Thursday, October 28, 2010

Matipwilli, Tanzania: An amazing sight

Oh my gosh...the only animal we wanted to see during our stay was elephants. We saw elephant dung many days but no signs of them. Tonight while enjoying a pre-dinner cocktail or two we finally saw 3 elephants heading to the river!

What an amazing sight!!!

Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Last full day on the work site

Today was our last full day on the job site. The weather cooperated a bit better than yesterday. Today at 5:30am it was 25 and this afternoon in the shade it was 37 degrees.

Our focus today was finishing off the roof cap, continue the parging on the interior wall, concrete block making, installing the door frames and adding concrete block to the back of the house.

It was a good work day but we were a little tired due to yesterday's heat and long day.

Murray (the retired helicopter pilot from Kamloops) had fun with a little guy who decided to impersonate his walk and physique on the job site. There was a few laughs had by all.

We had a visit to the house by the doctor who will reside in the house we are building. Ken (from Kingston, Ont) showed her around and helped her on ideas of furniture placement.

In the pictures you will see the shirt Harley had made by the local seamstress and the remaining fabric was enough for a wrap for Brittany. The fabric cost 7000 schillings ($7 USD) and her labor cost 5000 schillings ($5 USD).

Knowing that tomorrow will be our last day in the village, there was a lot of time spent with the children.

We are looking forward to tomorrow as we will present the house to the village managing committee just after lunch, there will be a ceremony to present our donations that we brought for the village.

Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010

Matipwilli, Tanzania: The roof is completed!

It was a hot one today!!!

Despite the 48 degree without humidity temperature, we accomplished our mission for the day.

Our focus was installing the roof trusses, installing the metal roofing and continuing the wall parging and concrete block work.

As a team we rocked, despite our many road blocks throughout the day, we worked until the metal roof was installed. Our bet did not pay out as they said we did not complete the roof in our normal work day hours!! More negotiating to be had tomorrow!

Today we learned many lessons working with the village workers. Patience for one was huge for us as they work at a much slower pace than what we are used to. The village carpenter wanted to be involved in all aspects of the roof construction. We had to convince him we could do the same work on the other side of the roof and complete it faster. But to him more time earns more money.

We have a lot of building knowledge on our team and we want to share this knowledge with the local workers but they only want to do it the way they have been used to. When questioning why they do it a certain way the response is "I do not know why we do it that way. It is the way we have always done it."

On some aspects of the construction building the locals are very detailed and thorough but when it come taking measurements it is done by eye and many mistakes are made and we just have to only shake our heads and respect their methods.

In a couple of the pictures, you will notice a construction meeting with the locals where we have to draw out what we are trying to show them and vise-versa in order to understand we are on the same page of the task at hand. You will see how we cut the metal roofing by using a machete to cut each edge and then put a 2X4 on top and use this as a straight edge to rip the roofing sheet.

You will notice a photo at the end of the day when a few team members are playing with the children. Harley (our resident boxer from William Lake, BC) is handing our stickers to the children. Karen (Kamloops, BC) is rolling a rubber tire back and forth with a child. Others have some of the special ones on our hips giving them some well needed affection. No wonder they are at the job site anxiously awaiting our arrival each morning.

Tomorrow we anticipate to be another long day as it will be our last full day on the job site. This week is passing by so quickly for us.

Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Matipwilli, Tanzania: "Getter Done"

Our drive to the job site this morning was eventful. Unfortunately it was not due to the sight of any fascinating animals. Thanks to the sharp ears of Rick H. he noticed a sound coming from the passenger side back tire. Our tire was barely hanging on by 4 loose bolts. Luckily we were not detained too long and we were back on the road.

Today's primary focus was building the second gable, installing another row of concrete block on top of the bond beam, parging on the interior walls and adding another row of concrete block to the back portion of the house.

When we first arrived on the job site in the village we were met by many with open arms appreciating our help in their community. However, we had a couple of men that stood back and had a serious eye on us. I made it my mission to put a smile on there faces and make them laugh. Thanks to Ashley (our guide) translating for me while we worked on planing door frames and building the roof trusses my mission was accomplished. Our new friend Abeli was laughing and smiling. (Probably due to the many times I missed the nail and hammered my thumb!) This morning I took about 20 minutes at the start of the day to show him pictures of the interior of homes in North American. I had explained during our time working together the interior trim we install and the terminology. He was fascinated when seeing the interior trim work. He had never see anything like this before. He was very curious on the process we use to make trim so tomorrow morning I will walk him through Alexandria's manufacturing process. I cannot wait to see his reaction when he sees the machinery we use. Here in Tanzania they have no power tools so all is done by hand and it would take many days to create a profile on the local wood for an entire home.

