South Africa

[freespiritz]

Loved the update, seems like you're having amazing adventures. Keep on rocking, and we are all jealous...

[maracle]

Originally Posted by lauren313

And Brett, I'm curious as to why you imagine rhinos speak with a German accent?!

It was supposed to be a French rhino

[lauren313]

^ ^ I see that now. Sorry to mock your imaginary rhino Haha.

[worldwidemike]

Awesome update. I had one of those, "by the way there's a such and such" in Kruger. It was dusk, and we were standing outside our vehicle, just chilling out and talking, when I see this jackal break out of the brush, calmly trot past us, maybe 15 feet away, and continue down the road. I was sitting there talking and said, "Jackal" in a normal conversation tone, and everybody was just stunned..reaching for their cameras and stuff.

I sooooo envy your seeing a cheetah, though. I wanted to see one, but alas, no luck.

worldwidemike

[simply_angelic]

Swear to god I wrote a response to this way back when...must have been on the sketch karongwe computer that eats things. I think that it's so funny that you were so in awe of the Jackal Mike. It's interesting how much you start to take for granted once you're out here. I mean I love them, I think they're gorgeous and everything but definitely seen my fair share of jackals. We had this big running joke at Venetia because someone had collared 3 jackals for a jackal study (who collars a jackal?) and about habituating the jackal and how much of a joke it was....miostly had to do with this big burlesque guide named anton who would cringe every time he heard he was on jackal focus....lol

Anyways, sent out my new update about a week ago, here she be...actually should send out another soon....:

Ok, wrote this Monday but didn't get to send it because I had to run home to say goodbye to Tara. Small update since then: In Gabarone Botswana. Really cool. Tell more later

So I've left the email thing for quite a while this time. Things have just been flying by at the reserve during the final weeks and I haven't really taken much of a chance to write about everything that has gone on… so here goes….prepare for a mammoth of an email. I think the last time I've written was about 3 weeks ago....so much has happened since then so I'll just try to do the important things.

First of all, my time with GVI is over. We said our goodbyes to the reserve friday (and the night before on our final sun-downer). It was incredibly sad. I'm really going to miss the reserve lifestyle and all the people. Luckily I haven't had to part with everyone just yet or else I'd probably be a mess. Most of the people I am closest to I haven't had to say goodbye to just yet. I'm continuing to travel with Bill, Kim, Dario aftwerwards so no goodbyes necessary for them just yet. I have to say goodbye to Tara today, and then Chaz, Mac and Kat are all staying at the same hostel with me so I wont have to part with them until tomorrow…I'm dreading it. I've become really close with Charlie, Micaela, Kat and Tara.

Anyways, on to the events of the past 3 weeks. Let's start at the beginning (thank goodness I'm keeping a "diary" as the brits call it to give me an idea of everything that's gone on).

3 weeks ago highlights:

-Giggles the hyena and her clan came to base before drive and devoured our supersoaker. Apparently she loves plastic...(Hyenas eat bones so it's really easy for them to eat something like a supersoaker, and digest it even). Research project idea: What is it about the super soaker that makes the handle unattractive to a hyena? (the one part left completely intact on the soaker)

- Saw ellies laying down to sleep!! Quite rare to see, Lo said he's only seen it a couple of times in his life before and it was actually the longest sleep time he's ever seen (48 minutes). They're apparently supposed to sleep for intervals of 20 mins....

- Did community work at a local school teaching the kids how to use a computer. These were 11-13 y/o children who had never used a computer before and some really couldnt speak a wink of english. They were so excited about everything and even really simple things were really cool to them when they finally got it. I never really thought about how hard it is to learn to use the mouse at first, it's just so second nature to me now. Double clicking was a very difficult concept for them to grasp: the "clicking fast" concept was pretty painful to teach but once they did understand they were so excited, it was really cute. Loved the day, so great to get into the community and see how their daily lives are run a bit....In the preschool they have a hollowed out shell of a car that the kids play in. Not exactly the kind of playground they'd have in Canada.

-Saw baby kudu nursing on it's mom in the middle of the road whilst chilling with a warthog. Pretty cute. Warthogs are such friendly animals, they're with everything. Kudu are apparently the best jumpers ever: can jump up to 3m from a standstill:crazy!

