noreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Wed, 13 Mar 2024 07:32:57 -0400Blogger http://www.blogger.com29125http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/en-ushttp://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/driving-in-rwanda.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Fri, 3 Feb 2006 08:16:00 -0500tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-113897280109426078If you are a confident driver, a car can take you all over the country easily and quickly because most places are within a 3 hour drive from Kigali. Renting a car is a decent third option for travel: it helps you avoid having to use public transportation or be overcharged by a safari company. But the decision to drive in Africa always comes with a set of obstacles. In Rwanda, the primary http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/renting-car-in-rwanda.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Fri, 3 Feb 2006 08:13:00 -0500tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-113897249975804295Renting a car in Kigali is very informal because there are no rental car companies. This is either a nail biter or a relief for Westerners who are used to signing their lives away at the end of a three page corporate epic. Asking around at local travel agencies will yield scraps of paper with the names of friends who rent out cars. Keep searching for a better deal and bargain until you are happy http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2006/02/gorilla-treks-rocket-ever-upward.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Fri, 3 Feb 2006 08:10:00 -0500tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-113897237494799854You now have to shell out 350 USD to spend one hour with the gorillas. That is almost a 50% increase from 2004.http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/12/visiting-akagera-national-park.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Fri, 30 Dec 2005 08:52:00 -0500tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-113595160494673885If you do not have six hundred dollars to spend on a safari package from one of the agencies in town, and/or if you do not have access to a private 4WD vehicle, visiting Akagera National Park may be more hassle than it is worth. Private Vehicle Owners are WinnersThe drive to the park from Kigali is two and one half hours. If you are entering the park at the southern end, the first hour and a halfhttp://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/12/travel-to-kibuye-note-from-helpful.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Thu, 15 Dec 2005 02:13:00 -0500tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-113463084772101760A veteran Kibuye traveler wrote me and said that if you're willing to get up early, it is possible to take Iposita (Post Office) transit service from Kigali to Kibuye. I am grateful for the information and will look into it for my next trip.http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/12/traveling-from-kigali-to-kibuye.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Fri, 2 Dec 2005 04:35:00 -0500tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-113351625051372346If at all possible, avoid taking a mini-bus to Kibuye. Depending on your budget, however, this may not be possible. Alternatively, you can try to hitch a ride or spend the money to hire a private car. The latter option is easy - and well worth it - if you are part of a group of 4 or more, or if you can pool your resources with other travelers who have the same plans. If you must take a mini-bus, http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/12/traveling-to-national-museum-of-rwanda.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Fri, 2 Dec 2005 04:34:00 -0500tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-113351612329139236The National Museum of Rwanda in Butare is beautiful, informative, and sophisticated (see TRAVELOGUE). The displays are only in French and Kinyarwanda, but we received a gracious English-speaking guide when we asked for one. The museum is several kilometers north of town, so be prepared to walk or find transportation back and forth. The Volcano Express is quite a comfortable way to travel from http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/12/peculiarities-of-paying.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Fri, 2 Dec 2005 04:33:00 -0500tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-113351603644920409Kigali has a few quirks when it comes to accepting payment. First, for those people whose lives revolve around plastic, there are few to no ATM machines here and the ones that exist are mainly for local banks. Credit cards are still not widely accepted at all. A truly useful scoop: when traveling to Rwanda, the US dollars you bring should have been issued in 2000 or later. My bank teller in the http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/11/late-at-night-in-land-of-lions.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Wed, 2 Nov 2005 12:11:00 -0500tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-113095158309963840A Sample Itinerary with Ethiopian AirlinesWith Ethiopian, we practiced what we preached and booked a paper ticket using a human representative at the New York office. This required access to a fax machine for payment technicalities. Reasonable fares are by and large because flights are scheduled at odd hours and can have extra stops. The first flight left DC at 8:30 pm on a Monday night, and the http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/10/hop-skip-and-long-jump.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Sat, 29 Oct 2005 12:05:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-113095138378277091A Short Survey of Getting to Rwanda Unfortunately for Americans, shifting continental plates many millennia ago has made current day travel to Africa into a 2 or 3-day journey. There are a variety of ways to fly into Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda.First, let the buyer beware: try not to exceed 2 airlines when booking your flights, and make sure you have plenty of time to make your connectionshttp://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/10/malawi-cyclones.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Wed, 12 Oct 2005 10:49:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112912863010334799This image is taken of a cyclone approaching Mozambique two years ago. Many people wouldn't think that a landlocked country like Malawi would be affected by such storms; however, these cyclones crush the coast lines and penetrate beyond Mozambique all the way into Malawi. The resulting rainfall causes flash flooding and washes out bridges. This in turn shuts down or severely hampers http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/plumpynut.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Mon, 29 Aug 2005 17:02:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112534945810530199The shiny 500-calorie foil sachet is a household name in hungry countries and almost unknown in well-fed ones.Technology at its best, Plumpy'Nut was developed by Nutriset to rehabilitate famine victims. The goo looks like tan mashed potatoes and tastes like sweetened peanut butter.Plumpy'Nut is made of peanut paste, dry milk, and vegetable fat. Reviews from aid groups seem to hail it as a miraclehttp://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/romance-of-mosquito-nets.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Sat, 27 Aug 2005 19:08:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112518648102966459Mosquito nets tug on that childlike part of our imagination that wants to build forts out of cushions. The western world may have eradicated malaria, but going to bed is much more fun when you can look forward to cuddling up inside a sheer cloud of mosquito netting.The aim of bed netting is to prevent nocturnal moquito bites and therefore mosquito-bourne diseases like malaria, encephalitis, http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/vlogging-revolution.