Zanzibar

We flew to Zanzibar the day after finishing our safari. The flight was a quick 1 hour flight into Zanzibar Town or more popularly known as Stone Town. From the airport, we found the local dala-dala to take us to the city market. Unfortunately, on the dala-dala, we picked up our first papasi. Papasi is swahili for 'tick' and are people who get money for getting tourists to book rooms in hotels or go to stores. They really suck and follow you everywhere you go. Many of them speak horrible english, other than the names of the hotels. We tried to get rid of our guy but upon arrival to Stone Town, he followed us through all of the tiny streets. Despite having a map, it was impossible to find our way in the stone town maze.



We finally found a decent english speaker who directed us how to get to the Clove Hotel and of course, the Clove was fully booked for the day. Luckily, they showed us to the Hotel International and we got the best room in the house. We were on the top floor and had an incredible view of stone town.


We dropped our bags and entered the streets of stone town again. This time, we were attempting to find our way to the ocean (which we could see from our window). It was an amazing walk through the maze. Beautiful hand-carved wooden doors adorned many of the buildings. Because Zanzibar is predominantly muslim, there were many women completely covered in black. Most men had the typical arab hat. At prayer times, you could hear many mosques spitting out prayer. The island was a mix of mzungu tourists, arab-persian locals, and black locals. An incredible mix of cultures.

The island is famous for its beaches, spices, and the boats build there. The boats made here are primarily for fishing and are called dhous. There are a lot of different kinds but the ancient ones were made without metal (no nails or screws). Everything was held together by coconut rope. Here's a photo of one floating by.

We found the beach and hung around for the evening. In the evening at the forodhani gardens, all the fishermen come out to sell there catches of the day. They make fish kabobs and barbeque whatever you decide to order. They've got a lot, calamari, marlin, king fish, and many more. Each kabob is barely over 1 dollar so you can really enjoy a lot of fish. They've got french fries and lots of other tasty treats to go along with it. They also make a Zanzibari pizza which is a tortilla with meat, vegetables, egg, and cheese fried on a fresh fire. It ended up being our favorite thing to get at the gardens. Both nights we were in stone town we ate here for about 4 dollars a meal and trust me, it was plenty of food. On the right of the following photo, one of the guys has a sugar cane juice machine. They mixed lime, ginger, and sugar cane and made a sweet half liter drink for 25 cents. It was great! The gardens was a highlight of stone town, maybe because it had been too much rice and beans during our volunteer work.

Our first full day in stone town, we took the well-advertised spice tour. It was really fun to walk through all of the spice plantations. We saw cloves, vanilla, cacao, pepper, and a lot more. Lots of the spices are combined to make pilau rice which we had for lunch along the tour. Really great rice. At the end of the tour, Laura went spice crazy and collected some to take home.

Our final night in Zanzibar, we decided to go to the eastern beaches for a relaxing day and a half on the beach before travelling to Nairobi and then on to Barcelona. We went to a town called Bweju and decided to go rasta and stay at Mustafa's Nest.

The beaches were beautiful white sand beaches. The sand was a fine as flour. The tide went in and out during the day probably as far as a mile. Waves were cresting at least a mile out from the beach. The beach was beautiful and there were no large developments along the entire beach. Mostly locals frequented the beach and many of them were collecting special types of seaweed or fishing when the tide went out. It was an amazing beach and incredible that it wasn't more developed than it ended up being.

Now, Laura and I have made it safely to Barcelona and our time in Africa is over. It was an incredible experience, one I'll never forget. It's something I'd suggest that everybody do at some time in their life. We'll be in Barcelona for at least 2 weeks and in Italy for another week to visit family. During our stay in Italy, we'll be visiting Austria and Germany with family.

Our plans are open at this point. We're considering spending some time working on the island of Ibiza which has a lot of tourist action right now. We're considering spending more money and travelling to Thailand. If we stick with our original plan, we'll return to Vermont, USA and start job search. That doesn't sound so appealing after this trip though. Thanks to all who followed this blog. If we continue our travels, we'll probably start another one and post the blog URL here. Don't forget to read the safari post I put up yesterday!

