Hello all. We are overdue for an update! I can’t believe we’ve been in Asia for over two months now. Crazy. We’ve spent most of the time in Singapore, but went to Hong Kong for two weeks. Will try and summarize the events – while I’m watching the Miss World pageant on tv :) (Already know that Miss China won. Think it was rigged, she is not an impressive speaker whatsoever.)
Singapore highlights:
- Meeting and getting to know the Singapore side of Brian’s family. Looking forward to spending Xmas Eve with the whole clan – Auntie Constance is having around 50 people over for a big potluck.
- Night safari – Yes, after a summer in Africa we still enjoyed the night safari here in Singapore. It was the weekend before Hallowe’en, so all the employees were dressed up. Thankfully they didn’t dress up the animals :) It is a really unique experience, going around the park (on a train or walking) at night time. They also had a show which was excellent – except when they pulled out a massive boa constrictor from under the floorboards right in front of us. Not impressed.
- Hawker stands – Outdoor food courts with super cheap, amazing food. The two of us can eat dinner for $5 Cdn! Love the satay, mee goreng, black pepper beef clay pot…
- Art museum – We try and get out to the museums and the concert hall to get some culture. The art museum was very nice, with a large exhibition of art from around Asia.
- Sentosa – Took a gondola over to Sentosa Island. Had a “good” view of the shipyard and construction zones. There’s an incredible amount of building going on here, including two massive “Integrated Resorts” – big casinos with hotels, conference centres, shopping and entertainment. But we just hung out on the beach, saw a cool laser show, and relaxed.
- High tech – Love the little things, like when you go into a parking garage they have signs that tell you how many spots are empty on each floor, and there’s a green or red light above each stall so you can see ahead where the free spots are. And everyone has a pre-loaded card on their dash that is automatically scanned to pay for parking, tolls, etc.
- China town, Little India, Arab Street. All the different cultures living together, all the different food, makes this a special place.
Hong Kong highlights:
- Seeing where Brian grew up – Brian lived in Hong Kong from age 7 to 13. We went to see his old house in Chung Hum Kok, and he reminisced of his days running around getting into trouble with Gavin. Saw his old school in Repulse Bay, the market in Stanley, and relaxed on the big Jumbo boat restaurant where we enjoyed a glass of wine in lounge chairs.
- Big Buddha – We took the ferry to Lantau island and visited the big budha (Tian Tan). The hike down was fabulous – down a path winding down the mountain, surrounded by trees, except for occasionally coming across monks tending their gardens, with Buddhist chants on a radio. Peaceful and beautiful.
- Shopping mecca – while Singapore has tons of malls, Hong Kong has quantity and quality. If only we had money!
- A city of contrasts – Incredibly tall modern buildings (the new Batman was causing a stir when we were there, filming him jumping off the tallest towers); grimy highrise apartments; streets full of Chinese herbal medicines, birdnests, and antiques; lovely Chinese restaurants where no English is spoken (thank goodness for pictures); peaceful Chinese temples filled with incense smoke; beautiful beaches; hiking trails in the mountains with stunning look outs; alley full of bars, loud music and drunk expats; and in the centre of it all the happening horse races.
We took the ferry to Macau for a night, where we treated ourselves at the new Venetian hotel. Loved Macau for the Portugese influence. You’d think you were in Europe sometimes, but then look around and see Chinese style buildings. Quite the contrast. We didn’t do any gambling at the Venetian, just a fancy Italian dinner “under the stars” while singers from Italy put on a show, and we had breakfast delivered in the morning to our room.
And of course throughout it all we’ve been busy, busy, busy with the job search. Interviews, networking, emailing. We’re getting there, but it is a frustrating process.
My brother Neil is coming to Singapore tomorrow evening and staying with us for a few nights – yeah! After he leaves we head to Malaysia to do some sightseeing in Melaka and Kuala Lumpur, get our tourist visas renewed, and I have an interview in KL. We will probably be in Singapore for Xmas, but leave for Cambodia on Christmas Day – spend a week there exploring.
We hope you’re all doing well. We miss you – especially at this time of year! Doesn’t quite feel like Christmas, despite the non-stop carols in the malls and decorations. But have to say, we’re enjoying our daily swims in our outdoor pool :-)
Lots of love,
Anne & Brian
Friday, December 7, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
Pictures are posted!
Yes, enough of the complaining, we have finally posted pictures of our trip to Africa - all the good ones are on Picasa, and there's a selection of them on facebook.
On Picasa there are 4 different albums to peruse - Southern Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda/Rwanda. You can reach them all at http://picasaweb.google.com/briananderson15
Enjoy over a cup of coffee! Flattery and appreciation is accepted :)
Quick update:
We have been in Singapore for 2 weeks now, but feels like a lot longer. Brian's family has been amazing - finding us accomodation, setting us up with a phone (our mobile # is +65 9892 8700), introducing us to friends, trying to find us jobs, and just making us feel welcome. We went to a big Chinese Christian wedding this past weekend, which was great - experiencing the tea ceremony, an 8 course Chinese dinner, etc.
The job search is going ok. Working hard at it, networking like crazy. Brian has already had one job offer, and an opportunity for another position. But he's waiting to find something that's a better fit, and doesn't have him on the road 90% of the time.
We're heading to Hong Kong at the end of the month for a couple of weeks - job interviews/meetings and sight seeing. Perhaps even go to Disneyland in HK - never been to Disneyland before!
We're living in a beautiful condo right now, with a big pool and gym. Very spoiled. Trying to get used to the hot and humid weather - will take some time! Thankful there's air conditioning everywhere.
Singapore, we've discovered very quickly, is all about the food and shopping. It is clean, modern and growing rapidly. Next to no unemployment or homeless. Next to no cockroaches (very happy about that!). Very safe, efficient... All that you'd expect from Singapore. Looking forward to doing some more touristy stuff - here and in Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. Brian went to Jakarta for one night last week, but it was an interview so not much fun time.
Again, hope you enjoy the pictures.
Take care,
Anne.
On Picasa there are 4 different albums to peruse - Southern Africa, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda/Rwanda. You can reach them all at http://picasaweb.google.com/briananderson15
Enjoy over a cup of coffee! Flattery and appreciation is accepted :)
Quick update:
We have been in Singapore for 2 weeks now, but feels like a lot longer. Brian's family has been amazing - finding us accomodation, setting us up with a phone (our mobile # is +65 9892 8700), introducing us to friends, trying to find us jobs, and just making us feel welcome. We went to a big Chinese Christian wedding this past weekend, which was great - experiencing the tea ceremony, an 8 course Chinese dinner, etc.
The job search is going ok. Working hard at it, networking like crazy. Brian has already had one job offer, and an opportunity for another position. But he's waiting to find something that's a better fit, and doesn't have him on the road 90% of the time.
We're heading to Hong Kong at the end of the month for a couple of weeks - job interviews/meetings and sight seeing. Perhaps even go to Disneyland in HK - never been to Disneyland before!
We're living in a beautiful condo right now, with a big pool and gym. Very spoiled. Trying to get used to the hot and humid weather - will take some time! Thankful there's air conditioning everywhere.
Singapore, we've discovered very quickly, is all about the food and shopping. It is clean, modern and growing rapidly. Next to no unemployment or homeless. Next to no cockroaches (very happy about that!). Very safe, efficient... All that you'd expect from Singapore. Looking forward to doing some more touristy stuff - here and in Malaysia, Indonesia, etc. Brian went to Jakarta for one night last week, but it was an interview so not much fun time.
Again, hope you enjoy the pictures.
Take care,
Anne.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
More bus rides, safaris, and adventures in East Africa
When I last wrote we were in Kigali, Rwanda. After I got off the computer we spent the next few hours walking around the city, trying to find a bar with satellite tv showing the Rugby World Cup, to no avail. Brian was disappointed and I was tired! Funny how we could find it in small towns in Rwanda, but not in the capital city.
The next day we had a long bus journey to Kampala, Uganda. After Kigali, Kampala was filthy, crowded and annoying, and we wanted out as quickly as possible. We eventually found a matatu (minibus) to Jinja - they were in the middle of working on the brake pads of the matatu, but we wanted to get out of the city so badly that we trusted their workmanship and got on when they were done. Right before we left another girl got on to the already packed bus, and crammed herself in between me and my neighbor. I without thinking moved to give her more room, and so spent the next 4 hours sharing my seat with her (since the other lady of course didn't move over). It was only supposed to be a 1-2 hour bus ride, but there was an accident on the road. Very, very, very uncomfortable. But because of my discomfort Brian was able to negotiate with the conductor and save us 2,000 shillings ($1.25). Yes, I took it for the team!
We spent two nights in Jinja, Uganda, so that we could see the very exciting Source of the Nile, at Lake Victoria. Being sarcastic. Not much to see, just one of those tourist things to check off. We then took boda bodas (motorbike taxis) to Bujagali falls, 10kms from Jinja, where we spent another couple of nights. The Nile River is very pretty, so it was a nice place to relax. Brian went white water rafting - I was cheap and a scaredy cat, so I sat by the pool all day instead. Will let Brian recount his adventures in the rapids in another blog.
While waiting for our bus back to Kenya we met a very nice preacher from Nigeria. He gave us his card and invited us to stay with him and his family in Lagos. Very nice!
In Kenya we spent a few nights at a very cheap hotel in Nakuru. Like saving the money, but it was incredibly noisy! Between the disco across the street which was in full gear until 2-3 am, and the mosque around the corner which started the chanting around 4am, not much sleep was happening - until the third night when we wore our ear plugs!
While we were there we went on safari in Lake Nakuru park. There are 2 million flamingos there, on the edge of the soda lake. Incredible! Other interesting sightings: lots of hyenas hunting the flamingos (no kills), and a few white and black rhinos. The black rhinos are extremely aggressive, so our driver tried to stay away from them. But they still started to run towards our jeep! Glad he had kept the engine running. We saw no cats, but saw the recent kill of a leopard - a dead gazelle with it's stomach and intestines hanging out. Yuck.
We had wanted to go up north to Lake Baringo for a couple of nights, but the rains were flooding the roads, and (probably luckily) the lodge there was full, no room for us. Over the last couple of weeks there has been a ton of flooding in Uganda, parts of Kenya, and Rwanda. (I forgot to mention in my last blog that when we left the town of Gisenyi in Rwanda we passed by villages under water, devastated by the flooding. We heard that 15 people in that region had been killed.)
So, we went instead to Lake Naivasha, which is right beside Hell's Gate park. We've been on a lot of safaris on this trip, but this was totally different. We rented bikes and road thru the park, with zebra, warthogs, giraffe, gazelle surrounding us. Thankfully we didn't bump into any buffalo or lions! The setting is also unique - it's a big gorge, with high cliff walls rising up. We went for a nice one hour hike down into a section of the gorge with a guide, where we could feel the hot water coming from deep underground. There are a couple of big geo thermal plants in the area which separate the steam from the hot water and convert the steam into electricity. Brian made us climb a huge hill so that he could see the plants and the big pipes which run around the countryside. He was pretty excited - I wasn't so thrilled with the ride, especially since my bike was horrible (the seat kept falling down as I rode) and I'm horribly out of shape. After the 30-35km ride and hike I collapsed at our lodge!
