Heidi Connal

Today we woke up at 6:30 just because our bodies are used to that by now.  The dogs were strewn about on the grass on the outside of our tent, but ‘my’ dog was sleeping at the door of the tent where my feet lie.  The other dogs are a bit fickle. They got up to greet Jon when he got out of the tent, but then went away to other parts of the campsite.  ‘My’ dog stayed right where he was, knowing that I was going to be back soon.  I’ve named him Kili and now look for him whenever I move about the campsite.

We spent an hour and a half doing the rest of the laundry.  I washed out of a bucket and Jon rinsed and rang the laundry dry.  These clothes really aren’t going to last very long with this kind of washing.  Kili lay down right by the laundry facilities, and looked up whenever I left to go get more soap or something.  After laundry, we ordered burgers from the kitchen and went out front to catch a taxi.  We waited for a few minutes, but the Maasai Camp guard at the front gate assured us that one would be along.  A while later, a pickup truck pulled out of the campsite and the Maasai guard asked if they were going into town.  They said Yes, so Jon and I climbed into the back of the pickup and rode into town.

Our first stop was the post office to mail a package back home, but the customs office is only open from 8:30-10:00, so we had to lug the box of stuff around until we went back to the camp.  We then went to an Internet Cafe called The Patisserie that had some yummy pastries.  Yahoo! is having some issues with their website software, so I haven’t been able to upload any webpages for a week and I’m sure our parents are going batty by now for news from us.

The Quest for Reading Materials

After about 2 hours, we grabbed our stuff and walked and walked and walked to the American Express office further down the road to get some cash.  Ironically THIS AmEx office isn’t qualified to carry cash, so they couldn’t cash our traveler’s checks or anything.  We had to go to a Bureau de Change and got rocked on the exchange rates, but that’s the way the ball bounces sometimes.  We also went to a grocery store for some snacks.  Then we began our quest for a bookstore, as we’re both dying for something to read.  Jon has been foaming at the mouth for newspaper since we got off the plane 3 weeks ago.  We have no idea what’s going on in the world anymore.  But all the newspaper vendors sell only local papers.  There was a man near the market who had a pile of papers and actually had a USA Today on the top.  Jon was thrilled, but then saw that it was from yesterday.  He said to the man, “Don’t you have today’s paper?”  The man looked confused and then laughed and said, “Aahhh… this is Africa my friend!”  So Jon bought the International Herald Tribune from yesterday and we were one our way.  We also found a guy selling books on the street.  Most of them were at least 20 years old, but we don’t really care at this point.  One of the books Jon picked up was an overdue library book from Loudon County, VA!  Jon bought “The Natural” and I bought “Out of Africa”.

Amar Indian Cuisine

We’d heard that there was a good Indian place down the street so we trekked down there and sat at a table and ordered some beers.  It was still a little early for dinner – only 5:30 – and they said that the kitchen would be open at 6:00.  So we sat and read until time to order.  There was a note on the menu that the food would take a minimum of 45 minutes to make, but we were in no hurry so it was fine.  Jon had the “Chili Chicken” and I had the “Chicken Tikka” and they were both very yummy.  Yes, we have been in Africa for over 3 weeks and have yet to eat African food.  Come to think of it, I don’t really know if there is such a thing as ‘African food’.

After dinner, we walked up the street to the taxi stand.  There are no streetlights anywhere in Arusha, which explains why it’s pretty dangerous at night.  So we were happy to finally get to the taxi stand and to be in the safety of a car.  It didn’t really matter that the driver’s windshield was so dirty that we could barely see out the window.

Back at the campsite, we showered and then sat in the lodge area and read for an hour or so.   A few overland tours have shown up since we left, so the campsite is pretty crowded and the lodge is hopping.  My “loyal canine” Kili has deserted me for someone who will feed him.  I have revoked the name Kili and shall now refer to him only as “smelly dog”, which is what he is.  Traitor.

Today we woke up at 6:30 just because our bodies are used to that by now.  The dogs were strewn about on the grass on the outside of our tent, but ‘my’ dog was sleeping at the door of the tent where my feet lie.  The other dogs are a bit fickle. They got up to greet Jon when he got out of the tent, but then went away to other parts of the campsite.  ‘My’ dog stayed right where he was, knowing that I was going to be back soon.  I’ve named him Kili and now look for him whenever I move about the campsite.

We spent an hour and a half doing the rest of the laundry.  I washed out of a bucket and Jon rinsed and rang the laundry dry.  These clothes really aren’t going to last very long with this kind of washing.  Kili lay down right by the laundry facilities, and looked up whenever I left to go get more soap or something.  After laundry, we ordered burgers from the kitchen and went out front to catch a taxi.  We waited for a few minutes, but the Maasai Camp guard at the front gate assured us that one would be along.  A while later, a pickup truck pulled out of the campsite and the Maasai guard asked if they were going into town.  They said Yes, so Jon and I climbed into the back of the pickup and rode into town.

