Tanzania Travels

We made it to Tanzania!

We had a brief touch down in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia this morning. Evening? We’re all mixed up. 7:00AM local time. The list of departure destinations out of Addis was impressive:

Sadly, Sam does not share my super power of being able to sleep anywhere (especially on flights, often through take off AND landing) so she attempted to nap in the airport while I sat back and watched the world walk by. It was an incredible crossroads of people, dress, demeanor… white tourists in zip-off cargo pants (presumably ready for safari!), women draped in colorful gauzy headscarves, others in full burkas. It actually felt like a certain degree of staring was socially acceptable because everyone seemed to be somewhere between gawking and marveling at each other’s sudden, stark presence. I loved watching this odd mix of people filter in and out of view in such a short time — airports are amazing.

My favorite tidbit was seeing a little girl with a Disney Cinderella suitcase… except her Cinderella’s gown included a high neck, full length sleeves, and a snowy headscarf fashioned loosely around her blonde hair. Little markers we’ve arrived in a different part of the world. ❤️

From our brief introduction by air and airport, Addis felt a bit more rough around the edges. Dark and hazy skyline, mountains and deep greens, mix of half-finished high rises and shanty towns.

Coming from that, Dar Es Salaam came into view like a sunny, lush, turquoise-fed dream!

Reguli (the first of 4 Mandela-Washington fellows we’ll be meeting up with) was front and center at the airport pick up area— the absolute best way to arrive in a new place, with a familiar and friendly face waiting to welcome you! He quickly introduced us to his friend Georgie, who apparently…

A) does not like hiking

B) is still enthusiastically coming hiking with us all week (to big cheers from me and Sam!), and

C) only learned of and committed to these plans yesterday

So we’ve already grown to a posse of 4, which will be so fun! The guys left us to get settled in our hotel for the night, and we’ll head out to dinner and a visit of the city with them again in a couple hours. Reguli picked out our lodging for this evening, and I have to say — the man has pretty good taste!

Yes—you guessed it!—Sam is still napping, so I’m writing this curled up in a cozy chair on my little porch… so far I’ve been accompanied by occasional mosquitos, a call to prayer from a nearby mosque, lots of birds chirping, colorful tropical-looking plants, and some cheerful greetings of “Jambo!” from a few passersby.

Needless to say, we are anxious to walk around after sitting through 18 hours of flights, so looking forward to more exploring this evening! We (quite literally) head for the hills tomorrow.

All for now. Hugs from Dar!

-L