Good-bye Dubai

The time came for the anxious, slightly spaced out travelers to progress toward the departure gate. It was at precisely this time that it dawned upon us ... we were on the last leg of our journey - we were about to fly into Africa!! Africa!!!! Tania Bish and I looked at each other and like a couple of giggling school girls and excalimed at the same time 'We're going to Africa!' One of our fellow travelers, Mark took the opportunity to teach us all a little Swahili (the native language of Tanzania). We decided that his Lonely Planet phrase book was quite inadequate. I mean it didn't offer the Swahili for 'Where's the diamox' or 'I think I've got a blister' or 'Are we nearly there yet?'

Before long we were at high altitude and on our way to Dar Es Salaam, Africa. Our level of excitement continued to soar as the reality of our destination took hold. Senses on alert and in high anticipation we could not wait to capture all that is Africa. After some time I could see from glancing at our flight path map that we were currently travelling over Kenyan. The realisation that I was potentially flying over the home of my sponsor child was almost too much to absorb. A new wave of realisation hit - I was going to visit the little girl on the other side of my letters - the girl on my fridge was soon to be standing in front of me in the flesh! Sure enough soon we were making our descent into Tanzania. We plastered our faces against the windows and yelled such insightful comments like, 'the soil is red!' or 'I see trees!'. Before we knew it all twelve of us were piling out of the plane and making our way through the rather warm Dar Es Salaam international airport. We must have been quite the sight - twelve backpacker types standing around, sweat accumulating on our faces as we waited for the all powerful customs official to grant us entry into Tanzania. Horray, he stamped his approval in our passports and realised us to the baggage claim. Our bags were all sitting beside the baggage claim much to our delight (with so many connections, this was a source of concern for us). After a quick glance at Julie and Jo followed by an excited 'let's go!' we stepped into the arrivals area to the sound of 'Jambo! Welcome to Tanzania World Vision!' - on repeat. The source of such a welcome introduction was our team leader, Ingwe Justus, a happy Kenyan with a smile that comanded smiles in return. He seemed thrilled to see us and was met with equal enthusiasm from the twelve of us!

The rest of the day was filled with a trip briefing followed by a quick dinner in the hotel reception. Needless to say it was with much delight that we could shower and get to bed early for an early night's rest. Jet lag combined with our initial burst of adrenaline rush made for some sleepy travelers :).