Hello! I apologize for not updating this blog in a long time. It won’t be so long a wait until the next installment. Please e-mail me and complain if it is; get me writing! The following update is from a trip I took in April to
April Break
Wednesday, March 31st 8:00 a.m. – I get a head cold. Just great! Now I can’t go diving in
At lunch the same day: I have always wanted to see
5:00 p.m: ok, that bus line is no longer in service. Fantastic. What now? I’m still moody because all I want to do is dive. Flights are around $700.00 so that’s out. The train takes is less reliable than our government and that’s saying something…. oh heck, maybe I should just go to Lushoto which is a few hours north and do some hiking. But it is rainy season. That could be bad.
7:00 p.m: I found a one way flight from
Thursday, April 1st 10:00 a.m. – I’ve got to work all day so I asked my friend Tema if she knows of anyone who can go to the train station to get my ticket. She sends someone and a few hours later I’ve got the train ticket in hand. Wow—this is really happening! I leave tomorrow! Now I just need to get home and buy that plane ticket.
3:00 p.m. – WHY is our internet out now of all times?! I can’t buy the plane ticket over the phone either. Ok, I’ll keep trying this afternoon; I’m sure the internet will come back soon.
10:00 p.m. – bedtime. I’m not yet packed either because I don’t know what the weather will be like. Still no internet. I don’t leave until noon, so I hope it’s back on in the morning. I can’t leave without first securing a plane ticket back. It is, after all, it’s the only plane that leaves from there to Dar in four days, so if I don’t get it I’ll be stuck.
Friday, April 2nd 7:00 a.m. – I opened the front door and found a cross created from a palm frond from a friend. What a perfect time to pause and reflect on the ultimate gift that is Palm Sunday.
8:00 a.m. – Still no internet. Ok, time for my emergency action plan. I called Mom and woke her up. She got on the internet and I walked her through buying the ticket for me….and checking the weather. Thanks Momma for coming to the rescue again! This is the first she has heard of the trip and knows I’m traveling alone too. Yeah, like she can go back to sleep peacefully now! A few hours later she called me back with other stuff she found when researching. Oh man, I should have maybe called Sis, at least then Momma would have gotten a full night’s sleep!
1:00 p.m.- The cab dropped me at the train station, which was a building of absolute chaos. Terror struck me when I saw the throngs of people trying to get into the station. Why did I come by myself? Someone is SO going to mug me right now. Deo (cabbie), don’t leave me! He came to my rescue for probably the 100th time since I’ve lived in Dar; he got out of the car and pushed me through the masses to the front of the line and into the station. As I wandered slowly through the large, filled station in an attempt to find out where I was to go, I got that sense of being under a microscope, that feeling that accompanies me often here. I looked around and could tell that I had the unfortunate pleasure of being the object of all 500 people’s attention. I knew I was a bit lost and they did too, quite amusingly I believe. Finally, a few soles pointed me in the right direction, then a few more pointed me to doors for a room who’s sign read ‘First Class Waiting Area’. Ah yes, I’m so easily figured out here. As I sat in the waiting area, the Jesus film was being played on the television. I got to enjoy my own personal Palm Sunday service in a train station waiting area in
The train departed at 2:00 for it’s LONG journey to
The cabin is small but cleanish; my standards for cleanliness have certainly changed since living in
Experience living and traveling in developing countries has taught me a few big lessons of travel. 1) wipes are essential 2) always bring plenty of toilet paper 3) bring enough food for a couple of days; sometimes you can’t find [edible] food (yes, this one I had to learn the hard way) 4) have plenty of reading material; things move slower in these places. Being fully equipped, I began what ended up being the most relaxing 56 hours of my entire life; I have NEVER been so sedentary! I literally got up to go to the bar for some water once, to the bathroom, and to the dining car for one meal (which by the way was the best fried chicken I’ve ever had—I don’t want to know how old the grease was!). Other than that, I stayed either sitting or lying on my bench in the cabin. It was amazing! I caught up on all of the sleep I’d been lacking and read 3 novels, not to mention enjoyed some breathtaking scenery!
