Expedition Africa - Week One

For those of you to who don't know the background, Mark Burnett (of Survivor fame) put 4 experienced (and completely Type A) people together to recreate Stanley's trek to "find" Livingstone in the interior of Africa in 1871. Not surprisingly the show focuses on interpersonal drama (true to Burnett's Survivor-roots).

You have to get past this and also the egotism/ignorance of the expedition members (one expedition member to a bunch of Tanzanian fishermen and porters: "How many of you can swim? No one? Okay, then NO ONE stand up in the canoes."). Oh, and it bothers me when people call out to a Maasai man by saying, "Hey Maasai, come here," rather than using his name (though I admit, I know at least one Maasai who doesn't care, so maybe I should chill out). 

Anyway, overlooking the above, I really enjoyed seeing so many reminders of "home." This includes:

1. roads that I've walked in Zanzibar
2. dhows on the Indian Ocean
3. Bagamoyo
4. the same Chinese-made aluminum tea kettle that I suspect everyone in Tanzania owns
5. Mangrove swamps (and lots of MUD)
6. the Ruvu River
7. Euphorbia candelabra
8. Hornbills calling
9. spitting cobras
10. crocodiles
11. rudimentary Swahili: "Moja, mbili, tatu!" "Tuende!"
12. Acacia thornscrub
13. termite mounds
14. Maasai simis

Man, I miss that place! Anyone want to finance my expedition proposal to follow P.J. Pretorius' 1916-1918 track across Tanganyika?