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Thu, 25 Aug 2005 17:52:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112466322872694121By now, you've heard of blogs -- a rather unfortunate sounding word. Well, this year you've got another, equally clumsy sounding word to wrap your head around: vlogs.A vlog is a video blog. [Those of you who still don't fully understand the ramifications of "blogging" will now feel like you're back in math class, when you didn't quite get the right answer for x, and therefore missed (x - 2) too.]http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/rent-your-own-satellite.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Wed, 24 Aug 2005 04:40:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112452863235731442Cable modem not working in the middle of the rainforest? Get your own satellite connection anywhere in Africa! Simply buy the dish and rent out a signal from space. The satellite that has a 'footprint' in most of central and southern Africa is named Eutelsat WA3.You can get an idea of the cost of 3 seperate VSAT access plans through Eutel, one of the major players in Africa. (And the next time http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/diesels-greasy-history.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Tue, 23 Aug 2005 23:00:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112453253996903165 On diesel engines, history, and new inventions...For outback travel, a diesel will serve you better due to greater power and better fuel economy for long hauls. Also, the lack of electrical mechanisms in diesel engines makes them more reliable because they are simpler, require less service, and contain fewer specialized parts (like spark plugs, for example). Semi-trucks use diesel because http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/ebola-marburg-virus-hunters.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Tue, 23 Aug 2005 01:09:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112477408565839835These are the pictures of the Marburg (left) and Ebola (right) virus, those faceless little beasts that cause ambiguous pains and aches as they get down to business. Each virus hijacks the internal cell machinery, replicating at a terrifying pace until the cell wall ruptures and release the next generation of viral bodies into the bloodstream.Imagine this happening millions of times every couple http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/choosing-prosumer-camera-humorous.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Fri, 19 Aug 2005 05:31:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112453112667232350Your most important piece of equipment for filming is a camcorder. Well, maybe it's a close second to your eye, but let's not get all 'film-studentish' yet. This article is strictly a bare-bones regurgitation of information that has been gleaned from the web and from pestering 'film types' with queries about bizarrely termed details like lux ratings and zebra stripes. (If you are a professionalhttp://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/shot-in-arm.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Thu, 18 Aug 2005 12:49:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112456162450796337I got my shots yesterday -- ouch ouch! I had almost forgotten about the tetanus aches and pains. Thank goodness you only need it every ten years.MeningitisMy doctor advised me to get the Menomune meningitis vaccine instead of the Menactra dose. This is because Menactra, although longer lasting than Menomune, interacts with both tetanus and hepatitis vaccines and shouldn't be given at the same http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/ntsc-pal-and-secam-film-formats.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Wed, 17 Aug 2005 05:52:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112453174684665480The world is made up of people who see things from different points of view. When industries choose to support one of those points of view, it becomes survival of the fittest. As we have seen again and again, the best idea is not necessarily the most successful idea (at least in monetary terms). The more one gets to know different cultures in different parts of the world, the more these http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/why-africa-could-use-little-broadband.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Tue, 16 Aug 2005 04:29:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112452682869947345This intriguing article discusses the merits of broadband access in a developing region of the world such as Africa."Despite some growth and developments on the African broadband "scene", the market remains at very early stages in its development, and its reach is limited to a minimal target market. In a region such as Africa, where for many, access to basic amenities - such as healthcare - is http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/wireless-microphone-systems-abroad.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Sat, 13 Aug 2005 16:21:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112431171187322430Wireless microphone systems can be a traveling filmmaker's nightmare. We stumbled upon a crucial piece of advice from Shure Microphones: don't take them outside the US without researching your destination's laws first.Wireless systems are often illegal or mandate the purchase of a license. It all depends on the local government's regulation of UHF versus VHF radio frequencies. To give you a tastehttp://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/south-african-dsl-rates.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Fri, 12 Aug 2005 03:12:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112452262085163565Excerpts of an article discussing the only supplier (Telkom) of broadband service to South Africa and a quick breakdown of costs per month of their various services."HomeDSL192 This is the latest product to be launched and aimed at the user who would like an always-available connection at a reasonable speed at a fixed monthly rate. With ADSL there is never a dial-up cost component. It means that http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/08/air-insurance-global-health-care.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Thu, 4 Aug 2005 23:28:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112321313769094021We are researching international health insurance, and I picked up an interesting (and somewhat unsettling) bit of trivia. If you are traveling in a developing nation, you should find an insurance company that charters its own airplanes. Turns out one of the only significant medical costs abroad in he third world is if you have an emergency and need to be air-lifted out. Air evacuations can be http://lookingglasslandblog.blogspot.com/2005/07/musings-on-patriotism.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (LookingGlassLand.com)Mon, 4 Jul 2005 20:37:00 -0400tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14196174.post-112070389751553357America is a textbook teenager: fun loving, fancy-free, self-obsessed, and very dramatic. We are preparing for our trip abroad, and on the Fourth of July, it is hard not to reflect on our nation. Abroad, I tend to find some reserve supply of patriotism and defend my home turf. Lots of people have lots of opinions about America. America doesn't just divide me, it divides most of the world. For me,