Moshi Weekend Trip

Hot Springs

Some of my TVE friends!

Lake Chala

Baboon walking through our campsite

Elephants!

Our private dala to the Hot Springs

Kilimanjaro!

The road we are standing on is the border of Kenya and Tanzania!

This past weekend I decided last minute to go to Moshi. Moshi is a town about an hour and a half away from Arusha and is the starting place for climbing Kilimanjaro. As we were walking to the bus station we saw a bus driving down the road with the conductor yelling, “Moshi, Moshi!.” We hopped on to the already full bus and found three seats in the very back. The buses from Arusha to Moshi are nothing like the bus I took from Dar es Salaam to Arusha. The bus we took has three permanent seats and then in the isle there is an extra seat that folds down to made a fourth chair which blocks off the aisle completely. In a four seat row, five people will sit. There is absolutely no room, and at least one person has to lean forward in the seats because there is no space for everyone’s shoulders. People even stand in the bus near the front. Almost two hours of standing if you are one of the unlucky ones. We were told not to sit in the back of the bus because it is incredibly hot. Unfortunately, this was us. I had on my Sanuks which are my shoes made of all recyclable materials... and I went to readjust my leg at one point and my foot was stuck to the bottom of the bus. The bus was literally so hot that it melted my shoes!

When we got to Moshi we walked from the bus station to our hotel, which was around a 15 minute walk down the main road of Moshi. As soon as we left the bus station a guy opened up my friend Elise’s backpack and tried to steal a book out of it. Always on your toes in Africa... We stayed at the Backpacker’s Hotel for 16,000 Tsh a night ($10). The three of us were in a room together and then two other French girls who Oliwier and Elise go to school with met us there and were in the room next to us. We walked about three minutes down the road to a sidewalk restaurant where I ate for a little over a dollar! Everything is so cheap in Africa. Well, not everything... you just have to live like a local and not a tourist. We ate kabobs with some type of meat, carrots, onion, and green pepper. Each kabob was 500 Tsh. INCREDIBLE! They also had “pizzas” which is egg, meat and onion grilled inside of a piece of dough for 1000 Tsh. Food here is great as long as you do not question what you are eating and always carry your Imodium with you.  

We woke up the next morning and walked down to a shop to buy food for lunch. We grabbed some rolls, butter, and water. We then walked to the outdoor market and bought tomatoes, bananas and an avocado. I am getting much better at bartering here for everything but Elise is MUCH better than I am and I was so glad that she was taking care of everything. 

We took a dala dala from Moshi to a town called Boma about 45 minutes away where we had heard there were beautiful hot springs at. Four of my friends from TVE met us at Boma and went along with us to the Springs. As soon as we got off the dala in Boma we were instantly surrounded by 20+ Tanzanian men trying to get us to ride in their taxi or biki biki (motor bike). They were telling us that for two taxis to the hot springs, it would cost 50,000 Tsh per car. This is outrageous and we explained that we were not tourists and would not be paying that much money. Biki Biki’s are not the safest things in the world so we ended up talking a dala driver into taking us to and from the springs for 40,000 Tsh. He even waited at thr spring for 4 hours while we swam. It was a great deal. There were 9 of us and we each paid 4,500 Tsh... less than $3. 

When I think of hot springs I picture the movie Dante’s Peak, or something like that where the hot spring is like a large hot tub. This hot spring almost looked like it had been staged in the middle of no where. It was so incredibly beautiful and even had a Tarzan rope for us to swing off of. We were the only ones there with the exception of some local kids and men. The springs are private and the 5,000 Tsh we paid to swim there went towards developing the village. 

The next day we left Moshi to head to Lake Challa. Lake Challa is a privately owned lake. 1/4 of the lake is in Kenya and the rest of it lies in Tanzania. The people who manage lake Challa and the campsite are Mzungu’s (white people) that are originally South African. We got to speak with the wife for a bit and her and her husband have been living at Lake Chall for two years working to build up the Lake. They have a two year old little boy and even though I knew both of these people were born and raised in Africa... it is hard to imagine being a child and growing up on the side of a huge Lake, out in the middle of nowhere Africa. Their little boy speaks English and Swahili. 

The first day at the lake, which is actually a crater, we hiked down to the crater and spent a few hours by the water. All of the travel books I read had said not to swim in the lake because there were crocodiles. We asked about 6 different employees and they all told us that they had killed off the last of the crocodiles about 10 years ago and that it was safe to swim. The others got right into the water while it took some prodding and reassuring before I finally gave in and stopped being a chicken. I figured that if they hadn’t been taken out by a croc yet, I would probably be safe. Although there were lots of crabs scurrying around the bottom of the lake floor right underneath us and I did not love them. 

The next day we woke up and ate an AMAZING breakfast. The best I have had since I have been here. Spanish omelette, two sausages, bacon, cooked tomatoes, toast, tea, coffee, and baked beans.  Even without liking the tea, coffee or baked beans... it was glorious. We left afterwards for a three and a half hour walking safari hike through the area. It was strenuous and my legs were cut up pretty badly in the end but we saw a herd of elephants at least 75+ big. Baboons also walked right through our campsite a few times and drank water out of the concrete fountains.  

There is nothing easy about traveling here. It is stressful, there are no set prices, you have to fight for whatever price you finally get while 15+ men are harassing you while all the time you are clutching your bags for dear life so they are not stollen. I am badly sunburnt and have heard enough French language to last me a month, but it was a great weekend get away with wonderful friends for cheap and it was much needed. I have been feeling homesick lately knowing that I still have over two months left here away from everyone and everything. A lot of my friends have started to go home and tons of new people are coming in. With Amanda in Uganda this week there are four new girls in my room that I am trying to get to know. I am trying my hardest to keep my head up and not try and miss home too much. Everything is just so foreign here. Everything. I miss you all. Much love and God bless :)