Wednesday, February 23, 2011

my first shower in Tanzania on the Serengheti plain, 2-21-11

We went on our first safari after we arrived at the Killamanjaro Airport on 2-21.  When we got to camp, we had to hustle to get our showers in time for the campfire at 7 PM.  We had to tell an employee what time we wanted our showers and the shower man would bring five gallons of water and pour it into a bucket in back of the tent.  He'd stand behind the tent to see when we needed more water for the second shower.  I jumped into the shower, took a quick one, and jumped out, yelling, "What time is it?"  The shower man answered, "It is 7 o'clock".  I responded, "I'm sorry for yelling, but I was yelling at my husband."  The shower man answered, "I will be your husband number two."   I responded that we were ready for the second shower, and he poured more water into the bucket.  Think about having a man about two feet from where you're taking a shower, separated from you only by a plastic partition.  Our wake-up call in the morning would be the sound of the water being poured into the tub by the shower man.  When he heard us moving around, he'd say, "Jambo", which in Swahili  means "good morning", and we'd respond, thanking him for the water and telling him when we were ready for the second shower.   I will never forget this trip to the Serengheti.  Later I'll tell you about our Land Cruiser getting stuck in the mud on the afternoon of 2-22 such that we had to get out of the vehicle (scary!)  and hitch back to camp on another unstuck vehicle.

1 comment:

  1. Deb- I think Hitchcock already did well imagining the man just outside the shower!
    SL

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