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- Story Listed as: True Life For Adults
- Theme: Action & Adventure
- Subject: Adventure
- Published: 01/22/2021
A Bizarre holiday trip
Born 1982, M, from St. Petersburg, Russian FederationThis is a story of a weird and bizarre holiday trip me and my family experienced on our trip to Tanzania. In it we would experience some bizarre coincidences of bad luck throughout.
The year was 1993, I was a child, 9 years old at the time, and me and my family, consisting of my Father, Mother and younger brother. We were about to go on a trip in our first car, some early 90s white Nissan. First we drove uneventfully to western Uganda, visiting the national parks and the mountainous highlands of the south west. After that our next trip was to go to Tanzania. The original plan was to drive all the way to Dar-es-salaam at the coast, via crossing the southern border, crossing lake Victoria and driving through small towns from there. We could have just as well taken this trip by plane, but we chose car, but as soon as we crossed the border from Uganda into Tanzania, the trip would start to turn into hell as if jinxed by something.
After we drove south and crossed the border into Tanzania, we drove some more on a dirt road in hot dry terrain full of rocks and boulders scattered across the landscape, crossing rivers via bridge occasionally. My dad was driving, mom sitting in the front passenger seat, and me and my brother in the back of the car. After some driving we reached the town of Bukoba near lake Victoria. I remember it to be a dry dusty town. After some errands around the town we arranged to board a ship with our car to cross lake Victoria to another town called Mwanza, on the southern side of the lake. The ship was named Serengeti.
But while arranging to board the ship, there seemed to have been some reservation problems as my Father was talking to the ship's captain who told us that we would have to sleep in the car during the voyage. This was the first of our troubles. So, as the sun was setting, we drove our car onto the ship on the front, and boarded the ship, as I remember walking around the ship taking a look around waiting for departure as other passengers were boarding and a group of porters were loading some cargo wrapped in banana leaves onto the ship. We had a camera with us and mom took some pictures. After the loading was complete, the sun had set and night fell and the ship began to depart into the dark lake. As the ship moved farther away from port, I watched from deck as the port lights got smaller and smaller until they disappeared. In the pitch black surroundings, I could only see the dimly lit water below right near the hull of the ship as it moved across the lake, with the ship's diesel engine roaring sound.
As the night wore on, it was time to have dinner. I did not like the cooked cabbage infused dinner that was served on the ship's restaurant, so as far as I remember, I did not have dinner that night. Later I walked around the ship curiously looking around, I went to our car parked at the front, surrounded by those sacks of cargo wrapped in banana leaves. I remember trying to lift one of them but couldn't as it was so heavy and I was a child. I checked on My family sitting in the car. I presumed My Mom, dad and brother chose to sleep in the car, as for me, I went to the seating area inside the ship, a room full of benches, bags and people sitting around. I climbed up to the upper bench and slept there.
The next morning I woke up and the ship was approaching its destination. I remember leaning on the side on the railing to watch the water below as the ship cruised by. The water was dark deep and scary. I noticed land nearby passing by as well, the environment lit by the morning sun. Soon the ship reached Mwanza, a town on the south side of lake Victoria. We hopped in our car and drove on. We rented a hotel in town for the night or for the day, I don't remember. I do remember though, that dad tried to withdraw money for our trip, but couldn't so we drove on penniless regardless.
We started driving east in our car out of Mwanza on a road full of potholes. There was hardly any traffic, the only types of cars around were Land Rover, Land Cruiser, and some trucks. Here is where it starts to get interesting. As we drove on, we once approached something I saw in the middle of the road. Initially I thought it was a pile of dirt or something, but as we approached closer, a dog's head lifted to look at us. It was a dog sleeping on the road! It was too lake to brake and stop so we ran over the dog, and as I looked behind afterwards, I saw the dog slump back on the ground, as if to go back to sleep. I never knew if the dog was okay. We drove on.