We brought some soccer jerseys, stickers and bubbles to the village today. The children were so excited making and chasing the bubbles. They were so amused by something so relatively small. They wore there stickers proud on their forehead. The little boys were so proud of there new soccer jerseys. They did not want to get them dirty. So ironic as they walk around all day in their bare feet on the dirt roads.

The temperature cooperated, slightly overcast and 38 degrees.

Our team leader (Rick K.) and foreman (Doug) made a bet with the locals that we would get the roof put on by the end of Tuesday. They believed we would not get it done to Thursday. If we get it done, we will get 17 flats of beer or we walk the 11km back to Kisampa. So tomorrow will be another "Work hard, play hard" & "getter done" day as we will not leave the site until the roof is on. :)

During lunch time the village was visited by a politician campaigning for the upcoming election on Oct. 31st. He arrived driving a tractor pulling a wagon blasting music. The kids came running from everywhere to follow the tractor through the village dancing to the music. Although we could not understand the speech given, the locals seemed quite supportive of the message/commitment he was delivering.

Ken and Mark had to move out of their "executive" banda to accommodate a new guest that just climbed Kilimanjaro. They took one for the team and moved into their new "tent" accommodations. Kenny woke to the ants tickling his feet and we could hear him giggling throughout the camp or at least we think it was the ants causing the giggling. His little buddy Mark's bed is now very close to his!

We are looking forward to meeting our target on day 7. We will only have to figure out how to get the beer ice cold! Anything ice cold is a challenge in Africa!

Stay tuned...

Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010

Monday, October 25, 2010

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Our weekend adventures

During our drive to the river boat we passed Sea Salt Mine. Very interesting process. Ocean water is collected and separated into large fields. The water evaporates leaving a field of sea salt. (From the distance the field of sea salt looks like an ice rink) The sea salt is then collected, bagged in 25kg bags and they sell for $5 per bag.

The river boat cruise was a great experience. The breeze was wonderful and gave us some reprieve from the 40 degree temperature. As soon as we pulled away from the dock, we could see hippos cooling themselves in the water. As we got very close to them, they would submerge themselves completely under water. They kept popping up their eyes to keep an eye on us. We also saw to crocodiles, one was a baby and the other was about 9 feet long.

We saw lots an enormous variety of birds: Kingfisher bird, Grey Heron, Green Heron, Sacred Ibis, Secret, Mango Kingfisher and Woolly-neck storks.

After our river boat tour we drove to a village called Saadani and enjoyed lunch at the beach. We had some monkey friends who were waiting patiently for us to finish lunch in the cabana so they could find some left overs for themselves. There appeared to be a new washroom facility and as I walked closer to it I noticed the tile floor. Walked up the couple of steps and saw a wall mounted sink and had to try the tap to see if there was running water and there was! I opened the door to the toilet and I was so excited to see a flush toilet. This was the first running water tap and first flush toilet since landing in Africa 7 days ago!! Boy do we take running water and being able to flush toilets for granted in North America!

We decided to refresh ourselves by having a little swim in the Indian Ocean. The sand on the beach was very fine and the view was beautiful. The ocean was incredibly warm due to the lower tide level. The water was at least 90 degrees and seemed warmer than the air. We had to swim out deeper to get cooler water at our feet.

We then proceeded to travel through the Saadani National Park. The park covers 1100 km2. It is the only wild life sanctuary in Tanzania bordering the sea. About 30 species of larger mammals are present as well as numerous reptiles and birds. Saadani National Park is also known for its numerous giraffes which is the national symbol of Tanzania.

We first came across a group of 5 giraffes standing in the stand of a tree. They are very curious animals as they ducked their necks around the tree to look at us. During the drive we saw many Hartebeest, Read buck,White-bearded Wildebeast, Baboons, Bush bucks and Bush pigs. Many scattering away as we got closer. They are very shy as they are not used to too much vehicle traffic.

We all had an amazing day and our bodies appreciated the break!

Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010

Friday, October 22, 2010

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Learning more each day

After our "work hard, play hard" motto from yesterday, we were a quieter group this morning en route to the village. Yes even Doug and Ken were quiet! The baboon that was killed yesterday was no longer in the site we left him. Presumably taken by a larger animal.

Today's focus on the job site was finishing the roof trusses, filling dirt in around the holding tank, parging the outside of the gable and beginning to parge the interior walls.

Building 5 roof trusses was a very slow process by using the local tools. Cutting each piece of wood with a hand saw and nailing them with hammer and nails. What we would of paid to get a circular saw!!

Learning to parge was new to many of us and takes great wrist action to flick the concrete mix on to the wall.
We were at a bit of a stand still having to wait for the concrete blocks we made to dry. They require 3 days to dry before they can be used and need to be watered down twice a day in the drying process.

In the village there is a mixture of both Muslims and Christians. Today we unfortunately witnessed a Muslim burial parade. This was a 5 month old baby that passed away. The baby was being carried by the father in a small "casket" replicated box with a blanket over top. The parade was only 6 gentlemen. We learned that it is the male's responsibility to prepare the body and complete the burial. The woman stay behind to console each other and once the men complete the burial they come back to join the women. The ritual is to bury the body before the sun goes down on the same day they pass away.

We also witnessed another extraordinary moment today while on the job site. Rob and his children Sarah (9) and James (7) from the Sanctuary joined us building today. While working on building the trusses a women walked by us with her daughter and Rob noticed the daughter's arm seemed broken. She had just visited the local doctor which advised her to take her child to the next village for an x-ray. She would have to ride on a motorbike in order to get to the village which is approx. 50kms. With the roads not being very flat, that child would have been in a lot of pain during that commute. Rob who is a doctor, quickly looked for 2 straight sticks to use as a splinter and then proceeded to wrap with a tensor bandage. We also had a triangle bandage in our first aid kit to help hold the child's arm against her body. We also gave the mom some Advil to help give the child some relief from the pain.

We are all looking forward to a day off tomorrow to rest our tired bodies. We will be enjoying a safari trip including a river cruise. Looking forward to reporting on our safari adventure...

Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Work hard, play hard!

Our day began with our normal safari ride into the village. Watching the baboons, African eagles and bush bucks. Wow those bush bucks can run fast!

The main focus on day 4 construction was additional concrete block building, roof truss building, window construction and gable end wall construction.

Despite the temperature of 44 degrees without the humidity (our hottest day yet) we had a very productive day.

Window construction is quite different here than in North America. The windows consists of a wood frame, rebar running across the window and a mesh screening applied over top.

Doors consist of 3 boards jointed together by 3 braces across the back side. They do not have glue available to edge glue them.

Most measurement aspects of construction by the locals is done by eye. Therefore we had to chisel out the window holes in order to get the frames to fit in. Roof trusses are built by using the first one as a template and building the next ones on top of the first.

Our trek home at the end of the day came to an abrupt halt when we came across a lifeless baboon lying on the road. It appears that he had been hit by a rock. We assume it must of been village children. Our guide Raymond moved the baboon from the road. We are hoping we do not see him on our way into the job site tomorrow morning.

Ken decided to reward those who chose to participate with cigars after dinner to celebrate a good day and the first almost North American type of meal (chicken and roasted vegetables)! Ken joins us from Kingston Ontario and is experiencing his 5th trip with Developing World Connections.

Many unwinded enjoying a few cocktails this evening around the camp fire and a few had many which I will leave nameless! It is incredible in such a short amount of time the bond of friendship that has been built amongst our team. No matter the task at hand on the job site or the drinking task at the end of the day, we are all there to support one another.

Our hearts have poured out to a special little boy named Juma. Juma is 7 years old but is the size of a 4 year old. He is very thin and is being raised by his single mother as his father died due to a hernia. Due to ear infections that were not treated, Juma is deaf and many believe dumb. In the village he is called Booboo. He talks with his beautiful eyes and shows his loving sole through affection. He loves to be hugged and his face just lights up. Jeananne the head of the camp we are staying at is paying for him to attend school but the teachers would prefer he does not attend as he is a distraction in the classroom as he requires attention.

Most of the older children walk about 9km to the secondary school in shoes that are either too big/too small or not in good shape. Most of our children complain when having to walk less than 1km in their name brand comfortable shoes! The elementary school is located in the village so the younger children are closer to home. They come running to our job site during recess and lunch. It is so rewarding to put a smile on their faces each day.

Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Mingogi Village

On our way back from the job site today, we took a short detour to the small village of Mingogi. The population of the village is about 20 people. The village is situated on the river edge providing easy access to the water and fishing which is the main occupation for the residents of the village. They even attempt to block the fish from swimming further up stream so they are to catch the most amount of fish possible.

Houses are made of dried mud walls and straw roofs. They are very small and have bunk beds inside to utilize space. We also noticed small replicated house build close to the larger house which by their belief is supposed to keep the bad demons away.

In the above photo, you will see the only resident that was in the village during our visit. She sat out front of her house and appeared to me very frail. She was very appreciative of our visit and many gave her granola bars and candy that we had in our bags.

She was asking us for vitamins and medicine to help make her feel better. She was complaining of a very sore back. Due to her health situation, she probably does not have enough strength to walk the 7km to the larger village.

During the rainy season, the river floods and most are forced from their houses to higher land until the river recedes again.

Very sad to see that people live under these conditions. As we were leaving 3 little boys ran up from the river waving and excited to see us. It amazes us how happy the children seem. We guess they have no concept that any different life exists.

Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Another productive day

A few of us had a great idea last night to awake this morning at 5:30am to have an early morning jog before starting our day on the job site. However, we forgot the elevation the sanctuary sits on so uphill portions of the jog was challenging. Just what our legs needed! LOL

Many of us woke to feeling a little more rested with getting our first solid 5-6 hours of sleep in. We must be getting used to all of nature's wonderful noises we hear each night!

Another warm day again with temperature in the shade at 35 and with the humidity we were over 40 again. A few clouds this morning and a slight breeze at times was gladly welcomed.

We knew today was going to be a very tough and heavy lift day. Main focuses today were: mixing and filling the bond beam, finishing the sewage tank, more concrete block making, board planing and beginning to build the roof trusses.

Team Out House rocked and finished the job. We finally got Harley out of the hole he was in the past three days. 120 concrete blocks to build the structure.

Team Concrete Block (today it was Karen and Sandy) and they out performed the 4 man crew from yesterday by producing over 60 blocks in a couple hour time span. Way to show up the boys!!!

Team Bond Beam completed the four batches of back breaking concrete mixing and got the entire beams filled. Now they have to sit for 2-3 days before we can start adding the trusses. Once finished they moved onto cleaning up the side of the house and began making a first roof truss template. The wood looked like a local fir but is extremely heavy. We believe it could be a teak. Will probably take a team of 7-8 people to lift these trusses in place.

The children met us again with smiling faces and open arms. Many giving us hugs to say good morning. A colleague of mine had a quote on the bottom of a recent e-mail that read “The empty spaces between your fingers were created so that another's could fill them in.” Wow what a meaning that has to us now!!!

Lan spends a lot of quality time with the children in the morning. Teaching them as well as herself the numbers from 1 to 10. They were also lining up to get their pictures taken one by one. After each picture they had to see themselves on the camera. It brought so many smiles to their little precious faces. The children are very respectful and for the most part well behaved. What's very strange to us is we never see a mother coming to check on her child(ren) the entire day. It's like the children run free the entire day and look out for themselves. Preschool option is available to them but they must pay for it which is why we understand the amount of little feet running in the village each day.

Today was also baby weighing day at the medical clinic right across from the house. So it was busy with the mom's lining up outside and many breast feeding on the step while they wait. One particular baby stood out as you see by the pictures above. This is an Albino baby. So cute but our hearts went out to this baby as it will be so hard for the child to live in this culture and climate. It is also very dangerous for them as the "Witch doctors" in Tanzania kill them and sell their body parts as they are to be very lucky. So sad!!!

Each night we eat dinner outside by candle light and the brightness the moon provides. The stars seem so much more prominent here. The sky in the evening is an amazing sight even though the moon is upside down! Last night Richard brought out the telescope and we were able to get a good look at the moon and we really could see this large crater on the top of it. Truly awesome!

Tonight was a quiet night by all. Thanks to the heat, sunshine, heaving lifting and sore bodies we are exhausted!

Looking forward to tomorrow...

Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Working together on the project

We all woke this morning after many of us having a very restless night. I think we are all still getting used to hearing these wonderful sounds of nature. Rick and Karen woke to a black bat visiting inside their mosquito netting. I had two monkeys playing less than 100 feet from my head. It was a beautiful sight after I realized they were not as close as I originally thought.