-Told some really sad news about one of the programs run on the reserve (don't want to name names b/c I don't think I'm allowed with all the controversy around it, and I don't want to tarnish the reputation of this program as I would still most definitely partake in it if I ever wanted to become a guide, it is a very well respected program). Basically a guy died from a black mamba bite whilst trying to help remove a juvenile black mamba from the classroom (something that you're not supposed to do). Based on the way the mamba's teeth are structured you often dont even notice that you've been bitten as was the case with this guy. He thought that it had just touched his arm....2 hours later he was in the hospital and died shortly thereafter....Hard to believe these things happen in such a warm environment, but the fact of the matter is that they do and they just re-inforce the reasons why we should all be really careful in situations like this.

-Savannah the cheetah had 1 cub. My group was on ellie focus so we weren't the ones to find her but it was still wicked cool to hear the stories everyone has said about finding her and her new baby. They hoped she's have more but looks like it's only the one this time around.

-Saw all of the ellies playing at a watering hole. Pretty cool to watch their interactions

2 weeks ago highlights:

-Went into the Blyde Canyon mountains for 5 days where our mountain phase takes place at Karongwe & did some small mammal research on the mice & shrews that live in the area. The actual work wasn't too exciting & was pretty basic but it made me realise that research isn't nearly as high-tech and glorified as I've always thought it would be when I leave the education system. Basically it's the same as any project I'd do in uni which is kind of cool to know...

On the first day, after laying the traps went on a crazy hard-core hike with Chaz up the mountain behind our base through thousands of thorns scratching my legs to bits & getting ash all over myself because of the pine trees they're burning down as they try to get more of the indigenous species back in. It was totally worth it though, not only because of the view but simply because it was nice to hard-core walk again. All we do on base is drive with a few small walks for savannah the cheetah because she's the only animal we are allowed to walk in on. I miss exhaustion

Second day in addition to the research went to the Blyde River and went swimming. It was amazing. Climbed up this big rock then slid down it into the rapids and rode down them (so much fun!) and jumped off of this rope swing into the water. Crazy wicked. I love the Blyde River it's so clear...so much nicer than the oilifants which is muddddddddy!

Third day I didn't do any reasearch and went on the most intense hike ever with Chaz and Gemma (the mountain intern). They told us it was only 7k but it was most definitely NOT only 7 k. I think it was actually 7 k around the mountain but when you factor in the fact that we're climbing up the mountain then down then up it's actually more like 20. Our guide was name Taebelo and he is this really cool/smart/funny/quirky S.A. man who's actually the secretary of the ANC (crazy!). He was therefore relatively politically minded and had a lot of opinionated theories and great stories also from when he was learning the bush.

One of his stories included this tree he was first intoduced to as a "poison" tree. He was told that everything about it was poisonous: the leaves, the bark, the flowers that bloom into fruit: everything and that he shouldn't even touch it. Taebelo went on believing this until he did this tree surveying project with an old man that knows the trees in the bush like the back of his hand. One day they came across the poison tree and Taebelo says to the old man that they will obviously ignore that tree because it is so poisonous. "What are you talking about?" said the old man, that tree isn't poisonous! And to prove Taebelo wrong the old man then proceeded to eat everything about the tree: the leaves, the bark, the fruit, everything. Meanwhile Taebelo is screaming at him, begging him to stop and telling him that he is going to die. The old man assures Taebelo that everything will be fine and that he will see him the next day for surveying. Sure enough, the next day rolls around and the old man is perfectly fine.
So aftering hearing this story and how silly Taebelo was I decide that I am going to try these leaves because I've become accustomed to trying leaves in the bush that I know are edible. It's not that good so after sucking on it for a bit and chewing I decide I'm not going to swallow it and spit it out. Literally 5 seconds later the back of my throat is BURNING. It's like I'd just thrown up repeatedly and burned the back of my throat....I kept trying to wash down the feeling by drinking water, eating apples, crackers....nothing worked. It didnt go away for another few hours. I didn't want to break the news to Taebelo though after that really nice story so I never told him....Probably not the best plant to be eating though. I think I'll listen to all african wives tales from now on lol.

-After we got back from the mountains we had our party night & the next day we went white water rafting. This was the first time I'd ever gone rafting before so I was little nervous initially but it ended up to be really really fun. It was extra cool because the rapids are in the middle of the oilifants river and while rafting in south africa there are a lot more things you have to worry about up and above the actual rafting. Like at one point we had to make sure we followed a specific route in order to avoid a hippo....and hippos are one of the most territorial and aggressive animals in Africa. A little extra rush.

