Adventures with Jeff, Part 1

So far, Tanzania’s been pulling out all the stops for Jeff and treating him to an utterly Tanzanian experience. And by that I mean, everything’s beautiful, everyone’s friendly and welcoming, and next to nothing’s running on time. He arrived in Dar early Monday afternoon, a little worried about clearing customs and finding/making his connecting flight, only to discover the flight had been delayed ... and was going to be delayed several more times before finally leaving much, much later that evening. With a little help from someone he met on the plane though, he found a place to stay in Mwanza and managed to find a helpful taxi driver early the next morning who brought him to the bus terminal. Several extremely bumpy hours later, he’d finally made it to Kibondo and – with the help of a couple more strangers – managed to track me down.

Two days later (and only a couple of hours behind schedule), he was on the road again – this time with me (and by car). We were heading to Kigoma ... or at least we were trying to head to Kigoma. The car, it turned out, had other plans ... plans that involved waiting until we were in an area with absolutely no cell phone signal to break down. As frustrating as that was, it did have the upside of providing me with the best visual of the trip so far: Jeff, surrounded by a gang of barefoot kids, all leaning into the front bumper of the car and framed by the open hood, trying to push the car backwards up a hill (in the hopes that the car would get enough forward momentum on the way back down to suddenly start). It wasn’t until quite a bit later that evening that our driver got the car working again, so we turned back around and spent the night in Kasulu.

Equipped with a different car, we finally made it to Kigoma the next morning. A lazy day at the beach followed by a nice dinner and drinks at the Mwaka Hill Hotel, and it started to really feel like vacation :-)

(Above: Jeff, at Jakobsen's Beach in Kigoma)

Next stop: Dar es Salaam!

A Glimpse of the Moyowosi

Living in Kibondo, one of the things I often forget is that a huge portion of the district (and the neighboring district) is actually the Moyowosi Game Reserve. I realize this probably seems like a rather substantial thing to forget, but since it isn’t a national park (and therefore not open to the general public), it’s easier to forget about than you might think. Granted, I’ve gotten to know a couple of the guys who work in the reserve, so on some level I always knew it was there ... in practice though, all I ever really got to see of it was the tree line that marked the boundary between the reserve and non-restricted areas. On my last weekend in Kibondo, however, all that changed.

My friends from the reserve brought me out to one of their open area camps on Saturday and after spending the night out under the upside down sky, I woke up before dawn to go flying with one of the pilots. Part of me still can’t really believe this happened ... partially because it was just such an amazing opportunity ... and also because it meant that this contraption actually flies (when it's airborne it kind of looks like a winged version of ET's bicycle)! The guys had told me the microlight was small but none of them had explained that it was essentially a set of seats with wings! AND ... as if just getting to go up in the microlight wasn’t cool enough on its own, we saw a bunch of animals as we were flying over the reserve: hippo, rowan, topi, all sorts of birds, and two groups of elephants (one with a baby!)!!! The reserve is also home to a whole slew of other animals that weren’t out and about in the areas we flew over – giraffe, lion, leopard, buffalo, alligators, etc. – but I was just thrilled to discover that my neighbors in Kibondo have included a couple families of elephants!

Of all the weekends I spent in Kibondo this year, this one undoubtedly ranked as one of the most fun and memorable - a truly unique experience that has left me with a renewed appreciation for the stunning and diverse environment that I've been lucky enough to call home this year.

(Picture 1: sunrise over the Moyowosi; Picture 2: the microlight; Picture 3: view from the backseat as we prepared to land)