We were back in Dar es Salaam, relaxing, waiting to leave for South Africa and then for home. A knock on the door and Pastor John Meadth entered with the news that his passport and wallet had been stolen. Indeed it had and thus commenced a pretty hectic day and an especially stressful day for John. Australia has no embassy in Tanzania. We discovered this after a fruitless search in the embassy area of the city. I remembered that Canada can be approached for help.

A trip to the Canadian Embassy proved partially successful. John was told he would be able to get travel documents to Nairobi in Kenya but not to South Africa. We all went to the airport so I could catch my plane, while John went off to collect his travel documents so he could get to Nairobi. I felt a bit funny leaving John, but I didn’t have a visa to enter Kenya and John assured me he would be OK.

As I write this I am in Perth waiting for a plane to Melbourne and John is in Johannesburg waiting for a flight to Perth. My trip to Perth was not without incident. About an hour after leaving Jo’burg we noticed that the plane was not gaining height and speed as it usually would. The captain then announced that there was a technical problem and that we would need to return to Jo’burg. Once pointed out we could see that there was a small problem with the wing. I was sitting next to a Qantas engineer who was able to give a running explanation about what was happening. We then flew in circles as the plane off-loaded most of its fuel so we could land.

There was a little bit of tension as we flew into the airport with fire-engine lights flashing around the run-way. The landing was perfect and within an hour and a half we were back in the air! It has been a long night!

I obviously missed my 9.00am flight to Melbourne and now am waiting for for a 6.10pm flight.

In spite of all this it has been a really wonderful trip. More than ever I am convinced of the importance of what we are doing in Africa. It is all worth it.

Hope to see you on Sunday with a personal report.

Richard

I have been coming to Africa for 20 years but never experienced the adventures I have this time. Most of the adventures centred around African buses.

We left for the bus station in Dar es Salaam at 5.00am. Apart from the fact that Nathan temporarily lost his bag with the camera and all his documents, money, passport etc, all went well up to Manyoni. Nathan can tell his story when he returns. John who was seated near the front had to stop looking at the road. Fast drivers, bad roads and close calls don’t make for a relaxing journey.

From Manyoni to Sanjaranda we entered another world of bus travel. With standing room only, being squashed against dozens of sweaty bodies, being defeaned by the calls of several roosters (who were not enjoying the trip) and bumping along an even worse road, this we thought was as bad as it gets. We were wrong!

On the way home we boarded a bus called “Arafat”. Arafat, the man, died a few years ago. Arafat the bus was about to become deceased. We boarded Arafat at 5.00am. it was dark and the bus’s lights were struggling to work. An old VW would boast of glaring search lights compared to Arafat.

It wasn’t long before we broke down. A broken fan-belt I believe. With a push start we were off again. Soon another problem emerged. After this was fixed we made it to Mayoni and finished the first section of our journey with Arafat crashing into a pile of wood, a bike and a truck on the other side of the road. Thankfully the cyclist had jumped to safety and no-one was seriously hurt. If the crash had taken anywhere else it could have been far more serious. The driver fled from the scene pursued by an angry truck driver.

Pastor Komba suggested we catch another bus. We opted to pay the extra for a taxi with bald tyres. Sure, we suffered a puncture, but did arrive in Dodoma in relative comfort.

In Dodoma we caught another bus and apart for crammed conditions arrived in Dar es Salaam 15 hours after we had left Sajaranda.

I have run out of internet time and shall continue the story in an other posting.

See you soon.

Richard