Our first stop was the post office to mail a package back home, but the customs office is only open from 8:30-10:00, so we had to lug the box of stuff around until we went back to the camp.  We then went to an Internet Cafe called The Patisserie that had some yummy pastries.  Yahoo! is having some issues with their website software, so I haven’t been able to upload any webpages for a week and I’m sure our parents are going batty by now for news from us.

The Quest for Reading Materials

After about 2 hours, we grabbed our stuff and walked and walked and walked to the American Express office further down the road to get some cash.  Ironically THIS AmEx office isn’t qualified to carry cash, so they couldn’t cash our traveler’s checks or anything.  We had to go to a Bureau de Change and got rocked on the exchange rates, but that’s the way the ball bounces sometimes.  We also went to a grocery store for some snacks.  Then we began our quest for a bookstore, as we’re both dying for something to read.  Jon has been foaming at the mouth for newspaper since we got off the plane 3 weeks ago.  We have no idea what’s going on in the world anymore.  But all the newspaper vendors sell only local papers.  There was a man near the market who had a pile of papers and actually had a USA Today on the top.  Jon was thrilled, but then saw that it was from yesterday.  He said to the man, “Don’t you have today’s paper?”  The man looked confused and then laughed and said, “Aahhh… this is Africa my friend!”  So Jon bought the International Herald Tribune from yesterday and we were one our way.  We also found a guy selling books on the street.  Most of them were at least 20 years old, but we don’t really care at this point.  One of the books Jon picked up was an overdue library book from Loudon County, VA!  Jon bought “The Natural” and I bought “Out of Africa”.

Amar Indian Cuisine

We’d heard that there was a good Indian place down the street so we trekked down there and sat at a table and ordered some beers.  It was still a little early for dinner – only 5:30 – and they said that the kitchen would be open at 6:00.  So we sat and read until time to order.  There was a note on the menu that the food would take a minimum of 45 minutes to make, but we were in no hurry so it was fine.  Jon had the “Chili Chicken” and I had the “Chicken Tikka” and they were both very yummy.  Yes, we have been in Africa for over 3 weeks and have yet to eat African food.  Come to think of it, I don’t really know if there is such a thing as ‘African food’.

After dinner, we walked up the street to the taxi stand.  There are no streetlights anywhere in Arusha, which explains why it’s pretty dangerous at night.  So we were happy to finally get to the taxi stand and to be in the safety of a car.  It didn’t really matter that the driver’s windshield was so dirty that we could barely see out the window.

Back at the campsite, we showered and then sat in the lodge area and read for an hour or so.   A few overland tours have shown up since we left, so the campsite is pretty crowded and the lodge is hopping.  My “loyal canine” Kili has deserted me for someone who will feed him.  I have revoked the name Kili and shall now refer to him only as “smelly dog”, which is what he is.  Traitor.

Saying Good-bye to the Kiboko Group

We got up at 6:30 this morning to say goodbye to the group.  The Bus-Truck is traveling to Nairobi today and everyone is flying out tonight or tomorrow.  We are staying in Arusha to get gear for our Kili trek, and will meet our next tour either here or in Moshi – we haven’t quite decided yet.  Brendon and Vanessa are leaving the tents here, as they will be back with a new tour group on Saturday, so we’ll stay in the tent until they return.

Jon is quite hung-over, but rallied so he could say goodbye.  We helped them load up the Bus-Truck, gave everyone hugs, and waved as they drove off.  The Aussies gave us an Aussie Send-Off by mooning us out the windows of the truck as it drove away.  And Jon responded by putting mud on his hand and smacking whatever skin he could reach.  It was all very touching, and I honestly got a little sad.  We’ve been with them 24/7 for 3 weeks now, and things will be very quiet without the group.

So Jon went back to bed to sleep off the hangover, and I did some laundry even though there’s no sun to dry it.  I can now understand why women rejoiced at the invention of the washing machine.  My hands were absolutely raw by the end of it.  The white t-shirts were a huge mistake to bring, because the dirt just doesn’t come out.  So now we look for colored t-shirts wherever we go so we can get rid of the white ones.

Then I went to the campsite “lodge” (bar area) to do some laptop work to update the website.  Jon began to move about at noon and I ordered myself a cheeseburger from the kitchen.  It’s nice to have a day of quiet where we don’t feel obligated to do anything.  I’m a little nervous, though, because our ‘security blanket’ of a guided tour has been removed.  We’re now on our own without a map or book or anything.  Tomorrow we’re going to walk into town and get things settled.

The Campsite Dogs

There are four dogs that roam around the campsite.  We always hate dogs in the campsite because they’re dirty, smelly, and they mark their territory on the tents whenever they get a chance.  But now that most of the camp has cleared out, the dogs are relaxed and lay around all day.  There is one particular dog that has adopted me.  I don’t know why – there are at least 10 other people here and I don’t pet him or feed him.  But he follows me everywhere I go and curls up at my feet whenever I sit down somewhere.  He is black with white feet, a white stomach, and some white on his nose.  Every once in a while, he will sit and look at me and make that doggie-whining noise as if he has something important to say and is upset because I’m not listening.  I really have no idea why he likes me so much.

