Amani Nature Reserve- East Usambara Mountains

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We arrived at the accomodations at about 6pm after 8 hrs on the road. The trip was quite good but we didn't have time to stop for lunch! We only stopped a few times for the "loo" (which was either a hole in the ground or a bush on the side of the road). The roads were quite good until Muheza, but we had to change the bus for Land Rovers to go up the mountains, since it had rained yesterday and the roads were bare soil with massive holes (which are now huge puddles!). When we stopped in Muheza, a bunch of people surrounded our bus and tried to sell things through the window: bananas, peanuts, samosas, etc. I took some pics of the houses along the roads; most of them are built with mudbrick walls and thatched roofs. Some families sell charcoal and oranges outside their houses and we went pass a huge plantation of sisal. I'm sure they also cultivate other things like maize or cassava, but it's hard to believe how they make a living out of these things only. Oranges and charcoal are so cheap!

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Again, people stare at us all the time, but I'm starting to enjoy this. Especially the kids, they wave at us and sometimes they even say: "take a picture", then run away as soon as you take the camera out. They call us mzungu, which means white person in Kiswahili. Clive was saying that once he went to a remote viallge in Uganda and a lid got petrified when he saw a white man ( probably for the first time!) and started to cry. Poor Clive!

the kids wave at us and say: "take a picture", then run away as soon as you take the camera out.

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I'm sharing a room with Josephine (Kenya) and Dee (Portugal/Ireland). They always try and put africans and europeans together. I'm really glad I'm sharing with them: Josephine can teach me some Swahili and I can talk in Portuguese with Dee whenever I wanna say something I don't want people to understand!

Dinner was really good! They actually eat rice (huum!) and beans, just like in Brazil! Again, I had ugali and a beef stew.

New words I learned today:

habari- how are you

pole- sorry

wali- rice (very important for a rice-lover like me!)