The final leg of the trip...

Wednesday, May 20th...this is it, final leg of the trip. Wrapping things up in Nungwi ensuring we had all our flight details, enjoying the beach for the last time and gearing up for the long flight home. The reality of it all sinking in and knowing that we were finally going to see our families which is what we want but the realization and sadness that it was all soon to be over.

So we took a bunch of photos on the trip back, secured the luggage from the hotel...had one final lunch at Mercury's and then set out on the 4pm ferry. Little did we know this would be quite the adventure.

After such a smooth ride out we figured this would be the uneventful part of the trip. Yes well, this was not to be so....this ferry ride ended up being what I would refer to as "riding the hulk at universal for about 1.5 hours straight!" We started out up top in the fresh air enjoying the view but soon realizing that this came with a splash or 2 of sea water. After realizing that we were going to be soaked in a matter of minutes, we decided to sit in the covered section. Much to my surprise there were a few sea sick patrons. In fact, the job of the main porter was to walk around with vomit bags and ensure everyone had one just in case. I have never been in one place where so many people were getting sick at the exact same time in my entire life! Many of the young American and Norwegian girls were gunning it for the back of the ferry just to get fresh air (or have some privacy to do the inevitable!) . This went on for a rather long time all the while with me focusing on not losing my lunch. I quit reading, turned on the ipod and sat very focused on breathing. And thankfully, the luggage was covered but I did notice a few damp items in the suitcase when I got home!

The last negotiation of the trip was the fare to the airport. Thankfully we found a decent guy who took me to the airport for 20,000Tsh without incidence...other than the typical Dar es Salaam traffic jam. This was a lonely trip...reminiscing about all my new friends and how I might not ever see them again....but then also happy to be finally going home, back to the comfortable routine....

The bucket list...

So if you want to see the beaches in Zanzibar then you need to head North or North-East....we headed up to Nungwi after securing a good lead from Masoud from the Chavda....he hooked us up with Issa who was willing to drive us the distance to the Mnarani Beach Cottages up in Nungwi for a mere $50,000 Tsh. This was a good rate particularly in the low season.

This is also where, unbeknownst to me, I would check off a couple of items from the bucket list. I had never gone snorkelling or scuba diving before and sure enough that is what we did over the next couple of days.

Snorkelling - for $30 each we got hooked up with Captain Juma...our local guide who got us on the dhow that headed out to Mnembe atoll... I think this was the result of stellar negotiation yet again since it was worth double! You can negotiate alot in the low season. In any case we ended up on a boat with about 20 others and got hooked up with all the snorkelling gear required. This is where I learned the ropes on how not to panick in the water, how to breath and ultimaltey do a duck dive without drowning myself. It was soooo cool. We stayed in the water for a couple of hours and then when done headed to the island bar-b-q for beautifully grilled king fish and rice and fruit. Best fish we had on the trip!

Scuba diving - so the next day we decided we would try the scuba diving....something I wasn't sure I would ever do but thankfully they had beginners class (scuba for dummies...) that would allow me to get comfortable with the whole breathing underwater thing...it took a bit for me to be convinced that this was something that I really wanted to do but once I got the hang of it I actually really enjoyed the experience of it all. It was so cool to know that we were 12metres underwater (I was side by side the divemaster the entire time) and seeing all the beautiful coral reefs and tropical fish....in the end I got talked into 2 dives and loved every minute of it. I highly recommend Chris from East Africa Divers...really nice south african guy who knows what he is doing.

I can now cross off a couple things from the bucket list! Beats having to go to mexico at this point in time!

Up at 5:00am....r u kidding me???

So here we were on Saturday May 16th, still not really believing that the project was over...and up at 5:00am! A few of us bleary eyed (and puffy eyed due to various bug bites..ie me!) started the day out figuring out how to get out of Dar...we were headed to Zanzibar! Now until this point we had only ever read about such a place or joked about its exotic existence and here we were on a ferry to Stonetown! The birth of the spice trade way back when...this was truly an unexpected part of the adventure. The ferry ride was smooth and pleasant...enjoying the view and the good company.