Pizzarusha

We met a nice couple at the campsite who told us about a great restaurant they had been to.  So this evening, we got into a taxi and asked him to take us to the Mashele Guest House near the restaurant.  It was dark, and we had absolutely no idea where he was taking us but we sat back and waited.  So when he pulled over in town in got out of the car, needless to say we were a bit concerned.  We looked at each other and wondered what we should do.  A few minutes later, he came back with a man who looked to be giving him directions.  They talked for a few minutes more, and then both got in the car and we were off again – with the second man pointing where to go.  Shortly thereafter, we arrived at the Mashele Guest House.  The guy kept stiffing us on the change we were due, but we eventually got it and jumped out of the car – happy to be where we needed to be safe and sound.  The restaurant was directly across the street.

Pizzarusha (www.pizzarusha.com) is a precious restaurant with 10 tables, one waiter, and one cook with a little stove.  The cook could only do one order at a time, so we waited 45 minutes for our dinner – spring rolls and pizzas –  and we were absolutely starving.  It was very yummy, and cost us about $10 total.  Brilliant!  By then, we were exhausted so we went back to the Maasai Camp and went to sleep.

Here’s a note from Matt about the Aussie’s trip to Nairobi.

There are two sources of water in the Serengeti: the river and the water tanks at our campsite.  So at 2:30 this morning I woke up to hear lions roaring around the campsite.  We knew they’d come, but it was incredible to lay there and listen to them.  I stopped hearing them around 3:30, but did hear someone open the velcro of their tent at 3:00.  The Russians had camped out in a truck near the water tank, because they wanted to film the lions in action.  They said that there were a few lions.  But the lions hovered near the treeline because some of the other campers had lanterns in front of their tents and they didn’t want to come closer.  Then, at around 3:00, the lions came a little closer to the water tanks and the Russians got really excited.  The lions retreated because someone came out of their tent with a flashlight.  As it turns out, Mathilde – who previously swore never to leave her tent in the middle of the night – really really really had to go to the toilet.  (the velcro sound I heard was her leaving the tent).  You can imagine us teasing her that she was almost lion food.  So funny!

Hyenas eat bones in addition to meat (this is why their dung is white, in case you’re ever on Jeopardy).  So Brandon the guide played a joke on the Aussies – something that he says he does for people who don’t do their duties on their assigned duty day.  He staked an animal bone to the corner of their tent so the hyenas would tug at it and fight over it – all the while moving the tent around.  But the bone was still there – untouched – this morning because of the proximity of some lanterns.  Such a shame, because that would have been so funny to see what the Aussies did when the hyenas descended.

We were up at 4:45 to be on the road early this morning.  The skies above us were clear, but we could see lightening in the far distance.  This is how far the African skyline stretches – we can see lightning but never see clouds.  It really made us realize where we are, in Africa.

On the way to Arusha, we saw a lion sitting very peacefully on the side of the road.  She was lovely and looked very happy in the morning sun.

Olduvai Gorge

We also stopped by Olduvai Gorge, which is a site that has contributed a great deal to archeology and the history of human evolution.  They had a very good museum, and we listened to a lecture while overlooking the gorge.  It was very cool because we could see the different layers of the Gorge and understand the importance and ages of each layer.  Very cool indeed.

At Olduvai Gorge

Maasai Camp

Back at the Maasai Camp (see June 22), Jon set up the tent while I went to the market in Arusha.  I needed to get him a birthday gift because the Aussies had planned a surprise early birthday party for him tonight.  We were all to dress up in African clothing for dinner (this part wasn’t a surprise), and we would give him his little gifts later on.  I got him a slingshot, and then went to the Internet Cafe.

The Aussies wanted each of us to film a “commercial” for their video.  So Jon and I did a coffee commercial in which I pretended to be Fran Drescher of “The Nanny” and incorporated some of the inside jokes we’ve laughed at throughout the trip.  It was pretty funny, but we’ll see if it actually makes the final cut.

The African Gang

Then we all got dressed up in our African attire.  Here’s what everyone wore:

The Aussies – Maasai blankets (Dennis, Matt, Jason)

Mathilde – a sarong and a matching shawl

Kerry – a sarong and a bandana top with African currency taped all over it

Jon – Maasai blanket

Brenden (the Aussie) – a Muslim robe and hat

Juliette – a sarong

Susan – multiple sarongs and a hat (there’s word for the hat, but I’ve forgotten)

The Andreas – Maasai blankets (Andrea #1, Andrea #2)

Me – a Hawaiian shirt, jeans, multiple cameras, binoculars, and anything else that would make me look like a “bloody American”.

