Back from Kigoma!

Yes, we made it safely back to Dar! And what a trip! It was amazing and I will try to give you the highlights here.We left Dar tuesday last week, on time actually. The train runs 3 times a week and is infamous for beeing late. The standard was horrible, but it didn't really matter to us; we were on an adventure!

The trip was amazing. The train was packed but we had a little privacy in our 2-bed compartment. We stopped at a lot of stations during the 1254 km long trip, and each station was packed with people selling something.

Each station kind of had their thing to sell, like bananas, honey, wooden spoons and so on. At some stations we stopped for an hour or two, got of and bought something to eat (chipsi mayai!) like in Tabora.


We arrived in Kigoma thursday after 43 hours on the train. It's a beautiful city on the shore of lake Tanganyika and we both loved it from the very first minut. And it got better! We should have stayed at a hostel in town, but our cook/guide Abbas knew about a place he wanted us to see (Mkuzi hotel). It was situated on the other side of the bay in a small fishing village called Kibirizi just by the water with a view of the city across the bay. And the people there were so friendly, despite a very poor english. Communication was done with a lot of smile and my swahili vocabulary consisting of about 20 words!

Friday was the big day! We got in the boat and sailed of to Gombe NP. We arrived a couple of hours later, and went on our first chimp trek in the afternoon. And we actually saw one!

The whole of saturday was spent in the tropical forest looking for chimps, which ment sometimes crawling through the bush like Indiana Jones, or Lise.

And we saw more. First some baboons, then a chimp some red colobus monkeys, some red tailed monkeys,

a bunch of baboons and a mother chimp with her baby! But she ran off before we got a change to take photos. We climbed a few mountains (!) to have lunch at a peak with the most incredible view and later to see a waterfall.

When we got back after 9 hours trekking in the forest up and down hills, we walked the 10 meters to the lakeshore with a towel in one hand and shampoo in the other and washed our hair in the lake like the locals. Is was so nice! Beats any shower I've ever had!!



Sunday we left Gombe and went back to Kibirizi, had lunch and the went to Ujiji 10 km south of Kigoma to see where Stanly met Livingstone. A great way to spend the afternoon. When we got back we enjoyed a cold beer on the beach while 3-year-old Neema kept us company.

We began our journey back to Dar Monday which was a sad experience. We were accompanied by 6 men to our taxi, incl the two boat guys, Abbas, and 2 hotel guys and it was sad to have to say goodbye to all of them.

The airport was tiny, didn't even have tarmac on the runway! but we survived to tell about the trip. Can't wait to share all of my photos and more details with you!

How to spend a weekend in Dar!

I'm sorry to break the habbit of only writing every other week to suddenly writing 3 times the past week! But I just want to tell you about my weekend before going to Kigoma for a week.
Since two people in the house was on their path to recovery, we didn't want to go to far, so Saturday was spend at the Mwenge market shopping gifts for friends and family (and a few things for me!). We had lunch at a local joint, chips mayai (which is an omelett with french fries, not on the side, but in it!) and a coke and a water for about 1,5 $ and it was really good! Then we went to the Tingatinga center where I bought a nice painting (you can actually see a similar one on the photo posted some time ago of me looking at Tingatinga stuff. It's the black/white with the yellow frame on the wall to the right).
Yesterday, Sunday, we went to Gezaulole a bit south of Dar. Last weekend a local newspaper had brought an article about a Cultural Tourism Program that we thought sounded really interesting; visiting local people, like fishermen, and get an insight in their way of life in a way that supports the local community. But when we arrived at the hotel which was supposed to be the base for the program, the guy responsable for it was in Arusha and in the process of selling everything. So we were 4 girls stuck in nowhere with two guys who didn't speak much english and were really interested in knowing if we mere married and where our husbands were. Not in a creapy way, but more in a tiresome way... We persuaded one of them to give us a lift, not for free offcourse, and went to Mjimwema, to the Sunrise Beach resort where we spent the day on the beach just enjoying life.
And tomorrow we'll be leaving for Gombe National Park, which as I probably already have mentioned, is a 40-hour train ride to the otherside of Tanzania, at the shores of Lake Tangyanika. Hopefully we'll have time to go to Ujiji just a bit south of Kigoma which is the town where Stanley met Livingstone, uttering the famous words: "Doctor Livingstone, I pressume?"
I'll let you know in weeks time how it all went!
And, Anne, unless my flight home is like 10 hours delayed we'll be there on the 28th! Looking forward to it!! And Trine, big, enormous, huge congrats!!
Big hug to all of you!

So much to tell!! (part 2)

Have you read part 1? If yes, please proceed!
More about the safari: It was great!! A 6-hour drive south of Dar, but absolutely worth it! We went on a boat safari, game drive and walking safari. I've seen so many animals I can barely recall them all, but I'll try: giraffs, impalas, zebras, warthogs, kudus, springbucks, baboons, blue monkeys, birds and "Timon", but the highlight was without a doubt the lion family! And the hippos! Our guide and cook was great, and I'm so satisfied with everything. I have around 300 photos and two videos, but here on my blogg I'll show you my two favourites.

Have to go since I have arranged to picked up by a taxidriver in 10 min. You'll have to hear the details and see photos when I get back (in three weeks). I'll try to update my blogg more often! Don't know what we'll be doing this weekend, since Lise is sick again. That poor thing!But the chimp safari is on Tuesday!

Take care till next time!

So much to tell!! (part 1)

Hi! Thought it was about time to give you an update on my African adventure! Actually a lot has happened since last time, so I have a lot to share with you!Two weeks ago we where waiting to here from some of our contacts and while waiting we went to a Tingatinga centre (Photo 1) where I fell in love with a painting I have to buy! Sorry Martin!


Thursday (22/5) we went to Bongoyo, the island I went to a few weeks ago, and it was even more beautiful this time. We even got the bonus experience of seeing a green Mamba (snake) or one that looked like a green Mamba! No matter what, it was amazing to look at! Lise got sick and stayed at the Cowi house during the weekend while Mette, Katja and I went to Sunrise Beach Resort at Mjimwema (where I was about a month ago) and I discovered that I have a favourite drink: Vodka Sour! I now understand how people can get addicted to alcohol! We stayed overnight and saw the amazing sunrise over the Indian Ocean! Fabulous! (Photo 2) We spent the Sunday in the sun on the beach… No complaints about the weekend, but I wished that Lise could have joined us.















On Monday (26/5) we actually had our first appointment to go visit a school! It was a small private pre- and primary school near Ubungo in Dar and the kids were adorable! (Photo 3). It was a great experience, and when we after being there the hole day finally hopped on a dalla heading home I felt so satisfied! It felt like the reason for me going here in the first place finally took place! On Tuesday we didn’t do much. Made copies of our photos on Mette’s computer (which took forever!), went to a safari operator to get some information, and then to the market to buy fruit and veggies. Ate dinner at home and then watched a movie.Wednesday turned out to be the most expensive day EVER!! But when the reason is buying two safaris, I can’t really complain ;o) We are going to Selous tomorrow for 4 days safari hoping to see the big five! And then we’ll be going to Gombe on the 10th for a 6 days chimpanzee safari! Can’t wait!!Thursday and Friday we visited two more schools.


On Thursday it was a secondary school in Kibaha about an hour outside Dar. The trip there was as great an experience as visiting the school. Friday we went to a nursery/primary school, also private. Clearly this one was better funded than the others, but it was still great to be there!

Yesterday we came home from the Selous safari, but I'll have to tell more about that later. It was amazing!!