Later we picked up speed as we kept driving, midday approaching. It was a hot sunny day. On a straight road, we say a cyclist in front riding in the middle of the road. My Father blew the horn to warn him as we were speeding forward. My father hooted again then the cyclist looked back and immediately swerved to the left into our path, we hit his bicycle at speed. Then we immediately braked and stopped. I looked back and exclaimed "He's alive!" I saw him stand up and run to a nearby hut in a panicked mode. For some reason I don't know of, my dad decided to just drive on.
We drove for some time until we reached Serengeti National park. An empty stretch of savanna all around. This is where we stopped our car. My dad got out, went to the front of the car looked at the front of the car and exclaimed in Russian language "My God!". Mom and I went out to take a look, and I saw that the front of the car was badly damaged from the impact. Water from the radiator was leaking, and the engine was in bad shape. We could not drive anymore. So we waited there for help to arrive. A pickup car arrived as dad asked for assistance to tow us. They ties a rope to our car and towed us but the rope broke shortly after. They drove off after saying they were going to get a stronger rope.
Later, another pickup car with men sitting in the back arrived and again dad asked for assistance. They had a steel cable so they tied it to our car and towed us to a nearby small town called Bunda. Once we arrived we took the car to a nearby open garage, an auto repair shop. We had no money to pay them to repair our car so it was agreed they repair our car in exchange for our car radio. It would take 2 days to repair our car. Meanwhile we hung around town for that duration. I remember hanging around the garage watching our car being repaired, the car's frame being beaten back into shape, etc.
When night was falling, we went to a nearby motel and booked a small room. It was dimly lit, sometimes there was no power and the motel staff could not speak English. I remember my mom trying to as a woman motel worker for candles in English. The woman was replying in local language. My mom tried to draw a candle and showed it to her. The woman still replied in local language and could not understand what we wanted. The drama continued until the woman started laughing, mocking us and making fun of us, until dad arrived from somewhere and mom told him about this. Then dad spoke to the woman as he could speak the local language. So it was resolved and we got a lantern to light up our room. I also remember one day one other motel woman mocking me and laughing at me while I was looking around the motel.
How we paid for the motel and dinner, I don't know.
On the last day as the car was finishing being repaired, me and my family decided to go for a walk on the edge of town. We went to a nearby hill littered with boulders, as such landscape was a common sight in Northern Tanzania. My mom took pictures with the camera, all the while local children were yelling at us "Muzungu". which means "white person" in their language.
We spotted a donkey next to a set of buildings and mom took a picture with the camera. Immediately after, an angry looking man emerged saying something to us. It appears that the area happened to be a Police Station, and taking pictures of a police station was prohibited. My dad apologized saying that we didn't know it was a police station. So they arrested us and also arrested my Father, took us inside to a Police chief's office, My father spoke with the police chief as me, mom and brother waited outside.
After a while the police let us go, but they confiscated all the film from our camera and all the pictures we took of the trip.
Finally our car was repaired after spending two days in the town, and the mechanics took our car radio. We decided to cancel the trip and head back home, but as if Tanzania was not done putting a curse on us, a little more trouble was to come. We retraced our route heading back. We drove back to Mwanza and arranged to board another ship called 'MV Bukoba'. This time though, we made a reservation and managed to book rooms to sleep in bunk beds. This very ship sank some years later, by the way. Talking about irony. Anyway, our car was loaded onto the ship by crane, and we set off across the lake overnight.
I remember sleeping in my bunk bed when I woke up briefly in the middle of the night because the ship had slowed down and appeared to have arrived somewhere. I never saw any land or port. After some minutes the ship went back to full speed onwards. What went on that night I would never know. So the next morning we arrived in Bukoba and our car was offloaded from the ship by the ship's crane. We drove on towards the border with Uganda, and as soon as we reached the border checkpoint, they arrested My Father!
I do not know why they arrested my father again, but soon we were allowed to go on. As soon as we crossed the border from Tanzania to Uganda, our troubles ended, as if the curse had been lifted and we were happily on our merry way home, although we never completed the trip and reached our destination as intended. I wonder how it would have played out if we had gone by plane, nonetheless it was a trip of a lifetime, and it was a trip to remember, a truly bizarre trip.