We had an excellent time, and Jon was very surprised with his birthday celebration.  He got some very sweet gifts from our friends.  The Aussies gave him a wooden “punchbug”, for which they each punched him in the arm.  Kerry gave him a wooden letter-opener, Mathilde gave him a witch doctor whistle, and Juliette gave him a wooden spoon with a cool handle.  The Aussies bought him a “Mike’s Monsoon” drink, which is some heinous concoction of liquor that doubles as rocket fuel.  We played a bunch of games and had a great time.  Our last night together!  🙁  Of course, Jon’s going to hate it tomorrow when he has to pay the price of some serious Aussie hazing.

Jon’s birthday skull

Mathilde and Kerry had a few as well!

There were definitely hyenas in the campsite last night, but they didn’t bother the tents and they didn’t eat the pile of biscuits that Aussie Brenden put out in the middle of the camp.  I caved and went to the toilet in the middle of the night because I’d had too much water the night before, but I did it before the hyenas showed up.

So we went on two game drives today, and although we’re sort of tired of game drives (if you can believe that) they were still exciting.  We didn’t think anything could be better than yesterday’s leopard in a tree, but we were wrong.

The safari Rover

In front of a pool of hippos

On the first game drive:

• Hyena
• Fish eagle
• Zebras
• Warthogs
• Buffalo
• Many vultures in trees
• Python (we saw its reflection as it followed some monkeys)
• Tse-Tse flies biting us in the truck.  Not even the most powerful insect repellent could stop them.
• Hippos
• Crocodiles
• Mongoose
• The coolest thing we saw was when we happened upon a zebra that had recently died (like, within the hour) of natural causes.  When we got there, there was a hyena and about 6 vultures.  We stayed for about an hour to watch, and by the time we left there were 60 vultures and 3 hyenas.  We actually watched a hyena tear off a leg so he could get away from all the vultures.  It was incredible!  Vultures can see 50km, so these buggers were coming in from everywhere.  Jon finished off a roll of 36 pictures on this alone!

A hyena and vultures finish off a zebra

We came back to the campsite to have lunch, and rested for a few hours through the worst of the heat.  And it was really hot – at least 90 if not more.  I tried to sleep but the tent was stifling, and the Aussies were filming funny skits for their video and that sounded like much more fun.  At 3:00, we went for the next game drive

What we saw on game drive #2:

• The leopard in the tree from yesterday was still there, although on another branch.  The gazelle carcass was still on the same branch.
• Fischer’s lovebirds
• Wildebeests
• Secretary birds
• Elephants
• 6 lionesses walking to a watering hole, which we followed and watched for about an hour.  One of them was stalking a lone gazelle and we thought we’d actually see some action.  But the gazelle spotted her and ran away, and the lion decided that it was too hot to follow and went to the watering hole instead.
• Waterbuck
• Another leopard in another tree.  But by this time, we were hot and dirty and tired and just wanted to go back to the tent.  Pretty sad.

When we got back to the campsite, we were told there was running water so Isaac took us to another shower facility since everyone made a beeline for the showers at our site.  I took off all my clothes and got underneath the faucet, and nothing came out.  But Jon’s shower worked so I waited for his shower.  It was cold and was nothing more than a trickle, but I was happy to have a shower.

Dinner was a yummy beef stew, which we ate and then sat around and watched the Aussies drink the moonshine they bought in Lake Malawi.  Then we all went to the toilet and went to bed.

So the first question out of everyone’s mouth this morning was “Who had to go to the toilet last night?”.  I did, and while I had to psych myself up to do it, it was uneventful.  Paul the Russian said that there were buffalo in the campsite when he got up, and I think the Russians had some messy run-in with the bush pigs. (they’re always in some sort of trouble). But all in all it was a quiet evening.

We had toast and eggs for breakfast, which is such a treat!  I could get used to this subcontracted safari.  We’d gotten used to cereal, instant milk, and bread for breakfast.

We left Ngorongoro and the environment changed as soon as we descended from our campsite.  We’re definitely heading toward the Serengeti during the dry season.  The roads became dusty and dry, the green trees and leaves disappeared and were replaced by dry plains and an occasional tree.  We stopped by a Maasai village to get some culture.

Maasai Village

Maasai Jumping

To gain entrance to the village, we had to pay the chief a $10 entry fee, which Isaac assured us would go to books and medicine.  This is a working Maasai village – not one that is populated only during the day.  The tribe that lives there performed for us by singing and jumping – something the boys do very well.  The village had small huts made of mud and branches, and had small areas for the goats and livestock.  The warriors were out with the cattle, so we basically saw the women and the young boys.  There was a small school in the back of the village where the youngest children were being taught.  Around the center area was their “market” where they sold their jewelry and beadwork.  And they were relentless in trying to get us to buy from them.  It was almost sad that this wonderful village was impacted by tourism, but it’s inevitable and is my fault as much as anyone’s (I paid the $10, right?).

