(TZ) A road in Morogoro
(TZ) The main market in Morogoro
(TZ) Children playing and watching soccer across from where I stayed in Morogoro
(TZ) A cat and a jiko (charcoal-powered stove) in Morogoro
(TZ) Preparing a chicken stew in Morogoro
(TZ) A chicken stew in Morogoro. Clockwise from the top: beans, vegetables, rice, ugali (maize meal), mchicha (sort of like spinach), Paula the chicken.
(TZ) A typical Tanzanian road, Morogoro
(TZ) Morogoro:hiking up a mountain trail, we often encountered locals who so every day
(TZ) Another view. A woman with a baby poses in the middle, unaware of me and my camera's pitiful zoom.
(TZ) A view from the trail in Morogoro
(TZ) A man repairs his roof at the top of the mountain in Morogoro
(TZ) Morogoro
(TZ) Peddlers in Morogoro patrol the streets with their wares on their backs
(TZ) A man in Dar es Salaam bicycles with buckets and jerrycans
(TZ) After arriving in Dar es Salaam, I soon encountered Caitlin, a resident of Zanzibar. Here, Caitlin is blissfully shocked by the cappuccino at the Movenpik, a very fancy hotel in downtown Dar es Salaam..
(TZ) The road leading to Kibaya is long, straight, and dusty.
(TZ) Kibaya. Hemmingway ate somewhere around here when he passed through.
(TZ) "I love you .this is alune". Chris got this text message; he thinks he might even remember who Alune is.
(TZ) A man sells shoes made from recycled lorry tires at a Maasai market in Kibaya
(TZ) A Maasai market in Kibaya
(TZ) A girl fills a bucket of water in Kibaya
(TZ) Kibaya
(TZ) The outhouse at our camping spot in Kibaya
(TZ) The view from inside our outhouse in Kibaya
(TZ) My coworkers relax on a resort beach in Bagamoyo
(TZ) A beach in Bagamoyo
(TZ) The same beach in Bagamoyo, during the day
(TZ) My coworkers in an office party. The party was for Aran (the Irish person), not Majuka (the Maasai warrior)
(TZ) Caitlin's office in Zanzibar was haunted by little girls who threw flowers at me through the window and then hid
(TZ) A typical sunset in Zanzibar
(TZ) Ahmed and his siblings came to Caitlin's place for Eid ul Fitr
(TZ) Caitlin and Rebecca entertain the girls with their cameras, while the boys play with a soccer ball
(TZ) Zanzibari girls display their henna on Eid ul Fitr
(TZ) Kent's friend Hammed invited us to his place for a delicious Zanzibari pilau lunch
(TZ) There are many fishermen on Zanzibar
(TZ) A view of Zanzibar on the ferry from Dar es Salaam
(TZ) A teenager seeks to impress us in Jambiani, Zanzibar
(TZ) Some locals in Jambiani push an ngalawa into the water
(TZ) The Jambiani coast
(TZ) Caitlin torments a dumbfounded Zanzibari child by burying his leg in the sand
(TZ) Children playing on the beach in Jambiani
(TZ) A beach-coloured cow roams the beach of Jambiani
(TZ) We made a friend in Jambiani who invited us to his restaurant
(TZ) We ate east-coast Zanzibari curries with octopus and chicken
(TZ) "Ask for Captain Cook": advertisements for a restaurant in Jambiani
(TZ) Captain Cook in Jambiani
(TZ) A man bicycles down the beach in Jambiani
(TZ) The main road in Jambiani, Zanzibar
(TZ) A street vendor makes a Zanzibar Pizza in the night market of Stone Town
(TZ) A man makes sugar cane juice in the Stone Town night market
(TZ) A Zanzibar Pizza and sugar cane juice from the Stone Town night market
(TZ) A man wears a second-hand hockey jersey and sells fish in Stone Town's main market
(TZ) The "mzungu" (white-person) bar of Stone Town provides a jarring mix of glorious sunsets and wireless Internet
(TZ) A praying mantis
(TZ) A gecko
(TZ) A part of Stone Town hosts communist-era, cement-block housing
(TZ) Caitlin's place in Bububu, Zanzibar, had a wonderful yard
(TZ) Jane and Caitlin ride the "fifty-fifty" boat to Prison Island, Zanzibar (close to Stone Town)
(TZ) We hired the boat to Prison Island at a fair price and we got a great driver
(TZ) A giant tortoise on Prison Island
(TZ) Mr. Bean, a boat around Stone Town, Zanzibar
(TZ) Yet another Zanzibar sunset
(TZ) My family in Dar es Salaam, along with Heather, the mzungu who introduced me to them
(TZ) Mama Iddy
(TZ) Baba Iddy and Heather
(TZ) Chickens battle right outside my backyard
(TZ) My backyard in Dar es Salaam
(TZ) A music video being shot on Coco Beach, Dar es Salaam
(TZ) Coco Beach, Dar es Salaam. This Sunday hangout is frequented by Tanzanians and rared by white people
(TZ) A skill-testing game on Coco Beach, Dar es Salaam. To encircle a prize is to win it.