Once we arrived we headed to the hotel, baggage and all....and had an interesting experiencing dealing with the over-eager locals (hmm...beach boys??? I think they are referred to as) who offered to help in any way possible (carry luggage, provide a taxi, offer a tour etc etc...). This of course is the way of life there but at some point you have to be stern enough to let folks know you appreciate their concern but don't require any assistance....mind you, having the chief australian negotiator handling all the extra attention is extremely helpful in dodging the locals!

In any case we spent the next 2 days walking around and getting a feel for the local history, heritage, the market and how to negotiate the "dodge" of the beach boys....Many a gift were purchased by all.

Plug for the Chavda Hotel – very reputable and comfortable hotel at an extremely reasonable rate. Omar is the greatest and will make a fair deal. Masoud helped us find Issa who drove us to Nungwi for 50,000Tsh….very reasonable and a load off our minds....if you stay here you won't be unhappy. The only thing is they don't yet have internet! So we spent most of Sunday scouring the other hotels for internet access...again! We went to the Serena - extremely luxurious however much more pricey! Anyhow, the view is spectacular and the beer is baridi sana...what more could you wish for.

The last team road trip...

Well here we are travelling back to Dar...seems like we just left. Everyone feeling sad but not showing it. So to make it memorable we held lots of euchre games to kill the 6 hour bus ride and have a few more laughs. If Dan makes hearts trump one more time Sandip is going to have a kniption right here in the bus....of course, it was no surprise who was the euchre boss, lol, ....I am pretty sure I didnt lose a game this day (smile)...not that we are competitive or anything....


Sad to be back at the Mediterraneo since it meant that most were leaving the next day. It was the final farewell dinner. Lots of sharing of memories and toasts to the team. Liz left early to head out on her adventures....will really have to follow her blog now to keep up on the excitement of her trip.

Last day at UDOM!!

Today we cleaned up and packaged all the project deliverables. We saw many of our UDOM friends for the last time and gave out some IBM gifts for all their support over the last 30 days. Hafide (our driver every day) asked us if we could stay a week longer and Glory gave us lots of hugs telling us what a sad day it was that we were leaving. We walked the 61 steps up to our office for the last time…although a good little work out – most of us wont miss that part but we will cherish our memories of the project, our team and the everlasting friendships and, of course, all the people at UDOM who have become our friends.

Presentation day and birthday party!

May 13th - Final presentation today!!

– about 25 UDOMers attended the final presentation. It was a feeling of relief to deliver it and know that we had completed our deliverables and could feel good about the work each team had completed. Kudos needs to go out to the Cloud team, the LMS team and the MIS teams...a job we could be proud of...although sad as we also knew that we were nearing the end of our mission at UDOM.

However, never to miss an opportunity we also had Roku’s Birthday Celebration !! We were able to surprise Roku by ordering a cake from the hotel and singing happy birthday in the courtyard. Fatima and Maniz and the girls (Reena Inaara and Yashne) came by to enjoy cake with us. which was really really nice....hopefully I will see them in Toronto some time in July.

Makulu Village Experience...

I am sure I have grumbled enough about the lack of consistent internet access while in Tanzania so won't dwell on it again...(the only real iritant of the whole trip). That said, I do feel compelled to provide the rest of the updates from the last week of the trip even though it is now officially over (sniff sniff :-0)...it doesn't quite feel "real time" but I took notes each day so that I could provide a glimpse of what went on.

I took this photo to the left of a woman from the Makulu village and just loved it...she was more than happy to let me take the picture and afterwards I showed her and she smiled. I connected with her...she seemed like a gal who had endured alot in her life but was simply content with it all....someone I can admire...as they say: life is tough, get a helmet.

