My good friend Cat and I traveled to 3 wonderful countries (Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya) and had an experience of a lifetime. In total we traveled over 3000 miles - approx. 1000 miles by car and the rest by plane and ferry. This travel time doesn't include the 17,000 mile flight to and from Africa. Needless to say we had a lot of time to catch up!
To give you a little background about the trip, we planned this months ago primarily to
volunteer in Kenya and to go on a safari. Cat, who is a fellow travel lovare (lover, but with a South American accent, as Cat would say), was just finishing up a two-month travel expedition through South America with her newly wed husband. We met at the airport in Nairobi, which was our base airport for all travels in East Africa. In honor of This American Life, the NPR show, I will write about our experiences in four acts:
Act I: Volunteering in Kenya,
Act II: Close encounters with mountain gorillas in Uganda,
Act III: Safari to remember in Kenya and
Act IV: World Heritage tour of Stone Town in Tanzania.
Act I: Volunteering in Kenya
Cat and I stayed in Nairobi on the first evening and then made our way to the East coast of Kenya, where we would spend the next week working at a
school in one of the poorest suburbs of Mombasa. We found out about this opportunity through a non-profit based in the US. We got picked up at the airport by
Jacob, a jolly Kenyan and the school's program director. On the way to his home, where we would be staying, he told us that there was no electricity in the city or his apartment. I guess it had been out for a day with no estimated time it would be back, which was not uncommon throughout Africa. I first thought it was a joke but quickly realized we were in for a pitch black welcome into the city.
We got to his apartment and
I was a little shocked. It was hard to see anything, across the street was a car maintenance shop and his apartment was under a car dealership.
His building was semi-shabby (by US standards) and had a night security guard to protect the building - I don't know if that made me feel more or less safe. We went upstairs to the second floor where he lived. Behind a metal door with pad lock, his wife Brenda opened the door for us.
Clever Cat had her head lamp so she could see ahead of her. With the little light we had and in looking into the apartment, I had a mental freak out session because all I saw was little roaches scampering around. I've mentioned my fear of bugs in other blog entries but I'll mention it again...I hate roaches (and I use hate generally very sparingly).
I took a big gulp and wondered what Cat and I had in store for the next week. We got to our room and all I wanted to do was go to sleep. It was hot and all I could think about was roaches. Brenda had cooked us a meal and while we had already eaten in Nairobi, we didn't want to be rude so we went to the dining room to have food. Cat and I sat down and started eating chipati (form of roti bread), ugali (maize flour) and chicken stew...all Kenyan staples, however I saw roaches crawling on the floor which kept my mind occupied on them. To make matters worse there were ants on the table eating leftover crumbs as well. All I could think about was bugs, bugs, bugs. It was a rough first night but it got better after that, in part because we got electricity the day after and also just got used to the environment (not the roaches though, never!).
The local town near our school.....
The following day we went to tour the school we'd be working at.
The local kids were hanging around school, even though it was a Saturday. They were so cute and curious since they haven't seen too many mzungos (white people) in the area. As you probably know, I'm not white, but my experience not only in Kenya but throughout East Africa is that if you aren't black (local) then you are white. We are apparently a very general category, ha!
Upon getting a tour of the school, an open-air brick building, I was very disheartened.
Some of the classrooms didn't have chairs so they sat on the floor and bugs on the ground would bite them. The children looked like they had not washed their clothes (or themselves) for a while. A number of the children's teeth were rotting. Nonetheless they had
smiles that could light up a room and a
laughter that makes you want to smile, inside and out.
In the time Cat and I were there we asked questions and played a couple of games with them before visiting a parents home in the area. The
parent lived in a mud hut, on one side of the hut was her 'kitchen' which consisted of a never-ending small fire to cook meals and on the other side was the sleeping area. The sleeping area was about
8x8 feet, with one bed. This area, we were told, would
sleep seven people later in the evening. Overall, this was an
eye-opening experience. I think it would have been hard to understand the life of the students without understanding their home environment first.
The week Cat and I spent at school we had a daily routine: wake up, eat breakfast, walk to the matatu (local vans), get dropped off at the ferry, cross over the water, take another matatu to school. We repeated the same routine going back home at the end of the day. The ferry runs across town to the suburb our school was located. The
ferry takes both people and cars - one of the morning ferry rides over, we saw a truck, half submerged under water. Guess the
driver missed the ferry.....literally!!
The
ferry rides back and forth were pretty smelly; body odors were in no shortage and with
people packed in like sardines waiting to get on and then packed on the ferry, it was unavoidable.
Typical ferry crossing....
At school, Cat and I had our respective classes that we assisted.
