Jambo!

Jambo! (Hello, Swahili)

I am sorry to everyone for not posting sooner, but the last five days have been so insanely crazy and the first chance I had at internet was last night! But I just want everyone to know that I MADE IT. I am here in Tanzania, on Moya Hill in a small town called Rhotia, which is in the county Karatu, confusing huh? It has been quite the adventure – so let me just fill you in on all of the mishaps that already have occurred!

My first flight from Denver to Chicago ended up being delayed for two hours due to some sort of fuel shortage?? So when we finally arrived in Chicago, I had missed my connecting flight to Newark where I was scheduled to meet the rest of my group. Luckily I was with Amy, a fellow SFS student who also goes to DU but we ironically didn’t know each other before we had arrived at the air port. So once we were in the O’Hare airport things got really crazy. We stood in line for 2 hours to talk to customer service and they told us that we would probably have to stay overnight in Chicago and catch a flight to Newark in the morning. Finally we convinced her that we really did need to be on a plane that day, and she said she would try to get us seats in the next few hours. She gave us what we thought were boarding passes – but after we went all the way to the international terminal and through security they told us they actually weren’t and we didn’t have seats on the plane. So that was disappointing. We then had to go talk to someone through our flight agency and after about an hour of her arguing to various people on the phone she said that our best option was actually to get on a plane that leaves in twenty minutes that is going to Brussels (in Belgium) and then on to Nairobi. We decided to go for this plan and sprinted to our gate and took off into Europe! Unfortunately this route left me and Amy without a connection with our group so it was going to be just me and her for the next 2 days. Our connection in Brussels was only an hour so we did not have a chance to explore which was too bad. We got into Nairobi on Sunday night at 10 pm, but the staff that was going to pick the group up was not going to arrive at the airport until 8 am on Monday. So when Amy and I arrived we didn’t know what to do! We tried to get into contact with our travel agent and she had a hotel booked for us but the security officers said we were not allowed to leave the airport without our visas and the staff that were going to pick us up had those. So we found the most comfortable chairs we could and tried to sleep and read through the night. This was a pretty scary experience because at one point I am pretty sure we were the only white people in the whole airport and not very many people spoke English. In the morning we were able to find the staff and meet up with the group! This was really exciting since we hadn’t had any contact with them since Friday. Kiota, one of the directors, the informed us that we were taking a short flight in Tanzania and that it didn’t take off for another 8 hours! That was hard news since Amy and I had already been in the airport for what seemed like forever, but we made due. Then when we went to go get our luggage we found that it was not with the groups luggage, which was actually not surprising. We found someone to help us put in our luggage info though and just prayed that it would show up eventually. The flight we took was right by mt. Kilimanjaro and so we got to see it as we were flying. The plane was really small too – we had to walk out onto the runways to board it and we were all crammed in there. I was so tired though that I slept through the whole 30 minute flight which was somewhat humorous. After this they told us we were then going to take Land Rovers into Arusha and stay there for the night. They told us that it was too dark to drive to our base camp and they wanted to do it in the daylight. We then got to jump into the most Bad Ass (sorry for the French) Rovers I have ever seen. We drove about an hour to a small hotel in this crazy little city where they fed us and we were finally able to shower and sleep in a bed! That was a great moment.

The next morning came early and we left for the 3 hour drive to camp at 8 am. Here we really got to see the city Arusha and it was quite the sight. There were chickens and cows and goats everywhere and small shops and huts filled with Africans garbed in the brightest colored fabrics. The cars all drive on the opposite sides of the road here, and there are no street signals so it got crazy quick. One thing that I found very amusing was that motorcycles were extremely popular here – something I definitely didn’t expect. Almost anyone that saw us driving by would flat our stare at all of the mzungoos (white persons) as they hardly ever seen them in their town. In fact I didn’t see a single white person in the whole town aside from my classmates. I saw other very interesting things too. Like you would often see the momma’s with huge bags and buckets on their heads, things you see pictures of but it is actually hard to believe when you see it, and almost all of the children we passed by would wave and shout Jambo! They were all very friendly. After we left the borders of the town we were driving through wild lands were you would occasionally see mud huts and sheep/goats herders (the swahili term for a herd of goats and sheep is shats). During this drive I think the realization that I was in Africa actually hit me. Before that it all seemed like some sort of dream.

The coolest part of my adventure so far I think would be as we were driving into camp we saw several giraffes near to the road. They were just absolutely enormous! We also saw a small herd of zebra as well as a baboon and a mongoose that was road kill. Our driver said that this was actually uncommon to see this wildlife so near the road. We got to pull over and use binoculars and we spied more giraffe and some huge elephants! Very exciting.

Finally we arrived in Rhotia were all the children were very excited to see us coming and always greeting us. Our camp site is just amazing. It is bordered from the outside, and so we have to enter through the gate to get here. We have a dining hall, a classroom, a gazebo, a library, a fire pit, and five bandas (huts where we sleep). The water here is a huge blessing which we can drink from the tap and we have a water purifying machine so all of the water is completely safe! We also have electricity, but it is on a power sharing grid so occasionally the power will randomly go out. We have flush toilets and showers with hot water, which I was definitely not expecting! I live with two other girls in my room, Val and Nina, and I adore them both. There is also 3 other girls in the same hut as us but in a different room. The hardest part has just been not having my luggage so I have had to mooch clothes off of my new friends which is always interesting… but my luggage will be here tomorrow so I am very excited about that.

Yesterday we got to walk around Rhotia and meet the locals. I found a few things quite interesting. They have a bench specifically for “The Old Men” and you are not allowed anywhere near it. Children will just run up to you and put their hands out just begging to be picked up and so I found myself holding quite a few adorable children. I have made some of the locals laugh so hard they fall to their knees at my mispronunciations of certain words. I was almost run over by a herd of slow moving cattle. And one of the drunks was really excited that I was here and shook my hand for at least 10 minutes trying his best in English to tell me how good an education is – quite the experience.

The food here is very different, but also very good! I don’t know the names of half of what I am eating, but it usually is something you put with noodles, rice and bread. I am surprised to find how good it is!!

In a few hours we get to go to the local market and we are playing a game called 3,000 shillings. This is so we can learn bargaining skills! We have 3,000 shillings and the person who comes back with the best item wins. 3,000 shillings is about 2 USD. I am pretty excited for this.

Alright everyone I am so sorry that this is so long but I just had so much to share with you! I hope you will continue reading about my adventures as next week we get to go to Lake Manyara national park! I start classes tomorrow so I promise you the next posts will be much shorter as a) I won’t have time and b) I doubt you really want to know about wildlife conservation techniques J haha.

Last but not least! I can send mail here so if you want a postcard from Africa send me your mailing address to rhollmann@q.com I can check my email pretty frequently so if you want to talk to me this is the best way! Also, if you are feeling very motivated you can send mail to me at

Rebecca Hollmann

SFS Center for Wildlife Management Studies,

P.O. Box 304

KARATU, TANZANIA

East Africa

And I should receive it in a few weeks. I will only be at this site until October 24^th and then we will be heading over to Kenya!

Miss you all and Kwa Heri!