The kids of course went crazy when they saw the cameras...

Tuesday May 12th: Visit to Makulu village:
Tonight we went to Innocent’s village which is situated on the road to UDOM. It was an unbelievable experience! Upon our arrival we were greeted by some traditional village dancers. The village is made up of about 3000 residents from the Gogo tribe. Although Innocent is from the Chagga tribe (based near Kilimanjaro) he has chosen to live in this village since it is so close to the university. He has a close cousin (who he calls brother – but also clarified for us “…but not from the same womb” ....so, yes, we got it straight!) who he is living with right now while he gets his house built. He has only just put in the foundation and hopes to have it built by the end of August at which point his wife and children will join him from Dar es Salaam.

It was very evident that the villagers went to a lot of trouble and planning to have the 10 IBMers at their village. They put on at least 45 minutes of traditional dance for us to enjoy and at one point (much to my shock & surprise!!) I was invited up to dance with the women. In an effort to show my respect I set about displaying my dancing (in)ability for all to see. What a neat experience!! Of course my dear colleagues did not disappoint ensuring there are various video clips and snapshots of me attempting the tribal dance. As you can imagine, it was really tough to look inconspicuous with the blond hair and blue eyes. We also had a tree planting session for Innocent...each of us was required to plant 1 tree in celebration of his new homestead.

Innocent also shocked us and prepared a cornerstone to commemorate the fact that we were there and to bless his home. I was lucky enough to be asked by Innocent to unveil the conerstone and was pleasantly surprised to see all of our names and countries on the cornerstone! What a privilege and honour to be apart of Innocent's life. I will never forget this.

Desperate times mean desperate measures...

Monday Night and still no internet! Grrr. The team is getting pretty disgruntled. No way to communicate to family from the hotel except through phone calls. Everyone seems to be resigning to the fact it’s the only way to stay in touch now. We have resorted to preparing our blogs in advance and cutting and pasting them when we get to the university….where we get to enjoy the internet although at a much slower speed than we are used to.

This is photo was taken at another local restaurant where it’s no problem to drink wine; The trick comes later. Firstly, describing what kind of wine you want (a challenge translating “dry red wine – the good stuff” into Swahili). Secondly, having a glass to drink the wine from…ok this one we are flexible on – when desperate your standard water glass will suffice. Next you have to be patient and wait for whoever got told to hire a taxi and find a place where they sell wine. Finally, the longest waiting period comes with figuring out how to take the cork out of the bottle. Its amusing how the DIY (do it yourself) characteristics start emerging. This is a photo of me using your standard Philips screwdriver with a 11/2 inch screw as step one in the new cork removal process. Handy man Dan went to get various other tools to see how we could apply some leverage to the bottle. Suffice it to say your standard bottle opener did not work as did not various other random tools he found in the restaurant bar. When Dan broke the scissors the DIY session ended and we had to relinquish the bottle….the liquid substance we hoped was wine came back with the cork in the bottle. The next trick was figuring out how to pour the wine without getting the cork stuck back in the neck of the bottle….a good dose of perseverance was required this night. By the time we poured the bottle we knew the request of “dry red wine – the good stuff” was lost in translation. Of course, we drank it anyhow.

Mother's day

Today I learned that I am the only mother on the trip. How lucky I am to have such a supportive family and be able to make this trip to Dodoma. It was a lovely day which included some phone calls from home (I was also able to call mom) and spending the afternoon wandering around the Dodoma markets with colleagues bartering for material. Couldn’t break the vendor on a discount so had to relent and pay the full 10,000 tshs asking price for 2 lengths of Tanzania material…..somehow though Dan got a deal for 9000 Tshs…I felt so slighted!

We also taught Innocent & Liz how to play euchre – so now the entire team is fully trained up!

