Kenya and Tanzania - Day 2

The national language of Tanzania is Swahili. English is the second language.  We are learning some Swahili to delight the locals.  Hello is Jambo and the response is Jambo, Jambo. Good-bye is Kwaheri, thank you is Asante Sana and of course hukuna matada is no problem. The younger generation has developed a language all their own called Swashenglish which is a combination of Swahili and English. So ends your Swahili lesson for today.  

We are staying at the Gran Melia Arusha hotel which is located between the Serengeti and Kilimanjaro National Parks in Tanzania.  We will stay at this five-star oasis for two nights before heading out on our safari to the Ngorongoro Crater.  

We broke the cardinal rule of jet lag. The rule states you must persevere and stay awake until your normal bed time in the new time zone. Well, if 4:00 pm was our normal bed time we were right on schedule. No dinner, no turn down service and we feel great today.

This is a view of the pool and anterior of Gram Melia Hotel.

Here are some ripe coffee beans ready for picking, drying and roasting prior to being served in the hotel restaurant.

The view from the pool deck.

The two highest mountains in Africa are in Tanzania.  The highest is Mount Kilimanjaro at 19,340 feet.  Kilimanjaro was first climbed by Europeans in 1848.  There was disbelief that there was a snow covered mountain peak so close to the equator.  It took ten years before the fact was believed.  The second highest is Mount Meru at 14,978 feet.  It was first summated by a European in 1904. By comparison Mount Everest which is located in Asia is 29,031 feet.  Mount Meru is clearly visible from our hotel when it is not cloudy.  

A view of Mount Kilimanjaro from the Serengeti.

A view of Mount Meru which is occasionally visible from our hotel.

A view of Mount Everest. Not visible from our hotel.

We went on our driving excursion of Arusha. Our driver Chrispin will also be one of the drivers on our safari. The traffic in Arusha is as chaotic as every other third world country. It all looks like a constant accident ready to happen. The cars, trucks, buses, tuk tuks and motorcycles all vie for the tiniest crevices to join in the traffic.

Here we are with our driver Chrispin and one of the safari vehicles we will use tomorrow.

Tanzania has a population of around 62 million, making it the most populous African country located entirely south of the equator.  The name Tanzania was created as a clipped compound of the names of the two states that unified to create the country in 1964 - Tanganyika and Zanzibar. It consists of the first three letters of the names of the two states ("Tan" and "Zan") and the suffix "-ia."

Here you can see Tanzania is boarded by Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Uganda.

Looking at the currency the Tanzanian shilling is 2,730 to one $USD.  That is 0.00037. If the price is 5,000 Tsh it is $1.83 $USD. the price is 10,000 Tsh it is $3.66 in $USD. 

Tomorrow we start our journey. We have 28 tourists and five Jeeps. By the way, the Swahili word for journey is Safari.