My favourite part of rafting wasn't actually the rafting though, as fun as it was. On our way to the start point we drove through some of the townships and it was just wicked cool to see their way of life. As developed as S.A. is it was as though we were going back in time, despite the odd car we'd pass. People riding in carts led by donkeys, mud huts topped off with alumium...just really cool to see. Then, at the end of our rafting experience, some of the locals trickled in to see us. It started off with just a couple people but by the end there was about 30-40 of them around us. We were so seperated though. It was us,. the white tourists drinking our water & beer given to us with the tour as the guides packed up our rafts watching them, the black township people. I really wanted to find a way to bridge the gap but I didn't really know how...

After a bit though a kid came by with the answer. He was kicking around this light blow up soccer ball with his friend and I desperately wanted to get in on the game...and I don't even really like soccer. No one else would come with me, so finally I mustered up the courage and asked the boy if he would let me in on his game of kickball. He obviously didn't speak a word of english and looked at me reluctantly (like I wanted to steal his ball) but eventually stepped back from the ball. At first I wasn't sure if he was letting me have it or just going out for a massive kick but he looked at me to take it so I finally did. I think he really did think I wanted to just take his game away from him, because when I passed the ball back to him he was quite excited and happy that we were playing and then the game began. At first it was just me & the two other kids playing, then chaz joined in....then another local kid....Bobby & Andy, more local kids, Bill, more locals until finally there was about 12 of us all just kicking this ball around. It was really cool to see, especially since during the middle of the game I looked over and saw Kim holding this beautiful black back baby...another couple minutes pass and Tara's holding it. Everyone's interacting with each other. I can't really explain it but I just felt so good at that moment...I started the chain & was amazing. Absolutely amazing.

Final week at Karongwe...basically consisted of tying up loose ends:

-Saw Savannah's cub for the first time & tooks a wicked video of it (so cute!!)

- Maggie and Lisa had their cubbies (although I never saw them...)

- Saw rhinos sleeping, best rhino sighting ever! Right beside the road...

- Saw a bush pig for the first time, although not that close up

-Saw a huge croc on base get into the water- v.v. cool as well as all the hippos getting into the water

-Watched a giraffe suck on bones for calcium (such a rare thing to see in the wild); crazy to see

-Saw 2 male african civets fight in front of me on the road....unbelieveable sighting. SO cool. They're rarely ever seen so to see 2 fighting is like the most amazing sighting in life.....

-Final party night, final swingball tourny

-Said goodbye to Bobby and Andy 2 days earlier than anticipated because they'd chosen to leave early after an incident at base. This was particularily hard for me because Andy had been my closest friend at Venetia. While I hadn't talked to him that much at Karongwe because he's been more of a drunken idiot than I was used to I definitely am going to miss the kid and it was by far my most difficult goodbye so far

[mbo108]

Laura, once again a great update for what sounds like an incredible trip. Sounds like you're really making the most of your opportunities there. Glad its turning out to be everything you dreamed of...

[maracle]

Thanks for the updates, it sounds like a really amazing trip. I checked on facebook the other day since it had been a while (I was worried you were eaten by a rampaging gazelle or something) and saw tons of pictures.

[simply_angelic]

Tons of pics are up...I wish I could put more up! I keep trying to put more up everywhere I go but the connections are so slow I'll be on for like 2-3 hrs and nothing will go up!!!!!! So frusterating. I think I'm just going to give up for now....

I always seem to be one post beind on TP and this time isn't an exception here's the 2nd last one, written april 7th:

So here I am sitting in the backpacker's Livingstone (Jolly Boys Backpackers- wicked place) after a very momentous day. For the first time in my life I jumped off of a bridge...twice. And not some tiny little bridge either. The Victoria Falls bridge right on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe (so yes, I did technically enter into Zimbabwe during the crazy times of it's election even though it wasn't with an official passport stamp but rather a bridge pass). The first time I jumped (ok, was pushed off~I was fully shitting my pants and couldn't bring myself to do it), I bungeed the 111m down to the bottom. My biggest fear in life. Yesterday I was so psyched thinking it would be really really cool to do it with victoria falls as a backdrop and the zambezi river gorge....gorgeous. The view WAS amazing. I've never been so scared in my life though. My knees were fully shaking, you can actually see that in the video. It's so funny b/c he did the 5 second countdown & on "bungee" I stopped, still holding on to the railing telling him I couldn't do it. 5 seconds later my arms are up (I can't believe I even got to that stage) and he's "helping" me make the jump...Crazyness. Soooooo soooooo scary.

