blessed be the panther.

my trip to tanzania was more than fantastic. and absolutely bizarre from start to finish.

our hostel was run by a former black panther in exile. he left the states in the early 70's after, what he calls, a bogus gun charge, and hasn't been back since. he runs what you might call a socialist compound way off the beaten path near arusha, tanzania. nice enough guy. has clearly mellowed with age. his dog has a dreaded tail and the walls of the compound are tagged with pictures of malcolm x and martin luther king jr. and slogans like "power to the people."

we went to the war crimes tribunal for rwanda which is held in arusha. very interesting. they've managed to accomplish a great deal in a fairly short amount of time. it was pretty intense to sit their and listen to witness testimony about people being slaughtered in churches - sitting 15 feet from the men who essentially ordered the killings.

we climbed up to 9,000 ft. on kilimanjaro. in a rain storm. I'm not sure I've ever been so drenched hiking before - but once we started we were all pretty determined to reach the first camp. the guides and porters we passed are some of the most hardcore people. climbing kilimanjaro had some appeal before actually seeing how its done in tanzania. porters carry everything for the wazungu hiking up the mountain. they balance huge bundles on their heads while wearing second hand columbia/rei gear (purple and teal - real old school.) we brought lunches with us but when we arrived at the hut porters had hiked up spaghetti, what I'll call pizza rolls (with cabbage and terrible east african cheese), fried potatoes and metal silverware. it felt like cheating.

going down was exciting. the rain persisted during lunch. we were soaked and freezing. the trail is well maintained but its still mud and small rivers were running everywhere. myself, two other students decided to jog out the 8 or so kilometers and our guide (because you have to have one) joined us. I fell three times and rolled my ankle (not badly) once. classic gilia hiking trip I would say. people hiking up looked at us like we were nuts - our guide mentioned people don't normally jog off of kilimanjaro. I was a sight when we finished. covered head to toe in mud, blood and soaking wet. most attractive I've looked in this part of the world. scraped my butt pretty good, luckily not in the same place as before (good story for those who haven't heard it), as I feared - cause I would just love those scars to be darker.

we also spent three days with the maasai but that's a story for another time. let's just say it involved dancing, beading, cattle, goat sacrifices, raw kidney and lots of dust.

we visited the hadzabe as well. they are one of the last remaining hunter gatherer cultures in the world. they live a crazy life. the climate they live in is so harsh and unforgiving I can't imagine having to subsist there. we shot bows and arrows, made fire (the old fashioned way, two sticks) and danced. they smoke loads of marijuana - I probably would too if I lived like they do. apparentl they never turn up for the census so when the tanzanian government conducted the last one they bribed the hadzabe with weed. they handed out free marijuana to any hadzabe that showed up to be counted. hehe ...

our last day was spent at ngorogoro crater which I could try to describe but I'm not sure I have the words. it is easily one of the most incredible places I've ever been. we drove up the crater's side in the morning mist, saw lions mating, descended into the crater just as the sunlight was breaking through the clouds. it was like jurassic park meets the lion king meets the land before time meets awesome. we drove around in out safari vehicle (with the pop top - best ever!) for hours and saw lions, cheetahs, water buffalo, wildebeest, hippos, gazelle, elephants, ostrich, zebra, vultures, hyenas ... it was PHENOMENAL!