Going Home

I said goodbye to Tende at about 6.30am as he was going on a safari. My last meal in Dar es Salaam I felt had to be zege (chip omlette) so Elaine and I had that for lunch. I left Elaine outside the airport as only travelling people are allowed in the airport. The flight from Dar es Salaam to Doha, Qatar was very boring. Before taking off, I was delighted as I thought I had the 2 seats beside me free. Unfortunately a group of children came late. The eldest being about 15. The girl sitting beside me was probably around 8 and it was clearly their first time on a plane. The girl beside was the messiest thing I have ever witnessed on a plane, probably since it was my first time sitting next to a child. There were cheese and crackers everywhere (that was after she asked me what the cheese was for) Her little tub of milk for tea ended up all over herself and she wouldn't stop moving. I thought to myself were we all this annoying when we were that age!! I then thought I was probably worse.

The in flight entertainment was time slowing. First movie was "Mr Bean Goes on Holiday". Granted, it did have its moments and while watching the 2ND movie, I thought to myself, I wished they just replayed the Mr Bean film. The 2ND film was "Pirates of the Caribbean 3". What a terrible film. I remember laughing once at something Johnny Depp did but it was clearly too funny for me to remember now.

I arrived in Doha at 9pm and was greeted off the plane with a sticky, hot, 36 degree slap in the face. Just walking down the stairs to the bus was making me sweat. The airport was fine. My only complaint was when I was getting my bag checked because of my laptop. I was tired and he was making me take everything out of the bag. I took my laptop out of the case, he tried to open it from the back, I reached over to do it for him. He pulled it away and tried opening the screen without pressing the release button. I reached over again. He looked at me and said "I know how to do it, I've done it a million times. We are not jungle people out here." Thankfully my instincts were slow due to tiredness and I managed to think to myself, "say nothing !! They don't have the same lack of political correctness as Tanzanians do." So I just replied "It's expensive, I don't want it broken."

The 4 hours flew by since they had free wireless Internet. I sat on the floor as there were no seats near the only plug I could find. My ass was asleep by 1am.

Same situation as on the way from London to Doha, the Doha to London plane was great. I had my own TV screen which I could choose what I wanted to watch. I actually didn't watch a whole film through. I either got bored or fell asleep and when I finally got into Ocean's 12, we landed in London. As soon as I walked to the baggage claim belt, my bag was there. When I walked out of arrivals in Heathrow, I had the Beach Boys song "God Only Knows" in my head because of the closing scene in Love Actually.

I had 2 hours to kill in London before I could check it in again so I went upstairs to a pub and got an English breakfast for £8.80. The sausage was a let down but the bacon, mushroom and especially the scrambled egg more than made up for it. After checking in I queued for about 20 minutes at the "International Departures" section only to find out Irish departures were put with rest of UK departures. Grrr, I thought, going to Ireland is an international departure, which was quickly followed by the thought I don't care and if I heard another Irish person make the same complaint, I would think, "idiot!"

Flight from London to Dublin was only 50 minutes but seemed alot longer. I fell asleep for about 20 minutes but was feeling like I could sleep talk any minute. It had been a long time since I spoke to anyone and walking around the airports, I noticed myself talking to myself alot louder than usual and when I was half asleep on the plane, I thought I said something but when I looked around, nobody was looking.

FINALLY, I arrived in Dublin airport, but waited for ages for the plane to park as there was a traffic jam on a runway and spent ages waiting for my bag. When I got my bag, I walked out of the arrivals section of the airport, all eyes on me. From flying home alot from Linz last year, I know to turn right and that's generally where my Mam will be.

Traffic was terrible coming out of the airport but it didn't take too long to get home. Since I left, my bedroom has been completely re-done.
It no longer looks like the bedroom of a young teenager with Manchester United crests pasted all over the room, it's nice.

So that was my Africa trip and this is the end of my blog. If you read some/most/all of this, I thank you. I feel if I continued to write about my life after Tanzania it would be unoriginal, contain alot of private jokes and would interest no-one and I have no interest in writing it for myself. So, I'll quit while I'm ahead I guess.

Asante na tutaonana.

What Awaits Me at Home

I leave today (Wednesday 5th September) and arrive home tomorrow.I have mixed feelings about going home. All in all, I'm more than happy to go home but I will definitely miss alot of stuff here.Maybe I have made them out to be horrible but I will miss the unpredictable entertainment of dala dalas. I will miss getting chips or zege whenever I feel like. There is alot I'm going to miss about the daily lifestyle of Dar es Salaam.

There are some things I won't miss though. As I type this, a mosquito just bit me 3 times on my shoulder and once on my finger.I caught him on my finger, squashed him and all my blood that was inside him remained splatted all over my finger with his insides.Also, mosquito related, I won't miss taking lariam. They make me feel sick for a while, had a freaky dream once (wrote about it)and they make me more attractive for mosquitoes to bite. I won't miss being the only early 20s person around the place.

The whole standing out as a mzungu won't be missed.

I dread going into my final year of college. Should be the toughest year of my life to date. I do accept I have to do it as I've had the best year of my life in Linz and Dar. I go back to Dublin where all the kids have shoes, where burning your rubbish outside on the street is an arrestable offence, where women have small asses, where people won't stare at me, where people are generally not as friendly, where there is a legal age for drinking but at the same time where under 18 year olds drink too much, where the windows have glass and the bed don't have nets over them, where the chance of diseases is minimal, where blaring music at 3am for the whole village to hear is a taboo, where young teenagers are cheeky bastards and don't respect their elders, where taxis prices are unmeetable and where a price to go somewhere in Dar is already on the meter just for sitting in the seat and telling the driver where to go, where bouncers and security men won't be masaai warriors and won't have any respect for me, where a shitty beer is 3 times more expensive than a great beer in Dar, where saying you be somewhere at a certain time means you will be there at that time, where people kill flies because they don't like the sound of the buzzing rather than preventing themselves getting bitten, where 1 pot hole on a road is complained about, where there is grass completely covering football pitches, where I can have a hot shower, where the biggest money note is €500 and not 10,000tsh (€6), where the city has an ATM at most corners even if most of them are out of order, where power cuts are rare, where the coast of the city has no or really shitty beaches, where I will spend hours watching a TV even if there is nothing good on,where the Internet connections are at least decent, where the minimum amount of phone credit I can buy is €10 as opposed to the maximum being 5,000tsh (€3), where scumbags walk the streets thinking they are better than me while spitting, smoking "Johnny Blue" and drinking cider!

and finally.... where I won't be living like a king for a few quid !!!! :-(

I would love to come back soon but I've done Tanzania twice now in my youth and young manhood, so for now my life is doing this awful degree so I can get money together through a shitty job in a cubicle where I'll stare at a computer screen for hours while knocking back aspirins to cancel the headaches so I can do more travelling. Who knows where though, I would like to do Asia and North America but.... who knows.