Then, after my jump, I'd already signed up for this combo thing (swing, zip line & bungee) so I prepare for the swing jump which I thought would be a tamer version. Soon I find out you actually jump off of the same platform, and as I've agreed to do it tandem with Bill I now realise I have to hold on to his harness also because otherwise we'll bang into each other like 2 bulls in fight. Great. 5-4-3-2....stop....5-4-3-2-1 I'm stepping off of a platform and sitting down watching the zambezi river from so many angles....absolutely beautiful. Swing jump much cooler...I think I prefer stepping off a platform to falling head-first. That, and you don't get the head rush....I actually like the swing jump. Bungee I really don't think I'll ever get the need to do again in my lifetime. Of course I thought I'd never do it in the first place....

Victoria falls is beautiful. There is a reason they call it "the smoke that thunders". As you drive up to the falls it looks like there's a fire somewhere off the road but actually it's the falls. There is a ridiculous amount of splash-back...it's amazing. I miss the rain so much so it's so nice to get absolutely soaked again. It's really difficult to take pictures there because there's so much "rain" even though it's a bright and sunny day. I kind of risked a lot with my camera but totally worth it. Just kept it out in short bursts in some of the better (less "rainy") places. My favourite part of the park is this bridge you cross (I have a photo but no way to upload it yet) which is right in the midst of the worst splash-back so you just stand there getting completely soaked. Absolutely wonderful. Well, that's one of the 7 wonders of the world to tick off of my list Livingstone itself really isn't the most interesting of towns at all so we'll be heading out tomorrow for the capital. Actually leaving behind Kim and Dario as well so it'll be a sad day...And then there were 2.

Now I'll backtrack a little bit and talk about Botswana. There were 3 main places that I've travelled to in Botswana (If you don't consider stop over towns as places I've been): Gaborone (the capital), Maun (pronounced Ma-oon, in the delta) & the Tsodilo hills.

Gabarone wasn't too exciting (it is the capital after all) but there are certain bits about it that I absolutely loved. I loooove the bus station. It was my first real introduction to the botswanan bus system and it's relaxed cool vibe. For one, there is no actual "station" in the sense that we use the term in Canada. By bus station, I simply mean a place where all the long distance buses meet (and hordes of minibus taxis and taxis) to take you where you want to go. There's no printed schedules, just a ton of buses lined up in rows with signs in the front stating their destination. The bus drivers are all out harassing people to take their bus and asking you where you want to go (I think they're only allowed to leave when they're full, although they do tend to fill up quickly).

We really lucked out because our first day at the bus station (when we were there to see the non-existent bus schedule) we met this older botswanan man by the name of Titanic. He was amazing. Told us everything we needed to know about certain buses schedules, when to be there, when they left etc. All for the price of 2 cigarettes. Wicked man. Also, all along the bus station are vendors selling sweets (so many sweets sellers around here), and other goods like sunglasses, pashminas, magazines, water etc, you know the drill. Cool marketplace though. Such a great vibe: music playing people dancing. I'm starting more and more to really feel immersed into the african culture, and I love it.

The African East mall in Gabarone was pretty cool too. When we arrived, we assumed we would be entering a real, straight up mall but in all actuality it is an outdoor mall or marketplace/mall with stores lining the streets but markets all along as you walk.

Maun is part of the Delta so it's up in the rural North of Botswana. It's so great to see all the townships everywhere covered in mudhuts and people in their traditional garb. We were *this close* so attending a church ceremony there on our 11K hike into town but we weren't covered enough for the church as we were all in shorts and we'd have to turn back & do the 1-2km walk back to our rooms if we wanted to change. The service sounded amazing though with drum beats and singing...I really need to attend a rural church service before I leave here.

The highlight of Maun was doing our traditional mokoro ride through the water lilies and reeds in the river. Absolutely stunning. For those of you who don't know, a mokoro is a hollowed out tree that's like a canoe where the driver is in the back pushing it along with a long pole and their luggage (or in our case, us) is in the front of the boat. Really peaceful. Then, after a couple hours of riding down the okavango, we stopped on an island and did a 1 1/2 hour game walk (minus the game) and back via mokoro. I reeeaaallly liked how our guides were people straight from the townships and we began and finished in there.

