Guest Kirsteen Posted April 3, 2004 Report Share Posted April 3, 2004 Hey there, A few months back a bunch of you generously shared your insights re: Egypt and certain parts of Africa, when I mentioned I'd be venturing in that neck of the world. Well, it looks like I'll be in Africa again this year, this time in Arusha, Tanzania, setting up a regional office for our current office. I'll probably be in the area in June/July this year for a bit and was wondering if any of you well-traveled folks have spent any time in Tanzania and would care to share some of your experiences and thoughts on the region? From my cursory investigation it appears to have quite a few things going for it, among them: coastal, houses numerous game parks including the Serengeti, proximity to the Seychelles... One of the things I loved about my recent trip to Uganda was the people. Truly some of the most wonderful folks that I've met. I assume Tanzanians would be similar? Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lokia BC Posted April 3, 2004 Report Share Posted April 3, 2004 Hi Kirsteen, I am afraid I am unable to provide any ansers for you but only more questions. Will you be in Tanzania as a volunteer? I am going to have a bit of time on my hands this summer and I have been looking into volunteering overseas. May I ask if you have any information on some organizations? I have been doing my own research into this for a couple of months now and the information on overseas volunteering is endless. It would be nice to have some info by word-of-mouth. Cheers, Lokia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted April 3, 2004 Report Share Posted April 3, 2004 Hi there Lokia BC, Will you be in Tanzania as a volunteer? I am going to have a bit of time on my hands this summer and I have been looking into volunteering overseas. May I ask if you have any information on some organizations? No, I won't be volunteering. I'll be heading over in lieu of my boss at the Office of International Surgery since he can take no time off from the hospital at that time. We just won a fairly significant CIHR grant, the research activities for which include establishing a research office in East Africa. So I'll be setting up our office and most importantly, hiring an Epidemiologist/IT person over there to tackle our research projects. As to volunteering positions, we actually polled our international surgeon colleagues recently, inquiring about opportunities for Canadian medical students at their institutions. Many of them came back with really neat opportunities, e.g., ophtho in S. America; gastroenterology in S. Africa; GI surgery in Kenya; vascular surgery in the Marshall Islands; trauma surgery in Malawi; Urology in Tanzania; breast cancer in Nigeria, etc., with which many UofT medical students could be matched up this summer and subsequent. Unfortunately, however, all of the positions are for medical students only, who are looking to expand their clinical skills and complete a research project simultaneously. If I hear of any other initiatives, I'll definitely post them here, but in the interim, you might wish to contact some individuals at the UofT Centre for International Health. They may know of additional opportunities for folks other than medical students. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bicuspid Posted April 4, 2004 Report Share Posted April 4, 2004 Hi Kirsteen, my parents are from Tanzania...from Arusha to be exact so I've been there a few times. It's a very relaxing place, nothing like any of the major cities in Canada! I personally am a city person and so got a little bored after a few weeks, but I find that it's very different when going somewhere to visit family vs. going there for other reasons. I'm sure if I had no family there, I probably would have done a lot more. I would definitely recommend the national parks...they're amazing! Makes you realize how "unnatural" our zoos are. I'd suggest going to all of them, since they all offer something different...take advantage of a camel ride at one of the parks, it's an experience! They also have the famous snake park...I'm not a fan of snakes but the set up is very nice and I was really impressed! I've seen snakes in glass cages while walking through beautiful buildings, but this is much more natural...you're outside walking on sand and the way they've built the place is awesome! You should check out some of the nice hotels and "posh" tourist areas around the coast. You generally won't have a problem with expenses as Arusha isn't the wealthiest of places, in fact, some areas are quite poor. I think $1 canadian is about 460-500 shillings, so you'll find everything really affordable. True some of the tourist areas tend to get somewhat pricey, but I'd say make the most of your trip. I will caution you on some of the areas though. Like I said before, some areas are quite poor and you'll see a lot of the village people living on the streets. There's an area, sort of like a market place where there are tons of little shops...this and the surrounding area generally tends to be quite poor...and as a tourist, you'll stick out like a sore thumb...trust me, it doesn't matter what race you are, what language you speak, the villagers know who are outsiders. That means that they'll "keep an eye on you" as you're shopping. I'd suggest to try and be with someone whenever possible...if you can go with someone from there who speaks Swahili, that would be even better. Not to scare you or anything, but it's understandable...a lot of the people live on the streets and don't have much, and they sometimes survive off of what tourists give them (they'll be happy with a 100 shilling donation which is equivalent to only 25 cents!). But some of them also do try and take advantage of the tourists...that being said, I wouldn't really wear expensive jewelery or carry around a fancy camera or valuables. One of the best things is the food. Indulge in all their fruits...even over here you might find a small fruit store selling exotic fruits but they'll never taste the same! I'll give you a few names: Sitapher/stafeli (something like custard apple....never seen it in canada and it's great!...the green one's sour and the red one's sweet...both really good!), Shoke shoke (lyches), fenesi (jackfruit), madafu (baby coconut), mapera (guava), nanasi (pineapple), embe (mangos), papaie (papaya), passion fruit (don't know the name in swahili!)......I'd also suggest drinking bottled water. Have a great time there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted April 4, 2004 Report Share Posted April 4, 2004 Hi there bicuspid, Brilliant stuff. Thanks very much for all of that--especially the fruity recommendations. Do you have any specific recommendations re: the coastal areas, if I happen to have time to make it over there? Also, it doesn't appear that Arusha is that far from Kilimanjaro. Did you happen to make the ascent? Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Carolyn Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 Kirsteen - Email me... I was there last spring for about 5 weeks before I started residency - we can chat at some point on the phone or over a coffee - I'll bring pictures.... I'm so envious.. Tanzania is perhaps one of the most spectactular countries I've ever traveled to.... Carolyn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted April 5, 2004 Report Share Posted April 5, 2004 Hey there Carolyn, Sounds great. I've PM-ed you since I've recently changed computers and the transfer of data (including address books) didn't go as well as expected. :rolleyes Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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