Sayonara Tanzania

After 21 days in Tanzania, Emily and I will be saying our farewells today as I continue onto Ghana and she heads home. All in all, Tanzania was much as I expected. Our game viewing on the safari was awesome!  We met some great people in our group and our guides showed us not only incredible animals but we had some very real experiences with the people of Tanzania. We visited a Masai boma as well as a local primary school, two experiences which were very far outside the realm of our American living. Primitive and poor with minimal resources are daily aspects of their lives. Kids holding out their little hands asking for money is a norm, but what is more heart wrenching is that they appear starved for love and attention. They approach us with more confidence than I expected and are eager to speak English and play with our cameras. Some of the kids slipped notes to us with their address on it hoping for continued communication/money...

Zanzibar has been .....different than I expected. We stayed in Stone Town for 2 nights and wondered around on our own. Tiny passage ways with lots of little stores, create a maize easily getting us lost around every corner. No street signs, but lots of chickens, people, and mopeds occupy these tiny alleys. Although the port town has a good amount of charm, buildings have not been kept up, there is much dirt and garbage everywhere, and people spend their days just hanging out on street corners or on store stairs.

After Stone Town we ventured about an hour north to the Nungwe beach area and this is has been wonderful! Our hotel is modern, with flat screen TV's attached to each bed, mini-fridge in the room, an infiniti pool and even ice! And great Internet access.




Off to Ghana today where life will be much slower and communication more difficult. Hope to be in touch soon - miss you all!