Around Tanga

A house made from rubbish

A house made from small stones and mud
The mangroves and fishing boats
Fishing community near mangroves
Boabab tree seeds... really heavy!!!
Inside an old dried up one

Ancient Islamic ruins and tombs

The 'foot cleaning' stones where men and women cleaned their feet before entering the Mosque
The ruins on the coast near Tanga

Helen, Simon and I at the tourist office at the ruins

Our tour guide... the only Christian in the whole area... no church for him unless he really travels!
Simon snorkelling after only 3 days of swimming lessons

Paradise
A really amazing starfish!

The first time...

Simon seeing the ocean for the first time. He said, after 2 minutes, "OK that's good, lets go now." He was quite afraid, especially as I was in the process of convincing him to swim for the first time... He swam!
I just cannot believe that this guy could lift a full crate of tomatoes on his head, climbing a ladder... he did it about 6 times and then with huge sacks of potatoes too.
On a boat for the first time for Simon
Off we go to the dhow

Hair... a painful torture

It took 4 hours to create this hairstyle plus adding 4 strands of black wool to every braid to give it enough grip. There were definitely tears.


More tears taking it out 2 weeks later!

Just arounding

One of my favourite broken English sayings is "I'm just arounding" meaning hanging around. There are many others, like when someone gets up to go somewhere but they are coming back again (maybe to the toilet or something) they say, "I'm coming". Sometimes I get frustrated with this as it gives no indication of where or how long they are going for and if it's not the toilet, it's really hard to guess.

A crazy dress-up party with the other vollies (volunteers)

Poor Simon, patiently accepting these crazy mzungus (white people)
Damson and Magreth in their new warm clothes
Me with Damson's mother and Magreth's mother in a traditional Masai blanket for women, this was then given to me.
Damson eating his first ice-cream... it was an experience! He could not understand why someone would want to eat something so cold!
Magreth, me, Beatrice, Magreth's Mama and Damson
Damson at the barbers... usually it's a pair of blunt scissors at home

Beautiful Kondoa

Simon is from a town called Kondoa and it is truly beautiful. I have to say that Arusha is not all that beautiful so going a few hundred kms South I was surprised to see how lovely it can be in Tanzania. That is Simon under one of many enormous majestic trees
I just love the pale green trunks, the lush undergrowth and then very large trees all amongst everything. My mother would love it here. It was quite hot and seems to be most of the time, but much, much cooler under these trees.
Simon's 2nd cousin in a sunflower field
The 2nd cousin's neighbour's baby... I really love babies.
Hmm... sunflowers
"If I stand on this rock, I'm as tall as you..."

more in Kolo

Rock paintings in Kolo

Dating back about 3000 years





Looking up at the great rocks
Then looking down once we got there

Afraid

I knew I loved babies but this??? I hope this photo makes you laugh as much as it does me. Note the drawn-on eyebrows on the baby... apparently it's to ward off evil spirits.
Me on the back of a dirtbike in Kolo off to see the ancient rockpaintings... note the lack of protective gear (nobody wears any here at all), I was afraid.
3 hours waiting for the dirtbikes to actually show up... I got a bit sunburnt sitting there
Me sitting on a sack of rice at the front of the bus down to Babati, Kolo and Kondoa... yes I really am that close to the windscreen with no seat let alone a seatbelt! I was afraid.
Simon and I finally in Kolo after 2 busrides with no seats, 2 trips on the back of dirtbikes and some kind of stomach sickness lasting 4 hours. What a day! Oh yeah and I was sunburnt as you can see.