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Taking over the World in Livingstonia – Malawi
Three, two, one, hold your breath! We curled in our chins into our chests, closed our mouths and covered our eyes. The dust lifted by the truck driving in the opposite direction swallowed us for a few seconds. When the air cleared, I straighten myself back up. Standing at the back of the open van, hands firmly holding onto the metal bar, the dry hot breeze that gently sways the scarf tied on my hair is enough to make me feel like I can take on the World. Well, at least Malawi… And by this I mean: we managed to get a “taxi” the way locals do! Some people might…
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The biggest sun rises above Malawi
Sunrise, I have been fortunate to witness it in almost every country I have been to. And all sunrises have this one thing in common: hope. It is the light after the darkness, the promise of another chance at life, the reminder that there is still hope. And yet, to me, Malawi holds the prize for the ‘most beautiful sunrise’ I have ever seen! Well, the sun was the biggest and the hope found in every Malawian smile was the brightest! My time in Malawi was rather short: we spent 2 nights in a campsite by the beach in Chitimba and 2 nights in Kande before we headed to Zambia.…
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Datoga Tribe – Beliefs about Marriage
“If I like you, I will wait for you to be alone, maybe when you are herding the cattle. I will come for you, I will pick you up on my shoulders and take you with me, so you will marry me!” This was the answer from our Datoga guide to my question on how do the Datoga arrange a marriage. I think I must have frozen for a few seconds, terrified with the idea! It sounds like… well like kidnapping to me! However, it is a normal practice among this tribe in the north of Tanzania. Once I picked up my chin from the floor, I continue with my…
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Culture Shock – Driving in Africa Advice
CULTURE SHOCK I never knew exactly what was it. I thought it would only happen to people who aren’t open-minded or don’t like travelling to remote areas. When I travel, it is the different ways of thinking and the unusual ways of living that excites me. But this one late evening, 3 weeks into my time in Tanzania, I found myself speechless, with my stomach turning when I found out that our other guide and driver hit a pedestrian and ran away. Our guide said he had to do it, “everybody does it”. I knew he wasn’t a bad guy but at first I couldn’t understand why this crimewas okay…
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Watching the World go by…
In the early warm hours of the day, the call-to-prayer wakes up the whole town. Once the so said prayers are over, the population of Stone Town occupy the labyrinth alleyways and carry on with their daily tasks: to sell, to buy, to sit chatting with the neighbours, to stand on the streets greeting tourists, to stand on the streets watching the world go by… A few times I wondered what these last ones were thinking. On one of my wandering hours, I noticed this old man was doing just that. Seated barefoot on
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SAFARI, IS IT SAFE? – Part 2
1 – How safe is it to camp without fence protection on a Safari? I am not going to lie, I was nervous. In a I’m-about-to-sleep-in-the-middle-of-lions kind of nervous. You know? As it turns out, I slept like a rock. In fact on my first night camping, I fell asleep to the sound of giggling hyenas, happily scrutinizing through our dinner’s left overs. I entered dreamland completely oblivious that about an hour later, lion’s roars were heard nearby the campsite. Probably trying to shush the hyenas away and claim back territory. But, no seriously, it is VERY SAFE! On my first day I bombed my guide with questions, questions, questions.…
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Why did I visit a Tanzanian Prison?
“Your passport”. We looked at each other – we didn’t know we were supposed to bring it. We left it in our bags back at the school, together with our phones and cameras. None of it was allowed on a visit to a prison in Tanzania. I was volunteering at Magereza Nursery School, in Moshi. The school is located inside the Magereza prison quarters and it offers free classes to the children of guards and prisoners, as well as to the children that live in the village in front of the prison. One of the boys in my class, Joshua, lives with his jailed mum since he was born. In…
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MOSHI TRAIN STATION – Where Time Stopped
“Moshi has a train station?! But there are no trains here!” 2 weeks into my time in Moshi, a town in the north of Tanzania, I found out about the existence of a train station. And as it has turned out, it became my favorite place in Moshi. With the sumptuous Kilimanjaro as a backdrop, it is a place to sit in peace, a place where time stopped and where
Personal Travel Blog
