So having arrived safely in Arusha I have taken the last couple of hours to rest and catch up with some much needed sleep. Refreshed now, it is late afternoon and I am able to quickly right this before meeting with Janet the volunteer coordinator who will take me for some dinner.
The flight which was half empty – so everyone had at least 2 seats to themselves – was early into Nairobi, which would have been excellent only I had to wait a few hours for the shuttle connection to Arusha which was seamlessly laid on for me.
The 5 ish hours in the little mini bus was brilliant, with just a quick stop at border control (Kenya / Tanzania) in order to pay for my 50$ visa, it was a very good drive. It was great to see some of the countryside, and my god, there is a lot to see. What really hit me from the journey is the sense of emptiness. I think I counted 4 settlements throughout the journey; these being very tiny villages smaller even than Westhall. The rest just open space with the odd building or heard of cows scattered about.
The bus did what seemed to be a constant 55 mph all the way, regardless of any obstacles that threatened its path – like squeezing between a bike and a truck on the narrow 2 line road, or rounding some passing goats.
As we got to within about 1 hour of Arusha I noticed a change in the scenery, it suddenly became much more green, the land seems to be very fertile and a number of crops are in the fields, mainly maize. I didn’t really expect the area to be so lush, but although not yet witnessed it was explained that it is thanks to the current long-rains season. Hope the photo shows it for you.
Arusha itself is bustling to say the least with apparently half a million residents, it has seen huge population and economic growth in the last decade. More on this another time, but for now here is the view from my hotel window to give a sense of the bustle.
What is Janet the cleaner doing there?