Monday, 19th March 2007

To: Babati

Annett's bus left at 4:00 today. I caught a bus at 2:00 to go to Babati, which I thought might be close to where my friends were. It was a fun bus ride, and we got to Babati at 6:00. I hadn't seen my friends' bush camp before Babati, so figured they must be somewhere after Babati. So, I rang them on the satalite phone number they'd given me. Jack told me they were only about 10-15 km past Babati. I was worried I might miss them again (remembering the Marsabit-Arther's Post incident) because I thought it might be dark by the time I got there. I suggested to Jack that maybe I'll stay in Babati and come early in the morning. Jack was just telling me that there is no possible way I could miss them, and at that point, the person whose phone I was using ran out of air time.

So, I went outside to negotiate a taxi to take me. As I was negotiating the taxi, it started to rain. My thought was, "Hmmm. Spend a lot of money on a taxi in order to go spend the night at a bush camp in the rain... Or, sleep in that really nice looking lodge right across the road over there." So, anyway, opted for the nice lodge. I was very happy for my choice for 2 reasons:

(1) In the middle of the night, I could hear it pouring down rain and there was even thunder and lightening.
(2) In Babati town, there is a lake. In that lake, one of the Babati locals told me, live hippopotamuses! Later in the evening, when it wasn't raining, I wandered over there and saw a grazing hippo! That was neat! Unfortunately, I'd left my camera in my room.

------------------- TODAY ---------------------- TOTAL
Cycled ------------ 0 ----------------------------- 3,487 km (2,189 mi)
Sagged ------------ 90 km (56 mi) ------------- 2,022 km (1,369 mi)
Total -------------- 90 km (56 mi) ------------- 5,509 km (3,558 mi)