Voyeur Giraffes?!

Right, so after my passionate rant against Zanzibar, I figured I should follow up with an additional post about Tanzania, (since Zanzibar really is a part of the country).

I'm happy to report that the remainder of Tanzania does not have the same kind of attitude towards white women that the people of Zanzibar sported, at least in Arusha and Dar es Salaam. That's not to say Tanzania is free of problems- I've come to the conclusion that there's a real lack of compassion between the inhabitants.

There was one incident in particular I found to be somewhat frightening. David and I were awaiting a dalla dalla (this time it was a small bus, not a crappy covered truck) to get to the woodcarver's market, which is a wonderful place to get various wooden goods. Tanzanians are very skilled craftsman, and the woodcarver's market offers a great selection at fairly reasonable prices for lovely pieces.

Ok, woodcarver tangent aside, David and I were trying to catch a dalla dalla, along with a decent number of other folk (about 30 or so). These buses come often, as far as I could tell every 5-10 minutes. When a bus pulled up to the curb, a mob immediately surrounded David and I. The people coming from the woodcarver's market fought their way through the crowd as they clambered off the bus. When the last guy attempted to disembark, the mob pressed forward and refused to let him off, so much so that he ended up with his spine pressed against part of the door with people smashing into his chest. This young man, maybe 19 or so, fought to not only get off the bus but to breathe as he was crushed in the onslaught of people wanting to get a seat on the bus so they wouldn't have to stand for the 20 minute trip.

I would liken this scenario to one I would imagine if there was some sort of emergency- like if azombie apocalypse had just started. That's how fevered the atmosphere was to get on this bus, and that's what this young guy was up against. It was frustrating because it was impossible to help him- I kept shouting to let him off, but of course no one cared, and even if someone else had, the press from the mob pushed anyone by the door forward in this hectic crush. Eventually the poor kid made it off. I would not be surprised if he'd ended up with some fractured ribs, he was pressed so violently and in such an awkward position.

As someone who's spent half a year in DC mastering the metro (shout out to my DC bud Nicole!) I can honestly say that even during the Fourth of July, when hundreds of thousands storm the metro, I have never seen people choose causing someone pain and getting a good seat over just sucking it up and standing.

What really gets me is that it's not like the bus was only coming once a day or something- again, there were several buses running and if people really wanted a seat, they could have easily waited an hour for rush hour to be over and then had most of the bus to themselves.

Transportation woes aside, we soon left Dar for Arusha, to embark on a four day safari on the Serengeti. Our charter was Sunny Safaris, and if any of you are considering doing a big game safari, I really can't recommend it enough! It was a "camping" trip, though as an outdoorsy Idahoan I can't really call it that- we had an extraordinary chef, access to showers, and a roomy 4 person tent to ourselves. It was a wonderful experience! We saw all of the "big five" (lions, water buffaloes, leopards, elephants, rhinoceroses) and a giraffe watched me use the bushes in the middle of the night! Unfortunately the last day was cut short when I got a sinus infection. One thing that must be said for Tanzania- while access to medical professionals is seriously lacking, when you actually can find a "doctor," they hand out pills like candy. And it's all free! But despite all of the fun different colored complementary pills, I much prefer the American system where they actually examine you as opposed to just giving you a quick once-over and hand you a pack of red pills.

Along the same lines, it's kind of a bit scary how casually people use Penicillin and Cipro in Africa. People seem to take Cipro here the same way we use Advil in the states.

Too soon it was time to leave Tanzania for Kenya. Zanzibar & bus craziness aside, I enjoyed Tanzania. Following the riots in 2007/2008 tourism in Kenya tanked, and Tanzania was quick to step up to the plate and fill the void. I don't think there's been another country on our trip thus far where we've seen so many westerners. It's clear from the over one hundred safari companies in Arusha that tourism is really thriving.

Overall, I'd say Tanzania is worth visiting. But please do skip Zanzibar.