When we were at the gorge we bumped into a Japanese girl we had gone on safari with in Nakuru. She told us that after we dropped her off at the matatu stand, her matatu was in a bad accident. A car which had been hijacked by a gun toting idiot rammed head on with her minibus. She had scrapes/bruises on her forehead, and she said that her arms/legs had been scraped and covered in blood. She was very very lucky to escape with just that! A famous gospel singer was just killed in this area in a matatu crash. One of the guides at the gorge was also telling us about how he was in a crash where 14 people were killed (and he caught a cop stealing from the bodies). Insane.
After hearing all of these stories we decided to take a bigger bus into Nairobi! Instead of going downtown right away we went to Karen, a suburb, for a night first, and visited the Karen Blixen museum and the giraffe conservation center. The latter was amazing - you can feed the Rothschild giraffes there, they take the food out of your hand with their long tongues! We were very fortunate to get a ride to the conservation center with a Moroccan lady and her Kenyan and Congolese friends. We will definitely have to visit her in Morocco one day!
And now we're in Nairobi, we fly to Joburg tomorrow. Last night we went for dinner at Carnivore. Apparently it's twice been named one of the world's 50 best restaurants. Not sure how they did that. It's certainly an interesting experience - they have a massive barbeque where they cook all types of meat, including ostrich and crocodile. Guys come around with the meat pierced on a sword, and they slice it onto your plate continuously, until you admit defeat and take your flag down. Brian being competitive didn't want to take his flag down earlier than the other tables around us, so he kept eating. I wanted to save room for dessert, so I surrendered earlier on. The food was just ok - not world class - but still something you have to do as a tourist in Kenya.
And that's us all caught up. Next blog will be from Asia!
Anne.
The next day we had a long bus journey to Kampala, Uganda. After Kigali, Kampala was filthy, crowded and annoying, and we wanted out as quickly as possible. We eventually found a matatu (minibus) to Jinja - they were in the middle of working on the brake pads of the matatu, but we wanted to get out of the city so badly that we trusted their workmanship and got on when they were done. Right before we left another girl got on to the already packed bus, and crammed herself in between me and my neighbor. I without thinking moved to give her more room, and so spent the next 4 hours sharing my seat with her (since the other lady of course didn't move over). It was only supposed to be a 1-2 hour bus ride, but there was an accident on the road. Very, very, very uncomfortable. But because of my discomfort Brian was able to negotiate with the conductor and save us 2,000 shillings ($1.25). Yes, I took it for the team!
We spent two nights in Jinja, Uganda, so that we could see the very exciting Source of the Nile, at Lake Victoria. Being sarcastic. Not much to see, just one of those tourist things to check off. We then took boda bodas (motorbike taxis) to Bujagali falls, 10kms from Jinja, where we spent another couple of nights. The Nile River is very pretty, so it was a nice place to relax. Brian went white water rafting - I was cheap and a scaredy cat, so I sat by the pool all day instead. Will let Brian recount his adventures in the rapids in another blog.
While waiting for our bus back to Kenya we met a very nice preacher from Nigeria. He gave us his card and invited us to stay with him and his family in Lagos. Very nice!
In Kenya we spent a few nights at a very cheap hotel in Nakuru. Like saving the money, but it was incredibly noisy! Between the disco across the street which was in full gear until 2-3 am, and the mosque around the corner which started the chanting around 4am, not much sleep was happening - until the third night when we wore our ear plugs!
While we were there we went on safari in Lake Nakuru park. There are 2 million flamingos there, on the edge of the soda lake. Incredible! Other interesting sightings: lots of hyenas hunting the flamingos (no kills), and a few white and black rhinos. The black rhinos are extremely aggressive, so our driver tried to stay away from them. But they still started to run towards our jeep! Glad he had kept the engine running. We saw no cats, but saw the recent kill of a leopard - a dead gazelle with it's stomach and intestines hanging out. Yuck.
We had wanted to go up north to Lake Baringo for a couple of nights, but the rains were flooding the roads, and (probably luckily) the lodge there was full, no room for us. Over the last couple of weeks there has been a ton of flooding in Uganda, parts of Kenya, and Rwanda. (I forgot to mention in my last blog that when we left the town of Gisenyi in Rwanda we passed by villages under water, devastated by the flooding. We heard that 15 people in that region had been killed.)
So, we went instead to Lake Naivasha, which is right beside Hell's Gate park. We've been on a lot of safaris on this trip, but this was totally different. We rented bikes and road thru the park, with zebra, warthogs, giraffe, gazelle surrounding us. Thankfully we didn't bump into any buffalo or lions! The setting is also unique - it's a big gorge, with high cliff walls rising up. We went for a nice one hour hike down into a section of the gorge with a guide, where we could feel the hot water coming from deep underground. There are a couple of big geo thermal plants in the area which separate the steam from the hot water and convert the steam into electricity. Brian made us climb a huge hill so that he could see the plants and the big pipes which run around the countryside. He was pretty excited - I wasn't so thrilled with the ride, especially since my bike was horrible (the seat kept falling down as I rode) and I'm horribly out of shape. After the 30-35km ride and hike I collapsed at our lodge!
When we were at the gorge we bumped into a Japanese girl we had gone on safari with in Nakuru. She told us that after we dropped her off at the matatu stand, her matatu was in a bad accident. A car which had been hijacked by a gun toting idiot rammed head on with her minibus. She had scrapes/bruises on her forehead, and she said that her arms/legs had been scraped and covered in blood. She was very very lucky to escape with just that! A famous gospel singer was just killed in this area in a matatu crash. One of the guides at the gorge was also telling us about how he was in a crash where 14 people were killed (and he caught a cop stealing from the bodies). Insane.
After hearing all of these stories we decided to take a bigger bus into Nairobi! Instead of going downtown right away we went to Karen, a suburb, for a night first, and visited the Karen Blixen museum and the giraffe conservation center. The latter was amazing - you can feed the Rothschild giraffes there, they take the food out of your hand with their long tongues! We were very fortunate to get a ride to the conservation center with a Moroccan lady and her Kenyan and Congolese friends. We will definitely have to visit her in Morocco one day!
And now we're in Nairobi, we fly to Joburg tomorrow. Last night we went for dinner at Carnivore. Apparently it's twice been named one of the world's 50 best restaurants. Not sure how they did that. It's certainly an interesting experience - they have a massive barbeque where they cook all types of meat, including ostrich and crocodile. Guys come around with the meat pierced on a sword, and they slice it onto your plate continuously, until you admit defeat and take your flag down. Brian being competitive didn't want to take his flag down earlier than the other tables around us, so he kept eating. I wanted to save room for dessert, so I surrendered earlier on. The food was just ok - not world class - but still something you have to do as a tourist in Kenya.
And that's us all caught up. Next blog will be from Asia!
Anne.
African Literature
While traveling we've had lots of time to read - long bus rides, etc. We've tried to read African books as much as possible. Thought we'd give you a quick list, in case you're interested:
"We are all the same" by Jim Wooten - Soon to be a movie, the novel recounts the life of Nkosi Johnson, a South African boy who was born with HIV and with his adopted white mother stood up against Mbeki's weird notions of AIDS. Really good book.
"Last King of Scotland" by Giles Foden. Similar to the movie, but there are some substantial differences. Interesting insights into Idi Amin and Uganda.
"Cry, the beloved country" by Alan Paton. A classic novel set in South Africa, just before apartheid was formalized. Incredible story.
"Things Fall Apart" by the award winning Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It's a folk tale set in Nigeria, giving insights into traditional African culture, and what started to happen when the white missionaries and governors arrived. Our guide in the Usambara mountains in Tanzania said he studied this book in secondary school - though it's set in Nigeria, it's relevant to all sub-saharan africans.
"Purple Hibiscus" by a Nigerian woman, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. A more modern tale, about a 15 year old girl whose father is very wealthy but also extremely religious. It's set during a coup in Nigeria.
"Out of Africa" by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen). Famous because of the movie, of course. A series of stories about the Danish woman's life in colonial Kenya. We visited her home outside of Nairobi the other day, which was interesting. Enjoyed the book, and looking forward to seeing the film again.
"Acts of Faith" by Philip Caputo. Really liked this book - about mercenary aid workers who drop food, medicine, arms in the Nubian mountains in Sudan. Not very complementary of the UN.
"The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency: Tears of the Giraffe" by Alexander McCall Smith. Set in Botswana, this series follows Mma Ramotswe's adventures and cases. Very cute, easy read, and gives insights into life in Botswana.
Also read three Detective Rebus books by Ian Rankin, and in the middle of Charity by Len Deighton.
So, yes, we've read quite a bit in Africa! Imagine that once we get to Asia and the job search begins, we won't be reading as much.
Cheers,
Anne.
"We are all the same" by Jim Wooten - Soon to be a movie, the novel recounts the life of Nkosi Johnson, a South African boy who was born with HIV and with his adopted white mother stood up against Mbeki's weird notions of AIDS. Really good book.
"Last King of Scotland" by Giles Foden. Similar to the movie, but there are some substantial differences. Interesting insights into Idi Amin and Uganda.
"Cry, the beloved country" by Alan Paton. A classic novel set in South Africa, just before apartheid was formalized. Incredible story.
"Things Fall Apart" by the award winning Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. It's a folk tale set in Nigeria, giving insights into traditional African culture, and what started to happen when the white missionaries and governors arrived. Our guide in the Usambara mountains in Tanzania said he studied this book in secondary school - though it's set in Nigeria, it's relevant to all sub-saharan africans.
"Purple Hibiscus" by a Nigerian woman, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. A more modern tale, about a 15 year old girl whose father is very wealthy but also extremely religious. It's set during a coup in Nigeria.
"Out of Africa" by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen). Famous because of the movie, of course. A series of stories about the Danish woman's life in colonial Kenya. We visited her home outside of Nairobi the other day, which was interesting. Enjoyed the book, and looking forward to seeing the film again.
"Acts of Faith" by Philip Caputo. Really liked this book - about mercenary aid workers who drop food, medicine, arms in the Nubian mountains in Sudan. Not very complementary of the UN.
"The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency: Tears of the Giraffe" by Alexander McCall Smith. Set in Botswana, this series follows Mma Ramotswe's adventures and cases. Very cute, easy read, and gives insights into life in Botswana.
Also read three Detective Rebus books by Ian Rankin, and in the middle of Charity by Len Deighton.
So, yes, we've read quite a bit in Africa! Imagine that once we get to Asia and the job search begins, we won't be reading as much.
Cheers,
Anne.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Uganda and Rwanda Adventures
We've been in Africa for 3 months now, and are still having some amazing adventures. Right now we're in Kigali, after having spent almost 2 weeks in Rwanda. We head back to Uganda tomorrow, on our way to Kenya. Our flight to Joburg from Nairobi is on September 28th, so not much time left.
