The transport in Africa fascinates me. Words that come to mind: unpredictable, frustrating, uncomfortable, long, dangerous, bumpy, claustrophobic, dusty, painful, rattling, loud. Despite all this, or maybe because of it, it has to be one of the most intriguing aspects of this amazing continent. On a bad day I: • Feel claustrophobic when I am so surrounded by people that: my shoes have fallen off and slid to the back seat, I physically cannot raise turn my he...

The transport in Africa fascinates me. Words that come to mind: unpredictable, frustrating, uncomfortable, long, dangerous, bumpy, claustrophobic, dusty, painful, rattling, loud. Despite all this, or maybe because of it, it has to be one of the most intriguing aspects of this amazing continent. On a bad day I: • Feel claustrophobic when I am so surrounded by people that: my shoes have fallen off and slid to the back seat, I physically cannot raise turn my he...

Recho. That is how my name is spelt here. A perfect example of how Swahili is pronounced exactly how it is written. So my name is too. One month here, despite long hours spent copying down grammar tables and frustrating noun class agreements, has reinforced exactly how much I love Swahili as a language. So much of it makes total sense. The spelling, the tenses, the pronunciation, its all so practical! If only French was the same… Its amazing how things just w...

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy. With moving out of my residence hall in Lyon, saying sad goodbyes, taking a train to Geneva, flying to London, catching up with friends and whanau in the UK…. All before flying to Africa once more. This is my 4th visit to Africa now, the 3rd to East Africa. And I now remember why I love it here. I took a shuttle bus from Nairobi airport to Arusha, along an extremely bumpy and dusty road. I seem to have developed so...

My last day in Africa (for this trip) is truckin' on by and I'm starting to think of all the things in Africa that I will miss! In a way, thats not true, because I have been sick for the last few days which some kind of food poisening or according to the Lonely Planet anything ranging from sleeping sickness to yellow fever... but being tired and grumpy doesn't make for the most cheerful traveller! Luckily I had my lovely mother with me who didn't mind when we had...