Karibuni Kenya

The next day it was time to go back to Arusha – I had decided to leave the ismabaras until my next trip as I didn’t have much time or money left and didn’t want to rush the mountains.  So we went to get the bus and had a few problems getting into the park with people saying we had to go to the office outside and everything, which was all rubbish.  Eventually we got in and searched for the bus, with people constantly coming up to us and saying they worked for the company and following us, telling us the wrong places for the buses.

Travel tip is to ignore all these people as they are trying to rip you off.  The best thing we found was to go to the actual bus and find the woman who comes on the bus giving out the drinks and tickets and talk to her.  Talking to people and from my own experience these girls are generally very nice and helpful, and it means you don’t get ripped off but you do get a seat and your luggage put on the correct bus safely.  With the tickets bought we headed off to arsuha, and from there I headed back to namanga to rest up and sort a few things out before coming back to arusha today for internet and a few other things I needed to do.

I also managed to find the place where I ate kiti mot and so went for lunch there today.  It is very well hidden and tricky to find, but the food is quite cheap and tastes fantastic, so I thought I would write how to get there so that anyone going to arusha can find the place. 

Basically get on the road from Arusha to Namanga and look for a supermarket called ’sakina supermarket’ (if you ask people they will point you in the right direction).  Opposite this is ‘Panama inn’ and just to the left of this, about twety or thirty metres along is the kiti moto.  It is impossible to find if you don’t know what it is, but I just asked people around the panama place and they showed me the way in.  I ordered half a kilo for tshs2500 (about 1 pound fifty or a bit less), but it was far too much – half a kilo is easily enough for two people when combined with the ugali they give you.  The women there are very helpful too, and although it doesn’t look that clean is some ways, I or anyone else who’s been is yet to get ill after eating there, so really its fine, and quite a wonderful experince just tucked away on a street of arusha.  Another must if you are in arusha, and only a 10 or 20 minute walk from the city centre.

The next day we went to try and get the boat to bagamoyo, but sadly the guy doing it turned out to be decidely unpleasant and didn’t tell us the correct prices and also that we would have to pay extra for snorkells, and got really angry when we asked.  So we decided not to go with him and try and find another boat, whcih meant going to the whiote sands hotel.  After asking around we found out where to get the dalla dalla from and got in tuk tuk to the stage (tuk tuks are called something else in Tanzania, but I can’t remember what it is.  If one makes the gesture of twisiting the handl;e bars, though, everyone seems to understand).  Where we stopped there was a place selling inflatable rings and sharks, and the owner was really nice so got us two rings for a good price – these were to be our back up plan for spenidn time in the sea if we couldn’d find the snokelling. 

Mine was already inflated, so I asked Kelly to inflate hers so that Ididn’t feel like quite such a wolly, and then we boarded the dalla dalla for white sands.  After providing much humour to people as they saw us walking with them, we made it to the junction and then walked to the hotel, where fortunately we found a boat. 

There were only the two of us wanting to go, though, even though we tried to convinve several others to join us, but the boat needed four.  Fortunately the boat man was nice and so let us go if we paid for the price of four people on the boat, with a little discount as there were just the two of us.  It was a lot more than we excpeted to pay, but we decided to do it anyway. (my budget has gone out the window, so I decided having paid for flights and isurance I imight as well enjoy myself and earn back the money when I go home).  We went to makumbosha in the end, and only for a few hours, but there was some really good snorkelling, so it was well worthwhile.  Also, the rubber rings were useful, since they allowed meant we could just float and look down into the water without having to worry about manually staying afloat – it proved especially good for me as I got massive cramp in both my legs and couldn’t swim, so might have been in a bit of trouble.  Although I felt a bit special swimming with it, it did work, and provided a lot of entertainment, as well as a good pillow on the dala dala home.