Maasai Women

There was a young man in black, which was unusual as everyone else was wearing red.  The chief told us that he had just been circumcised and the black was a symbol of that ritual.  The Maasai are circumcised between the ages of 14-20, and it’s a coming-of-age tradition that is a big part of their lives.  (The women are circumcised too, but I’ll stay off my soapbox for that one and save it for another essay.)  We later saw many other young men along the road in black with their faces painted white in ghoulish patterns.  They were usually in pairs and stood on the side of the road looking very confident and cocky in their new “manly” status.  Isaac said that the white is to make them unattractive to women until they have healed.

Nyani Campsite

Jon and me on a “kopje” (rocky outcrop) – great view of the Serengeti

The drive to the campsite was very, very dusty.  Every time we passed another car we would have to roll the windows up to avoid clouds of dust billowing in the truck.  Along the way, we saw a cheetah sitting in the the sun on the side of the road, and also saw ostrich, gazelles, and giraffe.  The campsite is right in the thick of the Serengeti, and not far from a pack of Zebras.  However, it is also one of the most “bush” of the sites we’ve stayed at.  There are bathrooms, but no running water.  Brandon (the guide) says that this is the most expensive of the campsites we stay at, but is also the least equipped.  No kidding.  There are two big tanks of water with spigots on the bottom, but they’re not connected to the shower rooms.

So we set up our tents, put up the top of the Land Rover, and left for a game drive.  The Serengeti has 3000 elephants, 2000 lion, 700-900 leopards, 1500 cheetahs, and 200,000 impalas.  Here’s what we saw:

• Baboon
• Warthogs
• Zebras
• Hippos
• Vervet Monkeys
• Elephant
• Marabou Stork
• A HUGE herd of elephant (20+)
• Giraffes
• 2 lions
• Butler Eagle
• Another HUGE herd of elephant (25+)
• Lilac-breasted roller
• Cape Buffalo
• A leopard in a tree with a gazelle carcass on a limb above it.

Small elephant family

Giraffe

So we can now say that we’ve seen the “big five” of Africa: elephant, rhino, leopards, lions, and buffalo.

We went back to camp to find that the park rangers had not turned the water on yet.  So we filled up empty water bottles and “showered” using the bottles and a few bowls used by the cooks.  It took a while and was a bit awkward, but it actually wasn’t that bad.  I was just happy to get the layer of dust off of me.  Then we had a lovely dinner, and we all tried to go to the toilet as much as possible before going to bed so we don’t have to venture outside the tent at night.  As I was brushing my teeth, we heard lions roaring in the distance.  Mathilde says that there is no way she’s going to the toilet no matter how badly she has to go, and I don’t blame her.  The lions-in-the-campsite thing sounded cool and adventurous, but it’s a whole new ballgame when you’re actually lying there in a tent listening to the sounds of the Serengeti.  What I really want are concrete walls and a padlock.

For the next few days, we’ll be traveling with a sub-contracted guide service into Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti because the Kiboko Bus-Truck can’t do the roads.  So we packed up the tents and consolidated our crucial stuff into one backpack.  4 Land Rover Defenders arrived to cart us and our gear away from Arusha for three days.  We also got a safety talk about our campsites.  Namely: don’t keep food in our tent, avoid going to the toilet at night and – if we have to go – use a bright torch (flashlight).  And most important: if we hear anything outside the tent, STAY IN THE TENT.  Then we got a bunch of stories about lions scratching their backs on tents, bush pigs ripping open tents for toothpaste, and hyenas running off with little children.

So.  Off we go!

In our truck, we had myself, Jon, Mathilde, Juliette, and Kerry.  The four Aussies went with Vladimir the colonel, who didn’t look very pleased with arrangements.  They promptly put toilet paper on their heads with a red circle on the forehead, and screamed “Bonsai!” like Kamikazes.  At the first stop, Vladimir moved from sitting in the back with the Aussies and sat stoically in the front seat for the rest of the trip.

About 60k of our drive to Ngorongoro was on paved roads.  The remaining 90k was completely unpaved and bumpy.  But the views were spectacular.  This is what one thinks of Africa: plains and plains of brush surrounded by mountains in the distance.  There were many Maasai on the plains herding their cattle.  The Maasai wear right red cloaks because the color is ominous to enemies, keeps lions away, and doesn’t show dirt easily.  Each one of them had a long stick (club) and elaborate earrings, but very few of them waved at us.   Along the way, we passed some ostrich, zebras, and donkeys.

I’ve never ridden in a Land Rover before, and I have to say that it’s not “all that”.  We stopped in the dusty town of Karatu, where we learned that one of the Land Rovers had lost its suspension and had to go into the shop.  So, as luxurious the “Land Rover” name is to us in America, it’s just another car here.  But it’s definitely a necessity to getting around the crater.

