Travelogue

My Trip To Tanzania - Safari in Africa

Of course, one of my days in Tanzania had to be spent on safari. Hiring a jeep and driver for the day is expensive: $250 plus gas and park entrance fee, which is $53 for whites and $5 for locals, or rather, for African blacks, since Honorine who is from Rwanda and Doreen who is from Kenya, also just paid $5. Instead of getting a jeep, we negotiated with a local driver who borrowed a minivan from a...
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My Trip To Tanzanian - Part II

Day two in Arusha, Tanzania. The day started with a visit to one of Jochen's suppliers, a long time dealer in gemstone rough, one of the richest men in Arusha who has also supplied to a few dealers I know here in NY.. T. who has to remain nameless for security reaons, is a White African native in his early 60s and like all the other dealers there, totally hooked on what he does. T. showed me a...
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My Trip to Tanzania

We left for the airport at Antanarivo (Tana), Madagascar, in the early morning hours to catch the mid-day flight to Nairobi, Kenya with a connecting flight to Kilimanjaro (Kili), Tanzania. Travel involved a 3 to 4 hr car ride from Antsirabe to Tana, and then a meeting with the local mining office for export. An export fee is hashed out based on our purchases. It seems to be rather fluid and is... Continue reading

Yvonne Goes to Africa

Yes, this is really happening, a dream come true. On August 17th, in just a few days, I'll be flying first to Germany to see my mom and then to two of the world's most famous gem paradises: Madagascar and Tanzania. This trip has been in the planning stages for about a year. My friend Jochen Hintze from Jentsch Mineralien, a German geologist who travels to Africa up to 10 times a year, is going to... Continue reading