Beach resort monkeys

Had a great excursion out of Dar yesterday to a little place called Kasa Beach Hideaway, where there's a great beach that's not overly visited.

It's around 48 km outside of Dar and we drove through some beautiful country side and 4 small villages on the dirt road before getting there. All villages have unmarked speed bumps, which can be an unpleasant surprise, even if you're only going 40 km/h.

Spent the afternoon alternating between wave diving and vegging on the beach with a yummy picnic (guacamole and crackers and a great big salad. oh and a bag of salt and vinegar chips and some basset's all sorts).

When we went back to the car, I discovered the beach monkeys. The tree I'd parked under for shade was crawling with cute little monkeys. I looked at them, they looked at me, and the guard looked at me like I was silly. Wish I'd brought my camera, you'll have to make due with phone photos.

Ethiopia friends and bongo beats

Tonight I danced along side a tall, lean Maasi woman with strings of beads hanging from various holes in her ears while the sunset behind us over the Indian Ocean.

A local dance and drum troupe was performing in the square and I had great friends from Ethiopia visiting with their children so after playing on the playground, we decided to go dancing.

It's amazing how differently we are raised to move our bodies. The Tanzanian dancers shook it like no-body's business. It make all the kids shake it too. And then the dancers would break from their moves and grab someone sitting and watching. Crazy man dancer in clothes which I can only describe as looking like dreads grabbed and pulled me to the middle. My approach, monkey see, monkey do (me being the monkey) and gave my best shot at mimicking him moves.

Later, while they were singing, I got grabbed and pulled up again. This time along with a Maasi woman, whose dancing is completely different. Maasi are jumpers. So I jumped too.

And then I danced my way out of there and on to dinner.

Saturday afternoon

This afternoon I headed to the beach with a friend, Isabel, and one of her friends, Ollie. It was his last day in Tanzania. He's studying medicine in the UK and was doing some sort of visit to hospitals here. He spent two months in the country helping in local hospitals.

We hopped in a bajaj to the Kigamboni ferry, where we walked aboard for a two minute trip across the habour. On the other side we jumped in another bajaj and headed out to Kipapao Beach resort to lay on the beach and bathe in the Indian Ocean.
The weather was gorgeous, not too hot but a little windy. The water was amazing! We chilled for a couple hours before heading back home, substituting the second bajaj on the other side (in uptown Dar) with a taxi home.

After a bite to eat and some time with the peritos, we headed to the Irish bar for a drink... my first social outing in Dar so far. We kept it low key and headed home after a few hours.

Earlier today I went to look at a house which I was rather fond of. It's huge (lots of room for guests) but has great character and really great outdoor space. It's a little above my budget, but I asked my agent to see how much she could get the rent down to. Tried to emphasize that I'll be there for the next three years (stable tenant) and work with a big organization so I'm a good kind of tenant to have. My agent took me there because she said he might be willing to negotiate price. I'm hoping it works out! Let's see.

Tomorrow I'm off to Kampala for work. Stupidly enough, I left my itinary at the office and I'm not actually sure what time I'm supposed to be at the airport tomorrow. I'm going to enjoy sleeping in tomorrow and lounging on the balcony in the morning before heading off.

Coincidentally, I'll be at the same hotel as the colleague whose house I'm sitting. I should be back in Dar on Wednesday evening.

Kipapao Beach

Loved the little statues of an elephant and giraffe standing on the beach.

Random beach-patrolling Maasii and Isabel's feet.

Fishing boats tying in the for the evening on the Kigamboni side of town.

Sun going down over uptown Dar es Salaam