Ngorongoro Crater is lush with vegetation.  The roads are steep, windy, and muddy, and we could easily understand why the Kiboko Bus-Truck couldn’t come.  When we finally got to the top and stopped at a viewpoint of the interior of the crater, we were amazed.  It’s absolutely HUGE!  Isaac (our guide) pointed out some spots in on the floor of the crater as being buffalo.

Jon and me at Ngorongoro Crater

Our campsite is called “Simba A” and has a beautiful view over the crater.  It’s very grassy, and there’s evidence that wildlife visits often as we had to watch where we stepped.  There was a Marabou Stork walking around that was easily the size of my 4-year-old niece.

Ngorongoro Crater Game Drive

At 3:15 we descended into the Crater for a game drive.  The variety of vegetation is amazing.  As we got lower in altitude the grass got drier.  Isaac said that it’s a 600m descent, and that the Maasai take the cattle down the crater every morning for water, and bring the cattle back up 600m in the evening.  I’ll never complain about my commute ever again.  Ngorongoro, by the way, is named for the sound a cow bell makes.  The top of the Land rover pops up so we can stand in the truck and see all around us – no windows or obstructions – but we’re still protected by the doors of the truck.

So here’s the list of game we saw:

• Wildebeests
• Zebras
• Grant Gazelles
• Thomson Gazelles
• Jackal
• 3 Cheetahs!  Isaac says that it’s unusual to see cheetahs in the crater as they like to stay on the slopes, and he also said that you almost never see multiple cheetahs together.
• 2 lions laying in the sun
• Kori Bustards (the heaviest flying birds in the world)
• Cape Buffalo
• Hyena
• Grey Crowned Crane
• Flamingos: They practically covered one side of the lake.  I’d never actually seen these before, and was blown away by how beautiful they are!
• Egyptian Goose
• Cooke’s Hartebeest
• Red-billed ducks
• Hippos
• A Hyena with a wildebeest leg in its mouth
• Ostriches
• A black rhino – very, very rare!
• Warthogs
• Elephants
• Yellow-billed stork
• Pelican
• Another black rhino (very rare!)
• Half-naked Aussies (not very rare, seen almost as often as impalas)

Simba A Campsite

We got back to the campsite and I took the coldest shower I’ve ever taken in my life.  This water definitely came straight from a very deep and cold well.  And I chose the shower where the shower-head didn’t work so I had to use the faucet.  When I came out of the shower, there were about 4 zebras walking through the campsite.

The gang at sunset

We had a delicious dinner of mushroom soup and chicken with rice. But there was no fire and we were freezing (remember that we were at 1700m elevation).  As it got darker, we got even warier of the animals that were on the perimeter on the campsite.  Kerry, Mathilde and I went to the bathroom together because of whatever was in the bushes.  Later, we were so cold that all 7 of us piled into Matt and Jason’s tent to stay warm and to watch the Aussie Video.  An hour later, Paul the Russian came to our tent to warn us that the bush pigs had entered our campsite and were devouring the rubbish bins.  So all 7 of us – all at once – clamored to get out of the tent to see.  We must have looked like some sort of cartoon as bodies came flying out of the tent, one on top of the other.  I didn’t get a good look at the bush pigs because I was laughing too hard, but they looked really ugly and very big.  I definitely don’t want to run into one in the middle of the night.

Jon walked me to the bathroom and then we went to bed because we were so cold.

Today we piled in the Kiboko Bus-Truck to go to Arusha, near Mt. Kilimanjaro.  The Aussies have a game they play that – when you drive under a power line – you have to raise one or both of your hands.  The number of hands depends on the size of the power line.  There really isn’t much more to it than this, but it definitely entertained most of the truck for a while.  They say that once you go driving in Australia for 12 hours you will find creative ways to entertain yourself too.

Women in Africa really do walk around with large bundles on their head.  Laundry, groceries, coal, bundles of branches – we’ve seen it all.  It looks like it’s much more efficient than carrying an awkward bundle with your arms, but I can’t imagine doing this in New York.

At some point in the ride, Jon was torturing me by singing and distracting me from soundly trouncing the Aussies at Uno.  The particular song on his mp3 player was “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, so when he started singing it half the bus followed suit. Next thing I know, we’re all singing the various verses as loudly as we can.  It was hilarious.

We stopped for lunch at a cute bush campsite on a little river/creek.  It had a picnic bench that read “No Guts, No Glory”.  I’ve no idea the significance of this statement at the campsite, but it was all very sweet.

Lunch!

Mount Kilimanjaro

The closer we got to Arusha, the higher in elevation we got.  We pulled over to the side of the road and Brendon (the guide) pointed at a large mountain and said, “There’s Kilimanjaro!  Let’s take pictures.”  So we climbed on top of the bus-truck and posed for some lovely photos:

Aren’t we cute?

The Aussies used this break to film a little segment for their video, in which Jason (on the far right) tried to befriend some local kids who came to the roadside to look at us.  But they took one look at him and ran for the hills.  Smart kids.