The cabin had a large window that was held open by a large stick…to begin with. About half way through the journey I leaned out of the window to take a scenic look, subsequently knocking the stick out. The one ton pane of glass fell with the force of a charging elephant, landing precisely in the middle of my neck. Hearing the cracking sound and feeling the instantaneous pain made me wonder what detrimental, if not permanent damage I had done to my already problematic neck.
With my head and arms hanging out the window and the rest of my body inside and on top of the table on which I had been laying I was completely stuck. I flailed my arms and legs like a fish out of water, attempting to get out of this compromising position. My arms could not reach backwards to lift up the window and it was too heavy to lift with my neck, which was throbbing. After a brief moment of self-composure, I did what anyone in this position would do: I yelled for help! Hearing my desperate pleas, the passenger in the neighboring berth poked his head out of his window to investigate. Seeing the predicament I was in made his eyes protrude and face scrunch up in horror. He heroically came to my rescue and walked inside to open the window, thus freeing me from my makeshift guillotine. I think the man assumed I was a walking disaster; he escaped back to his berth nearly before I could mutter an embarrassing thank you. Taking no chances on prolonged future pain, I popped a couple muscle relaxants and a handful of pain relievers then took yet another nap. This did indeed help the side effects, but the massive bruise that covered the back of my neck was quite a battle scar.
My car was second to last of the entire train. This train had been built sometime in what seemed to be the 1950s and hadn’t been maintained since then. The amount of sheer bounce where cars were connected bordered on amusement park status; I didn’t know this ride came with my ticket purchase. Walking from one car to another was tricky business; one had to stand at the edge, waiting for just the right moment to take the running leap across the great divide that separated your safety from complete annihilation. As it were, the bathroom was situated right at this junction, so my second ‘adventure’ of this trip commenced during these trips.
Imagine a room not much larger than an airplane bathroom, but instead of having a proper toilet, it’s a 50 year old metal pot with a hole down to the tracks. Even more, there is no toilet paper (thank God for mine), but instead a 5 gallon bucket is half filled with water (the other half is all over the floor) and a plastic cup. In addition, the amount of bounce and shake is so strong that your leg muscles are in constant contraction. Any moment you know you’re going to slip and fall into the ‘toilet’ hole as many before you have obviously done. And something to hold on to? one wall—not even a place for both hands. Needless to say, I would have rather had a tree.
The train track was elevated slightly above the tree line, so most of the views were looking down onto the trees and out into the countryside. The recent rains brought plants to life; the sweeping panorama glistened in tones of green like emeralds in a jeweler’s display. The newness of life and the signs of spring encouraged internal contemplation of my rebirth through Christ; what a wonderful Easter weekend it was! The sporadic rain coupled with the mountain altitude left a chill in the air that was required me to pull out a jacket and scarf—what a treat!
The track traveled through a national park for a couple of hours. Here the scenery changed a bit; there were no large, faraway scenes. These were more intimate, an intrusive journey through the habitat of the local safari animals. The giraffes, zebra, gazelles, antelopes, and warthogs paid no attention as the train trudged through their back yard. It was an exciting reality check as to where I am when I get out of the city and see safari animals out the train window! The handiwork and creativity of THE creator leaves me in awe! Be sure to check out my pictures (Out the Train Window link below) to see just a glimpse of the beauty!
On afternoon as we were traveling through an especially scenic area I pulled myself away from my ‘cave’ and ventured to the drink/snack car; its full sized windows on both sides allowed for optimal viewing. The potentially blissful enjoyment was unfortunately ruined by the horrendous intrusion of American hip-hop music videos on the two televisions. What a horrid juxtaposition of natural beauty and man-made art form. As I sat back and observed the Tanzanian travelers watching these music videos, it made me wonder what kind of opinions Tanzanians and Africans in general have toward the American gangster, rapper lifestyle that they see on tv. Although they know nothing of him, Tanzanians are huge fans of Obama; they see him a representation of themselves, as an African making it in the white man’s world. I wonder if they have the same sense of respectful admiration for the likes of Usher, Beyonce, and P-Diddy. Hmmm….I need to think about who I can speak with to get an answer to this one…
On Saturday night, after about 30 hours of travel, the train arrived in Mbeya, which is the half way point and is the border city of
During one of my quick jaunts down the corridors to stretch my legs I met a young Swiss man named Alexander. As we chatted, we learned that he and I had the exact itinerary for the next few days. He was also traveling alone, so we decided to strike up a traveling partnership for the next leg of our journey.
