Tanzania - First Impressions

 

We left Doha in the wee hours.  I think I’d slept for 5 minutes, but five hours had passed and before long we were landing at Kilimanjaro International Airport.  What an odd scene to be disembarking from a large jet at the smallest of airports. 

We breezed through customs, grabbed our bags and stepped out of the airport terminal to be surrounded by people holding name cards looking for their safari travelers.  In that crowd was a beautiful lady with a hand written sign:  David Victor.  That’s us!  She moved forward and greeted us with a big embrace as if we were long lost cousins.  Welcome to Tanzania. Karibu

It was quite disconcerting, sitting in the front left seat of the car and not being the driver.  They drive on the left side of the road, with motorcycles passing, people walking alongside, and on-coming traffic swerving into your path to overtake other vehicles. 

The streets were lined with small shops, from hair salons to motorbike repair.  There were also temporary roadside stands selling fresh produce or hand made wears.  There were people, motorcycles, bicycles, buses all sharing the same roadway.  We’d never been to Tanzania before, but our first impressions were like those of other African countries.  We were back in Africa.

The roadway was very dry and dusty.  The trees and plants along side the road were covered in dust and the fields were dry.  Hopefully the short rains would come in October and freshen up the landscape. 

Veneranda and Boaz, our host couple for this Catalyste+ project, were excited to get to know us as they drove us to the hotel which they had booked for us.  The Safari House was a long way out into the countryside, away from the hustle and bustle of village life.  We had travelled many miles along a very stony road when they had to call for directions.  Even they weren’t sure where we were headed! 

The Safari House was one of the many lodges in the area used by travellers on the way to the big national parks, like the Serengeti; or on the way to hike up Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak.  We were not their typical guests staying for two weeks on a volunteer assignment.  Before long we were checked in and headed off for a long nap before lunch at 1 p.m.  Our Tanzanian adventure had begun!

View from our room

30 Hours in Doha

 

Here we go!

Going to Africa was a three-day journey for us.  The body clock got messed up pretty quickly. What day is it?  What time is it?

We left our home very early Thursday morning for a relatively short flight to Los Angeles and mid-afternoon boarded the 14 ½ hour flight to Doha, Qatar, arriving there late afternoon on Friday, some 24 hours after we’d left home!

Doha is an amazing city built along the Arabian Sea.  We stepped outside of the air-conditioned airport and were hit with a wall of heat and humidity.  48 degrees.  Could someone please turn off the furnace!

first impressions

In our jet-lagged state, we appreciated the wonderful hotel room and napped until dinner.  After a delicious meal, we were ready to finish that nap until morning.

view from our room

In the morning we felt refreshed and explored the city.  It was Saturday, the weekend, and all the museums and galleries were closed until the afternoon, but the mall was open.  This felt like a regular Canadian thing to do.

... a very Canadian thing to do

juice break at a restaurant in the mall

at the grocery store

In the afternoon we visited the National Museum of Qatar to learn about the country’s history.  It’s a huge museum and we only touched on a few highlights.  The presentation was incredible with lots of video projections, and interactive displays, all in English and Arabic.  

This area of the world has lots of archeological evidence of ancient civilizations.  In more recent history, the people lived in tents in the desert during the winter months, stocking up on feed and looking after the cattle.  In the summer they lived in their permanent homes by the sea.  The major income was international trade and the pearl industry.  When cultured pearls were created, the pearl diving stopped.  At about the same time, oil and natural gas was discovered and Qatar began building the rich nation we see today.

 The architecture of the museum is fascinating.

Just to get a glimpse of Doha, we took a nighttime driving tour around the downtown West Bank with its high rise buildings, the Pearl man-made islands and other major sites, some built for the FIFA 2022 games.  The driving tour ended at the airport where we boarded our night flight to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.  

Waiting at the airport isn't all bad!

Africa - we're doing it again!

 

Going off in all directions was the theme for our RV travels.  Now we're off in another direction - all the way across the ocean to Tanzania in Africa.  We'll be right close to Mt. Kilimanjaro, but definitely not hiking it. We're not in good enough shape for that. 

Dave accepted an assignment with Catalyste+ to teach a group of women about subsistence farming (as if he's an expert in subsistence farming).  I'm going along for the ride.  Maybe I can hang out with him and cook his lunches as the partner suggested.  Who knows what will happen.

It's crazy how much can be arranged on-line while camping and traveling around Canada.  Flights, hotels, visas, the whole bit. We were home about ten days and now we're ready to go!  

Killarney, Saskatoon and Home

It was time to point the wheels west, towards home.

Killarney

We arrived at the Ag Society campground in time to enjoy a beautiful sunset view of the lake. 

We spent a few days visiting my brother David and his wife Rhonda and their family.  It was different without Mom and Dad.  In the past our time was filled with visiting and running errands for them.  Now we had time to enjoy the lake, the farm and getting to know their little granddaughter. We also took some painting time for me, volunteer work time for Dave and preparing for our next adventure.  Stay tuned!

Saskatoon

It was back across Saskatchewan, taking time for lunch at the Red Barn in Moosomin, and ice cream at the Twisted Sisters in Chamberlain.  

We arrived in Saskatoon at the Gordon Howe campground, got squeezed into our site and enjoyed toasted tomato sandwiches for supper. The next couple of days we spent hanging out with Dave's sister Marilyn and her husband, Ron. The one afternoon we walked around at the River Landing, enjoying the warm weather with lunch and ice cream dessert.

  

We ended the day with a bonfire at our campground.  With all the fire bans this summer, it was our first campfire!  This was as close as we got to making s'mores.  

When you're on the home stretch, the camera stays in the bag, the mind is reliving the best memories, and the miles creep along.  

We made it! Since May we've been south, north, west and east; altogether about 14,000 kms.  What a wonderful summer it's been. 

  

 

Sioux Lookout

We continued east from Winnipeg to Sioux Lookout, Ontario.  Sioux Lookout is the Hub of the North, but in actual fact, it's south of our home!

We were camped at Abram Lake Resort just a few miles from town.  What a wonderful three weeks we had with our grandchildren.  Our daughter and her two girls came from Spruce Grove, AB and the four cousins had the best time.  Nora kept saying, "Today is the BEST day!" everyday.  

During our visit, it was also Blueberry Festival in Sioux Lookout.  It’s a full week of activities celebrating everything blueberry.  There were events for all ages: from float plane rides, pony rides, golf and ball tournaments to speed knitting competitions and duck races to name a few.  Various community clubs sponsored food events so one could have free burgers and hot dogs somewhere almost every day!  We participated in as much as we had energy for with four youngsters.  They went to bed happy and tired every night.  (Well, maybe not every night, but that’s another story. Let's just say that a baby that's teething is not a happy camper.)

To get into the spirit of the season, Katherine took us all out to the bush to do some blueberry picking.  The kids' buckets were still mostly empty, but the tummies were full!

Blueberry Bert.  

Bouncy castle waterslide

face painting

The balloon drop event.
Balloons were dropped over the beach from the float plane. Nora won a slushie.

Children's carnival games

Pony rides for all three!

wooden plane rides at Sky Care 

In between the Blueberry festival events, lots of time was spent hanging out together at the beaches and playgrounds, in the backyard around a firepit, in the front yard on the trampoline, downstairs at the clay studio, and in the garden.  What a wonderful summer vacation for all of us.