Then…  about 15 minutes down the road, we started seeing signs for “Kilimanjaro –> 100km”.  Brandon looks up and says “Ooops.”.  So much for the knowledgeable guide!  Seriously, though, we did get some nice pictures of “Faux Kilimanjaro”.  I wonder what the real one looks like.

Maasai Camp

The campsite we are at for the night is called the “Maasai Camp” and is guarded by the fierce Maasai warriors.  Brandon says it’s the safest campsite he’s ever been to.  It’s been raining, so we put the waterproof covers on the tents.  Then, of course, we hit the bar where we played a huge game of “3 Man” with some Brits.  The fun part of this game is that you make up rules that everyone must abide by.  Some examples:

• Can’t use the first letter of a person’s name.  So, instead of “Heidi”, everyone had to call me “Eidi”.
• You must ask permission to leave the table.
• Whoever is “3 Man” must drink from the “Mike’s Monsoon” drink each time a three is rolled on the dice.
• You cannot, under any circumstances, point with your fingers.
• Before rolling the dice, you must make some sort of animal noise.

The rules got even nuttier as the night rolled on and it was such a riot.  (For those of you who are wondering if you should call Alcoholics Anonymous for me, I played with a Sprite.)

Deep Dive

It’s 11:00AM on June 21, and I’m writing the daily journal because we’ve already had the most amazing day!  Jon and I woke up at 6:00 to go to the dive shop (Zanzibar One Ocean www.zanzibaroneocean.com – best dive shop on the island!), where we met with one other diver to do a deep dive.  For those of you non-scuba divers, most dives are fairly shallow – around 13-18 meters (30-40 feet).  You have to have Advanced Open Water training to go very deep, which Jon and I have.  So we arranged yesterday to do this dive because the dive masters said we would never see anything like it again.  They were SO right.

The wreck we went to is a wreck that only this dive shop knows about, and they try to keep it as secret as possible.  They call this the “deep wreck” because they don’t know its name or any history about it, but it’s at 40 meters and has been there for at least 50 years.  The four of us (3 divers and Xavier (Chubby) the dive master) descended slowly so we could equalize well and got to the bottom in just a few minutes.  Chubby took us over the wreck and we saw the most amazing sights we’ve ever seen.  It was like swimming in an aquarium.

The wreck itself was covered with coral and hundreds and hundreds of small, colorful fish.  But that’s nothing compared to what was around the wreck.  Everywhere we looked there were schools and schools of huge fish swimming around us.  Gigantic mackerel, batfish, lionfish and 10-11 cobias that were at least 1 meter long.  I felt like I was watching an episode of the Discovery Channel.  At one point, I just stopped and stood on the ocean floor and turned around and around.  There were fish absolutely everywhere!  The batfish are especially curious and followed us all around.  All we had to do was turn to see them.  There are apparently 3 grouper that live there, but it was a little early in the day for them to come out.  (late night last night for them)  Xavier says that they’re about 3 meters long and weigh up to 200kg. That’s a lot of grouper!  I wish I had a picture to describe this, as I know I haven’t done it justice in only a few paragraphs.

Since the dive was so deep, we only stayed on the bottom for about 16 minutes before we had to begin ascending slowly.  We made decompression stops at 20 meters, 12 meters, 9 meters, 6 meters, and 3 meters.  The beautiful batfish followed us up for as far as they could, but left us somewhere between 9 and 6 meters.  At 6 meters, we could look up and see shrimp swimming just below the surface and a few jellyfish.  At 3 meters, we saw that it was pouring rain outside, and spent the decompression time looking up at the raindrops on the waves.  The entire experience was phenomenal.

So now we’re packing to leave.  We’ll catch the ferry and go back to our campsite at Dar-Es-Salaam.  I’m sure that nothing exciting will happen for the rest of the day (at least, compared to the morning), so this is it for today’s journal.  When we leave Dar-Es-Salaam, we probably won’t get to an Internet Cafe until Nairobi, which is a week away.  Hope you all have a good week!

Later…..

Solar Eclipse

OK… I wrote the above paragraph much too soon.  I’d forgotten about the solar eclipse, which is almost as exciting as the morning’s deep dive, but not quite.  We boarded the ferry at 1:00 and it took about 2 hours to get there.  They did show “The Fugitive” which was nice, but I hardly noticed since I’d turned a little green.  Jon wants me to mention that I did more than turn green and that I left the boat a little lighter, but I survived.

When we got onto the dock at 4:00, the solar eclipse had already begun.  We knew about the eclipse when we were planning the trip, because many tour companies were charging more for overland treks that were in southern Africa today.  The eclipse was only partial in Tanzania, but it was a full eclipse in countries further south.  We layered sunglasses one on top of another so we could see it happening.  And Brenden (the Aussie) took out some film negatives so we could look through the negatives at the sun as well.  It was cool, and was over by about 5:00.