Oh Yeah! Mr Sandip (Indian card shark who just learned to play euchre a mere 3 weeks ago) finally got his butt kicked at euchre both Saturday & Sunday night….not that we are poor losers or anything but a few of us were feeling tired of Sandip winning every game! One thing is for sure, I will certainly miss Sandip’s laugh when the trip is over.

Dinner at the Kara's

One of the coolest things that happened while in Dodoma was meeting up with some fellow Canadians - The Kara family. Maniz and Fatima run the local mini-mart just past the main round about, located on the left (at the petrol station). We discovered that although growing up in Tz they both lived in Canada and met at the mosque in Markham, Ontario. They subsequently married and moved back to Dodoma to start the mini-mart. They have 2 adorable girls (Yashne and Inaara) who go to the local international school in behind the hotel. After a few conversations and then meeting them at the pizzeria we were invited to their house for dinner (all 10 of us!!!!). We headed over Saturday night and had a wonderful night of stories, amazing indian food, the Sony channel (Indian) and listening to the girls chat on about school and camp activities. The best part was after dessert the girls put on a fabulous dance to some traditional Indian music….what a blast! I found it incredibly kind of the Kara’s to feed all 10 of us and I know that everyone had a fantastic night! Many thanks goes out to them for a fabulous evening.

Bihewana Hike

Saturday turned out to be a very adventurous day…Just when things started to not go as planned...with a bit more time, patience and perseverance, it eventually worked out. The transportation no show meant we had no other choice but to resort to plan b. This meant a call Mr. Chipe to renegotiate a rate for 2 cars ….this exercise took approximately 2 hours to organize and hammer out to everyone’s satisfaction. One thing I have learned and (actually have become comfortable with!!!) is that things just don’t happen here at the speed of light…it simply takes time. There is no sense really in getting too attached to any plans since they will, without a doubt, change. My colleagues were praising me for being ultra patient and working through the deal without having the smile leave my face. (…indeed, my friends and family at home would also be duly impressed… me, patient???) .

So we worked out a deal with Mr Chipe…(thanks so our key negotiator Sean) -80,0000 Tshs for 8 of us (2 cars) to drive 16kms outside of town (near Bihewana) to climb some unkown hill, trekking through some unknown farmlard….sounds like a solid plan, right?

Mr chipe refused a lower rate (“this will kill me…” he says) and explained that the reason for the higher rate was because he would guide us right up to the top of the hill (nice) and protect us from any wild animals or unsavoury types (yikes! Got a little nervous again). Everyone agreed a little protection with a guide who spoke swahili was not such a bad idea.

So off we go. The ride out was interesting….all was going well until the 2nd car had to pull off the road due to an unknown source of smoke emanating from the dash. As you might expect, this appeared to be the beginnings of a mild panic session (ie where there’s smoke, there’s fire?) however after further discovery it looked like the electrical problem only caused a few items under the hood to melt (no flames) and didn't cause any engine problems...this is good! As it turns out, the panic was more around the fact that there were no inside door handles to get out of the car quickly if required. Quick decision making meant car 1 would take group 1 to some yet to be determined location and drop us off at the side of the road, preferably under a tree and wait for group 2 to arrive.

Finally got en route trekking through several farmer's fields with Mr Chipe leading the way speaking swahili to any non english speaking farmers (translation = all of them) explaining our desire to get to the of the hill. Apparently we were to be climbing about 1000metres (harder than Simba Rock). We passed some hearty tomatoe gardens, and vineyards (likely for the Dodoma Presidential wine we like so much) and various village homes (made out of baked red clay and mud – very fascinating and usually a tin roof kept on with rocks of various sizes. )

Got about 30 minutes into the trip and one of the gang started feeling unwell and realized that a back to the car to was required. The rest of us carried on. It took about an hour and half from the time we started to make it to the top. It was pretty cool but unfortunately we could not make it the largest rock. We took a few pictures, called our colleagues to make sure they were ok and headed back down the hill. We saw many water holeswells used to water the crops where many of the locals we doing by hand. We also saw a couple of baboons, we met a farmer herding his cattle and goats somewhere and saw some sort of white snake, various multi coloured bugs, and what we think was a chameleon…very cool.

