Annemart and I took off on a dala dala to our destination - all we knew was that we had to go "2km past Kisongo" (Kisongo is a village outside of Arusha). We were dropped on the side of the road in the middle of the bush. All we could see was dust, a small tent, 3 go-karts/dune buggies and a bunch of very relaxed Africans. We were greeted by Eric, a half Finnish, half Tanzanian man who closely resembled Lenny Kravitz. Annemart privately nicknamed him 'Stoney Maloney', because if he was any more laid back he might be dead. Haha! He was accompanied by an American woman who also looked like she'd been chilling under the tent for a loooong loooong time.
There were a few other Tanzanian men, who Stoney told us were employed to look after the go carts. They were all merrily drinking Konyagi - Tanzanian gin. They offered some to us too, but we thought that it probably wasn't a good idea. There was also a group of filthy, dusty children playing in the dirt under the tent. When we asked where they came from, Stoney Maloney responded 'dunno, they never speak to us, but they come here every day!'.
Stoney told us that the RULES say we must wear a helmet and seatbelt...but 'don't worry...i don't mind if you take them off'. HA. A risk management specialist, not even the helmet and seatbelt eased my nerves!! These go-carts looked like they'd been around the traps.
Anyway we spent 20 minutes bouncing around the desert - a terrifying ordeal but lots and lots of fun. The landscape was seriously just like the moon! I was so frightened that in the really loose dust our carts would roll and we'd wind up dead. But watching the footage later, we were going SOOOOO slowly!!!!
Afterwards Stoney and his cronies had moved on to beer...he offered us a ride to the dala dala stand. It vaguely occurred to me that if you drink and drive you're a bloody idiot...but then I also remembered that noone wears seatbelts, we cram into the dala dala with up to 28 people at a time, and sometimes we see trucks piled high with produce and human beings alike. A few gins and beer weren't much worse!!
Stoney dropped us at the dala dala stop and enthusiastically invited us to join him for a drink one night in town. I don't think they get many visitors ;-)
Mama Ju missed out on the expedition, as she's STILL recovering from Malaria. When I showed her the pictures and told her all about the colourful characters we met she insisted that we all go back there one day, spend a few hours under the tent and then join our new friends in town later for a nightcap.
Sounds good to me!!
PS description of the pictures: Gocarting x 2; Stoney Maloney in front of the 'office' - you can see his mates and the children in the background; Annemart and I afterwards - if you look at the enlarged photo you can see that my face is COVERED in dust (i lost the race) and in the background you can see two masais sitting in the dust watching the proceedings.
.. Stoney Maloney is a hottie! Can you bring him back for me ? ;)
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