Tanzania

Kenya's secure border...

On Thursday, Bob and I took the Suburu and drove to Tanzania. We had to stop at the border town of Namanga and present our passports and such at 5 different buildings and we repeated the gauntlet on our way back a week later. Bob also haggled with some money-changers who swarmed the car at the border. They quoted us a very good rate and when we actually exchanged money, they tried to renig on the deal and give us less than what we agreed on. At one point, Bob told me under his breath to make sure the doors were locked. I got a little nervous, but my brother always seems to know how to handle things. For being such an anxious person, he sure has a lot of confidence. Anyway, we didn’t get quite the deal they first offered, but we still came out about ten bucks more than if we had exchanged at the bank!

Namanga is a big town for the Massai tribe. The Massai are the most respected tribe in that part of Africa. The men are said to be fierce warriors, but I know for a fact that the women are the fiercest salesforce I’ve seen since the year Deb and I were the only tourists in Egypt. These folks don’t take no for an answer. You pretty much hafta be rude to them to keep them at bay. I saw one white tourist who bought something from one of them and in seconds, he was swarmed by a couple dozen of them. It gives a whole new meaning to the term “Africanized Killer Bees.”

Tanzanian Village

A typical major highway in East Africa
Looking up at Mt Meru

Driving down the highway (I use that term VERY loosely – our residential streets are wider and better maintained!), we saw the huge bulk of the mountain looming before us. At least we thought it was Kili, but we passed it and soon found out that if you can see the top at that time of day, it’s probably not THE mountain. That huge mountain was called Mt Meru and we actually were able to look down and see it in the distance from the top of Kilimanjaro.

Looking down at Mt Meru from Mt Kilimanjaro

We got to the Hotel in the city of Moshi as it was getting dark, ate supper, met with the travel agent who arranged the hike and then went to bed early. Bob and the agent knew a family who lived there where we could safely park the Suburu while we hiked. So we met the guide and porters there when we dropped off the car. We all piled into a van that took us to the Marangu Gate at the base of Kilimanjaro. Kili from our hotel room in Moshi

Travel with caution!
Hiking

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	On Thursday, Bob and I took the Suburu and drove to Tanzania. We had to stop at the border town of Namanga and present our passports and such at 5 different buildings and we repeated the gauntlet on our way back a week later. Bob also haggled with some money-changers who swarmed the car at the border. They quoted us a very good rate and when we actually exchanged money, they tried to renig on the deal and give us less than what we agreed on. At one point, Bob told me under his breath to make sure the doors were locked. I got a little nervous, but my brother always seems to know how to handle things. For being such an anxious person, he sure has a lot of confidence. Anyway, we didn’t get quite the deal they first offered, but we still came out about ten bucks more than if we had exchanged at the bank!
Namanga is a big town for the Massai tribe. The Massai are the most respected tribe in that part of Africa. The men are said to be fierce warriors, but I know for a fact that the women are the fiercest salesforce I’ve seen since the year Deb and I were the only tourists in Egypt. These folks don’t take no for an answer. You pretty much hafta be rude to them to keep them at bay. I saw one white tourist who bought something from one of them and in seconds, he was swarmed by a couple dozen of them. It gives a whole new meaning to the term “Africanized Killer Bees.”
	Driving down the highway (I use that term VERY loosely – our residential streets are wider and better maintained!), we saw the huge bulk of the mountain looming before us. At least we thought it was Kili, but we passed it and soon found out that if you can see the top at that time of day, it’s probably not THE mountain. That huge mountain was called Mt Meru and we actually were able to look down and see it in the distance from the top of Kilimanjaro.
We got to the Hotel in the city of Moshi as it was getting dark, ate supper, met with the travel agent who arranged the hike and then went to bed early. Bob and the agent knew a family who lived there where we could safely park the Suburu while we hiked. So we met the guide and porters there when we dropped off the car. We all piled into a van that took us to the Marangu Gate at the base of Kilimanjaro.