Grumpy Simba!

Grr…..experiencing blogger’s frustration of having intermittent internet connection at the hotel so multiple updates will be happening at the same time.

Friday was the only day that we worked from the hotel for the entire day. This proved to be a good strategy since we really needed to limit the interruptions and focus on grinding out key documentation to meet our final deliverables – this last week is looming over us and I think a few of us are feeling mixed emotions. We are definitely feeling the panic set in to get the work done and leave feeling that it is a solid state for the next group but we are also starting to feel that it will be sad for our time together on the project to be over. Its been an amazing IBM group to work with but we have also met so many wonderful Tanzanians from the University and from Dodoma town. In any case, we accomplished what we set out to do for the day and just hung out at the hotel that night playing euchre later on in the evening. Everyone is getting so good that new euchre champs keep emerging. Naturally, the appropriate level of friendly gloating and berating of lesser card players is happening…as it should be between friends.

Mathias ( our main man from the New Dodoma Hotel) tried to help us arrange transportation from the hotel on Saturday for our yet to be determined road trip destination (we were torn between the local Bihawana mountain climb and the longer haul to Mpwapwa and Kongoa to see some villages. Didn’t exactly work out as planned as we find out…due to some sort of Tanzanian/Canadian miscommunication….

The "Net"...

For some reason I am still on the Mosquito net topic. This is truly an essential part of the sleep routine while staying in Tanzania however it is important to note how critical it is to master the "entrance" and "exit" techniques of the "net". Believe it or not, this takes some foresight and planning. Of course, my novice flight into the "net" was a complete bungle....nearly hanging myself. The trick I found was to figure out the technique early in the game (this is a nightly routine). So, I was an early adopter of the "swim in" entrance technique (translation: I wave my arms about in a breast stroke fashion to lift and separate (think wonderbra)) and this will get me secured safely inside the mini cocoon. The next stage is the "tuck in"....sheaths and sheaths of material must subsequently be tucked into the perimeter of the bed. This can be done fairly quickly however it is severely annoying to have to untuck forgetting that you need to turn out the light... but again, this is just part of the drill. The real trick is to bring everything inside the net....flashlight, water bottle, alarm clock, book, cell phone, tv remote...or any other sundry items you can think of ) and this should have you settled in for the long haul. Now watching tv from inside the net is interesting....everything is white and fuzzy....cheering for your favourite soccer team can be somewhat limiting when they score a goal. Another drawback of course is the accidental skype call....where someone from home forgets about the 8 hour time change. Trying to escape from the net at 3am can be a very disorienting experience when half asleep. Naturally, as you migh expect, escaping the net in the morning after a full nights sleep is a whole other routine in and of itself. For this part I have adopted the "feet first" exit. Don't ask me how I decided this, it is what it is. I guess after a few "entanglements" one tends to learn quickly from experience what works and what doesnt work and what it's like to feel sheer claustrophobic desperation leading to a keen desire to escape.

Another trick to watch for is the "reverse net setup". This occurs out of the blue one day when you dont expect it. Just as you get used to the opening being of the left side of the bed...you can get thrown for a loop with a right side set up (ie just getting ready to get tucked in only to discover the your hotel buddy prepped the net from the opposite side of the bed!)...Great, so panic sets in as I contemplate how I will now be able to read and subsequently shut the light off without the entire untuck procedure? I wonder if I should just leave the light on all night..but then what about the mosquitos??? Yes, of course, that is why I have the "net" in the first place. I am thankful for the net.

ok enough about my inadequacies managing the net. Here is the daily low down.... we don't have a tonne of spare time here...we get up, we eat, we go to work, we come back from work, we prepare to eat dinner, we eat dinner ( and it takes a minimum of 2 hours to do this) we finish dinner and it is usually 9:30 pm or later....which means little time to connect with family or blog or what have you....

