apairofhsus

One year ago today: Oct 18-20, 2005 (TAZARA train from Tanzania to Zambia)

2006-10-26T23:52:00.000-07:00

Taking leave of Zanzibar, we embark on a 3-day, 2-night train ride across Tanzania and to Lusaka, Zambia by way of the TAZARA train. Exhausted, we finally arrive at a cheap hostel in Lusaka where we spend the night. Next stop: Livingstone and Victoria Falls.

Kim does a very nice job describing our journey in her original post from the trip (highly recommended reading), and I really don't have much to add. Here are a couple photos from the train...

Per and Barbaru, with whom we shared a train compartment.

Again, here's the interactive map of our trip. Over 15,000 miles travelled so far!

One year ago today: Oct 17, 2005 (Mitu's Spice Tour)

2006-10-23T21:40:00.000-07:00

Final day on the island of Zanzibar. We spent most of the day on one of Zanzibar's famous "spice tours". We drove around with a vanload of other tourists to various plantations, learning about, seeing, and most importantly smelling the different spices grown on the island. Apparently, Zanzibar is the world's largest producer of cloves. We also saw cinnamon, pepper plants, allspice, vanilla, tumeric, lemongrass, neem, and nutmeg. It was pretty fun, like a scratch-and-sniff field trip.

After the spice tour, we visited a beach where I got stung by a jellyfish (minor sting, so no big deal) and visited an old slave holding area (essentially a big pit in the ground built to hold slaves).

Oh, I forgot to recount a funny incident on the previous day. Kim and I were catching up on email at an Internet cafe, halfway through our session the proprietor asked us to watch the store for him. Apparently, it was time for prayers and he needed to go to the mosque. So for about 10-15 minutes, we were in charge of an Internet cafe in Zanzibar.

We found a great restaurant for dinner. The use of spices in Zanzibari cooking is really special and delicious, if I'm lucky maybe I'll find it in the States someday. Otherwise, I guess I'll have to return to Zanzibar...

This is what nutmeg looks like...

I love spices!

One year ago today: Oct 16, 2005 (Stonetown, Zanzibar)

2006-10-22T23:02:00.000-07:00

After a relaxing stay at the beach, we headed to Stonetown for a couple more days before leaving Zanzibar. Stonetown is an incredibly atmospheric place...whitewashed walls, peeling paint, narrow alleyways, and muslim men gliding around in their long robes like ghosts. Many buildings are fronted by beautifully carved wooden doors. Kim enjoyed some shopping, and we wandered the streets trying not to get too lost (pretty much impossible in the maze of streets), avoiding touts, and nervously walking through dark streets after dinner to our hotel.

Here's a FilmLoop full-screen slideshow of Stonetown. In retrospect, I wish I had taken more photos of the narrow streets and confusing alleyways, sigh.

One year ago today: Oct 15, 2005 (Zanzibar beach, Day 3)

2006-10-22T00:06:00.000-07:00

[Note: original post from the trip can be found here.]

Final day and night's stay at Jambiani beach in Zanzibar. Although I don't have photos, I had fun hanging out with local children on the beach. We drew photos in the sand together, and they were very interested in the fact that Chinese people eat with sticks. Later, I'd see Muslim school kids splashing around in the water, the little girls attired in cute little headscarves.

Here's a short FilmLoop full-screen slideshow of photos taken this day.

One year ago today: Oct 14, 2005 (Snorkeling trip on a dhow)

2006-10-21T00:36:00.000-07:00

[Note: original post from the trip can be found here.]

In the morning, we went out with Captain Peace in his dhow for a short snorkeling trip. Dhows are very romantic looking Arabic sailing vessels, with sails made from sewn-together rice sacks and hulls of hollowed out mango trees. The snorkeling was decent, but certainly not spectacular, and Ian became rather seasick. Nonetheless, it was good fun. The rest of the day was spent lazing and walking around on the beach, with a few naps thrown in for good measure.