The things I have already marked on the calendar to look forward to are:

1. most noticeably (along with point #2), I go to Switzerland on Monday(10th) to see Kristin. I've been counting down to that for a long while now.


2. Mom's cooking. She's the best cook I know. The few times I'd come home from Linz, I would request a certain dinner but this time, I trust her knowledge. Usually it's her pasta with cream sauce or a chicken broccoli dish.


3. I'm having a piss up gathering in Sweeneys on Friday night (7th Sept) with a few of my friends, so a nice pint of the black stuff is included in this point.


4. The only thing that will keep me sane in final year is the act of insanity and going back to play American Football with my fellow pissheads of DCU Saints. Missing all of last season has made me hungry to crack heads.


5. Spar rolls: "Mayo, plain chicken, red onion, grated cheese please, in that order, thank you."


6. The rugby world cup, sadly I don't think Ireland are ready to take on any major teams but we'll see.


7. Seeing Arcade Fire on concert in October, it shall be epic !!!


8. Philip and I are going on one of usual Dublin pub crawls when I get back from Switzerland and when he is in Dublin for a short while. I love these. Also he got a new dog I'm dying to see.

I'm sure there are a few things I'm looking forward to but have forgotten them right now.

Taking care of the Mzungu

Just a quick post about a dala dala conductor I know to see and he knows me to see and he gives the impression he feels he has to mind me when I'm on his dala dala. He works on a Ubungo-Msasansi dala dala. The first time I met him, I was getting a dala dala home from work. It was full of schoolkids. He told a schoolgirl to get up to let me sit down. (This is quite normal as they don't pay as much as normal folk) She choose not to hear him but the schoolboy sitting beside the window beside her climbed over her to let me sit. After I sat down he gave out to her in Swahili but I heard the word Mzungu about 3 times.
He then said to all the kids on the bus something too as if he was giving out to them all. There was some more small talk but nothing worth reading about.

My next encounter with him was when I was getting a dala dala to Msasani to football.
It was packed. After he asked me how I was and I realised I met him before, he told me I could stand on the step which is a bit lower. (I'm too tall to stand up straight in a Dala Dala)
I was thankful to be honest as usually they don't let you because opening and closing the door can be a problem.

My final encounter was, again on the way to Msasani but I was with Elaine and we were going to meet people for dinner. This time, it was too packed to even close the door. Elaine made it up onto the Dala Dala, but I couldn't perfectly so he said I could stand on the step. My back facing the door and he told me to turn around so I could look out the door as we travelled about 40mph on the main road which had it's bumps. It was great, I felt like a child being invited to the cockpit on a plane and to add to that feeling, Elaine told me to be careful and not fall out.

It's nice having my inner child with the big lolly pop smile again.

My 2nd Dar Cycle

On Monday, 3rd September, My first free Monday from work, Tende was taking a group on an AfriRoots Dar Cycle. I had already gone on one with Mejah but decided to go again. The other people were 3 English people, one of which, a sister of Elaine and Tende's friends and one of Elaine and Tende's friends and her friend who was visiting who are American. To be honest, it was almost completely different.
While cycling we actually had about 20 young school children chanting "Wazungu" (plural of Mzungu) and some guys even making kung fu noises at Janet and her friend has they are of Asian descent. Apparently they are not "wazungu" but "cheenas" (maybe spelt wrong but that's how they pronounced it.) As I've said before, the lack of political correctness without any harsh intent, can be quite funny.

We went on a different route than before, didn't go to the doctor, went to a Dar es Salaam dump (which smelled really bad). We went to a food market and not to the small "movie theatre". We did go to the clothes market, cross that dodgy bridge (which had more bits missing from it than last time) and Masaai salon like before. Although this time there were girls in the group so we saw them braid some extensions to the girls hair. Again the masaai danced for us and again I did a jump or 2. After the dance we took pictures of them and strangely enough, a few of them took out their phones and took pictures of us.

The rest of the group had to go immediately after that so it was just me and Tende let with 5 other bikes plus our own. Before I had never seen a Masaai warrior cycling a bike or wearing a helmet and from public reaction, I don't think it is a common site.

While on the footpaths beside a main road, Tende, 2 Masaai and I started racing. We decided to stop when someone with a huge cart of straw walking against us on the path almost had 4 bicycles crash into it. After some quick thinking and skidding, we all laughed. Tende asked me if I would like to take a small detour back home. I said ok and asked if the Masaai knew it was a longer way, he said no. We cycled through some very small lanes around houses.
I think there were 2 Masaai crashes in them, was quite funny. When I said I was completely disorientated and had no idea where I was, I asked Tende if that was the point (so the Masaai wouldn't be able to find the house again if they wanted) He laughed and said no.

When we got home, it was already after 4pm so I didn't have any recovery time for my last game of football in Dar. I was wrecked after the football to say the least !

Footloose

After spending the day in Q Bar watching a replay of the Milan v Seville Supercup, Liverpool thrash Derby County 6-0, Roy Keanes return to Old Trafford as manager and some US Open tennis while talking to strangers, I decided it was time to go when the people I was talking to decided to leave because the only people left were hookers and dirty old Mzungus and I was a drunken mess.

In the taxi, when we reached Morroco Hotel (which is a 5 minute walk from Elaine's) I decided I would like to walk from there, the taxi man said he would take me home
because Magomeni isn't safe and I could get mugged. So we drove until we got to Elaine's lane. As usual, nearby there was music blaring. My drunken curiosity got the better of me and I walked down. 2 guys were walking to it on front of me. There were about 25 people of all ages, dancing and 2 speakers taller than me playing rhumba music in the middle of a road. It seemed to be organised outside a hallway to some rooms where some families probably live. There were about 5 young boys watching and even a mother with her baby. It's 3am.

I got talking to 1 of the guys that was standing near me. After a while, talking to the guy, a short fat woman grabbed me by the hand and pulled me to the "dance floor". Nobody was dancing with anyone, just everyone was dancing. In my drunken state, I thought it was great fun. I thought to myself I would stay for one song.
About 20 minutes later the song still hadn't ended so I decided I'd sit down for a bit. I then witnessed the height of randomness in Dar. There was a man dancing with only a pair of shorts on (nothing strange about that, TIA !), who must have been very drunk as he had a big branch with leaves down the back of his shorts and he was doing such a funny dance I can't even describe. I laughed. He went inside the hallway and about a minute later walked out and continued to dance with a dustpan on his head.

As I re-read this, I'm beginning to think it was a "you had to be there" moment but I was in stitches laughing. The high volume of beer in my veins probably helped but it was brilliant. The guy was a champion !

