Today was supposed to be a fun day of exploration. I was so super excited because today was the day we were headed to the “bush”. The bush is similar to going “down under” in Australia. The bush is where I plan to meet and mingle with the indigenous people of Tanzania. I’m ready for whatever. I have my tour guides who are nothing short of wonderful guiding and protecting me. I couldn’t ask for a better situation. Oh did I mention this has somehow become a “private tour”. I feel like a celebrity ( in my own mind at least). 🙂 The guides are interacting with me, answering my 1000’s of questions while filling me in on the abundance of history that I’m trying to take in. All the while I’m thinking about how richly blessed and fortunate I am to have this opportunity to do what I love which is travel and see the world!
Well… all’s well that ends well. Due to all the ran we are stuck in the bush. The rain has washed the road away. We stop and my guides get out to talk amongst the locals in native tongue. I sit there in the jeep just taking it all in. There’s a sea of 4×4 vehicles on either side of the newly washed out road. We’re trying to get to where they are and they are trying to get to the mainland side that we are on. In that moment I’m thankful we’re on this side of the washout because at least we have the chance to get back to civilization unlike the other side that would literally be stuck in the bush. What are the odds of this happening? I decide to take it all in and try to capture the moment. That was a colossal fail.
When you can laugh at yourself even while stuck in the BUSH of Tanzania. It’s been raining like seriously heavy every nite for the past 3 days. The rain has caused the already meagerly put together roads to wash out. Hence we are currently stuck in the bush. I tried to entertain myself by taking photos of the animals and people who were attempting to cross by foot and abandoning their vehicles. I thought I’d sharpen my journalistic, paparazzi skills and went to take a further look and completely fell on my a$$. My new, coveted, super awesome picture taking iphoneX got muddied up, my shoes are a wreck and all I could do was laugh… and so did the local people lol. You really can’t make this stuff up! I am having a ball despite the circumstances.
People and cattle are everywhere. Some have decided to ditch their vehicles and try to walk across the running red clay ladder murky water. From cattle herders, to sheperds to women with babies wrapped around them and others carrying large parcels, this was a site to see. I feared for some, mainly the women with babies and older men. The ground was thick with mud so many people walked across barefoot opting to either leave their shoes behind or simply hold them while trying to scale the wet, muddy embankment.
We decided to wait it out in hopes that the water would recede and somehow we could navigate this big 4×4 jeep across the water. Only time would tell how and if this plan would work out. Stay tuned.
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