lizziebear

Gorillas-I want to go back-once was not enough

2008-11-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

my 1st encounter at the wall of the nat'l park
(you can click on any image to enlarge)

heading into the bamboo forest and we're not too far behind

this momma is probably wondering what all the fuss is about

my closest encounter, this momma & baby walked right beside me, too close for the camera to focus

isn't she beautiful

they never let the little ones stray too far

i would have loved to have taken a seat beside this big guy

the big guy keeping a watchful eye on his family

my guide Francois who worked with Dian Fossey

Rwanda-great scenery and great people

2008-11-20T18:38:00.000-08:00

virunga mountain in Rwanda

a woman's work is never done

one of the farm families near the Nat'l Park

local kids hanging around the hotel boundary

volcano nat'l park in the background

one of the most beautiful birds (click to enlarge)

it's one variety of the sunbird (like a hummingbird)

a rare & endangered golden monkey

gorillas in the mist (yes they are there)

the fertile terraced farm fields

Victoria Falls quick trip pics

2008-11-20T18:12:00.000-08:00

the bridge connecting Zimbabwe & Zambia

The Kingdom Hotel

Victoria Falls and the mighty Zambezi River

Livingstone's memorial

Northern Namibia photos

2008-10-16T19:11:00.000-07:00

click on any image to enlarge

skeleton coast

nature cruise on Walvis Bay

one of the people-friendly seals(a bit too use to the tourist), but neat seeing them up close they jump right up into the boats looking for a free handout of fish

Krystal Museum, oh how I'd love to have that collection

old german colonial buildings in Swakopmund

ancient pictographs in rocky overhang

approaching storm clouds, causing road washouts

a little piece of heaven - Grootberg lodge-one of my favorite spots

first elephant I saw on Grootberg/Klip River scenic drive

visit to the Himba people (women cover themselves
from head to toe in ochre clay)

night drive to see the lions feasting at Mt. Etjo Lodge

a few animals from Mt Etjo safari game drive

pics while touring southern Namibia

2008-10-15T19:34:00.001-07:00

click on image to enlarge

edge of the kalahari desert and the quiver tree forest

fish river canyon area

kolmanskop deserted diamond mining town

huge jellyfish, see my footprint

namib nat'l park, yes I did make it to the top of one of the dunes

springbok and oryx, lots and lots all over namibia

Scenery and sunsets Na'ankuse in Namibia

2008-09-08T13:32:00.001-07:00

Favorite animal pics from volunteering at Na'ankuse in Namibia

2008-09-08T11:21:00.000-07:00

to my brother Dave and anybody else who reads my travelblog

2008-05-26T12:52:00.000-07:00

Hi Dave,

As you can see I finally put the info from my last 2 weeks in South Africa on the blog. I know, I know, about time eh!, especially since I've been back in Chatham for at least 3 weeks now. Grammie doesn't have high speed internet at home so thanks to Michelle for letting me spend the afternoon using her computer.

I've downloaded 2000+ photos on Carol's computer so I'll have to go over there and add in the "best of" photos onto this blog so people can see more than the only 4 photos I had posted on this blog months ago.

And to Michelle, yes, I really do need to start looking for that 4 four letter dirty word, "WORK". Now that the blog is updated, maybe I can work on my resume. Now if I can only decide what I want to do with my life and where I want to live in Ontario. Should I look for the perfect job or look for the perfect place to live and just find any job that will pay the bills until a good job comes along. It feels like I did at 18 finishing high school and trying to decide what to do with my life. Maybe it's my mid-life crisis since I'm 45 (almost 46).

Say goodbye to South Africa and hello to home

2008-05-26T11:52:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed South Africa and Swaziland and would love to go back one day to visit again. I would totally be comfortable renting a car and driving around these 2 countries. When I was in the leisure travel business, we didn't sell South Africa due to all the travel restrictions so I really didn't know much about it. Since it opened up to tourists about 10 years ago or so I've been selling more corporate travel or travel within N.A. I was really surprised at how moutainous it is and there is just as much beautiful scenery to see inland than just along the coastal roads. The highway system is great and all the signs are in English. There's tonnes of good hotel chains, B&B, guesthouses and lodges of various prices. They have great supermarkets and modern shopping centres if that's your thing and I found it cheaper to eat out than back home. You can even find american fast food like McD and KFC if you want. Not my 2 favorite restaurants, but I did like being able to get a good pizza when I felt like it. Like any big cities around the world, you would need to have maps in advance and make sure you know which areas to avoid the high crime areas.

One big problem that S.A. needs to fix is the lack of electricity. The country doesn't have enough power for everyone. While I was there, just able every city or town has had to do power sharing to cut back on the usage. Three times a week for about 2-2 1/2 hours a day, power would be cut off. Sometimes it would be in the morning but other times I was trying to get ready to go for dinner at 7pm by candlelight in the bathroom. Most offices, hotels, restaurants now have back up generators. They say these power cuts will continue until a few years before new power plants can get built. I guess they are going to start to build a mass of windmills also like Cda is dowing. Hopefully this problem will be fixed by 2010 when they host the World Cup of soccer.

It seems like whites, mixed race and blacks got along well since the days of apartheid. I know they are now having some trouble with the poor blacks that are attacking poor black immigrants. In recent years, due to political problems in Mozambique and Zimbabwe, millions of people from those countries fled across the borders to make a better life for themselves & their families in South Africa. Now more than every, there are many poor uneducated blacks that are fighting for the menial jobs. The Zulus who have lived in S.A. for hundreds of years are saying that Moz. or Zim immigrants are taking away their jobs. Maybe the Zulus need to realize that they were once immigrants themselves many years ago coming from central Africa. I hope the S.A. gov't can fix this problem quickly before there are many more deaths and beatings. I would hate to have a country that relies heavily on tourist dollars have the news scaring away potential travelers. Kenya is a perfect example of that. Both of these countries need travelers from around the world.

Now for the journey home.....

I was really hoping that since it wasn't busy season, the plane would be half empty and I'd be able to stretch out for the long flight home. No luck in my favor. I'm on the aisle seat beside the window seat but it appears that all the inside aisle seats are full even though some of the middle seats are free so those people will have a bit of rooom.

It's about 9 hours from Jo'burg to Dakar Senegal for a refuelling stop. You are fed a dinner shortly after take off and I watched a movie before having short naps and walks around the aisles to stretch my legs. In Dakar, during the 1 hour layover, you are not allowed to get off the plane. Security does come onto the plane and you have to take all hand luggage out of the upper bins and hold it in your lap. I guess they just want to make sure that any of the approx 10 people who disembarked in Dakar didn't leave any bombs or something onboard the plane. From Dakar to Washington DC it's about another 9 hours. We are fed twice and I watch another couple of movies and again go through the have a nap, take a walk scenerio. For the most part, the plane ride was very smooth until about 1hour before landing. I guess there were thunderstorms along the eastern seaboard and mum said that Virginia had a tornado the previous evening.

The plane landed in DC around 630am and I was really hoping to get on the 8am flight to Toronto even though I had to clear U.S. customs, etc. No luck since the flight to T.O. was oversold, so I had to try to amuse myself till the next flight at 1230pm. I leisurely walked from one end of the terminal to the next and explored every shop along the way. Nowadays, airports don't want you to sleep on the seats so there are armrests between each seat so instead of sleeping I read for a while and watched CNN coverage of the tornado and called my mommy to use up the rest of my prepaid calling card.

At 1230pm, surprisingly, I don't feel tired and I'm ready to go but they haven't even called my plane yet. We finally get to board but still sit on the ground. It appears someone has checked in but didn't show up at the boarding gate so they have to look for the loser's luggage. It's just a quick flight to T.O. and I arrive safely but my luggage doesn't so I have to once again fill in lost luggage forms but also add another form for Canadian customs .

My brother Dave who was working in T.O. today was able to pick me up at the airport and drive me to his home in London. My sister Carol and my mum then met me in London to take me back to Chatham. Thanks to you both for taking the time to get me home so I didn't have to sit on the Robert Q Airbus all the way back to Chatham.

It's a long, long way from Johannesburg, South Africa to Chatham, Canada but I made it home safe and sound after being away for just over 3 months. My luggage arrived about 2 days later. The bag was ripped open and the lock had been cut off. Notes from both U.S. Security and Cdn customs noted that they inspected my bag. Here I had spent money on these new locks with special security codes that could be opened by U.S. security so a suitcase didn't have to be damaged if it had to be inspected. So, why was my bag ripped at the zipper and the lock cut off, eh! Luckily, I didn't notice anything missing from my bag.

Kwazulu-Natal, Swaziland & Mpumalanga

2008-05-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

For the next section of the tour, Barbara and I had to fly from Port Elizabeth to Durban. It's Sunday and we don't have to start the tour and meet our driver/guide until Tuesday morning. The flight wasn't till about 12:30pm so I could have a bit of a lay in since rain is still in the forecast. It's a very rough flight due to the high winds and rain but we land safely in Durban and are transferred to the highrise Southern Sun North Beach Hotel. All the rooms look out onto the ocean and I have a wonderful view from the 21st floor. At check-in I'm warned not to walk along the beach with a purse or camera. Durban is a large city and I has a problem with theft along the beachfront. It's still raining heavily so I watch the surfers from my room but manage to brave the rain to go to a pub/restaurant for dinner around the corner.

Today, was a free day in Durban to enjoy by yourself or take one of the optional tours. Both Barbara and I were interested in a full day tour that headed into Lesotho, to a mountainous area called Sani Pass. Since the forcast was very grim (snow at higher elevations) and some of the mountain roads are only accessable by 4x4 in good weather we both passed on spending about $200 for the day trip. Good thing we did pass on that day trip. The newspaper the next morning showed snow blanketing the northern park of Lesotho and the southern & central Drakensberg mountain range leaving adventure racers stranded and lots of road collisions. Durban didn't get any snow however at some times the rain did look like snowflakes from the 21st floor. I spent most of day watching movies or reading in my room but the rain finally looked like it was clearing late in the day so I did about an hour's walk along the beach path.

Tuesday morning it finally looked like nice weather was back. Linda our new driver/guide showed up in a new Toyota Corolla. Since there is only 2 of us the company uses a car instead of a mini-coach. It's nice to be able to sit up a bit higher in a coach but I understand the reasoning for using a car. Leaving Durban on the N2 we head east along the coast before turning to the north to Shakaland overlooking Lake Phobane. Shakaland is what a typical Zululand village would have looked like many years ago. It was built many years ago for a mini-series and is used as a museum today. A guided tour takes you through the time of the great warrior Shaka the King of the Zulus. You see small bits from the movie and then are shown around many of the huts to see weaving, making zulu beer. Workers are in traditional style clothes and then in the King's hut they put on a dance demonstration. Protea Hotels as even converted some of the huts into hotel rooms for people who want to experience that type of accommodation.

After a buffet lunch we continue driving through the the rolling countryside with orange groves and sugar cane fields to our hotel, the Protea Umfolozi River. It's an early start in the morning for a 6am game drive through Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park in an open 4x4 vehicle. Blankets keep us warm until the sun gets up a bit higher. The park is set in pretty countryside but it's quite thick with vegetation so it's difficult to see the animals. We spot warthogs, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, cape buffalo and impala. Two near animals for my records, we see nyala a deer like animal and 4 white rhinos. I only saw black rhino in Tanzania. White rhinos are the same color as black ones, they are both grey in colour. Many years ago, english settlers misunderstood white for wide when asking about these rhinos. They really are wide mouth rhinos. White rhinos have squared wide mouths since they are grazers along the grass, where black rhino have a more pointed curved lip since they need to grasp and eat tree branches. The picnic stop for breakfast had lots of baboons on the cliff across the river and a plenty of birds flying and singing about.

Linda, met up with us at Memorial Gate at the end of the tour and we headed north passing many sugar fields or other game parks before entering Swaziland at the southeast corner. We have to get our passports stamped out of S.A. and into Swaziland at the border but it doesn't take long. Swaziland, like S.A. is still very poor but as younger people become more educated and start yearning money they seem to help their parents build modern cement homes. In the south part of the country you can still see a few of the traditional small round mud thatched huts left but Linda tells us she has really started to see a difference in her years as guiding tours in the area. Swaziland grows a lot of sugar cane and pinapple. The mountains get higher as you drive north and I'm surprised that the roads are in very good condition like the roads in S.A.

We drive by the old King's burial park and stop to see a candle factory that helps support some local workers. Many of the candles are hand made and sculpted into animal shapes. Nearby we spend the night at the Ezulwini Sun Hotel which is part of a large 3 hotel, casino, spa, golf resort. The next morning, the weather is great once again and we stop by a glass factory to see hand glass-blowing artistans at work. The Pigs Peak area is also know as Little Switzerland for it's beautiful mountain scenery.

Even though I could only stay 1 night in Swaziland, I was glad to be able to see a country that my Great Aunt Grace lived in for many years. She left England probably around 1915-1920 and was a missionary. At that time she taught some of the King's many children and definitely lived very basic surroundings since even the king lived in mud and grass huts back then. Not like today where the current kings spends his money on his private jets and seems more interested in buying mutiple Rolls Royces and picking out another 14yr old virgin every couple of years to add to his collection of wives. I always enjoyed the old family photos of Aunt Grace in Swaziland and especially enjoyed exploring the shoebox full of old beaded jewellry that mum has keep in her closet. I'll now have to have another look at all that family history.

Leaving the northwest corner of Swaziland, we drive into Mpumalanga and have only a short distance to go to the southern edge of Kruger National Park, one of the largest game and nature reserves. The Pestana Kruger Lodge is right along the river and I enjoyed watching the sunset and seeing crocs and hippos from the balcony.

Up at 5am for an early morning game drive at 6am. Once again it's cold in the morning so blankets need to keep us warm for a while. There was a beautiful sunrise but I was disappointed in the lack of animals that we saw in the early morning hours but lots of birds about. A picnic lunch stop showed photos that sometimes elephant or even leopards will wander into the picnic area but all we saw was birds. I was happy to finally get a good close up pic of the hornbills. After breakfast, back on the road and not far to go before we see a white rhino along the roadside and a herd of elephants. The other usual animals like zebra, giraffe were seem, but where are all the lions and leopards. Kruger is suppose to have lots of them but they were all a bit camera shy I guess. Back to the lodge by 2pm and time for a nap and quick dinner out on the balcony before going on a night drive. I enjoyed the night drive and was able to see a fair number of animals but still no big cats even with someone stopping us and telling us that a pride of lions had just crossed the road a few km's up. Around that spot, we only saw a spotted hyena running down the road towards us with a look of fright on his face and a constant check behind him. I guess he saw the lions that we missed and was frightened away since he wasn't with his pack. I was able to get a very quick glimpse of a bushbaby in a tree by the road and did see a few owls on the hunt.

On Sat. morning we needed to drive through one area of Kruger in order to head to our next destination. Linda did give us a nice scenic drive on some of the smaller dirt roads throughout the park hoping we would find the elusive lion or leopard to round out our Big 5 but saw just about everything else. We left Kruger seeing only 3 out of the Big 5, the buffalo, rhino and elephant. The weather continued to be beautiful as we traveled via a scenic panorama route to God's Window lookout and the Blyde River Canyon. As beautiful as this area is, much of the mountain scenery is taken up with clear cut areas for the logging industry. The logging industry plants rows upon rows of non-native Cdn Pine and Gum Trees so the natural thick native forests are almost gone. There's also been many recent forest fires blackening some of slopes. We stopped at a beautiful waterfall as the sun was setting which meant the last hour of the scenic drive was in the dark but we arrived safely at the very fancy Emnotweni Sun Resort in Nelspruit. There was a large casino and shopping mall across the road so I took a quick peek before picking up a pizza and heading back to my room.