Cat had Kindergarten - level 2 (4-5 year old) and I had Kindergarten - level 3 (5-6 year old). The week we were at school was exam week so we graded papers, ranked the children an
d Cat even administered some tests to the kids. Mid-week we had sports day after class where we played volleyball with the teachers and kids and I even
got to teach some dance moves to the kids, although I think they were more interested in watching me look silly than actually learning the moves. Cat also taught
hopscotch and how to build
paper airplanes, both of which were big hits with the kids.
We provided clothes to the children (and even some staff) through the
generous donations from friends. The kids loved their new shirts, pants and socks. The girls in younger classes got a new pair of underwear, to which they laughed and giggled out of embarrassment upon receiving. Imagine waiting in a line with your fellow peers, getting to the donation table and receiving
one new underwear. It was pretty funny to watch their reaction. Again, I was deeply humbled watching the
kids so happy to receive a new piece of clothing. I never saw one child complain that a shirt was too big, or that the color was not right. Just pure
appreciation and
thankfulness for having something new and clean.
Some of the more interesting donations (ahem) were
size 36 Batman underwear (unworn) and
several XL Family Guy underwear (not positive but likely unworn) that said something about being naughty. Any clothes, such as these, that were too large for the kids went to the groundskeeper, security guard and to other staff at the school.
Separating the clothing donations
(on the left, the kids are eagerly awaiting to see what they will receive)
The other donations of books, markers, crayons, colored paper, scissors, glue, etc. were presented to the children and teachers
at the graduation ceremony that we had at the end of the week. It was so great being with the kids and
I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity to be a part of their daily life, even if just for a short period of time.
A BIG thank you to friends and friends of friends who donated, the children were very grateful.
We closed this first chapter of our journey with many great memories and experiences.....
Act II: Close encounters with Mountain Gorillas in Uganda
Prior to reading Lonely Planet's East Africa edition, I had idea there were gorilla safaris where one could hang out, in the
wild, just a few feet away from a family of mountain gorillas in Uganda. After reading about other people who had visited the gorillas, I thought it might be a great
once in a lifetime experience, which it definitely was!
After our time in Mombasa, we welcomed the cooler/drier climate in Uganda. We arrived late in the evening and started our drive the very next morning. We had a very long journey from Kampala, Uganda's capital to
Bwindi Impenetrable Park, close to Rwanda's border. The drive was about 10 hours and while some of it was on a highway, a majority of our time was spent on a
rocky, pot-holed road. This was an especially painful journey because I had the
stomach flu from food I ate the previous night. We were pretty happy to finally have made it to Bwindi and our lodge was very quaint and faced the side of a
rainforest - how can you beat that?
Early the next day we got a briefing of what we should do if a gorilla approached us. In case you were wondering, we were told to
move back slowly and/or squat and
do NOT look the gorilla in the eye. The gorillas move locations everyday so the park rangers keep track of them, however the trek could be ten minutes or as long as 10+ hours.
Luckily our
gorilla family was very close, we only walked for about 15 minutes. This was perfectly OK with me and Cat but most of the group was upset about not trekking and perhaps they felt a little cheated by the short walk.
Over
half of the world's
Mountain Gorillas (approx 350)
live in the forest's of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. Of the family of 19 gorillas that we visited, there was one
Silverback male (the alpha male, protector of the family) who was huge! He is approximately
600-700 pounds and his presence is definitely known. There was also one black back male who seemed to be second in command. The rest of the family had younger males, females and some cute little babies.
Initially the gorillas were interested in our group and then they carried on with their business. The baby of the family (above) had a little poof of hair and clung to his mother the entire time. There was a younger gorilla that was being
comedic and 'posed' for the camera. Apparently one of them
pulled Cat's pony tail when she was on the ground posing with them! The rangers say that even if there are no tour groups visiting the gorillas, they still make a trek to see the gorillas everyday to ensure they are doing well and are comfortable with humans being near.
One of the most exciting moments was seeing the
Silverback gorilla asserting his power and strength. He ran by Cat and climbed up a tree. When he got to one of the bigger branches, he
took it down with his might. It was actually a little scary because it was loud and took place only a few feet away from us. Even though the rangers are nearby and with us, we're still in the
wild and anything can happen. The family was so amazing to watch - it was
well worth the arduous journey to get there and experience it firsthand.
We were the first group to return to the ranger station and some of us decided to do a
waterfall hike. It was an easy trail but what made it a bit more dangerous was the rain. It rained hard; an amount or duration I have never hiked in before. It put new meaning to
"rain forest" for me. By the end of it, I think everyone was happy to have seen the gorillas sans rain, when it was nice and sunny. Overall
I loved Uganda's people, animals and land. While we didn't spend enough time in the country, it is high on my list to return to one day.