A Bizarre holiday trip(Robert)
This is a story of a weird and bizarre holiday trip me and my family experienced on our trip to Tanzania. In it we would experience some bizarre coincidences of bad luck throughout.
The year was 1993, I was a child, 9 years old at the time, and me and my family, consisting of my Father, Mother and younger brother. We were about to go on a trip in our first car, some early 90s white Nissan. First we drove uneventfully to western Uganda, visiting the national parks and the mountainous highlands of the south west. After that our next trip was to go to Tanzania. The original plan was to drive all the way to Dar-es-salaam at the coast, via crossing the southern border, crossing lake Victoria and driving through small towns from there. We could have just as well taken this trip by plane, but we chose car, but as soon as we crossed the border from Uganda into Tanzania, the trip would start to turn into hell as if jinxed by something.
After we drove south and crossed the border into Tanzania, we drove some more on a dirt road in hot dry terrain full of rocks and boulders scattered across the landscape, crossing rivers via bridge occasionally. My dad was driving, mom sitting in the front passenger seat, and me and my brother in the back of the car. After some driving we reached the town of Bukoba near lake Victoria. I remember it to be a dry dusty town. After some errands around the town we arranged to board a ship with our car to cross lake Victoria to another town called Mwanza, on the southern side of the lake. The ship was named Serengeti.
But while arranging to board the ship, there seemed to have been some reservation problems as my Father was talking to the ship's captain who told us that we would have to sleep in the car during the voyage. This was the first of our troubles. So, as the sun was setting, we drove our car onto the ship on the front, and boarded the ship, as I remember walking around the ship taking a look around waiting for departure as other passengers were boarding and a group of porters were loading some cargo wrapped in banana leaves onto the ship. We had a camera with us and mom took some pictures. After the loading was complete, the sun had set and night fell and the ship began to depart into the dark lake. As the ship moved farther away from port, I watched from deck as the port lights got smaller and smaller until they disappeared. In the pitch black surroundings, I could only see the dimly lit water below right near the hull of the ship as it moved across the lake, with the ship's diesel engine roaring sound.
As the night wore on, it was time to have dinner. I did not like the cooked cabbage infused dinner that was served on the ship's restaurant, so as far as I remember, I did not have dinner that night. Later I walked around the ship curiously looking around, I went to our car parked at the front, surrounded by those sacks of cargo wrapped in banana leaves. I remember trying to lift one of them but couldn't as it was so heavy and I was a child. I checked on My family sitting in the car. I presumed My Mom, dad and brother chose to sleep in the car, as for me, I went to the seating area inside the ship, a room full of benches, bags and people sitting around. I climbed up to the upper bench and slept there.
The next morning I woke up and the ship was approaching its destination. I remember leaning on the side on the railing to watch the water below as the ship cruised by. The water was dark deep and scary. I noticed land nearby passing by as well, the environment lit by the morning sun. Soon the ship reached Mwanza, a town on the south side of lake Victoria. We hopped in our car and drove on. We rented a hotel in town for the night or for the day, I don't remember. I do remember though, that dad tried to withdraw money for our trip, but couldn't so we drove on penniless regardless.
We started driving east in our car out of Mwanza on a road full of potholes. There was hardly any traffic, the only types of cars around were Land Rover, Land Cruiser, and some trucks. Here is where it starts to get interesting. As we drove on, we once approached something I saw in the middle of the road. Initially I thought it was a pile of dirt or something, but as we approached closer, a dog's head lifted to look at us. It was a dog sleeping on the road! It was too lake to brake and stop so we ran over the dog, and as I looked behind afterwards, I saw the dog slump back on the ground, as if to go back to sleep. I never knew if the dog was okay. We drove on.