Our last blog was from Kampala, Uganda. We really didn't spend much time in Uganda - 2 nights in Kampala, and 4 nights on Lake Bunyoni. The lake was truly beautiful, dotted with islands, and surrounded by terraced hills. Our first 2 nights we stayed on the mainland, in a furnished tent overlooking the water. We hiked up a hill with a local guide so that we could get a great view of the lake. Other than that it was relaxation - finally caught up on my journal, and Brian got to watch premiership football on the tellie (he was in heaven!).
We then moved to Byoona Amagara, a hostel on Itambira Island. They bill themselves as a backpackers paradise, and they were right! It's actually owned/run by an American guy from New York, and his Slovakian wife. Bri and I stayed in a "geodome", which is hard to describe - it's made out of wood/straw, on a wooden platform, in a dome shape. But the whole front of it is open, so as we lie in bed we're looking out on the lake. It rained all day our second day there, so we really just laid in bed, read our books (they have a great library there), and watched the birds hopping around our bed trying to get out of the rain. After so many long travel days, this was just what we needed!
Our only bit of activity there was to walk to the other side of the island, where a few families live. One house was having a bit of a party, with friends from the mainland visiting. They gave Brian some "porridge" to taste - basically the sorghum beer that they make, before it ferments. The island kids were all coming up to us, wanting to give us high fives, etc. But the mainland children had never seen whities that close. Two of the little ones started crying, actually more like screaming. One parent tried to drag a little boy over to us, but he was kicking and screaming so much his pants were falling down. Very funny, but felt bad - we really aren't that scary! (Well, maybe Brian is :)
We met a lovely English/Welsh couple at Byoona, Marianne and Adam. They were heading to Rwanda, too, so we joined forces and took a motorboat, taxi, and two minibuses to get from the Island to Kigali. Beautiful scenery along the way.
Rwanda is called the land of a thousand hills (le pays des milles collines) and it is an appropriate name. Where ever you are (and it is a small country) you are going up and down, over hills, through valleys. Almost every inch of the land is either covered with terraced farmland, or huts. People are everywhere along the road, and you pass village after village.
Speaking of roads, they are really very good here. Refreshing. It really seems here like Paul Kagame, the current president, is doing a great job. This is what other African countries would be like if they made a serious effort to uphold the law and get rid of corruption! Refreshing after spending so much time in Kenya and Tanzania. There are of course issues here. e.g. there are power outages pretty much every day. But from what we read in the paper this is due to dwindling reservoirs. But they have recently discovered a huge amount of methane gas underneath Lake Kivu - we saw there the new plant that they are building, which will help turn Rwanda into an exporter of power to the whole region, rather than an importer. Sounds promising.
Our first night in Rwanda was in the capital, Kigali. Seems like a pretty modern city - they've done tons of restoration since the genocide. People are very fashionable here - nice cars, nice clothes, cool plaited hair on the females, etc. And we found an amazing coffee shop! The four of us enjoyed Americanos and Cafe Mochas, in heaven. Also had a great dinner at a French restaurant, Chez Robert - yummy beef fillets with blue cheese sauce, etc.
Rwanda by the way is french speaking, so we've had to pull out our very bad French - which seems to be good enough to have basic conversations, book accomodation & bus tickets, etc.
After Kigali, Brian and I left Marianne and Adam and went to Parc National Nyungwe Forest, which covers one of the oldest rainforests in Africa. We were staying at a lodge by the Park Headquarters, with the goal of going chimpanzee tracking the next day. The ranger at the park was fantastic, and helped us figure it all out. We would be picked up at 5am and taken to the trail head on 2 motorcycles, and then picked up at the end by a bus so we could go to another city, Butare. It's a lot of work traveling to the parks without a car here - the vast majority of people travel here on organized tours. But it ends up being cheaper and more of an adventure!
So yes, getting picked up at 5am the next day was painful. But even more painful was getting on the back of a motorcycle with a small backpack on my chest and my big backpack on my back, traveling in the dark on bad potholed roads (the roads aren't so good in the park!), going up steep hills, with your backpack pulling you backwards. The only good news was that we were wearing helmets (mandated in Rwanda), and going very slow - took us 50 minutes to cover 20 kms. So felt safe, just very sore when we arrived at the trail head.
But the trip was worth it - the chimp tracking was amazing! Not just for seeing the primates swing from branch to branch, but the hike itself through the rainforest. We walked along a path for 1 1/2 hours with our guide, and then met a tracker who took us up a steep hill, climbing up a path he cut using a panga (machete). You can't worry about getting dirty - you're dragging yourself up using vines, roots, whatever you can get your hands on. Or you're sliding down hills on your butt. Up and down we went, tracking the chimps we could here wildly calling in the distance. The sounds, the landscape, the hiking, we've never experienced anything like it. After traveling quite a bit around the world, it's amazing when you still get those moments of pure joy. The chimps are "semi-habituated", meaning while they are somewhat used to seeing humans, they still run away as soon as they see you. So we only got glimpses of these primates - our closest relatives. But the trip was still absolutely amazing!
After a 7 hour hike we were quite tired, but happy. And even happier when our bus showed up and actually stopped along the road for us with 2 spare seats. We hadn't had confirmation that our seats had been booked, so we were a little worried that we'd be homeless in the middle of nowhere. Just before the bus arrived it also started raining fairly hard. Rain is a daily affair in Rwanda at this time of year - every afternoon it absolutely pours. Never seen it rain so hard before.
The next two nights we stayed in Butare, the intellectual capital of Rwanda with the main university. Students are everywhere, as are also American aid workers. Not much to do here as a tourist, other than wander around and visit the National Museum, which is quite good. We were happy to watch tv - Brian got to see some World Cup rugby and football, so he was happy. And I had some good naps and fantastic chocolate mousse at a local restaurant, so I was happy.
We then took a bus back to Kigali, and then on to Ruhengeri in the west. On the bus to Kigali we met Emmanuel, a 24 year old university student who has a sister currently going to school in Quebec. His English was ok but not great, so we mostly talked in French. He also taught us several words in Rwandan - hello, good morning, how are you, what is your name, where do you
live, etc. The main phrases you need. We practiced on people inside our packed minibus, which entertained everyone.
Emmanuel also told us a bit about himself. He grew up in the western region of Rwanda, on the shores of Lake Kivu. He was 11 years old when the genocide happened in 1994. He lost his parents and 5 brothers. Only he and his sister survived. He said he survived because he could run fast. My heart was breaking when he told us his story, so matter of fact. He said many people are still traumatized by the event, as you'd expect. When you read the paper here the genocide is mentioned quite often. But when you hear such a personal story, it all becomes even more real. Makes the progress Rwanda has made all the more amazing.
The next day we hooked up with Marianne and Adam again, and went to Kinigi, a small community near Parc National des Volcans, where we'd be going gorilla tracking. We spent a few hours that afternoon walking around the area. It took us a long time to get anywhere since we were constantly surrounded by school children, who wanted to talk with us, touch us, get us to take their picture, etc. What amazed me was when a child, I think his name was Sam, asked me to take his picture and email it to him! He actually had an email address! The school apparently has a few computers, so the kids can access email there. Amazing. This is a tiny, poor, agricultural community in the middle of nowhere.
The kids loved getting their photos taken. We'd have groups of 10-15 kids all posing for us, doing goofy things like climbing up small trees, jumping around. Lots of laughing, giggling - nice to see. My face hurt after a while from laughing so much. Made me think of my nephews and nieces - would love to see them here, playing with the local kids!
The next day was September 11th, and my 34th birthday! And what better way to celebrate a birthday than trek around the volcanoes through forests of bamboo, etc. looking for gorillas! Truly an experience of a lifetime. We spent one hour with a family of 11 gorillas. The group is called Titus, after their silverback (the male "chief").
Highlights included getting charged a few times by the blackback of the group - an 11 year old male who is almost a silverback, ie. he's incredibly huge and powerful. To see him running towards you, I swear, is crazy. I thought he was going to hit us, but he veered away. Just wanted to show us who was boss. Another gorilla surprised us from behind and walked right thru our group, brushing by Marianne. You're supposed to be 7 meters away from the gorillas at all times, but that distance is hard to maintain in the bush when the primates choose to come right up to you! We were so close, it was incredible.
Absolutely loved watching one of the babies playing with a patient adolescent. The baby jump around, pound his chest, fall backwards, climb a branch, and jump on top of the other gorilla, playfighting. So so so adorable. We took tons of pictures. All you could hear from our group was click, click, click of the cameras. Unfortunately or fortunately we didn't get too close to the silverback. We could see him lying down behind a bush - and he was absolutely huge. Didn't realize how much adrenalin was flowing through my veins until we left the gorillas and I started to calm down!
Forgot to mention that Rwanda sells 72 permits a day, to visit 9 different groups of gorillas (max 8 people can see a group, and there's only one visitation each day, for one hour). So there were a huge amount of tourists at the park headquarters before the tracking. Everyone goes to different trails/mountains, so you don't see anyone while trekking. But we were just amazed to see so many tourists. We've been spending a bunch of time walking around the communities near the hike, talking with locals, etc., and have not seen one single tourist except at the hotels. Think it's sad that the tourists just hole themselves up on compounds and don't actually explore and experience the real Rwanda! Not sure if they're scared, lazy, apathetic, or what. But they're missing out.
After the tracking the four of us took a bus to Gisenyi, a "resort town" on Lake Kivu, for 3 nights of R&R. The place was dead from a tourist perspective. The town is right on the border of DR Congo - we walked literally down the street a few minutes and came to the border. And we met
many people who live in Goma, Congo, who come across the border for school, entertainment, the beach, to run a business, etc. It's very easy for the people to get back and forth.
Perhaps the tourism industry is slow due to the recent fighting in DR Congo. It was pretty amazing to think that just 25kms away there was some serious fighting going on between Laurent's gorilla soldiers and the government (who have joined forces with the Interhamwe, the people responsible for the Rwandan genocide). Apparently Goma is safe, but we didn't try and go across. No point taking the risk, since things could change so quickly. Would be interesting to see the town, since half of it was smothered by a volcano eruption in 2002.
For two nights Brian and I stayed in a fancy hotel in Gisenyi. It was lovely hanging by the pool, eating amazing dinners, staying in a really nice room. It was the best hotel we've stayed in, in East Africa, and it was only $80 USD a night! Way more than what we would usually pay, but a nice affordable treat.
While in Gisenyi we walked over to the brewery, 5kms along a dirt road, with beautiful views of Lake Kivu. They gave us a tour of the brewery, where they bottle Primus and Mutzig beer. No freebies unfortunately.
While walking around town we also saw a group of men in pink uniforms being led by an armed guard. We assumed they were prisoners, but didn't clue in till the next day when we were at the Genocide Memorial in Kigali that these were prisoners from the Garaca courts - traditional courts which have been brought back to try and efficiently charge the perpetrators of the 1994
genocide. The tribual in Arusha Tanzania is taking care of the main leaders of the genocide (though they've only indicted 17 people so far). These local courts charge local people who took part in the killings. Considering that over a million people were killed, and that many local people were involved, this is a serious undertaking. The Garaca in Gisenyi was on yesterday morning, so all the businesses shut down - people are expected to attend, it's a civil duty.