At 8:00 that evening we arrived in the small town of
After sleeping and lounging around all day, I don’t know how I was tired, but thank God I was. With my ipod conspicuously hiding under my jacket, earbuds in, and eye mask on, I drifted to sleep.
Neither Alexander nor I had made reservations at a place to stay, but we had looked at the guidebook earlier and picked a hostel that sounded promising. After catching a cab and arriving, I settled into the dorm room for another solid 4 hours of sleep.
I spent the following day exploring
The next morning I boarded a 6:00 a.m. bus south to the town of
April is the rainy season and the
The statistics are indeed staggering but like anything else, it is possible to have too much of a good thing. When water falls at such a high level it creates so much mist that the view of the waterfall itself is quite restricted. Only a few areas offered views that allowed me to see a fraction of the beauty and overwhelming power of the falls. Being so wide, there was no viewpoint at which I could stand and get the full visual effect. A waterfall, however, can offer what many other things in nature cannot: nearly complete sensory stimulation. The sight of the water, mist, river, and surrounding nature is obvious. Its noise is ferocious. Upon his exploration of the area, Dr. David Livingston referred to the falls as “The smoke that thunders”. The smell of fresh river water permeates the air. The feel of the river was the most exhilarating and intense.
I designated my first visit to the falls as the ‘wet day’. There is a gorge that runs perpendicular to the waterfall with a footbridge that connects the two sides. The footbridge is close to the waterfall. The spray caused by the water crashing over 300 feet below envelopes the entire area, rising up and creating a moist cloud over the drop off. The bridge is directly in the midst of the ‘splash zone’, and crossing it means becoming completely drenched. What fun!
Having known that getting wet was an option, I came on this trip prepared with the essential flip flops, full poncho, plastic bags to protect my things, and a waterproof camera. After getting geared up I set off to ‘get a feel for’ the waterfall (see pictures of
I went on one hike to the gorge on the opposite side of the falls to explore the surrounding vegetation and geology. Another path took me down to the bottom of the gorge where water from the fall flowed into the river. The big bridge seen in my pictures is the crossing point into
The abundance of baboons completed this idyllic picture of paradise. Their lack of inhibition around humans was both worrisome and captivating. The click of a camera did not seem to bother them in the least, and I loved observing them.
As I explained earlier, there is no where to stand that a complete view of the falls can be seen. There is, however, one place that does offer amazing views: from above. The best decision I made on this trip was to take a microflight ride above the falls and the surrounding area. As you can see in the picture, the flying contraption was quite small. I couldn’t take a camera because of the risks associated with the open propeller and potentially dropped objects. The plane had digital cameras attached to the wings and every time that the pilot pushed a button on his handle bars (like a bike’s) the cameras took pictures (See Microflight pictures, link below). At the beginning of this 15 minute ride the pilot and I took off and headed a short distance for the falls. On the way, we saw two giraffes walking in the middle of the paved road (the area on both the
I spent my last afternoon in Livingstone town. There is an informative museum about Dr. Livingstone’s journey through
Later that night I took the bus ride back to
I hope you’ve been entertained by my travel stories. I’d love to hear your comments! Here are instructions for leaving a comment:
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Enjoy the pictures and friend me on Facebook if we’re not yet!
Out the Train Window
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2561106&id=5132789&l=d633c57c6f
Victoria Falls
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2561114&id=5132789&l=914dee43c6Microflight
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2564268&id=5132789&l=3aca1a7ab7