Later we picked up speed as we kept driving, midday approaching. It was a hot sunny day. On a straight road, we say a cyclist in front riding in the middle of the road. My Father blew the horn to warn him as we were speeding forward. My father hooted again then the cyclist looked back and immediately swerved to the left into our path, we hit his bicycle at speed. Then we immediately braked and stopped. I looked back and exclaimed "He's alive!" I saw him stand up and run to a nearby hut in a panicked mode. For some reason I don't know of, my dad decided to just drive on.
We drove for some time until we reached Serengeti National park. An empty stretch of savanna all around. This is where we stopped our car. My dad got out, went to the front of the car looked at the front of the car and exclaimed in Russian language "My God!". Mom and I went out to take a look, and I saw that the front of the car was badly damaged from the impact. Water from the radiator was leaking, and the engine was in bad shape. We could not drive anymore. So we waited there for help to arrive. A pickup car arrived as dad asked for assistance to tow us. They ties a rope to our car and towed us but the rope broke shortly after. They drove off after saying they were going to get a stronger rope.
Later, another pickup car with men sitting in the back arrived and again dad asked for assistance. They had a steel cable so they tied it to our car and towed us to a nearby small town called Bunda. Once we arrived we took the car to a nearby open garage, an auto repair shop. We had no money to pay them to repair our car so it was agreed they repair our car in exchange for our car radio. It would take 2 days to repair our car. Meanwhile we hung around town for that duration. I remember hanging around the garage watching our car being repaired, the car's frame being beaten back into shape, etc.
When night was falling, we went to a nearby motel and booked a small room. It was dimly lit, sometimes there was no power and the motel staff could not speak English. I remember my mom trying to as a woman motel worker for candles in English. The woman was replying in local language. My mom tried to draw a candle and showed it to her. The woman still replied in local language and could not understand what we wanted. The drama continued until the woman started laughing, mocking us and making fun of us, until dad arrived from somewhere and mom told him about this. Then dad spoke to the woman as he could speak the local language. So it was resolved and we got a lantern to light up our room. I also remember one day one other motel woman mocking me and laughing at me while I was looking around the motel.
How we paid for the motel and dinner, I don't know.
On the last day as the car was finishing being repaired, me and my family decided to go for a walk on the edge of town. We went to a nearby hill littered with boulders, as such landscape was a common sight in Northern Tanzania. My mom took pictures with the camera, all the while local children were yelling at us "Muzungu". which means "white person" in their language.
We spotted a donkey next to a set of buildings and mom took a picture with the camera. Immediately after, an angry looking man emerged saying something to us. It appears that the area happened to be a Police Station, and taking pictures of a police station was prohibited. My dad apologized saying that we didn't know it was a police station. So they arrested us and also arrested my Father, took us inside to a Police chief's office, My father spoke with the police chief as me, mom and brother waited outside.
After a while the police let us go, but they confiscated all the film from our camera and all the pictures we took of the trip.
Finally our car was repaired after spending two days in the town, and the mechanics took our car radio. We decided to cancel the trip and head back home, but as if Tanzania was not done putting a curse on us, a little more trouble was to come. We retraced our route heading back. We drove back to Mwanza and arranged to board another ship called 'MV Bukoba'. This time though, we made a reservation and managed to book rooms to sleep in bunk beds. This very ship sank some years later, by the way. Talking about irony. Anyway, our car was loaded onto the ship by crane, and we set off across the lake overnight.
I remember sleeping in my bunk bed when I woke up briefly in the middle of the night because the ship had slowed down and appeared to have arrived somewhere. I never saw any land or port. After some minutes the ship went back to full speed onwards. What went on that night I would never know. So the next morning we arrived in Bukoba and our car was offloaded from the ship by the ship's crane. We drove on towards the border with Uganda, and as soon as we reached the border checkpoint, they arrested My Father!
I do not know why they arrested my father again, but soon we were allowed to go on. As soon as we crossed the border from Tanzania to Uganda, our troubles ended, as if the curse had been lifted and we were happily on our merry way home, although we never completed the trip and reached our destination as intended. I wonder how it would have played out if we had gone by plane, nonetheless it was a trip of a lifetime, and it was a trip to remember, a truly bizarre trip.
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