Sunrise at the lodge near Bwindi in Uganda
Act III: Safari to remember in KenyaMeowwwww........
We flew out of Kampala to Nairobi and got picked up for
our next destination, Masai Mara. The drive from Nairobi to Masai Mara was about seven hours. The landscape was pretty dry, dusty and windy. There are not too many people that live along the way, other than the Masai tribes. The
Masai wear big red blankets so on the horizon you will see small red dots of people tending to their herds across the rolling hills. When we drove by, the Masai kids would wave a friendly hello to us.
Serena Lodge rooms were designed to look like the Masai homes
Our first official game drive was the following morning starting at 6:30am. Most of the animals are up early in the morning and come out again later in the evening. We first saw a lion and lioness - they were not too far from our lodge and were soaking in the sun and relaxing. We probably saw over two dozen animals roaming around the reserve. Here are some highlights:
The
Serengeti Plains which spans across
Tanzania and Kenya is most known for the
annual migration of wildebeest when over 2 million wildebeest and other animals migrate north to Masai Mara in search of water and food. It's supposed to be quite a spectacle to watch. Cat and I had
our own mini version that we got to see, but with zebras. There were
hundreds of zebras that were roaming the plains in search of water and food, but in order to get to the other side of the plains that just had a storm they had to cross over a river filled with crocodiles.
We went down to the river to find a number of
zebras congregating at the foot of a river. They were communicating with one another by what sounded like a bark. Enough were by the river that some of the brave ones decided that it was time to cross the river. It was
pretty surreal to watch, they formed one line and crossed the river as swiftly as they could. Several crossed over and all seemed to be going well however this crossing got the attention of a
crocodile. He slyly made his way up-river, from where we were parked you could only see his eyes and a silhouette of the water his body occupied. As he got closer, everyone that was watching got excited about what was to come.
Zebras crossing river
By now a couple of dozen
zebras had crossed. The crocodile patiently waited for the right moment to attack. A lull in the crossing gave the crocodile the opportunity to
bite a zebras leg. If you haven't watched the nature channels on TV, you might not know that once a crocodile locks down its jaws on something, you can pretty much kiss whatever is caught good-bye. The
zebra struggled, it tried to make its way to the river bank but it was just too far and the might of the crocodile was too strong. The zebra struggled to get free and all the while the other zebras passed by quickly, hoping to make it to the other side, to safety.
Video of croc getting the zebra
Cat asked me to do a voice-over on the video recording, however I was absolutely speechless. I was crying and upset; I totally understand that it is nature and that the crocodiles need to eat as well, but it's just not fair! It's like
watching a horror movie unravel a few feet away!!!
The zebra eventually drowned and its carcass slowly made it's way down river. While the zebras sensed there were
crocodiles were in the water, their livelihood was at risk if they didn't cross the river. The big question for them was how many of their family would be
caught and killed in the process. One of the most memorable zebra crossings was by a baby zebra. The adult zebras had halted their crossing because of the crocodile infestation. The
baby, I'm guessing because he was sort of oblivious, decided
to lead the herd across the river. He crossed a little up-stream where there were more rocks and the water was more shallow and therefore had less crocodiles in the water. He galloped quickly and made it across safely to the other side. The tourists we were next to complimented his
bravery by clapping in unison, it was happy moment.
After most of the zebras crossed the river, the crocodile went down river to feast on its catch. Other crocodiles further downstream also joined. There were about
8-10 HUGE crocodiles feasting on one zebra. I've seen crocodiles before but these ones were incredibly large (10-14 feet long, 2-3 feet wide), I found them intimidating, even from afar. Our guide said that they
can live up to 100 years and even he, who was not the most enthusiastic person, was so amazed by the size of the crocodiles. He said he had never seen such large crocodiles in his six years of doing safaris. They slowly tore about at every part of the dead zebra. It was pretty gory.
As if watching this was not enough, about 1/8 of a mile away down the river there was another attempted river crossing of zebras. This one
was not as successful. The success, it seems, is in the number of zebras crossing at one time. The failed crossing resulted in a
baby zebra getting eaten, not by a crocodile but by a
lioness that patiently waited on the 'safe' side for her kill.
The safari, which started out
so intense and emotional, became mellow. Over the following days, we got excellent views of the Big 5 - lion, leopard, elephant, rhino and buffalo and enjoyed the beauty of the park.
