Hiking with Friends

Shortly after getting back to Arusha, my friend Alistair came to visit for a few days. Alistair was at IDDS in Ghana with me and was in the region to do some work in Malawi, which was canceled due to the political situation there. He was traveling with his friend John and they spent a few days in Ngorongoro and the Serengeti on a safari.

Since they're both Scottish, I also figured I'd take them on a hike through the hills of Arusha. Man, it's really unfortunate that I don't have pictures right now, since they're amazing. We walked through the foothills of Mt. Meru to a waterfall. This was my third time going on this hike, but it was my first time leading it. As many people have learned over the years, it's a really bad idea to rely on my sense of direction. However, in this case, one of the Tanzanians along the way told us that we couldn't go along the path, so it's not entirely my fault. In any case, we discovered a cool, new route that was a bit more scenic and in spite of my worries that the waterfall would be a mere trickle due to the lack of rains, it was probably the most powerful that I've ever seen it. The water was rushing down from about 150 feet and there was a little spot a quarter of the way up where we could stand right behind the waterfall (it's really cold water, so it's usually better not to run through the waterfall). After almost 3 hours to get there, it's a truly wondrous sight.

We had a picnic of PB&J, and some Tanzanians came over to ask if they could also make some sandwiches. I agreed, and we were mobbed. The peanut butter disappeared and I later saw someone with a handful of it, just slowly eating it like an ice cream cone. A few people criticized us for not bringing enough bread. We directed them to their friends who had snatched it and run off with it.

We then took the proper path to get back to town. As we were walking, some children were asking for candy or money or food or books (in that order), and since we didn't have any at that point, we just kept walking. Then, suddenly a rock whizzed past about an inch from my ear. I was furious, but decided to keep walking (the last time I did the hike, a different group of kids was throwing rocks at us--I don't want to give the impression that the kids in the area are ill-tempered, but there are some pockets where people can be slightly hostile to visitors). Since we were so high up at that point, we could see all of Arusha and it made me realize that Arusha is a lot more beautiful from above. Also, on the way down, my navigation took us in a bit of a circle. Oops. Like I said, I really shouldn't be a navigator.

Of course, the worst part of the hike is always the following laundry day when I spend an eternity scrubbing the dirt and dust out of my trousers. It's a good thing that the view is so breathtaking.

The other cool part of their visit was that Alistair left me his copy of Aid and Other Dirty Business by Giles Bolton, which I really enjoyed. I didn't agree with the author on a few points, but mostly, I really liked his writing and would definitely recommend it. He does a better job than most authors in the genre of proposing solutions and analyzing their practicality. He could have done a better job explaining some of the numbers that he was using in his book, but otherwise, a very worthwhile read.