And so it begins...(Arusha, Tanzania)

So what have I been up to so far?

I flew out to Nairobi from Heathrow on Tuesday morning last week to begin my seven month adventure in Southern Africa and South America with a lot of excitement and just a little trepidation. Mum and Dad kindly drove me to the airport, and after a quick breakfast together and an emotional farewell I was off!

Saying goodbye to my little sister

Everybody I'd spoken to who had been to Nairobi said it wasn't somewhere that was worth hanging around in so I took their advice and just stayed one night before getting a shuttle bus early the next morning across the border in to Tanzania. The bus journey was relatively uneventful, although crossing the border was a little interesting as you have to walk across the no-mans land between the two countries at which point various people try and persuade to follow them, presumably to pay some erroneous charge or exchange money at poor rates (at least that's what the Lonely Planet guide says they wanted). The fact I'd sorted my Tanzanian visa in advance made things a little more straightforward than they might have been at least.

Before long, we arrived in Arusha, something of a tourist capital in this part of Africa given its proximity to Mount Kilimanjaro, the Ngorogoro Crater, and the Serengeti National Park. It's a lively place where a mzungu (foreigner) who is new to town can't walk more than a few metres without being offered a safari, taxi ride, or some local souvenirs. That said, it's surrounded by beautiful countryside and most people are incredibly friendly (even if they are trying to sell you something).

Getting my bearings in Arusha

I was staying at the Ujamaa Hostel (http://www.ujamaahostel.com/) which was to prove a wonderful home from home for the next week. It's primarily aimed at volunteers staying in Arusha for several months, which the hostel helps to place with local projects such as schools, an orphanage and a children's home. As a result, it's more of a home than a hostel with a great friendly atmosphere and plenty of banter over dinner in the evenings.

Almost immediately upon arrival I was asked the rather direct question - "Can you paint?" - and so the next day I found myself helping out with the building of a new school just outside Arusha. I had planned a quiet day of relaxation after 36 hours of travelling from London, but figured this would be a good way to get to know my fellow Ujaama residents and see something of the local area and so I'm really glad I answered that initial question with a resounding "Errr, sort of".

The school we were helping is the Meru View School (http://meruview.org/) which caters for 65 children aged between 4 and 7. They're moving to a new location in the new year so the volunteers are currently helping to paint new classrooms.

painting primer on to one of the classrooms with Victoria

swamped by kids at break time

painting a new classroom with Kiera

We also popped in to visit the children at their current site, which was an amazing, humbling experience so soon in to my time in Africa. On walking in to each classroom we were greeted in unison with the following chorus which couldn't help but bring me out in a massive grin (so much for English reserve)....

Class: Good morning teacher! How are you?
Us: We're very good, how are you?
Class: We are fine! We are Class C. Welcome to our school!

A Tanzanian welcome from Class C

I guess you had to be there, but it was an amazing experience.

The rest of my first proper day in Africa was equally eventful as first we had to pull over on the road to make way for the presidential motorcade on our way back to Arusha, with 50+ Land Cruisers whizzing by. Roman (one of the fellow Ujaama residents) and I then stopped for some rice and beans in a local cafe before getting a piki piki (motorbike) back to the hostel - I clung on for dear life most of the way! Today was also the day that the rainy season decided to start (how's that for timing) so I got to see some proper African rain, which also resulted in the hostel adopting a local stray puppy which had been found outside our hostel shivering in the rain.

piki-piki ride in Arusha

Milika the stray puppy which took up residency at Ujamaa during my stay

The other main highlight of my first week in Africa was my safari trip to Tarangire National Park and the Ngorogoro Crater. Due to limited time and trying not to spend all of my savings in my first week away, I just booked a two day safari rather than the more common four or five day safari that many people do which takes in the Serengeti as well. However, this was still a fantastic experience, with the crater being particularly wonderful. It's probably better if I let the pictures do the talking, but we managed to see lions (including seven lion cubs!) and elephants very close up, plus hippos, zebras, giraffes, buffalo, wildebeest, hyenas, jackals, and a whole host of local birds, as well as the backsides of two rhinos from a long way away (but that still counts right?!). The crater is actually a caldera (a collapsed volcano) which creates an amazing natural spectacle within which to go on safari.

Elephants in Tarangire

Lions and lion cubs in Ngorogoro

Hippo in Ngorogoro

Today (Tuesday) I said goodbye to my new found friends at Ujaama and caught a shuttle bus to Moshi, around 80km east of Arusha from where I'll be starting a trek to the summit of Mount Meru. The day before I'd squeezed in to a dalla dalla (local private bus which can squeeze up to 25 people in despite being the size of a peple carrier) for another visit to the school, but today I found myself the only passenger on the bus so sat up front with the driver so that I could get a better view of the local countryside as well as the Tanzanian approach to driving!

Mount Meru is often used by people as acclimitisation for climbing the taller Mount Kilimanjaro, but I imagine also by people like me who are too tight to pay the not insignificant cost of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Still, at 4566m, Meru is a pretty imposing mountain in itself so I'm really looking forward to tackling it tomorrow.

Anyway, that's more than enough from me for now I think - I'll try and post again once I'm back from Mount Meru.