I eventually went to bed about 30 minutes into the 2nd song which was about 4am I guess. The next morning I woke up with the nastiest hangover ever and mosquito bites. Around noon, we cycled about 10km to Kipepeo beach where we were meeting some of Elaine and Tende's friends. At one point on the road, the ramps weren't one single big ramp but 4 small bumps one after the other. My head nearly exploded every time I went over them. The beach was really nice. I went on a camel ride. Quite bumpy and especially when he went to stand up at the start and sit down at the end. Fun all the same.

My First Larium Dream

In my 8th week in Tanzania I finally got my first lariam dream. One of the side effects of lariam (a weekly pill taken to prevent getting malaria from mosquito bites) is really weird dreams. Usually, my stomach feels sick and mosquitoes tend to bite me more for a few days after I take it.

Last night (as I write this, it's Wednesday 29th August) we went out and ate at BBQ Village, now my favourite restaurant in Dar. Their spicy chips are fantastic, the shrimps and deep fried prawns are unbelievable (and I don't even like seafood) and even the chicken is top notch. Only downside is, is that the food is hotter on the way out than in. Anyway, I also had a few beers with that so maybe that helped with the weird dream. When we got home, I remembered I forgot to take my lariam on Monday so I took it before going to bed.

My dream was not the weirdest dream I've ever had but it was my first ever dream where somebody died horribly. I can't remember much, but I remember I was down in a dungeon with a guy with a beard. He was looking for something. I've no idea what. There was a window in the middle of the room but there were no walls either side, so it was basically just a window frame with glass. I looked through it and there was a huge rhino on the other side. I jumped and started to run. This seemed to startle the rhino who started running around the window. I was shouting at the bearded man to run for a door that was behind him. I ran through the door which sadly was only a lit up closet with cleaning equipment. The door didn't have a handle but only had a small thing to hold on to, to keep it closed. When I heard the bearded man coming for the door, I let it open. He came in, slammed the door but it just bounced open again. A few seconds later, the rhino came bursting through and kept ramming the man against the wall crushing him, while I stood at the side wondering if the rhino would kill me next.

Then I woke up to the sound of Muslim prayer at 5.30am. That is also strange as I usually sleep through them but I was just glad that Allah saved me from a rhino trying to kill me in a janitor's closet in an empty dungeon.

Funniest Thing I've Ever Heard

Elaine and I went for a cycle to a market in Ilala. She used to live near there for 4 years and we went to her old place and then to a juice bar. During conversation over a passion juice, I asked her what she is doing for Christmas, which evolved quickly into Christmas in Tanzania. She said they don't have Santa Claus here but they do in Zimbabwe. She asked a guy opposite us if he knew who Santa Claus was. He said no.
She then asked the guy who owned the juice bar (who Elaine knows) if he knew who Santa Claus was. He said yes, Elaine said, "really?" He then said in Swahili, "He's a footballer in Europe."

We both must have looked really rude but we just could not stop laughing at his answer. It was brilliant.

Elaine's Addiction

Tende was away on an Afri Roots trip for about 5 days. Elaine looks to me, my laptop and hard-drive in the evenings to entertain her. After watching South Park, Father Ted and films since I've arrived, something new was on the cards. About 3 weeks ago we watched 24, Season 1, episode #1 (12am-1am) but never got around to #2. We finally watched it. 2 days later, we have watched up to 4pm. That's 16 episodes. Since about 6am, in the "longest day" of Jack Bauer's life, Elaine has been the person asking if we should watch 24. It's safe to say, I've got her hooked on it.

She makes stupid predictions about who she thinks is a "bad-ie" or a spy/mole. She's wrong about most of them and continues to make stupid assumptions even after I tell her she makes stupid assumptions but I forgive her since she has given me an excuse to watch 24 all over again.

My Dar Cycle

I was given the opportunity to go on an Afri Roots Dar Cycle instead of going to work as there was a tour with only one other person. I wanted to go on one anyway so the day off work was an added bonus. Mejah was taking the tour as Tende was on Safari.

I got up at 7.30am and cycled to Shopper's Plaza for 8.30am. I met Mejah and Niall (the only customer on this tour) and Emile (Afri Roots trainee) and we went on our way. Mejah said the route was about 18km. I cycle 16km a day to and from work with a laptop on my back so I felt confident I'd be fine.

We set off around the neighbourhoods of Dar es Salaam which was really cool as I mostly only cycle on the main roads everyday. The paths were very bumpy and had some really big puddles almost covering parts of the road from the rain the weekend before. Our first stop was at a local doctor who "inherited" from his father how to treat illness. His office was a tiny dark room that had a small hole in the roof which had a beam of sun shining through when we were there.

We were shown a price list of all different illnesses he treats with a price beside each one. We were told if we had any problems in life including love that he could aid it somehow. Right after the doctor, we had to cross a bridge over a sewage river. The bridge looked as if it could drop at any stage.

After alot more cycling we stopped at a Masaai hair salon where Masaai braid hair and their friends hang out until they have to work as security guards at night time. They did a traditional Masaai dance which I did a little jump. The masaai laughed and gave me high fives. I'm not sure if it was because I was good or terrible at jumping or was it just because a white man was doing a masaai dance. Before the dance, one of the masaai asked Mejah if he could ride one of the bikes.
We had to wait about 5 minutes after the dance for him to return.

We set off from the Masaai and our next stop was a clothes market. The market was divided up into 3 sections: African clothes, 2ND hand clothes and new cheap rip-off clothes from China. (If you saw a Puma t-shirt there, chances are it either wasn't made by Puma or it had a tiny fault and was damaged goods.) It was a big maze of a market and we lost Emile. We walked around it for a while looking for him and went back to the bikes where Emile was waiting.

Our next stop was briefly to a "movie theatre", where you can pay 100TSH to watch 5 films that they decide to show that day. They are mostly Indian movies. We walked to a room in the back where they show pornos. This is illegal apparently.

We then cycled to Magomeni and had lunch. I was starving, hadn't eaten all day. I had rice with a beef sauce and kidney beans which I didn't eat. Finally after lunch, we cycled the couple of hundred metres to the Afri Roots office which, conveniently is Tende and Elaine's house, so basically, my home. The bikes were dropped back, Niall got a taxi back to where-ever he's staying and Mejah and Emile went too.

Mzungu, take a picta.

And I was left with some children outside the gate who saw my camera and kept asking me to take a picture of them. Whenever the flash went off they would laugh, run away and laugh again when I showed them the picture on the camera.

This is not an advertisement but a strong recommendation, I would be saying this even if the company founder hadn't put me up for 2 months rent free. If you are in Dar es Salaam, staying in a nice hotel or some Mzungu friend's house, go on the Dar cycle because that is seeing Dar, where people don't hassle you because they want to sell you something. You won't see craft markets or tourist merchandise for sale because the people you see don't live off wooden elephants or ornamental knives. Dar isn't like a European city where there are monuments or famous landmarks to see but this cycle tour is seeing what Dar is.

