Back to reality

Back to life, back to reality; but only for a week thankfully. This weekend in the mountains was a resounding success. We walked up and down hills, hiked up to a viewpoint high over the African savannah and stood well back as health and safety barriers don’t exist in Tanzania. We bought and feasted on locally produced wine and cheese and ate fresh, wholesome meals at our lodge each evening. I reveled in putting on wooly socks and a fleecy jacket to beat the chill and cozied up to an open fire each evening as the sky grew dark. At night I slept under a blanket for the first time in months.

The mountains were shockingly green and colourful. The chill in the air in the evening reminded me of home. The rain reminded me of home as well. The walking was great practice for our more extensive hiking next week and reminded me to go easy on my bad knee.

We were grateful to be alive at the end of it all after an eventful last two hours of driving back to Dar. We saw a van flipped over at the side of the road, attracting many cars to pull in and gawk. We were involved in a near pile-up when a police car no less slowed down and pulled in without using indicators. I think the brake lights were gone too. Only fast reflexes stopped us ploughing into the car in front of us and likewise for the car behind us. A car with a homemade signing announcing it to be carrying radioactive materials played fast and loose with overtaking at speed near us. We hung well back then as we did not want to be involved in an accident with something like that.

The overtaking became more and more crazy the closer we got to Dar with our guest exclaiming “I’ve never seen anything like it – it’s like synchronized car swimming or something” as cars swerved wildly in and out of lanes in a bid to be first.