Silver Sands Campsite

We camped again in Dar-Es-Salaam at the same place we camped before Zanzibar – right on the beach.  There’s a nice breeze this time which is good because last time it was insufferably hot.  Jon and I sat on the beach in some comfy chairs and watched little sand crabs burrowing in and out of their holes.  We also tried to point out certain constellations but all we could remember were the Big Dipper and Orion.

The Gang at the bar

After dinner, Brendon (the guide) told us that the tide had moved out significantly, and that we could see some cool stuff on the coastline if we wanted to walk out to see.  So we followed him and Vanessa out, and were amazed at how far the water had gone out – at least 1km.  There were a few inches of water in some places, but it was mostly just wet sand.  Unfortunately, there also wasn’t much of anything to see and we kept walking out and the mud got mushier and mushier until it became quicksand.  Seriously.  Our feet were sucked in and the more we struggled, the deeper and deeper we were sucked in.  It was so weird.  So after a while of struggling with the quicksand, we all decided that it was much to bizarre to remain any longer and made our way back to the shore to go to bed.

Jon and the Aussies in quicksand (note that you can’t see their feet!)

Jon and me on a little sand island in the Indian Ocean

Torrential downpour last night!  I woke up to listen to it for a while.  This, of course, is AFTER we were woken up by inebriated Aussies pounding on our door at 4:00AM.  So when we woke up at 7:30 to go diving we made sure that they got a nice little wake-up call from us.  I jumped up and down on Dennis’s bed just to make sure he was completely awake to enjoy early morning Zanzibar.

We did a lot of scuba diving today with Kerry and Mathilde and it was fabulous.  The dive shop we used was recommended by Kiboko and was wonderful.  It’s called One Ocean Diving (http://www.zanzibaroneocean.com).  Here are the details of each dive:

Dive #1: Turtle’s Den

Depth: 18 meters

Bottom Time: 53 minutes (38 for Jon, who ran out of air)

Visibility: 20 meters

Sighted: 15-20 Greenback Turtles, lionfish, trumpet fish, purple starfish, blue spotted rays

Lunch on a lovely little sandbar/island in the middle of the ocean (see picture above).

Jon’s mermaids

Dive #2: Pinnacle

Depth: 12.2 meters

Bottom Time: 51 minutes

Visibility: 20 meters

Sighted: Hawkbill Turtles, blue spotted rays, electric rays, lion fish, sea cucumbers

Note: I accidentally knocked against some fire coral and wow does it ever sting.  I’m writing this journal hours later and my foot is still burning!  But it should be better in a few days.

Textile Market

Then Jon and I walked around the textile market looking for material for a “travel quilt” my Mom is making of our trip.  We finally found vendors with bolts and bolts of material, but most of it was polyester and very little was African-type prints.  Afterwards, we went back to the room to clean up a bit and Jon went to torment Dennis who was still in bed and suffering from a heinous hangover.

Jon’s Words: I offered Dennis a beer, which was refused, and after I blew a few beer burps Dennis’ way, Dennis stumbled to the bathroom.  I of course taunted him mercilessly by offering Dennis more beer and even pouring some in the toilet for Dennis (where his head was barely inches from the African toilet water, I might add) so he wouldn’t forget what beer smelled like.

Serves him right, of course, for waking us up at 4:00.  Silly boy.

Dive #3: Night Dive at the Great Northern Wreck

Depth: 13 meters

Bottom Time: 46 minutes

Visibility: 10 meters

Sighted: Trumpet fish, Prawn, Kettle Fish.  We’ve been on more exciting dives, but there’s something about a night dive that is so intriguing!

For this dive, Jason and Matt came with us and did some night snorkling while we dove.  This was apparently the first “night snorkling” the dive shop had ever done, so it was a new thing for all of us.  So the six of us (Kerry, Mathilde, Jason, Matt, Jon and I) had the boat and the dive master all to ourselves.  It was quite fun.  We boated out to the dive site during sunset and it was as if we had our own personal sunset cruise!  Unknown to us, the Aussies had re-attached Jon’s tank to the side of the boat.  So when he got up with all his gear on to jump into the water, the thick rubber band snapped him back into his seat.  The Aussies thought this was the funniest thing they’d ever seen.

Evening Market

After the dive, we walked around the evening market and took the gang to Saroni’s jewelry booth (See June 18).  Then we went to the Zanzibar Pizza booth and completely pigged out on Zanzibar Pizzas (similar to crepes, but thicker).  Jon – my husband with a bottomless stomach – also got some sugar cane juice and an ice cream.  I think we’ll just eat our way through Africa instead of doing this silly safari thing.

On the way back to the hotel we got caught in a sudden torrential downpour.  So we sat in a doorway in one of Zanzibar’s narrow, windy streets watching the street turn into a temporary river.  Jon pointed out that this is obviously how they keep the streets clean, as the river was washing away all the trash.

Well I’m off to bed.  We’re doing a deep dive (40 meters) early tomorrow morning before we leave Zanzibar.