Leaving Arusha to visit Emmanuel in his home village - Elerai

Friday, leaving Arusha early was the plan. Arrangements had been made by our friend Emmanuel to have a driver pick us up early for the day long trip to his home village of Elerai. We first met Emmanuel in Victoria many years ago while he was doing his masters at University of Victoria. He was not only a neighbour, but a hiking friend as well. Once he finished his schooling he moved back to his home village here in northern Tanzania. He belongs to the indigenous tribe of the Maasai people and his goal is to help foster their independence and sustainability. We’ve wanted for a long time to visit him and his young family - this year we decided we could not postpone it any longer.
The drive from Arusha to his village, Elerai, is a long, all day drive, the first 6 hours on bumpy pavement, then the last 2 and half on a very bumpy and rocky dirt road. We arrived safely (a bit jostled) just after dark. Emmanuel welcomed us and helped us get settled in our ‘camp’ that would be our accommodation for two nights. We hadn’t any idea what to expect and it all turned out to be such fun! We spent all day Saturday with Emmanuel, his wife Monica and their two little girls. They live a very rural farm life, with few modern amenities, and work very hard. We enjoyed seeing all their farm animals, touring the area by foot (basically no cars in the village) meeting many of the other villagers, learning about their traditions and enjoying their hospitality. It was a very unique experience for us.
This morning came quickly and it was time to say good bye as our plans were to go to Dar Es Salaam today. The driver who brought us to Emmanuel’s had stayed in the village also so he drove us to the nearest town where we could catch the bus to Dar Es Salaam. We were so appreciative of his help, he helped us secure our tickets, then hung around to ensure we got on the correct bus heading in the right direction. The bus ‘station’ in Hendeni was really chaotic! It seemed as if just a bunch of guys were hanging out in an open area with tons of people looking very busy and exchanging money for tickets. We were baffled and couldn’t figure where they got the tickets from as they just seemed to appear! In the end we got on our bus squeezing ourselves to the very back and discovered the bus had been overbooked. A about a dozen ended up standing for the 6 hour trip (not us, thank goodness!). We arrived in Dar Es Salaam safely just as the sun was setting, eventually found our hotel and sighed with relief that we finally made it here! I think we were expecting more people to speak English than we’ve encountered so far. It is an official language, but not quite as widespread as we’d imagined. Oh well, Jim isn’t shy and loves the communication challenge!

Temperature today held on about 30 degrees, the breeze off the water is wonderful!