(TZ) "Bootyliciously African" for $70: A Levi's store in Dar es Salaam charges even more than in Canada
(TZ) A market in Dar es Salaam
(TZ) An array of produce in a market in Dar es Salaam
(TZ) Across the street from the market, Mlimani City, a giant shopping mall, welcomes richer people
(TZ) Mlimani City might as well have been airlifted from the United States
(TZ) Caitlin and Rebecca bask in the glory of automatic hand-drying machines
(TZ) Walmart--oops, I mean, Game, in Mlimani City
(TZ) Crowds wait for dala-dalas (overcrowded minibuses) at Buguruni, a public transit hub in Dar es Salaam
(TZ) Ambiguous traffic lights complicate an already-disastrous intersection near Buguruni in Dar es Salaam
(TZ) Many dala-dalas have some unique pieces of flair. Two dala-dalas displayed Canadian flags in Tabata, Dar es Salaam
(TZ) "Women with immoral turpitude are not allowed in the hotel premises": a sign in the Econolodge, Dar es Salaam
(TZ) Outside a Lutheran church in Dar es Salaam on a Saturday (wedding-day)
(TZ) Weddings are conducted four-at-a-time, with four families making up the congregation
(TZ) Women from one family were very enthusiastic about their family member's wedding, ululating and dancing whenever the minister was tending to their couple
(TZ) After the wedding ceremonies, a choir sang
(TZ) The happy couple. Women are not supposed to smile during their wedding, since they are meant to be sad that they are leaving their families.
(TZ) After the ceremonies were complete, the ululating family continued to sing and dance, even rolling on the ground at one point
(TZ) A band plays from the back of its pick-up truck
(TZ) A glamourous wedding reception in Dar es Salaam
(TZ) "Mind the Wall": a sign at a gas station made us wonder about the story behind it
(TZ) Caitlin sits in the front seat of an airplane bound for Pemba, the second-largest island of Zanzibar
(TZ) We traveled in Pemba during clove season; cloves were laid to dry on the sides and medians of many roads
(TZ) A guest house in Mkoani, Pemba
(TZ) Children look at the beautiful view from the guest house in Mkoani, Pemba
(TZ) Caitlin investigates a snake-like tree on Misali Island, near Pemba
(TZ) A beach on Misali Island
(TZ) Another beach on Misali Island
(TZ) The shore at Mkoani, Pemba
(TZ) A shortcut through town in Mkoani, Pemba
(TZ) A cow blocks Caitlin's path in Chake-Chake, Pemba
(TZ) A man drives his cart and cows down a street of Chake-Chake
(TZ) Houses, some unfinished, loitered behind our guest house room in Chake-Chake
(TZ) Nature reclaims its territory in the Ngezi Forest Reserve, Pemba
(TZ) A cobra on the trail in Ngezi Forest Reserve
(TZ) Caitlin poses with some local children and an uncooperative motorcycle on an otherworldly beach near the northern tip of Pemba
(TZ) The path through Ngezi forest
(TZ) A mysterious shack sits on the top of a roof in downtown Stone Town
(TZ) A dog torments a small crab on the beach of Nungwi, northern Zanzibar
(TZ) The silly Canadians make a sandman on Christmas Eve at Nungwi
(TZ) The sandman melts
(TZ) Maasai warriors play pool at the beach of Nungwi
(TZ) An empty doorway and a poorly-worded English sign sit at Cholo's Bar in Nungwi
(TZ) A sunset through an open door at Cholo's
(TZ) A motorcycle in a tree at Cholo's. Really.
(TZ) The bar at Cholo's is the hull of an old boat
(TZ) The engine of our broken-down minibus in Zanzibar
(TZ) The eastern coast of Zanzibar has very long tides. The tide is low here at Bwejuu, so the picture captures seaweed farms and kilometres of beach which are all submerged at high tide.
(TZ) A kid invents an automatic kite-flying machine in Bwejuu
(TZ) The Canadians show off their henna
(TZ) Trees lean into the wind in Bwejuu
(TZ) Low tide at the beach of Bwejuu
(TZ) Our free and extravagant guesthouse in Bwejuu
(TZ) "Persistent failures of seasonal rainfall led to drought that caused rampart death of domestic and wild animals as was witnessed over northeastern Tanzania during 2005/2006": a wall calendar
(TZ) A cat haunts a typical street of Stone Town, Zanzibar
(TZ) A man running an NGO in Lushoto (a day's drive from Dar es Salaam) poses with copies of Fema, the magazine I worked for
(TZ) Lushoto
(TZ) The view from a lookout point in Lushoto
(TZ) Our company took a retreat in Morogoro, where I stayed at a fancy resort. Life is rough.
(TZ) A rainbow in Morogoro
(TZ) Buying tomatoes on the side of the road between Morogoro and Dar es Salaam. It is much cheaper to buy groceries outside of Dar es Salaam.
(TZ) "a squared minus b squared = (a+b)(a-b)": flair on a dala-dala in Tabata, Dar es Salaam
(TZ) A Tanzanian newspaper showing a Kenyan ballot count. Somebody added a "0" to Mwai Kibaki's count....
(TZ) Soldier ants march down Pugu Hills, near Dar es Salaam
(TZ) Cashews growing at Pugu Hills
(TZ) A cashew tree at Pugu Hills
(TZ) A conference led by my company, bringing youths from all over Tanzania
(TZ) My company, Femina, poses with Margareth Sitta, the Tanzanian Minister of Education and Vocational Training
(TZ) A lopsided dala-dala in Dar es Salaam. Many dala-dalas lean to the left, because when they are overcrowded some passengers will hang out the doorway.
(TZ) Minigolf in the "mzungu" (white-person) part of Dar es Salaam
(TZ) I took my family to a mzungu restaurant before saying goodbye
(TZ) A view of Stone Town from the House of Wonders. To the left is the Old Fort; to the right is Forodhani, under renovations.
(TZ) The Sauti za Busara ("sounds of wisdom") annual music festival in Stone Town coincided with the end of my contract
(TZ) Bi Kidude, a legendary Zanzibari singer, astounds us with her age, energy, and uniqueness
(TZ) My last view of Dar es Salaam: Ubungo dala-dala terminal, seen from a coach bus
(MW) A double-rainbow in Malawi marked the beginning of my journey to Mushroom Farm, on the road to Livingstonia
(MW) Children pose on the road towards Livingstonia
(MW) One child coerced me to take a picture of his home and his grandmother's home. Here, his grandmother poses beside her house.
(MW) The view of Lake Malawi (and Mozambique on the other side) made the hike worth it. It eventually got dark and I got sick and nearly passed out, but hey--I made it.
(MW) Mayoka Village, in Nkhata Bay, is another backpacker hangout in Malawi. It is quite removed from ordinary Malawians (and anyone else in the world)
(MW) Acrobats from Bagamoyo, Tanzania, perform at Mayoka Village in Nkhata Bay
(TZ) A full moon illuminates Nkhata Bay at night
(ZM) Zambezi river, at Livingstone, Zambia. Zimbabwe lies across the river and the Victoria Falls lie upstream.
(ZM) Zambezi gorge, downstream from Victoria Falls and some white-water rafting.
(ZM) I ran into some Canadian EWB (Engineers without Borders) volunteers on a sunset booze cruise above Victoria Falls
(ZM) Sunset above Victoria Falls
(ZM) A microlight: it flies one passenger above Victoria Falls and affords a stunning view
(ZM) Victoria Falls from the side
(ZM) Victoria Falls from the top
(CD) A Congolese fisherman works near the shore of lake Tanganyika
(CD) A doomed chicken tied, with no apparent irony, to a life preserver on our cargo ship
(CD) The road to Moba, Democratic Republic of Congo, as seen from the dock
(CD) Congolese children pose for what may be the only white person they have seen ever since they left their refugee camps in Zambia
(CD) The main street of Moba. Several stalls are covered with UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) tarps: a rather practical use of foreign aid.
(CD) Boats line the shore of Moba
(CD) The dock of Moba. Our ship is tied to the dock, and another cargo ship is tied to ours. A broken, rusted crane haunts the dock.
(CD) Workers heave an ICRC rescue boat onto our ship
(BI) Bujumbura, Burundi
(BI) Another shot of Bujumbura. I was told the surrounding countryside was too dangerous to visit, so I stayed in the city. A few weeks later the city itself was shelled by rebels.