Finally we took a little road trip to the Tsodilo hills...the only part of Botwana that is not flat. 4 mini mountains. They're gorgeous and it's where the san people believed was the site of creation. really cool to walk through the mountains and see all the cave drawings there. We, unfortunately, didn't get to walk all the hills and see all the drawings but what we saw was amazing. There's apparently over 4500 rock paintings there. And that's it for now...my arms are about to fall off from typing so much. Love and miss you all,

-Laura

and the latest:

So it's about that time again, and what a better time to update than after having a severe allergic reaction? More on that later…

Let's start at where I left off. Bill and I parted ways with Dario and Kim in Livingstone (Dario headed home and Kim towards South Africa where she'll begin her overlander adventures) and took off to Malawi. There, we stayed in Lilongwe (capital) for a night, Senga bay for a couple of days, Nkhata bay for a week & Karonga for a night.

The only thing of interest in getting from Lusaka, Zambia to Lilongwe, Malawi is the fact that we took a 12 hour direct route bus ride to get there, which was supposed to leave at 12pm (weird departure time) but actually left at 2pm, so yes, we arrived at nearly 3 am.

I realized on the bus ride that I was finally leaving civilized Africa and entering the Africa I had come here for: my best indicator being the toilet system. For the first time in my life, I entered a bathroom that consisted simply of a cement floor, with a small drop along the wall to catch all the run-off. There was a hole & a bowl in the corner for those needing to do a number 2. I asked a lady exiting the bathroom where to go and she said simply "anywhere". When in Rome…
[oh, and for the record, these washrooms are not free, I have no idea what you're paying 500 ZKW (the equivalent of about 15c) for, but you're paying it]

Senga bay is a lovely little town in Malawi. It was incredibly refreshing to stay there. That was the first time since traveling that I stayed IN a local village. It was amazing. Until Malawi, I couldn't shake the feeling of separation between the villagers and the tourists. There is a very definite line of separation. The tourists live in this area, the locals in another and there is very little co-mingling. Whether or not they speak English, you really don't have an opportunity to speak to the locals very much unless you want them to guide you somewhere or so forth.

In Senga Bay, there really is only the small village for you to stay in so that is where you stay. That's where you buy the local food & supplies such as freshly grown tomatoes or homemade bread. It's also where you try the local beer, at a local populated bar (although the bartenders actually have no idea WHAT the local beer is, he just gave us his favourite: Green a.k.a Carlsberg. We had to look into what the local beer actually was from a local: Kouche Kouche….the most amazing beer name in life). If you should ever find yourself in Senga Bay, I highly recommend staying at Cool Runnings, the place we stayed at: if not for the lovely maintained garden area and beach, then simply for the most amazing food in life. Best food I have had since entering Africa. They have mashed potatoes, incredibly fresh fish, and SALAD! Good salad too with lettuce, beans, papaya, tomatoes, etc etc! Not to mention Nali. I am kicking myself for not loading up on the stuff before I left Malawi, best garlic/chili sauce I have ever found in my whole entire life.

Bill & I then moved on to fabulous Nkhata Bay. Before arriving, I was debating whether or not to do the PADI scuba diving course as it is apparently one of the cheapest places in the world to get certified. Well, long story short I made the plunge. The next day I was watching fabulously exciting videos (not) and suiting up. I am definitely glad that I took the 5 day course. Scuba diving is amazing! I was a little reluctant at first as I have some nose issues, but I was totally fine. I'm looking forward to scuba diving elsewhere.

From Nkhata bay, we began to work our way up to Dar Es Salaam. A couple minibuses, a bicycle taxi ride (with all my 30lb pack on!) and a 24-hr muslim train ride later, we're in the HUGE, bustling city. Biggest city since we left Jo'berg: perhaps even bigger, definitely more hectic. I suddenly realize I am not a city person. Especially in a developing country where there are thousands upon thousands of the same types of stores all lined up in a row and you are expected to barter the prices down on everything, otherewise you'll get majorly gypped being a "Muzungo" as they call all white people here. Exhausting when you need to buy something!

