Epic Journey Back to Site

So after our safaris and tropical island rest and relaxation it was time to head home, crossing all of Tanzania and Malawi. After so many crazy African buses, we decided to give the train on this continent a chance. Getting tickets was a nightmare, and Luc had a mini breakdown after trying unsuccessfully for three hours at the station. Luckily Janet made a couple phone calls and solved the problem. The old Tazara line built by the Chinese in the 1970's has received no non-essential maintanence since. Half the electricity dind't work, we found several holes in the floor we could watch the tracks zooming by through, our bathroom was only functional for #1, for #2 we had to go to the next car, and of course the engine broke down, delaying our trip for 7 hours while they sent a new locomotive to relieve us. Us being foreigners everyone assumed we were engineers ready to fix the problem so they brought us into the engine room, unfortunately our white person magic did nothing. The train was spacious though, at least in 1st class were we had our own cabin, dining car and lounge. We remarked several times how glad we were not to be in third class pressed up with all the humanity, we've done plenty of that already. We passed the time watching Tanzania roll by, eating food and drinking beverages in the lounge, and chatting with all the world citizens and PC tanzania volunteers we meet, passing on and recieving travel tips. Pepe particulary enjoyed the various Spanish speakers we coincided with. The train traversed the Selous National Park and even though a locomotive isn't the best safari vehicle, we spotted animals and enjoyed an amazing sunset. So, on aggregate, we would take the train over a bus, especially for any distance over 20 hours. Northern Malawi was scenic, with plenty of views of the lake, but with the ongoing fuel crisis and so many bus routes cancled, all the transport is uncomfortably sardine can jammed packed. Luckily one of the police at one of the numerous roadblocks confiscated the 10 drums of fuel one of the passangers was trying to smuggle from Tanzania because the fumes had been making us nauseus. We've tried to shield Luc's dad from some of the less pleasant aspects of life here, but transport is always hard. He's been a trooper though and enjoyed getting to experience the real Africa. Hopefully readjusting to teaching and life in site won't be to challenging after so much action and adventure, but we're really going to try to make the most of it now that the end of service is within sight.

Zanzibar

Exotic spice islands, white sandy beaches, medeival forts and mosques, narrow meandering streets, Sinbad the sailor, Zanzibar lived up to everything we imagined. It was the perfect way to relax, sleeping in an old but nicely restored Swahili mansion overlooking the ocean, after all our hundreds of miles of African travel. There are a lot of tourists here, and some aspects of Stonetown have been cleaned up and Disneyfied since Janet's last stay here, but we've been living in Africa since 2009, so we've already had plenty of authentic experiences. It was still Ramadam, so daytime food was still scarce, but the night time food market made up for it, with Zanzibari pizzas, shishkabobs galore, and Pepe's favorite chicken shwarma. Curio vendors and touts get a little aggressive with all the business opportunities us foreigners present, but we had Janet's swahili to neutralize their sometimes outrageous demands and prices. We did plenty of shopping, so maybe some of you will get a Zanzabari souvenir for Christmas. Luc did a couple of early morning runs to some outlying ruins and Janet enjoyed sleeping in every day. Sunsets were gaurenteed awesome every night, overlooking the ocean with traditional Swahili boats. We experienced some traditional Taarab music while dining on fancy Swahili cuisine in an old palace sitting on pillows. There were also plenty of places to just sit and relax and plenty of amazing views to absorb. We also got out of town for a day and actually got to have some normal interactions with locals, including some impromptou lessons with a group of Zanzibari students eager to practice their English. The modern ferry back and forth from the mainland was a smooth two hours and we even saw humpback whales. It was a great farewell to vacation, now we just need to get back to site for third trimester.

