Had I good six months ago the feeling that I needed a change in couture, surroundings and way of transportation and that very feeling made me start my bicycling adventure trough Canada and Alaska, now, some 6 months later, I had the same feeling. Once more I was ripe for a change and to say North America goodbye and to start exploring parts of Africa.
For a change and because of a suggestion from another traveler I meet in Laos, I decided to see part of Africa per organized tour. “Those overland Truck-Safaris are one of the best ways to see Africa”, so the statement from the Laos-traveler and so I booked a 32 days Truck-Safari from Nairobi down to the Victoria Falls. Because the first day of the tour was just driving from Nairobi down to Arusha in Tanzania, I decided not go to Nairobi but joining the tour in Arusha.
A 7 hours flight brought me from New York to Amsterdam and from there another 10 and one half hour to Dar Es Salaam. Flying via Europe – being so close to home – made me realize how fast it goes from being traveling and being home again – at one moment you are traveling and the next you are home and everything is over, just like that. To avoid such an abrupt ending I defiantly gone try to travel all the way overland back to Switzerland and not flying back home – we will see whether I succeed :-).
I arrived in Dar Es Salaam at round midnight, took a taxi to the reserved hotel and went to sleep. There was I now, in Africa, in the continent that for so long was in my mind, a place I had heard so many stories about, the place some say that traveling is still a challenge. I was very eager to see for my self how traveling in Africa would gone be.
Well, first I had to get over the jetlag and to decide how I would spend the 10 days till I had to join the tour in Arusha. I also had to get used to be alone, to be on my own, again. This takes always some time and is mostly not very cheerful. As exited I was to be in a new place and to explore what is to see and to do, it was also a lonely time since I had nobody to share it with.
Not quite sure whether I should go first south or north, one night at dinner I meet people who just had came back from the Usambaro Mountains. The way they told me about that area sounded great and so the decision was made – the next morning I would leave for Lushoto in the Usambaro Mountains.
Because of my big backpack, which hardly fits into the overcrowded dalla-dallas, and the warnings that the bus station is a big chaos, I went for the expensive way and paid 6 USD for a taxi to the bus terminal. The taxi driver helped me then also to find the right bus among the hundreds of busses and I felt a bit like one of this tour-bus tourists. Sitting in the bus, waiting till it would leave, I observed the bustle at the bus station. There were many peoples and many of them would sure have liked to show me the correct bus for a ‘special price’. Others would have come along to tell me that I was led to the wrong bus but they would show me the correct one. It would have been a forth and back and for sure it would have taken some time till I would have be in the right bus but I would have get there – that is for sure. The overall impression I got was that this place was not better or worse then other bus stations and all those warnings are a bit overprotective – well I already learned something and that sure helped to adjust my feeling towards Africa.
The bus ride was like similar bus rides in other countries and also the scenery reminded me a lot of other places. The main differences were the people whose skin is darker and for who white peoples are nothing special at all anymore. I realized that traveling in Africa was not that different after all.
Reaching Lushoto, I was besieged with boys who liked to show me the way to a hotel or tried to sell me a tour. I know where I wanted to go and what I would do, so there was no business for them. Nevertheless they followed me to my hotel and kept trying to persuade me for this or that tour. It took quite some time till at last they realized that there was no business to make with me – at least not at the moment.
After a walk around the village, I started to walk along a road that leads a bit out of town. After a while I realized that this would lead me to the Irente Viewpoint, on of the tours the boys tried to sale to me. It took then not long till two kids approached me and inquired where I was going to. “Just along to road and maybe to the viewpoint”, I answered. They started to walk alongside with me and told me that there are shortcuts they could show me. We kept walking and talked about this and that without coming back to their offer to guide me. Nevertheless it seemed that I had my two private little kid-guides to the viewpoint and that was okay for me. They really showed me some shortcuts trough the field which I would not have found myself and it was nice to talk to them.
From the viewpoint we had a great view down to the surrounding plains and we stayed there till sunset. My personal guides were then eager to go back and it was already dark as we reached my hotel. I paid them the agreed amount off money but – as expected – they asked for some more. They justified their additional claim with the fact that they had brought me all the way to the hotel and not just too where we first meet. Well, they were two really nice little boys so I did not mind to give them some extra money.
Back in the hotel I had a cold shower and went afterwards for dinner into the town. I walk up and down the road to find a place to eat but there were not really any restaurants and the amount of ‘street restaurants’ was also quite low. Without having many choices, I sited myself in the ‘street restaurants’ at the ‘main square’ and ordered something that looked like a popular dish. While I was waiting one of the many Rasta-Men form Lushoto – I could not find out why Rasta and Bob Marley is so popular in Lushoto but there were at least 20 ‘Bob’s’ around – came and sited himself next to me. We started to talk and after the dinner we went for some beers with other locals.
I ended up being invited for a wedding along with the local guys and that was really quite a different experience. The wedding party took place in the community hall and it was quite late as we got there. The first thing that surprised me was that the bride and the groom were asleep – at least it sure looked like it. Another thing that was ‘un-normal’, was the arrangement of the room. The bride, groom and their families were sited on a stage and the guests were sitting on chairs opposite the stage whereby every row of chairs was a bit higher then the row before – just like in a theater.
The whole audience looked at us as we entered since it is not quite normal to have white persons on weddings in Lushoto. We made our way to the back of the room and it was fun to observe the wedding from there. There was a man who talked something into a microphone nobody was interested in. Others tried to set up the tape recorder to play music. Others again just walked around and carried things in and out while the wedding couple was asleep – it was really quite ‘different’.
The men with the tape recorder finally succeeded to set it up and now the music was competing with the man who told the stories nobody was interested in. After a while the ‘storyteller’ gave up and the PA system was free for the music and the DJ put the music for the bride-dance on. Still asleep, the bride and groom were woken up and they danced, better said, moved their tired bodies around the stage – it was hilarious to see.
The DJ finally showed mercy with the wedding couple and played a popular song and all the persons in the room started to dance. Then, all off a sudden the wedding couple got up and started to leave for – assumable – their honeymoon. After that everybody started to leave and so we also left. To have been on this wedding was really quite something, something really different.
The rest of the night we played pool and danced in the local night club. This day was sure a great introduction to Africa.