Jambo Means Hello

Jambo is the first word I knew in Swahili from many years ago in my children's book selling days. There is a book with that title, Jambo Means Hello. More recently I learned a few other words, basically names of animals from The Lion King. 

I have to mention that despite my slightly disparaging attitude toward the Disney movies, I thought the Lion King play was one of the most spectacular and creative Broadway shows I've ever seen, one on the short list of plays I'd consider seeing again. 

Now we've learned caribu (not sure of the spelling)  which means welcome, and  the response asante sana, which means thank you very much. Caribu means both welcome and you're welcome, which means they say it a lot, in a way that's different from the way we do. 

The staff at the hotels here are friendly and gracious, although a little unctious. Not sure how much that's the culture, and how much it's because the hotels are pretty fancy. The servers, for instance, spread the cloth napkins on the women's laps when we sit down to meals. (But not the mens'!) The staff at the hotels are constantly asking how we are, is everything fine, etc. which is kind of charming.

The meals are delicious and copious, a combination of local and more international dishes. A few examples: coconut curry with peas, barbequed beef skewers, fish stew,  sweet potato greens (much like spinach.) A wealth of choices at each meal. A different creamed vegetable soup every night. I could write an entire entry just about the food, but there's so much more to tell. And this is, after all, a safari.