We had a fantastic dinner (Zanzibari food is really quite good, with lots of unusual combinations of spices) at the Casa del Mar hotel restaurant, just a short walk from our hotel. Since we were visiting during Ramadan, food was hard to come by during the day. Most Zanzibaris are proud of their strict observance of Muslim traditions, although no one we talked to could articulate the value of observing Ramadan beyond tradition. The other funny thing about visiting during Ramadan is the general mood of tiredness and malaise; since it was hot we'd see lots of people just lying down all day to conserve energy. In any case, it's interesting to observe a culture of collective and disciplined self-denial, which is quite different from the American culture, which is typified by unbridled consumption, energy, and competition.

Here's a short FilmLoop slideshow of our snorkeling adventure:

One year ago today: Oct 13, 2005 (Zanzibar beach, Jambiani)

2006-10-20T23:45:00.000-07:00

[Note: original post from the trip can be found here.]

What's there to write? A lovely day on a lovely beach. Clear blue water, perfect weather, sand between our toes. At some point, we went snorkeling out from shore, noticed that the sea bed was chock full of spiky sea urchins so we went back to the beach. We probably took a nap. Or two. Enjoy the photos...

One year ago today: Oct 12, 2005 (Ah, Zanzibar)

2006-10-20T00:50:00.000-07:00

Early in the morning, we caught a hydrofoil ferry to the island of Zanzibar for a few days of R&R. We hadn't made hotel arrangements, and we decided to take our chances with the touts at the port. Luckily, we met a honest, helpful, and friendly tout by the name of Abraham.

Abraham was associated with Mitu's Spice Tour, which came highly recommended in the guidebooks, so we decided to enlist Abraham's help. After a trip to the bank and a short jaunt into Stone Town, Abraham helped us find a fantastic deal on a beachfront hotel near Jambiani. We were able to get a rate of $32.50USD per night for our own beachfront bungalow at the Visitor's Inn. It would be the first time on our trip that we stayed in the same place for more than a single night (besides two nights at Ikoma Lodge in the Serengeti), and we were glad to stop moving for a while. The packing and unpacking alone can really be tiring.

No photos from this day, so I've pulled together a cool little map of our trip. Zoom in for details. Zanzibar is denoted by markers 22 and 23. More photos in the coming days...

One year ago today: Oct 11, 2005 (Another day, another grimy hotel)

2006-10-19T23:43:00.000-07:00

Not much to speak of on this day. Hopped on a long bus ride from Arusha to Dar es Salaam. The roads in Tanzania are much better than those in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, so the ride wasn't too bad.

Upon arrival in Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, we checked in to the Jambo Inn (~$15) and made onward travel arrangements to the island of Zanzibar. Another dingy hotel room, but pretty much anything was better than the previous night's stay in Arusha. As a plus, the hotel had relatively good internet connection, service & security were good, and they served some fairly appetizing Indian food as I recall. Here are a few pictures...

Bathroom, Jambo Inn. It's funny how gross this looks now, but at the time we didn't think much of it, having become accustomed to local standards.

Throughout our travels, we were vigilant about security and always locked our luggage together to the furniture when leaving the room. A pain, but we never had anything stolen.

One year ago today: Oct 10, 2005 (Baobab trees and the end of our safari)

2006-10-19T00:42:00.000-07:00

[Note: original post from the trip is posted here]

Alas, all things must come to an end, and so it was with our Tanzanian safari. Kim had gotten sick the previous night, so I went out by myself (with Felix, of course) for our final game drive of our safari. Tarangire National Park is famous for its baobab trees, and I spent most of the time photographing these soulful giants. Here is a FilmLoop full screen slideshow of mostly baobabs with a few birds thrown in for good measure.

We were also lucky enough to have another leopard sighting, this one much better than the first.

After the game drive, we headed back to Arusha where we would spend one more night. No longer under the care of the safari company, we were once again on our own, which meant cheap accomodations and the stress of ordinary decision-making (e.g. deciphering maps, figuring out where to eat, transport, etc.). For dinner, we ate at McMoody's a funny local rip-off of McDonald's; walking back to the hotel that night in the dark, unlit, crowded streets of Arusha was one of the more nerve-racking moments of our trip.

