We are glad to have internet once again at one of the offices just up the road in Dorobo Safari. Our trip from Nairobi to Arusha was long and bumpy with mostly flat scenery through Kenya, and hillier areas once we made it to Tanzania. Our travels out of Nairobi were slow due to ecsessive traffic, extremely narrow roads, and potholes left and right (kinda like Philly roads).

Lew's friend Barbie Allen drove us to the Silver Springs hotel where we had lunch and were ready to leave on the 2pm bus. Once at the hotel, Alex saw information about a conference for Practical Action, an NGO that he had heard about, so he met with some helpful people who told him to take a ride just down the road to their main office. This was at 1:20pm, and the bus left promptly at 2pm. So Dave and Alex rushed out to take a taxi to Practical Action's office, and of course they didn't get back in time, so the bus left with Lew and Josh. It's first stop was just near the hotel at a petrol station, and just after the bus departed there, Dave and Alex came running down the street at the side of the bus, having seen it on the road and jumped out of their taxi to make it. A close call, but everything worked out swimingly. They made in time and had a wonderful meeting with Practical Action who is very interested in our project and its progression once we return to Kenya at the end of the trip.

The bus ride was very long and scenic and we met two african students and a hair dresser who were on their way to Arusha as well and we conversed nearly the whole 6 hour trip. At one point, construction was being done on the main road, so the bus had to move to dirt roads that were extremely extremely bumpy, but it added to the excitement of the ride. Throughout the travels, we passed by Masai herders and little groups of people along the main road, many selling charcoal and other assorted goods. Just a little over half the trip was in Kenya, and we arrived at Namanga, the border crossing. This took a little time to get our Kenya transit visas checked, after which we walked accross the border to get our Tanzania travel visas. Once this was completed, we hopped on the bus and continued on our journey. The only casualty was a GPS unit that Alex had borrowed, and was picked from his cargo pocket. Lesson learned!

Once in Tanzania, the sunlight stayed with us for about another hour, in which we were able to take pictures of mountain ranges, sunsetting, and a family of girraffes hangin out by the side of the road. It began to get dark by 6:30pm, and soon as we got to the outskurts of Arusha it was completely dark. We arrived in Arusha, a small city with only a few main roads, lots of cars, commmotion, and activity all evening. We have not been back to the center of the city yet, so it is hard to tell how it looks during the day. The bus finally arrived and dropped us off at the Impala hotel, where Zenan, a driver from Dorobo, picked us up and drove us to the Dorobo/Olasiti camp about a half hour outside Arusha. Zenan will be our guide throughout our time Arusha and with Dorobo.

It was extremely dark when we made it to the camp, very far off the beaten track, and we arrived at a beautiful camping area with dinner all set and ready for us. James and Candita are Dorobo staff who are taking care of our site, making us dinner, and making us feel at home. That evening we sat by the fire, conversed and had a lovely relaxing end to a load and bumpy day. Our accomodations are large and sturdy tents with a cot and sleeping bag for each person.

Overnight was interesting; lota of dogs barking, roosters and other birds making noise...no noisier than a big city, but the sounds are all quite different. We have a night guard watching the campsite, so we're definitely safe.

This update is turning into a book, but here's a brief update on today so far: Zenan (ZAY-nahn) is our local driver, guide, and translator. He took us on a tour of the village of Olasiti, named after a tree where warring tribes made peace. In the past 10 years, population there has grown from 2,000 to 10,000. Their lives are very simple, and they seem satisfied in general, but of course are living in a very poor economy. We talked with some local carpenters, someone who sells wood, an orphanage/school that Zenan runs, and a local builder. Alex was especially happy that the builder was keenly interested in the slag-based cement that he is working on. Zenan has some scrap car parts available, and they should be quite sufficient for the first lathe. We expect several to join us to help build it. Today we'll go into the main town of Arusha to connect with some NGOs that we prepared to meet, get some supplies, and maybe meet with a shop that turns parts on lathes.

So things are going really well! That's all for now. We'll be in touch again soon.