Since it was Friday, I was playing my usual football game in Mzungu Country. I had 3 hours to rest before heading over. At the start I was tired but as the game went on, I managed to do more running than I usually can but at the end when I got home, my God, did my legs feel it. My left one cramping up occasionally.

Very enjoyable day altogether.

Squishy Face - The Irritant Continues

I mentioned in a previous post about a man I nicknamed Squishy Face as he is one of the ugliest men I have ever seen and really annoying too, so the harsh name is justified. Once every few days he sees me and will shout something which is getting really annoying. But last night, he raised another level on the annoyance scale.
I was buying phone credit and a bottle of Pepsi, as I usually do, and he came up to me and asked me to buy him a soda. I said no and walked away. I sat down nearby, where I always sit down after buying credit and a drink. He followed. He then asked for 500tsh, I said "no". He then negotiated, "Can I have just some of your soda?"
I think a bit of sick came up into my mouth when I thought about sharing a drink with him. I told him "No, seriously, go away from me".

And this is where he got weird for reasons unknown to me. He said, "OK, you've got big balls." While walking away he shouted back in a really weird tone, "See you later big balls." I have no idea what he meant. While I was still sitting down, looking through my phone or whatever, I hear him standing at a nearby shop that 2 women work in. He shouts over to me, "Baba, kaka !" (which means, "Father, Brother." Strange !!!!) "These people are calling you a woman." I looked over to make sure he was talking to me (He was shouting in English but just to be sure) and yes, he was looking over at me with his ugly squishy smile. He really is ugly. The only reason I would ever give him money is if I can take a picture of him so I can turn everybody off their food for a week.

He hovered around the area until I left. Where I sit is in a side street where not many people are so I felt I should hurry out in case he tried something. Also in my mind was that I had my wallet in my pocket because we had just gone out to dinner.
After I finished my Pepsi, I walked over to a juice shop and watched the 1st half of ENG-ER-LAND vs the Bosh in the new Wembley !!! The bosh were up 2-1 at half time and it finished that way, yaay !!



If the man in this picture had no hair, no beard, alot more simple looking, was black and about 40 years younger, he would be the image of Squishy Face.

Being One With Nature

Just a quick post about a little interaction with nature that was a first for me. Lying on the couch with the laptop on my lap, I felt something against my leg and rubbed it. I felt it again and this time, it felt alot bigger than a mosquito. I lifted my leg, looked around but there was nothing. I thought it was just a corner of one of the cushions.

I then felt something crawl up the back of my leg, inside my shorts. I didn't realise it was inside my shorts and again, tried brushing it away. It moved again and I realised for certain it was not a mosquito and it was in my shorts making sudden uncomfortable advances North, to where no man has ever gone before. I jumped, reached up the leg of my shorts, moved my hand rapidly around while quietly praying and loudly cursing.

I stopped for a moment and felt nothing. The light was off so I used the light from the laptop screen to look around. Sure enough, there it was, on my lower leg. All that panic was just over a baby lizard.

But on the other hand, I think any man would act the same if a lizard was going to their neather regions.

The Novelty of Being the Only Mzungu in the Village

In Tanzania, it is common for the kids to say to me, whatever time of day it is, "Good morning". This is because in school they are taught to say good morning, in the morning. I guess the education system failed to tell them what "morning" translates to Swahili.
It is also usual for Elaine to be called Mama or Mama Ndogu (Basically, younger sister of my mama) or Mama Mkubwa (older sister of Mama). It's a well respected thing for someone to be old and for women to be fat. Sign of wealth and wisedom I guess. Anyway, the kids usually call Elaine whatever they feel suitable by putting her in same age bracket of their family. What isn't usual for me to be called Baba(father). Rarely but sometimes, older guys call me Kaka (brother) but usually the kids simply say Mzungu.

While making a routine 5,000tsh phone call to Kristin, there were 4 children nearby giggling anytime I looked at them and a (delirious looking) child of about 2 years (possibly the one who pissed itself right on front of me before) walked over to me.
It (no way of telling if it was a he or she so it's an it to me) stopped basically 15cm from my knees and looked up and stared at me.
(Under Kristin's orders, I was not to kick the baby ! It was only a suggestion.)
One of the giggling children came over and picked her up to bring her away at the same time an old man passing by, told them something and made hand gestures to which a Mzungu would take as "Leave the Mzungu alone and go away".

After I was finished on the phone and with all the children nearby, I finished my bottle of Pepsi as the children proceeded to say "Good morning Father".
I thought this was hilarious and replied politely "Good morning" (at 7.30pm). This seemed to encourage them to shout after me as I walked away "Good morning Father".

While in a souvaneir shop in Slipway (the white man/tourist's area to hang out), I told the woman I'd be back since I'm here for 2 months. She asked what I was doing here, blah blah blah, but when she asked me where am I staying, I said Magomeni, she said "No you don't." I said I did and eventually she believed me when I said spefically where. "It's a very local Tanzanian area and some people don't like it there" was the responce to why she didn't believe me. Telling her the dala dala route I took to Slipway also suprised her but convinced her I do live in Magomeni.
She was suprised I take a dala dala. I asked the price of a chair, "25,000" she said. "20,000" I replied. "23,000" she negotiated. "I live in Magomeni, 20,000".
She accepted and then said that Magomeni isn't that bad.

Recently while at one of the many local chippers, a guy came up to me. He had a squashed up face like the man in the Irish bar sign but on a young black man. To make it easy, I shall call him Squishy Face. So anyway, Squishy Face asked me for 1,000tsh. I said no. 500tsh. No. 100tsh. No! "Ok my friend, 1,000tsh" and it went down to 100tsh again. After making some joke about me in Swahili to another guy, he said "Ok my friend, I will try again tomorrow". Fantastic I thought. 2 days later, at the same chipper, Squishy Face was talking to a man in a suit who was making excuses why he didn't have money (in English for some reason). The man saw me and being a kind soul, told the Squishy Face to practise his English on the Mzungu. I looked at the man in the suit and said no. Then Squishy Face looked at me and shouted with delight, "Aaah, my friend !!" I loudly told the man in the suit I'm not talking to Squishy Face and thankfully I think Squishy Face heard me and left me alone.

Being the only Mzungu in the village does have some benefits. The entire group of taxi men that are near where I play football all know they are dropping me to Fundakira in Magomeni for 7,000tsh. No negotiation needed. I hated negotiating prices here.
The guy I buy phone credit off knows that mostly I want 5,000tsh Zantel. I've even asked for 1,000tsh and he won't understand my Swahili and produce 5,000tsh. He allows me to walk off with a bottle of Coke and knows I will return the bottle.
I've had some really stupid times where I had to stand outside the shop and finish it. I'm not the only Mzungu at the University but probably the only one who eats in the cafe in the basement. They know what I eat for breckfast and lunch.
I don't even know what they are called. They also know I don't speak Swahili and make fun sometimes, fun fun !