Needless to say we're on our way to Zanzibar ASAP. Zanzibar is lovely. Pristine beaches, small villages, fabulous colonial buildings in stone town. Everything you'd want in a vacation and more. Stone town reminds me so much of Venice: there is a lot of it that you can't get to by car and tons of small side alleys and 2-4 story stone buildings (a rarity in Africa). It's all falling to pieces African style though: a few buildings falling apart & not been repaired, simply used as a local garbage dump; one building cracked at the foundation & being held up simply by some random huge wooden planks leaning against it into the street; etc. Still lovely though.

Now Bill and I have moved on to the tip of Zanzibar to a town called Nungwe. It's right by shore & more of the rural Africa I am used to, although it definitely caters towards foreigners. I haven't seen so many foreign brands like Heinz & Pringles at the local groceries since I've arrived!

Now to the allergic reaction I mentioned earlier. Well, I was feeling as though I've been pretty lazy lately (as we've been spending so much time on the road & there hasn't been too much time to be active) so when Bill mentioned that he was planning a run along the beach, I jumped at the opportunity to join him. The run was actually quite lovely; how could it not be on the fabulous white shores of Zanzibar? Unfortunately, as it was high tide, we had to turn back early & ended up climbing up the coral to see the lighthouse we were standing beside. We find out that it's actually a Naval base & head on out. I start to feel as though my eyes are swelling up a bit but it's not that big of a deal, I am allergic to cats & I had been petting one a couple hours prior so that's probably what it is. Suddenly I have difficulty seeing through my eye & ask Bill if it's swelling up at all. He tells me that it definitely is and we make our way back to our lodge. Long story short, I had a major allergic reaction to something, but definitely not the cat. I have never reacted this badly to anything I've touched before in my life (except perhaps penicillin). It was like my eyes were preparing to burst out of my head.
Oh, don't worry it wasn't *too* bad (health wise) I just looked like an 85 y/o Asian woman for a little while there… (see facebook profile pic for an idea of what I looked like. BEWARE not for the faint of heart). I didn't feel any pain other than the uncomfortable swelling so it could have been much, much worse…..Almost all better already and it's only been a day so don't worry! Probably going to have to get myself allergy tested when I return home though….

Love and Miss you all, next stop Rwanda!!

-Laura

[mbo108]

I know your time is really limited when you make it to an internet cafe so I'm only going to ask one question: What are you doing about money? Are you hitting up African ATMs? Some of these villages seem a little remote for that, so are you carrying cash in your boots? I would love to know how you do it...

[simply_angelic]

So far, all has been well. Lonely Planet reeeeealllly comes in handy in Africa. I barely used it when I traveled Europe but here it's pretty awesome. There are so many more sketch areas in Africa and lodges you really do not want to stay in (as I'm sure you can imagine) so it's been amazing. It pretty much tells you where you can find ATMs although it has been wrong about which cards these banks accept.....

There have been ATM's at the major cities. You can find ATMs that are good pretty much all over South Africa & Botswana. Zambia (since I only have mastercard , I was OK in the capital but not livingstone), Malawi ATMs are really limited, so I stocked up before leaving the capital for my entire trip & was ok, Tanzania has been all right for me as well as it's quite tourist friendly. I hear Rwanda doesn't have international ATMs yet though, so it's going to get more difficult when I get there. Since I plan on spending a good chunk of time there I'm going to have to take out a good chunk of cash before I leave Tanzania and transfer it to US & Rwandan francs. I have 2 money belts, the one that you stash on your crotch & the actual belt one which I love, but sucks for bills because they're really anal about perfect bills here so that the banks will accept them. Then I also do the bra a lot & the african style when I wear the traditional skirts (basically like a sarong but it's just a piece of fabric) which is tie the money into the corner then tuck the money in so that it's close to you.

[Esterina]

Hey Laura, my sister spent a couple of weeks in Rwanda two years ago. She loved it, and wants to go back badly ! I wrote down her tips in this thread. With your mastercard, you should be fine in Rwanda.

Your updates make me want to head to Afrifa RIGHT NOW ! Where can we see your pictures ? I can't seem to find the link.

Thanks for sharing!

[mbo108]

Thanks, I appreciate the response. That's all good stuff to know...i've pretty much abandoned the money belt in Europe (sorry Rick Steves) but if I ever do make it to Africa I'll have to take it outta retirement. I can't wait to see more pics either. The ones on facebook I saw are pretty awesome.