We all went to bed concerned for our fearless foreman Mr. Doug Wittal who called it a night well before everyone (since the onset of the trip he had been the last!) with possible sun stroke. Doug woke this morning feeling great and ready to "getter done!"

What another incredible day on the job site. We were greeted today with another beautiful sunny day with temperatures reaching low 40's.

We had five areas of the construction that we focused on today. Concrete block building, out house holding tank, finishing interior walls, rebar cutting and door board planing.

Team concrete block building (Ken, Bill, Mark) accomplished building 120 blocks. Blocks will take 3 days to dry even in this heat. Awesome job team!

Team Out House (Rick H., Harley, Brittany, Marianne, Murray) successfully completed adding another 6 rows to the 48" x 48" structure. 10 blocks per row. Never thought we would be cutting concrete blocks to size with a machete.

Team Interior (Doug, Ralph, Rick K.) got a far as placing the rebar on top of the outside structure beams.

Team Rebar (Karen, Lan) did the toughest job with minimal tools available to attempt to cut rebar. But after trying new adventurous ways to cut it the job was done!

Team Planing (Sandy) rocked as being the planer. Now she has a new profession when she returns home. No one could of got the boards smoother than she did and draw the size of the audience watching her! The local boys where amazed at her ability!

Our little friends in the Matipwilli village taught us some new words today so we thought we should share them with you. The first word confused us slightly as the little boys kept saying "pi pi" (pronounced "pee pee") so you can understand we thought they had to go to the washroom but they actually wanted candy. They also taught our friend Lan the following in Kiswahili:

Sifuri - O
Moja - 1
Mbili - 2
Tatu - 3
Nne - 4
Tano - 5
Sita - 6
Saba - 7
Nane - 8
Tisa- 9
Kumi - 10

Everyday on the way to and from the village which is an 11km trek of winding dirt and very bumpy roads, we see new sights. Our wonderful chaperons Raymond and Ashley ensure we get to take it all in. Today on the way to town we had a large family of Baboon's cross in front of us and on the way home we had an African Palm Civet come out and cross behind our vehicles. They look like a large cat with spots but very dangerous!

Each day I will introduce a team member to you. Today it is Lan's turn:

Lan is on her second Developing World Connections Trip. Her previous trip was to India. Lan is enjoying the trip, working hard and learning the Kiswahili language and communicating with the children. Lan has traveled from Victoria BC to join the trip. As you can tell she is very shy by the description she would let me write.

We are all looking forward to resting our bodies as tomorrow is an very physical labor day with a lot of concrete work ahead, more of the wonderful sunshine and heat! :)

G'nite from Tanzania!


Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010

Monday, October 18, 2010

Matipwilli, Tanzania: Getting to know the community.

Wow...what an incredible place to wake up to this morning! We are all feeling better with finally some sleep under our belt.

Our rooms have no walls, only mosquito netting between ourselves and nature. During the night hearing the sounds of the Galago (aka Bush Baby, due to the baby crying sound this animal makes) and the monkeys at play. Our view outside our any which way we look of miles of Africa rain forest and flat lands.

Developing World Connections has found an incredible sanctuary for our stay. We are all adapting so fast to live without electricity and running water especially after our visit to the village today meeting the community where we are about to build a home.

Kisampa was found mistakenly by the founder Rob Barbour when his plane en route to Dar was diverted by a thunderstorm and he noticed this large inhabited piece of land so close to Dar with no access roads. 7 years later this land has been transformed with hand made roads and Bandas (our rooms). Kisampa is an amazing sanctuary while ensuring the integrity of the conservation land it sits on.

Today en route to the village Matipwilli (name translation is man going out to work) we saw an amazing tree called Baobab Tree. This tree is commonly called the Whistling Thorns. In order to protect itself, pods grow on the thorns and nectar which attracts ants. Both the ants and the thorns protect the trees from the live animals.

Matipwilli is a village of 1000 people living by minimalist means. Majority without electricity, running water and shelter that is basically four walls and a roof.

Once we left the vehicle and started to walk through the village the young children converged on us with smiling faces. They grabbed for our hands. Many of them fighting to hang onto one finger. I had the same two children on each side of me the entire walk with many other coming and going. Even with a language barrier we still communicated with one another by tickling them and making them smile. Still with the desire to play with the children, I decided spontaneously to teach them how to do a cartwheel. The children had so much fun learning.

