Round the World

While one could say that we were coming back to civilization, the girls' would say that Arusha was anything but that.

It was definitely good to get a hot shower, recharge our batteries (literally and metaphorically) and get a night's sleep in a bed instead of sleeping bag. Also while Samuel, our safari cook, did an excellent job, it was good a restaurant meal at the L'Oasis Lodge.

After spending half the day at Tarangire national park, we spent the rest of it at the Snake Park, Maasai Museum and some conveniently closely located craft shops. I quite liked some of the Maasai carvings and great animal paintings being sold but there was no way for me to send/bring it back. AT the snake park, we realized that the snake we saw being attacked by dwarf mongooses no more than 5 metres away from us wasn't the Green Mamba (Poison: Lethal and death within 10 minutes) but rather the arguably nastier Green Boomslanger 9Poison: cytotoxic, 7 days to die starting with internal hemorrhaging requiring full body transfusion).

At the Maasai museum, we learnt that their houses were framed by acacia branches then sealed with dirt/water/cow dung. Also, circumcision is performed at 14 years of age without anesthesia and if the boy cries, they're not a warrior (forever treated as inferior).

Day 4: In the morning after the cold night at Nnnnngorongoro, we had breakfast early and left for the Crater. The landscape of the whole area was truly magical and surreal as can be seen in some of my pictures depicting blue-green vistas, mountains, plains. It had such a diverse variety of colours, landscapes and animals. Nogorongoro Conservation Park is attached to the Serengeti and animals move freely between these two areas as well as the Maasai Mara National Park in Kenya. We saw numerous animals in this small area but the highlights include cheetahs and a black rhine (only 500 in Africa!)

We then spent our final night at the Jambo Camp where Erico and I bargained and bought purple Maasai blanket/cape. I also helped Erico bargain for 2 masks and small carvings for his brother. We ended the night by finishing the beers and playing various card games (including a Brazilian hybrid of Big 2/Crazy 8s, which I hated)

July 20, 2007:
As I am sitting in the Dar es Salaam domestic airport, awaiting my flight to Zanzibar, I can't help but feel a little bit sad and lonely without my safari friends. After a less-than-pleasant bus ride to Dar, I convinced myself that there wasn't enough time to buy a ticket and catch the last ferry to Zanzibar. The cabbie and a hawker then convinced me that the 15 min flight could be a good option for $55 USD. I decided to go with it to save myself the grief and have more time in Zanzibar. However, I should've expected the sudden increase cab fare from 2500 TSh to 20 000 TSh. I got it down to 12 000 in the end though still not to my liking and wondering whether I would find any accommodations. What was funny though was that the hawker had been a safari cook and knew "Super" Jalala, our tour operator salesman in Arusha.

Even now, I am missing the quirky humour of Erico, my new Brazilian friend who offered his and his parents' place if I visit Brazil. I miss Maja's antics and Ida's travel stories.
I ask myself, how can anyone want to hurt those two girls like their attackers did? I'm sure everyone feels thankful that it wasn't worse and I hope that they can continue to enjoy the rest of their trip safe and sound.

Now, as I sit hungry and unsure about what happens next, I can only hope I keep meeting people as cool and generous as Ida, Maja and Erico.

Baadaye

Perhaps it was the laughter of the hyenas or possible the family of wild pigs scouring around our campsite, maybe it was the 2 buffaloes grazing nearby or the herd of zebras we had to avoid when we tried getting back to our tents, something told me I wasn't in Canada anymore.

Huddling with the 2 Swedish girls and my new Brazilian friend under the starry night in (the very difficult to pronounce location of) Ngorongoro Conservation area campsite, I felt a sense of regret at not being able to appreciate sights and moments like these more. Earlier in the day, we had a early game drive in the Serengeti where we saw numerous lions including a lioness watching a herd of buffaloes ready to pounce. We also saw a cheetah and numerous jackals, hyenas, ostriches as well as typical grazers and browsers such as buffaloes, antelopes, impalas and gazelles. As we left the Serengeti, we each stood with our heads through the open roof and sang our national anthems (Canadian English/French version of course).

Since the campsite in Ngorongoro was approx. high above sea level, it was incredibly cold and everyone had to put on as much clothes as possible. Many animals were also known to wander into the campsite including dangerous ones such as elephants, buffaloes and hyenas! Instead of calling an early night, we decided to finish our box of wine by the campfire with a tour group traveling from South Africa to Kenya. Their guide, Anthony from S.Africa, had an incredible amount of knowledge about games and history of Africa. He also told us that his favourite place was N. Mozambique to see game and in S.Africa, Zululand. It was at this campfire that we heard a bush pig attack a can pf peaches, used a flashlight to spot buffaloes grazing no more than 5-8m away from us and heard the celebratory laughter of hyenas. We also had to avoid the zebras grazing in the middle of our camp when we tried to get back to our tents from the campfire.

