Dar Es Salaam

By the time I finish my three week tour of East Africa I'll have spent about five full days in transit. Today was the first of those five days. Breakfast was at 5:00 this morning and by 6:00 we were on the road. The one thing that I really was looking forward to seeing during the drive from Arusha to Dar Es Salaam was Mount Kilimanjaro. Unfortunately the weather was very cloudy this morning and all I saw as we drove past was thick grey mist. I spent about ten of the thirteen hours on the truck today talking with a Canadian girl named Lori - the only other person on the tour who isn't traveling with someone else. It helps to have someone to talk to, and I think it's even better that we come from entirely different backgrounds and didn't know each other before this trip; it makes the conversation more interesting. At 7:00 tonight we finally pulled into our campsite on the beach just South of Dar Es Salaam.

I'm really excited to visit Zanzibar tomorrow. It's one of those places that has always sounded so far away and exotic and I'm excited to see it for myself, snap a few pictures, and see what it's all about. Another thing about Zanzibar - I'm pretty sure that this will be the furthest point from Salt Lake City that I ever have been to. One time I got on Google Maps, found out the GPS coordinates of Salt Lake City, reversed them, and zoomed in to see where that point fell. It turns out that the point that is exactly halfway around the world from Salt Lake lies somewhere in the Indian Ocean between the Southern tip of India and Madagascar. Last year I visited the state of Kerala in Southern India, but I think that Zanzibar might be even further from Salt Lake than that. Either way, it's far away.

I already want to come back to Africa sometime. I'm really excited for this trip and I think I'll feel like I've seen a lot of Africa after five weeks here this year, but there is so much more to see. When I come back I want to visit the Lower Omo Valley in Ethiopia to see the wild, exotic African tribes that live down there, I want to hike through the jungles of Rwanda to spot wild silverback gorillas, and I want to spend a week hiking to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. While I'm at it I think I'll throw in one or two visits to wild game parks - maybe in Kenya next time. Until then though, this trip will be pretty awesome. Seeing the rock-hewn churches at Lalibela, hiking through the Simien Mountains to spot gelada baboons, and also visiting the Serengeti, Zanzibar, Lake Malawi, Southern Luanga National Park, and Victoria Falls is plenty for one trip. There's just so much of Africa to see. I'm looking forward to the rest of my current trip and I also look forward to future trips here.