[voyd]

Originally Posted by simply_angelic

native bush paintings from like 10000 years ago (which were amazing by the way, there were some aboriginal ones which showed off how TINY the people were as there were a foot and a hand print and the foot was like 4-5 inches long...and then other spiritual/dancing ones made by other peoples)

Awesome!

Hopefully, you snapped some shots of these and...where exactly are all your photos now?

[simply_angelic]

some of my south african photos are on facebook.That's where I post most of them...have been trying to get more up since but internet has been so slow I'll spend hours on the comp and it'll fail every time :bah: *cross your fingers for rwanda*

[maracle]

Sounds like the trip of a lifetime....I don't know how you're going to top it! I've definitely been enjoying the facebook photos these past few months.

[worldwidemike]

Wow...sounds like the adventure of a lifetime. I didn't realize you were going pretty much south to north all the way through Africa!

So, for those of us non-facebook folks...can one of the other Tpunkers give an exact link...?

worldwidemike

[simply_angelic]

I'll try in a bit Mike, I'm actually kind of succeeding on adding more photos now which is pretty awesome. It's slooow (like 5 pics every 30 mins-45 mins), but working so that's promising. Once I've added more I'll post them, or I'll try to select a good assortment for the small amount you're allowed to post on your free account at flickr...I am trying other ways I swear but it's just been a long & arduous process!!

In other news, I've been whacked by the crazy stick after *finally* locating a muzungu (white person) who I can chat to...I have plans to enter the DRC through Goma and potentially stay the night if it's cheap enough. I was beginning to think that I was the only white person here & as my french is still a work in progress and my kinyarwandan non-existant (I'm currently trying to master the "b" sound....VERY HARD) there are few people to whom I can chat with. This gal is awesome, she's doing her anthropology PhD here and there are hopes for me to do some things with her, which I'd love to see but I don't want to jynx just yet because it's not necessarily possible/going to happen. Lets just say westerners usually aren't allowed in...

Rwanda is a beautiful country. In the time since Atchoum's sister was here things have changed dramatically, especially in Kigali. Everythig has become 2-3X as expensive, to start!! I was was too used to Tanzanian shillings when I got here. I realised after my first night in Kigali that I had somehow spent the equivalent of $7!! for a smoothie (that wasn't even that good). I would never pay that at home...

Kigali is friggen the cleanest African city ever, with beautiful gardens everywhere (guarded by barbed wire so nobody/nothing touches it), Bus shelters, working cross-walk signs (WHAT?!), and all the independant market people have been kicked out of the city (hmm...for the better?).

The countryside of Rwanda is unbelievably beautiful. They don't call it the land of 1000 hills for nuthin. I am so glad I chose this place to stay for a bit. I was really starting to miss trees and hills. It's gorgeous. Went for a long run this morning (the only way to see rural africa in my personal opinion) & passed so many villagers on their way to market it was really nice. Had a few kids (and adults...) running with me at different legs of the game, it was fun. Everyone's so surprised to see a muzungu out there, let alone one on foot. I must look ridiculous to them, but it's still fun. Hope all is well for everyone else in TP & I hope to get to those pics soon...

[worldwidemike]

The Democratic Rep of the Congo, eh? You are making the rounds! That is so awesome. Of course, plain old "Congo" is probably too much of a war zone for you to hit up, I imagine. It'd be interesting to take a quick trip across the river just to say you've "been" there... !

So, what are the plans for Rwanda? What type of place are you staying at, and besides $7 smoothies, how much is it all costing? Do folks talk to you about the civil war much? Or is it a taboo kind of topic?

Can't wait to see the pics!

worldwidemike

[maracle]

You're sure they didn't just say "lol muzungu, that'll be $7 then"??

How have you decided your itinerary to get so far off the beaten track? I mean, I assume you didn't pick your route by Lonely Planet or something if there aren't any other tourists?

[voyd]

Originally Posted by worldwidemike

The Democratic Rep of the Congo, eh? You are making the rounds! That is so awesome. Of course, plain old "Congo" is probably too much of a war zone for you to hit up, I imagine. It'd be interesting to take a quick trip across the river just to say you've "been" there... !

I say duck into the Congo and snap some civil warzone pix. Major firsthand geopolitical reality check and street cred points there. Then send us some e-postcards back from the edge. (Just don't get shot.)