The whole night was a surreal experience. The night sky clearly showed the Milky

A 5-day safari in Tanzania
Written: July 15, 2007

As I'm writing this, I'm watching the red sunset over the yellowed and dry plains of the Serengeti's savannah. It had been a few days since I've written and left Uganda. After arriving in Kilimanjaro in the late afternoon, I took the complementary bus to Arusha. It's remarkable how different the countryside of Tanzania is to that of Uganda. While Uganda was lush and green, Tanzania's is yellow and dry and sometimes mountainous. Arriving in Arusha in the evening was an experience. As I got off the bus, flycatchers, touts and other disreputable types were trying to sell safaris and other things. I then found the hotel booked for me only to leave in disgust at the quote of $85 USD/night.

After walking around for an hour, I found the Centre House Hostel, a place ran by the Arusha Catholic Diocese for $8 USD/day including breakfast (w/ eggs!).

Day 2: I started my search by going to the tourist board office where I found Andrew from Shidolya tours. I went back to his office at the AICC (where UN Rwanda tribunal was taking place I checked it out for a bit) got some info. It was also there that I met the 2 Swedish girls (Ida and Maja) who would go on the same safari with me. After walking around for most of the day comparing packages and prices, we agreed on a 5-day safari that includes Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro and Tarangire with the Kilimanjaro Crown Bird Tours. Taking out money was a big hassle due to the 400 000 TSh limit. I ended the day buying a ticket at the Dar Express office for the morning after getting back to Arusha with the hope of catching the last ferry to Zanzibar.

Day 3: After making sure my planned itinerary changes were okay with my travel agent, Jennifer, I met up with the girls for the safari. I then found out that they had been attacked on Sokoine Rd. at 6:45 p.m. just 15 minutes after I had passed through to buy my Dar Express ticket! They had been jumped by 10 people and during the process, they were yelling and screaming but no one came to help them. The thieves even used weapons to hit the girls and Maja even saw one of them raise a machete against Ida before she kicked him in the back. The girls lost a lot of money, camera, passports and credit cards. They were however fortunate to come away with only scrapes and bruises but the most serious consequence was shock.

There was more bad news for the girls as Maja didn't get the 400G TSh she was supposed to from the ATM prompting me to make the joke, "Even the banks are stealing from you!"

Though the girls were tense from the incident of the previous day, it wasn't long before all of us and Erico (Brazilian lawyer studying Biology) were enjoying the amazing sights in the Lake Manyara National Park. We saw elephants, giraffes, baboons, flamingos, hippos, warthogs, dik-diks and many more.

Today, after an early drive throug the Ngorongoro Conservation area we arrived at the Serengeti where we saw liones, leopard, wartebeasts, gazelles and zebras. Then watched the sunset and we have an early game drive in the famous Serengeti tomorrow morning!

While our maniac of a driver disagreed, I thought paying 10 000 USh ($6.50 USD) was pretty good for taking out a boda-boda driver. Minutes earlier while stopped beside the Standard Charter bank, I opened the door by 10cm without checking. I didn't check because I was right beside the sidewalk but that didn't stop me from clipping a reckless boda-boda driver. Of course, I got out immediately to check that he hadn't been hurt too badly and that there wasn't too much damage.I was relieved to see he only had some minor scrapes and cuts and that the boda-boda was pretty much fine. This was especially important since our driver ran over his front wheels when he was down in order to unblock traffic. I asked if he was okay and took out my first aid kit. I gave him anti-septic and bandages. It took 3 minutes before the expected "demand" came.

"I need hospital", he said.
I chuckled a bit. Some minor cuts and a scrape, plus it was his own recklessness that caused the accident. Our driver came over and started talking to him in Ugandan dismissively. Meanwhile, the injured boda driver was motioning at his slightly scraped arm.
This was when Thomas asked, "Do you have 5000 USh?"
That's $5 USD, pocketchange I thought. I handed it to him but it wasn't enough to satisfy him though 10 000 USh was. Though I'm sure we could've stayed and dismissed his claims, $6.50 USD okay to pay and less hassle since I had to get to the airport to catch a flight to Kilimanjaro.

Humourously, Thomas told me that a man once swerved his truck to avoid hitting a reckless boda-boda, injuring himself badly in the course of the action. The policeman later told him he shoudl've hit the reckless driver instead of going through so much pain!

Yesterday, Thomas, the driver and I got back from Mbarra where we had spent the night at his aunt's house. The car ride was very scenic and I got some great shots in the safari-like scenery and another video of me walking left to right of the frame. I look forward to stitching all the walking scenes together.

Of course, when we pulled over, thjere was a man beside the road holding up a live chicken and trying to sell it to us. By the time Thomas and I finished taking photos, the chicken was sitting in the trunk and had laid an egg! By the time we got to Kampala, we had 4 giant chains of plantains (to make matoke), guava, mangos, tomatoes, 3 bags of freshly cleaved pork and a disgruntled chicken.