Typically most of us stay up late to get all the blogging or ensuring we have our other social networking obligations completed.

Thankfully I was able to connect with family today which was very satisfying...the last few days of poor internet connection or one sided skype conversations was getting extremely frustrating.

Still trying to make plans for this weekend...sounds like we'll have to make the most out of it and spend it in Dodoma area (would have been great to get up north to Arusha and Kilimanjaro area but just isn't going to happen due to difficult flight arrangements.) The funny thing is that I was just getting used to the idea of a very low key (boring) weekend when suddenly a few ideas presented themselves independantly. In Dodoma we are finding that if you wait long enough, things will simply happen. Within a couple of hours we went from not having any plans and no transportation to having multiple villages to visit, with 2 modes of transportation......patience is still a virtue.

Observations from Dodoma

-The beer comes in larger bottles - which is wonderful except for the few of us who have had certain "side effects"...yes I wanted to believe I was above this, but was proven wrong. I am now officially only drinking red wine....I think you can figure out the rest of this story.
- You need to specify very clearly that you would like it served cold! (baridi! baridi! baridi! ie COLD)...totally bummed out that there will be no more beer for me in Tz (unless, oh brain wave! I switch to Heineken...now here is a thought!)

-Wa-lee Kuku is traditional Tanzanian meal (chicken & rice) - can't wait to go to Chako ni Chako!
-There is a big difference between local chicken and "other chicken"....you want local chicken (translation = free range, for you naturalists)

-Dompo is NOT Dodoma Presidential wine...it is a fortified sweet wine (translation = Port... and no offence, but not the preferrable cigar smoking kind!)

- The ketchup is an 'interesting' colour & texture (not heinz....it is a much thinner, pale pink variation). I prefer the chili sauce while I am here.

- Despite the fact the local Canadian Starbucks boasts the usage fresh Tanzanian beans....we cannot find a single whole coffee bean in Dodoma....we have resigned ourselves to Africafe....a powdered coffee-like mixture that boasts 100% pure instant coffee flavour...puried beans? I can only guess....if only I could get to Arusha to see a real Tz coffee bean, this would make me happy right about now.

-Organizing a cab ride is a complete exercise in the fine art of negotiation. This should be a mandatory requirement for everyone to experience. This would enable the learning of the of various negotiation negotiation strategies (ie ones that work and ones that will immediately foil your colleagues' tactics in one fell swoop). Thankfully, we have a designated on-site team of chief negotiators who thrive on getting us the cheapest fares!!! Thank heavens.

- You will pay more in the local street shops for Tz crafts than you will at the tourist shops??? What the heck...!

-Sometimes people will not turn up for meetings despite organizing the time days in advance and double/triple checking....what can I say - things come up.

-There is a secret Pizza location, but I have been sworn to secrecy on any further details...all I can confirm is that it was worth the wait, the crazy cab ride and the price...jeez it was good!

-Bongo Flavour music is really cool! (hip Tanzanian music)

-People from Dodoma (well Tz for that matter) are incredibly nice & very helpful...you cant help but fall in love with this place.

- Football (soccer) is the game of choice...many ManU fans....although the crowd went wild tonight with Barcelona tying the game with Chelsea and advancing to the UEFA Champions League cup final scheduled for May 27...my oh my, what will happen to the Norwegian Referee???? The Chelsea fans are absolutely gutted!!

-There is a distinct knack for crawling into and out of a mosquito net...and once you are tucked in it is rather annoying to realize you must still turn the reading lamp off...hence the reason I must sign off now. It is really difficult typing in the "net".

Canadian eh?

