Tanzanite (Dec. 22/08 - Arusha, Tanzania)

Usually when Raymond pulls the truck over to the side of the road, it's to close an open compartment door or for a bathroom break. But this time, he pointed ahead in the distance, as we were in sight of Mt. Kilimanjaro! Sure enough, faint on the horizon, we could make out the white snowcap of Africa's highest peak. Raymond said that he has only ever seen it 3 or 4 times in the many times in the many times he has driven this road, as it is usually enveloped by clouds. Our uncanny luck continues! We were afforded glimpses of the peak as we approached the town of Moshi, which is the base point for most of the treks seeking to summit the 18,000+ foot peak. Thick clouds kept us from seeing the entire mountain, but we were happy to have had a peek!

Sisal plantations filled the fields stretching all the way to Arusha, where we stocked up on food and water for our next three days in the boonies of Serengeti National Park. On the drive through downtown Arusha, we spotted some amusing business names, including "Beyonce's Hair Salon" (whose walls displayed murals of Beyonce Knowles), "Florida Beach Cafe", "Family Lubricants" (an engine oil store, we hope!), and "God's Faith Insurance".

Our last stop in Arusha was at the Cultural Heritage Center just out of town, where Raymond wanted to show us their impressive collection of wood carvings and tanzanite gemstones. He wasn't kidding about the wood carvings - they were infinitely more intricate, complicated, and HUGE than any we had seen elsewhere in Africa. They had twelve foot tall giraffes, masks with incredible detail, and an amazing statue of a galloping herd of gazelles whose legs/horns/bodies were all intertwined and frozen in motion - all 100+ of them! A photo on the wall showed that a similar one was given to Bill Clinton when he visited here in 2000. Lucky guy - that was one beautiful (and expensive) piece of art! The real highlight, however, was the tanzanite. This unique gemstone, which is an exquisite blue-purple colour, is found in only one place in the world - and today we drove right past it! Just as we were passing the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro, there was a turnoff to a tanzanite mine - THE tanzanite mine. This mineral is only found right here, and can therefore be said to be 1000 times rarer than diamonds! It was discovered in the 1960's by Maasai herdsmen moving their cattle, and soonafter, it was shown to Louis Tiffany (of Tiffany's), who instantly fell in love with it and launched a full-blown marketing campaign. That is, after he suggested that the Tanzanian government change its name from "blue ziosite", which it was originally termed, since he thought it sounded too much like the word "suicide"! Probably a good call. Prices of tanzanite have increased thousands of percent since it has been available, and they will likely continue to do so since it is estimated that the final reserves will be mined out in about 6 years. The girls drooled all over the jewellry for quite a while, and several people bought loose stones for lucky family members back home.

Oddly enough, Mesarani Snake Park would be our camp spot for the night. Just like it sounds,this place has a zoo-like display of many of Africa's snake species, including rock pythons that have swallowed people whole, spitting cobras that jump 6 feet unprovoked to spit fatal venom into your eyes, and black mambas, which have been known to chase people and are almost always deadly. Yeah, and we're camping a hundred feet away? If that won't give me nightmares, I don't know what will!