Sunday morning, I overslept my alarm but luckily we didn't have to leave until 930 this morning. Heading west through farmland of mainly orchards like oranges, mango, nut trees and sugar cane but still very hilly area. The road climbs up to the top of a flat plateau to fields of corn and soyabeans. Looks a bit like Kent Country I think. We arrive into Jo'burg around 3pm. I was told by the tour company that the tour ended around 5pm so I didn't try to fly out tonight. If I knew I'd be in town by that time I could have easily flown out tonight and saved the money for room, dinner and airport transfer that I booked. Linda gave us a quick look at some of the Jo'burg suburbs and we passed by Nelson Mandela's current home before being dropped off at the Twickenham B&B in Auckland Park. It's in a nice area but still advised not to walk around at night. Jo'burg is a very crime ridden city, even in good neighbourhoods. I spend the next morning wandering the neighbourhood before heading off to the airport.

Springbok Atlas 12 day South African Highlights tour

2008-05-26T09:11:00.000-07:00

In a 10 passenger mini-coach, I'm joined by a couple, Frank and Lana from Dublin, Simon and his mother Ada from the U.K., and Barbara from Amsterdam. Four of them are only on the 1st 4 days till Port Elizabeth, called the Garden Route tour. Barbara and myself will be the only 2 continuing on the rest of the way to Jo'burg. Lindy a very energetic and knowledgable lady is our driver/guide. The weather looks like it's going to be a perfect traveling day.

Heading north east out of Cape Town along the N1 highway it's a pretty drive around the winery area of Paarl and pass through the Hugenot Tunnel. The nearby towns are a mix of English or Dutch sounding names. I love all the whitewashed cottages with thatched roofs and it even reminds me a bit of the ones you see in Ireland. We continue to see many wineries but also other fruit growing areas for the dried fruit market. Our destination is Oudtshoorn the ostrich ranching community. The hotel tonight is a lovely historical property that is called the Queen's Hotel and Queen Elizabeth has even stayed there many years ago. I try ostrich for dinner and I'm surprised to find it's texture is more like beef steak than the chicken I thought it would be.

It's sunny and warm the next morning and the 1st stop is at an ostrich farm. We can see the fields full of ostrich of various sizes from young chicks to adults. A tour around the farm gives us a close up of the ostrichs but not too close since they can bite and love shiny thinks like jewellry. We can feel the weight of an egg and find out that one egg is the equivalent of about a 20 egg omlette. You can even put your body weight on top of an unhatched egg without it breaking. There's no eggs hatching in the hatchery at this time but we find out all the things ostrichs are breed for like their meat, feathers and skin for leather bags.

Next stop in the Klien Karoo area of S.A. is Cango Animal Park, a zoo like setting were we see many African animals up close but also get to see other animals like a white tiger and lemurs. Just down the road we have a guided tour through Canjo Caves. It's amazing to walk through only a small section of the caves that were formed 20 million yrs ago when acidic ground water eroded the limestone. There's many dramatic stalactites and stalagmites that were formed once the water drained away 3 million yrs ago. The caves were discovered in 1780 by Dutch colonists but showed evidence of being used by ancient man. The tour guide had an great singing voice and showed us how well the acoustics were in the cave.

Heading south on the N12 we drive through the Outenique Pass to the Indian Ocean and continue east on the N2 to the coastal town of Knysna for a 2 night stay at the waterfront Protea Knysna Quays Hotel. Lots of shops and restaurants along the quay.

Friday morning, I wake up to a beautiful blue sky and we cruise on the Knysna estuary (breeding area for sea horses) to Featherbed Nature Reserve which is on the western side of the Knysna Heads a small opening from the estuary out to the Indian Ocean. Once we land at the reserve we are shuttled by 4x4 trailer up a narrow path to the top of a hill. From there, we take a guided 2.2km hike down through the forest stopping at many coastal viewpoints, sea caves and follow the seashore back to the pier for a buffet lunch. The boat ride gets us back to the wharf around 2pm and the rest of the day is free so I explore the shops around town.

The weather is very cloudy this morning as we leave Knysna and head east along the coast. We stop at Plettenburg Bay and drive through the Tsitsikama Forest. At the Bloukrans River we stop to see brave hearted bungy jumpers leap off bridge. It's starting to rain and it poured for a short hike in the forest to see some of the native trees that are being protected by the lumber industry in the area. We cross over a few other bridges but the rain continues to destroy what should be a very scenic drive. It rains all the way into Port Elizabeth. Our hotel is only a block from the beach but the heavy rain stops me from enjoying a walk along the sand. Five of us have an enjoyable dinner tonight before Barbara and I start the next section of the tour.

Next stop South Africa

2008-05-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

My original hopes had been to go into Kenya to see a few of their national parks (like Amboseli and Mara) and then enjoy a few days exploring Stonetown and enjoying the beaches of Zanzibar before heading back to Canada. Kenya's still having some riot problems after 4 months so I've opted out of heading there. I still thought I'd head to Zanzibar but since it's rainy season, I've found out that quite a few of the hotels and restaurants close during April. I decide that I'll save Zanzibar for another time (maybe if I come back one day to climb Mt Kili) and South Africa will be a sunnier, better alternative (I hope).

I'm definitely not a morning person, especially if I have to get up at 3:30am. Unfortunately, I had to be up at that ungodly hour in order to get to the airport. Mama Lynn wasn't impressed that she had to be the one to take me to the airport at that time of day. About 10 to 4, we left with one of the guards to drive to the airport. Luckily it wasn't raining and the roads were mainly deserted so it only took about 40 min. to get to the airport. Arriving there, we found that it hadn't even opened yet. I'm on an international flight that leaves at 6am and your'e advised to arrive 2hrs early but I think 1 1/2 hrs would be plenty for Kili. I guess since it's a small airport (Kili) with only 1 plane leaving they don't think they need that much check-in time. There was a few other guys waiting for the airport to open so I said my goodbye to Mama Lynn and waited about 1/2 hour outside before the main door was unlocked to proceed to check-in.

Took off heading north from Kili airport to Nairobi Kenya, with the sun just rising. Unfortunately, I was on the west side of the plane so I only had a peek at sunrise over Mt. Kilimanjaro that the other side of the plane was enjoying. It's just a short 1hr flight to NBO before connecting to a longer flight heading south to Jo'burg. Once again on the wrong side to see Mt. Kili again but I did enjoy the view over northern Tanzania before we were high up in the clouds.

Once I arrived into Jo'burg, in order to lessen the chance of not seeing my suitcases (Jo'burg the place to loose your luggage), I claimed them, cleared customs, immigration before walking over to the domestic terminal to check in for my last flight from Jo'burg to Cape Town. Found that none of the airport currency exchange booths would take my leftover Tanzanian shillings (about $100 worth). Would have exchanged them at Kili airport but the booth wasn't open that early in the morning. Cloudy flight to Cape Town so I didn't see much of the landscape I was hoping to. The airport tourist desk helped me book a B&B since the tour company couldn't confirm the hotel I had requested a few days ago.

Took one of the airport shuttle companies into town and right away noticed how much Cape Town is a growing modern city. The country is still very poor and the highway passes by some shanty towns but the downtown area is full of skyscrapers, the road system is great and the streets appear to be clean and safe. I'm dropped off at my B&B called Nelson's Guesthouse. It's located on in the Sea Point area on High Level Rd. Barry Jones who worked and traveled many years on cruise ships now runs the B&B. It's got a beautiful view from the terrace looking over the Atlantic Ocean and Signal Hill part of the Table Mountains is just behind.

I'm told this neighbourhood is safe at night so I walk down to the ocean prommenade and enjoy the sunset along the pathway that is filled with other enjoying the warm evening breeze. I head a few blocks to Main St. and wander around before having a disappointing fish & chip take-away (too many bones). You'd think that Cape Town should have good fish & chips.

The next morning I had hoped to ride the cable car to the top of Table Moutain but it's foggy. I decide to walk down along the waterfront hoping that as I go the fog will eventually lift. I walk for a few miles and every once in a while when the fog isn't blowing in, I can see bits of the mountain top. I end up at the Victoria Wharf and spend a bit of time looking at the boats and many of the shops and craft stores before heading back to the B&B.

This afternoon I decide to take a 1/2 day tour to the Cape of Good Hope.
African Eagle Day Tours picked me up right at the B&B. We head south out of Cape Town along the coastal road through Sea Point and Clifton. Lots of million dollar seaview homes and stop for photos at Camps Bay a lovely sandy beach with huge bolders and a mountain backdrop of the Twelve Apostles. Head inland a bit to Hout Bay and stop high up on a cliff along Chapmans Peak Drive. Across the mountain range to False Bay, we stop just outside of Simonstown to see a Penquin Colony at Bolders Beach. We can get quite close to the little guys. Many of them are sitting on eggs but I do see one fuzzy little guy that doesn't have his adult black & white feathers yet. I'm too busy enjoying the penquins that the tour van just about leaves without me. Unfortunately, we didn't stop by the main view area so we didn't get to see any penquins heading out of the water along the beach.

Heading a bit south we enter Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. We only have time to take a quick hike up to the lighthouse since the electric tram is closed due to a power outage. I try to cover all the scenic outlooks for photo stops and also get close up to the deadly puff adder snake that is just beside the trail and the usually skittish rock hyrax poses for a photo. A few photos from the lighthouse before jogging back down to the parking lot. Cape of Good Hope is situated at the junction of 2 of earth's most contrasting water masses, the cold Benguela current on the west coast and the warm Agulhas current on the east coast. It's popularly perceived as the meeting point of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans but that's at Cape Agulhas national park further east. On the drive out of the park we see a troop of baboons along the road and ostrich, eland nearby. As we head back north to Cape Town, we are on the east side of the mountains so we don't see a great ocean sunset but it's still a pretty drive back to the city.

what I did and did not like about Tanzania

2008-04-28T02:59:00.000-07:00

Tanzania was a place that I had always wanted to visit probably from all the wildlife National Geographic specials I had watched over the years. I am certainly glad that I did get to visit the country, but I leave the country a bit disappointed.

I loved the beautiful mountain scenery and especially enjoyed Ngorongoro and seeing Mtn Kili when the clouds dispersed. All the animals I saw on the safari was fantastic.

I didn't like how much corruption there is in this country. If you take a sick person to the hospital you would have to give the nurse some extra money on the side in order for the sick person to get a bed. They don't feed sick people so you have to arrange or pay a person to go into the hospital each meal time and hopefully you have an honest person who will actually feed the person and not pocket the money. Little Pamela who has TB and Hiv was in the hospital for 3 weeks. I've also mentioned early that there is lots of corruption in the school system.

I don't like the fact that the country hasn't progressed in the last 50 years compared to other African countries I visited. After visiting spotless Rwanda, I was disappointed to see how much garbage is left in the streets and along the roadside. Local people have no idea about recycling and don't seem to mind their own yards being very messy. It was hard to try to tell the kids that if they finish eating a mango to throw the pit away instead of leaving it on the floor to rot at the orphanage.

I got the impression that they assumed all white people had lots of money and most people would try to charge you more since many stores do not have price stickers. The local transports also try to charge you more money. I felt that I was being discriminated against because I was white. Many people would yell out mzungo or point at you. It's not like I was the only white person around or in a very remote area. I didn't get that feeling in any of the other countries I visited.

I did enjoy the country but compared to the other countries, I not sure how much I will promote the country if I continue in the travel biz. They have a long way to go to improve the country.

fixing up a classroom

2008-04-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

One day Mama Lynn mentioned that a school outside of Boma wondered if we would be interested in fixing up a classroom. Grace, Flo, Ulli and myself said we would. We then thought it was funny that they expected us to supply the paint also but we decided to do this as part of community outreach.

Kids start school around 7 years old and we would be painting the 1st graders room. We arrive at the school and find a classroom full of old desks and benches. At the back and along the sides of the building are metal barrels and bags of grain. Moving most of the contents out of the room we find a nest of baby rats. Isn't it comforting to know that these small children have to share the room with rats since they also use the room to store food. The cement floor is full of holes and in some spots the walls need to be patched up also. Grace and Flo mention that they will use some of their donation dollars towards getting the floor fixed. We spend the day painting the room a cream colour on top and a light blue around the bottom. There is also black paint for a skirting strip along the bottom. While painting this I spot a small scorpion along the floor and even though I don't like to kill spiders, I definitely didn't want to have this crawling on me when I sat on the floor so it saw the bottom of my shoe. As we paint, the mother rat keeps squeaking from the ceiling rafters so she is probably pissed at us for moving out her babies. Since some of the walls need to be patched and dried, we have to go back a few days later to finish the job. Some old metal corregated sheets that were sitting in the rafters has been removed and the floor is now covered in rats poop. I guess there were rat nest up in the rafters also. I sure hope that disease that is found in mice droppings doesn't occur with rat droppings. We get the painting finished and I'm sure once the new floor is in the classroom will be in much better shape. Mama Lynn has told the principal that no food should be kept in classrooms but I wonder if in a few days they will once again be storing the food in classrooms.

Most of the day while we are painting kids are hanging out at the door and windows. It doesn't appear that they make the kids go into the classroom. I felt that the teacher that was using the room we were painting figured she didn't have to teach those days and let the kids just amuse themselves outside all day. While waiting for a ride home the 1st afternoon, I sat outside under a tree to cool off. Gradually more and more children were coming closer to me and I ended up having about 50 kids surrounding me and I could barely breath. I few of them could speak a few words of english and I could only speak a few words of swahili. I felt like I had too heads and couldn't see why they seemed to be facinated with me. It's not like I was in an area that doesn't have white people. A few of the kids wanted to touch me I guess to say they had touched a white person. I finally had to go back into the classroom for some peace and quiet.

Tanzania is a very corrupt country and there is even corruption in the school system. Along with school fees, uniform, black shoes, food fees, every child must pay a security fee. There was probably about 1000 kids at that school and with the amount of money they collect for one askari guard, they could probably hire 10-20 guards so that means the corrupt teachers are pocketing the extra cash. Teachers also carry long sticks with them to beat the children. Boy am I glad my nieces and newphews don't have to go to a school like that. Private school is probably better and international school is the best choice but many families in Tanzania cannot afford the private schools. A few of LIA kids have sponsors that pay for private schooling which I think is about $1000.00 a year.

To hell and back

2008-04-21T07:47:00.000-07:00

A few years ago, I first saw Tanzanite (the precious stone that has a blue purple colour to it) at a jewellry store in the Caribbean. I'm not one for wearing jewellry and my family knows that I don't like diamonds but do like colored stones. I had hoped one day to maybe own a piece of Tanzanite and figured maybe I would buy something when I'm in Tanzania. It's suppose to be rarer than a diamond and is only mined in one area near where I was staying. They also say that they may run out of the stones in about 10-20 years.

One day, Mama Lynn asked if I would like to go to the mining town of Merarani to help dispense medicine to the poor. They try to do this once or twice a month. I have been told that the mining town is hell on earth and a lawless town filled with murderers, thieves, rapists, prostitutes. Everyone who moved there is hoping to strike it rich just like people in the gold rush days. The majority of the townsfolk have HIV or Aids.

Some of the mines force children to work and if a mine is not producing enough stones, witch doctors will sacrifice a child to give the owner better luck. These sacrificed children are added to the list of those killed due to injuries in the mines, not as children being murdered.

Just getting to Merarani was an adventure and I feared for my life. It had rained heavily the night before and the dirt road into the area is full of water and deep potholes. At one point we drive across a swollen river and the truck stalls since the water is up to the top of the engine. Water is starting to come into the vehicle and we have to get out quickly. I get out in the fast moving water into water that is up to my hips. I'm worried that Mama Lynn who is smaller than me will have trouble reaching dry ground but we both manage to get out of the water. I felt however that if I had stepped in a pot hole I could have easily been swept downstream. Some locals and myself help push the vehicle to higher ground but it takes hours before help comes back to tow the vehicle into the town since a tow truck wouldn't come and get us. The tow rope in the car must have been stolen in the last few weeks.

It's funny how you see a sign that the road is maintained by the Tanzanite mining company and it doesn't look like they have done anything for years. Just think that they export at least 2 billion dollars a year just to the U.S. alone plus all the other countries that buy the stones. You would think that they could spend a bit of money on a road and build a frigging bridge over the river.

Once we are at the food kitchen area, the line up of people is extremely long. People have been waiting hours to see the doctor and get their medicine. I sit at a table with Sister Grace and count out the pills and put them in little plastic bags. There are vitamins, aspirin, antibiotics and malaria pills. It doesn't look like people have been fed much and I have a box of cookies in my bag so I hand them out to the kids that show up at my table. We started about 1230pm and by about 6pm, I find out that Mama Lynn is staying in town since all the people didn't get seen due to the late start. Anthony and myself are going to take public transportation back.

Just as we leave town, it starts to rain heavily again so I'm really concerned about the river crossing. We are in a 4x4 truck crammed with about 15 people. Luckily it looks like the water level is a bit lower than this morning probably due to the fact that the rain from the mountain hasn't reached the area yet. We make the crossing but it's still a long way back to the paved road and then another 30-45 minutes back to Mailisita.

I get home around 9pm and am thankful that they saved me some dinner and Viny heated up some water for me so I could have a warm sponge bath to get clean.

The next day we hear that more than 100 miners have died when some of the mines flood due to the rain. I wonder how many are children who did not have a choice to work there. People have also died in town when their mud & stick houses have collapsed due to the rain. I definitely will not be going back to Merarani, especially during rainy season.

If you ever decide to buy a Tanzinite stone, please only buy one from Mine # 1 and get an original copy of proof that it came from that mine. All other stones are from illegal mines that force child labour and do not have safe mining regulations. It's sad to think that something so beautiful has come from such a hellish place.

still alive in Africa

2008-04-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

Sorry everyone who hasn't been bored with my really, really long blog posts. I haven't had much time to update in the last month.

Just to let you know I've finished my month at the orphanage and since it's raining season in Tanzania, I decided not to go to Zanzibar at the end of my trip. Kenya is still unsettled politically so I'm now travelling around South Africa for about 2 weeks before my flight home on April 30th.

I don't have much time now to update the blog but will try if I can find an internet cafe that is open when I have free time on the tour.

Take care everyone

Light in Africa orphanage

2008-04-01T01:22:00.000-07:00

It's less than an hour's drive from Kili Airport to Light in Africa's Mailisita House (volunteer house) along the Arusha to Moshi Road. Mama Lynn the British woman who runs the organization is there to meet me and introduce me to my fellow volunteers. There's 3 Brits - Vinny about 37 who is an outdoor education teacher back in Grimsby (has been here since Jan and will be leaving in a week), Florence from Bedfordshire about 20yrs on her Gap year (arrived in Feb and will leave in May), and Grace from Kent also about 20yr on her Gap year (also here till May). Funny thing is that both Florence and Grace don't know each other but are both going to be attending the same university in September and are both here at Light in Africa for about the same amount of time. Peter's from Malibu is in his early 20's (leaving tomorrow) and Ulli from Germany also in her early 20's (arrived in Feb and will leave around the same time as me). Ron and Sue a retired couple from Merseyside are away for a few days in Zanzibar, so I'll meet them later (have been here since Jan and are leaving next week). There's a large common room for the volunteers to use during their off time so we just sit around talking tonight. Vinny has just gotten back from a safari so we start to compare our trips and it ends up that on a few occasions we must have been in the same area at the same time like when the male lion was standing on the kopje since our photos are identical.

The volunteer accomodation is very basic like a budget hotel. Some of the rooms have a bathroom but we don't have any hot water so I have to get use to taking cold showers. The metal framed bunkbeds each have a mosquito net on them since some of the outside windowscreens have holes in them. I've been warned that sometimes the power goes out so to always have a candle or flashlight handy.

This morning I have breakfast at 730am by myself. The others have already had an early start going out to the mining town of Merarani and picking up the HIV/Aids people who will be brought to the Moshi Hospital to see the doctor and get some of their meds. Mama Lynn and some of the workers are preparing lunches for these people which will be picked up as they pass Mailisita on their way to the hospital. I help in cutting up some drawing paper and getting crayons so the kids will have something to keep them busy as they have to wait to see the doctors.

Later in the morning, Mama Lynn gives me the orientation and tells me many sad stories about how some of the children have managed to find their way to Light in Africa. We also have a few elderly and dying people in the building who have been taken in so they don't have to die in the streets after being abandoned by their families which is the case with a lot of Aids people. Where I'm staying at Mailisita is the volunteer house and the nursery house. In Boma about 15-20 journey down the road is Malika House (girls) and Pilgrim House (boys) plus the new property called Tudor Village. It is Mama Lynn's hope to build about 10 buidlings at Tudor Village and have all of the operation out of one location but it may take a few years to get enough money to build everything. One house is almost complete and the second one has been started. In the mining town of Mirarani, there is Fleece House orphanage and a feed the poor program and medical/social problem outreach program going on that volunteers assist with. There's also is a farm that has been started so once Tudor village gets going they hope to raise a lot of their own food.

After lunch, Mama Lynn walks me over to the nursery. There are about 15 children there. Susy is about 2 months old, cute as a doll and was found abandoned. She has dimples when she smiles. There's toddlers, Irenie, Cheddy, Frankie (HIV), Martini, Sara & Joe. They are all walking and it seems like they all want to be held at the same time. Junior and Pamela are brother/sister and they both have HIV and TB. Pamela's breathing is laboured and Mama Lynn decides to take her to hospital. Junior is a real sweetheart. He is about 4 I think but increadibly thin compared to the other kids but now that he is on his meds hopefully he will fatten up a bit. Joseph has downs syndrome and there are 2 others under 10 with severe disabilities and you get no response out of them. Beatrice is about a year or 2 and probably weighs no more than 10 pounds. She's severely malnorished and is just skin and bones. Two older children have cerebral palsy and are in wheelchairs. The older boy is usually at Pilgrim House the home for the boys but he has recently broken his leg. During their nap time, I found a mountain of laundry, mostly very worn clothes and old towels used as diapers. Once they are up from their naps, I play with them after their bath times. I help out with feeding them around 43opm then it's time to head back to the volunteer house for a shower and dinner.

This morning, the 4 of us girls went over to fold laundry in the nursery. Mama Lynn came over and asked if Grace and myself wanted to go see Tudor Village since the other 2 had been over before. Peter's church from Malibu gave Light in Africa the money to buy the land. I come to find out that Peter's church recently burnt down during the bad fires a few months back in California. The first home has all the tiling down and just needs to be painted, have glass put in the window frames and put in the bathroom plumbing and kitchen before moving some furniture in. The 2nd house is just the cement frame and tile roof done. Some of the hedges and other plants like bananas have already been planted to get a start on growing. All the workman are sitting down when we arrive and seem to be having an extended break. It appears that if you don't have a foreman to keep everyone working it takes an incredibily long time to get anything built in Tanzania. This afternoon Grace and I took 2 of the older boys (Kevin 17 and John 12) into Moshi and met up with Vinny, Ulli and Flo at the internet cafe and went to a local restaurant for lunch trying pilau, a rice and meat dish.

Can you imagine just throwing your child away. John has a mom and dad. They divorced and both remarried other people. Seems neither parent wanted John in their new lives so they tossed him out on the streets. Here's a 12 year old with no place to go, eating out of garbage bins. He was found in Boma and brought out to Mailisita house where he currently lives. He is starting to put on a bit of weight but is still very thin. He is bright, has had some schooling and speaks quite a bit of English. Vinny has generously donated money for John to start boarding school in a few weeks. I guess it has taken a bit of time for John to settle in but all the volunteers enjoy spending time with him and he is a good interpreter if we need one when we go into town.

Exploring the Serengeti

2008-04-01T00:28:00.000-07:00

Just as I'm falling asleep I can hear animals moving around the tents and I hear lions roaring in the distance. It takes a while but finally I get used to the outside noises and drift off to sleep. This morning we don't have to be up too early since we are leaving camp about 8am. We start to head north to a flat area of the Serengeti. Serengeti means endess plains I believe. The grass is fairly high hear so it's hard to spot the animals. Just as we hit the main road, we spot a hyena. After Naabi Hill Gate we start to see zebra and wildebeest in small numbers. There's plenty of gazelle but we also see a few elephants, hartebeest and topi. We start to drive by kopjes (copies) which are small rocky outcrops so I'm hoping to see leopard or lions on the rocks. Just as I have my head down looking at my camera, Jackson says there is a serval cat crossing the road. Unfortunately, I only get to get a quick glimpse of it as it enters the tall grass.

We head toward the west along a small river that is lined with trees and I see my 1st leopard thanks to the 4x4 stopped along the road. Up at least 30 feet in a tree is a leopard lounging along a branch. It's at least 100m off the road so pictures won't be great but I'll know it was a leopard. After watching it for about 10 minutes, it decides to get up. It hopes over to another branch then starts to climb down before it finally jumps off the tree at least 10 feet off the ground. Gradually it disappears into the tall grass. About 2km down the road a lioness is sleeping by herself under a tree. There's lots of giraffes in this area and we stop at a small pond to investigate. A small Nile crocodile is on one bank and a few hippos are along the opposite shore. 2 Fish eagles are at the top of one of the trees.

A few km's away there is about 15 4x4 stopped along the road so it must be something to see. Heading over there is 1 leopard in a tree. Still hoping to find baby leopards, cheetahs or lions today. There is a road on each side of this group of about 20 trees so we try each side checking out the best photo vantage point. I often wonder what animals think when they see all these tourists checking them out. Maybe they think, "is it time for a yawn or a stretch to get a reaction out of people", "what can I do to get a few oohs & aah out of them".

At Seronera there is a visitors centre and picnic area. They have an intrepet walk up and around one of the kopjes which is very interesting about the animals, birds, bugs, etc. There is a theatre showing nature films and I happened to see a male lion killing young cubs so the lioness would be able to breed again. Not exactly something you want to watch while you are having your lunch. The picnic area has lots of rock and tree hyrax and dwarf mongooses running around and there are all kinds of interesting birds looking for crumbs.

Leaving Seronera, we start to head back to camp and come upon a large herd of elephants with a new baby that is barely taller than the grass. All the usual animals are spotted along with quite a few giraffe. At Simba Rocks (simba is swahili for lion) we see a male and female lion sunbathing high up on a rock. Another moment when my video camera doesn't work, crap! The male lion gets up to move and it looks just like the scene from the Lion King movie. Nothing new to see the rest of the way home just hundreds of gazelle. Back at camp, it's a bit too cloudy so there isn't much of a sunset but plenty of lightening in the distance.

Early start this morning so we could be on the road by 615am so we could concentrate on the migrating animals (zebra and wildebeest). There's a pretty sunrise and we are driving around the Ngorongoro/Serengeti border area. Thousands of animals and lots of babies. The baby wildebeest are fun to watch as they chase each other in play. A baby wildebeest must be able to get up on it's feet within minutes of being born and within an hour they should be able to run and keep up with it's mother. I guess if they get separated they call out to each other but with all the noise I don't know how they can find each other amongst the thousands. We see a few carcasses or kill sites with lots of vultures and marabou stocks trying to get every last bit of meat on the bones. A few hyenas and jackals are also looking for a free meal.

The highlight of the day was seeing a female cheetah with 2 young cubs. They are still quite fluffy looking. We are able to spend quite a bit of time with them. We watch as the mother grooms one of the cubs and as she takes off, one cub seems to keep up while the other lags behind. At one time the cubs stayed in the tall grass so we thought maybe mom would be going off to hunt but eventually she called for them and they caught up to her.

Later we headed back to the marshy area we were at the previous day and the lions are still in the area. This time we only see the male, 1 female and 2 that are 1/2 grown. The female must be getting hot because she gets up and moves right over to our 4x4 and sits down in front of it to get out of the sun and wind. We have to back up to leave. Back at camp for brunch about 1230 then some free time to check out the photos and have a nap. Around 4pm we went on a guided walk with a ranger. He is armed with an AK47 and is tells us most rangers are ex-army guys. We see a dik dik, gazelle and zebra but not much but birds as we walk near the camp area. There's lots of footprints along the lake and I thinks some of them are hyena but he says lion. I still think I'm right since most lion prints don't show the claws and the shape looked more like a hyena. Tonight at camp, we are full with 4 Brits and 7 Spainards so there lots of new people to talk to around the campfire or at dinner. Sandra and Ken get in really late after their 4x4 was stuck in the mud for over an hour. Just before falling asleep I hear a stampede of animals stop right outside my tent. I take out my flash light but can't make out what they are. I can hear them eating the grass so I figure that they must be zebra.

Before flying out of the Serengeti back to Arusha, we have a short drive around the area. We went to another soda lake near Lake Nduto and saw dead wildebeest that had been stuck in the mud. Jackson, says that sometimes even the lions will get stuck when they try to go in looking for an easy meal. On the other side of the lake are about 16 hippos playing in the mud. We were able to get out of the 4x4 and watch them for a while before the leader decided it was time for deeper water and it was follow the leader as they left us. At the end of the lake, 2 lioness are sunbathing. I wonder if they could be the lions I heard roaring in the night and early morning hours. This morning we also saw impala, hartebeest, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest and 3 jackals. I'm disappointed that we can't go over to the area where we have seen cheetahs in the past since my video camera seems to be working this morning. We end up just sitting at the dirt airstrip waiting for the plane. A 12 seater prop plane (nice and new looking) arrive and surprisingly it's a smooth take off. The flight is fairly smooth and we can see the sides of Ngorongoro Crater but clouds cover the top. We are a bit too high to see animals but the changing scenery is nice on the way to Arusha. Dave and Debbie are taking another flight to Zanzibar so I say my goodbyes and have my transfer waiting to take me into town. There's a buffet lunch at the New Arusha Hotel, a very nice hotel in the centre of town. A quick check of my emails and a stop to exchange some money before I'm taking to a day room at the Kia Lodge near Kilimanjaro Airport. Since I'm not flying out today I spend the time exploring the great gardens filled with birds and lizards. I plan on using the pool but end up watching tv in the room before I take the shuttle over to the airport. Anthony who helps out at the orphanage is waiting to pick me up and take me to Light in Africa.

Heading to the Serengeti

2008-03-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

We had to travel the rim road from the east, around to the west and left the road at the Malanja Depression. As we headed northwest we passed lots of Masai bomas. We are suppose to visit with the Masai this morning but the 1st two we stop at the chief was not in so we can't go inside. Third time a charm and they welcome us with song and dance. We are free to take pictures with the amount that is paid to visit the bomas where other bomas ask for money everytime you take a picture. Only about 3 young men speak english well enough and we get to have a visit inside one of the huts. We are told after the hut visit he would negoiate a price for what we buy. Just how he put it as if we had to buy something. I ended up buying a beaded bracelet & necklace.

Next stop is Oldupai Gorge. It's also commanly know as Olduvai Gorge but about 80 years ago the 1st German in the area exploring misunderstood the name which is for one of the plants that grows in the gorge. It's the well known area where Richard and Mary Leakey found signs of prehistoric man, animals and tools. A short lecture is given and time to explore the museum that includes a cast of footprints found into hardened volcanic ash. The Nutcracker skull was found here by Mary Leakey. We travel into the gorge for a short drive and head over to the shifting sands. It's 1 pile of volcanic sand that is blown about 17 metres a year. Not sure why over the years it hasn't just dispersed but didn't find it all to exciting to look at and Jackson had said he had something special to show us. The 3 of us just went okay, move along. I didn't even think it was photo worthy. Down a hill wakes a Masai warrior and he starts talking to me in Swahili. He shows me this club and then realize that he is trying to sell trinkets. Can't believe that he would sit on that hill all day long and when and if a 4x4 comes by, we takes the time to walk all the way down the hill and over to try to sell souveniers. Somehow the title warrior doesn't seem to quite fit the image of a Masai warrior.

After a picnic lunch under a bit of shade from a tree we drive along a flat track of land. Lots of gazelles in the area and a few giraffe, a jackel and ostrich. We meet up with the main road heading into the Serengeti but about 10km up we head west on a secondary road. Tonnes of gazelles in the area, then we spot 3 cheetahs lying on the roadside. When we stop, they wake up. The 1 closest to the road moves off a bit. Jackson seems to think they would be 2 brothers and a sister. They start to walk away and we follow them hoping to catch sight of them hunting for gazelle. They seem to keep an eye on the gazelle but nobody starts to run after them. Another 4x4 pulls up and it's the California couple we had lunch with in Tarangire (the guy that's originally from Chatham). Since they are not hunting we opted to head off to look for more animals.

We drive around Lake Ndutu which borders Ngorongoro Conservation Area and Serengeti Nat'l Park. Our camp will be in this area for the next 3 nights. The zebra and wildebeest are migrating through this area around Jan-Mar when the rain is giving them fresh grass and it's also the calving season. Along a swampy section, I think I see a lion in the reeds so I ask Jackson to head down for a better look. Sure enough, there are lions around the area. 2 are coming out of the reeds and 3 are asleep on the ground nearby. Some are fairly young, probably born last year but still no little cubs. We stay quite a while and ask to drive over towards the reeds and we see a male lion sleeping alone. He rolls over and is full of ticks on his behind and belly area. Even a few ticks around his eyes.

We head away from the water to the flatlands and see tonnes of zebra and wildebeest. It's not the millions you see in the photos but still a lot of animals in the area. I ask to head over to a stopped 4x4 to see what they are looking at and it's 5 cheetahs. A mom and 4 cubs. Not tiny ones but probably just under a year old since they are close to their mother's size. They look like they want to hunt so we stay to watch but they just walk a bit, start to stare at the animals and sit down for a while, then repeat it over again. I guess it's time to head to camp.

Our tented camp is on the dry side of Lake Nduto set up on the cliff. There is only 8 tents. The tent has 2 twin beds, a trunk, chair, night table. Behind the beds is a partition with since, chemical toilet and shower. I'm asked what time to bring a bucket of hot water that is hoisted above the shower area. I turned the water off while soaping up but found I still had plenty of water so I imagine they give enough water in the bucket for 2 people to shower. It has electricity and 9 ventilation screens that can be zipped down to let in the breeze. There is also a covered porch area with a table and 2 chairs. It's a mobile camp that moves with the migration periods so it only has a canvas floor but is very comfortable. Before dinner we sit around a campfire. A dinner there is only 1 other couple staying here and they are from Romford Essex, U.K., just down the road from where Grammie grew up. Back at the tent they have even turned down the bed. The service is excellant at the tented camps.

Ngorongoro cont'd

2008-03-29T05:43:00.000-07:00

About a km away from the lioness in the tree we find a male and female lion pair lounging in the grass. It's probably a mating pair since they seem to move away from the pride and stay together for about a week. They mate on and off during that time and I believe they don't even take a break to hunt for food. There's a few 4x4 lined up watching them but they don't seemed concerned with the traffic. Since they are just sleeping we head off down the road. In the distance we can see some black rhino. One is a little on but they are too far off the road to get any good pics. We spot both the Thompson and the Grant Gazelles, warthogs and 2 spotted hyenas. It starts to rain and we head to Ngoitokitok Springs, a picnic site, where we are warned to eat in the vehicle since the kites will swoop down and steal the food. I would have never believed a raptor bird would do such a thing but a lady standing beside our 4x4 had her sandwich taken out of lunch box. The very pretty black faced weavers are sitting on our window ledge and mirrors looking for handouts. Obviously people haven't been obeying the "do not feed" signs. There's a few hippos at the end of the pond and I investigate their footprints in the mud near the bubbling spring water. Driving back along the grasslands, we spot another cheetah in the distance but with the growing grass in rainy season it's hard to see it. Heading to the hippo pools we see mainly zebra, wildebeest, gazelle. The hippo pools were fantastic. Lots of baby hippos staying close to mom, most resting their heads on their mother's side. A few of them turn over and it's funny to see all 4 legs sticking up in the air. We can see on nursing. As we go a bit further we spot 2 lions lounging under a tree along the Munge River. It's near the others we saw, so it's probably part of the same pride. The one that was up in the tree earlier is no asleep on the grass and the mating pair is still in the same spot. It's getting late in the afternoon and you have to be out of the crater by 6pm. As the other 4x4 start to leave, Jackson backs up off the road towards the mating pair so we can get a closer photo (something that is not allowed unless you pay for an off-road pass, we didn't). The lions lift their heads but still seem unconcerned even though I thought we were invading their space. We've also seen eland, hartebeest, bull elephants (only males in the crater), golden jackels. We ascend up the crater on the Lemala Road since we are staying at Sopa Lodge. We were suppose to be at the better Serena Lodge and I'm really disappointed especially when I see the room they have given me. All the rooms are suppose to have a view of the crater and I'm put in a room 1/2 the size as the others near the bar. I go right to the front desk and complain. They are full tonight but say I can change rooms tomorrow. Will have to put in a complaint to the safari company because the room I was given is clearly for driver/guides, not tourists and is less money. That's the one thing about travelling single, sometimes you don't get the room most doubles get. It rains heavily with lots of thunder and lightening as I'm getting ready for bed.

Very, very early start. Up at 530am so we could leave around 6am. We're going to have a picnic breakfast in the crater. Due to the rain last night, it's cold, damp and the clouds are low. We see lots of zebra and wildebeest as we drive down into the crater but a cloud mist covers about 1/2 the crater area. Bits of blue sky peak through so there is some promise of a better day. The mating pair of lions are still in the same area but we still don't see them mating. Maybe they are a bit camera shy eh! The rhino are far from the road again and we spot lots of flamingos on the lake. Some areas we drive right into the clouds and we are shrouded in mist. We see a fogbow (like a rainbow), never heard of them before and they are lighter in color to a rainbow. Around Girigor Swamp there are lots a water birds. The Pelicans have a pink tinge to them. In front of the reed grasses is a pride of lions. Nine in total. A few are younger ones but no little baby cubs. All are sunbathing but gradually 1 gets up and moves into the reeds for shade and within a few minutes most of them follow the older lioness. A few hippos are in the water behind them.

Not far is Lerai Forest and we stop for breakfast. I was a bit nervouse knowing the lions were only about 1km away but we only saw a vervet monkey which came for a piece of watermelon rind they was on the ground and a small troop of baboons playing along a dead tree trunk. Vultures were around at the tops of the trees. Later driving through the small forest area we saw more monkeys and elephant. Out of the trees we see 2 younger male lions and another mating pair. Later in the afternoon we see a male lion walking near the road, so about 19 lions total this morning. Quite a few times today we have also seen spotted hyenas either alone or in pair and a group of 5 on the drive back to the lodge. One hyena was lying in a mud puddle. We drove up to Endoinyo Engitati viewpoint and I think I spot a rhino near a white 4x4 and ask if we can head in that direction. Jackson didn't think it was one but we head down the hill and around to that area. The white 4x4 is still there and apparently they have been stuck in the mud for about an hour. Just about got whiplash as our driver tries to ram it out of the mud but it can only get out with a tow rope. As we leave the area, there it is, a rhino fairly close to the road. It was lying down but eventually gets up so I can get a few poses.

Back to the lodge for 2pm for a late lunch. I enjoyed the view of the crater from my new room for a while but it was getting a bit warm. I thought I would go for a swim but made the mistake of lying down and I slept till 6pm. Woke up just in time to go outside and enjoy the sun setting over the crater rim.

More pictures from Liz

2008-03-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

From Michelle: Liz sent home some pictures she took during her first month in Africa. Here are just a few...

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

2008-03-27T02:00:00.000-07:00

It lightly rained throughout the night and since I was in a tent I was conscience of the noise but still managed to get a half decent sleep and feel okay this morning. We were suppose to have a nature walk but decide against it due to the rain. We leave Kirurumu around 8am and the rain is just stopping. As we continue to drive towards Ngorongoro, it's still very overcast and misty.

We enter Ngorongoro at the south Lodare entrance and stop at the visitors centre. Ngorongoro main sightseeing area isNgorongoro crater, an extinct volcano. No one is allowed to live in the crater accept animals but the Masai people are allowed to grase their cattle and goats along the walls of the crater. Once we reach the road at the top of the crater, we stop at a viewpoint and the scenery changes as the clouds below start to disperse and we start to see a bit of blue sky. We are at 2216 metres. We head west and north and see buffalo and waterbuck. At the Malanja Depression, we have a good look at the Masai bomas and at Windy Gap we can take the decending road into the crater. Masaii men are trying to sell us trinkets as we take a photo before heading into the crater on Seneto Road.

It's not long before we see zebra up close and then wildebeest and buffalo not far off the road. A vehicle up ahead has stopped and we spot a cheetah sitting in the grass. It's obviously gotten a meal since it's mouth is bloody but it's too far away to know what it has. We skirt around Lake Magadi (1723m) a large soda lake full of Greater and Lesser Flamingos and other shorebirds. There's a large concentration of pink flamingos near the shoreline, so I'm able to get a few good shots.

As we head across to Munge River I spot a shape in one of trees lining the small river. It's a lion. A tree climbing lion, alleluia!!! Thank god for my eagle eye. I'm thinking it would be a leopard or cheetah but I'm thrilled to see a lion in the tree. Soon it climbs up to a higher point and just flopps down straddling the tree limb and goes to sleep. That made my day.

Running out of time, so story to be continued.......

Tarangire and Lake Manyara National Parks

2008-03-27T01:12:00.000-07:00

At 6 am, I'm woken up with a "Jambo mama" and a try with hot tea. Now I know how the queen feels to have servants. By 630am we are on the road for an early morning game drive. As we cross into the park boundary, we see our 1st herd of elephants. We head south along the Larmakau Marsh and see many more elephants either in the marshy area or on dry land. Lots and lots of babies to make me happy. One young one wants to show us how tough he raises his trunk, lets out a bugle and shakes his head and flaps his ears at us. He is only about 20 feet from the 4x4. Today seems to be about birds, birds, birds, probably since it's early morning. We see lilac breasted rollers and little bee eaters, both very colorful birds. Two black backed jackels are walking in front of the vehicle and don't seemed too interested in us. We have a picnic lunch around 9a and lots of superb starlings and buffalo weavers are trying to get the crumbs.

Continuing west towards the river we saw a fish eagle in a tree but we scared it as we stopped. It's very similar to the baldeagle and we watched it as it caught the thermals and soarded into the sky to an increadible height. Not too many mammals today. We only saw about 3 giraffe but happy to see a new species, the common reedbuck. As we passed some of our fellow lodge guest they said they had just seen lions on the road a few miles up so we were off in a dash but didn't find them. Probably because it was too bloody hot. Now I know what it really feels like when people say Africa Hot. It was fine standing up with my head out of the top of the 4x4 while it was moving but anytime we stopped to take pictures we were baked by the sun. Back to the lodge around 2pm for lunch and time for a short siesta snooze. Around 530pm, a Masai guard (only armed with a spear) and a local bushman took the 3 of us for a nature walk. We saw the footprints of hyena, a honey badger, african wildcat, a mongoose, snake and many birds along the pathway. They explained some of the plants and we ended up at a thatched shelter at the edge of a cliff overlooking Tarangire N.P. The view was lovely and there were hundreds of buffalo on the grassy marsh area. We enjoyed the view till sunset and a 4x4 picked us up to take us back to the lodge.

Wed morning we left Kikoti Lodge and had to drive back through Tarangire N.P. to get back to the main road. We saw all kinds of animals today, much more than yesterday. Elephants, giraffe, warthogs, dik dik, impala, waterbuck, banded mongoose, blue monkeys and a large troop of baboons. A few of the moms had tiny babies clutching their backs. A large herd of elephants were right at the edge of the road and a newborn elephant was in the group. When they crossed the road, I was able to get a good look at the little one. At the main gate we see our 1st zebras.

Back onto paved roads and we see elephants outside of the Nat'l Park. Twice on the way to Lake Manyara N.P. our driver stopped and left us in the car without telling us where he was going and for how long. Soon the 4x4 is surrounded by souvenier sellors from about 10 years to 80 years trying to get you to buy jewellry, t-shirts, carvings, etc. Many are asking for things for trade so when one woman asks for a pen, I'm thinking I'm going to get a bracelet and she walks off. We arrive at Lake Manyara around lunch time and stop for a picnic. I can see blue monkeys in the trees but these ones are very shy and I can't get close for photos. Just as we are packing up a large troop of baboons come down from the hillside. Lake Manyara N.P. is on the edge of the Rift Valley (which stretches from Egypt all the way down to Mozembique). The lake is a soda lake which has too much alkaliene for most animals but the birds flourish here. We head down to the hippo pools and there are plenty of them trying to keep out of the sun so you only see their heads once in a while. Tonnes of aquatic birds in the area like storks, flamingos, herons, pelicans, ducks, geese and shorebirds like plovers.

If I thought it was hot yesterday, it's even hotter and I'm getting cranky. Why doesn't our vehicle have a shade cover like the 90% of the other 4x4's. My video camera is overheating and I can't get it to turn on and I know there is battery power still left. We head into the trees a bit along the road see wildebeest & buffalo at a distance. Lots of impala and elephants then Jackson spots a cheetah lounging on the ground under a tree. It's a bit far for photos but I'll know that dot is a cheetah in case I don't see any others. Where are all the tree climbing lions that we should be seeing. Every tour book talks about going to see tree climbing lions. Jackson says it's very unlikely that we will see lions in this park and will only see one small area of the park. So along with being cranky from the heat, my video camera not working, Jackson making me angier with trying to tell me what he thinks is wrong with the camera (he's never used one in his life) and with the disappointment of not see lions, I just about tell him to Fxxx off (pardon my french). We circle back the same way as we did into the park and it's hilarious to see all of the baboons have taken over the picnic area like it's their time for a picnic.

Back to the paved road and we start to climb up the winding road up the escarpement. There's a nice viewpoint to stop and takea picture of Lake Manyara. Once at the top, we leave the pavement for one of the worst roads in Tanzania. We are headed to Kirurumu Lodge a Tented Camp and the gov't thinks that they are not responsible for the road if there is a lodge nearby and even though we are probably paying 300-400 a night, none of the money is going to fix the road. I'm still cranky and wonder if I have a bit of heat stroke since I'm starting to feel light headed. The tented accomodation is very nice and has a bit of the view over the escarpement and there are some dwarf mongooses playing around my tent. Once I have a good dinner I'm starting to feel better.

The Serengeti shall not die

2008-03-22T02:02:00.000-07:00

Before leaving Canada, I had booked the 10 day northern Tanzania safari called "The Serengeti shall not die". I was originally going to do a safari that did both Kenya and Tanzania but had to make changes at the last moment due to political problems in Kenya. The Cdn gov. had issued a warning not to travel to the country. It was hard to find a safari that still had space for 1 person left and had at least a few nights in a luxury tented camp that was one of the things I was looking for.

I found one with Hoopoe Safari and it was a 10 day safari to Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorogoro and the Serengeti. It was quite a bit more than I wanted to spend so I had high expectations.

Sunday night, the driver/guide Jackson (a bit broad shouldered guy, definitely not Masai) met me at the Kigongoni Lodge and introduced me to my fellow travellers, Dave and Debbie from Seattle. There would be just the 3 of us so that definitely was a positive not to have a full vehicle. The Kigongoi Lodge was beautiful with views of Mt Meru and Mt Kili when the clouds cleared in the evenings. The individual thatched cottages were scattered around gardens on a hill that use to be part of a coffee plantation. The Dutch couple who own it use to be with Doctors without Borders and when they retired they built this place and a Home for the Disabled next door. The money from the lodge goes to run the Disabled Home.

Monday morning we took off and headed southwest to the first national park, Tarangire. The road was newly paved since George Bush had just had a visit to the area. We stopped off at a small variety store (if you could call it that) and got ripped off. They charged me 2000 shillings for a chocolate bar and I had only paid 800 for the same thing in downtown Arusha. I should have just walked out but thought I might get a chocolate craving when I'm in the middle of nowhere. Next stop at a craft market but I'm not going to buy anything until the end of the trip so I don't have to lug it around, so I just wandered around looking at the crafts. About an hour out of town were masses of Masai, all in their brightly coloured plaid blankets. It was market day and a lot of them were auctioning off their cattle while others were buying/selling bananas, mango, etc. When we stop the vehicle is swarmed with people trying to sell t-shirts, jewellry, etc.

Once we arrived in Tarangire Nat'l Park we opened up the hatches on top of the 4X4. No longer on a paved road we were warned the roads would be bumpy. Within a few miles of the main gate we spot our first elephants and giraffes. One herd of elephants are very close to the road and there is a few babies. One cannot be more than a couple of weeks old he is so tiny compared to all the rest of the young ones. We see a bachelor group of impala and then a female group and also warthogs. At lunch we stop at a picnic site overlooking a river. It even has flush toilets which I didn't expect. Lots of other people are enjoying their lunches and while talking to the young couple beside me I find out he is from Chatham Ontario. If I remember correctly, his last name is Leclair and he is about 37 and when to CK & the Pines. He works and lives in California now but all his family is still in Chatham and Wallaceburg. Small world eh!
Lots of beautiful birds are in the picnic sight. The Superb Starlings are gorgeous and looking for handouts. Soon a mall vervet monkey shows up and Jackson is trying to throw rocks at him which makes me mad and I ask him to stop. Jackson says the monkey will try to steal our food but I don't think it would be that brave with us sitting there. At the end of lunch I turn my back to take a photo of the birds and the sneaky little monkey quickly jumps onto the table and takes my doughnut and spills my Coke. Later as I'm leaving he is licking up the spilt coke on the table.

Leaving the picnic site, I see a male, female and young Waterbuck. We stop to watch another herd of elephants and one of the young is chasing ostriches. He's flapping his ears and rocking his head back and forth trying to tell the ostriches that his the boss I think. We enter thicker bush and see the tiny dik dik deer that are only about a foot tall.
Over a very rough patch of road we arrive at Kikoti Lodge that is on a ridge just overlooking Tarangire Park. Each unit is 1/2 canvas tent and solid structure set up on stilts. It has a thatched roof over the canvas roof and a wooden door. A big deck with lounge chairs are great for watching the sunset. There are Masai guards to walk you to and from your tent when it's dark for safety concerns. When asking what the footprints are leading up to my tent, I find out they are hyena and that night after dinner you can here them calling in the area. There was also some elephant dung along the path so even the big animals have been know to wander into camp. Lots of noises to get used to at light hearing the birds, animals and all that scrambling between the tent roof and thatch I found out was bats coming and going throughout the night. At least they were not on the inside of the tent. In bed by 11pm so I can be up for an early morning game drive.

Arusha - don't spend a lot of time there

2008-03-22T01:43:00.000-07:00

I had 2 days before the 10 day safari started in Arusha so I had a bit of free time to explore Arusha. Well, I really didn't need it other than to use the internet cafe which was super cheap compared to what the hotel charged. I stayed at the Impala Hotel that is listed as a 4-5 star hotel and for paying $80 a night it really felt more like a 2 star hotel. Yes, it had a pool and 4 restaurants (Indian, Chinese, Italien & Continental), but there was no air conditioning. My room was in the older section and it was small but at least it was clean. Unfortunately, it over looked the lobby, so it was quite noisy into the wee hours. A plus was a t.v. with a movie channel.

I could walk into town from the hotel along the main road for about 1/2 hour. I expected to see a modern city like Kigali is doing with all the new buildings. Well, Arusha still looks like it did 50 years ago. There is a central clock tower on a round a bout that is suppose to be the half way point between South Africa and Egypt. I'll have to check that out on an atlas when I get home. The old Arusha hotel is very nice and has been updated but all the other buildings are dirty and dingy. Lots of garbage in the streets and masses of people walking and trying to maneouver around all the crazy drivers. After visiting Rwanda which was so clean, I was deeply disappointed in how dirty Tanzania is. I don't care how poor a person is, they can clean up their own yard.

I went into 2 bookstores looking for some tour guiding books and maps and there were so crammed pack full of books the people pretty well had to climb over top of each other in the 1 aisle. Entering a photo shop to check out the prices of memory cards, I was virtually ignored while they kept serving the locals, even ones who came in after me. The street vendors seem to latch onto any white person and follow them down the street even though you repeatedly tell them you are not buying any souveniers today. One guy, very friendly I must say even waited outside each shop I entered and continued to follow me for over an hour. I guess he finally gave up when I went into an internet cafe for about 3 hours.

I was able to find the Hoopoe Safari office in the downtown area and make arrangements to be picked up from the Impala Hotel and taken to Kigongoni Lodge (just outside of Arusha) to start my safari on Sunday afternoon.

Tanzania here I come

2008-03-20T01:52:00.000-07:00

I took an early morning Rwanda Express flight from Kigali Airport in Rwanda to Kilimanjaro Airport in northern Tanzania. The prop plane, a Dash 8 with about 20 seasts was nice because due to the short flight we didn't have to fly too high. It was nice to watch the hills with the bright green terraced fields. A bit a cloud cover started so I thought I would have a bit of a snooze due to the early wake up call and when I woke up there was water below. It was Lake Victoria. I was surprised at the number of islands off shore. After the large lake we were flying over the Serengeti but I couldn't spot any animals. Closer to Arusha, off in the clouds I got my first glimpse of Mt. Kilimanjaro that sits at approx. 5900 metres. I could see the bits of glacier that have not melted but the rest of the mountain was covered in clouds. Oh, how I had wished to climb the mountain but it's rainy season so it's not advised. I guess I'll just have to come back to Tanzania another time.

On arrival into Killy airport, I expected to be picked up by the safari company but that didn't happen. I started to talk to a few other tourists who were arranging a taxi into town and was able to catch a lift with them. There were 3 backpackers from London, U.K. The one girl was from Basildon, close to my mom's hometown and the 4th person was an american working for an NGO in East Africa for the past year. It's $50 usd for a taxi so I appreciated being able to share a ride. I just told the driver to drop me off at a hotel in town, the Impala and they had a room available.

Gorilla Picture

2008-03-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

Gorillas and Golden Monkeys

2008-03-09T00:33:00.000-08:00

In my Rwanda package, I have purchased to trek passes. One for Golden Monkeys ($100) and another for the gorillas ($500). With both treks, you are never guaranteed to see the animals and if you do, you are only allowed to spend 1 hour with certain habituated groups. They have trackers that usually know the area the animals are found after the locations from the previous day. Sometimes you hike less than an hour and other times you may be expected to hike the entire day up the volcano to locate the gorillas.

My 1st trek is the Golden Monkeys. That day, I'm the only one signed up. I have the tracker, the guide, 2 armed guards and 2 biologist with me. The armed guards are there for protection against buffalo and elephant found within the walls of the Nat'l Park. We hike through farm fields for about 1/2 hour until we get to the park wall (to keep buffalo & elephants from destroying farm crops). Within minutes of climbing over the wall (constructed 3 years ago) the tracker warns us that buffalo are nearby and we see one sitting down amongst the trees. He doesn't seem too interested in us today but they are considered one of the meanest animals. About another 1/2 hour hiking through muddy bamboo forests we spot the Golden Monkeys. this is only a small group of about 10-15 but there are some groups of up to 80 monkeys. They are considered more threatened with extinction than gorillas right now and are only found in about 3 areas in Rwanda/Uganda forests. The females are more golden in color and I spot one with a baby. They stay mainly in the trees above so it's hard to get pictures and move quiet fast swinging through the trees so even video is hard. At some points I'm almost crawling through the bamboo in order to keep up with them and due to the rain the previous night, every time I move a bamboo pole I get a shower of raindrops. The hour goes by quickly and we head back. The buffalo is still sleeping in the exact same spot. I return to the hotel muddy up to my knees and am axious for a bath.

The next day is the Gorilla trek. At park headquarters, all the people are divided into groups of no more than 8 people. My group has 7 and one older gentleman use to study gorillas in the Congo and Rwanda back in the late 1950's. We luck out today with one of the more experienced guides. Francois has been working in this area for 28 years and even worked with Dian Fossey. He has a great sense of humour and gets a kick out of acting like a gorilla. He stops along the way to explain some of the food and trees we see and what a gorilla likes to eat. The group we will trek to has 1 silverback male, 5 females and 5 babies and another sub-adult. To our luck he tells us that the gorillas are outside of the National Park area so we don't have far to walk. About 15 minutes later we can see the outline of the park boundary and notice some movement in the trees. There's a mother with a baby clinging to her side. Another one is not far off. We are about 10-20 feet away and they decide to climb over the wall into the park area. We notice the silverback climbing after the females and we follow close behind. About 10 feet into the park the silverback sits down and grabs some branches to eat. We are very close and everyone is snapping away with their cameras. We are not allowed to use flash photography. He stays there for about 5 minutes before finding another place to sit and eat. We are following just the silverback now but you can here the others are nearby. Afterspending time with the silverback and at times he is less than 10 feet away. He doesn't seem at all concerned with us. I'm anxious to see the babies up close and let Francois know this. We leave the silverback and start following one of the mothers. Again we get very close and a few times as we are watching one another mother with baby walks right beside us. I could have easily reached out and touched one of them but we are not allowed. If one of them comes up to you that is fine, we just can't initiate contact ourselves and due to disease transfer they really don't want you to get too close to them. For the last 20 minutes most of the gorillas are in one area that has a bit of light shining through the trees. The silverback plops down, crosses his arms and keeps an eye on use and his family but really looks quite bored. Some of the babies leave their mother's arms and climb up into the trees to have some fun. It starts to lightly rain but most of us don't care about getting wet we are enjoying being surrounded by the gorillas. Francois tells us we only have 2 minutes left and they go by quickly. Just as I pack my camera away, the subadult walks by us and the silverback towards one of the females. The silverback quickly reaches back and gives him a quick swat across the rear end to tell him to back off. We start to climb down and they decide it's time to also head in the opposite direction. It's almost like they said the hours up so the show is done for today, now we can go off and do our own thing. Now I can cross that trip off my list of things I've always wanted to do. Primates are my favorite group of animals and it was amazing to be in their company, even if it was for such a short time. Well worth the $500 in my mind. Some of the tourist are going 2 or 3 times to see the gorillas since there are about 8 groups of habituated gorillas in Volcano Nat'l Park. I'm just lucky that I got to see them so close since other groups don't have the same experience that our group does.

Beautiful Rwanda

2008-03-08T04:16:00.000-08:00

Around 1pm, Martin & I left for the mountains. I'm surprised at how clean everywhere is and lots of flowers in front of most houses along the way. There's even excellent paved roads with only one short 10km section with a few potholes. Martin tells me that the gov't that took over at after the genocide is really trying to turn this country around. Sure it's one of the most heavily populated countries in Africa for it's size but people are expected to volunteer once a month in improving their community. The countryside is very moutainous and lush green with terraced farm fields of banana, potato, sugar cane and other fruits and veggies. Most people make less than $300 a year so they don't have cars. All along the roadside people are walking with amazing amounts of weight carried on their heads. You see them carrying logs, or 50 lbs bags of potatos. Many of the women carry babies strapped to their backs and are dressed in beautiful brightly color fabrics. Most of the children are in school uniforms some as clean as could be while others are quite dirty dressed in rags. Martin says most of the people by used clothing in the markets so you see the odd hockey or football jersey or a t'shirt stating an american university. Many are barefoot. I can't get over the amount of children along the roads. Many are very young like 2 & 3 years olds that could easily dart into traffic but they seem to understand that they have to stay on the side of the road. Most wave and give you the biggest smile when you pass by. Due to the colder, wet climate, many of the children have runny noses.

Most of the houses are made of crude dirt bricks or sticks and cow dung walls with no running water or electricity and have dirt floors covered in woven mats. I'm impressed that for people this poor it's one of the few poor countries I've been too that the homes have the beauty of flowers in the gardens. We stop for pictures and lunch along the way and will stay just outside of Kinigi at Gorillas Nest Lodge for 3 nights surrounded by 5 extinct volcanos (Karisimbi 4507', Bisoke 3711', Sabyinyo 3674', Gahinga 3474', and Muhabura 4127'). I was really surprised to see that the Gorilla's Nest has a golf course but a bit rougher than we'd be used to.

It's wet and cold and I left most of my warmer clothes back in the extra suitcase stored at the Novotel so I dress in layers. The rooms are damp and the towels are damp and no t.v. so I bundle up to read in bed under the blankets.

Rwanda and gorillas here I come, I hope

2008-03-08T04:03:00.000-08:00

I flew from Vic Falls to Jo'burg SA and had a connecting flight into Kigali Rwanda that would make one stop in Burundi on the way to Rwanda. The 2nd flight has an South African Airlines flight number but is operated by Rwanda Airlines, oh goody me. I don't know much about this airline. I guess they only have 2 planes and the jet has been broken for a while so they have been chartering any airline that has an available plane. I can't understand why SA Airlines doesn't just use one of their planes.

We leave about 1 hour late. About 1 hour into the flight the pilot announces that due to mechanical difficulty he is turning back to Jo'burg. Not exactly great news so I just hope it's something minor like a light that won't turn off in the cockpit. Upon landing we go to the hanger area and sit on the plane for about another hour before they decide it will take longer to fix. We wait longer for buses to pick us up and once at the terminal they tell us to go to the restaurant and get something to eat up to a value of about $75.00 Rand ($10-11). I'm sitting with a guy from the U.S. that works for an NGO, a U.S. girl that works in Kigali for an NGO and 3 business men from Jo'Burg. Four of them tell me that they were on Friday's flight that was cancelled and then I find out that Wed's flight was also cancelled. I'm hoping this flight isn't cancelled since it will screw up my Gorilla Permit that cost $500 and is only good for the day you bought it. Airline staff say the plane will board at 1030pm but we don't board until after 1130pm. Seems that orginal pilot was out of hours and they also had to get another plane.

Finally around midnight we take off after the open seating stampede for seats. The Burundi pax are told that that airport is closed for the night so they have to go to Kigali and wait for another flight in the morning. I had woken up at 6am on Sunday for my first flight and I finally arrived into Kigali around 5am on Monday morning a little worse for wear.

Luckily customs & immigration was very easy (no visa for Canadians) and I didn't have to wait for my bags. Martin my driver for the next 5 days was waiting there to take me to the Novotel Hotel in town. We would skip the city tour for now so I could get some sleep before heading out of town to Volcano Nat'l Park for 3 nights.

Soaking wet in Victoria Falls

2008-03-08T03:31:00.000-08:00

My family all knows that I love waterfalls and have taken hundreds of photos of waterfalls through the years so I couldn't come to Africa without stopping to visit Victoria Falls. The falls separate Zambia and Zimbabwe. I opt to go to Zimbabwe for 2 nights since the view is suppost to be better. Zimbabwe in recent years has been having political problems with their corrupt leader Mugabe but I figured Vic Falls is a tourist destination and if the country goes into revolt, all I'd have to do is cross the bridge into Zambia to escape so it was worth the risk for such a short stay.

The flight from Windhoek to Vic Falls is a small prop plane filled with about 18 white people, probably all tourist while the flight leaving the same time to Luanda was just black people. The flight stopped over in Maun Botswana for about 1/2 hour and the scenery from the air was flat but green, hardly any road or signs of villages. Lots of storm clouds around while landing at Vic Falls but the rain held off.

It takes about 1/2 hour to get into town and I'm staying at the Kingdom Resort. It's a large resort hotel with casino. I'm not impressed with the area around Vic Falls. I get the impression that people are really desperate and people are begging in the streets and trying to sell anything as soon as you leave the property. Armed guards are at the front of the hotel. My ground floor sliding glass doors don't lock so I asked to be changed to a different room to feel secure.

That evening I go on a sunset cruise on the Zambezi River. The Zambezi river starts in Zambia, then heads west into Angola before flowing back east into Zambia separating Zambia, Namibia, Botswana & Zimbabwe. In Zimbabwe further east it has been dammed to form a large lake before it continues to flow out into the Indian Ocean. The boat is filled mainly with a French tour group. The banks of the river are flooded and we see some interesting birds but finally spot 1 Croc and about 3 Hippos in the water. Due to the approaching storm, we didn't really get a sunset but enjoyed watching all the lightening in the sky.

In 1855 Livingstone from England explored the area with some native people. It was during the dry season while staying on one of the island at a portion of the waterfall that was dry that Livingstone decided to name the waterfall after the Queen of England at the time. The local people called the falls "Smoke that Thunders" since most of the time there is heavy spray from the falls that looks like smoke in the sky from a distance.

There is a group of us that are taking a guided walking tour in the Nat'l Park area that borders the falls. They have rainjackets for rent but I have a rain poncho already so figured I would stay dry. I figured the ground would be rocky so I worn my hiking boats and also pants to keep bugs away. I should have worn flipflops and a bathing suit. Out of about 10 viewpoints, I only stayed dry for the 1st one. The spray was so intense at some point you would think you were standing outside during a heavy downpour. If I lifted my head up the rain collecting in the hood of my poncho would run down my chest. It was next to impossible to try to keep the camera and videocamera dry and even had problems with the videocamera for the next day until it dried out. The falls were spectacular and I was glad I did the stop but 2 days is plenty unless you plan on doing all the adrenelin sports like bungy jumping, rafting, etc that is offered in the area. On the pathway back to the bus, I stopped to take off my rain poncho and I was soaked from head to toe. While trying to dry off a bit someone told be to look above me and about a foot over my head sitting on a branch was a large male baboon. As I looked around there were more in the trees and on the ground just chilling out. They are obviously used to people in the area however I know that adult baboons can be pretty nasty so made sure I stayed a distance away from them.

Later that evening I took a walk over to the historica Vic Falls Hotel next door that has a nice view of the gorge and bridge. On the way there were a few Vervet monkeys around. Too bad I didn't have my camera (still drying out) since I didn't find any the next morning before I flew out. They are really sweet looking monkeys and I was lucky to see a baby venturing a few feet away from it's mother.

I took a quick walk the next day to the market stalls but didn't have much time to shop. Was surprised to find that people were asking for my shoes or any spare clothing I had. Unfortunately, I still need it for a few months before I leave Africa but expect at that time to leave half of my clothes at the orphanage in Moshi Tanzania that I will be at.

The end of Namibia is approaching quickly

2008-03-08T03:20:00.000-08:00

From Mt Etjo, all the other tour members have another 3 days at Etosha National Park while I will head back to Windhoek. At first I thought I should have booked all 3 component tours (South, North & Etosha) for a 15 day tour but figured since I was going on safari in Tanzania, I didn't need to add the Etosha part. I'm glad I didn't since due to the rains, the animals would not be at the main watering hole that is crawling with every animal possible in the dry season. The group was told they may even find most of the roads closed when they drove north to Etosha.

A drive from Windhoek is delivering a new tour member to the group and will take me south to Windhoek. I went back to Naankuse guesthouse for 1 night so I could go to the travel agency to sort out my other travel plans. Heavy rains again and they even had a rare hail storm. My last night was spent out at Naankuse Lodge. After dinner another heavy storm with high winds hit and it rained most of the night. The lodge is hard to get to on a dry day so I worried that I wouldn't make it to airport.

Jaco was not driving a 4X4 today, so he asked a film crew staying at the lodge to take me across the muddy river. They are filming a documentary about Marlice and her life raising animals. We're running late when I get to the airport but luckily the flight to Victoria Falls is delayed.

Dinner with the lions of Mtn Etjo

2008-03-08T02:58:00.000-08:00

After visiting the Himba village we continued to Outjo and through Otjiwarongo and headed south to Mt. Etjo Lodge. We hit some heavy rain and were told that the way into the lodge was unpassable and we should try the other way. Halfway down the road, Monica received a telephone call that that way is blocked and to go back around to the original way that should be better. It was starting to turn dark so Monica informed the lodge if we didn't show up in an hour to come looking for us stuck in the mud. Due to road conditions we couldn't make it down the road to see the dinosaur tracks. There was a beautiful rainbow as the sky darkened and a 4x4 came out to escort us along the wet lodge road.

At dinner, they asked if anyone wanted to go and see the lions being fed. It cost about $10 and I originally thought no since I had been feeding the lions at Naankuse but figured I'd give it a go. Around 1030pm about 5 lodge guests bundled up in blankets for a wet ride to the lion area. We were shown down a dark and dingy tunnel to bench seating. In front of us was a thick metal fence about 4 feet off the ground and on the other side a spotlight shown on the head and neck of a giraffe chained to the grown. Once we were seated, we were told not to put our hands through the bars and sit back and relax while they turned off the lights in the tunnel. It was very quiet for a few minutes and then you could hear the stampeding feet of animals. Out of the dark rushes about 20 lions right at you. They all go for the food and the leader of his pride starts to fight and chase some of the lions away. He seems to let the younger cubs and himself enjoy the feast while others keep trying to sneak in for a bite. Lots of fights errupt and I'm having a hard time getting the camera to focus on the lions through the bars. I find my video camera with night vision button works the best and press it to the bars. At one time a female lion comes right up to the bars sniffing me only inches away. Boy, what a rush to experience this since while I'm on the safari there is no guarantee I will see lions feasting on a kill.

At 445am a load alarm scared the crap out of me. I could here a few people running outside and had no idea what was going on. Had an animal escaped, was there armed robbers entering the lodge, I didn't have a clue. At breakfast, only one other tour member even hear the alarm so I guess there is one good thing about getting older and losing your hearing. This morning we were to take a game drive within the lodges game reserve. Here they have animals that are commonly found in that area of Namibia but also other animals that come from SA or the Caprivi area of Namibia. We see Blessbok, Springbok, Impala, Kudu, Oryx, Zebra, Giraffe, Hippos, Steenbok, Monitar Lizards and lots of birds like the Red Breasted Shrike, Hornbill, Flamingo, Heron, Egret, Lilac Breasted Roller (one of my favorites), etc. There are 2 herds of elephant and we spot the one herd in the trees. We turn off the vehicle to watch the elephants and one of the bulls came to within about 10 feet from the safari vehicle. Let's just say he was huge and a very happy bull at that time. I didn't know elephants had 5 legs if you know what I mean.

Himba people of northern namibia

2008-03-08T02:45:00.001-08:00

We stop in Kamanjab to ask for directions to the Himba tribe. The Himba people are nomatic and have been living the same way for thousands of years in their mud and stick huts the size of an average garden hut and raising their cattle and coats. What's unusual about the Himba people is the women. They never bathe, yes, they never wash their bodies. They take a mixture of red ochre rock pigment mixed with animal fat and cover their bodies in it. Their dreadlock hair is also covered in this mud mixture. They are topless and just wear loinclothes and beaded & metal jewellry. When we enter the village, we are immediately surrounded by the children about 2-12 years old. A lot of the the young children don't even wear any clothes. We are shown around the village with woman working on beadwork, making the ochre bodypaint or just resting in whatever shade they can find. The children and women are facinated with getting their pictures taken and want to see themselves in the digital display screen. Many of them start laughing when they see themselves and want to show everyone else what they look like. Too bad I didn't have a polarid camera to leave some pictures behind. The children have no toys, just empty plastic bottles, bits of metal and sticks to play with. Depending on how many cows a man has he can take more than one wife. Girls are normally married around 14 years of age and it's when they mature that their hairstyle changes and they are allowed to start painting their bodies. We were shown into the leaders hut, a bit larger than the rest and sat in a circle while they showed various tools, weapons, wooden head pillows (men only) and how a woman squats over a smoking leaves that have a bit of a scent to clean herself. These people seem truly happy to live the way they do without modern conveniences that we take for granted everday. The only thing that concerned me was that when a woman has a difficult childbirth or a child gets sick chances are they won't survive since they don't seek modern medical attention.

5 days in rainy, wet Northern Namibia

2008-03-08T01:53:00.000-08:00

Saturday night at dinner at the Hansa hotel, myself and the 5 Brits from the South Tour met our new driver/guide and new tour members. The driver/guide is Monica a german lady who has lived in Namibia for 20 years. She use to be a nurse. The new tour members were Dickie and her son Thomas (early 20's) from Holland. Our appetiser for dinner was bought along the roadside on the way to Swakopmond and especially prepared by the cook. It was a huge mushroom that grows from the termite mounds if there has been sufficient rains. I can't remember the name but it's considered a delicacy and was quite tasty.

Sunday morning at breakfast, Monica annouced that the tour route would have to be changed due to water levels along some roads. All of todays journey was to be on dirt/sand roads and the mini-coach could easily get stuck in the water/mud a river crossings. It was a big disappointment for me because I picked this particular tour for the stops we were to see today. We were suppose to drive north along the Skeleton Coast to Henties Bay then head northeast into the mountains. Pass by Brandberg the tallest mountain in the country and see the prehistoric rock engraving and the strange rock formations like the Organ Pipes, Burnt Mtn and petrified forest areas of Twyfelfontein. From Swakopmund, we would now be taking a round about way to get to Darmaland mainly on paved roads. We headed east leaving the sand dunes for the moon landscape. Yes it was really bleek and did resemble the moon. The scenery started to change and became greener with red rock formations. We could see Spitzkoppe Mtn which is still fairly tall. We stopped at an area of roadside vendors selling rocks and minerals that are found in the area. They are super cheap and you barter for the price. I could have spent a few hours looking at all the rocks but everyone else had had their fill in about 10 minutes. I did manage to buy a small piece of aquamarine, garnet and another stone that I can't recall it's name.

The scenery was very nice and it was a bit more comfortable riding on paved roads especially with the new mini-coach that was in excellant condition. Since we were to miss the rock engravings, Monica new of a farmer that had rock paintings (pictographs I think they are called)on his property in the Erongu Mtns. It was a long, windy, bumpy road to get there and the farmer let us sit in his backyard to eat our boxed lunches. We all then piled in his 4X4 truck (saw more mtn zebra) and continued about 10 minutes up a rocky pathway and then a short 10 minute hike to an overhang in the rocks. The protected area was covered in paintings in a red rusty color and since the designs were different you could tell that over the centuries, different aboriginal people would probably use this place as an overnight stop and paint their stories on the walls. There were warriors with bows and arrows, paintings of giraffe and elephant. As we headed back, it started to pour with rain so we all crossed our fingers that the mini-coach would make it back to the main road without getting stuck in a riverbed.

From Usako to Otjwarongo, the scenery was beautiful. We now headed west into Darmaland on a dirt road up to Grootberg Pass 1600 metres. We were starting to loose our light but managed to see about 10 giraffes along the roadside. There were elephant crossing signs but we didn't see any. For the last hour to Grootberg Lodge it was dark but we were gradually driving up the switchbacks to the top of the mountain. From the parking lot we have to be transferred into 4x4 for the last bit to the lodge up an almost 45 degree angle rocky trail. A bit nerve racking in the dark. We arrived after 9pm that night and had left at 730am so it was an extremely long day due to the road detour. We had dinner right away and then was shown to our cottages by flashlight. There were very cute rock cottages with thatched roofs. We were told not to walk outside at night since a leopard sometimes prowls the grounds.

I thought it was funny that we were not given keys to the cottages and the sliding glass doors do not lock so I was a bit nervous going to bed that night. We weren't in a populated area so I guess they feel no need to lock the doors. Waking up the next morning I could understand why locks were not needed. The cottages were perched right along the cliff face with the balcony overhanging the rocks with over a 1000 foot drop. An amazing view. I certainly wouldn't want to be a sleepwalker staying at this place. You could hear all kinds of birds singing and the baboons howling every once in a while.

After breakfast we had a game drive into the valley below in 4x4 open trucks along the Klip River. A very bumpy ride over the rocks but we saw a herd of mountain zebra and after stopping to see a vulture in a tree an elephant was spotted nearby. The bull kept to the trees but we would try to find him on the return journey. We spotted kudu and oryx on the drive and was able to get a bit closer to the elephant on the drive back to the lodge. We had free time to enjoy the serenity of the lodge or a dip in the infinity pool after lunch but storm clouds started to roll in. It started to pour with rain around the time scheduled for a mountain hike and only 3 of us decided to give it a go in the rain since it was letting up a bit. I'm glad we did the hike since we saw a herd of mtn zebra, lots of springbok and oryx along the walk. We were shown ancient stone circles that were old hunting shelters. Back to the room to warm up and have a quick shower (the drum of water is heated by a small fire at 4pm everyday so if you want a hot shower you have to take it in the early evening). Before dinner we met on the patio for a sundowner drink but since it was raining again we renamed it the pissdowner drink. Monica said that hopefully the roads heading back down tomorrow would be passable or we would be stuck at the lodge for another night. Out of all the places I stayed in Namibia, this place was at the top of my list.

Tue morn, I got up about 7am and sat out on the balcony enjoying the sun coming up and listening to all the birds and baboons. We headed out and while the road was muddy and wet in some areas we managed to make it back to the paved road. At one time at a particular big river crossing, we all go out and walked along a concrete barrier across the road while Monica put her foot to the floor and crossed through the mud, spraying mud all over Sue and Margaret, narrowly missing me.

Swakopmund 3 days stay

2008-03-06T11:14:00.000-08:00

In Swakopmund, I was able to stay 3 nights at the Hansa Hotel. It's one of the old historic hotels and my room was huge compared to a lot of other tour members. Nice to have the space but I really didn't spend too much time there. Friday morning we all went on a boat cruise on Walvis Bay. Already on board was a huge fur seal. As we boarded the ship, one of the crew members was feeding him some fish but as soon as his rations were cut off, he jumped or I guess slithered over the edge. We took off and as the crew held up fish, seagulls and pelican would fly right up to the boat for an easy meal. There were millions of black commorants flying around and nesting on old abandoned fishing trawlers. As we cruised over to the other side, you could see flamingos in the distance and tonnes of fur seals frolicking in the water or on the beach. We also saw porpoises, dolphins and a sunfish (just the fin). Even thou it was overcast, I enjoyed the cruise since there were calm seas. The German couple and our tour driver would be heading back into Windhoek to end the tour while the rest of use would have an extra night in town before meeting up with the Northern tour leader and any new passengers.

Swakopmund is a nice seaside town with beaches, a pier, lots and lots of tourist shops but has some beautiful old German style buildings that are about 100 years old. Many are restored and I enjoyed walking around the town. I visited the Krystal Museum and me being a rock nut spent about 2 hours there. They have the largest crystal in the world that were found in Namibia and it took years to extract them from the cave. They also have a great display of many types of crystals and semi-precious stones. Along the beach front, I met the most interested guy (Brent) who created the neatest spoons out of seashells, porcupine quills and old fishing line. We had a good long chat about using his inspiration to create things from the environment and his life in Namibia. The local craft market is great if you like to barter (I don't) for souveniers. Everyone says they will give you the best price. Six of us went for a great dinner at the Tug Restaurant hoping for a great sunset which didn't materialize but the food was so great. Calamari starter, salad and dinner of Sea Bass and pop for about $20.00. I was recommended this restaurant by someone who use to live here and all my tour mates were glad I suggested such a great place.

From Dunes to Ocean

2008-03-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

I'm definitely not a morning person so I don't really enjoy having to get up at 5am, but I guess there is a good reason for it. Our group needs to get to Sossusvlie in the Namib Desert before it gets too hot. Why, because were going to try to climb to the top of a sand dune. We stop at Dune 45 (there's 99 dunes at this Nat'l Park). Luckily it is overcast and even looks like it could rain. but the Namib Desert is one of the oldest deserts in the world and we all thought this would be one of our hottest days. About 7 of the 8 of us start the climb. It's best to be barefoot I'm told even though there may be snakes, lizard around. About a 1/4 of the way up most of the people drop out. I'm the youngest of the group so I should be able to make it. I go slowly, stopping to take pictures so I'm able to catch my breath and finally make it to the top. Robert and Peter also make it to the top. Due to the overcast conditions, there wasn't really the spectacular colors you see in the post cards with the red sand against the blue skies but it's still very pretty.

Once the paved road ends we take a 4x4 truck the rest of the way to Sossusvlie. There, we are given time to climb another dune called Big Momma. I'll pass and decide to just wander around looking at all the neat plants, birds and I even saw one of the sand lizards. Finally some blue skies come out to brighten up the day. We stop at Sesreim Canyon to view the weird rock formations before heading to our hotel, the Namib Naufluft Lodge near Solitare. Very small, only about 14 rooms but secluded with great views of the mountains and lots of ground squirrels to keep you entertained.

Now we are on the road for the coast. We stop at Kuiseb Canyon which had quite a bit of water flowing through it and have a picnic lunch at a rocky outcrop in a very dry area. Luckily the picnic tables are under the overhang or we would have fried. I enjoyed having a quick climb around the rocks before getting back on the bus. Just before the coast, the sand dunes appear again but this time they are a blonde/beige color. We've lost the reds and orange shades. The large sand dunes go right down to the water between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. We stop for a quick look at Walvis Bay and see the salt flats with some pelicans and flamingos. For those celebrity fans. The Burning Shores hotel is where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie stayed while waiting for the birth of their baby. They rented out the entire small hotel.

more on the puff adder and other animal facts

2008-03-06T09:04:00.001-08:00

Did you know that puff adders can have about 12 babies? I found that out at dinner just after seeing one near my room. Most snakes will move away when they sense movement or sound but the puff adder is a lazy snake and people often get bitten on the ankle because they have stepped on one. The pathway back to the rooms isn't lit so I'm in a bit of a panic and very cautious on the walk back to my room that night. Damm, I left my flashlight in my room.

Did you know that a lion has a small claw on the end of it's tail? News, to me and I guess there isn't any use for it that any biologist has discovered. I guess you would pull back the long hairs at the end of the tail and see it. I'm not planning on getting that close to a lion to investigate it. Also their power is in their paws and not their jaws. They can easily break the back of an antelope with one swipe of their paw. If they hunt alone their sucess rate is only about 14% but if they hunt in groups like most female lions do the sucess rate at least triples. The head male of the pride eats first even though he doesn't usually do the hunting, then his offspring eat next before the others. Lions use to roam most of Namibia but are now only found in Etosha Nat'l Park or along the Skeleton Coast.

Did you know that a cheetah really isn't a cat? It shares more DNA with the dog family. There claws don't retract. On a lion or leopard footprint it looks like a shape of a fist, no claw marks, but on cheetah and dog prints it's more pointed and you see the claw prints. They have very small teeth. The fastest land animal and since they need lots of air intake to reach their speed, they have big nostrils. After they catch their kill, they are very winded so many times they loose their prey to other predators like hyenas or lions. There stride is about 8 metres in 1 second and with a flexible spine their back legs will go ahead of their front legs when running. They like only fresh meat so many times they will eat just the choice bits like the hamstring muscle then leave the rest so they kill more often. That's why farmers in Namibia will shoot them because they kill livestock more often than a leopard who will store his food and eat for days.

When a leopard is not hunting he can hold his tail up high and this prey species like antelope, zebra, etc know not to fear him and he can walk right through a herd of these animal. Someone asked if this is true, why doesn't he use this as a trick to get easy pickings. Answer - Because he is not human. Boy, does that ever make sense. If animals can live together, why can't people. Leopards are solitary animals and have brute strength, especially in their jaws. They can carry 3X their body weight 6 metres up a tree.

leaving N/a'ankuse for touring around Namiba

2008-02-28T03:42:00.000-08:00

After 3 weeks of volunteering at N/a'ankuse, part of me was sorry to leave so soon, but another part of me was anxious to explore the country of Namibia. I will miss all the animals I had to take care of, the staff and all the volunteers from around the world. The night I left, they were getting 2 baby cheetah kittens but I've since heard that both of them didn't make it so I'm sure there were a few tears with the volunteers and staff members. I guess they also had a baby baboon brought in that had to have one of his legs amputated and that little guy didn't make it as well.

One Thur Feb 14th, I spent time at N/a'ankuse Guesthouse in Windhoek for a couple of days. It's a great B&B and close to the shopping mall and downtown for sightseeing. My 1st tour was 7 days in southern Namibia start Sat. morning. Dirk was our driver/guide and he is from Namibia. I was joined with Margaret, Robert, Susan, Peter and Sue all from the U.K. and Martin & Karin from Germany. Unfortunately, we ended up with an very old minicoach. Dirk said the regular one broke down and this was substituted but it was well past it's prime. Over 600,000 clicks on it with faulty a/c and lots of noise on the mainly dirt roads we took. I may have hated the vehicle but I loved most of the tour.

Leaving Windhoek on a paved road it was very pretty mountain scenery against a beautiful blue sky with only a few wispy clouds. Much appreciated after the week of rain prior to the tour. We stopped in a town called Rehoboth which is a town for colored (mixed race people known as Basters) set up during the apartied times years ago. Seems they still perfer to live there even though there is no restriction now. As we head south, we lose mountains for flater, drier looking climate. We stay at the edge of the Kalahari Desert at Auob Lodge. That evening we enjoyed a sunset drive in an open vehicle in their own game park. Their fenced in game park had giraffe, wildebeast, waterbuck, eland, springbok, kudu, oryx, steenbok. Half of their animals are not found in the area but it was still nice to see the different species and enjoy a drink watching the sunset on the west with a lightening storm approaching from the east.

Woke up with lots of red dots covering my legs this morning but they aren't itchy like mosquito bites. I slept under a net so I'm assuming that I got them during dinner or the game drive. Will have to be a bit more conscience of putting on my bug lotion even if I don't see bugs around. Sunday morning we left the Kalahari area. It's more of a semi-desert area and with the recent rains it's much greener than I thought it would be. Heading south and east we pass by an extinct volcano and the landscape starts to change as you see more volcanic looking black/brown rock in the area. Some areas look very barren with very little trees while others are lush with long grasses. Near Keetmanstoop we stop to look at the Quiver Trees, a member of the Aloe family. Called Quiver Trees since the Bushman would use the fiborous insides to make their quivers for their hunting arrows. These trees are hundreds of years old and surrounded by dolerite boulders. Saw a blue headed lizard that made my day. A fenced in area had 2 cheetahs that we could go in and take pics of. Heading south to Fish River Canyon, the landscape changed once again. Great bolder formation maining in red/orange/brown reminded me of parts of Utah and Arizona. Was looking forward to staying in Canyon Lodge that is built right into the rocks but ended up in Canyon Village. Still a very nice place with thatched roof and rock bungalows surrounded by these rocky formations. Great place for climbing. Had a quick dip in the pool before joining a large group of hotel guest to climb one of these formations. What better way to enjoy a drink and watch the sunset. Saw a stork, goshawks, springbok, oryk and to my surprise, moutain zebras for the 1st time.

Woke up early to climb up to the top of the rocks behind my cottage to watch the sunrise. I really enjoyed listening to all the bird songs but the sunrise was not as colorful as the previous sunset. Monday morning we headed to the rim of Fish River Canyon to a few of the viewpoints. It's the 2nd largest canyon after the Grand Canyon in the U.S. It may not be as colorful but is still beautiful. Due to the rains, it had water flowing way down in the canyon floor. It was fairly early around 8am so the sun was still low so there was quite a bit of shadow on the one side when taking pictures. On the walk back to the minicoach, Robert and I were talking when I said stop, SNAKE. It was there only inches in front of us on the trail. Not very big about 1 foot long but it was in the adder family and is poisonous. It went under some rocks before we could check one of the books for what type of adder. On the way to the coastal town of Luderitz we saw ostriches, more zebra, springbok and oryx. Around Aus we saw wildhorses. They are decendants of horses that escaped from a german army camp back over 50 years ago. They say there are over 200 now and this area is really barren at the start of the sand dunes of the Namib Desert so I'm amazed they have been able to survive. Close to Luderitz it resembles a Lunar landscape. Miles of dull looking blackish/brown rock and sand dunes. Not that scenic but very interesting because it's the Diamond Mining area. Lots of the roads have Do Not Enter signs for anyone thinking they can go looking for a few sparklers for their own. Luderitz still has lots of the old German colonial style buildings and is right along the Atlantic Ocean. Our Nest Hotel is situated on the water and I explored the tide pools during low tide. We took a late afternoon drive out to Diaz Point. Hunderds of years ago, the Spanish Explorer stopped here, erected a cross but decided it wasn't liveable and left. The nearby rocks have fur seals but it's so windy it's hard to stand up so we didn't stay long.

Tues morning we have to backtrack along the same road to leave Luderitz. We stop at Kolmanskop to have a tour of the abandoned diamond mining town. Entering we saw a black backed jackel. Slowly over the years, the buildings have been getting covered from the moving sand dunes. People have also taken out some of the metal, lumber, fixtures etc to build their own homes so some of them are ready to collapse. We had an interesting walking tour of the area and were told which homes we could enter. I loved wadering around the sand dunes and looking in the old abandoned houses but we didn't have enough time to explore the area or look for the resident brown hyena that is sometimes seen sitting outside one of the homes near a leaking water tap. Smart animal knows where to get water in the dry area. They also mine for other minerals in the area so I bought a piece of watermelon tourmaline. The wild horses and ostriches were closer to the road on the drive back easteward. We then headed north to the Maltahohe area to stay at Hammerstien Rest Camp situated in the mountains. Took a walking tour to see their cheetahs, leopard, caracals before dinner. Also saw a baby puff adder near my room. It's a deadly snake.

I guess it really is the rainy season

2008-02-23T07:07:00.000-08:00

For the first 2 weeks I only saw one short 5 minute shower one afternoon and a bit of drizzle one evening. I've been fascinated by the sunsets each night and most evenings had the camera out to capture a few photos. It's been sunny and hot so I had been using lots of sunscreen (factor 45-50) to protect my delicate skin that likes to burn and peel. I have a bit of a farmers tan with very dark arms and neck area but not much sun anywhere else.

The 3rd week the whole weather system changed. Many of the books say that Nambia is very much a desert country and some years get almost no rain during the rainy season unless you are up in the Caprivi Strip along the Angola border that typically gets most of the rain for the country. Well the skies opened up and boy did we get some rain. I think it rained everyday of the last week and sometimes torrential rain. We all went into town one Sunday for lunch and drinks at Joe's Beerhouse and on the way back to the farm, the roads were flooded. We were in a minivan and we had to go back into town to get the 4X4 trucks. One night we were just sitting down for dinner and watching the skies when a big storm hit. All of a sudden it was raining sideways into the Lapa area and we all huddled in one corner to try to stay drive and there was lots of thunder and lightening. The water rose around the lapa but luckily didn't get over the patio stones to flood our eating area. Due to all the rain it did limit the types of things we could do outside but we did manage to build a shelter for pig that was waterproof and put another layer on the sleeping box for the baboons to help them keep dry since they were all crying in the corner closest to the volunteers the night of the storm. Surprisingly, it cooled down a bit and most evenings I had to put on long sleeves or a light jacket. A few times during the storms the power went out, once when I was the last one to heat up dinner in the microwave so i had to wait about 1/2 hour before it came back on so I could eat. Periodically through the night the power would go off so I was reading by flashlight in my room. The only good thing about the rain was that it transformed the area. It became greener and all types of seasonal flowers started to bloom and in some areas carpeted the ground especially the yell morning start plant. I guess they haven't had good rains for a few years so most of the locals were happy with the rain we were receiving.

Food in Namibia - not losing any weight

2008-02-23T06:48:00.000-08:00

I think most people know that I'm a very picky eater and have some very strange ideas about food. If I don't like the smell or texture, I probably won't even try it. Here I thought that I would lose weight during my trip but the food for the most part has been very, very good. I've amazed myself with some of the things I've been eating. Now, I won't go as far as trying the grubs that are suppost to be a delicacy. Namibia is very much a meat loving country. At the volunteer lodge, they have a veggie meal on Mon/Wed & Fri but all other nights are meat nights. The don't use beef too much. Here I though I was eating ground beef in the shepherds pie or lasagne only to find out it was wild meat. I've had Kudu, Oryx, Springbox and Zebra. Didn't care for the Zebra (a bit fatty) but loved the other 3. They usually have a rice or pasta dish but one night it was melipot which is ground up corn and it looks a bit like mashed potatos. Unfortunately most of the salads were tomatoes & cucumbers. Tomatos are still one of the veggies that I will only eat cooked. Where's the lettuce? By the 3rd week I was saying I die to have a hunk of iceberg lettuce. Mom would be proud that I was even eating most of the cooked veggies. My one disappointment was not having a nightly dessert. Dessert is my favorite part of the meal. Luckily they sold chocolate bars and I picked up a few boxes of cookies when I was in town so I could have a bit for my sweet tooth. I'm hoping that any weight I may have gained will be lost during my time in East Africa. Volunteer breakfast was just coffee/tea and cereal (Corn Flakes or All Bran). The toaster was broken for the 1st 2 weeks. Charlie was so nice to pick me up a bag of granola and a carton of o.j. for me when he went to town so I could have my daily glass of o.j. Lunch was usually sandwiches, a pasta salad or soup with great homemade bread/buns. Since the volunteer numbers were constantly changing, so times we had loads left over and othe times I don't think we all got a full plate so I picked up some chips and pretzels in town. Braai's are very popular for Namibians. They are BBQs and they usually do up a shishkabob of meat, fat, onions, peppers. I was asked one night why I didn't eat the fat cubes since I guess the locals think that's the best part. I think that's gross and think that most of use figured it was just for the flavouring during the cooking process. My family knows I cut off every little bit of fat off of any meat including bacon.

more on N/a'ankuse

2008-02-23T05:54:00.000-08:00

Just down the road from the volunteer accomodation is the Bushman Camp. N/a'ankuse is run by Marlice & her husband Rudy (a medical doctor who also operates the Bushman Clinic). Marlice who grew up at Harnas (the original wildlife sanctuary near the Botswana border) is one of the few white people who can speak the Bushman's language (Bushman are also called the San people). When they talk, there are clicking noises that they make. It's fascinating to listen to since it is so different to other languages. The Bushman are considered the outcasts of Namibia so Marlice & Rudy hire Bushman to help operate the farm. The Bushman are small in stature and have light brown skin with almost an oriental look to them. Most Bushman are uneducated and still live like they did thousands of years ago. They say that a Bushman can look at a footprint left behind from an animal and tell you how long it's been there, almost to the minute. The Bushman's houses at the farm are not traditional. They live in small wooden cabins about the size of a small bedroom in the average N.A. home and that's for the entire family. They cook over a fire outside and just have a tap from a well for water. I find it funny though that some of the workers have cell phones, so they do enjoy some modern conveniences. There are about 7 children and sometimes a few of the volunteers would spend a few hours playing games, singing, drawing with the children. I think in the future they would like to see a school set up for the kids.

Near the bushman houses, there is a pile of old broken up concrete. Under the pile lives 3 meerkats. They are smaller then what I thought from watching Meerkat Manor on t.v. These 3 are semi tame. Twice a day someone walks down with bits of meat and apple to feed the meerkats. They have very sharp teeth so you try to just hang the food and let them grab it. Once one of them has had a few bites, they seem to stand on guard watching the sky for any predator birds that would like them for dinner. On the last week, a new baby meerkat was brought to us and he's only about 5 inches long. He would eat raw chicken bits and was staying in the enclosure that housed a few bunnies. Sometimes you would find him sleeping on the backs of the bunnies. Most of the time he's found tucked in someone's sleeve, keeping warm and sleeping since meerkats are use to living in dark tunnels under the ground cuddling warm tunnel-mates. Meerkats are territorial and one day the new meerkat was brought down to be introducted to the existing 3. They were very inquisative about the new one, but luckily the little guy was in a box so they couldn't get to him. They sometimes kill ones from other groups but we are hoping that he can eventually be accepted into this small group. Just before I left, a scorpion was found near the volunteer rooms. We brought it down for the meerkats to eat since they love bugs, spiders, etc. As I'm filming the smallest of the 3 eating the scorpion, one of the bigger ones came over and bit my ankle. It hurt more than the baboon bite and I had 2 very small puncture wounds.

The Caracal kittens are so cute. They are a bit bigger than house cats but the main difference is that they have long hairs sticking up at the points of their ears. If we took the Caracals out for some exercise, usually Smartie the baboon baby and Spotty one of the Jack Russels ran around and played with the caracals. They would pounce on each other and playbite, but even at their young age, you see their instinct to stalk. It's amazing to think that different species like a dog, a baboon and a caracal can all get along. I think people really need to take a good look at the animal kingdom sometimes. Johannes one of the workers is also taking the caracals for car rides since they will also be in the movie and will need to be brought out to the sand dunes when filming starts in March.

One section of the farm is a new lodge that opened up a few months ago. It only has 6 rooms and a restaurant/bar but it's situated along a river canyon. For Karen's B'Day they let us go up there for lunch. The round restaurant is glass enclosed with a thatched roof. It has a beautiful view of the area. I climbed around the rock and saw a Rock Hyrax (about the size of a guinea pig), turtles and beautifully multi-colored lizards. I came upon a snake skin with lots of bones in the area so I wonder if the snake died after eating something too big. Lots of swallows and other birds in the area. At one time a troop of baboons came to the other side of the canyon. Boy, the adult ones are big. Luckily they are on the other side so no chance of them getting close to me. There were a few moms carrying babies in the group. It sure was a nice change to spend the afternoon there. They give volunteers a discounted rate at the lodge so I think before I leave Namibia, I may spend my last night there. The rooms are a mix of modern and rustic and have the wall of windows facing the river bed for a nice view.

To get around the farm we had an old landrover. Most of the time, I would sit up on top of the roof in a luggage rack area. That way you have a great view of the rolling hills and distant mountains. It also gave you a great chance to see the wildlife that live on the farm. Over the 3 weeks, I say Oryx (aka gemsbok), Springbok, Steenbok, Kudu, Hartebeest, Warthogs, Springhare, Blesbok, Chacma Baboons, Ostrich, Meerkats along with all kinds of facinating bugs, bettles, spiders, butterflies, moths and birds.

A couple of mornings, Dave (one of the baboons) showed up at breakfast. He has either figured out a way out of the enclosure without hitting the electric fence or has squeezed though a hole under the fence. Luckily the others didn't follow him to create mayham. He just cuddled up to one of us until feeding time and then we put him back with the others. One day I went around the enclosure with a shovel and added piles of dirt and rock to any suspect escape areas.

Adventures at N/a'ankuse Jan 24-Feb 14

2008-02-15T06:20:00.000-08:00

This has been my 3rd trip into Windhoek, Namibia and finally I have found a computer at an internet cafe that is working long enough for me to post an update. Sorry but this one will be a long one and I don't have my disk from my camera so no pictures yet. I've got some great shots and I've already filled up a 1GB card in 2 weeks and have started into a new 2GB card.

The flight from Toronto, Washington, Johannesburg to Windhoek arrived on time but my luggage did not. Seems that everyone that travels via Johannesburg has a good chance at not receiving their luggage.

It was just turning dark when I landed but just before landing all you could see was the Kalahari Desert in shades of red, orange and brown. It was fairly flat but every once in a while you could see a hill and the closer we got to Windhoek the mountains appeared. The airport is east of the city and I would be heading to N/a'ankuse (Nan ku say) Wildlife Sanctuary for a 3 week volunteer placement. Jaco picked me up at the airport and it was about a 20-30 minute drive the the wildlife centre. Within miles of the airport there was a warthog, a jackel and a kudu along the road so I was impressed to see wildlife so soon. Check out http://www.volunteersnamibia.com/ for more info on Naankuse.

On arrival I was met by Christine from Ireland, Charlie,Luke,Karen, & Lucy from the UK and Thomas for Holland. They had all been there for a few weeks already and were staying anywhere from 3 weeks to 2 1/2 months. Some were strictly on the animal program like I was and others were on the animal/bushman medical clinic program. That night it was hard to get to sleep with a strange bed and all the strange noises, especially the lions roaring a few times in the night. In the coming weeks we had Taz, Afi, Chris, Kate, Frankie, Hayley, Dan, Amanda, Graham from the U.K., 5 girls from Sweden, Sarah from the U.S., Kelsey from Australia and the day I left Matt from Kingston Ontario showed up. Most of the volunteers were in their 20's, many on a gap year between highschool and university. The rest were usually in their 30's but Amanda, Dan & I were the oldies of the group. The first 2 weeks the groups were small and the weather was great so we usually sat up late around a campfire. The last week it rained everyday so most of us were early to bed to escape the wet, damp outdoor thatched roof common area.

Naankuse currently has 14 baboons under the age of 2years (youngest is about 2 months old), 5 lions, 2 leopards, 3 cheetahs, 4 meerkats, 2 Caracals, 2 African Wild Dogs, 11 tortoises, a huge pig, 6 horses and lots of dogs. A released Jackal and African Wild Cat come back periodically for food at night.

Our days are a mix of activities. Around 830am it's feeding time for all the animals around the volunteer accomodation. Mid morning we are either going on a bushwalk, doing a bit of construction or manual labour until 1pm. From 1pm-3pm is lunch and down time. Many of us have an afternoon siesta or read for a bit to keep out of the hot sun. At 3pm we could be taking the baboons or caracals for a walk through the bush or cleaning up the bones/poop and watering holes in the wild dog or cheetah enclosure, grooming and de-ticking the cheetahs or horses, feeding the big cats or going along to feed them during a tour or just playing with the baboons in their enclosure. Between 5-7pm it's animal feeding time once again then the rest of the evening is free time. I'm in the baboon group so I have to prepare the milk bottles and their food bowl (a mix of corn mush, apples, oranges, carrots, raisins, peanuts, and any other fruits/veggies they may have on hand.

I made a new best friend. Her name is Skoene (schooner aka Winky) a Jack Russel Terrier. She only has 1 eye since Tessa (a bull mastif), one of the other dogs bit her in the head during a fight. She's been my best buddy for 3 weeks, following me around all over, sitting on my lap anytime I'm sitting down and sleeping on my bed each night. After finding a tick on my belly one night I make sure to do a nightly tick check before she jumped on my bed. The volunteer coordinator said she would have to check my suitcase before I left to make sure Skoene didn't find her way inside.

My 1st day involved cleaning out the intestines of a horse that was being butchered for the big cats dinner. They buy old, sick horses that are heading to the slaughter house but it's cheaper for the farm to do the butchering. I figured I've gutted gophers at AWIC before so how bad can it be. Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad, you start out with mainly undigested grass and work your way down to the horse poop. Since I didn't get my luggage till later that day, unfortunately, I stained my good pair of pants with splatters. I guess the cleaned out intestines are a treat for the lions so later that day, as I hefted their treat over the fence I had blood and guts all down my arms.

The baboons are great and just like 2 year olds they are full of mischief. I've even learned to talk like a baboon. They are all orphans, and have lost their mothers who have been shot or hit by cars. The first day I just fed them through the fence enclosure wanting them to get to know me a bit before I venture into the enclosure. Just like feeding a baby, they make the cutest little noises when they feed. Some suck the milk back so quickly they sometimes throw up. Others bite at the nipple and a few are so content they close their eyes while nursing. Some of their names are Nemo, Dorie, Dave, Bobby, Spock, Apple, Figgo, Plascon, Saarkjie, Doinkevan, and Smartie. If they throw a tantrum they may bite you and if one starts to bite they send a signal to the others to join on in. We are told to stand still during the biting and it will end quickly. If you pull away you will get bit harder and more will come to join in. During my 1st baboon walk, two of them gave me light bits/scratches but since then Nemo and Dorie the alpha male and female seem to love the attention I give them so I've never received a hard bite. Some of the other volunteers have black & blue spots all over their legs from bite wounds. I never saw anyone bitten if they were sitting down so I always would sit down in the enclosure and advised others to do the same. Just my theory. A couple times a week we would walk them about 1km away to a couple of trees & the watering hole. A new film like Narnia will be using some of the animals in March so we are trying to get them use to playing in those trees. We would sit nearby and when they were tired of the trees they always had people to jump all over, pull your hair, try to take off your clothes, pick at your moles or try to pull off anything that wasn't attached to you. Most of the time Nemo would sit in my lap and just want to be groomed and massaged. On the walk to/from the trees you would sometimes have 1 baboon on top of your head, one in each arm and one or 2 hugging your legs if they got tired of walking themselves. The first walk a few of the baboons had diarrhea. Luckily I had my hat on but the back of my shirt was covered in shit so I had to hit the showers as soon as I came home. Unfortunately I never got to sleep with Smartie the baby baboon. I think he held it against me that I had to take him away from his surrogate mother Darna one afternoon. As soon as he saw someone else with long hair he jumped to her and wouldn't let me hold him. He would only let me touch him for a short time or give him quick kiss.

They are starting a new Cheetah & Leopard Tracking program so on some days we would go on bush walks on the adjoing farm area and look for play/marking trees. We would spread out about 50 feet apart and cover grid areas. The 1st time was a bit nerve racking since it was only my 2nd day and I didn't know what to do if I came across any of the wild animals. Basically they said leopards and cheetahs prefer 4 legged animals so we should be safe (should, not would). Most of the time you would see the person on the left or right of you (about 50 metres apart)but once in a while you would be in heavy thorny bush area and think you were lost so we would shout to each other to keep in contact. During the last week I grew to love these bush walks in the mornings and we started to use GPS or a compass that helped. I came across warthogs, springhares, steenbok and on the last day had an oryx run right by me (about the size of a horse with a really long spiral horn like a unicorn). The rains have started to green everything up and the flowers were starting to carpet some of the areas.

Twice I got to go in to pet, and groom the 3 cheetahs. I loved to hear them purr (I have it on video) and they like to lick the salt from your hands and arms. If you think a housecat has a rough tongue, a cheetah's feels like course sandpaper. Like housecats, they don't like to be petted on their backs or feet so we would stroke them around the head and neck area.

This internet cafe is about to close for the night so I will end for now. I start my 2 weeks of touring around Nambia tomorrow morning and hopefully some of the hotels/lodges will have a computer so I can keep on posting.

Leaving for Africa on Wed Jan 23rd

2008-01-20T19:00:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Hopefully I will be able to get to an internet cafe about once a week and can keep you posted on my adventures in Africa.

Due to the problems in Kenya, I've had to rework my itinerary a bit. I had hoped to get all my tours & volunteering dates set before I leave but now have blank spots to try to book some flights and tours once I'm over there. My temporary return date to Canada is May 1st.

Wish me luck!