Back in Dar, we night had arrived and as we walked back with our rubber rings we found an ice cream man riding a bike with a freezer attached to the front in which were a wonderful selection of ice creams.  CLose by was an indian temple, too which we stood outside looking in with interest.  As we looked, a man came out and said we were most welcome to go in and take a look around – all he asked us to do was remove our shoes.  He was so welcoming we decided to go in, having finished the ice cream, took our shoes off and had a look around.  In one room there were musicians playing, so we found another person, who turned out to be a musician himself, and once agian said we were most welcome.  Still somewhat unsure we asked if there was anything we needed to do, or shouldn’t do since we didn’t want to cause any offence.  He told us there wasn’t since we had shown respect by removing our shoes and so we went and sat down and listened to the music and singers.  Once they had finished they brought round newspaper with a plastic sheet to act as a napkin and then a plte of mixed foods of chevda, apple, small biscuits and various small things and gave each person, including us, a spoonful, which they explained to us we were to eat and was a sacrifice to Krishna.  After that we left and had some masal dosa on the street, which is like a curry inside a massive sort of chapiti, but thinner and crisper.  Again we were welcomed, and the whole experinece of both the food and the temple was wonderful – in an age of religious division and all such things to be so welcomed and treated so kindly and warmly was a real joy and honour, and a reminder of how easily we can all get on if we try, and also how much can be discovered and experienced if one allays one fears and goes for things, just making sure not to cause offence along the way. 

That night we stayed in holiday hotel, which is near jambo in and I think the place to stay in dar.  It has shared toilets and bathroom, but is cheaper and also has a wonderful balcony.  It might not sound amazing to have a balcony in the streets of dar, but actually it was really nice and a lovely place to relax and have a drink and just look up at the stars, so definatley I would recommend staying there if you are on budget and in dar.  There are mosy nets no the beds as well, which is good.

The next day I went for my own little ’cultural tour’ of dar.  I had a couple of places I wanted to go, as well as just exploring dar in the daylight, so headed first to the world war one monument, which unfortunately was not as impressive as I had hoped, and then onwards to try and find the national museum of tanzania.  This proved a little tricky, but in the end I found it and payed the pound or so entry fee for students (about 3 pounds for adults) and had a look around.  It was quite a nice little musuem, with three rooms of different themes: history, nature and culture.  The history room was quite interesting with different artefacts and some details about the growth of swahili culture, colonialism and the independence of Tanzania.  All the info was in both kiswaheli as well as english, which was good.

In the nature room, most of the info was in english, whcih I felt was a shame since there were schools there when I visited, and so it would be good if the nature side was more accessible as it talked about the impiortance of conservation and things, which needs to be directed at both foreigners and the people of tanzania, especially the kids and hence should be in kiswahiliu as well.  One goood quote they had on the wall which I liked was ‘One generation plants a tree and their children get the shade’.  They also had some really interesting info on a strange sort of sea lion/ whale, the name of which I can’t remember

The cultural room was okay, with lots of drums and clothes and jewellry, but I felt the other two rooms were better.  All in all though an hour or two well spent, I felt, and good value as well.  After the museum, I went to the botanical gardens, which are just a short distance away, and had a look round.  They were ok, but not as impressive as I had hoped, although I had a little sit down and a drink there, which was pleasant, and there were beautiful peacocks walking around as well.

For lunch I went to a pizza place nearby, having had a craving for spaghettui bolognase I thought I might be able to satisfy with a meat feast pizza.  Also there were some girls from York uni, who had come over with a charity and were going to the carving market place I wanted to go to that afternoon.  They had to wait for a friend from hospital, but we swapped numbers, which turned out to be very useful slightly later on as I couldn’t find the market and so had to phone them up and ask them.  Eventually I made it there, losing more and more faith in my lonely planet the more I tried to use it, in the end deciding that if it were my own and not fisherman’s I probably would have thrown it in the bin – the prices are wrong, the directions are awful and it becomes failrly obvious that they’ve nevwer actually been to many of the places they write about.  Although there were a few helpful things in there, overall it really was rubbish.

The market was a dissapointment too, since there was only one person doing any actual carving and it was basically just a touristy place.  Although I got a nice painting, and some of the goods there were very nice, they were also pretty expensive, and so a bit of a let down, but heyho.  After the market I headed back to my hotel and met up with kelly again, since as we were both staying in singles we had decided to share the cost of a double as we were both running a bit short of money.  I had meant to book my ticket to the ismambaras that day, but had forgotten and by the time I remebered it was too late.  Kelly had tried but failed to go to bagamoyo island for some sorkelling as well, but wanted to try the next day, so rather than have the fag of booking the ticket the next morning and then paying more than expected for accomodation becuase of the stupid lonely plannet, I decided to stay another day and try to go to the island as well.