The Genocide Memorial in Kigali was very good, informative, and heartbreakingly sad. That's all I can say.
Sorry for the very long blog. A lot has happened over the last couple of weeks. And I guess we've been particularly touched by the people, history, wildlife and landscape in Rwanda.
Hope all is well.
Love,
Anne and Brian
Friday, August 31, 2007
Kenyan Adventures
We arrived in Kampala, Uganda after almost 3 weeks traveling around Kenya. Lots of adventures to write about! Our route took us from Mombasa to Tsavo Park on safari, to Nairobi, to Samburu Park, Marsabit, the Chalbi Desert, Lake Turkana, Maralal, and back to Nairobi. Most of it was on tour/safari, since it's near impossible to travel to some of these remote locations on your own, unless you have loads and loads of time.
Some "experiences" to share:
- Seeing the "red dust elephants" of Tsavo, magnificent. The earth is very red in this area, and elephants like to give themselves dirt/mud baths, so they are all painted bright red. We had to have a Masaii warrior walk with us around our campsite at night since the elephants roam thru there. When I say "campsite", we did stay in a tent, but we had real beds and a full bathroom inside the tent. Luxury!
- Samburu park: Seeing 10 cheetahs, including a mom with her cub eating a dead baby gazelle while the mommy gazelle looked mournfully on at a distance. Watching a herd of elephants ford a river, with baby elephant struggling not to get washed away. Dancing with the Samburu people in their village, looking like a complete mzungo fool. Having a monkey jump up beside me and grab a crepe off my plate at breakfast in camp (I did not react in a calm manner unfortunately - no I screamed extremely loud and thru my plate, narrowly missing our friend Roberta. gave everyone a good laugh though.)
- Driving thru the Desert on very rough tracks. You really felt like you're in the middle of nowhere. Watched the sun set over the desert. And cooled off in our camp's "swimming pool" (ie. water tank). Highlight was stopping for lunch "on the side of the road", where a camel herder was resting with around 20 camels. Our friend David from Belgium was keen to ride a camel so he paid the guy a few dollars to (awkwardly) jump onto a camel's back and ride around the field. I was crying I was laughing so hard, watching poor David holding on for dear life onto the camel's hump (he was basically sitting on it's butt) while the camel ran around - he eventually fell off, but he stayed on for 10.5 minutes! Impressive.
- What can I say about Lake Turkana? Out of this world. Where the Constant Gardner was filmed. The lake is huge, and a beautiful blue. Enticing in the heat, but not so tempting when you realize how many crocs live there (though Brian still went in). The weather is super super hot, but with a crazy strong wind so that you couldn't walk upright. The wind whistled thru our straw bandas (huts) all night driving us mad. The land itself is barren - volcanic rock, sand... Nothing grows there. This is where the Turkana and El Molo people live. Don't know how they survive there. They do, barely, with help from the government. They look much poorer and malnutritioned in this region, for sure. But very colourful, with beautiful beaded necklaces similar to the Samburu and Masaii people, and the Turkana women have cool mohawks. There is also still a lot of fighting between tribes. The El Molo village we visited had to uproot itself the week before since it got raided by the Gabra during the night and one person was killed. pretty brutal.
- 5 days trekking on a camel around Maralal in north central kenya. An experience of a lifetime, meaning i don't need to do that again. I was mostly with a 12 year old camel named Jet - quite liked him. Feisty. He liked to body check other camels. And he didn't like getting hit by our Samburu warrior guide ("Doctor"), so he'd try and run to avoid the stick. Fun times. My butt and back still remember well. But seriously it was fun seeing the countryside in this way, sleeping in the bush, walking by zebra, warthogs, gazelle, etc. Our first night we camped by the lake where a couple hundred years ago the Masaii and Samburu split - Masaii went south, and Samburu went north. We passed by many manyattas (villages), and as soon as people spotted us they'd run out to get a better look at the strange mzungos on camels (it was just Brian and I actually on the trip). I'm glad that we could provide some solid entertainment for the region - they all seemed to think it was hilarious. Even donkeys, goats and cows seemed intrigued. If we were walking beside the camels they wouldn't pay attention, but if we rode them they had to rush over to watch. Strange. Anyways, I was glad personally when the trip was over, since I was getting the flu. got back to base camp and our hut just in the nick of time, and spent the rest of the day in bed and in the bathroom. Fun times.
- Worst travel day ever - 13 hour trip from Maralal to Nairobi. took us 8 hours to go less than 100 kms. We got stuck in the mud at least 7 times, and had to have a team of men to pull us out. It was absolute carnage out on the roads, with trucks everywhere. I was just thankful we didn't have to stay the night there, like our driver did the night before. Can't believe that the government wouldn't do something about the roads. Apparently the minister of tourism of kenya went up to Maralal to attend the famous Camel derby, but he of course flew. I took some pictures of the roads so I can send them to him. We took in a few people into our private minibus so that they could help us when we got stuck, including a man and his two small adorable children. Our "niceness' got us nowhere, since when we arrived in Nairobi we discovered we had been robbed. Whoever it was went into our bags and took out select items, including my only pair of shoes, all my contact lenses, our malaria pills, a flashlight, etc. Very upsetting! good reminder that you really can't drop your guard here. Luckily we were able to get more malaria pills in Kampala today, so we're ok.
- 16 hour ride to Kampala, when we thought it was going to be 10 hours. As we were leaving the town of kisumu we read the paper which reported on the big bus crash that happened in that exact spot, just a few days prior. A bus driver swerved to avoid a tanker, and the tanker ripped the bus apart, killing 21 people. The last few hours of our bus ride was in the dark on crazy roads in uganda. thought we were driving in a field rather than a road, but there were big transport trucks whizzing by us.
I'm sure I've missed something, so much has been happening. But now I'm off to pack up and get some sleep - we head to lake Bunyoni tomorrow to relax for 4 days. bought a new book and a new journal so I'm set - have already read at least 7 books since arriving in Africa, and have written one full journal. Need to take full advantage of this time off - as soon as we land in singapore we'll be focused on the job search.
Brian has posted a few pictures on Picasa website. you can reach them using this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/briananderson15/AfricaHoneymoon He did have to crop the pictures quite a bit, and drop down their size, to get them on the site, so they probably don't look as good as they should. But it'll give you an idea!
Love to all,
Anne (and Brian)
Some "experiences" to share:
- Seeing the "red dust elephants" of Tsavo, magnificent. The earth is very red in this area, and elephants like to give themselves dirt/mud baths, so they are all painted bright red. We had to have a Masaii warrior walk with us around our campsite at night since the elephants roam thru there. When I say "campsite", we did stay in a tent, but we had real beds and a full bathroom inside the tent. Luxury!
- Samburu park: Seeing 10 cheetahs, including a mom with her cub eating a dead baby gazelle while the mommy gazelle looked mournfully on at a distance. Watching a herd of elephants ford a river, with baby elephant struggling not to get washed away. Dancing with the Samburu people in their village, looking like a complete mzungo fool. Having a monkey jump up beside me and grab a crepe off my plate at breakfast in camp (I did not react in a calm manner unfortunately - no I screamed extremely loud and thru my plate, narrowly missing our friend Roberta. gave everyone a good laugh though.)
- Driving thru the Desert on very rough tracks. You really felt like you're in the middle of nowhere. Watched the sun set over the desert. And cooled off in our camp's "swimming pool" (ie. water tank). Highlight was stopping for lunch "on the side of the road", where a camel herder was resting with around 20 camels. Our friend David from Belgium was keen to ride a camel so he paid the guy a few dollars to (awkwardly) jump onto a camel's back and ride around the field. I was crying I was laughing so hard, watching poor David holding on for dear life onto the camel's hump (he was basically sitting on it's butt) while the camel ran around - he eventually fell off, but he stayed on for 10.5 minutes! Impressive.
- What can I say about Lake Turkana? Out of this world. Where the Constant Gardner was filmed. The lake is huge, and a beautiful blue. Enticing in the heat, but not so tempting when you realize how many crocs live there (though Brian still went in). The weather is super super hot, but with a crazy strong wind so that you couldn't walk upright. The wind whistled thru our straw bandas (huts) all night driving us mad. The land itself is barren - volcanic rock, sand... Nothing grows there. This is where the Turkana and El Molo people live. Don't know how they survive there. They do, barely, with help from the government. They look much poorer and malnutritioned in this region, for sure. But very colourful, with beautiful beaded necklaces similar to the Samburu and Masaii people, and the Turkana women have cool mohawks. There is also still a lot of fighting between tribes. The El Molo village we visited had to uproot itself the week before since it got raided by the Gabra during the night and one person was killed. pretty brutal.
- 5 days trekking on a camel around Maralal in north central kenya. An experience of a lifetime, meaning i don't need to do that again. I was mostly with a 12 year old camel named Jet - quite liked him. Feisty. He liked to body check other camels. And he didn't like getting hit by our Samburu warrior guide ("Doctor"), so he'd try and run to avoid the stick. Fun times. My butt and back still remember well. But seriously it was fun seeing the countryside in this way, sleeping in the bush, walking by zebra, warthogs, gazelle, etc. Our first night we camped by the lake where a couple hundred years ago the Masaii and Samburu split - Masaii went south, and Samburu went north. We passed by many manyattas (villages), and as soon as people spotted us they'd run out to get a better look at the strange mzungos on camels (it was just Brian and I actually on the trip). I'm glad that we could provide some solid entertainment for the region - they all seemed to think it was hilarious. Even donkeys, goats and cows seemed intrigued. If we were walking beside the camels they wouldn't pay attention, but if we rode them they had to rush over to watch. Strange. Anyways, I was glad personally when the trip was over, since I was getting the flu. got back to base camp and our hut just in the nick of time, and spent the rest of the day in bed and in the bathroom. Fun times.
- Worst travel day ever - 13 hour trip from Maralal to Nairobi. took us 8 hours to go less than 100 kms. We got stuck in the mud at least 7 times, and had to have a team of men to pull us out. It was absolute carnage out on the roads, with trucks everywhere. I was just thankful we didn't have to stay the night there, like our driver did the night before. Can't believe that the government wouldn't do something about the roads. Apparently the minister of tourism of kenya went up to Maralal to attend the famous Camel derby, but he of course flew. I took some pictures of the roads so I can send them to him. We took in a few people into our private minibus so that they could help us when we got stuck, including a man and his two small adorable children. Our "niceness' got us nowhere, since when we arrived in Nairobi we discovered we had been robbed. Whoever it was went into our bags and took out select items, including my only pair of shoes, all my contact lenses, our malaria pills, a flashlight, etc. Very upsetting! good reminder that you really can't drop your guard here. Luckily we were able to get more malaria pills in Kampala today, so we're ok.
- 16 hour ride to Kampala, when we thought it was going to be 10 hours. As we were leaving the town of kisumu we read the paper which reported on the big bus crash that happened in that exact spot, just a few days prior. A bus driver swerved to avoid a tanker, and the tanker ripped the bus apart, killing 21 people. The last few hours of our bus ride was in the dark on crazy roads in uganda. thought we were driving in a field rather than a road, but there were big transport trucks whizzing by us.
