Tales from the road (or something)

We're in Nairobi now, getting ready to head up to Lokichogio on Sunday and then on to Sudan Monday.  The past two weeks have been our mid-term R&R, and they've been pretty full with a little vacationing and Nairobi business, including grocery shopping for the next couple months!

We started off by heading down to Tanzania to visit James, my (Ginny's) brother, for a couple days.  We've been trying to plan this for a while, but since the flights to/from Sudan are chartered they are ever-changing.  Our plan was to leave Sudan on 10 September, and we were supposed to ride on the DC-3 from Lokichogio to Nairobi.  The DC-3, however, was delayed as their first trip of the day was to transport a group of students - who showed up 3 hours late for the flight.  Consequently, we had an overnight in Loki rather than continuing all the way to Nairobi.  This changed our plans, as we were going to take an all day bus from Nairobi to Dar es Salaam leaving at 6 AM on the 11th.  The next idea was to take a bus to Arusha on the afternoon of the 11th (we arrived Nairobi around 9:30) and continue to Dar first thing on the 12th, but then Stephen found some reasonably priced flights directly to Zanzibar on the morning of the 12th.  Much more restful of an option!

We arrived in Zanzibar around noon on the 12th - the first time to Tanzania for both of us.  (I have, by the way, quadrupled the number of African countries I've been to since we arrived in June.  Yup, from 1 to 4.  Not bad!)  We made our way to the hotel in Stone Town and wandered around a bit before James and his colleagues arrived.  It was a very relaxing couple of days, including snorkeling in the Indian Ocean, wandering around Stone Town, and eating some delicious Swahili food.  We then took the ferry across to Dar es Salaam and the next day took the bus to Nairobi.  We boarded the bus at 5 AM in Dar, and got off at 11:30 PM in Nairobi after a very bumpy ride with seats in the back row.  Needless to say, we were pretty tired!

Since then, we've been taking care of business around Nairobi - settling accounts, doing shopping for the water project, bike project, other SIM Sudan folks, and our own groceries.  We've also had a chance to enjoy some treats we don't often get in Doro, such as the vast quantities of delicious fresh fruits and vegetables, a little ice cream, fresh fruit, liquid milk, movies in a theatre, and restaurants.  The past couple days were spent relaxing in Kijabe, where I went to boarding school for 7 years, and catching up with some folks.

This weekend we're heading back to Sudan - catch you on the flip side!

We had a potluck the night before the flight as one of the team was leaving.  We eat very well in Doro, as evidenced by the FOUR deserts.  What you can't see in this picture was all the delicious potluck dinner food - including doro wot!

On the Doro-Kurmuk-Yabus-Air drop of a solar battery for a satellite phone in the middle of nowhere-Lokichogio flight

Arriving in Lokichogio - this place seemed huge and fancy after a couple months in the bush

View of Kilimanjaro on our flight to Zanzibar!

Landing in Zanzibar

On the boat to go snorkeling

James found a starfish, but put it back before it became too angry.

In 1919, they brought 4 tortoises from the Seychelles to this little island off of Zanzibar.  Now they have a lot more, and they're really big and old - the 2nd largest species of tortoises so we're told.  One of the original 4 is still there.  

Wandering in Stone Town

We had just eaten some delicious Swahili food, and then took about a MILLION pictures in this doorway.

We toured the Anglican church in Stone Town, which is built where the slave market used to be, and the high altar is positioned where the whipping post was.

On the ferry from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam