We're home, safe and sound. Flights went well -- we crammed a good month's worth of movie-watching into all those hours in the air. And pictures are coming up; should finish uploading in the next few days. Check back if you haven't seen the lion ones yet. For now, though, this one above has to be my favourite from the entire trip: a big surly silverback flipping us the bird. Seems even the animals have a chip on their shoulders for mzungus. :-)
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Sunday, May 13, 2007
All good things . . .
. . . as they say, must end, and this good thing is no exception. Two more nights in Africa -- tonight in Stone Town, the cute and quaint historical city that is Zanzibar's geographic heart and what is described as its figurative soul. Tomorrow night, in Arusha and after that we'll be sleeping in the air until we reach Canada again.
But it's been a great ride, and the last few days were no exception. We spent yesterday snorkelling through some amazing coral reefs. It rained and was overcast most of the day and believe it or not, was so cold on the boat ride back that we joked about hypothermia. What a great Africa story that would have made. Still, it was great fun. The beaches are nearly perfect, with long stretches of white sand, unbelievably clear water and an abundance of marine life. As I was snorkelling, I followed a small school of flying fish as they swam around just beneath the waves. Very fun.
Time's up at the Internet cafe . . . photos will be up soon at http://www.flickr.com/photos/neoviking, although I'm hoping I'll have a chance to blog again before then. Otherwise, for those of you who will be at the bbq at my folks place in Ontario, we can't wait to see you.
But it's been a great ride, and the last few days were no exception. We spent yesterday snorkelling through some amazing coral reefs. It rained and was overcast most of the day and believe it or not, was so cold on the boat ride back that we joked about hypothermia. What a great Africa story that would have made. Still, it was great fun. The beaches are nearly perfect, with long stretches of white sand, unbelievably clear water and an abundance of marine life. As I was snorkelling, I followed a small school of flying fish as they swam around just beneath the waves. Very fun.
Time's up at the Internet cafe . . . photos will be up soon at http://www.flickr.com/photos/neoviking, although I'm hoping I'll have a chance to blog again before then. Otherwise, for those of you who will be at the bbq at my folks place in Ontario, we can't wait to see you.
Friday, May 11, 2007
Thursday, May 10, 2007
That full feeling
In the last few days, we have seen a gazelle chasing an ostrich, a herd of wildebeest chasing a hyena and a hippopotamus chasing a crocodile. It was a heck of a safari.
We started out looking for a 2-night safari that would have taken us to a couple of parks near Arusha, the Tanzania town that has been our base for the last week. But after the first day, we decided to add two nights in the Serengeti. It was a good decision. Not five minutes after leaving the Serengeti welcome centre, we came upon two lions lounging at the base of a tree about 3 feet from the road. We sat and watched them, the first wild lions we had seen. Lions eat once or twice a week, and spend a good 22 hours out of every day resting. So if you see a lion in the Serengeti, or anywhere else in Africa -- even a zoo, for that matter -- chances are it's going to be snoozing. These two were no exception, but they did raise their head for the occasional photo. It's pretty thrilling to be not more than a few paces from something you know could effortlessly rip you to shreds.
After leaving the lions, we heard the radio crackle and our guide slammed down the gas. There were cheetahs ahead. We burned down the road, dust billowing behind us, until we came upon a group of other safari vans. I couldn't see anything, until someone in another van pointed out to me the two cheetah heads poking out of the grasses. We sat and watched them look around, and then lope off. Then we turned our attention to the trees behind -- a pair of sausage trees in the distance. We saw a shimmer of motion on the branches: a leopard. It wasn't the clearest of sightings, but it was good enough to convince us that we had seen the Big Five -- and this as all before we'd even found our campsite.
As we drove to the campsite through the approaching dusk, we saw great herds of gazelles and, just before we arrived, zebras and wildebeest. We set up our tent by flashlight, ate, and then as we and our fellow campers grew silent realized that we were sleeping in the midst of the great wildebeest migration. The air was thick with the sound of contented wildebeest chewing down grasses. It's difficult to describe, but imagine a cow mooing with a frog in its throat. It's not an entirely unpleasant sound, and it serenaded us through the night. It also masked out other sounds, so when I woke up in the middle of the night I had a brief moment of panic: could there be a lion nearby? Sleeping in a tent in carnivore country can be an unsettling experience.
The next day we trundled many kilometres across the savannah in search of animals. Several times we came across groups of thousands of wildebeest as they migrated. We managed to park ourselves mere metres from where these great groups of animals were running by; they always seem to be on the move, and frequently quickly. There were so many they stirred up great clouds of dust. A fascinating experience.
Later in the day, we came upon a group of 23 elephants -- everything from a huge bull to a tiny one so small it would probably fit in a doghouse. They were bathing in dust on the road we were driving on, and advancing toward us. At one point, it was hard not to feel a bit scared when a bull started walking directly at our Land Rover. You feel pretty small when a big elephant starts looking like he wants to run over you. We must have stayed nearly an hour, watching them walk and eat and throw dust on themselves. That night we slept to the sounds of hyenas and lions roaring; the wildebeest had moved on.
But the best was yet to come. After the Serengeti we drove to the Ngorongoro Crater, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is an utter paradise for animals. We saw elephants eating from great fields of yellow flowers; got within spitting distance of cape buffalo, zebras and wildebeest. We saw hyenas loping across fields, hippos sparring, a litter of jackal pups playing in the grass. And we finished it all off a few metres away from a group of 3 lions lazing by a river. One spent the entire time we were there watching us. Another slept most of the time. Another actually got up, walking right up next to us and sniffing the air. It was a fantastic experience. As we headed back to Arusha, I felt the way you feel after eating a good meal -- full and content. I really hope I get the chance to come back some day.
For now, though, we're heading off to Zanzibar to spend our last few days in Africa frying on the white sand. Hopefully we're a little better accustomed to the heat now and can enjoy it for what it is. Won't be long before we're home . . .
We started out looking for a 2-night safari that would have taken us to a couple of parks near Arusha, the Tanzania town that has been our base for the last week. But after the first day, we decided to add two nights in the Serengeti. It was a good decision. Not five minutes after leaving the Serengeti welcome centre, we came upon two lions lounging at the base of a tree about 3 feet from the road. We sat and watched them, the first wild lions we had seen. Lions eat once or twice a week, and spend a good 22 hours out of every day resting. So if you see a lion in the Serengeti, or anywhere else in Africa -- even a zoo, for that matter -- chances are it's going to be snoozing. These two were no exception, but they did raise their head for the occasional photo. It's pretty thrilling to be not more than a few paces from something you know could effortlessly rip you to shreds.
After leaving the lions, we heard the radio crackle and our guide slammed down the gas. There were cheetahs ahead. We burned down the road, dust billowing behind us, until we came upon a group of other safari vans. I couldn't see anything, until someone in another van pointed out to me the two cheetah heads poking out of the grasses. We sat and watched them look around, and then lope off. Then we turned our attention to the trees behind -- a pair of sausage trees in the distance. We saw a shimmer of motion on the branches: a leopard. It wasn't the clearest of sightings, but it was good enough to convince us that we had seen the Big Five -- and this as all before we'd even found our campsite.
As we drove to the campsite through the approaching dusk, we saw great herds of gazelles and, just before we arrived, zebras and wildebeest. We set up our tent by flashlight, ate, and then as we and our fellow campers grew silent realized that we were sleeping in the midst of the great wildebeest migration. The air was thick with the sound of contented wildebeest chewing down grasses. It's difficult to describe, but imagine a cow mooing with a frog in its throat. It's not an entirely unpleasant sound, and it serenaded us through the night. It also masked out other sounds, so when I woke up in the middle of the night I had a brief moment of panic: could there be a lion nearby? Sleeping in a tent in carnivore country can be an unsettling experience.
The next day we trundled many kilometres across the savannah in search of animals. Several times we came across groups of thousands of wildebeest as they migrated. We managed to park ourselves mere metres from where these great groups of animals were running by; they always seem to be on the move, and frequently quickly. There were so many they stirred up great clouds of dust. A fascinating experience.
Later in the day, we came upon a group of 23 elephants -- everything from a huge bull to a tiny one so small it would probably fit in a doghouse. They were bathing in dust on the road we were driving on, and advancing toward us. At one point, it was hard not to feel a bit scared when a bull started walking directly at our Land Rover. You feel pretty small when a big elephant starts looking like he wants to run over you. We must have stayed nearly an hour, watching them walk and eat and throw dust on themselves. That night we slept to the sounds of hyenas and lions roaring; the wildebeest had moved on.
But the best was yet to come. After the Serengeti we drove to the Ngorongoro Crater, a UNESCO World Heritage site that is an utter paradise for animals. We saw elephants eating from great fields of yellow flowers; got within spitting distance of cape buffalo, zebras and wildebeest. We saw hyenas loping across fields, hippos sparring, a litter of jackal pups playing in the grass. And we finished it all off a few metres away from a group of 3 lions lazing by a river. One spent the entire time we were there watching us. Another slept most of the time. Another actually got up, walking right up next to us and sniffing the air. It was a fantastic experience. As we headed back to Arusha, I felt the way you feel after eating a good meal -- full and content. I really hope I get the chance to come back some day.
For now, though, we're heading off to Zanzibar to spend our last few days in Africa frying on the white sand. Hopefully we're a little better accustomed to the heat now and can enjoy it for what it is. Won't be long before we're home . . .
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Eden
So Arusha didn't turn out to be as friendly as it was at first glance. Actually, scratch that. It was a whole lot more friendly than we first thought, except that "friendly" in Africa means that everyone wants to be your friend, which of course means they want you to be their personal banker, dishing out money to every comer -- and there are many -- for safaris, trinkets, Swahili dictionaries, you name it.
Which left us with only one alternative: leave town. Not that Arusha was all bad. We checked out the natural history museum (with about 8 fossils, plus a few posterboards on African insects whose text looked like it had been copy-and-pasted from Wikipedia; the Smithsonian it was not) and an Ethiopian restaurant (absolutely terrific if you're into that kind of thing: i.e., injera, which is bread drenched in vinegar). Mo is telling me to be more positive, so take this all with a grain of salt: we did actually have a pretty good time in Arusha, which had an upbeat atmosphere and some great little shops -- not to mention a killer Italian-run gelato place.
In any case, we had already spent a few days there, so it was time to move on. So we booked ourselves onto a safari, our second here, and this morning found ourselves in a beat-up Land Rover heading for Arusha National Park a short drive away. Our previous safari had been somewhat disappointing, with hours spent in a mini-van with few wildlife sightings. This one started off well: we met a big herd of giraffes before we even hit the park gates, and it got better from there. We went on a walking safari that had us paces away from dozens of giraffes -- including one baby -- and a small herd of buffalo surrounded by prancing warthogs.
All I could think of was: this is some sort of modern-day Eden, and that feeling got stronger when we hopped back into the Land Rover and parked alongside a watering hole. Giraffes were sleeping and grazing next to waterbucks, zebras, warthogs and buffalo, all placid and content along a small pond in a kind of natural peace that I would not have thought possible.
I hope my pictures can do it justice, although my photographic ambitions got hit with some cold water today when we pulled up alongside a French guy with a massive 600-millimetre lens. Mo was quick to point out that his was bigger than mine; I tried to argue that it's not the size that counts, etc. etc., but secretly felt out-manned.
Ah well. It's been fun anyways, and we've got two more days of safari-ing left in Tanzania, heading first to Lake Manyara and then to the Ngorongoro Crater. Can't wait. But for now, it's Saturday night and the music is good at our campsite. Time to go meet some other backpackers.
Which left us with only one alternative: leave town. Not that Arusha was all bad. We checked out the natural history museum (with about 8 fossils, plus a few posterboards on African insects whose text looked like it had been copy-and-pasted from Wikipedia; the Smithsonian it was not) and an Ethiopian restaurant (absolutely terrific if you're into that kind of thing: i.e., injera, which is bread drenched in vinegar). Mo is telling me to be more positive, so take this all with a grain of salt: we did actually have a pretty good time in Arusha, which had an upbeat atmosphere and some great little shops -- not to mention a killer Italian-run gelato place.
In any case, we had already spent a few days there, so it was time to move on. So we booked ourselves onto a safari, our second here, and this morning found ourselves in a beat-up Land Rover heading for Arusha National Park a short drive away. Our previous safari had been somewhat disappointing, with hours spent in a mini-van with few wildlife sightings. This one started off well: we met a big herd of giraffes before we even hit the park gates, and it got better from there. We went on a walking safari that had us paces away from dozens of giraffes -- including one baby -- and a small herd of buffalo surrounded by prancing warthogs.
All I could think of was: this is some sort of modern-day Eden, and that feeling got stronger when we hopped back into the Land Rover and parked alongside a watering hole. Giraffes were sleeping and grazing next to waterbucks, zebras, warthogs and buffalo, all placid and content along a small pond in a kind of natural peace that I would not have thought possible.
I hope my pictures can do it justice, although my photographic ambitions got hit with some cold water today when we pulled up alongside a French guy with a massive 600-millimetre lens. Mo was quick to point out that his was bigger than mine; I tried to argue that it's not the size that counts, etc. etc., but secretly felt out-manned.
Ah well. It's been fun anyways, and we've got two more days of safari-ing left in Tanzania, heading first to Lake Manyara and then to the Ngorongoro Crater. Can't wait. But for now, it's Saturday night and the music is good at our campsite. Time to go meet some other backpackers.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
A question of volume
I've not travelled much in Muslim lands, but when I do I'm often struck by the richness of the Islamic tradition. Its architecture is delicate and thoughtful; its music enchanting. But lying awake in my hotel room this morning at 5 a.m. as a cacophony of Arabic voices droned through the air from nearby mosques, I couldn't help but think that all those centuries of searching after divine beauty have been pulled to their doom by the wailing screech of the loudspeaker.
Or megaphone, because I'm pretty sure one of those was in use as well this morning. Either way, I've come to the conclusion that Muslim devoutness is no longer measured by study or submission. It's now a question of volume: may he (and it's always a he, yelling through the silence) with the most amped-up sound system or scratchiest megaphone find the swankiest digs in heaven.
Of course, that was all the coda to a thoroughly exciting early morning that didn't involve much sleep -- for other reasons. I was busy participating in my very own scene of the Fast and the Furious: Africa edition. And no, it didn't involve cars. Mo and I are now popping Cipro pills every day, trying to calm the thunderous storm that's constantly swamping our stomaches. She started earlier than I, and she's taken a dramatic turn for the better. Hopefully I'll have similar news to report tomorrow.
As for actual activities, we spent a good part of today at the tribunal into the Rwanda genocide. We managed to show up for a big fish: the genocide-era minister of finance was testifying in the trial of the Rwandan army chief of staff. The finance minister had also been accused, of misappropriating government funds to buy machetes, and then personally distributing those machetes at the roadblocks where Tutsis were massacred. We were spared gory descriptions -- courts the world round tend to anesthetize the gruesomeness as they bog down in detail -- but it was fascinating to watch justice at work.
Or megaphone, because I'm pretty sure one of those was in use as well this morning. Either way, I've come to the conclusion that Muslim devoutness is no longer measured by study or submission. It's now a question of volume: may he (and it's always a he, yelling through the silence) with the most amped-up sound system or scratchiest megaphone find the swankiest digs in heaven.
Of course, that was all the coda to a thoroughly exciting early morning that didn't involve much sleep -- for other reasons. I was busy participating in my very own scene of the Fast and the Furious: Africa edition. And no, it didn't involve cars. Mo and I are now popping Cipro pills every day, trying to calm the thunderous storm that's constantly swamping our stomaches. She started earlier than I, and she's taken a dramatic turn for the better. Hopefully I'll have similar news to report tomorrow.
As for actual activities, we spent a good part of today at the tribunal into the Rwanda genocide. We managed to show up for a big fish: the genocide-era minister of finance was testifying in the trial of the Rwandan army chief of staff. The finance minister had also been accused, of misappropriating government funds to buy machetes, and then personally distributing those machetes at the roadblocks where Tutsis were massacred. We were spared gory descriptions -- courts the world round tend to anesthetize the gruesomeness as they bog down in detail -- but it was fascinating to watch justice at work.
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Goodbye Rwanda, with regrets
We bid farewell to Rwanda today, boarding a flight for Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. It was hard to leave Rwanda, a place that felt a bit more western -- and therefore, more comfortable -- than some of the other places we've been to, and which was home to some of the friendliest people we've met thus far. Our last 24 hours were especially great. We spent an entire afternoon at the beach at Lake Kivu (well, 3.5 hours -- or about 3 hours longer than I've ever stayed in one place at a beach before) before boarding a bus back to Kigali. We found ourselves on an air-conditioned coach with as many people as seats, and were soon engrossed in a long conversation with a couple of Rwandans around us.
They talked about their own personal histories with regard to the genocide. One had lived in exile in the Congo for nearly 40 years as the persecution of the Tutsis mounted. It culminated in that awful month of April 1994; his family returned soon after, and discovered all of their relatives had been killed, save for three orphans. His family now raises those orphans, and every April they make a pilgrimage to the graves of their parents. We have barely scratched the surface on the hurt and grief that still haunt this country, but the glimpses we have caught are heart-rending. The genocide remains a topic of daily front-page headlines in the local newspapers, but shares space in the dailies with stories about a country that is pursuing a new future. Political leaders are meeting with American businessmen to plan a rail link to the rest of Africa, and the government is pressing hard on a Vision 2020 campaign that will, if they can turn their lofty goals into reality, see Rwanda pull ahead of its neighbours technologically and economically.
The bus trip was fascinating, and we finally felt as if we were connecting with this country that we had spent nearly a week travelling through. One person we were chatting with even bought us a couple of bottles of Rwandan-made passion juice at a rest stop, as a gesture of hospitality. We were floored.
So it was with huge regret that we boarded the flight to Kilimanjaro today. Seeing Africa's highest mountain from the airplane window did little to lift our spirits; neither did emerging from the airport to discover that it was going to cost us US$50 to get from the airport to Arusha, the town where we intend to spend a few days. We managed to get a cab for US$30, and a relatively cheap hotel -- although it's next to a mosque that promises to blare hours of off-key singing into the early morning hours tomorrow. Worse, we arrived in a torrential downpour. Tanzania wasn't looking so good.
Still, I've since started feeling a bit better. We took a short stroll, and found ourselves left largely without being harassed, which is about as good as it gets in Africa. Arusha is the kind of African city that's dangerous enough at night that you have to take cabs everywhere you go, which sucks, but we're hoping for a better day tomorrow of attending the Rwandan genocide tribunal -- which is still ongoing here -- and planning a safari to the Ngorongoro Crater. Let's just hope the sun comes out.
They talked about their own personal histories with regard to the genocide. One had lived in exile in the Congo for nearly 40 years as the persecution of the Tutsis mounted. It culminated in that awful month of April 1994; his family returned soon after, and discovered all of their relatives had been killed, save for three orphans. His family now raises those orphans, and every April they make a pilgrimage to the graves of their parents. We have barely scratched the surface on the hurt and grief that still haunt this country, but the glimpses we have caught are heart-rending. The genocide remains a topic of daily front-page headlines in the local newspapers, but shares space in the dailies with stories about a country that is pursuing a new future. Political leaders are meeting with American businessmen to plan a rail link to the rest of Africa, and the government is pressing hard on a Vision 2020 campaign that will, if they can turn their lofty goals into reality, see Rwanda pull ahead of its neighbours technologically and economically.
The bus trip was fascinating, and we finally felt as if we were connecting with this country that we had spent nearly a week travelling through. One person we were chatting with even bought us a couple of bottles of Rwandan-made passion juice at a rest stop, as a gesture of hospitality. We were floored.
So it was with huge regret that we boarded the flight to Kilimanjaro today. Seeing Africa's highest mountain from the airplane window did little to lift our spirits; neither did emerging from the airport to discover that it was going to cost us US$50 to get from the airport to Arusha, the town where we intend to spend a few days. We managed to get a cab for US$30, and a relatively cheap hotel -- although it's next to a mosque that promises to blare hours of off-key singing into the early morning hours tomorrow. Worse, we arrived in a torrential downpour. Tanzania wasn't looking so good.
Still, I've since started feeling a bit better. We took a short stroll, and found ourselves left largely without being harassed, which is about as good as it gets in Africa. Arusha is the kind of African city that's dangerous enough at night that you have to take cabs everywhere you go, which sucks, but we're hoping for a better day tomorrow of attending the Rwandan genocide tribunal -- which is still ongoing here -- and planning a safari to the Ngorongoro Crater. Let's just hope the sun comes out.
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