Mar 2008

When I went on my first "big" trip, a backpacking adventure with my friends Kate and Kevin through Europe post-college, we documented the experience by writing an "I learned" book throughout the trip. These little "I learned" books were popular at the time so I thought it would be a good idea to create one ourselves as we ate, drank and frolicked through several countries in the EU. The basic premise is to write down things you've learned- both literally and through observation. For example, some of the things I have learned thus far on our Africa trip:
1. Nutmeg is used by Muslim women to get a confidence boosting buzz if they are too shy to dance at a party.
2. Don't order the pizza at the bar named after former resident Freddy Mercury in Zanzibar.
3. I would not make it one night alone in the bush.

This last point occurred to me the other night while we were camping in Selous game reserve in Tanzania. Selous is extremely large and known to be one of the real "wild" game parks given its size and absence of visitors. We were the only guests at this campsite and it was located on a hippo/croc infested river (seems to be the theme of our campsites). Anyway, Col and I retired to bed around 8pm...our typical African bed time. As the blank of night covered us completely and the chorus of evening sounds began I started to think about what it would be like to have to sleep out in the bush. Giant bugs the size of small birds were hitting the tent. Monkeys were laughing above us. Hippos began their snorting as they made their way from the river. Something much larger than an elephant shrew was chomping its way past the back of our tent. The idea of being out there all alone was one that made me snuggle deeper into my reliable sleep sack. (Normally I would have cuddled closer to Colin but unfortunately we are both suffering from a bit of the old Tanzanian tummy. Personal space is a must at a time like this.)

I also couldn't help but think of a book both Colin and I recently finished: A Long Way Gone. It's the firsthand account of a child soldier during Sierra Leone's civil war. My friend Wendy had taken me to an author's book signing this past September but I had yet to read the story until I came here. The story is told by a young man who experienced the death of his entire family at the hands of teenage rebels and then went on to become one of these child soldiers himself. The book is an incredible read - even more so when you are in Africa and can picture the village by looking out the car window. Anyway, one part of the book that is glossed over a bit is the fact that this kid, at age 12, had to spend months alone in the bush. He just kind of mentions it and moves on. Had I been reading this at home I might have done the same but when confronted with the realities of the bush at night it made me really reflect on how truly scary that would be. I mean, I'm thinking this while safely tucked into a tent, family doing fine at home and not a single rebel to be found. Reminded me again how lucky we all are to be born into our lives as we know them and not forced to sleep in a tree night after night.

One other thing I've learned on this trip so far is that a single shared word may be the key to communication. In this instance the word is "okay". A word we take for granted and use in abundance without even realizing its power. In our African adventure it is a word that can make or break the experience. For instance, if you are out on a game drive with a non-English speaking driver, "okay" will dictate exactly how long you will spend watching an animal. This driver has no idea what your personal interests are and therefore will weight the importance of seeing a lion slaughtering a cape buffalo the same as say a guinea fowl pecking at some dirt. He will stop. You will look. When you are done you say "ok" and he will move on. We haven't tried it yet but I wonder...if you never said "ok" would you sit there all night? Certainly seems that way. The same is true for ordering food. You look at the menu (fish with rice, chicken with rice, beef with rice). You point and say "beef with rice". The waitress will say okay. You'll say okay. She might say "potato?" and you might make a big mistake and say "no, that's okay." An hour later she will walk back with a big pile of potatoes - no beef or rice to be found. You just can't fool around with okay.

So far the "I learned" list is a long one. We can't believe its only been a little over a month since we left home. I assume that it will only get longer as we go along. Speaking of...we are currently on a mountain village heading to Ruaha, Tanzania. After a quick stay at what Skank calls a "flash camp" we will be making our way to internet-less Malawi. Don't give up on us...check back when you can because stranger things have happened than finding a random internet shack in the middle of nowhere.

Oh, and a final I learned...I learned that Mrs. Ozar was right when she said the one thing she'll never get used to is how off the cuff nose picking is in Africa. The waitress, the policeman at a road block, the customs official...and the adorable south African Skank who is driving us around this part of the world. Please pass the Purell, it's a long drive.

Love to all....

As you can tell, we are definitely taking advantage of Zanzibar's fast internet service while we are here. A record 3 posts in as many days! Alas, we return to the mainland tomorrow and the 1998-like internet connection speed. At least it was fun while it lasted.

Anyway - Zanzibar (or ZAN-ZI-BAAH if you are Skanky) has been absolutely wonderful. The rainy season held off long enough for us to have a sunny break from our safari. Colin is officially "end-of-baseball-season" tan and I have a few more freckles to my name.

I also have a new favorite hobby: SCUBA diving. Col and I decided to take the beginner class today and do our first real dive. It wasn't Col's cup of tea so he decided to snorkel while I went diving along the reefs with our instructor Dan. I had a slight notion that it would be cool but nothing prepared me for that experience. I'm officially hooked. We saw coral and fish in every shape and color. We swam with schools of hundreds of tropical fish. We stared a morey eel in the face and swam side by side with a huge sea turtle. This being my first experience, Dan decided to hold my hand so I wouldn't go ruining the wildlife by smashing into the reefs. Yes, it was somewhat akward but like Colin said "I'd rather have you hold his dude's hand for an hour than die." I love my supportive husband.

