It's Back....

That's right the Sunday night travelogue is back. We left off in the middle of a safari in Tanzania. Because it has been such a break in travel posts and because I received many questions on our adventure getting to Africa I will detail that and decided to just start over with Africa from the beginning. I will post about this adventure each day during the coming week. Then it will be on to England, Wales and Ireland and finally Alaska by sea.

To get us started here is a little language lesson in Swahili. During my preparations for the trip it never occurred to me what language would be spoken in Tanzania. I don't know why it never did, I have always loved languages. A little French, Spanish, Italian and minimal Greek. About a week before our departure it occurred to me to find out what language I would be hearing when we were in camp. We were using a native owned company and everyone was Tanzanian. Our two drivers, the owners of the company spoke English and some of the campstaff did, we would be hearing a lot of Swahili as well.

I didn't even have time to get any study materials before we departed to learn how to say "Hello" or "Thank you". The words I learned there while being immersed in the culture, hearing the words used in real life situations it was so much easier to learn and I still remember the words I used today, thirteen years later. So it is true what they say, if you really want to learn a second language immersion is the way to do it.

These are words we used everyday:
Hjambo Hello
Good morning Habari ya asubuhi
Good night/sleep well Lala salama
Good-bye Kwaheri
Yes Nidiyo
No Hapana
Please Tafadhali
Thank you Asante
Thank you very much Asante sana
slowly, slowly pole pole
where is the toilet Wapi choo

Animals
duma cheetah
simba lion
tembo elephant
nyani monkey
snake nyoka
mondo servel cat
twiga giraffe
fisi hyena
chui leopard
kifaru rhinoceros