Lake Manyara, Serengeti N.P., and Ngorogoro Crater

Laura and I organized our safari with Sunny Safaris. We organized a 5-day, 4-night camping safari. The first day would be spent at Lake Manyara, about 2 hours drive from Tengeru where we were volunteering. The second day would be a long drive to the Serengeti in the morning and a Serengeti game drive in the afternoon. The third day was spent entirely in the Serengeti with morning and afternoon game drives. The fourth day we had a morning game drive in the Serengeti and an afternoon drive to the Ngorogoro Crater rim (which, by the way, is freezing this time of year!). The fifth day started with a Crater game drive and then the return back to Arusha.

The price included a Toyota Land Cruiser, a driver-guide, a cook, tents, and plenty of food. The cook made up three fantastic meals a day. After eating beans and rice most of the volunteer time, it was great to be spoiled with some amazing meals. I don't know how the guy made what he did in those conditions but I enjoyed his results. We had a mother-daughter pair that joined us for the entire safari. They volunteered with the same organization as we did and were a great couple to go along with.

The first day, we were picked up at our volunteer house and taken to the Lake Manyara camp site. Along the way, we passed the area where the large dala-dala accident was about a month before. Now, a large memorial comemorates the loss of so many people. I still can't believe we were there that sad day. Upon arrival at the campsite, we took all the equipment from the truck and lifted up the hood for our Lake Manyara game drive. What a way to start a safari.

Lake Manyara National Park is 127 square miles, the lake's alkaline waters cover approximately 89 square miles. It is well known for the many pink flamingos that frequent the waters. All kinds of wildlife surround it.

We were greeted by hundreds of baboons.

Saw lots of acacia trees with all kinds of wildlife.

The highlight was 2 elephants tangling for a good 10 minutes.

After a great sleep at the campsite, we started a 4 hour drive to the Serengeti. We drove through the Ngorogoro Conservation Area and just by the crater we would visit in a few days. We saw many Maasai people, homesteads, and cattle along the way. Wildlife along the way was abundant, many types of impala, wildebeest, etc. Along the rough roads, we got 2 flat tires. They were a pain to change due to the horrible jack that we had with the vehicle. Luckily, other drivers lended us some equipment to get our change done reasonably quick. The anxiety was killer because it was delaying our entry into one of the most famous parks in the world, the Seregeti. Upon entering, it was like the wildlife just doubled. Every direction you looked, there were gazelles, impalas, etc. running around. Eventually, we encountered a lion from a distance and viewed her with our binoculars... but then, our guide spotted another lioness just on the side of the road. We took off to see her and basically, had a lioness 1 meter from the vehicle for about 5 minutes. Little did we realize this was a normal occurence in the Serengeti.

The Serengeti is a 60,000 square kilometer savanna and everywhere that you look, there is wildlife. It's impossible to get a view without wildlife in it (so it seems). It's really incredible. Here are some of the sites of the Serengeti.

A lioness we saw from about 20 meters.

We only saw 1 leopard during our 5 days but he had a bite to eat in his tree while we were there.



A wildebeest-zebra watering hole.

A cheetah at sunrise.

An elephant with her calf.

A giraffe eating from an acacia bush.

Sunrise in the Serengeti.


The first morning in the Serengeti, the hyenas were out. Wildebeest were charging across the plains as the hyenas ran around and gathered themselves. Even gazelles were ensuring they were out of the way. It was amazing the adrenaline you get watching all of this live.




The most spectacular site had to be a lioness and her lion cubs. In the evening, the cubs were really active and put on quite a show for us.


During our final morning in the Serengeti, we re-visited the area where the lioness and her cubs were. There were a number of trucks there watching them. The cubs were playing around the vehicles so mama came by to check things out. As she was doing so, one of the tourists in another car got out of the vehicle to sit on the roof. He leaned over the side of the vehicle so his friend could get a picture of him and the lioness below. As he did this, the lioness hunched down and nearly jumped to swipe his body out of the vehicle. For some reason, she decided not to but talk about a rush of adrenaline. The guy seemed like a sure goner but I guess it wasn't his day to go. The lioness really could have improved the human gene pool though.

