Tanzania!

Supai! (That's how you say 'Hi' in Maa - the Maasai language)

It's been a few days since landing in Kilimanjaro airport, and I've loved every second. The weather, the people, the way of life. Although the mosquito bits are getting a bit annoying... I think I must taste nice.

So, just to bring you up to date:

I checked in at Manchester fine, said my goodbyes to everyone, and went though the airport to wait for the gate to open. Here we met Julian, our first contact with another volunteer. Got on the flight ready for Amsterdam. Delayed by 1hour. Never mind, there was over 2hours between landing in Amsterdam and our next flight so not that worried. The problem was the fact we had to fly around over the sea for 40mins as only one runway at AMS was open. We began to worry a little bit.

Next was our 1st near death experience on this trip (I say that like a good thing - only 2 hours into the trip!) Wind was bad. Very bad. Our first attempt to land ended up with the wing nearly hitting the floor and the pilot having to jet back into the skies with half the plane screaming. After another 20mins of flying we did actually manage to land, to find that we were pretty much an hour late for the flight.

We ran. Fast. And a bloody long way too! We found that the flight was waiting for us. We weren't looking forward to sleeping in the airport.

The flight was pretty uneventful, although fantastic food (all free food and drink). We met a few more Greenforce volunteers, and I slept for a few hours to catch up on the night before.

At 21:00 (+0300) we landed in Kilimanjaro airport into a fantastic smell of Africa wildlife, and a warm night.

We got our visas for our stay, then went to get our bags. Guess what was missing. My guitar. So we reported it after a few hours of queuing (about 30 bags went missing - they stayed on the plane to Dar es Salaam and 30 random bags taken off - idiots). Then we were greeted by Isaya (our Maasai teacher and warrior) and Dave our Greenforce expedition leader. Went to Arusha to our house, and slept!

I got my guitar a few days later, only a bit broken. Think I might claim on the insurance, although after a bit of superglue, and help from Isaya, It's working fine.

Since arriving we've been having Maasai lessons (about the tribe, culture and language) every morning, exploring the town, piling into the dirt cheap Dala-Dalas (200 Tanzanian Shillings, which is about 8p) and just getting to know everyone.

We all get on brilliantly, enjoy going out to the bar, and just about anything we want! Isaya is great, and we all love trying to talk Maa with him. Just as and introduction, the team is: Me, Louise, Julian, Beki, Mikey, Dani, Hannah, Ann-Marie & Conor.

We go to Eluai, the Maasai village tomorrow, and my home for the next 9weeks. I'm really excited and can't wait to meet everyone and practice my Maasai skills with them.

This might be my last time on here for a while, but I'll update you when I can. Hope everyone is well, and don't forget to email me at dudewardell@hotmail.co.uk - I want to know what everyone is up to!

Kidua Ade! (See you later!)