mount kilimanjaro: Dar Es Salaam

A thought came to my mind on the way to the domestic airport. Looking at the large population of Africans on the streets, it just got me thinking that these people has never been part of my knowledge before. It's just amazing how there are so many places and people out there in the world that never kind of 'existed' in the consciousness of our knowledge. Taking this experience in Dar Es Salaam Tanzania as an example, I never knew this place exist at all. There's just a kind of surreal feeling that these people here could be doing the same things at the same time while i am at the other side of the globe and yet i never knew about their existence. Sorry if this part seems a bit confusing but i just find it hard to put my thoughts down in words.

Looking at the influx of Whites in the domestic airport made me ponder about the polarisation of the society in Tanzania. It's only the Whites who are taking the flights while Africans hardly uses the airport. From a previous conversation i had with the cab-driver, he said that the Africans usually take trains rather than planes as they are much cheaper. It seemed that the only Africans in sight were those working as porters in the airport.

photos of the domestic airport in Dar Es Salaam

I have never taken such a small plane in my life. Frankly speaking, i was pretty worried about the instability of the aircraft. My fear was unfounded of cos [or else i wouldn't be here blogging this post] The aerial view of Tanzania was indeed spectacular. I was marvelling over the intricate complex network of meanders at one moment, and ooh-ing at the gradual change of the colour of the land from green to reddish brown. When we finally arrived in Arusha, i got a scare in that i could not find my baggage. But thank God it was found in the end and we continued on our journey to our lodge.

That's the plane we took to Arusha.

In the plane

Aik keong got to sit right next to the pilot

Aerial shot of the urban settlement

Aerial shots of the meander

Aerial shots of the plain

Arrival at Arusha airport

Love the designs on the tail of the planes

A drive towards our lodge

After 10 minutes of 'treacherous' road drive, we finally arrived at the lodge which was located in a plantation. It was pretty obvious that the lodge was a gated community with security system to keep the locals out. I have to admit that the lodge was beautiful beyond words. The route leading to the main building of the lodge resembled the scene in qiu1 tian1 de4 tong2 hua4. The huts in which we stayed in were pretty nice and cool too. I really adored the flower petals that were scattered over my bed. After lunch, there was a debrief by the person-in-charge and basically the conclusion of the briefing were 1)drink lots of water 2)walk pole pole (slowly) 3)Listen to the guide.

Our little chalet

Number 14

Can you spot the flower petals on our beds?

Sunbathing at the poolside (a simulation)

We took a cab down to town to buy some cough syrup for aik. Along the way, we passed by the UN tribunal for Rwanda genocide and the Arusha Clocktower.