After coming down from the high of the dive we cleaned up and had another lovely seafood dinner on the beach. We'll be sad to leave Zanzibar but know in our hearts that we are mainland folks and it's time to return. After a brief stint in Dar to recoup we'll be heading to Selous game reserve and then off to Malawi. Stay tuned!

Oh, and for those pop culture buffs, can you name the sitcom that taught us all what SCUBA stands for?? Hint: Think siblings jumping around the room while repeating the headline of this blog entry.

It's Easter so naturally Colin and I find ourselves on Zanzibar - the island known for it's spice, sand and sultans. Fortunately the sultans have gone out with the tides and with them their perchant for doing a bit of the ole slave trade. Yes, Zanzibar is also known as the former trading post for slaves headed from Africa to the Middle East before our guy Stanley Livingstone decided it just wasn't cool and led the charge in snuffing it out. A dark time indeed for this sun drenched island. But let's not dwell on that, shall we? There are spices to try and seas to be swum and Christ to be risen. Yes, this has been one fabulous beach break for two people who were never meant to dwell on a beach (okay, one person - Col actually tans).

We arrived in Dar Es Salaam, a large city on the coast on Tanzania, after a long drive from Arusha. As Skanky both pointed out and continually demonstrated, you just need to step out of the AC for 2 seconds in Dar and you are drenched in sweat. And trust me, a sweaty Skanky is not a happy Skanky (or happy Mar and Col) so we stayed in the AC as much as possible.

We made our way to Zanzibar by ferry the next day - a lovely way to see the city of Stonetown upon your arrival. Stonetown is different from many of the African cities we have visited due to it's rich history (see sultans and slave trade comment above). Like Dar, Stonetown is primarily Muslim and the architecture resembles that found in northern Africa and the Middle East. The narrow alleyways reminded us of India (minus the sheer volume of people, cows and vendors) and the waterfront is lively and attractive. We spent the evening sipping our Kiliminjaro lagers on the rooftop of the Africa House Hotel and watched dhows drift by on the water and the sun sink into the sea. Sigh.

The next morning Col and I woke up early to search for Easter eggs...well, that's what we wanted to do. Alas, being a primarily Muslim island it was somewhat difficult to find a Catholic church let alone a chocolate bunny or Cadbury egg. Faced with the reality that this might be a non-traditional Easter, we asked ourself the always insightful question: What would Jesus do? The answer was quite clear. Jesus would pay $20 and go swimming with the dolphins. I'm certain if we examine the Bible a bit closer you'll see that this is what he did immediately after making his rounds post-rise from the tomb. I'm sure Aunt Mar and the Adrians will back me up on this one. So we headed to the western part of the islands for yet another wildlife encounter.

Again I find myself comparing the experience we had in Africa to one I might have should I do the same activity in America. In America we most likely would have headed out to sea with lifejackets secured, full instructions, lecture on the importance of staying a certain distance from these wild creatures, etc., etc. Yeah. Not so much in Zanzibar. Here we were tossed flippers and a mask, whisked onto a long row boat with a motor and shuffled out into the ocean with two young men who spoke about 5 words of English. These five words? "Go jump now see dolphins." So we did.

After about 15 minutes of driving around looking for our bottlenosed friends we stumbled upon a family of about 8 dolphins. When they would come to the surface our drivers would utter their five words and we'd toss ourselves off the row boat and into the mix. The whole process was somewhat stressful but incredibly rewarding once you entered the water. I recalled my friend Jana telling me about swimming with the dolphins and she was right on - it's amazing. We were lucky enough to swim right in the middle of the family - dolphins on either side- and hear them making their sonic noises to each other. Occassionally they'd slip to the bottom and we'd swim above them. The whole thing was somewhat surreal. Elephants? Check. Lions? Check. Dolphins and assorted sea life? Check and check.

Following the dolphin excursion we took a taxi north to Kendwa - a small town (meaning they have a mini-market and one place for chapatis) with several beach resorts. We spent our Easter evening strolling along the white sands and enjoying the fresh catch of the day. Being a fisherman we agreed that this too was something Jesus would do. It was a lovely Easter. We hope you all enjoyed your ham and cheesy potatos (admittedly something that would have made the day even better). We are spending today just relaxing on the beach and contemplating a beginning scuba class for tomorrow. After that we'll return to Dar and make our way south to Selous game reserve. So I'll sign off for now and head off to get a cocktail (or cold Coke but cocktail sounds more beachy) and just kick back for a while. Hope all is well and we'll blog again soon.

It's been almost a week since we've come across an internet connection, so there's quite a lot to report.