Lion King Time

The next phase of our trip was safari in northern Tanzania, but to make it possible we had to spend a hungry day organizing travel details in hectic Dar, where finding daytime food wasn't happening in the predominantly Muslim city center. Luckily nightfall magically transformed the streets into barbecue feasts. We also found time for site seeing the German buildings, drinking extremely strong coffee with locals, and touring the smelly fish market and sea shell stalls. Then it was an all-day bus to Arusha through sisal plantations and Rift Valley landscapes, including an up-close view of Mt. Kilimanjaro and its disappearing glaciers. We went with a "luxury" bus company so even though it was 10 hours at least we had our own seats. We had already done our homework sorting through potential scams and booking a safari tour since it is nearly impossible to visit the northern parks without your own 4x4. We chose a camping safari so our Land Rover was packed with tents, sleeping bags, pads and all our food, along with affable Cosmas, our guide/driver and Luc's new best friend and Sokoine the cook and another Italian couple. To describe in brief, the luck on this safari was the kind that happens once in ten years. It was like driving in a National Geographic documentary, seeing highlight reels that take naturalist thousands of filming hours to compile. Janet had specifically requested cheetahs, and presto! Our first day in the Serengeti we see a cheetah chasing a Thompson's gazelle, which escaped leaving the winded sprinter panting in plain view 10 feet from Janet's window. Serengeti means 'endless plain' in the Maasai language and the scene was indeed that, a sea of golden grass so easy on the eyes, punctuated by the iconic flat-topped acacias. We also saw Pride Rock, islands of granite called 'kopjes' dotting the otherwise flat landscape. Speaking of Simba, we saw more lions than we can count, sleeping, eating, playing with their cubs, posing next to the road and on our last day, in Ngorongoro Crater, providing some serious fireworks for the grand finale. A pride of 15 lions took down an adult buffalo, the specific event our guide had coincidentally told us the first day was the most exciting thing he'd seen in his 7-year career. He even let us climb on the roof of the safari vehicle to get better views of this once in a lifetime spectacle. Janet teared up as the lions struggled with all their force and cunning to take down the mighty beast. Eventually the roars, grunting, and splashing ended as the buffalo surrendered and the lions chowed down. Time to make our exit from this amazing bowl of wild animals... but wait! What's this? There a lioness in the road. She had been stalking a herd of wildebeest for the past three hours and we happened to arrive for the exciting climax. We had the prime spot and quietly watched her creep closer and closer to her prey, carefully peaking over the berm of the road until she had just the right spot, her skill and patience apparent to all except for the unfortunately oblivious wildebeest. So with Janet silently cheering her on, she made her leap and in a cloud of dust, came up with a wildebeest by the throat and slowly suffocated it to death over the next 5 minutes. Exhausted she laid in the grass to recovered, exposing her bloody fur. Janet was also exhausted and tearing up again. The thrill of this final encounter was the intimacy, taking place all within 10 feet of Luc's front seat window. The extraordinary of watching what is ordinary for the lion and the completion of the circle of life is a memory we won't forget, especially since we have so many amazing pictures we hope to post as soon as we get a good connection. Although totally overshadowed by all the lion drama we also had lots of other amazing safari moments: Janet spotting a hidden serval cat while our guide tracked the illusive black rhino, flamingos flocking in the alkaline Lake Manyara, ostriches, huge herds of zebra, wildebeest and buffalo, a leopard in a tree over the road causing a traffic jam while munched on yesterday impala catch, gazelles prancing and swishing their tails, and all our other favorites, like giraffes, elephants, hippos, warthogs and the rest of the Lion King menagerie. Cosmas told us that when he has good clients, good things happen; we just felt lucky to witness so many aspects of Africa's natural riches on our five day safari.

Swahili Time

With our PC service winding down, we took advantage of our inter-trimester break to take our last big trip and burn our remaining days of vacation. Our goal this time was Mozambique's neighbor to the north, Tanzania, and meeting up with Luc's dad in the capital, Dar es Salaam. The obstacles were the great distances and lack of roads or reliable travel information in Mozambique's untamed northern province, Cabo Delgado. Our volunteer buddies up there tried unsuccessfully to dissuade us, focusing on the discomforts of the overland journey. Nonetheless, we flew to Pemba, Moz's northernmost city, spending a dreamy afternoon swimming at Wimbe Beach, eating seafood and watching a postcard-perfect sunset. The next morning was a very early and very crowded bus, followed by an equally crowded afternoon Land Rover, which covered the extremely bumpy final roadless-stretch to the border. Our sore backs and butts confirmed the discomfort we'd been warned about. The actual border is the river Rovuma, which we hired an over-priced wooden skiff to help us cross just at sunset. The rest of the travelers, all Muslim, started scooping water and eating dates, which they shared with us, to break their Ramadan fast. Unfortunately, the late crossing meant we arrived in Tanzania to find the immigration post closed. The locals assured us that a small bribe would convince the border officer to return, but we were unable to stomach this way of doing business so we spent the night right there in no-man's land with no electricity in a surprisingly comfortable bed in a small rest house next door. It's a good thing Janet was able to salvage enough Swahili vocabulary from the back of her brain because no one spoke English and we had already had enough adventure for that day. The next morning the inefficient border post took over two hours to issue our visas, even though we were the only travelers there. Luckily, an old woman's breakfast stand had spiced milk tea, rice cakes and chapati to nurse our frustration. From there it was one more crowded open-back pick-up ride over a rough sand road through palm groves and ocean views to get back to electricity, paved roads and civilization in Mtwara. We broke up the 14 hour bus trip from there to Dar es Salaam with a 2-night stop in Kilwa. The ancient Swahili coastal town where sultans controlled the lucrative gold, ivory, spice and slave trade routes from Mozambique to Oman during the Middle Ages. You still have to take a traditional sail boat to get to and from the island where the now-ruined palaces and mosques attest to the former greatness of this place, now a sleepy fishing village, with meager guest houses and tourist amenities that even we considered dirty and run-down. The town had a great post-sunset Ramadan fast-breaking atmosphere and we gorged ourselves on fried 'sambusas', potato omelets and exotic-tasting hot drinks with the locals. Our next bus broke down but eventually made it to Dar, leaving in a crazy bus station surrounded by blocks of even more frenetic market stalls and aggressive taxi drivers vying to grab vulnerable tourists. We just secured our valuables and pushed our way through until we found some fresh air. We calmly boarded the 30 cent local bus which took us straight to city center hostel where Luc's dad was waiting and we were joyously reunited.

Bumper Cars

What's the perfect stress release after a weekend full of emotional goodbyes? Yes, its bumper cars! The Maputo Fair Grounds, conviently located across the street from our hotel, has it all, a ferris wheel, carnival type games, restaurants, bars, and as you can guess from the title of this post, bumper cars. Janet thought it would be a good way to get her ready for driving real cars when we get back to America. It seemed like the Mozambicans crowding the amusement park for a Sunday evening family outing enjoyed watching a bunch of American adults acting like kids. Hopefully Peace Corps' ban on driving motorized vehicles won't apply to this situation. Unfortunately we didn't take any pictures since a flashy digital camera makes an attractive target for petty street theft. The big city is such a blast, it'll be hard to return to our provincial town after so much fun!