Before we arrived in the village I was sitting beside a new friend Mark who cautioned me on not getting too close to the children or our last day will be very hard and filled with many tears. I thought to myself how did Mark know I have this huge soft spot for children especially children living in these conditions. Knowing our visit today was coming to an end, I immediate turned to our guide to ask him to translate to the children we would be back tomorrow.

The village leaders gathered to together to welcome Developing World Connections (represented by our volunteer Team Leader Rick Kurzac) to their village and showed their appreciation to our Team for our support to their community.

Heading back to camp was a great ride with us all on reflecting our experience of the day. We are all eager to start the home tomorrow and we are determined to work as hard as possible to have this home completed in our short stay.

Will update you on our day 1 of construction...

Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010

Matipwilli, Tanzania: First day of construction.

Despite the 40 degrees weather with the humidity, we got a tremendous amount of work completed.

Our Team is beginning the first steps to construct a home for a medical officer near the village of Matipwilli. Our Team is staying at Kisampa but travels each day to the village. The village is equipped with a medical dispensary but it is difficult for it to remain open because of the lack of staff. The only other access to medical care is 15 km away and there is little if any transportation to the next village. By constructing a home near the dispensary this will encourage a qualified medical officer to move into the area thus allowing the villagers to have consistent access to medical assistance.

Interior walls in the front portion completed, over 200 cement blocks (solid concrete block..they were about 75lbs each) move on to the job site via congo line, base for outhouse 12 feet below grade completed with 3 rows of block set.

We build with the local tools an equipment available. Therefore all of the cement and mortar was carried by pail and mixed together on the ground by shovels.

The floor in back portion of the home had to level so concrete can be poured. Leveling consisted of using a concrete leveling weighted square by hand. Too many of us a few hours to complete.

The village children we excited to see us this morning when we arrived. Our new little friends came running to hold our hands as we walked to the job site. They we our supervisor's the entire day. Well almost the entire day as the heat exhausted us and we called it a day at 2:30pm.

As the older children in the village finished school, they can by curiously to see our progress and it wasn't long before some were helping out. No language barrier concern. They understood what the job was at hand by watching.

Below are photo's of our day 1 progress.

We are all looking forward to an ice cold beer, good dinner and a great sleep. We should have no trouble sleeping tonight!

Update you on Day 2 tomorrow...


Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010

Matipwilli, Tanzania: First Team to arrive in Tanzania.

After some 47 hours of travel for most and 40 hours for myself, 3-4 flights and one river crossing by foot in the dark and very little sleep, we arrived safely at our home away from home for the next couple of weeks.

The trek from Dar se Saleem, Tanzania to Kisampa took us about almost 5 hrs from landing. Busy Saturday traveling through the remote villages. The local people shopping at their local farmers markets on the side of the road and lots of traffic congestion on the two lane highway. Local politicians campaigning for the upcoming election.

We pit stopped for some water about 50kms from the airport and there was a "Subway" restaurant. We almost felt like we weren't too far from home. Our trek went from a two lane highway to a one lane dirt road for many kms winding through a pineapple plantation. At times our bus was on such a tilt due to the road condition we weren't sure if our bus would make it. With the road being so narrow we cringed each time an on coming bus was approaching. Many of us closed our eyes as there was no room for two cars. Murray commented "It doesn't matter how much you miss the other car, you just need to miss it."

We stopped at the last village to meet the Kisampa guide to show us the rest of the way. He graciously showed is to a local's residence for the majority of the ladies could use the facilities before the final trek into camp. It was an interesting little hut. Inside was a hole in the concrete floor and a bucket of water on the floor to clean the floor when you are finished. Reminded me of my prior washroom experiences in China but when you gotta go, you gotta go!

We got a far as we could in our little 14 passenger bus. Then we had to unload all of our baggage and then hike up our pant legs, remove our shoes and cross the river on foot (doable as the river level is low. Otherwise we would have canoed across). The wonderful people from Kisampa helped carry our luggage across the water. We then loaded into jeeps and finished the final 3kms to the camp. It is unfortunate that we arrived after dark as we could not see much. I am told we are in for a surprise in the morning.

What we did notice tonight is that the moon is upside down here compared to how we view the moon in North America. Interesting...

Exhaustion is setting in so we will update you tomorrow on our accommodations and our first night at camp...Good night from Kisampa Africa!

Marianne
DWC Participant
Tanzania 2010