Now, as I sit in the shuttle provided by Air Tanzania between Kilimanjaro Airport to Arusha, I admire the beautiful land and mountains of Tanzania.

some children notice me looking out and wave while yelling, "Jambo!"
I smile and wave back.
Sijambo Tanzania!

There are many tmies during my trip when I've thought, "What have I gotten myself into?" Other times, I've thought, "What am I gonna do next?" or, "I hope I come out of this alive."
Sitting in the backseat with my left hand firmly clenching the handlebar, bare white knuckles showing, I was definitely dealing with the latter question.

Speeding down the highway(if you call the only 2 lanes of road with bicycles, motorcycles, matatus, buses and cattle) at speeds of 120 km/hr, one felt as safe as being in a tin can traveling at Warp 6. To make matters worse, the driver was honking at any living thing close to the road the whole time to let others know of our (speeding) approach. Instead of taking evasive actions when head-on collisions seems certain, this maniac of a driver simply flashes the headlights and both speeding cars subtly avoid each other. This was the pattern of my 7 hr ride to Kibale/Lake Bunyoni and back to Kampala.

The voyage to the lake was a beautiful one with incredible sceneries ranging from savannas, plantations, rural life and lushous mountains with side cultivations. The area is described as the Switzerland/New Zealand of Africa, the Mother of Pearl. I can understand why.
We took a boat ride to the Bushuro island and around the 900m deep Lake Bunyoni. There was even an island, pointed out by our guide, where pregnant women were left on if they weren't married.

After getting some hassles at the Ugandan/Rwanda border, I reconsidered the benefits of going to Kigali for 2 days rather than going to Tanzania early. While I really wanted to see for myself how much it has recovered from the genocide, I believed it was more important to make my time in Tanzania as valuable as possible rather than splitting it with Rwanda.

I'm sorry it took so long to write a post. There are no excuses and a lot to cover. After arriving in Entebbe and transferring to Kampala, Thomas and I spent the first full day walking about the city. We went to the market with Grace and each bought a khacki cargo shirt for $5 USD. The place was amazingly cramped with extremely narrow paths(sometimes leading to deadends). Salespeople were also always calling you or taking your harm and hand. It felt a lot like navigating a dungeon. In terms of my impression of an African city; populous, somewhat dirty and organized chaos, thrifty. The hundreds of white matatus(minibuses crammed to the full) at the taxi park was a sign to behold and the bodas-bodas make walking dangerous.

Day 2: Visited the Bahai temple in Kampala (only one in Africa and each continent!) with 9 doors and a great choral ensemble. After the service, I decided to stay and attend the discussion on Bahai marriages (also because my ride were) and it was real interesting to see their views and process. Had a great lunch at Thomas' Jaja's place and loved Ugandan coffee (like Ugandan tea, made with half hot water, half milk, boiled, then tea/coffee added with optional spices/cinnamon). The typical Ugandan meal is composed of generous portions of matoke (plantains like mashed potatoes), beans, meat (chicken, goat, pork), passionfruit juice, chapoti (naan-like bread). Thomas and I also visited the decrepit Ugandan Museum. We had roasted meats with Grace in the evening (yum, roasted pork and goat!) as well as some Ugandan sodas called Stoney (ginger pop) and Marinda (cough-syrup taste).

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Day 3: Went to Jinja to see the Bajagali falls and the source of the Nile river with Grace and Thomas and our crazy driver. I considered paying someone to perform a Bujagali swim (go over the rapids/falls with nothing but a Jerry can) but decided I didn't like paying someone to risk their life.

Finally, today started with a 6am departure to Kibale passing the equator. Thomas commented that since the car we were in had government plates and since I was sitting in the back while he and the driver were in front, I looked like a Chinese diplomat. I'm sure my dour and humourless expression (due to the maniac driving) contributed to looking like a mainlander.

Other humourous instances include all the slogans on the matatus (minibus) such as:

"In Shaalah" - By God's Will
"Jesus is Lord"
"I (heart) Samona" (Samona is a skin care product)
"Jesus Saves" - (Hope he doesn't need to in order to ride the matatu)
"Never Give Up" - (Until there's a crash of course)
"Bulletproof" - (More metaphorical I believe)
"Essy" - (Hahaha)
"Timekeeper" - (haha prob not very safe then)

Other things I found hilarious:
- Whenever we approach an unofficial rest stop/drive thru, 10-15 people will shove produce or other snacks in your face ranging from roasted plantains, cauliflower, nuts to grilled meats, live chickens/fishes.
-The Ugandan saying, "Only the drunks drive straight" due to the ridiculous amount of potholes on every street
-"Kamwocha", a district of Kampala, literally translated as "It Burns"
-A Kampala school motto is: "Strive Regardless". When there was a newspaper article about a man stalking a woman as his love interest, she was quoted as saying, "He must've been from that school since he kept trying and I kept saying 'No'"

That's all for now.
Until next time!