As it so happened, we opted for a cheapo hotel (around $10 or so), which ended up being the worst accomodations during our trip. Disgusting toilet without a seat, ceiling that dripped water on our heads, constant construction, and right across the street from the minrate with its blaring loudspeakers calling worshippers to prayer way-too-early in the morning. We probably should have shelled out another $30 for something nicer.

Next up: the exotic island of Zanzibar.

One year ago today: Oct 9, 2005 (A safari rest day)

2006-10-16T22:34:00.000-07:00

[Note: original post from the trip is posted here]

We'd been driving around in a hot, dusty, bumpy jeep for 8+ hours per day for the past week so we decided to take a rest day. In the morning, we took a short hike out near Lake Manyara and then drove to Tarangire National Park. I was very excited to see and photograph the baobab trees for which Tarangire was famous.

Nonetheless, upon arrival and a short lunch in Tarangire we decided to cut short our day and check in early at our lodge. For our last night on the safari, we were treated to a luxury tented lodge, this time at Tarangire River Camp. It was nice to have some rest, and we would see more of the park on the following day.

Ian enjoys the bed.

The common area, built around a baobab tree.

One year ago today: Oct 8, 2005 (Squinting at rare animals from a distance)

2006-10-16T21:49:00.000-07:00

[Note: original post from the trip is posted here]

By this time on our safari, we had already seen a fair amount of game so our goals were pretty defined. We hadn't yet seen a rhino (very rare), cheetah (one of my favorite cats), and leopard (relatively common, but very elusive) -- and we hoped to see at least one or two of these in the time we had remaining. Felix, our driver, was single-minded in his determination to find these animals for us; he would routinely ask other drivers about their sightings and was constantly on his cell phone scooping for information.

Luckily for us, Felix's persistence paid off, and we would see all three this day at Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The sightings were at very large distances, as evidenced by the photos below. Note that these photos are taken with a big, powerful zoom lens but are still quite small; it was impossible to see these animals with the naked eye...

A rhinoceros sleeping. Hilariously, it sleeps while lying down on its side.

Cheetah in Ngorongoro Crater.

Do you see the leopard in the tree (larger size) We spent about 1 hour looking in these two neighboring trees until we could definitively make it out. Bunches of other jeeps would drive up, squint for a while, and then declare a (usually incorrect) location, then drive away. Pretty funny stuff.

This was also a day of large birds, including both ostriches (the world's largest bird and Kim's favorite) and the kori bustard (the world's heaviest flying bird).

We returned to Lake Manyara for the night, and would head for Tarangire National Park, the final stop on our safari, the following day.

One year ago today: Oct 7, 2005 (Lions galore)

2006-10-15T23:35:00.000-07:00

[Note: original post from the trip is posted here]

We spent our final day in the Serengeti searching primary for lions, and we found a bunch. We probably saw about 4 or 5 different groups of lions on that day. Lions are really quite lazy, and can sometimes be a bore to watch -- especially when a large number of jeeps congregate on a single pride. Still, they are very impressive and it would be very scary to encounter one without the safety of a jeep around you.

My favorite lion we spotted as a large, skinny male who was sprawled out under a tree. Unlike other lions, this fellow was lying on his back; it was pretty amusing because of his lack of modesty what with his private parts exposed for everyone to see.

We then proceeded south from the Serengeti towards our next stop, Ngorongoro Conservation Area. It was a long drive, so we wouldn't visit Ngorongo until the following day. However, we did make a short stop at Olduvai Gorge, one of the world's most famous and important prehistoric sights. I particularly wanted to see the Laetoli footprints (although I had to settle for a full-sized cast instead). I was astounded by how small the early hominids were (3.7 million years ago). They also had some funny renderings of extinct animals at the museum, based on fossils found in the area, like big hippos with tusks pointing down out of their heads.

We bedded down that night at Ngorongoro Farm House a very luxurious safari lodge that overlooked a patchwork of coffee fields. I was disappointed that our accomodation was about 1.5 hours away from the Crater, but the luxury made up for that.