I think we left off at Arusha, Tanzania, which is where most Serengeti safaris depart from. Our first night in Arusha was spent at a campsite in Maasai country. The Maasai are local natives who you see everywhere tending their cattle in distinct red robes and ornate jewelry. Really, we expected our interaction with them to consist only of watching them curiously from within our 4X4 as we drove past them, but that did not end up being the case.

As we enjoyed a Kilimanjaro lager at the campsite bar, three of these tribesmen walked in (many of them guard the perimeter of the campsite) and promptly began playing darts. We watched curiously for a few minutes until Mary simply could not resist going over and joining the fun. It was only a matter of minutes before we were high fiving, dancing, trash talking, the whole nine yards. When one of them would miss the bullseye Mary would even say "warrior? really? I don't think so" - which really heated up the competition. Mind you these guys are adept at thrown spears and shooting bow and arrows - it really wasn't much of a competition. Anyway, it turns out that these three Maasai were not guarding the site, but were guests there while they trained for the London marathon on April 15 as a way to raise funds for water for their village (insanely, they are running the entire race WITHOUT water as a way to call attention to their cause). They were at the campsite with a British filmmaker who was filming a documentary about their journey to the UK, which would be the first time they'd traveled anywhere outside their area. So we chatted with them about their trip between high fives, and one of them had a total crush on Mary. Whenever he would hit a bullseye (which was frequently, as these guys are accustomed to handling spears and arrows), he wouldn't pull it off the board until Mary had seen it and approved in the form of a high five and a "Woohoo!" Hilarious! We have pictures, and hopefully we can get them up on the blog sometime soon. If you have access to the London marathon on tv you should try and catch them in action. We dubbed them the Maasai Six and I promise it's worth the watch.

After this very unexpected encounter, the next day we headed out for the Serengeti... definitely one of the things we were most looking forward to on our Africa trip. The first thing we came across were the fabled Serengeti plains. Really, without seeing any wildlife at all, they would have been impressive on their own. Flat golden plains as far as the eye could see, it was quite a sight. Note to all fans of the song "Africa" by Toto: Kilimanjaro does not, as they claim, "rise like a leopardess above the Serengeti" - disappointing. It's actually several miles from the Serengeti. Come on, Toto, get it together.

It wasn't long into our plains drive that we starting seeing the wildlife: the first thing we saw was a hyena chowing on a bloody carcass of some poor animal. It wasn't clear what it was or how the hyena got it, but it was pretty gruesome. And there were five or six vultures just hanging around for the leftovers of the leftovers. Nasty creatures.

Then we saw gazelles and zebras by the hundreds. They were seriously EVERYWHERE. With this much prey around, we had high hopes of seeing a lion, leopard or cheetah. But before seeing any of those, we drove right by a herd of about a dozen elephants, which were all walking across the plains while protecting a tiny little baby that couldn't have been more than a few weeks old according to our guide. Very cool. Further on into the park we caught sight of our first lions, a pair of them sleeping underneath a tree. As we slept at our campsite that night (completely out in the open), we could hear the roar of the lions closeby. The next morning we learned that the roars were from a group of seven of them who were in the midst of taking down a water buffalo about a quarter mile away! Wow.

On our way out of Serengeti NP that next morning, we had a lucky break. Our car broke down, which our driver fixed in about 15 minutes. But as were waiting, we saw a crowd of vehicles gather across the way. Once the car was fixed, we drove over to find five lionesses hanging out by the side of the road with a baby cub amonst them! We were able to pull around and watch them from a distance of about fifteen feet for a good twenty minutes or so. Amazing. Again, we hope to get pics up at some point.

We then drove on to the Ngorngoro Crater nearby, which has the highest concentration of wildlife around. Here we saw MORE lions, this time on the hunt! They actually crossed right in front of us (about five lionesses with two cubs) on their way to stalking a group of wildebeests and zebra! Talk about intense... the zebras were all standing in a line, huffing and puffing... a sentinel wildebeest was running around in front of the lions trying to scare them off... and the lions just kept strolling forward slowly, heads held low, eyes ahead. Unfortunately they didn't strike, as a truck with a Canadian film crew annoyingly kept getting sidling right up next to them, clearly foiling their hunting strategy, but it was still very cool to see. Darn you Canadian film crew! (No offense to our Canadian friends Wendy and Tammy). Definitely something we'll never forget.

And on our way out of the crater, we had another amazingly close encounter: this time with an elephant. We drove by a couple of them nibbling on trees about 20-30 feet from the road, which was great. But then an enormous one emerged out of the bush and proceeded to start munching on an acacia tree about a foot from our truck! Literally, Mary could have stuck her hand out the window and grabbed the tusk. It was unreal. And he probably stayed there for a good five or ten minutes, so we got a great look at him... almost TOO good.

Our friends Mike and Jill Buhrfiend had prepared us well for this leg when they shared their Serengeti video but nothing can truly prepare you for the reality of the experience. We did do a tribute to their trip, however, when we realized that packed lunches can be quite dodgey and resorted to a strict Pringles and Coke Light lunch diet. Mike, you were definitly with us in spirit!

On to Zanzibar for some serious beach time!