the houses are built mainly from cement blocks or mud bricks, though a few are timber and brush. The rooves are either corrugated iron or palm thatch. Substantial buildings have barred windows; the unsubstantial just have gaps in the wall to allow in light (and mosquitoes!). There were many unfinished buildings but it is hard to know if they are part built or part demolished – either way many were occupied. The rural holdings had chooks and goats and children; the larger villages had ads for all the local mobile phone companies – Vodacom, Zantel & Zain. The petrol stations were mostly large and modern, the shops were small and grouped together by what they sell – a section for shoes, a section for car parts, a section for furniture and coffins.

The traffic had thinned out from Dar es Salaam so once on the open road the driver needed to make up time. This means overtaking slow vehicles if there is a remote chance to do it safely. The driver was a fine judge of this! I thought it best just not to look. At regular intervals we stopped at rest stops so we could be sold food (packets of cashews, marie biscuits and bread) and drink (water and soda). The vendors walk along outside the bus banging on the window; one or two favoured vendors were allowed onto the bus to keep selling while it was moving and were dropped off at the next stop.

It was dark by the time we reached Morogoro bus stand. Benjamin negotiated with the bus driver that we could stay on the bus and he would bring us to our hostel – we were so pleased not to have to fight for a dala dala! We were so happy to arrive here safely with all our luggage present and correct. It is such a peaceful place after Dar!

When I began to write this the nuns who run this hostel where we are staying were having their morning devotions. It was mostly sung and so peaceful and calming. This place is certainly a haven of peace – truly a ‘dar es salaam’ unlike the one so named! We have just had lunch – chicken, rice, potatoes, peas and greens – and been entertained by the nuns dancing and singing in a style similar to Bantu their happiness at having some visiting nuns to stay with them. We have been for a walk to the closest villages to say hello – our efforts still being met with mirth – and will this afternoon hopefully get into town so I can post this on my blog.

Keep the comments coming, and more soon, love Jenny

 This is where we are staying in Morogoro.

 View from a nice bar we had dinner out in Dar & us (Vols)

Again I have forgotten to bring my camera over to the internet cafe to put photos on the blog.  The Internet cafe is across the street and around the corner from Econolodge where we are staying.  It is 500Ts for 1/2 hour (about 40 cents!)

We had a pleasant day at the beach yesterday on a small stretch of waterfront guarded each end by tall Masai holding long sticks to keep non-payers out.  I understand why this is necessary but don't really like it.

We travelled by public transport - a ferry that was moving as people were still hopping on.  Public health and safety, and occupational safety, are given such scant regard here.  Last night we witnessed from about 10 m a very nasty accident between a motor bike and a taxi that left us in shock.  In Australia we would have called 000 and given first aid.  In this situation no ambulance was likely and we could only step back as a crowd 10 deep gathered around the unconscious biker.  We decided that all we could do was move on so we'll never know what happened.

Today we went to VSOTz Office in a dala dala (public bus). We were crammed on like sardines and more passengers were hanging off the sides.  It was an experience I hope we don't have to repeat too often.  The day was another series of talks and meetings make clearer expectations and obligations on both sides.  Tonight we will dine at the Badminton Club - one of the few cheap dining options that serve alcohol.

Saturday we are off to Morogoro for 2 weeks intensive language training.  Maybe then my attempts at KiSwahili won't be met with as much mirth!

Thanks for the comments - stay in touch as you can, your support and interest is very important to us!

Tutaonona, Jenny

Dar es Salaam

We finally made it to Dar es Salaam on Sunday.  We flew from Melbourne via Doha and highly recommend Qatar Airways.  We were met at the airport by VSO volunteer leaders (exactly as detailed in the instructions) and our education into Africa has begun!

The VSOTz office is in the Peninsula region of Dar.  It is in an old Colonial era two storey house with quaint rooms and various annexes.  I am in a group of 8 incoming vols - 2 Brits, 2 Canadians, a Filipina, a Belgian and 2 Aussies.  We are all women - quite unusual - and 4 of us are in education, 2 in secure livelihoods and 2 in health.

We have had talks on health, history and development.  We have been given more specific information about our placements.  We have talked and eaten together so we will become a network to help and support each other.  VSOs organisation continues to give us confidence that this placement will be worthwhile.

Tomorrow we have a free day - 7/7 is a public holiday in Tanzania to celebrate farmers (maybe!) and plan to go to the beach for a swim and picnic. 

Tanzania is a very poor country - that much is clear as we walk and drive around - but it feels friendly and safe.

I hope to post again before we head for language training at Morogoro.  I have a phone - you can get the number from my sister - so send me texts if you can.

Love from Jenny 

This will be the last post before we leave tomorrow at 11 pm. We're in Kinglake at Cafe M taking advantage of the free WiFi.  Next post from Dar es Salaam, finally with something to say!