Another cool thing that we did was go to a
Masai lecture where we learned about their culture and history and even got a chance to dance with them (though Cat insisted on watching and laughing ;p)! Some interesting facts: their first marriage is usually organized by their parents, life is most enjoyable when roaming the plains with their goats or cows, education is not mandatory but optional, their traditional dance involves lots of yelping, and jumping as high as possible - what a work out!
Local Masai tribe. Aren't there outfits so en vogue!?
Our car got stuck in water, luckily with no crocs!!!
One of the amazing sunrises in the Mara
One of the amazing sunsets in the Mara
Act IV: World Heritage tour of Stone Town in Tanzania
We decided to go to Tanzania to spend our final days in
Africa relaxing by the beach, which was an awesome idea (thx Cat!!!)! We flew into Dar Es Salaam where Cat
almost didn't get into the country. She didn't have an
immunization card stating she got the
H1N1 vaccine, which seems crazy since who carries around their immunization card? Well, actually, I'm one of those dorks that does. It seemed insane that they would not let her into the country after taking the plane ride there but she convinced one of the guys to let her in - thank goodness!
Overall, I was not impressed with Dar Es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. It was probably my least favorite city on the entire trip particularly because
Cat got harassed by a really pushy ferry salesperson. He went so far as to
drop the f-bomb at her and almost touched her shoulder to get her attention - but he knew better than to do that. He followed us for a while until we got to the ferry and the security guard sent him on his way. We only spent one night in Dar Es Salaam and then made our way over to
Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania and spent our remaining days there.
We did a
tour of Stone Town, a labyrinth of windy streets that surely confuses even the people that live there. There are many cultural influences because of the spice trade from India, mainland Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The
intricate details of doors of homes often signified the
wealth of the occupant. I'm not so sure I would want to be flaunting that, but to each his own. Our tour went on for a couple of hours and afterwards went to the
spice market, well, to buy spices.
Little boy posing for a photo
Doors, doors, doors......
It smelled really fishy at the fish market....
Aside from our tour, we sat around and
did nothing, it was so awesome especially after waking up at the crack of dawn for most days of our trip, to just sleep in and relax. To portray the extent of our laziness, one day I don't think we left the property at all. We had dinner via room service delivered to our room and we watched American TV shows that both of us had been wanting to watch. We also read books, napped and stayed cool (it was SO humid and hot outside). Our room had a balcony that faced the west,
right on the beach so we had spectacular sunsets from the comfort of our room.Our taxi ride to the airport in Zanzibar was sort of comedic. The driver picked us up and all was fine until
his car stopped entirely. We didn't think much of it, until it did it
again and
again and
again. Each time the old gentleman started up his car, he would have to reverse to go forward and it looked visibly hard to maneuver. He would also grunt, something like
'uuuuummmaa', in a nice old man way, I think because it was so hard to do physically and perhaps he didn't have the strength. Each time, Cat and I would look at each other and laugh.
Once he got the car to start again, he would then almost hit whomever was behind him and then
move forward 100 feet, but not very fast....in fact at one point there were some guys that were walking on the side of the road that passed us by. We eventually ended up asking him to stop and we walked the remainder of the way to the airport, which was luckily just a half mile away.
It was great spending time with one of my favorite travel buddies and experiencing this amazing journey together!
Sunset in Zanzibar with dhow in the background
*****************************************************
My Thumbs
This is a new section I'm adding to my blog to review a select group of tour operators/hotels/restaurants whose service was amazing, or not.
Amazing Safaris in Uganda - The customer service and experience Amazing Safari's put together was truly Amazing! We did our 3-Day Gorilla Trekking trip with them and the team was very helpful and provided quite a memorable experience.
Website: http://www.safaritouganda.com/
Tamarind Restaurant in Mombasa, Kenya - The food was to die for and the views were spectacular. This was probably the best place we ate at in Africa!
Website: http://www.tamarind.co.ke/restaurant.php?id=4#
Call of Africa in Kenya - While we had a great time seeing the animals on our safari, this outfitter was bad. I was really surprised since we organised this tour through Serena Hotels
Website: http://www.call-of-africa-safaris.com/
The water was fairly calm considering how windy it had been the other days which makes the water choppy. We kayaked in the Straits of Magellan through some old ship wrecks to a massive group of sea lions. There must have been 50 of them sitting around on buoys about a mile away from shore. I've never seen them up so close and in their element! For a moment I was a little afraid we'd have a jaws incident where they tip over our kayak and nibble on us but that didn't happen. We must have been the most exciting thing the sea lions had seen in a while as they decided to follow us for about a mile back to where we began kayaking. Terry could hear them breathing behind us. When we stopped the kayak to look at them the sea lions would go underwater again. Too funny!