Our last day was spent in Ngorogoro crater. We stayed the night at the rim which was brutally cold considering we had nothing but fleeces to break the wind. We woke up really early to beat the crown and head into the caldera. The caldera, which formed as a giant volcano exploded and collapsed on itself, is 610m deep and the floor is 260 square km. It holds an amazing concentration of wildlife. If you wanted to see animals in just one single day, this is the place to go.

Upon arriving in the caldera, I immediately spotted a hyena in the distance with some kind of grazing animal by its side. This didn't make much sense so I moved to the binoculars. Sure enough, the hyena had a head full of blood and right beside it was a struggling wildebeest. The hyena was sticking his head into an open wound of the wildebeest and eating away. The wildebeest was desperately attempting to get up as it was getting eaten alive. We saw this from quite a distance but here's the result of the most disgusting site we saw all safari.



We wondered where the other hyenas were so that they would kill this wildebeest and put it to rest. We ended up finding a bunch of them futher down the road as they fought over the remains of another carcass. Not sure what they were dining on but most likely, another wildebeest.



Further down the road, about 1 meter from the road was a male and female lion. There's only one reason these two get together and I guess this couple likes to make it public.





We spent a long time watching a lion pride fend off about 20 hyenas who were trying to scavenge the lion kill. First, two lionesses killed something. Twenty hyenas showed up to try to steal the catch. The two lionesses fended off the hyenas and eventually one of them took off to call the pride. The pride of 12 hurried down and started eating the carcass. The male finished first and once he came out to fight the hyenas, the hyenas were gone. The male was impressive as the rest of the pride feasted on their catch. After seeing the earlier hyena sites, it was nice to see them lose a battle. Unfortunately, this was so far away, we couldn't get pictures of everything going on.

The caldera is also home to the extremely endangered black rhino. Unfortunately, the morning was quite cold and the rhinos don't like to exit under those conditions.

An elephant on the plains of the caldera. Noone is going to mess with him.


Zanzibar post coming soon!!!

The Nkoaranga orphanage

Hello everyone! This is Laura. I know some of you have asked that I write about the orphanage where I am working, so here it is.

The orphanage is called Nkoaranga, and it is part of a complex that includes a hospital and a school. There are 24 children at the orphanage from 3 months to 4 years old. When they turn 4 the kids are taken to a boarding school where they will attend primary and secondary. When the kids reach that stage the foundation that runs the projects looks for sponsors to help pay for their education. When they complete secondary school they are returned to the nearest relative they can find. They kids are fairly well taken care of, they have clothes and foods, and a few toys to play with. The clothes are all donated and quite old, most of them have holes. The food is abundant but not very nutritious, mostly rice, beans and porridge (milk and corn?). Once or twice I have seen them eat pasta, and some vegetables, but that is the exception.

As I volunteer I have taken the afternoon shift, there are other volunteers from different organizations that go there in the morning. My job when I get there is to get them out of bed, since they nap from noon to 2, and change them. That is quite the challenge because they still use cloth diapers. The orphanage does not have wipes or baby powder, so most of the volunteers have brought some of these items to use. After waking them and changing them it is play time! The older ones entertain themselves fairly well, but the 1 and 2 year olds want nothing but for you to hold them. There is always someone crying, either because another kid hit them, or because nobody is paying attention. We try to split our time so all the kids get some loving. Around 4 pm they bring out dinner. We usually sit three or four kids in front of us and feed them all at once. The little babies require a bottle, so that takes a little bit more time. The 4 year olds feed themselves. One of the funniest things is that they have a TV with a video player and their favorite movie is, bar none!, the Lion King! They refer to it as Hakuna Matata! which is funny, because all these kids speak swahili so that is the only sentence they understand of the whole movie.

After dinner is more play time. They go to bed around 6:30.

A few of the kids are really sick, with pnemonia or malaria. One of them, Baraka, has totally stolen my heart and the poor little guys is in and out of the hospital with problems. Another child, Hussein, has a problem with his legs, he is 2 and still doesn't walk. We have arranged for him to go to physical therapy. In one of the pictures you can see him strapped to a board learning to walk. This kid is the happiest kid ever, though. Always smiling and laughing.

By now the kids already know me, and are very happy to see us. The sad part is when we leave, since most of them cry. The other sad part is only being a part of their lives for such a short time, you have to imagine that they get attached to the volunteers and then we leave. There is always new people coming and going, so that is hard.

Jeremy also has a new post right below.

Anecdotes from Tengeru

Going out for a beer in Tengeru can be quite an adventure. Being a bunch of volunteers in one house, there's nothing better to end the day than a cold beer at the New Wisdom Bar just down the street. The problem is returning from the bar after 9:30pm. At 9:30pm, the dogs are let out. Yes, the dogs... These dogs are kept chained up at home throughout the day and are let loose to roam the streets of Tengeru at 9:30 pm. So, what do these dogs do? In Babu's words, "They bite." When do they bite? "All night." This was difficult for Laura and I to believe so with some other volunteers, we headed to the bar for a few beers. By the time everybody had gotten a buzz, it was 10:30pm and time to go home. We didn't think anything of the dogs but luckily, Babu had found us at the bar and stayed to walk us home. He borrowed a volunteer's headlamp and we began our walk to the house. Babu recruited another man to flank one side of our group. As we walked up the hill, dogs began flying out of the woods all over the place. In front, back, both sides. None of them really barked and none of them were much larger than a beagle but by the time we reached the house, about 20 dogs had approached us in some manner. Babu and his helper were able to keep them at bay by shining the light into their eyes. It reminded me a bit too much of my paper route days in Orleans.

On July 4th, I had organized a BBQ celebration at the house. I picked up some fresh meat, firewood, and hot dogs for the party. When I returned home that afternoon, Masih (one of the new volunteers) had inquired Lema (the volunteer coordinator) about the possibility of sacrificing a sheep for the party. Masih was so determined that the 3 of us set out to find a good sheep for slaughter. After some hours of inquiring with multiple families, we finally purchased a sheep for $20. The sacrifice was good to go. As dusk approached, our tied up sheep struggled to get loose of its roped feet. With some helpers holding it down, Masih sliced through the neck of our sheep. We tied it up, gutted it, and sliced off various parts to begin our BBQ. While the meat roasted, we shared some american hot dogs... the africans were impressed with the hot dog. The lamb was incredible and we polished off the whole lamb except for a single leg. Ah, where else can you go to your neighbor, buy a sheep, and slaughter it for dinner?

This weekend, our plans were to see the bushmen. A group of nomads which still use hunting and gathering to survive. Our plans fell through but I had a funny conversation about them with a new volunteer, Adam. Adam is a big Wisconsin guy who is not particularly interested in camping, doesn't like spiders, and abhors snakes. This is Adam speaking to his family back home.

"So, let me review, my first week in Africa I've been hit on by a Nairobi hooker, sacrificed a lamb for dinner, and gone tribal with a bunch of click-speaking bushmen."

"What are you going to do to top that?"

"Well, next weekend I'm just going to a 90% muslim island called Zanzibar."

"My god, how do you follow that up?"

"I think the following weekend I'll have unprotected sex in Africa."

Speaking of HIV, Laura and I visited a new HIV+ center in a small town next to Tengeru. We actually planted about 20 donated trees from my tree nursery (COOL!!). We enjoyed visiting with the group and got to speak in front of the young children who are HIV+. They enjoyed practicing their english with us. It was a unique experience; they were genuinely happy to have us there.

This coming week is our last week as volunteers. On Saturday, we leave for a safari and following the safari, we are visiting Zanzibar. From there, it's on to Nairobi to fly to Barcelona to visit Laura's parents. Future posts will be sparse due to the inaccessibility of the internet during safari.