I'm sure I've missed something, so much has been happening. But now I'm off to pack up and get some sleep - we head to lake Bunyoni tomorrow to relax for 4 days. bought a new book and a new journal so I'm set - have already read at least 7 books since arriving in Africa, and have written one full journal. Need to take full advantage of this time off - as soon as we land in singapore we'll be focused on the job search.
Brian has posted a few pictures on Picasa website. you can reach them using this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/briananderson15/AfricaHoneymoon He did have to crop the pictures quite a bit, and drop down their size, to get them on the site, so they probably don't look as good as they should. But it'll give you an idea!
Love to all,
Anne (and Brian)
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Life on the road
Can't believe we've been in Africa for 2 months now! Only 1.5 months to go now before we head to Asia. We just arrived in Kenya yesterday (Mombasa - Kenya's second biggest city on the coast), after spending just over 3 weeks in Tanzania.
Last time we wrote we were in Zanzibar, in the old Swahili Stone Town. The town itself was very interesting - lots of tight winding "streets" (really small corridors, but people still whizzed around on motor bikes), white washed buildings with beautiful carved wood doors, Mosques around every corner, bustling markets, and interesting museums/ruins. We went into an old Omani bathhouse, as well as down into a cellar where they kept the slaves who were to be sold in the slave market. They built a beautiful church on the site of the slave market - the altar is situated where the old whipping post used to be. We also visited the night market a couple nights for dinner - for a couple of dollars you can feast on things like Zanzibar pancakes, samosas, french fries, meat sticks, etc. Not exactly fine cuisine, but tasty. They also have tons of seafood, but we didn't get that adventurous. We did try the fresh cane juice. They press it there in front of you, and add lemon juice and ginger. Very yummy. Two gentlemen from Oman bought us a round, which was very nice.
After Stone Town we spent 2.5 days at the beach - staying in a bungalow right on the beach on the East Coast of Zanzibar island. There were only 5 bungalows at the "resort", and nothing else along the beach except for a small village a little ways away, so it was really quite deserted. We swam, went snorkeling on the reef (not the best, but still fun), got burnt, and read tons. Also met a nice couple (French/Slovakian) so we didn't have to talk to each other all the time :)
After the beach we took the ferry back to Dar Es Salaam. A somewhat hellish 2 hours, but we survived. The waves were pretty huge so the boat was very bumpy. People in the front of the boat were screaming for a good half hour at the beginning. I didn't see anyone get sick, but I'm sure there were many - we were just trying to hang in there. And on top of all that, they played Michael Jackson music videos for over an hour, and then Celine Dion!
After spending an evening in Dar we took the luxury bus up to Mombo. They gave us cookies, juice, water, and showed a movie! The movie was called "Prey", and it's about a family going on safari in Africa and getting hunted by a lion (the lion kills their guide, along with a few other people). Found this very amusing since there were many tourists on the bus heading up to Arusha, which is the starting point for Serengetti safaris! Someone working on the bus had a twisted sense of humour.
So, we got off at Mombo with another couple - the four of us got into a minibus headed up to the town of Lushoto. It looked comfortable enough, but we soon realized that they wouldn't leave until they had filled up the van. And "filling the van" in Tanzania is very different from North America. At one point we had 25 adults in the minibus, plus at least a couple of kids. Crazy! An uncomfortable 1.5 hour ride, but it was up a beautiful winding road through the mountains.
In Lushoto we found a cheap place to stay - for less than $7 we had a room with a double bed, ensuite bathroom (squat toilet and cold bucket shower, but at least something), and a tv (showing whatever channel they were watching in the lobby). Can't beat that! (Trying to stay positive here)
We then went on a 2.5 day hike, with a guide and the other couple (Polish/Dutch) from the minibus. It was amazing! We walked from village to village in the beautiful Usambara mountains. The villagers plant banana trees, yams, cabbage, rice, sugar cane, avocados, potatoe, trees, etc. It's so green and gorgeous, with the hills all terraced - every inch of land is used. White people don't visit the area too too ofen, so as soon as you approach a village you hear little voices yelling "Mzunga, mzunga!" (white people), and they all come screaming to see you - asking us to take their picture, etc. Some kids would cry and run away if you approached them (when I say "you", I mean Brian :) The secondary school kids would often want to talk to us so they could practice their English. Also chatted a bit with the nuns and priest at the convent that we stayed at the one evening (where there was no electricity - not even a generator - so we stumbled around with candles after foolishly leaving our flashlights in Lushoto). It was an amazing experience - the landscape, culture, everything. Our last day we had to get up at 3:50am, to take the 4am bus back to near Lushoto. 2 hours on a bumpy uncomfortable bus in the middle of the night - not exactly fun! Was glad to get off and hike for a couple more hours to a beautiful view point and an excellent breakfast.
After this we went back on the road, again with the Polish/Dutch couple, taking a local bus from Lushoto to Tanga on the coast. Another killer uncomfortable bus ride. The local buses stop every few minutes - people get on, get off, etc. They pack as many people as they can in - when you think, no they can't fit any more people on, they stop and 5 more people get on! Insane. But as they say in Africa, Hakuna Matata. Our backpacks were tied onto the roof, which was a bit worriesome. Hakuna Matata. If they fall off, they fall off - nothing you can do. (But we were fine!)
After getting off at Tanga we were under siege by around 10 guys all trying to sell us bus tickets to Mombasa, etc. Nina (Polish girl) and I looked after the bags while the boys looked for the best deal. The four of us were extremely pissed off by the time we left, and were hating Tanga already - couldn't believe how much they were harrassing us, lying to us, etc. Hakuna matata ? We decided to book the tickets the next day, since we didn't trust anyone enough to pay in advance.
The next morning at the bus station was another gong show. We finally got on a minibus headed to Mombasa, express. But as we were leaving they were still piling people in so that it was quite squishy. The couple we were with weren't impressed, so they ended up getting off to find a more comfie bus. Brian and I stuck it out - we just wanted to get to Mombasa - and it didn't really turn out that bad. Met a nice Kenyan man who gave us advice on where to go.
Mombasa - lots of headaches trying to book a safari in Tsavo Park. Won't get into it, but it took quite a few hours of our time. Could have gotten a cheaper price, but the guy lied to us a couple of time so we didn't want to give him our money. Going with a reputable company, and it's just the two of us, so should be good. Brian's trying not to have a heart attack over the cost :)
Last night was amazing - we went on a dinner cruise in the harbour. Again very expensive, but worth it. We were on a beautiful dhow (traditional wooden sail boat, with gorgeous carvings, etc.), the weather was perfect, the dinner (seafood) was incredible... So romantic that a guy there proposed to his girlfriend on the dance floor, while the cheesy band was singing a depressing James Blunt song, and the rest of us watched. Very funny.
Did enjoy getting dressed up a bit (even wore lipstick!) and going out in style. You wouldn't recognize Brian - he's got a beard now! Yes, a full beard. We are taking pictures - but still not having any luck posting unfortunately. At some point, we promise!
Today we hung out in town, visited the old Portugese Fort Jesus, wandered around the Old Town, etc. This internet cafe is getting very very hot, so I think we'll head to a local pub and have a beer now...
In case you're interested, our itinerary looks like this:
August 13-15: Tsavo safari
August 15/16: Night bus to Nairobi, stay in Nairobi
August 17: Depart on a 13 day trip to Samburu, Marsabit, Lake Turkana, Maralal, and a 5 day Camel Safari, then back to Nairobi
Then we take a bus to Uganda...
Take care!
Anne (and Brian).
Last time we wrote we were in Zanzibar, in the old Swahili Stone Town. The town itself was very interesting - lots of tight winding "streets" (really small corridors, but people still whizzed around on motor bikes), white washed buildings with beautiful carved wood doors, Mosques around every corner, bustling markets, and interesting museums/ruins. We went into an old Omani bathhouse, as well as down into a cellar where they kept the slaves who were to be sold in the slave market. They built a beautiful church on the site of the slave market - the altar is situated where the old whipping post used to be. We also visited the night market a couple nights for dinner - for a couple of dollars you can feast on things like Zanzibar pancakes, samosas, french fries, meat sticks, etc. Not exactly fine cuisine, but tasty. They also have tons of seafood, but we didn't get that adventurous. We did try the fresh cane juice. They press it there in front of you, and add lemon juice and ginger. Very yummy. Two gentlemen from Oman bought us a round, which was very nice.
After Stone Town we spent 2.5 days at the beach - staying in a bungalow right on the beach on the East Coast of Zanzibar island. There were only 5 bungalows at the "resort", and nothing else along the beach except for a small village a little ways away, so it was really quite deserted. We swam, went snorkeling on the reef (not the best, but still fun), got burnt, and read tons. Also met a nice couple (French/Slovakian) so we didn't have to talk to each other all the time :)
After the beach we took the ferry back to Dar Es Salaam. A somewhat hellish 2 hours, but we survived. The waves were pretty huge so the boat was very bumpy. People in the front of the boat were screaming for a good half hour at the beginning. I didn't see anyone get sick, but I'm sure there were many - we were just trying to hang in there. And on top of all that, they played Michael Jackson music videos for over an hour, and then Celine Dion!
After spending an evening in Dar we took the luxury bus up to Mombo. They gave us cookies, juice, water, and showed a movie! The movie was called "Prey", and it's about a family going on safari in Africa and getting hunted by a lion (the lion kills their guide, along with a few other people). Found this very amusing since there were many tourists on the bus heading up to Arusha, which is the starting point for Serengetti safaris! Someone working on the bus had a twisted sense of humour.
So, we got off at Mombo with another couple - the four of us got into a minibus headed up to the town of Lushoto. It looked comfortable enough, but we soon realized that they wouldn't leave until they had filled up the van. And "filling the van" in Tanzania is very different from North America. At one point we had 25 adults in the minibus, plus at least a couple of kids. Crazy! An uncomfortable 1.5 hour ride, but it was up a beautiful winding road through the mountains.
In Lushoto we found a cheap place to stay - for less than $7 we had a room with a double bed, ensuite bathroom (squat toilet and cold bucket shower, but at least something), and a tv (showing whatever channel they were watching in the lobby). Can't beat that! (Trying to stay positive here)
We then went on a 2.5 day hike, with a guide and the other couple (Polish/Dutch) from the minibus. It was amazing! We walked from village to village in the beautiful Usambara mountains. The villagers plant banana trees, yams, cabbage, rice, sugar cane, avocados, potatoe, trees, etc. It's so green and gorgeous, with the hills all terraced - every inch of land is used. White people don't visit the area too too ofen, so as soon as you approach a village you hear little voices yelling "Mzunga, mzunga!" (white people), and they all come screaming to see you - asking us to take their picture, etc. Some kids would cry and run away if you approached them (when I say "you", I mean Brian :) The secondary school kids would often want to talk to us so they could practice their English. Also chatted a bit with the nuns and priest at the convent that we stayed at the one evening (where there was no electricity - not even a generator - so we stumbled around with candles after foolishly leaving our flashlights in Lushoto). It was an amazing experience - the landscape, culture, everything. Our last day we had to get up at 3:50am, to take the 4am bus back to near Lushoto. 2 hours on a bumpy uncomfortable bus in the middle of the night - not exactly fun! Was glad to get off and hike for a couple more hours to a beautiful view point and an excellent breakfast.