Here's a FilmLoop (click for full-screen slideshow):

Couple of online videos. First, a large herd of elephants including some little ones on the plains:

This is a bonus video, since it was taken on a previous day. But it's great, since it shows what it's like to be surrounded by zebras:

One year ago today: Oct 6, 2005 (Day 3 Serengeti, Tanzania)

2006-10-08T23:28:00.000-07:00

[Note: original post from the trip is posted here]

Another day riding around the Serengeti enjoying the wildlife. The highlight was a large group of zebras, skittishly drinking at a watering hole. They would get spooked really easily every two minutes or so, resulting in lots of fun running and splashing. Here's a FilmLoop (full-screen slide show) of the very photogenic (and funny) zebras -- which I took to calling donkeys because of their resemblance and hee-hawing:

Also some nice videos from this day, starting with an adorable baby elephant:

Online video #2: Large group of hippos, wiggling their ears and such:

Online video #3: Zebras at the watering hole

In the evening, we took a night safari near Ikoma bush camp. Night safaris aren't allowed within the Serengeti National Park, so we did ours just outside the border. Animals spotted included a serval, genet, spring hare, and bushbaby. Unfortunately, no leopards. Here's a video of the very funny spring hare (it's black at first, but then the spotlight finds the hare)...

and here's an online video of the beautiful genet:

One year ago today: Oct 5, 2005 (Day 2 Serengeti, Tanzania)

2006-10-08T01:00:00.000-07:00

[Note: original post from the trip is posted here]

We start off the day with a fantastic lion sighting near the lodge, then back to the northeast edge of the park for more migration viewing. One of the things I appreciated about our guide was his flexibility and willingness to tailor our game watching to our interests -- even if it meant hours of additional driving and gas expense. Later in the afternoon, we drive to the western side of the park, where to check into Ikoma Bush camp where we'll stay for the next 2 nights.

Lots of photos, click to view full screen FilmLoop slide show. A few video clips below, too.

Video clip #1: Wildebeest and zebra migration

Video clip #2: Running wildebeest

Video clip #3: More migration

One year ago today: Oct 4, 2005 (Serengeti Day 1)

2006-10-07T00:31:00.000-07:00

[Note: original post from the trip is posted here]

We bid adieu to Lake Natron and head for 3 nights in the Serengeti. I take one last look at Ol Doinyo Lengai as we move on...

One thing that the safari brochures don't really talk about is the long hours spent in the jeep. Distances are quite long and the rides can be rather bumpy. But the amazing Tanzanian landscapes, occasional Maasai on the side of the road, and sense of serenity -- especially out in the middle of nowhere -- more than makes up for any discomfort. Incidentally, here's a reasonably readable map of the area.

It's late in the afternoon by the time we enter Serengeti National Park. Unlike Lake Manyara or Murchison Falls, the Serengeti is a huge park with many different areas to explore. We entered in the northeast side of the park and immediately see evidence of the famous wildebeest migration. Hundreds of zebra and wildebeest constantly in motion, often travelling in orderly rows. The density of game was astounding.

This was the part of our travel I had looked forward to the most, and I wasn't disappointed. There's something amazing, humbling, and moving about witnessing this spectacle of life, the collective effort, nature's gradeur as expressed through these animals. The landscape and skyscape delighted as well. Travelling through the Serengeti in the Jeep, with my head sticking out the top, wind in my hair, delighted by everything around me, fulfilling my lifelong dream of seeing the migration. I was truly happy and deeply content, the happiest I had been in a very long time.

We stayed that night in the Lobo Wildlife Lodge, an amazing architectural gem built into and around large kopjes (humongous boulders). Funny rock hyraxes lived among the boulders and wandered about the grounds of the lodge.

Click on the blinking box below to see the route of the wildebeest migration. The animals were just arriving from Kenya's Maasai Mara when we arrived in the Serengeti:

One year ago today: Oct 3, 2005 (Lake Natron waterfalls and flamingos)

2006-10-05T23:17:00.000-07:00

[Note: original post from the trip is posted here]

This day was definitely one of the highlights of our Tanzania safari. First, a long dusty bumpy drive from Lake Manyara to Lake Natron, a large saline lake about 5-6 hours away. Lake Natron sits at the base of Ol Doinyo Lengai, the world's only active carbonate volcano. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time (and probably didn't have enough fitness) to do the climb to the top.