Ol Doinyo Sambu, a Maasai village

Laura and I spent the weekend in Ol Doinyo Sambu, a central village for the Maasai tribes. The village hosts the largest Maasai market every Saturday. The market is partitioned into 2 sides, the vegetable/goods side and the cattle/goat/chicken trading side. We arrived in Ol Doinyo Sambu around noon and after lunch, headed to the market. We decided to start with the vegetable/goods side; this market was quite familiar to us because of the many other markets we have attended. The only unique thing about it was that there were a ton of Maasai people in their traditional wear.

One of the highlights of this part of the market were the men sewing the Maasai blankets. The Maasai blankets are worn by men and women over 18 years of age and the blanket colors represent various feelings like love, peace, etc. At the market, you could buy an unhemmed blanket and have these guys clean it up for you!

On the other side of the market was the cattle/goat/chicken trading. This is the main reason this market is bustling. City folk come long lengths to trade their money/goods for Maasai cattle and goats. The Maasai survive off this trade. Here's a photo of the cattle market.


Their culture is basically to groom young men to herd cattle/goats for the family. The cattle are taken to wherever the best grazing land is and boys aged 8-18 are required to make sure no cattle escape. The richest Maasai man is the one with the most cattle and the children to handle them. Boys grow to become warriors after they are circumcised... no pain killers and no tears are the requirements. Every 7 years, a circumcision festival is held to circumsize the boys. After that point, a boy becomes a warrior. His function changes to a protector of the village instead of a herder of the cattle. Although, if grassland is scarce, the warrior will take cattle to farther lands instead of the younger children. From warrior, you become an elder at 45. Elders are the wise men of the tribe and are called upon to solve disputes in the village.

We met a very special elder, the liboni. The liboni is the medicine man of the village. He has knowledge in all the local medicine and is known as the village healer. I decided to give him a few bucks to check my health. After some crazy shaking of a bottle, speaking into a bottle, and looking over some rocks that came out of the bottle, it turned out I had a small fever, nothing to worry about and was going to have a stomach ache later in the day. It turned out that later in the day, I was about to eat a popsicle that most likely didn't have the water boiled... I recalled the liboni's words of wisdom and tossed the popsicle instead of eating it. Maybe he saved me some pain.

The Maasai are a polygamist society so one man marries many women. Each woman costs 10 cows to marry so it's expensive to get a wife. Unfortunately, women don't appear to be treated very well in the society. Men only watch over the cattle and provide the village with protection, everything else is the responsibility of the woman. They cook, collect firewood, clean, take care of young children and they've got no say in the family decisions that are all made by the male. Other tribes say a Maasai woman is the best because they know how to work. It's unfortunate the way they are treated as inferior.

The land the Maasai live in is desolate. The best way to explain it is that they graze their cattle in the middle of the Arizona desert. I couldn't believe how dry and dusty everything was and this was just the start of dry season. During wet season, it floods. During dry season, it's dry as a bone. Very hot too.

Laura and I slept in one of the homes in a boma (Maasai homestead). It had 4 rooms. One room contained a single bed which both of us had to fit in. One room was the sitting room and kitchen (the kitchen is a small pit for firewood). One room held a young heffer (yeah, a baby cow) that they family was protecting. The last room held the family chickens which they have for the eggs, not to eat. So, we spent the night with a baby cow and a bunch of chickens. The chickens were pissed when we didn't let them out once the rooster called so they crapped all over the place.

Finally, the Maasai diet consists of very few things. Daily, they eat makonde, a bean and maize mixture. On special occasions, they kill a goat or cow for eating meat but it's rare because their hurting their business when they do that. Finally, they eat/drink loshoro. Loshoro is a boiled milk/ maize mixture which tastes like yogurt. Laura loved it, but I couldn't down it. It was rough.

Here are a few more pictures of from our stay. There's a lot more I could write about but my hands hurt! I've got pictures from Laura's orphanage that I'll put on an upcoming post.