After this we went back on the road, again with the Polish/Dutch couple, taking a local bus from Lushoto to Tanga on the coast. Another killer uncomfortable bus ride. The local buses stop every few minutes - people get on, get off, etc. They pack as many people as they can in - when you think, no they can't fit any more people on, they stop and 5 more people get on! Insane. But as they say in Africa, Hakuna Matata. Our backpacks were tied onto the roof, which was a bit worriesome. Hakuna Matata. If they fall off, they fall off - nothing you can do. (But we were fine!)
After getting off at Tanga we were under siege by around 10 guys all trying to sell us bus tickets to Mombasa, etc. Nina (Polish girl) and I looked after the bags while the boys looked for the best deal. The four of us were extremely pissed off by the time we left, and were hating Tanga already - couldn't believe how much they were harrassing us, lying to us, etc. Hakuna matata ? We decided to book the tickets the next day, since we didn't trust anyone enough to pay in advance.
The next morning at the bus station was another gong show. We finally got on a minibus headed to Mombasa, express. But as we were leaving they were still piling people in so that it was quite squishy. The couple we were with weren't impressed, so they ended up getting off to find a more comfie bus. Brian and I stuck it out - we just wanted to get to Mombasa - and it didn't really turn out that bad. Met a nice Kenyan man who gave us advice on where to go.
Mombasa - lots of headaches trying to book a safari in Tsavo Park. Won't get into it, but it took quite a few hours of our time. Could have gotten a cheaper price, but the guy lied to us a couple of time so we didn't want to give him our money. Going with a reputable company, and it's just the two of us, so should be good. Brian's trying not to have a heart attack over the cost :)
Last night was amazing - we went on a dinner cruise in the harbour. Again very expensive, but worth it. We were on a beautiful dhow (traditional wooden sail boat, with gorgeous carvings, etc.), the weather was perfect, the dinner (seafood) was incredible... So romantic that a guy there proposed to his girlfriend on the dance floor, while the cheesy band was singing a depressing James Blunt song, and the rest of us watched. Very funny.
Did enjoy getting dressed up a bit (even wore lipstick!) and going out in style. You wouldn't recognize Brian - he's got a beard now! Yes, a full beard. We are taking pictures - but still not having any luck posting unfortunately. At some point, we promise!
Today we hung out in town, visited the old Portugese Fort Jesus, wandered around the Old Town, etc. This internet cafe is getting very very hot, so I think we'll head to a local pub and have a beer now...
In case you're interested, our itinerary looks like this:
August 13-15: Tsavo safari
August 15/16: Night bus to Nairobi, stay in Nairobi
August 17: Depart on a 13 day trip to Samburu, Marsabit, Lake Turkana, Maralal, and a 5 day Camel Safari, then back to Nairobi
Then we take a bus to Uganda...
Take care!
Anne (and Brian).
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Zanzibar
Not sure where Anne left off - today we had a nice day in a Spice plantation and then an isolated beach. Now I'm attempting the first picture upload... Last night we had drinks and dinner at a place called Mercury's (because Freddie of Queen fame was born nearby). It was right on the beach and we had a front row seat to the sunset and a game of football by the local kids. Very pleasant and civilised. And we even have hot water at the place we're staying now! The last two were cold showers and bucket baths. If Anne had it her way I'm sure we'd have nice showers every night! Hmm. The uploading isn't going so well. I'll try on Picasa and post the web address later if it works.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
East African Adventures
Last time we posted we were in Joburg - our last day there was spent at the Apartheid museum. 5 hours and we still felt like we were rushing it. Excellent museum. We then said goodbye to South Africa and flew to Nairobi, where we began our official honeymoon. We were picked up at the airport and taken to our hotel in the city. Fairly fancy hotel (though not really by western standards), we had a suite with a tv which was very exciting. Went for a nice dip in the heated swimming pool, and an ok dinner while being serenaded by a cheesy lounge singer.
The next day we were picked up and driven to the Tanzanian border. We had been worried about getting visas, but have had no problems. The immigration lady at the Kenya airport was the nicest immig. officer i've ever seen, and for Tanzania our driver gave our passports and money to a lady who took it into the office and processed it all for us. Super easy. The drive itself was very nice (though the potholes on the main road in Kenya weren't enjoyable) - saw lots of Masaii in the fields looking after their cattle, and we're still enjoying greenery after spending so much time in the desert.
Arusha, Tanzania, was a big tourist town. you couldn't walk around without getting mobbed by people trying to sell you stuff. Some boys took us around the local market which was interesting - the butchers, the live chickens, the fish, the maize ... Very lively.
Now we get to the good stuff - our private safari in Tanzania! Unbelievable, that's all we can say. If you love animals, you must go to these parks (and the Galapagos in South america)! We went to Lake Manyara, the Serengeti (north and central), Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire Parks. Each one was incredible. Over the trip we were fortunate to see the Big 6 - at least 20 lions (yeah!), a leopard, two black rhinos, many buffalo, many elephant, and many many hippos - all pretty close to us except for maybe the rhinos. We also saw a few cheetahs - two who were trying to hunt some gazelle but failed miserably, and one which hung out near our vehicle for quite some time, and walked right by us crossing the road. That was pretty cool since we were the only people around.
Probably my highlight was seeing an older male lion at the side of the road with his kill - a male ostrich!!! We got up really really close - hit the branches of the tree that the lion was sitting under (he looked a bit startled at that, but then went back to sleep, so exhausted after the kill he hadn't even started to eat yet). Our guide, Mbaula, was pretty excited about this, too, since he had just told us the previous day that ostrich rarely get killed by lions since they're so fast.
It was fantastic having a private guided safari. We had a huge land cruiser all to ourselves, Mbaula all to ourselves, and we stayed at nice lodges every night, eating huge buffet meals three times a day. We were with Leopard tours, which is pretty big - they have around 200 vehicles in the area. Which meant our guide would regularly get messages from the other drivers so he would know where the more unusual animals were. Seeing a leopard walk right by you is pretty cool!
It was literally the tail end of the migration. Ha ha ha. We were seeing the last of the wildebeest and zebra make their way to the Masaii Mara just north of the Serengeti. There were huge lines of them moving along, eating along the way. I took tons of pictures of the zebras - they're such beautiful animals. actually, i took tons of pictures of all the animals. We will eventually get the photos up. Brian tried to burn them onto a dvd in Arusha after the safari, but we ran out of time, the computer was too slow.
So, safari done, we had to figure out what else to do. The original plan to hike Mt Meru was quashed after seeing the prices and realizing how out of shape we were. So, instead we decided to take a local bus from Arusha to katesh, in more central tanzania. good luck finding it on a map - it's quite small. We met with a guide there, who gave us a tour of the town. It was amazing! Very authentic (the tourism marketing person in me). All the school kids followed us around town, wanting to shake our hands, say hello. We watched the local ladies frying up fish in the market, etc. And we ate traditional meals of ugali (maize) or rice with beef and veggies.
The next day we hiked up Mt Hanang - the 4th largest mountain in Tanzania, at 3400 metres. It took us an hour to get to the base of the mountain, and then another 3.5 hours to the first peak (3200 metres), climbing around 1800 metres, and I was totally beaten! I had a nap for over an hour at the top before I felt good enough to go back down. Brutal. Took us 3.5 hours to get back down and to our guest house in town. glad we did it, the hike was beautiful (lots of wildflowers, nice views). And there were no other tourists around, except for 3 Brits who did the hike with us.
So now we come to yesterday - one of the worst travel days I think I've ever had. Yet a memorable experience. We spent 12 hours on 3 buses, with no breaks in between (not even one potty break, and no mealtime!), to get from Katesh to Dodoman, Tanzania's capital city. One section of the road, which was around 18 kms long, took us over an hour. It took us 9 hours to cover 250 kms. The buses were absolutely packed, with people, luggage and a few chickens. One stretch was so bumpy that I was body checking the poor old man I was sitting with, and had a guy in the aisle pretty much sitting on me. The buses were falling apart... The roads were so dusty that the greenery beside us was brown, and our bags and clothes came out of the bus brown. you know, at first i was thinking this is amazing - a real Tanzanian experience. But after 10 hours I was fantasizing about a cold Fanta orange soda, a shower, and taking a luxury bus next time! have to say that all the people we met along the way were extremely nice and helpful, making sure that we had seats most of the time (kicking people out of their seats for us, which was a bit embarassing), making sure we got on the right connecting buses, etc. Really really nice.
And today we spent the day in Dodoma. A very quiet capital city. It is sunday, so most people were going to church, etc. But i have a feeling this is always a pretty relaxed town. Only have seen a couple of tourists, so think white people are still unusual here. again had kids following us around - very cute - and pretty much everyone stares at us. i'm ok with that!
Tomorrow we're off to dar es salaam, the real social and economic capital of Tanzania. We'll spend a couple of nights there before we go to Zanzibar and relax in a swahili town and on the beach.
hope all is well!
The next day we were picked up and driven to the Tanzanian border. We had been worried about getting visas, but have had no problems. The immigration lady at the Kenya airport was the nicest immig. officer i've ever seen, and for Tanzania our driver gave our passports and money to a lady who took it into the office and processed it all for us. Super easy. The drive itself was very nice (though the potholes on the main road in Kenya weren't enjoyable) - saw lots of Masaii in the fields looking after their cattle, and we're still enjoying greenery after spending so much time in the desert.
Arusha, Tanzania, was a big tourist town. you couldn't walk around without getting mobbed by people trying to sell you stuff. Some boys took us around the local market which was interesting - the butchers, the live chickens, the fish, the maize ... Very lively.
Now we get to the good stuff - our private safari in Tanzania! Unbelievable, that's all we can say. If you love animals, you must go to these parks (and the Galapagos in South america)! We went to Lake Manyara, the Serengeti (north and central), Ngorongoro Crater and Tarangire Parks. Each one was incredible. Over the trip we were fortunate to see the Big 6 - at least 20 lions (yeah!), a leopard, two black rhinos, many buffalo, many elephant, and many many hippos - all pretty close to us except for maybe the rhinos. We also saw a few cheetahs - two who were trying to hunt some gazelle but failed miserably, and one which hung out near our vehicle for quite some time, and walked right by us crossing the road. That was pretty cool since we were the only people around.
Probably my highlight was seeing an older male lion at the side of the road with his kill - a male ostrich!!! We got up really really close - hit the branches of the tree that the lion was sitting under (he looked a bit startled at that, but then went back to sleep, so exhausted after the kill he hadn't even started to eat yet). Our guide, Mbaula, was pretty excited about this, too, since he had just told us the previous day that ostrich rarely get killed by lions since they're so fast.