We passed by many Maasai -- and therefore many cattle -- during our drive. The Maasai are largely nomadic, travelling from one place to another with their cows and goats. Apparently, Maasai boys must kill a lion to become men. Maasai are also known for their large earplugs that disfigure their lobes and distinctive clothing, which makes them look very regal.

Upon arriving at Lake Natron Camp, our tented camp for the evening, we set out on a hike to a local waterfall with Lemwa, our Maasai guide. Lemwa talked a lot about wanting to buy more cows, so he could have a wife; probably tells the same story to all the tourists to get a bigger tip, but he's a great guy all the same and we enjoyed his company and guidance.

As for the hike, it's a fun, wet romp of a hike through a gorge up the riverbed. At the end, there's a series of waterfalls perfect for swimming.

Following the waterfall hike, we head back down toward the lake in search of flamingos. Lake Natron is the primary breeding area for greater and lesser flamingos in East Africa, with an estimated flamingo population of 2.5 million birds. And because it's a good day's drive off the primary safari trail, there were hardly any tourists there.

As we neared the lake, we could see a field of pink dots. Once in a while, a large number of them would fly up together and then settle back down. The sheer number of flamingos was astounding, and the pink color in the afternoon light was mesmerizing. Here's a short video from our digital camera. Two of my favorite flamingo photos we took that day are below.

For some reason, everything at the camp including the water smelled and tasted like cattle. And foul cattle at that. One drawback of staying in a Maasai-operated lodge, I suppose, but definitely didn't take away from an amazing day.

One year ago today: Oct 2, 2005 (Tanzania Safari, Day 1: Lake Manyara)

2006-10-03T00:31:00.000-07:00

[Note: original post from the trip is posted here]

We booked our Tanzanian safari with Swala Safari. We paid $1540 per person, which included a private Jeep with driver-guide, accomodation in tented camps/lodges (a couple of which were very posh), park fees, meals, taxes, and transfers. I think it was quite good value, and would definitely recommend Swala.

Our itinerary covered the major parks on the Northern Safari Circuit: Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire -- as well as Lake Natron, which is off-the-beaten path. Our first stop was Lake Manyara, home of the elusive tree-climbing lion. Lake Manyara is a relatively small and compact park that sits on the edge of Great Rift Escarpment. After some quick stops to buy water and biscuits (aka cookies), we were off to Lake Manyara (about a 2 hour drive from Arusha).

Since it was our first day on safari, we were totally excited about everything we saw. We loved seeing the zebras, which we had not seen during our short safari in Uganda. They remind me of little donkeys and enjoy rolling around in the dust; it's very funny to see their little legs sticking up in the air.

There were some nice birds in the park, including Egyption Geese, ground hornbills, little bee-eaters, sacred ibises, crowned hornbills, silvery cheecked hornbills, and Van der Decken hornbills. We had to turn our Jeep around a couple times upon encountering elephants who wouldn't leave the road. And as always, the monkeys were fun to watch -- especially the blue monkeys that I particularly liked. Giraffes had little birds all over their necks, eating parasites. And it was at Lake Manyara that we saw the only dik-dik -- the world's smallest antelope -- during our safari.

But the best game of the day were the elusive tree-climbing lions. Sightings of these lions are very rare. Kim thought that they were funny, just hanging out on a tree with their big paws dangling down.

We stayed the night at Migunga Forest Camp, which is set in a nice grove of tall yellow acacias trees. The stars are once again beautiful overhead and we enjoy our homey tent for the night.

Tree-climbing lions! Lazy, like all lions -- just in trees instead.

A jumping impala. Lucky photo catch.

Blue monkeys.

One year ago today: Oct 1, 2005 (From Kenya to Tanzania, by way of crazy aggressive Masai women)

2006-10-03T00:00:00.000-07:00

Sadly, we needed to move on from our VEF visit to Arusha, Tanzania. We would begin a ten day safari the following day, so we enjoyed one last morning with Wilson and Nancy Peru and set off for toward Tanzania.

We opted to fly from Kisumu to Nairobi, and then we would take a bus from Nairobi across the border to Tanzania (map). It would end up being a very long travel day, but at least we avoided the 8-10 hour bus ride from Kisumu from to Nairobi. After a long flight delay of a few hours and a short hop to Nairobi, we boarded a bus for a 5 hour drive to Arusha.

