Thanks…

 

As you know, last week I was travelling to Tanzania to be in a wedding (which I will tell you all about next week). I travelled with Joy, a friend of Midiana's (the bride to be and until she moved countries to get married a worker here at the HOPE office in Mbarara)and along with another friend, Juliana, who had travelled with Midiana a month earlier the three of us represented all of Midiana's friends, work colleagues and everyone at church. I felt privileged to be a part of it all considering I have known Midiana only for a short amount of time.

However before I get to the wedding (next week), I have to tell you about the getting to and from Mbarara, Uganda to Mbeya, Tanzania. I can seriously say, with no exaggeration that it is an epic journey. We left Mbarara on Tuesday last week, arrived Mbeya Thursday, left Mbeya Sunday, arrived Mbarara last night (Tuesday). For those of you who don't want to work it out that's six days travel out of the eight we were away.

Those six days of travel presented many opportunities to be thankful and I would like to share some of them with you, so…

I am thankful...

• That the first bus only went as far as Masaka (about two hours away). Old bus - bad roads - many people.

• That the taxi driver taking us from Masaka to the border conceded defeat when trying to fit the eleventh person in the normal sized sedan he was driving. At that time there were four of us in the front and six in the back (the sixth was lying across the other passengers).

• That I didn't refuse the cushion of questionable hygiene. As one of the four in the front, I shared the passenger seat with a generously proportioned woman which basically meant that I was sitting on the handbrake. The other two were the driver and another passenger sitting on the drivers seat. This arrangement made all the more amazing by the fact that it was a manual car! So along with sitting on the handbrake (don't forget the bad roads - ouch) I had to be careful about staying clear of the gear stick. The cushion of questionable hygiene literally saved my butt!

• That the sign to Mutukula only said 80kms. The above arrangement was quite uncomfortable, so I was happy we were not going to be any longer distance. I felt I could manage 80kms. Not that I could tell how long it would take us as the speedo remained a constant zero.

• That the taxi driver wouldn’t take us as far as Mutukula. You have no idea how relieved I was when he wouldn't take us to Mutukula (the town where we cross the border to Tanzania.

• For the 'Friendly Safaris' bus. It came along as Joy was arguing with the taxi man to take us further and said was headed to Bukoba which is where we wanted to go. The bus was interesting. It seemed to have several staff, one of whom offered me some leaves to chew - I declined - and wanted me to give him my sunglasses - I also declined.

• That at the border we got our visas (despite me forgetting/not really knowing that I needed a US $50 note to get my visa).

• That the money exchangers who hounded us from the bus to the immigration office did not cheat us by too much (and also that they had the US money I needed).

• That, although it is different in Tanzania than in Uganda, Joy speaks some Swahili. At least more than I do. Although most people would probably be surprised to find out that they already have a few Swahili words. Like 'safari' (journey) and thanks to the Lion King most would know 'asante sana' (thank you so much), 'hakuna matata' (no problems), 'rafiki' (friend) and 'simba' (lion).

• That when we reached Bukoba a guy from the bus helped us to find a bus company to book our next days 'safari', find a money changer, get a taxi and arrange for him to take us to a hotel for the night.

• That the bus company that he found us only cheated us by 20 000TZS (Tanzanian shillings).

• That Africans assume whites have money. The guy from the bus therefore directed us to a very nice (by African standards) hotel.

• For the Victorious Perch Hotel, their towels, their hot showers, their double beds, their black tea and their whole fried tilapia (a fish found in Lake Victoria) and chips.

• That my alarm went off at 4:30am and that I didn't press snooze.

• That when the receptionist couldn't get my card to work we had enough Tanzanian cash to pay for the hotel room.

• That our taxi driver picked us up and we got on the right bus.

• That the 'Falcon Air' bus didn't fall apart while we travelled in it.

• That one day someone will drive on a very nice highway that is in the process of being built (meanwhile all my belongings have turned a dusty red from the red dust we travelled through).

• For gnuts and samosas - the staple food of travel.

• That in the middle of a country that neither Joy nor I had been to before, someone that we both knew got on the bus. Midiana's sister Macklina (who we had both met) and her family got on the bus when it stopped at Biharamulo - they were meant to be on a different bus but it had refused to go past where they were and were diverted to a different bus - ours!

