Well, it is slightly early Sunday morning and I have a small pot of coffee, half a pack of cigs, a big computer, network access, and the will to do some writing so I am going to give it a go. That is to say, relate some of the hilarious hijinx and high adventures I have experienced here Africa so far.

Jumping right into things, my arrival in Tanzania was neither hilarious nor adventuresome. The flight to Amsterdam was uneventful and likewise with the flight to Tanzania. I do have one small rant regarding the “system” however. My ticket was a special one-way fare, booked through to Dar es Salaam. It just so happens that the aircraft I was on was first stopping in Arusha and then scheduled to go to Dar. As it happens, my ultimate destination was Arusha but, was I allowed to change my ticket? Was I allowed to disembark the aircraft? Nuff said.

Dar es Salaam was hot. Like seriously Africa-hot. When I left Seattle it was about 0C/32F with snow predicted for the next day. Dar was something in the neighborhood of 38C with 90% humidity! Bloody awful, I tell you. Lucky for me I had a flight out the next day mid-afternoon so I did not have to hang around for too long. I don’t want to dwell on Dar too much, even though I did have a few funny things happen to me there. None, however, very far outside the normal run of the mill stuff like bumping into someone you know, the power going out at the most inconvenient time, and not having a flight properly booked.

My flight to Arusha was nice. There were great massive billowy clouds in the sky when we landed, the kind that you would just love to have a small plane in which you could duck, bob, and weave through the clouds for hours on end. Sara, my boss, met me at the airport and we headed off to the office. The office was all a bustle with many things going on, not in the least my preparation for leaving in two days time. The next couple of days were spent running around getting things ready and by Friday morning were set to head out.

Our plan was to drive from Arusha, up to Ngorongoro, down through Olduvai Gorge, through Serengeti South, and into Maswa Game Reserve. As with all things in Africa, nothing ever goes quite according to plan! We made Ngorongoro with no problems and got to Ndutu Lodge which is just inside the boundary of the Serengeti. Being as it was late, we decided to spend the night at Ndutu and head out first thing the next morning.

As mentioned before, the rain here has been pretty heavy. The ‘normal’ pattern is for the rains to come in November and December, the short rains, and then again in February through May, the long rains. There is usually a break somewhere in January and February but this year the rain has not stopped at all and it is causing all sorts of problems, not only in Tanzania but all of Central, East, & Southern Africa. Anyway, not 15 minutes down the road did we get stuck in the mud.

* It is now 10:00 AM and I have to run so I will add another installment later, hopefully tonight. I have to run into town to do some shopping today. *

posted by David Erickson 2/24/2001 11:08:02 PM