Ah well, it's all fun and games down here in the Southern hemisphere.... depending on my mood which is why I hate the guys that shout Mzungu at me when I'm cycling in to work. Cycling home I don't care.

Congrats Rico, You Did It !!!

Just a quick congrats to a very good buddy of mine Eric "the Walrus" Wahlrab, who did his Erasmus in Budapest and has just finished cycling home. 1,300km or just under 1,000 miles. His blog is here (and on my side menu ---> )
He took time out to visit Linz but due to exhaustion and alot of rain, he didn't do alot there but the fact he stopped in my home away from home was nice. His tactics to force himself to do it were quite clever, in a way. He told so many people he would do it, so that he couldn't back out after telling everyone. Congrats again Rico, I honestly didn't think you would do it when you mentioned it to me outside DCU library during repeat exam season 2006.

Isn't he gorgeous in his cycling gears ladies !!!!

Day at the Goat Races

Saturday morning, I went to Slipway to get a haircut. I had been informed that I could get a white man haircut there. After the haircut I went to get breakfast in a pub named "The Pub". It was fantastic, fried eggs, toast, sausages, rashers, french toast and coffee.

I got a taxi to the goat races and was meant to be meeting Elaine there. She didn't turn up for hours but thankfully, after 2 lonely beers, some of Elaine's friends spotted me. The purpose of the goat races is to raise money for charity. Sadly, it's a once a year thing and not (as I had assumed) a typical African past-time.
There are shops, stalls and a hell of alot of drink. The day isn't actually about the goat races, that's just the excuse.

Out of the 6 races, I saw 4 and bet on 2 (didn't win anything). Elaine won one 5000tsh bet and got back 15,000tsh (€9). All goats have the same odds as it is all very random. The owners of the winning goats got about 1,000,000tsh (€600,000) but of course they all donated it back to charity. Couldn't see myself doing that.
Apparently last year, someone didn't and it was........ a topic of conversation.

The race track is about 50 metres and the goats do 2 laps while the owners and their family/friends stand in the middle. The "jockeys" run behind the goats and 2 guys run with a big bar to make sure the goats go. They usually stayed all together but on the long stretches, sometimes one would sprint away. The jockeys didn't actually do anything. If I was out there, I would have smacked/kicked my goat up the arse to get it moving, on the last stretch anyway. The last race was at 4.50pm and most people seemed quite tanked at that stage. The heat of the sun helped people too.

After the races finished, we went to a house to watch the Liverpool v Villa game and planned to order food in but sadly it wasn't on an available channel so we went to the Garden Bistro for dinner. The day ended at about 11pm and a really crappy night sleep followed.

I woke up at about 3am because next door were having a party and were blasting traditional Eastern African music. I fell back asleep at 5am but apparently the music was still on when Elaine was getting up. My hand sticking out of the mosquito net, allowing a feast for the mozzies, unfortunately didn't aid my getting back to sleep.

Bite me once, shame on you, bite me a few hundred times, shame on me. I'm still Lord of the Flies.

Fowl Play !!!!!

The chickens have run away !!!!

(Do you like the title of this post? I'm so proud !)

Sunday morning (5th August), exactly one week after buying the hens, I untied Fruhstuck (white hen). After I untied her, she still stayed in the yard. If I walked across them, Abendessen would usually hop up and climb out the fence but would always come back. Fruhstuck hadn't figured out how to escape yet.

Wednesday morning, 10.38am, public holiday, Nane nane (8th of the 8th), they were gone. I didn't think too much of it since Abendessen always jumped through the fence and always came back. Wednesday afternoon, 1.48pm, I was going to town, walked down the road, I think I saw them back at their old home. I wasn't going to run after 2 hens to find out they weren't mine after all. Plus, I still thought they might come back.

Wednesday night, 8.58pm, I put an alert out for 2 ungrateful hens on the run...... well, I told Elaine they had gone. Oh well, she said. Oh well, I agreed.
Thursday morning, 8.18am, I have accepted that the hens have gone forever.

I have decided that, they have until midnight tonight (Thursday night/Friday morning) to come back and things will be like they used to be, we will laugh, we will play and ..... well, no, they will just get fed properly but if they don't come back and I see them again before I leave, it's the frying pan for them.

Fruhstuck, You're Free !!!

I felt that, after one week of being tied to a car wheel and being restricted to a radius of about 5 feet, that it was time to free Fruhstuck. Abendessen seems to realise that this is her home and doesn't stray far at all so I presumed Fruhstuck would do the same.

I was untying her in a fit of laughter as when I stood on the rope and she was trying to run away, she jumped on a flower pot, tried to jump off the other side but the rope wasn't long enough and her face ended up slamming on the ground. It was something you would see in a cartoon. Once her face was on the ground and her legs and arse pointing to the sky and resting on the flower pot, she didn't move. Maybe out of shock, fear or maybe out of embarrassment.

So anyway, she is now free, has been for a few days now and hasn't disappeared. I haven't seen her outside the yard yet so I honestly don't know if she knows how to get out. I don't know why she doesn't follow Abendessen. Anyway, I'm sure she will get it.

While on a dala dala, I was sitting in the front and I saw a goat run out onto the road with what looked like broken rope tied to it's neck and soon after, a young guy sprinting after it. The goat kept running in the middle of the road, almost getting hit by another dala dala. When the dala dala stopped, a car obviously thought it was stopping to let people get out, so it pulled out to pass it, quite fast. The goat was still running and almost ran face first into the front of the car but the car stopped just in time and the goat turned and ran down another street. By this time, the guy was wrecked and was shouting at other people, I'm presuming to try catch the goat. Sadly I didn't see the end of this as my dala dala drove on.

But, seeing this made me feel alot less stupid about when my hens first escaped about 10 minutes after I bought them. I wonder if he ever got the goat back.

My New Past-Time

I now play football every Monday and Friday and possibly every Wednesday too but that could be annoying and expensive to get to every week. We play in an Mzungu compound (like a guarded estate of houses). We play on a small pitch but is plenty big enough for up to 8 a side. We usually get about 5 or 6 a side. There is grass is some places but its mostly red clay which gets in my nose and throat and can be annoying by the end. And after each session, my legs are covered in this red clay that they look like a 20 year old Irish girls face on a Saturday night. (Fake tan jibe there for anyone who didn't get that !!)