• That the 'safari' was only 18 hours long. We got on the bus in Bukoba at 6am and arrived in Dodoma at midnight.

• That Gilbert (Midiana's then fiancé) has a taxi driver friend who took us straight to the hotel where he had booked us rooms.

• That there was another brief moment of hot running water.

• That we did get that last lot of samosas. We got them around 5pm and although snack food doesn't really fill you up, as we arrived at midnight and couldn't get food I was still very thankful for them.

• That I only had to set my alarm for 5am.

• That the bus was nice. E.g. didn't feel like it was going to fall apart, had windows that didn't rattle, had (relatively) comfortable seats.

• That I got a window seat.

• That I slept on a bus.

• For the cakes we bought at the first stop. It's quite amazing, as soon as the bus pulls in anywhere, whether to pick up or drop off passengers, the bus is literally swarmed by hawkers who can be selling snackfood, drinks, produce, socks, hats, airtime etc. I learnt the word for water because one young man who was selling at one of the stops had a piercing voice and I could see that he was selling water.

• For the Therm-a-rest pillow I bought before my last trip to Uganda. Seriously it's amazing and I love it.

• That Tanzania is beautiful and diverse. Every time I woke up I felt like I was in a new place. Although considering we travelled almost 6000kms there and back, I'm glad that everything wasn't the same.

                

                

 

 

 

• For the giraffes I saw. While others saw elephants and zebras and antelopes I saw a group of two adult and two baby giraffes. I wasn't quick enough with my camera but if I put a photo in I found on the internet you wouldn't know that I hadn't taken it. I guess that one is for my memory.

• For the amazing sunset - not sure how you can ever capture how it looks and makes you feel in a photo.

• That from Dodoma to Mbeya it was only 14 hours.

• That we travelled almost 3000kms in 3 days and arrived in Mbeya safely.

• For Gilbert and his family and their hospitality

• For Midiana's family.

• For Joy.

• To be invited to be part of a Tanzanian wedding.

• That I packed a jumper.

• That on the way home Mbeya to Dodoma took an hour less.

• That we didn't die when the bus driver played chicken with a petrol tanker and a logging truck.

• That in Dodoma on the way home, Shamte (Gilbert's taxi driver friend) found us a little café to eat at that was good.

• That we didn't have to leave Dodoma till midday (sleep-in, woohoo!). The reason we didn't leave Dodoma till 12 was because the bus was coming from Dar E Salaam where it left very early in the morning. After it picked us up at 12pm on Monday we then travelled (with an 8 hour stop from 9pm till 5am - sleeping in the bus) till we reached Bukoba at 12pm on Tuesday. That's a total of 24 hours sitting in a bus! Very glad I wasn't coming from Dar E Salaam.

• That we didn't get tear gassed when some protesting students ran passed us being chased by police. All the people sitting outside the bus station where we were waiting got up and went inside when they saw people running - I decided I should do the same. One of the students being chased actually ran inside with us and then went out the back door. A couple of minutes later the door opens and there's a police officer with his large gun and full riot gear on. He gets one of the guys who is waiting for the bus and is about to take him but the guy gets his ticket out and the police officer lets him go. A little while later, still waiting for the bus, once again sitting outside, we see a single guy being chased, eventually caught and arrested. Hopefully he was the right one.

• That although the second 'Falcon Air' bus was just as bad as the first, I didn't care as much.

• That people eventually did get off the bus from Masaka to Mbarara and that we only had to stand for half an hour. After that I was kindly directed to a seat by a group of male student types who although they wanted to sit next to me found it somewhat difficult to talk to me.

• That I wasn't the one sitting next to the kid who threw up out of the window.

• That we made it home after our 'epic safari'.

Woah! Okay so that's long. Sorry about that. And sorry there aren't more photos - you can't really get a good photo through a window that doesn't open on a bus that is moving along a dirt road.

So, what are you thankful for this week?

Next week… the wedding! In the interests of showing you my experiences I will even include photos of myself but you had better not laugh.

Blessings,

Bron

Ps - sorry if there are any typos or other errors that should have been edited - what I've written is seriously long and I can't be bothered reading it again!