(BI) Outside a fancy hotel in Bujumbura. UN soldiers were checking in as I left.
(UG) A Rwandan volcano broods in the background and Ugandan hills line the foreground
(UG) The hills of Kisoro, Uganda, seem to have been inspired by Dr. Seuss
(UG) The remains of free beverages at Speke Resort and Conference Centre, Kampala, Uganda. The food was free, so why were people starving a kilometre away?
(UG) Speke Resort and Conference Centre, Munyonyo, Kampala, Uganda
(UG) Mike Kironde shows off St. Janan's Secondary School, built in the heart of a slum, as I revisit it and commend the new lawn and buildings. "Trainor Gardens" are named after a volunteer we lived with a year previously.
(ET) This monument at Addis Ababa University was built by the Italians when Mussolini conquered Ethiopia, with one step for each year of Mussolini's rule. When the Ethiopians won their country back five years later, they build the stone lion on top as a sign of Ethiopian royalty.
(ET) A tourism-inspired path in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
(ET) Sunset over Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
(ET) A small fishing boat ferries ignorant tourists across the river, and so many locals beg there nearly full-time
(ET) The tourists took pictures of the poor people. Soon after, I obnoxiously took pictures of the tourists.
(ET) Blue Nile Falls, near Bahir Dar
(ET) The sun sits atop Blue Nile Falls
(ET) A Portuguese bridge. Recently a large hydroelectric dam was built which makes the bridge somewhat redundant.
(ET) Flamingoes on Lake Tana, at Bahir Dar
(ET) An island on Lake Tana
(ET) A monestary on an island of Lake Tana
(ET) Ethiopian fasting food: $1.50 for a delicious meal. The bread, called injera, is used to eat the other curries.
(ET) Gonder, Ethiopia. The buildings in the centre of this picture are 17th-century castles.
(ET) Gonder
(ET) "Semen Park Hotel" in Gonder. I gave this guesthouse a pass.
(ET) Debre Birhan Selassie Church, Gonder: Africa's response to the Sistene Chapel
(ET) A prist lives above the gate of Debre Birhan Selassie Church
(ET) The roof of Debre Birhan Selassie Church is painted with hundreds of angel faces, each looking in a different direction
(ET) Castles in Gonder
(ET) Another castle in Gonder
(ET) A view from a bus through the Simien Mountains
(ET) Another shot taken from the Simien Mountains on a ten-hour-long, stunning bus ride
(ET) The stellae park of Aksum in northern Ethiopia
(ET) The tallest standing stellae in Aksum, built nearly 2000 years ago
(ET) This tomb collapsed when an even-larger stellae fell on it while it was being erected: some believe this led to the adoption of Christianity in the Aksumite empire
(ET) The Tomb of the False Door, displaying typical Aksumite architecture
(ET) A stone wall in Aksum. Many walls in the area are just as beautiful, and most are built without mortar.
(ET) The Italians stole an enormous stellae and only returned it five years ago; this picture displays the progress made in erecting it at its original, historic resting place
(ET) A child with a foosball table in Aksum
(ET) Camels at a gas station in Aksum
(ET) My first night in Lalibela, BBC World was running a documentary on the Rock-Hewn Churches of... Lalibela.
(ET) UNESCO-inspired scaffolding detracts from the beauty of some of the Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela
(ET) A prist poses in his rock-hewn church (of Lalibela)
(ET) Beta Giyorgis ("St. George") rock-hewn church. The entire church was only made through excavation, roughly a thousand years ago: none of it was built.
(ET) Bete Giyorgis
(ET) Yet Another Rock-Hewn Church. Eleven of them reside in the core of Lalibela, and all were built around the same time by the then-king, King Lalibela
(ET) Somebody's house in a hill near Lalibela
(ET) A hill near Lalibela
(ET) A small village near Lalibela
(ET) The landscape around Lalibela
(ET) Lalibela from above
(ET) A prist lives at the very top of the hill, near where the previous pictures were shot
(ET) My mule and its driver walking back down to Lalibela
(ET) Some Brits I ran into and our "tej" (Ethiopian honey-wine)
(ET) Lalibela from the air
(CH) Zurich, Switzerland
(CH) Inside the Grossmünster, Zurich
(CH) "Attention: Here no marked and controlled trail." Gannon, Kent's brother (whom I met in Dar), brought me to Davos for some skiing. We descended the unmarked, uncontrolled non-trail.