I'm definitely the youngest Mzungu there and usually there are 1 or 2 Tanzanians but I'd say they are a bit younger than me but I could be very wrong. I'm about average on the ability scale. There are a few guys alot better than me, most noticeably Joey (Irish) and Erick (Norwegian). It is mostly Irish, some English and 2 guys from some Latino South American country. Some other countries too. Oh, and obviously the Tanzanians are better than me because they can be annoyingly skillful, most of them.

Not only does it benefit my fitness and social aspects of life, it also is an excuse to leave work early ! I leave work at 3.30pm and cycle home. When I get home, I only change my t-shirt and put football shorts in a bag. I have designated a pair of socks to play in as they are already completely destroyed. I play in my runners which can be annoying as most of the guys have boots and I skid a bit more than they do, but I get by. I get the dala dala to Msasani and a taxi to Valhalla compound which I just say 2,000tsh(€1.20) and they always accept. Considering it costs about €4 to put your bum in a Dublin taxi, I don't have an issue with haggling the price down. I always get him to stop at a shop near the compound to buy water.

After the football, I walk down to the shop and buy a Pepsi and a small bottle of water to cool down and walk to the taxis that are always at this certain tree. One will always come up to me saying "Taxi". I use Swahili so they will not overcharge me (contradicting above point but by this stage, I'm tired, before I'm just excited to play football) but these guys seem fair anyway. I say "Mambo vipi, naenda Magomeni, elfu sita", which means, "What's up, I'm going to Magomeni, 6,000". They reply 7,000(€4.20) and I say "sawa sawa" (cool cool). I would say 7,000 but the Swahili for 7 & 9 have a hard time staying in my head. But at this stage, I think they know me because when I say Magomeni, they sometimes say "Fundakira?" which is where we live exactly and one taxi driver asked me whats days I play football on. I then get driven home while I try and sit forward, due to common curtsy, I don't want to layer his seat with sweat. When I get home, I wash the red out of my hair, off my face, arms and legs and pretend I'm in a murder film.

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the new thing to pass my time in Dar es Salaam.

An Update on Life and Beyond !!!

As their is nothing worth dedicating a whole blog post to, I'll just give a brief update on life and beyond.

Life in Tanzania is still going good, but missing life in Dublin and Linz is really getting to me. People from Linz meeting up and the boys going to the Shamrock Bowl in Limerick at the weekend. I attended my first online Mensafest last night. (People from Linz having a conference chat on skype) Was a good laugh.

I woke up a few days ago with a small back ache, cycled to work and it got worse. I think it's my bed as every morning, it's worse than how it felt the night before. I played football on Wednesday hoping it would loosen up but it stayed the same, I just played worse than I usually do. It's TFI Friday (3rd August) as I write this and I am meant to be playing football after work but I think I'll give it a miss. Tomorrow, I will look around for a massage parlour or something. Hopefully somewhere that doesn't have mzungu prices. I asked Tende if he knew where I could get a massage for non-mzungu prices, he laughed and replied, in most of the bars and clubs at night time.

Work is also getting more interesting as I am actually making progress on Tende's Afri Roots flash multimedia CD. The most interesting part is that I haven't bothered touching the project I'm doing for the company I'm working in and I'm sticking to the more interesting one. I haven't written about what I'm doing at work as it's not very interesting.

A Brief Rant !
To get a taxi, you must know exactly where you are going because if it's off the beaten track, the taxi driver won't know but he will tell you he does, just to get your taxi fare. IDIOTS !! I was meant to be playing football on Wednesday at 5pm at someones house but my taxi driver was such a tool that I didn't get there until 5.30pm. Anyway, it's good to talk !

Inflation in Dar is terrible: Dala dalas have gone up a massive 50tsh. Do they think we are made of money? I mean, that's a massive 3 cent to the common European. Shocking stuff altogether. Speaking of dala dalas, I have forgotten to mention a very strange yet common occurrence. It's not unusual to see guys in Rollerblades holding to the back of the dala dalas hitching a free ride. They are going along a main road at about 50mph when a single bump in the road could make them fall and kill them. Rollerblading seems quite popular in Dar. Each man to himself !

A Strange Occurrence
Sitting outside a shop last night, drinking a Coke, talking to Kristin on the phone, a child, maybe 2 years old came over to me and stared until the mother pulled it away. Just as my credit on the phone went, the child sat down on the ground opposite me, still staring with it's mouth open and tongue edging over it's lips, I said mambo and strangely enough, it began to piss it's pants. Some rasta standing nearby thought it was quite funny. I'm guessing 'it' was my reaction and not the situation of the child pissing itself.

I will untie Fruhstuck from her ball and chain on Sunday, as I think a level of trust has developed, as much as a level of trust between a man and 2 hens can develop.

Nature around my daily life
At home, we have small lizards, mosquitoes and my personal addition of hens. I found a dead but twitching cockroach in my shower, Elaine was man enough to remove it for me. At the University where I work, there are a group of baboons that are around the place. I've only noticed these recently. When closing the door of my shower/pit-toilet at work, a cockroach dropped past my head. They are the most disgusting looking things I have ever seen. I thank God that they do not exist in Ireland, maybe Saint Patrick got rid of those too, like he did the snakes. My most strange sighting though was when I was walking up the stairs to the office, out the window, I saw a lizard walking around that must have been 3 feet long and probably .75 of a foot high. Those numbers mightn't sound impressive but it was MASSIVE !!!

I think I've written about every strange and wonderful observation in Dar es Salaam which means that new entries in the blog will be very rare unless something strange happens worth telling, eg. A stunned looking child soiling itself. I'm trying to keep it interesting and not boring day to day stuff. And by the way, putting my pictures online is a slow process and most of the time, randomly, the Internet at work can't put them up.

Chicken Update

Well, the chickens are still with me. Abendessen has not run away but is still untied. I'm afraid that if I chase her, she will get scared and disappear.
Since she is still around, no harm leaving her untied. On Saturday, I must go to a farm shop and buy something called Tetra-something-something.
It kills diseases in chickens and Fruhstuck is kind of looking a bit sad. I'll get it for both of them but I don't know if Fruhstuck is getting sick
or is just jealous that her sister is running free and she still has a bit of rope attached to her leg.
I'm keeping her tied up because I think if Fruhstuck is kept in the yard, Abendessen won't go off anywhere on her own.

There is not too much information on the Internet about what they eat and what is on the Internet, is not in Tanzania. I bought them rice but had the feeling I heard somewhere that it could make them explode but Elaine, being all wise said, no, it won't. I also bought them, what I think is flour. Tende said they eat that. Anyway, all the rice is gone from the ground.

I was later talking to my good friend Nigel Alley who lived on a farm as a young nipper and chickens used to chase him for his biscuits. And he informed me that I should soak or cook the rice in water as it expands and if it expands in their stomach, it can kill them.