It was pizza again that night, in a place called prontos, which although a little expensive was very filling, and very tasty, so well worth it, espceially as wasn’t too expensive split bewteen two.  From the pizza palce we went to The Irish Pub, where there was a quiz on that night.  As we walked in, right in front of us were the girls from york uni I had seen earlier, so we joined their team for the quiz.  It was good fun, and we almost one, but anyway the money raised went to charity, so all in all good fun and filled the evening quite nicely.

Having finsihed my trip in Mafia, I got back to dar es salam and tried to book into a cheaper hotel than jambo.  The only other place I knew had no singles left, so I ended up in Jambo again.  Its not a bad place, but there are cheaper places that although not en suite are still perfectly adequate.  They didn’t have any singles either, but becuase I planned to stay two nights they gave me a double for the price of a single.  This seemed a good deal until I found the room was exactly the same as the one I had had before – two single beds rather than a nice big double as I was hoping for, but heyho.  I had decided not to go to bagamoyo as planned, and instead have a day in dar looking around before going to the isambara.  I was a little ill as well, so thought on balance dar was the best place to stay, and then the bus to the isambara would be easier to get as well.

I got in a bit late as the flight was delayed, so after putting all my kit in my room, I went for a walk around to try and find some dinner.  I had seen a few chinese and indian places I liked the look of, so set off to find them again and see their prices.  I found one, and had a look at the menu, but it was a bit pricey.  There was also a girl called Kelly from the US I met who was on a budget of 3,000 tshs (about $3) for dinner, which would have brought her egg fried rice.  The mama who was cooking on the street the first time I was in dar was only just around the corner, so we decided to go there for a cheaper option. 

Kelly also knew a really nice hotel which overlooked the sea, so after the food we went there and brougth a juice each (it was a very expensive place, so this was all we could afford) and mixed it with konyagi, a sort of vodka type spirit that can be brought in plastic sachets of three shots or so each.  In nthe hotel they seemed to know we were not guests, since we were escorted  out onto the balcony away from where everyone else was sitting.  After the drink, we headed back to our hotels, getting a bit lost along the way, although we were perfectly safe all the way back in spite of it being dark and between 9 and 10 at night. 

A lot of people say don’t walk at night, but as long as you stay on fairly well lit streets and go along streets where shops are open or where there are banks and hence security guards outside them all night, its fine.  Also, its a great chance to explore the city and means you can go more interesting places for dinner or some drinks without having to pay for a taxi.  If you are worried, don’t take too many valuables with you, and don’t walk alone, but really I think its quite safe.

On my second day in Mafia, I went for a boat trip to try and see the whalesharks.  It is the off season at the moment, but they are still spotted quite often, and I had heard good things about them so thought the risk was worth it.  There was another guest at the camp, Greg, who also wanted to go, so we split the cost and headed off.  They hadn’t been seen for two days, and usually aren’t seen in choppy seas, so we were hoping for good weather.

The weather was not good, windy and a bit of rain, so the seas were very choppy – not a good start.  Nevertheless we go in the boat and headed off to ask the fisherman if they had seen any.  WHen we got deep enough and found another boat our captain asked them if they had seen any whalesharks.  The reply ‘uko hamna’ (over there there are none).  Not a good answer, especially given the expression of the fisherman who couldn’t seem to underrstand why we even thought there might be any in such rough waters.

AT thart point hope was very low, but our captain has a personal interest in the whalesharks and is conducting some research, so was happy to keep looking and so we headed more northwards into different waters but still found none and started to head back home, slightly dissapointed.

Suddenly an arm shot out at seven o’clock, he had spotted a shark.  The boat instantly turned and started heading towards it, and soon we came by its side and could see the huge mass that was a whale shark in the water, as well as its fin out of the water.  We jumped in with mask and snorkel to see it, but it went under the boat and out of sight before I got a chance to see it.