We had heard about the aggressiveness of the Masai when it comes to tourists. They are notorious about being hard-nosed about demanding money for photos and when selling things. We would learn this first hand at the border crossing from Kenya into Tanzania. I don't remember exactly how it came to pass, but I remember being constantly harassed by Masai women, who kept insisting on putting bracelets on our wrists and selling us stuff. It had been a long day of travel and I pretty much lost it and started yelling and cursing at the Masai women. Travel really does sometimes bring out our uglier sides.

As we were walking back to the bus on the Kenyan side of the border, there were a couple of guys standing next to the bus door. We didn't realize it, but they were just pretending to be the bus drivers and directed us to follow them to customs. We followed them for a while, and then heard our real bus drivers whistling and hollering for us to come back to the bus. That was a scary moment, and we're lucky to have spotted our real bus driver.

So it was a relief when we finally arrived at Arusha, where our safari guide for the next 10 days met us at the bus and took us to our hotel for the night. We enjoyed hot showers for the first time in Africa that night and looked forward to our extended Tanzanian safari.

Confrontational Masai woman at the border of Kenya and Tanzania.

One year ago today: Sept 30, 2005 (Village Enterprise Fund, Kenya Day 2)

2006-10-02T00:28:00.000-07:00

Apologies for getting a little behind, it took a while longer than I had expected to pull these photos together. Please take a look at the full-screen slideshow with captions of our second day tagging along with Village Enterprise Fund in Western Kenya.

Hopefully, I can write-up our VEF experience and get caught up on our blog tomorrow (Oct 1 was a pretty uneventful day anyways, just travelling and a stressful border crossing).

One year ago today: Sept 29, 2005 (Village Enterprise Fund, Kenya Day 1)

2006-09-30T00:28:00.000-07:00

Need more time to write up our experience, since it was very full and rich. In the meantime, here's a FilmLoop slideshow (click to see full screen with captions) about our first day touring with Wilson Peru and the Village Enterprise Fund.

One cool thing about our visit was that it was pretty much entirely unplanned. Because we had difficulty getting in touch with the local VEF folks until the last minute, they hadn't arranged any special activities for us. So mostly we were just tagging along with Wilson Peru during his typical daily duties.

One year ago today: Sept 28, 2005 (Into Kenya by way of Peru)

2006-09-28T22:52:00.000-07:00

Once again, another long bus ride -- this time from Kampala, Uganda to the city of Kisumu in Western Kenya. Unfortunately, we were stuck near the back of the bus, so it was a bone-jarring ride. Good thing it was only about 5-6 hours.

A sketchy border crossing, in which we were detained by the customs official with the door closed. I think it was pretty clear that he wanted a bribe for a cheaper transit visa, since we were only going to be in Kenya for 4 days. But I was determined not to pay a bribe, so I made myself comfortable in my seat hoping that the customs official didn't really want us there that long. Eventually, he relented and we only had to pay $15US or so for a transit visa.

Upon reaching Kisumu, we were able to purchase a local SafariCom SIM card for our phone, and were able to touch base with our host. We had all sorts of issues with our phone and global SIM service, so in many countries we needed to buy local service. In any case, we had some time to kill so we had lunch at the local hotel.

Our host for the next three days was Wilson Peru, Volunteer Coordinator for Village Enterprise Fund in Western Kenya. It was an absolute joy to get to know Wilson and his family and our time there was undoubtedly one of the highlights of our entire six months. Wilson is an extremely intelligent, articulate, and thoughtful -- the skills we saw him apply to the work of VEF could have easily made him a top executive in the USA. Wilson also loves to listen to country Western music as he drives, and we listened to lots of Hank Williams during our time in Kenya.

Wilson lived about 1-2 hours outside of Kisumu in the countryside nearby the town of Kakamega. Once you get into the countryside, the roads can hardly be called roads. I was amazed that cars could travel on them but eventually we arrived at Wilson's house. Wilson is quite successful by local standards and is definitely a well-respected leader in the community. At the same time, he was extremely welcoming and made us feel at home right away.

