Tuesday 25 June 2013

The End of the Game

Mercado Central, Inhambane, MZ
After nearly ten months away from family, friends and Switzerland, I'm back in town. I've left for my adventures on the 26th of August 2012 and was back on the 24th of June 2013. That's the longest period of time I have spent out of Switzerland.

When I left I wasn't sure at all at about what I was going to do. Now it feels great to have lived through this amazing adventure. Yes, it has been kind of an adventure. Starting with the Divemaster course, I didn't know where I would land or whom I would encounter. It comes out I have met some great people at Tofo Scuba and Tofo in general, and some less great ones. But then, you can't be friends with everyone I guess.

Saturday 15 June 2013

Mt Meru

Arusha National Park gate
I left Iringa in a bus to Arusha. The bus comes from Mbeya where it probably should leave around 6 and pass Iringa around 10. As it happened, and as it is usual, the bus only arrived around 11. Then instead of the scheduled 14 hours, it took 16 hours to get to Arusha. We got there around 3 the next morning.

Tuesday 11 June 2013

16 hours in a stuffy bus

Ok it was a big bus, so it was much more comfortable. But let me tell you, 16 hours in a bus where you can barely see out of the small windows is still too long. And then the seats are still pretty squeezy. But I made it to Arusha around 3 am (departed from Iringa around 11am). So I guess I can't complain.

The next and last big African bus ride will be from Arusha to Dar-es-Salaam. But that's for another day, after my trek to Mt Meru.

Saturday 8 June 2013

Ruaha


In Iringa I spent a night in Wihanzi Guesthouse which had been recommended to me by Pat & Tom. Once I found it, namely after having been way too far down one road, it happened to be really close to the bus station. The only problem was communication, as I don't speak Kiswahili, and the staff doesn't speak English, or any other language that would help for that matter. But I inquired for Ruaha anyway, as I saw a notice for budget travellers.

Monday 3 June 2013

Another fancy bus ride

TIA you say? Once again it's proven that even when you get used to do one thing a day; get ready to spend almost a full day in a bus or even worse, a minibus; get up at 6.30 to catch an early bus around 7 – 7.30; planning to wait an hour or two until the bus departs; expect to be 300 kms further around 6 or 7 hours later; you still end up discouraged when the bus finally starts its engine to go nowhere.

a bus
Let me explain. I got up at 6.30 that morning to catch an early bus that should've let me arrive in Iringa around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, with plenty of time to go find an internet access and get organized for the following days. But then, after an hour waiting in the bus, the driver finally started its engine to warm it up before leaving. They usually do that about 15 minutes before leaving (no exact science though). But it soon became apparent that the engine didn't want to cooperate, and it turned off all the time. That's the lack of maintenance. I really want to tell them, but to what avail? Anyway, after trying to get out (with a police woman on board) we stop again in a side road in town. Then another bus comes along and stops in front of us. I thought this one was there to help us. Our driver kept trying the engine again and again. A lot of people were talking and arguing outside. I kept on reading my Herman Hesse's Steppenwolf. After another long time we managed to take the bus to the police station, which astonished me a bit.