Arrival 1.0

So my Dad is in Kahunda and would very much like to do a blog post so here it is:

Thanks Jonny for letting me have a go on your blog! I'd like to describe the journey from Mwanza….

I arrived on a (Gulfstream?) jet seating 50-100 people. Very fast & comfortable. Sat next to a Somali lady from Oslo! Her family (mother & sisters) had fled the country during the civil war 20 years ago and, with hundreds of thousands of other Somalis, settled in Norway. She was on holiday to visit her father, who had decided to stay in Africa rather than live in cold Europe.

In Mwanza (large town some 60 miles from Kahunda) I met Jonny and we immediately got onto a dala dala (minibus with 10-12 other people) and headed for the lakeside to catch a ferry.

This 'dala dala' stopped frequently by the side of the road to pick up and drop off and somehow they knew when to stop and who wanted a ride (the man operating the sliding doors put the fares in his pocket – no tickets – and liked to ride with the door open!).

At the lakeside there were several hundred people waiting for the ferry: some makeshift BBQ's, numerous people wandering around trying to sell jewellery, or peanuts, or mobile phones. As soon as they realised we were looking to get to Kahunda people started offering lifts – on motorbikes or in a truck – and seeing how much money they could charge. Difficult to know who to trust and who was trying to rip you off. Litter everywhere – no-one notices it.

After the ferry we paid a small sum to a man with something like an Toyota Landcruiser. 60 miles on a dirt track, often at 50-60 mph! Barely wide enough for two cars to pass; people also using the road as a path, sometimes herding a few cattle along; small kids on man-sized bicycles, wobbling dangerously; women balancing huge water-containers or bundles of sticks for firewood.

We passed through about 20 villages – all with homes looking more like shacks. Dogs roaming around, people chatting, toddlers playing by the side of the road, people trying to sell stuff from what was no more than a hut. And clouds of dust every time a vehicle went past. That was how we knew when something big was coming towards us!

When the lift finished – because the driver realised his lights weren't working – we were still 10 miles from Kahunda and it was nearly dark!