Arrival in Tanzania

I have successfully made it to Tanzania! After a few long days of flying I am finally here! There are so many things that I want to talk about but I am so tired so this entry will be short. We arrived at Kilimanjaro Airport  and by then I still didn't even believe I had arrived. We drove into Arusha first thing to get some food and relax after so many hours of flying. Then we drove about two hours into Rhotia which is the village that the Center for Wildlife Management is. The sights while driving were completely unreal. First of all, driving in Tanzania is a bit crazy. First off they drive on the left side of the road which threw me off but they also don't yield to other people turning into traffic, pedestrians, or bicyclists. They pass on the right side without the dotted line and even when there is a car coming the opposite direction pretty fast. It was bizarre! Other than the roads I saw so many people, even children, walking everywhere. The majority of people walk every where they go. Many had water buckets, food baskets to bring to markets, or anything else you could think of balancing on their heads. The color of their clothes were beautiful! They were so vibrant and patterned. Children would wave to us from the road. The houses and shops are completely different than at home. Tons of small shops, with tiny windows to buy from, line the roads on either side. The color of the dirt is amazingly beautiful. It is such a nice red color. Where there were no shops (and some places where there were) people would be herding their cattle and allowing them into fields to eat. Animals have so much land here! There are also amazing trees that are spread out along the landscape. I can't remember what they are called but they are like the ones from the Lion King. They are so beautful! There is one tar road that goes from Arusha and follows through many villages but off of those tar roads are just bumpy dirt roads so the rides are always fun!  We took a tour of the village along with the parts of the campus we haven't seen yet. The community is so different. Everyone is always outside just hanging out. We have tried to learn some Swahili so we said "Jambo!" (hello!) to many people on the street. Usually they responded with a smile and a wave, especially the kids! Our campus is located down the street from a local primary school where we will hopefully get to play soccer sometime soon with the kids. The picture above is the sign at the start of our road for the primary school. Internet is sparse here (I am surprised we get it and it isn't too slow yet) and I am busy and tired so I will be posting here and there. We can only download a couple of pictures each time so I will try and pick 1-2 pictures from the week to post.

 Kwa heri! (which means goodbye because I don't know how to say goodnight yet!)