Randi and I are back from our East Africa safari but, other than the few pictures we uploaded along the way, we have nothing to show for it! My fancy Nokia camera phone decided to eat all the pictures we took. There are lots of great stories to be told, though, like the day I swapped t-shirts with some dude on the streets of Dar Es Salaam.
It went down like this: Randi and I had decided Dar Es Salaam was way too hot and humid, and we hadn’t had a cup of coffee in a couple of days. We noticed a sign saying “Coffee Lounge” outside a fairly classy building in a nicer part of town (read: probably had air conditioning), so we went inside to investigate. It was there, climbing the stairs, that I saw a dude coming down the stairs with a shirt written “Niko Juu!!” (slang, literally “I’m up”… or ahead). He kinda paused when he saw me, and then I told him, “Wee, shirt yako iko poa. Tubadilishane?” (Dude, your shirt is cool, let’s trade). To my surprise he took his off immediately and we traded right then and there. So if you see some dude walking around Tanzania with a Ramones shirt it’s probably the same guy. Hopefully he enjoys telling the story as much as I do!
The rest of our trip went off without a hitch. We did eat a lot of mangoes and gelatto in Watamu and Malindi, just like we said we would! We ate so many mangoes in Watamu that as we were leaving one mama told us “Unalipa moja, na nikupe moja. Zawadi.” (You pay for one, and I give you one. Gift.). Randi’s back in the US now, and I start work on Monday, so I gotta get back into the routine of things around here. In other news, I’m finally moved into my new apartment, just down the road from the penthouse I was staying in before, but I’ll wait until it’s all furnished to post some pictures.
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Lover of Linux, death metal and Indian food, blogs about living and working in Nairobi, Kenya.
Aw man, I had a similar problem with my camera when I arrived in the Serengeti as part of my North Tanzania safari. It totally stopped working, which was bad – but it also gave me the opportunity to just focus on the animals and put down the camera and enjoy nature. Every cloud has a silver lining! :)
I think this was devastating on your side because it hurts to see all your pictures disappear and you are left with nothing to show people back home.Am glad that you finally made your day exciting and adventurous.Thanks for the information.
Can’t tell if this comment is spam or not… but yes, losing all my pictures was a drag. :)