For dinner that night, Wilson's wife Nancy killed a chicken and made us a wonderful spicy dish accompanied by ugali and fresh greens. We drank local tea made with milk from the Peru's own cow (which slept in the outdoor kitchen). It was delicious, and we loved listening to Wilson's stories about the work of VEF (more on that in tomorrow's post) and his own experiences travelling in America.

The Perus had about 6 or 7 children living with them in their modest 3 bedroom house. The obedience, behavior, and niceness of African children is really amazing. They would help cook dinner, serve the adults dinner, and even pour water so we could wash our hands.

We slept that night in the storage room with the big bags of maize. And when I would go outside to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I would look up at the most amazing sky full of stars that I'd ever seen.

Not many photos today for some reason, this is one of only two. The flourescent light in the background is powered by a car battery. In general, kerosene lamps were the only source of light at night.

Tons of photos upcoming over the next few days though...

One year ago today: Sept 27, 2005 (Finally, chimpanzees!)

2006-09-27T20:56:00.000-07:00

We set off early in the morning for Kanyo Padibi forest, in search once again for the elusive chimpanzee. I was very impressed with our guide's dedication to environmental protection, as well as his use of the Socratic method. He would pepper us with all sorts of questions as we hiked in the forest. Unlike Nyungwe in Rwanda, Padibi was nice and flat with well-trodden trails.

After about 45 minutes or so, our guide spotted our first chimpanzee. It was pretty high up in a tree, perhaps about 60 or 70 feet up. It was pretty difficult to see and photograph, but we did our best. Apparently, it didn't like our presence, so at one point it started spitting food at us. Another highlight was when we heard a group of chimpanzees in the area start to howl in unison -- very loud and primal.

Our guide then identified a group of chimpanzees in the trees nearby and led us onward. It's very difficult to see these guys in the trees, since the foliage is pretty dense, but our guide managed to help us see 5 or 6 of them altogether. He would give us a hard time, because it would take each one of us a very long time to see each one. He would say stuff like, "I can see 5 chimpanzees from this very location. Can you? No? You've got to be kidding me!" It was a fun time and we were happy that we were finally able to see some cool primates in Africa.

Incidentally, they say that chimpanzees are the smartest mammal and closest to humans. But based on my observations, chimps have a long ways to go before being anywhere as smart as people.

Woohoo, a chimpanzee!

Can you find the cicada?

We returned to Kampala after our chimp tracking, with a brief stop to fix a flat tire. In Kampala, we parted ways with our Swiss friends and made arrangements for the next day. Luckily, we were able to connect with the fine folks at Village Enterprise Fund. We would take a 5-6 hour bus journey to Kisumu in Western Kenya in the morning and spend the following 3 days observing their good work near Kakamega.

One year ago today: Sept 26, 2005 (Murchison Falls Game Drive and Boat Safari, Uganda)

2006-09-27T00:09:00.000-07:00

[Note: original post from during the trip is posted here. Much better written than this posting. In addition a few classic photos posted from during the trip: impalas, lion with mongoose, baboon.]

An absolutely fantastic photos day, so I've compiled a few of the best using FilmLoop. Click on the Loop below to see the full-screen slideshow. There was a bat in our banda when we slept that night, fun stuff!

Here are a few photos from the slideshow (although you're definitely missing out if you don't watch it in its entirety):

Bee-eaters, Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda

Elephants always have the right of way.

One year ago today: Sept 25, 2005 (Murchison Falls, Uganda)

2006-09-25T23:45:00.000-07:00

Because we were still waiting to connect with the folks at VEF, we had a few extra days on our hands. So we decided to take an unplanned, impromptu safari up to Murchison Falls in Northwestern Uganda. We met a couple at the Kampala Backpackers Inn who were negotiating with a tour agent on a short two-night, three-day safari up to Murchison. If they could find another couple to come along, the safari company was willing to give them an amazing deal, something like $250 for two people including lodging, safari drive, boat trip up the Nile, chimp tracking (woohoo!), food, and accomodation.