Sunday we travelled back to Dodoma but managed to explore more of the hills in Morogoro and some of the local villages en route. It was fascinating to be able to stop in the villages to see what was being sold - we saw hand crafted baskets, a fresh market of beans, peas, tomatoes, yams and onions. We learned the peanuts are raw and not the kind we were used to! We also saw nyama choma (smoked meat on a stick - like kebabs) and various cuts of goat ready to be purchased. It was a pleasant drive back to the hotel listening to various Don Williams tunes taking us back to the good ol days!
Today was heads down all day at the office and we really cranked out alot of work - the time is passing by so quickly that we are starting to get more and more conscientious about each day passing by. The process mapping will be complete by tomorrow and we will shift focus to the final requirements documentation and MIS/SME deliverables and hopefully completing the last of the interview phase.

We had our daily visit by Innocent and shared our weekend stories. We were eager to hear about the "workers day" celebrations and sounded like it was a great day of festivities. We wanted to give Innocent a commemorative MIS/SME team gift for the wonderful Tanzania bracelets he gave us so we decided that he in turn should be truly Canadian...the picture above is Innocent wearing an Earl Paddock Transportation 50th Anniversary cap...very appropriate that he should don a truckers cap! 10-4 good buddy!

Safari Salama! Twiga Twiga!!

We stayed at the Hilux Hotel in Morogoro friday night (about an hour outside of Mikumi National Park) and dragged ourselves out of bed at the crack of dawn to ensure we had an early start on our Safari. We arrived at the entrance to Mikumi greeted by a small group of Baboons (Nyani)! It was as if they knew we were coming and insisted on a proper greeting (we did not see any more Baboons until we were leaving wierdly as if to bid us adieu...Great marketing technique!). Once we entered the Lodge entrance area we were able to see various herds of animals in the distance (African Buffalo (Nyate), impala (swalapala), elephants (Ndovu - also a fine Tanzanian Beer!). After the initial shock of this sight our next surprise was realizing that a family of elephants was drinking from a small pond about 30 feet from where we were enjoying a cup of coffee!

Our heavy duty safari jeeps arrived shortly thereafter and off we went exploring the rest of Mikumi for the remainder of the day. We saw several other wild animals like Giraffe (twiga), zebra (punda milia), wildebeast (nyumba), hippopotamus (Kiboku), crocodile (mamba) and of course Simba (lion)! We also had the pleasure of seeing giant millipedes (they tickle when they crawl on you...ick!) and a very colourful bird called a lilac breasted roller. The landscape was amazing and we saw many Baobab trees - in fact we were able to climb one and took some really fun pictures of the team.

We spent the night in the Mikumi lodge and had the experience of hearing a lion roar a couple of times and an elephant trumpet...it was very surreal going to bed knowing that such wildlife was literally in your backyard!

In short Mikumi was an awesome experience...

Friday's Trek up Simba Hill

Its been a very busy long weekend but we have had a blast! Friday morning a few of us decided to get up early and climb Simba Hill. No its not Kilimanjaro but it was local and a short cab ride away. It would be considered easy to medium difficulty for seasoned trekkers taking us a good 45 minutes to get to the highest climbable point (unfortunately we could not get quite to the very top although we tried!) In any case, the view of Dodoma was fantastic and we managed to get a few good photos of the region. I learned that after a climb one must take the requisite "stance" photo indicating success (translation - " I have conquered this mountain... I am invincible! )...still don't think I am ready for Kilimanjaro yet - lol!

Later in the day we went back to the curio shop to buy some Tanzania carvings and crafts to bring home. It was a fun morning of bartering for deals with each of us using one strategy or another (later we found out that we had all over paid for most of our purchases...oh well, its all about the spirit of the game). The funniest part of the excursion was how I acquired my new earrings....I casually mentioned to the waitress that I admired her earrings and the next thing I knew they were swiftly extracted from her ears and with the utmost precision promptly put in my ears, the price was stated, the money exchanged and presto I had a new set of earrings....the 10,000 Tshs was worth the entertainment value provided to the group. You just had to be there!

Off to Mikumi we went...