It was fantastic having a private guided safari. We had a huge land cruiser all to ourselves, Mbaula all to ourselves, and we stayed at nice lodges every night, eating huge buffet meals three times a day. We were with Leopard tours, which is pretty big - they have around 200 vehicles in the area. Which meant our guide would regularly get messages from the other drivers so he would know where the more unusual animals were. Seeing a leopard walk right by you is pretty cool!
It was literally the tail end of the migration. Ha ha ha. We were seeing the last of the wildebeest and zebra make their way to the Masaii Mara just north of the Serengeti. There were huge lines of them moving along, eating along the way. I took tons of pictures of the zebras - they're such beautiful animals. actually, i took tons of pictures of all the animals. We will eventually get the photos up. Brian tried to burn them onto a dvd in Arusha after the safari, but we ran out of time, the computer was too slow.
So, safari done, we had to figure out what else to do. The original plan to hike Mt Meru was quashed after seeing the prices and realizing how out of shape we were. So, instead we decided to take a local bus from Arusha to katesh, in more central tanzania. good luck finding it on a map - it's quite small. We met with a guide there, who gave us a tour of the town. It was amazing! Very authentic (the tourism marketing person in me). All the school kids followed us around town, wanting to shake our hands, say hello. We watched the local ladies frying up fish in the market, etc. And we ate traditional meals of ugali (maize) or rice with beef and veggies.
The next day we hiked up Mt Hanang - the 4th largest mountain in Tanzania, at 3400 metres. It took us an hour to get to the base of the mountain, and then another 3.5 hours to the first peak (3200 metres), climbing around 1800 metres, and I was totally beaten! I had a nap for over an hour at the top before I felt good enough to go back down. Brutal. Took us 3.5 hours to get back down and to our guest house in town. glad we did it, the hike was beautiful (lots of wildflowers, nice views). And there were no other tourists around, except for 3 Brits who did the hike with us.
So now we come to yesterday - one of the worst travel days I think I've ever had. Yet a memorable experience. We spent 12 hours on 3 buses, with no breaks in between (not even one potty break, and no mealtime!), to get from Katesh to Dodoman, Tanzania's capital city. One section of the road, which was around 18 kms long, took us over an hour. It took us 9 hours to cover 250 kms. The buses were absolutely packed, with people, luggage and a few chickens. One stretch was so bumpy that I was body checking the poor old man I was sitting with, and had a guy in the aisle pretty much sitting on me. The buses were falling apart... The roads were so dusty that the greenery beside us was brown, and our bags and clothes came out of the bus brown. you know, at first i was thinking this is amazing - a real Tanzanian experience. But after 10 hours I was fantasizing about a cold Fanta orange soda, a shower, and taking a luxury bus next time! have to say that all the people we met along the way were extremely nice and helpful, making sure that we had seats most of the time (kicking people out of their seats for us, which was a bit embarassing), making sure we got on the right connecting buses, etc. Really really nice.
And today we spent the day in Dodoma. A very quiet capital city. It is sunday, so most people were going to church, etc. But i have a feeling this is always a pretty relaxed town. Only have seen a couple of tourists, so think white people are still unusual here. again had kids following us around - very cute - and pretty much everyone stares at us. i'm ok with that!
Tomorrow we're off to dar es salaam, the real social and economic capital of Tanzania. We'll spend a couple of nights there before we go to Zanzibar and relax in a swahili town and on the beach.
hope all is well!
Monday, July 16, 2007
Our South African Adventure
Well, we've made it to Johannesburg safe and sound, after an amazing trip around Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. We were on an overland tour with Drifters, a South African adventure travel company. Covered 8,000 km in 24 days - wow! It's like driving across Canada 1.5 times. We had a group of 13 people including our guide - most of the people were from Germany and Switzerland.
I had been really looking forward to seeing Namibia - the pictures I had seen of the dunes were amazing. Much of the country is desert. The Namib desert is the only desert which touches the ocean. So, of course, Brian and I had to go up in a plane 10,000 feet and jump out to get the proper view of this phenomenen. Truly amazing. We dropped 5,000 feet in 30 seconds - and this time I was totally relaxed and enjoyed the whole thing. We also went quad biking on the dunes for a couple of hours, and hiked up a couple of the large dunes - and ran down them (like walking on the moon, you just float down). There's only 1.7 million people in the country, so it's quite empty really. We watched lots of beautiful sunsets atop rocky mountains with vast views of the desert plains (and the rocks you're sitting on are hundreds of millions of years old!).
The wildlife in Namibia was also amazing. We had a truly unusual experience in Palmwag, where a huge male elephant visited our campsite during the evening while we were having dinner (a lovely braii, aka bbq). It was just a few metres away, chomping away on trees and bushes. We walked right up to it when it was hanging out behind our bathroom. A stare down resulted in us carefully walking away backwards. Scary! Our guide said he has never had clients that close to an elephant while on foot before. In Namibia's Etosha Park we saw tons of giraffe, zebras, elephant, birds, all kinds of antelope, jackal, etc.
We unfortunately only had 3 days in Botswana - would definitely like to go back. We took a 40 minute scenic flight over the Okavanga Delta. Out of this world! You could see huge herds of elephants, hippos, giraffe, etc. grazing and browsing in the marshland - plus really see the Delta. We were picked up at a small airstrip, and taken by truck then mekoro (a traditional canoe with a poler pushing it thru the water) to our remote campsite. We had a bush walk and a sunset mekoro ride, and saw a giraffe - but no hippos, thank goodness. A hippos fresh track went past our tent, but we didn't see anything. Ignorance is bliss.
We also had a game drive in Chobe park in Botswana, where we saw tons and tons of Elephants. I've got pictures of elephants doing everything imaginable - having a mud bath, drinking, snorkelling in the water, babies playing, adults fighting... We have actually taken over 1000 pictures since we arrived in Africa. Is that a lot? :) And yes, we'll make you all look at each and every one of them when we get home. Just joking!
Now I get to Zimbabwe. I'm sure you've read the news and heard that there's a lot of stuff going on there right now. Bad situation. We spent 4 days in Zimbabwe and really loved it - the people, the landscape, the wildlife, the lodges/camps, everything. I'd love to go back. Highlights included seeing Victoria Falls - and seeing it from the sky, since we took a helicopter tour above it. Brian also did the bunji jump over the gorge by the falls. Yes, he's crazy, but didn't hurt anything. The market in Victoria Falls was soooo much fun. We had a great time bartering and joking around with the guys. Just bought one small carving. But got offered a job from one guy :)
And in Zimbabwe we stayed at the most beautiful lodge ever. Brian and i had our own tree hut, all open concept with beautiful views of the watering hole where at least 50 elephants visited in the afternoon. You could watch the watering hole even from a luxurious bath tub! We were going to have our bottle of champagne there (since it coincided with our 3 month anniversary and a Friday the 13th), but unfortunately Brian was a bit under the weather with a flu bug. But he's ok now.
In Zimbabwe we also went for a bush walk with a guide and got 20 metres away from 3 white rhino! Very cool. They can only see up to 15 metres, so they couldn't see us, but they knew we were there - their ears were twitching like crazy.
That's just a few of the highlights. WE're now hanging in Joburg for 2 nights. Most likely go to the Apartheid museum tomorrow. Then fly to Nairobi on Wednesday and start Part 2 of our adventure.
Miss you all! Send updates whenever you can - love to hear from you. We just don't get to computers very often, so I apologize if we don't email back very often.
We'll be going thru our pictures soon and posting a few...
Love,
Anne & Brian
I had been really looking forward to seeing Namibia - the pictures I had seen of the dunes were amazing. Much of the country is desert. The Namib desert is the only desert which touches the ocean. So, of course, Brian and I had to go up in a plane 10,000 feet and jump out to get the proper view of this phenomenen. Truly amazing. We dropped 5,000 feet in 30 seconds - and this time I was totally relaxed and enjoyed the whole thing. We also went quad biking on the dunes for a couple of hours, and hiked up a couple of the large dunes - and ran down them (like walking on the moon, you just float down). There's only 1.7 million people in the country, so it's quite empty really. We watched lots of beautiful sunsets atop rocky mountains with vast views of the desert plains (and the rocks you're sitting on are hundreds of millions of years old!).
The wildlife in Namibia was also amazing. We had a truly unusual experience in Palmwag, where a huge male elephant visited our campsite during the evening while we were having dinner (a lovely braii, aka bbq). It was just a few metres away, chomping away on trees and bushes. We walked right up to it when it was hanging out behind our bathroom. A stare down resulted in us carefully walking away backwards. Scary! Our guide said he has never had clients that close to an elephant while on foot before. In Namibia's Etosha Park we saw tons of giraffe, zebras, elephant, birds, all kinds of antelope, jackal, etc.
We unfortunately only had 3 days in Botswana - would definitely like to go back. We took a 40 minute scenic flight over the Okavanga Delta. Out of this world! You could see huge herds of elephants, hippos, giraffe, etc. grazing and browsing in the marshland - plus really see the Delta. We were picked up at a small airstrip, and taken by truck then mekoro (a traditional canoe with a poler pushing it thru the water) to our remote campsite. We had a bush walk and a sunset mekoro ride, and saw a giraffe - but no hippos, thank goodness. A hippos fresh track went past our tent, but we didn't see anything. Ignorance is bliss.
We also had a game drive in Chobe park in Botswana, where we saw tons and tons of Elephants. I've got pictures of elephants doing everything imaginable - having a mud bath, drinking, snorkelling in the water, babies playing, adults fighting... We have actually taken over 1000 pictures since we arrived in Africa. Is that a lot? :) And yes, we'll make you all look at each and every one of them when we get home. Just joking!
Now I get to Zimbabwe. I'm sure you've read the news and heard that there's a lot of stuff going on there right now. Bad situation. We spent 4 days in Zimbabwe and really loved it - the people, the landscape, the wildlife, the lodges/camps, everything. I'd love to go back. Highlights included seeing Victoria Falls - and seeing it from the sky, since we took a helicopter tour above it. Brian also did the bunji jump over the gorge by the falls. Yes, he's crazy, but didn't hurt anything. The market in Victoria Falls was soooo much fun. We had a great time bartering and joking around with the guys. Just bought one small carving. But got offered a job from one guy :)
And in Zimbabwe we stayed at the most beautiful lodge ever. Brian and i had our own tree hut, all open concept with beautiful views of the watering hole where at least 50 elephants visited in the afternoon. You could watch the watering hole even from a luxurious bath tub! We were going to have our bottle of champagne there (since it coincided with our 3 month anniversary and a Friday the 13th), but unfortunately Brian was a bit under the weather with a flu bug. But he's ok now.
In Zimbabwe we also went for a bush walk with a guide and got 20 metres away from 3 white rhino! Very cool. They can only see up to 15 metres, so they couldn't see us, but they knew we were there - their ears were twitching like crazy.
That's just a few of the highlights. WE're now hanging in Joburg for 2 nights. Most likely go to the Apartheid museum tomorrow. Then fly to Nairobi on Wednesday and start Part 2 of our adventure.