The boat picked us up again and we continued to search for more sharks, and saw one or two, although not close enough to get into the water with them again.  Even so it was a wonderful sight just to see them from the boat and I felt satisfied as we failed to see anymore and began to start heading back.

Again though the captains arm shot up andthere was a shark just on our right ‘be prepared! be prepared! when I say, go, jump in’.  Then after a little pause and cutting the engine ‘go!’  We jumped in and right there was the whale shark, its huge, wide mouth open and little fishes swimming close to it.  We were able to swim with it for a little, watching the huge body glide past us until it began to dive and was lost from sight.  We clambered back onto the boat and headed for home, deeply satified with the experience, which is indescribaly wonderful and worthwhile.

The whahelsharks are an absoloute must if you come to Mafia.  On a nice day the boat trip by itself is lovely, and as long as you are ready to accept the dissapontment of not seeing the whalesharks is worthwhile, and if you do get to see them it is just amazing, and one of the things I feel should be done before you die.  There is just something about being in the water with them that is indescribable, and must be felt to be understood.  They alone are reason enought o come to mafia for a few days or a week, and there’s plenty to do while you wait for the right weather, or else just take the risk and hope for the best.  For those who like slightly less touristy places, Mafia is ideal and much better better than Zanzibar, and there is loads to do and explore, which Carlos can organise for you.  Definately, if you go to Tanzania, go to Mafia Isalnd.

Having arrived at the airport, I decided to walk to the camp I was hoped to stay at, since it was meant to be only a kilometere or so away.  It was a decision in some ways I regretted, since the sun was still up and I sweated profusley the whole way, carrying 17kgs one one shoulder and about 5kgs more in my rucksack on both shoulders (the bag I brought with me has only a single shoulder strap, and sadly really isn’t designed for carryin heavy loads long distances).  I got to the camp after about n20 minutes of walking, and booked in, getting my own banda for 15 dollars a night (it is 15 dollars per person, not per banda, but even if there is only one of you they still only charge 15 dollars in spite of there being two beds in the banda).  A little pricey perhaps, but well worth it since the banda was nice, and the view from the bar and dining area was beautiful: true to its name one can see beuatiful sunsets with the white sails of dhow boats gliding across the water beneath a beuatiful setting sun  in a red tinted sky.

Staying at the camp was a PHD student at my uni, york, called Ana Lisa.  She had been there for several weeks, and so knew the island well and was helpful in suggesting things to do as well as helping to organise an expedition to try and see the whalesharks.  We also had a wonderful converstation with one of her frineds who had come to stay about poo, farts and the various different bites and illnesses and larvae one could contract or have growing in you in Africa, which was good fun.

All in all a wonderful place to stay, a good location with good food and not too expensive.  Definately the place to go in mafia for those on a bit of a budget.  The owner, Carlos, is also very helpful and very concerned about the wlefare of his guests, as well as knowing plenty of people who can orgainse excurcions at good prices and of a good or at the very least reasosnable quality.  A good bloke.

Sitting in the lounge, I heard the call for Mafia and so followed the man who had shouted it and was led out onto the tarmac.  Looking at the plane, it said tropical air on the tail, even though I had booked through coastal aviation.  Thinking nothing of this, assuming it was just another company contracted to fly y coastal, I got on the plane.  There someone came on and said they didn’t have my name on the flight list, which was just a sign in sheet for those flying.  Although I had already signed another sheet, I assumed this was a new one or the one for tghe plane rather than the airport, and so just signed my name again, although I was careful to ask him if they had my bag, to which he answered in the affirmative.

So we took off, had a lovely flight with some brilliant views, and then landed and they unpacked the baggage.  Mine wasn’t there. Bit of a drama, especially as I was told this was the only flight for the whole day.  I talked to the guys running the shack that is the airport, and asked them to call dar es salam.  After a few phone calls they said it might cme on the next flight.  ‘Next flight?’ I asked, ‘yes, the coastal flight’ he responded.  ‘oops, I think I may have got the wrong flight’, I said and showed him my ticket.  Sure enough, I had got on the wrong plane.  I had arrived in the right place, byut one hour before I was scheduled to do so.  A short wait and then the coastal flight came in with my bags and evrythingwas ok.

