First impressions: Arriving in Ifakara

Habari! Today is my fifth day in Tanzania. I left Dar es Salaam two days ago by train and travelled to Ifakara, the destination of my internship.

Luckily, after a seven-hour long train journey, an acquaintance with a Zambian family and two packets of salty banana chips, a bijaji (= tuktuk) driver, Atanasi, came to pick me up from the train station to bring me to the house I will be living in for the next three months.

As some of you may know, the month of May is still in Tanzanian rainy season which was clearly visible in Dar es Salaam, where streets flooded, but also here in Ifakara, where mud and giant puddles dominate the streets (my strategy: wear flipflops to walk through them, at least they're easy to clean!).

My lovely house in Ifakara

The mud pools in front of my house

My new bicycle to get around town

Yesterday, Anna ,the German physician working here for one and a half years, invited me for breakfast with her family. It was lovely to meet her husband, Stefan, and their two sweet kids.

Anna showed me around Ifakara which involved exploring the colourful, though very muddy, market (YES I fell in the mud and everyone laughed at me), choosing my transportation method aka my bicycle and browsing the local supermarket.

The big market in Ifakara

My first impressions of this charming Tanzanian town are wonderful. Not only do I like the lovely green landscape, the fresh scent of grass after heavy rain and the colourful streets, but I feel safe and respected and people here are extremely kind and welcoming.

Ahsante sana, kwaheri!