So anyway, the chickens are doing fine. They have provided competition for all the small lizards in the yard in eating all the insects. I wonder do they eat small lizards????

Chicken Run

Ladies and gentlemen, I got 'em.
It was a bit of effort but I got them. Their names are Fruhstuck(white hen) and Abendessen(brown hen).

I walked to Usalama market on Sunday morning in the hunt for chickens. My idea was to buy tiny little chickens. Usalama market only sell grown up hens that are meant for dinner that evening, so my hunt continued.

I walked home and saw some very small chickens following a hen near Elaine's place.
I asked Elaine to come with me to translate if they were for sale. She decided to ask the shoe shine guy outside briefly if he knew where to get some. A guy helping someone with a broken down car overheard and said his relation up the road will sell some. It was the same hens and chickens I saw earlier. I asked about the chickens and was told that they are difficult to raise and would probably die very soon. So I bought 2 young hens for 10,000tsh (€6).

On Saturday, I had bought some chicken wire and put it on the bottom of the big gate. I made it big enough to keep small chickens in. I also cut my fingers to bits while putting up the chicken wire. I also had about 6 young children sitting at the other side of the gate talking to me while I did it.

The hens were brought back to the yard and were exploring the yard. They climbed on a flower pot and made a jump for the small gate and climbed out. There were people outside still at the broken car. Billy and some others went after Abendessen, who ran left and a boy of about 10 and I went after Fruhstuck, who ran right. Fruhstuck ran into the site next door where a mosque is being built. By the time we chased him out of the site, Abendessen had been caught and was back in the yard and Fruhstuck was running across the road to his old home. At this stage there were about 5 guys following her trying to herd her into a corner. Eventually Fruhstuck was caught.
We used a long shoelace to tie Fruhstuck in the yard, to a car wheel without a tyre.

Abendessen was still running free around the yard. Along the side of the house is a path where the clothes are hung out. Abendessen was down there. I tried to grab her but she flew over me. Billy was at the other end and forced her back down and again she ran past me and through the gate at the end of the path into the neighbours. Billy and I went around with a towel. There was a woman sitting down doing something with a basket of rice. So, Billy and I caught Abendessen while this woman was calmly amused. When we were walking back around, all the guys around the broken down car were laughing because they saw the hen had escaped again.

So eventually, the hens are mine, they are tied up until they know where home is and Sarah and Billy got their taxi to the airport.

I thought this would be the end of the post so I went out to check on them. Abendessen, the cunning little sandwich filler, had got out of his knot and was roaming free around the yard. I tried cornering him down the side path again but he kept getting past me. Clearly the farmer within is coming out. Again she climbed through the back gate, so again, I went around the back and our neighbour helped me grab him while his son sat on a potty saying hello to me.

So, I finally have my chickens...... and I have no idea what to do with them now !!!!
They have 5 weeks until they are shipped out again to a new home.

All very exciting on my 4th weekend in Tanzania.

Monday morning, their first night is over. AND ABENDESSEN IS NOT TIED UP AGAIN !!! She's a clever one. I will leave her untied since she is still in the yard and chasing her will probably lead to another escape and I hope she will stay and be her sister's companion.

Now, That's Using Your Head

The posture of Tanzanian people is something to be admired. It's a common thing to carry things on the head instead of hands. There is no limit of what someone can put on their head. The most common example is the woman walking down the road with a bucket or basin of water on her head.

Around the house, there is a man who sells sweeping brushes. His stock is kept in a sack which he keeps on his head while walking around, shouting that he is selling sweeping brushes.
Also around the house, but I've only seen this man once, is a man who sells rat poison packets, and again, walks around with them on his head.

Some of the stranger items I've seen on a person's head (starting with the smallest):

• A girl in a school uniform walking with one small copy book on her head.
• A man walking with a perfectly folded shirt on his head


• The brooms and rat poison have already been mentioned


• And to show how technology is advancing all across the world, I saw a woman with........a desktop computer on her head (excluding the monitor)
  

Their balance is quite amazing. It was only today when I was cycling to work, a woman with a bucket of water crossed my path without looking, I skidded, she jumped and the water barely rippled.

I still don't see the point in walking with something on your head that is so small or light that it would be easier to hold it in your hand rather than walking around like you have a spoon up your bum.

Anyway, that's life, or as they say in France.... zat is laf !!

I'm the Only Mzungu in the Village

If I'm walking, cycling or in a dala dala, it is as common as a cold for me to hear someone say or shout "Mzungu" at me or about me. Usually it's kids using it when I pass by as they greet me but alot of adults use it too. It basically means white man.

The Wikipedia definition of "Mzungu"

I love the way that beside the singular and plural version of the term it has the possessive word. "My white man". Like a pet or something.
Yesterday, I was walking to a shop to get a drink and I passed 3 women, one of which said "Oooh, mzungu !" I'm guessing she didn't know I knew the word because when I looked back for a second, she awkwardly said mambo (hello) and the other 2 started laughing.
It's not a word that is meant to be an insult or anything like that, but to me it just sounds a bit weird. Imagine walking down Grafton Street and saying out loud, "Oooh, a black man !" Hopefully it's a word I can bring back to Dublin and find some use for it.

A Bright Idea

To continue my year of doing something different, as maybe the whole living in Tanzania thing is getting a bit stale for everyone (except me of course) so I thought to myself,
"Damian, what do the people want?"

"Well Damian, alot of people have been talking about owning an elephant, seeing "your" elephant etc, so why don't you get an elephant?" I replied.

To which I replied, "C'mon now Damian, you are not suggesting we buy or steal an elephant, you can't exactly slip it into your bag !!"

"Hmmm, very true", I agreed. "But it would be cool to own some sort of pet here. Something that wouldn't need all of my time and something I could give away at the end of this trip."

"Wow Damian, what are you thinking??", I thought.

"Well Damian, that is a stupid question to ask yourself", I replied.

"Hmmm, philosophical." I said while stroking the hairs on my chinny chin chin.

"Drifting off the point here Damian, what about a chicken?" I suggested.

"Haha, that would be funny, but how much are they? I'm not willing to spend too much on a stupid chicken. And we would have to get 2, to keep each other company."

"Well, we can ask around for a price, and sure, why not get 2", I concluded.

And that is what I thought to myself. So far, my research into the matter has come up with, a chicken would cost about 3000-4000 (€1.20-€1.80) and a hen would maybe be double. The shop across the road sells grain and all of that kind of stuff. I would need a small pen to prevent them getting out as usually hens are crawling through the fence anyway. And I'm sure there are plenty of people who would take 2 free hens at the end of it all. Give them a nice home in their garden or oven or whatever.
Ooh, just thought, Elaine and Tende's permission might be required too. I'd say they won't be too bothered as long as it doesn't affect their lives.

