Tag Archives: Tanzania

Charge NeededTanzania Africa

Charge NeededTanzania Africa

Charge NeededTanzania Africa

What you see here are two of the five power strips that were available at the camp bar to charge electrical devices. I’ve seen some pictures of some overland bar site plug configurations that make these look like they qualified as the ultimate in electrical code compliance. One thing that you can not do when living on an overland truck is be shy. You need to get there as quick as you can or you might find there isnothing left for you. That includes charging any electrical devices that you might have. It’s sorta like having 20 siblings, there may not be a whole lot left for those who get there last.

More Overland Pantry Tanzania Africa

More Overland Pantry Tanzania Africa

More Overland Pantry Tanzania Africa

Here we have the slots for pots and pans. There is a container for plates and a container for mugs. There is a container for soaps and sanitizers. Spoons, knives and forks along with cooking utensils have their place. Dos this not look efficient? It is. I was very impressed with how much stuff the truck could store.

Wash the Dishes Tanzania Africa

Wash the Dishes Tanzania Africa

Wash the Dishes Tanzania Africa

Yuck! Who needs this job? The first bucket is for washing one’s hands. The second is the main get-crap-off-the-plate tub. The next one is the got-most-of-it-off bucket. It has a little bit of sanitizer and a lot of soap. The last tub is the final rinse tub. The big metal pot has sanitizer in it. Kill them germs. Everyone washes their own dishes and flaps them dry. Right now I’m trying to organize a video where we all do a group-synched flap-off. That would be something like the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders waving their dinner cup and plate around to get them dry. Apparently, the flap-off system for drying the dinner ware and cookware is a system that has worked for years. Who am I to mess with something that works?

Overland Tent Space Tanzania Africa

Overland Tent Space Tanzania Africa

Overland Tent Space Tanzania Africa

This is where the tents are stored. The tents are supposedly 3 person tents. Actually, it is somewhat hard to determine whether a tent is a 2 person or a 3 person tent. How do you know? Each manufacturer has their own standards. Me, I have my own tent on the tour because we have an odd number of people. Someone has to sleep without a tent buddy and it might was well be me. I hope it remains that way for the entire trip. I need the space. I need the peace and quiet. I need to be able to wake up at 4 AM and not have to worry about whether or not I am going to wake someone else up. I need to be able to put my stuff in the tent without worrying about whether I am infringing on the space of another person.

Pool Dudes Tanzania AFrica

Pool Dudes Tanzania AFrica

Pool Dudes Tanzania AFrica

It’s Colin and Simeon. They wanted to go swimming at the pool where we stopped to camp. It was at the Maungu Hotel, a very nice hotel that also has a lot of campsites. The hotel is located close to Mt. Kilimanjaro and serves as a point where a lot of hikers go to stay and gather the necessary equipment, supplies and assistance to do the 5-7 day ascension of the mountain. This pool got a good workout. Several of our group went down there to swim at various times during our stay..

African Cooker Tanzania Africa

African Cooker Tanzania Africa

African Cooker Tanzania Africa

Guess who. Guess where. I’m cooking scrambled eggs for 20. Actually, I’m just stirring. Someone else made the eggs. I did help crack them. You have to crack them one egg at a time. The reason is that it can be very easy to have one bad egg. You know whether the egg is bad or not by the smell of the egg. If you get a bad egg and and you put it in with the other 39 or 49 or 99 eggs, it ruins the whole bunch. That’s not good. There’s an art and a science to cooking for 20 people. I’ll let you know when I get better. There are 4 people on my cook team and we get to cook every 5 days or so. Right now I’m holding back and not attempting to take a leadership position on the cook team. When I do, it will mean less chili powder..

Overland Truck Space Tanzania Africa

Overland Truck Space Tanzania Africa

Overland Truck Space Tanzania Africa

Look at all these lockers. Aren’t they cool? I was really surprised at how everything fit in the truck. This truck was made to be a camping phenomena. Think about it – upwards of 24 people living on this truck for anywhere from 8 to 45 weeks at a time. It’s enough to make your head spin.

Pete’s Bar Tanzania Africa

Pete's Bar Tanzania Africa

Pete’s Bar Tanzania Africa

This is Pete’s Bar, the bar at the Marangu Hotel. It was the watering hole for the group while we stayed at the campground located on the hotel grounds. They had this wonderful concoction, Castle’s Milk Stout, that was simply delicious. While I’m a Guinness drinker, I’m not a Guinness drinker outside of Ireland. Guinness simply does not travel well. But, since I like the taste of a proper pint of Guinness, I try to find a good substitute if I can, wherever I can and I found the Castle’s Milk Stout while making my rounds through the list of beers at the Snake Camp in Arusha. This is a perfect example of why I kept telling my children how very important it is to be proactive.

Tanzania Hot Water

Tanzania Hot Water

Tanzania Hot Water

Yes, we had plenty of hot water in Tanzania at the Marangu Hotel campsite. The only problem was that you needed to make sure that someone had put some wood on the fire in the last few hours. If not you might have to wait an hour or two until the water got hot. It’s surprising to me that so many campgrounds in Africa used the same method to heat the water. It worked, though.

Camp Laundry Tanzania

Camp Laundry  Tanzania

Camp Laundry Tanzania

We do not have to do our own laundry, We can farm it out to the local laundry people and pray that it gets back to the truck on time. If it doesn’t, then you have fewer clothes to worry about. The problem is that everyone tends to want to wash at the same time, when we have a day or two at one location, especially when that location has good facilities like you see here. This location also had good sinks as well, or at least good sinks as far as a camp site is concerned. Unfortunately, this makes for a crowded situation at the wash trough. It also makes for a lack of drying space. Again, when you have 20 siblings, you better get your butt in gear.