Some tips from my experience: 

- If flying a domestic flight, say you are a resident, since they never seem to checkon domestic flights if you have booked it through a travel agent and it saves a good amount of money.  Also, if flying to Mafia try to fly with tropical air as they are cheaper, although no one seems to know how to contact them (I will enquire and put up details if I find them).

- Assume nothing, and make sure you are on the right flight before you depart!

When we arrived in Tanzani we went to Isaacs guest house in Namanga to see how the building work was progressing.  It wasn’t going too badly, although there were a few things which needed sorting.  Hopefully, though it should open in a few weeks, and then makes for a lovely place to stay on the border for anyone travelling between Tz and Kenya (more details to follow when it opens).  After a lively debate over drinks and chipsi mayai (chip omlette, very nice!), Isaac headed off for a Gorilla safari in Rwanda, while I headed to Dar es salaam to explore a bit more of Tanzania.

I went to arusha to enquire about a flight, but it was too expensive, so I had to bus it.  Thismeant another day in namanga, before leaving at 5am to arusha and from there getting a bus to dar.  It went smoothly, and I was soon on my way, given a coke, werthers original type sweet and a small bottle of water by the bus company for the trip, and stopping off for lunch in a little drive in where I got my self a bag of chips.  arrival in Dar was at about 5 in the evening, from where i had to try and find libya st. for my accomodation.

I had a slightly outdated lonely planet guide with me, borrowed from fishermans, and so after talkiing to a few people and working out roughly where I was I decided to walk.  Not realising the scale of the map, and with the sun setting, I thought it better to get on a dla dala to posta, where they all seemed to say they were going, although none of them knew libya st, and hope for the best.  It was a plan that worked, since there was a nice old man on the dala dala who knew where libya st wasand so told me when to get off and then where to walk.  With the street found, I booked in to Jambo inn and then had a walk round a few of the streets that night, and a meal of kassava, bananas beans and spaghetti cooked by a woman on a street corner.

The next morning I headed back to a few travel agents I had seen the night before to organise flights to Mafia Isalnd, a place that had come highly recommended by John and Sheila.  It was a bit trying, but eventually I found a palce called karibu holidays, who were very ehlpful and got me a residents rate for the 3pm flight that day.  As soon as I got the tickets I headed for the airport, since if there was heavy traffic I was running a bit late.  Te traffic was only light though, so I arrived at the airport early, checked in and then waited in the lounge for my flight

Once the safari was finished, we headed back to naivasha to rest up for a few days before Isaac began another safari with some Spanish doctors who were working in Kibera and Lake Turkana with a charity highway international.  Two of his guests were leaving earlier than the others, and so had opted to come to naivasha for a few days before going back home, while the others would be in the Mara with Isaac.  I was called in to help, organising the accomodation, and checking they got settled in to crater lake and had some game drives and walks to do before  picking them up with the boat the next day to take them to naivasha. 

The water was quite choppy and rain was heading our way, so although the boat trip started well, towards the end the two spanish were a bit concerned, constantly asking me if the motion of the boat from side to side was normal.   We arrived safely, though, and the next day headed for hells gate.  We were meant to do this by bike, butone of the guests had hurt her neck the previous day, so we had to go by car instead.  Thankfully Nigel was around and helped out, driving us around in his old banger, which remarkably still runs even thoguh it is filled qwith dust, the seats dont stand upright and it squeks constantly as it goes along.  That said, if in the right mindset it is a lot of fun and adds a bit of flavour to the safari. 

After finsihing their safari, including a walk through hells gate gorge some way off the beaten, unexplored track, I had only a little to do with the next guests – again taking the boat to crater lake and then picking the car up and driving it back to fishermans for their hells gate safari the next day.  It was all a good learning experience, and fortunately the guests were good people so it was also quite fun.  All the time, though, Isaac called me the garia garia, which basically means slave, although not quite, since I was doing a lot of the footwork.

Having finsihed the safaris we left for nairobi so to sort a few things out and so I could get my hair cut in a salon run by Leonard, the demon barber of Nairobi, someone i got to know through Nigel.  He’s a good bloke and can be very funny, so when in Nairobi with slightly long hair I always stop by for a trim. 

Then when we’d sorted everything, we headed off to Tanzania.