Give me a week or 2 and I'll update the blog on this topic.

Afri Roots Safari

Day 1: Monday 16th July

We left the house at 8.30am and got to our 1st destination at about 5pm with the careful driving of our driver, John Bosco. Our camp was called Ndovu Camp. This translates to Elephant camp. It was located about 500 metres outside the Selous Game Park. All the brochures boast that this park is bigger than Switzerland. About 5 minutes before we got there, we saw our first elephant. This was just outside the camp. We also saw some baboons. Our first night there, we just settled in, had dinner and went to bed. While eating, we could hear baboons in the distance and when we were about to go to bed, we heard an elephant make a loud noise that didn't sound too far away. Our tents were like army tents with a roof made of coconut leaves. The nearest one was mine, next door was Tende and Elaine and down the end was Billy and Sarah.

(By the way, Sarah and Billy - my sister and her boyfriend, came to Tanzania for a 2 week holiday)

About 12am, I heard an elephant pulling leaves off a tree about 10 metres away on the side opposite to everyone else. After a few hours of sleep, I woke up to a loud banging noise. I soon realised that an elephant was right outside my window. I could see the silhouette of his legs with the lantern outside Tende and Elaine's door. Behind that elephant, I could see another elephant walking between our 2 tents. His walking was like slow motion and he didn't make a single sound, not a sound of a dry leaf being stepped on, nothing. They spent about 15 minutes outside my tent. My adrenaline glands were knackered after they left. I slept like a baby after that, apparently sleeping through another group of elephants walking through.

Day 2: Tuesday 17th July

The next morning, we left for Selous Game park. While we were driving on the road, someone spotted an elephant on the side of the road, John Bosco jammed on the brakes, startling the elephant to say the least. He was about to charge at us but Tende told John Bosco to drive on. In the game park, the hunters clearly don't care too much to hunt giraffe. They were everywhere. We saw alot of impala and wildebeest too. We drove around some big lakes, full of hippos and the crocodiles would quickly go into the water whenever we came. One group of hippos we saw were surrounding a baby hippo, protecting it from the crocs.

Highlight of the day was when we spotted a hyena lying down in the shade. We drove over near him, he got up a walked away. Then Tende saw a leopard, which are quite rare to see. We drove over to him and he ran to the back of a bush. When we were driving to turn around, there was a impala that had all its organs eaten out but still had the meat on his bones. After we looked at that and drove a bit away, the hyena was quick to try and take the leopard's kill. The leopard then had a go at the hyena and chased him away. We were hoping he would start eating the meat and waited around for a while but he looked too tired after getting his kill and scoffing down the insides to finish his meal or even pull it up a tree.

After spending some looking for lions, we met another tourist jeep who told us where some were. So we drover to the location and there was another jeep there in the long grass looking at the 2 lions lying down. It started to rain so we had to get out of this area so not to get stuck in the mud. We mostly stuck to the lake and then went back to the camp for dinner, beer and bed. This night, I didn't sleep too well, the elephants were very loud eating. One group of them were outside Billy and Sarah's tent. One elephant pulled down some leaves off their roof. Some really stupid people in the tent next to them obviously got scared so started making noise and even came out with their lantern. Then the elephants left.

Day 3: Wednesday 18th July

Our second day on safari, which was Tende's birthday, ended with a walking safari, but not before another elephant decided to charge at us. We got too close and stuck in a small dip in the road. When the elephant started going mad, John Bosco tried to reverse but we couldn't get out of the big hole. Tende told him to rev the engine and when he did, the elephant stopped, looked confused and agitated and walked off in a hurry.

We ate lunch overlooking a dry river bed where 2 elephants were digging to find water and drinking. After lunch, we were driving to our campsite when we saw alot of vultures circling an area in the distance. We thought it was a kill but when we got there, we were told we couldn't go closer by park rangers. Poachers had killed an elephant and took it's tusks. They got 3 that day. It was terrible.

We drove to our camp, set up the tents and got ready for the walking safari. Thankfully, on the walking safari, we didn't cross paths with any lions, leopards etc. We came across warthogs, zebra, wildebeest, impala and giraffes. We walked beside the lake with the crocs and hippos. We also walked over a murder scene (A big patch of blood on the ground). We ended up at a hot spring where we went swimming.
Due to the lack of facilities in our campsite, this would be our wash for the day. When we got back to the camp, we set up a fire and we made dinner. We sang Happy Birthday to Tende and ate a cake Elaine had made for him.

After dinner I used the pit toilet. It was absolutely horrible. Tende informed me that if someone fell in, they would have to be treated for burns. After I was done, treatment for burns would be required if someone simply looked in it. When we were getting ready to go to sleep, Sarah spotted green dots when she shined the torch at the bushes. They were hyena's eyes. It was creepy. There were 2 of them. We could also hear hippos. The camp was set up on a hippo path. They come out of the water at night and this is one of the paths they use. While lying in my tent and the camp fire on my view, I was dying to see hyenas around the fire or a hippo. I was paranoid that every noise I heard, I thought was right beside my tent. Maybe it was but I doubt it. Due to several beers in my belly, I had to pee really bad. I decided I was not going to risk walking to the pit and just opened the tent, stood up and aimed to the side. I shined the torch around to see if any hyenas were about. There was only one but even one set of green eyes was creepy enough. I must have been nervous or something, as I had to pee 3 times in the middle of the night. At one stage in the night, I saw a hyena checking out the campfire and around it but that was it for the night.

Day 4: Thursday 19th July

Plans for the next were to drive out of the game park and drive to Mikumi to our final accommodation. Basically it was a B&B. This drive was about 10 hours of very bumpy dirt road. It was tough going. When we got there, we were so exhausted we just ate and went to bed.

Day 5: Friday 20th July

The final excursion was a hike up to Sanji Falls in Udzungwa. The views were incredible. When we were walking down, we came across about a thousand termites attempting to fly for the first time. 20 seconds later, an army of ants came in, in 2's and 3's and absolutely massacred the termites. It was my first viewing of a safari kill.
To be honest, it was cool the way they kicked ass. When we got the bottom, we went swimming in a cold spring and it was very cold. I would even go as far to call it nippy !!!!!

Day 6: Saturday 21th July

Our final day was just a 7 hour drive back to Dar. We drove on this main road which was through a game park. Imagine driving on the M50 (motorway in Ireland) and looking left and seeing 4 elephants, a few 100 yards down the road are a few giraffes but you can't keep your eyes off the road for too long as you might hit a baboon or an impala that was crossing.
Finally we arrived back in Dar, absolutely wrecked, so what do we do? Go out to an Ethiopian Restaurant and out to a club where the live band was so cheesy it was like a wedding. Fantastic !! Some drunk was trying to tell me he was Jesus which was...... amusing. Then back to bed to recover.