The deal was too good to pass up, and the Juerg and Caroline definitely seemed like fun travel companions. We went with Afri Tours, and I recommend them highly. In fact, the Murchison Falls safari was easily the most action-packed and best value safari we did during our trip (itinerary here). Note that there were a few high-profile attacks on tourists at Murchison Falls in the past, so be sure to check on the security situation. I guess that's why we had the park pretty much to ourselves and why it's such a great value destination, hehe.

Anyways, we enjoyed a nice lunch enroute to our lodge, and learned a great deal about Swiss neutrality and such. After checking in to our lodge, we visited the top of Murchison Falls. The entire fury of the Nile River is channeled into a gorge 6 meters wide and 400 feet deep, so it's a violent, thunderous wet, and very awe-inspiring site. Tomorrow, we planned to do a game drive in the morning and then visit the bottom of the falls by boat in the afternoon.

[Note: the classic photo of Kim hanging on for dear life at the falls is posted here.]

Check it out, we've got some grainy videos! Click to play them.

You can overhear Kim's devious idea and my "oh yeah?" during this clip.

And of course, here are a few photos:

Hanging out with Caroline and Juerg at the top of the Falls.

Ian admires the view. The Gore-Tex hat was great.

It's hard to keep the lens dry at the top.

Kim with rainbow at the top of the Falls.

One year ago today: Sept 24, 2005 (Back to Kampala, Uganda)

2006-09-24T23:08:00.000-07:00

We head back to Kampala from Kigali, so another 8-9 hour bus ride, crossing the Equator into the Northern Hemisphere en-route. Here are some photos from our bus ride from Kigali to Kampala...

Cows in Uganda and Rwanda have very large horn.

Hip-hop music video, shown during bus ride. The popularity and prevalence of hip-hop culture in Africa is pretty embarrasing. A really poor export and something Americans should be ashamed of.

After arriving in Kampala, we had a scary adventure trying to get back to the Kampala Backpacker's Inn. The taxi drivers wanted what seemed like too much money, so we decided to take a matatu instead. Matatus are shared minibuses, and "shared" means crammed with 16-20 people. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find my photo from inside the minibus, but I found a few similar photos online that capture the experience quite well: Kampala minibus station, inside matatu.

As you can tell from the photo, it's hard to know which matatu to take, since they have different routes. We asked around, and were told to board one that was nearly full. We repeatedly asked the driver whether the Kampala Backpackers Inn was on the route, and we were assured that it was indeed. So we climbed on the matatu with around 15 or 16 other people and took off. After about 5 minutes, Kim realized that we were going in the wrong direction. This time, when we asked whether we were going to the Kampala Backpackers Inn, they changed their minds and said no. We would have to complete the trip and they would take us back to the Kampala minibus station.

Kim and I about had a cow and told them to stop the bus. Not knowing where we were, we angrily jumped out of the bus nonetheless and told them to shove off. Of course, the driver had the audacity to ask for money, but we refused to pay. We were unsuccessful in trying to hail a taxi (we had our full backpacks on) and eventually settled for a couple of boda-bodas instead.

Because we had our packs on and our nerves were on edge, we were pretty nervous about taking the boda bodas, but didn't have much of a choice. So we hopped on with our bags in tow and took off. I had to stop my boda-boda a couple times to readjust my pack (it was heavy and I was about to fall off the back), but eventually we made it to the Kampala Backpacker's Inn. Of course, the boda-boda drivers decided to up their price upon arrival, and it was good that the security guard at the hotel helped us resolve the difference.

One really annoying thing that we encountered time and time again in Africa was people constantly trying to rip us off. One of the most common tactics was agreeing on one price and then changing it later. I understand that they need the money -- oftentimes just to feed their families -- but the standards of honesty and forthrightness were really quite low. On the other hand, we were never physically threatened nor robbed, and we're quite thankful for that.

Upon arrival at the Backpacker's Inn, we checked our email and tried to connect with the folks at the Village Enterprise Fund (VEF). We had planned to spend a few days visiting this grassroots NGO, but hadn't managed to connect with them about details. As it turned out, we had a couple extra days on our hands so we decided to go up to Murchinson Falls for a short safari with a Swiss couple we met at the Backpacker's Inn. Hopefully, we could connect with VEF upon our return.