Miss you all! Send updates whenever you can - love to hear from you. We just don't get to computers very often, so I apologize if we don't email back very often.
We'll be going thru our pictures soon and posting a few...
Love,
Anne & Brian
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Update from Cape Town before hitting the road
Hello from South Africa!
Brian and I have hit the road, honeymooning in Africa for 3 1/2 months. We've been here for 1 1/2 weeks so far, and are really enjoying it. Right now we're in Cape Town, just having joined our Drifters tour group with whom we spend the next 24 days traveling up thru Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Here's a quick synopsis of our top 10 experiences thus far:
10) Singapore Airlines - who knew a 30 hour plane ride could be enjoyable? At least we caught up on our sleep and movies!
9) Hiking in South Africa's Drakensburg mountains and going into northern Lesotho, hanging out with the spiritual healer, looking at very old bushmen (San people) rock art paintings, and drinking pineapple beer.
8) Sharing a bottle of wine with an Australian couple who travelled for 9 months by motorbike, from London to Cape Town - thru West Africa. I feel very unadventurous! Crazy stories.
7) Riding in the back of a police car. Umm, well the police offered to drive us to our hostel from the train station, honest! They were bored? Who said there's a lot of crime in South Africa? These particular police officers usually work in the townships where there's a lot of gang/drug
violence going on. They were just in town in case the protests during the strike got violent.
6) The tourist stuff - visited Robben Island (Mandela's cell was under renovation so we couldn't see it unfortunately), hiked around Table mountain and the Cape Point, etc. We also sat with an American girl for a while at our hostel in Joburg and had a history lesson - she's doing her Phd on South African history. Looking forward to going to the Apartheid Museum in Joburg next month, as well as touring around the Soweto townships.
5) Wine tasting and eating tons of gourmet food/cheese in Franschhoek, in the wine region near Cape Town. Food is soo cheap here - and the wine is quite tasty. The one vineyard gave us a free bottle of pinot noir bubbly to celebrate our honeymoon.
4) Traveling by train for 26 hours from Joburg to Cape Town - drinking a bottle of wine, being waited on, traveling in style! Never mind there was no heat on the train whatsoever, and I had to sleep with my touque on, buried in my sleeping bag. It is winter here! Looking forward to warm Namibian desert weather.
3) Having pints in the pub watching the Tri Nation rugby games. Had to cheer softly when the All Blacks beat South Africa.
2) Penguins, African penguins, tons of them! Need I say more? Wow they're cute. While we haven't gone to any game reserves yet, so far we've seen zebras, lots of baboons who walk right up to you, a huge ostrich, boks (antelopes), dassies, and I'm sure lots more.
1) And of course spending time with my new hubbie - and glad that we're no longer driving around the country! We would definitely be the couple arguing incessantly over directions on the Amazing race tv show!
Hope all is well. We miss you, but not too much :) Send me updates - love to hear what's happening. We'll be camping for the next week up thru Western South Africa, and canoeing in Namibia, supposedly camping tentless in the wild. So I'm assuming we won't have internet access for a bit!
-Anne
Brian and I have hit the road, honeymooning in Africa for 3 1/2 months. We've been here for 1 1/2 weeks so far, and are really enjoying it. Right now we're in Cape Town, just having joined our Drifters tour group with whom we spend the next 24 days traveling up thru Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Here's a quick synopsis of our top 10 experiences thus far:
10) Singapore Airlines - who knew a 30 hour plane ride could be enjoyable? At least we caught up on our sleep and movies!
9) Hiking in South Africa's Drakensburg mountains and going into northern Lesotho, hanging out with the spiritual healer, looking at very old bushmen (San people) rock art paintings, and drinking pineapple beer.
8) Sharing a bottle of wine with an Australian couple who travelled for 9 months by motorbike, from London to Cape Town - thru West Africa. I feel very unadventurous! Crazy stories.
7) Riding in the back of a police car. Umm, well the police offered to drive us to our hostel from the train station, honest! They were bored? Who said there's a lot of crime in South Africa? These particular police officers usually work in the townships where there's a lot of gang/drug
violence going on. They were just in town in case the protests during the strike got violent.
6) The tourist stuff - visited Robben Island (Mandela's cell was under renovation so we couldn't see it unfortunately), hiked around Table mountain and the Cape Point, etc. We also sat with an American girl for a while at our hostel in Joburg and had a history lesson - she's doing her Phd on South African history. Looking forward to going to the Apartheid Museum in Joburg next month, as well as touring around the Soweto townships.
5) Wine tasting and eating tons of gourmet food/cheese in Franschhoek, in the wine region near Cape Town. Food is soo cheap here - and the wine is quite tasty. The one vineyard gave us a free bottle of pinot noir bubbly to celebrate our honeymoon.
4) Traveling by train for 26 hours from Joburg to Cape Town - drinking a bottle of wine, being waited on, traveling in style! Never mind there was no heat on the train whatsoever, and I had to sleep with my touque on, buried in my sleeping bag. It is winter here! Looking forward to warm Namibian desert weather.
3) Having pints in the pub watching the Tri Nation rugby games. Had to cheer softly when the All Blacks beat South Africa.
2) Penguins, African penguins, tons of them! Need I say more? Wow they're cute. While we haven't gone to any game reserves yet, so far we've seen zebras, lots of baboons who walk right up to you, a huge ostrich, boks (antelopes), dassies, and I'm sure lots more.
1) And of course spending time with my new hubbie - and glad that we're no longer driving around the country! We would definitely be the couple arguing incessantly over directions on the Amazing race tv show!
Hope all is well. We miss you, but not too much :) Send me updates - love to hear what's happening. We'll be camping for the next week up thru Western South Africa, and canoeing in Namibia, supposedly camping tentless in the wild. So I'm assuming we won't have internet access for a bit!
-Anne
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
South African adventures
Can't believe we've already been here for a week! We're busting a move around the country trying to see things before we start our overland tour up to Namibia. There's a ton to do and see in South AFrica - we really don't have enough time. But we spent 4 days in the Drakensburg mountains, which was great. One of those days we went on a day tour to the country of Lesotho - the name of the country meaning "high up". It's way up in the mountains, and is much more "traditional". We met a sangoman (traditional healer), saw some ancient rock art from the Sans people, tried pineapple beer, and just took in the sights. Very interesting seeing how they live. The school teacher there gave us the tour for much of the day since school was out for the winter. Some of the kids have to walk for an hour and a half to get to school, so they shut it when it's cold.
Our tour guide that evening then got very drunk at the hostel and gave us more insights into the African culture - very enlightening!
Our tour guide that evening then got very drunk at the hostel and gave us more insights into the African culture - very enlightening!
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Hikes etc in the Drakensburgs
The Amphitheatre hike was amazing on Thursday. We cheated by taking a minibus up Sentinel peak on the North side of it to around 2500 m. The road was quite rough and I'm not sure how it actually got up there with 16 of us crammed in. The bus really isn't that hard core with the road quite steep and bumpy. At the start the wind was howling and clouds were peeling off the peak. Good so it would clear up for us but the wind chill was crazy. I think it must have been -5 because the wind was at least 60 kph and the temp was 6C. And I wasn't going to bring my gore-tex. Anyhow - made it up the gorge to 3150m., saw the world's 4th highest waterfall, descended some crazy ladders, and back to the lodge. Not a bad day in the office.
-Brian
-Brian
S.A. at last!
Hey there!
We made it to the Drakensburg mountains in South Africa! Took quite a while
to get here, but singapore airlines was amazing - no complaints. Got caught
up on all the recent movies. The strike in SA didn't impact the airport at
all. We were thru immigration in record time. We were worried that we'd
have to go downtown in joburg to pay for our train that we're taking to cape
town next week, but when we called they said we could pay the day of - a
relief since the train station isn't the safest place to hang out, and there
were major demonstrations in joburg and cape town yesterday. We were
following it on the news yesterday and it sounded peaceful. So, we picked
up our car and drove 4 hours to the mountains. We're staying at a
backpackers in our deluxe double room with a beautiful view of the mountains
and our own bathroom! Pure luxury :)
Going on a trip this morning to the Amphtheatre - a hike in the mountains.
HAve to go down a bunch of chain ladders hooked up to ropes, should be
interesting. Then going to Lesotho tomorrow where we go into villages and
mix with the locals.
-Anne
We made it to the Drakensburg mountains in South Africa! Took quite a while
to get here, but singapore airlines was amazing - no complaints. Got caught
up on all the recent movies. The strike in SA didn't impact the airport at
all. We were thru immigration in record time. We were worried that we'd
have to go downtown in joburg to pay for our train that we're taking to cape
town next week, but when we called they said we could pay the day of - a
relief since the train station isn't the safest place to hang out, and there
were major demonstrations in joburg and cape town yesterday. We were
following it on the news yesterday and it sounded peaceful. So, we picked
up our car and drove 4 hours to the mountains. We're staying at a
backpackers in our deluxe double room with a beautiful view of the mountains
and our own bathroom! Pure luxury :)
Going on a trip this morning to the Amphtheatre - a hike in the mountains.
HAve to go down a bunch of chain ladders hooked up to ropes, should be
interesting. Then going to Lesotho tomorrow where we go into villages and
mix with the locals.
-Anne
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Honeymoon has begun
Anne and I are now in Singapore! We left yesterday - actually two 'days' ago, but have only been traveling for 20 hours and crossed the Int'l Date line. Today (June 13) is our 4 year anniversary of meeting at Michelle Bergerin's house warming party and it's been 2 months since our wedding. Appropriate that we land in Africa in 12 hours on this day too. Thanks to Anke for making sure we got to the airport on time. It was a bit of work getting our huge boxes put together and shipped to Singapore - our final destination of this leg. That's where the job search begins! Anyhow, for now, we travel the dark continent; exploring, meeting new people, experiencing different cultures, and seeing all the wildlife! Will try to keep updating regularly as we go. Ta ta for now, Brian and Anne.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Married Life
My first blog was trying to set this up and see if it'll work to keep people up to date for Anne and my wedding. Well, it didn't really go anywhere. Now I'm thinking that this works for our traveling to keep everyone up to date. Hmmm we'll see how that goes.
So - the wedding. great times! I have to get some pictures up on picasa so all can view what a nice weekend it was; APRIL 13, 2007 was the big day. It snowed and was beautiful. Anne coming down the aisle was a sight to behold. Then appies, drinks, dinner, slideshow, and dancing. Standard wedding stuff but with an intimate bunch it was special. So glad all that made it out to Whistler with us did.
More to come, gotta go to work Other events are coming up - Oakville area party and a Vancouver goodbye party too. When oh when tho'.
So - the wedding. great times! I have to get some pictures up on picasa so all can view what a nice weekend it was; APRIL 13, 2007 was the big day. It snowed and was beautiful. Anne coming down the aisle was a sight to behold. Then appies, drinks, dinner, slideshow, and dancing. Standard wedding stuff but with an intimate bunch it was special. So glad all that made it out to Whistler with us did.
More to come, gotta go to work Other events are coming up - Oakville area party and a Vancouver goodbye party too. When oh when tho'.
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