Rebound

Phew, I am feeling a little bit better about things. I have figured out how to get out of Zanzibar (read: I figured out the right person to yell at and the right person to bribe.) Oh, well, all part of the adventure. After a very cool day at the spice plantations yesterday, I had the mishap with my schedule, as I wrote about yesterday. So it was a mixed day. Last night, another woman who is here by herself asked me to eat dinner with her. We had drinks, and things felt a lot better. Oxana is a Russian dancer, and she moonlights as a lawyer. Very cool. She was tons of fun, and I woke up feeling better today. Also, thank god for BF. What would I do without him? Not only has he helped with my kitten but he helped figure out my mess with my flight. I needed access to the internet to figure things out. It was not working, so the people who worked at the hotel called their IT person. After fixing my computer, he proceeded to sit down at a computer where everything was in French right across from me and look up porn. Nice. Visiting the spice plantation yesterday was pretty neat. I saw dozens of spices and plants and coffee and tea being grown, and a boy climbed the tallest coconut tree I have ever seen while singing a song and cut me down a coconut. Then he cut it open and gave me a straw, and I drank the insides. Then he made a spoon out of the shell and I ate parts of the insides. Tomorrow- VERY EARLY-I leave for Nairobi, to the elephant orphanage. I hope my camera works for that!

The Dark Continent

Hmmm...I have mixed feelings about this part of my trip. Zanzibar is a beautiful place, and the hotel I am in is very nice- right on the beach. However, I am a little tired of everyone looking for a tip (it has been this way most of the trip, but I am kind of over it now). I try to remind myself that this is their livelihood and they are very poor, but it is getting harder to remember. Meanwhile, the company who has been contracted to organize this part of the trip can't find when my flight out is, and now they want me to pay extra money for "additional tax." I can't tell if this is corruption or miscommunication. Also, money is weird in Africa. I complained to many before I left that it is not clear how you are supposed to get it. I brought credit cards because books said they would be good, but they aren't. They said not to bring a lot of money, so I didn't, but many things have been expensive. They said I could access ATM, but many won't take my card, and then with one that did, a nice man with a machine gun came up to me and told you NOT to use this ATM. I don't need to be told twice! My camera is broken on some days (but curiously not others) so I have half of my trip documented. I am sure it will all work out, but I have to tell you, a good part of me just wants to come home right now.

Hakuna Matata- It Means No Worries

Before coming to Africa, I tried to rationalize things. I am here during low season, but it is so expensive to go during high season, I took a gamble. I thought, even if I see no animals, I will still be in Africa, so it will be ok. Having seen all of the animals that I have, it seems like a crazy worry. We saw wildebeast as far as the eye can see, and dozen of zebra at a time. I saw so many elephants! On my last day of safari, on our way out of the last park, we saw three elephants aruond an elephant that had died during the night. It was so sad. They touched the dead one with their trunks, and tried and tried to push the fallen one up. The day before, I saw elephants playing in the mud- rolling around in it. About five of them, splashing around like a family at a waterpark. As I was leaving the safari part of my trip, I thought about how I have never seen animals as happy or sad or alive as I had in the past two weeks. The zoo will never be the same. Speaking of the zoo, I told our Kenyan tour guide, Amos, about how at the zoo in Columbus they have a new baby elephant and it is on display for two hours a day and people wait in very long lines, sometimes more than an hour, to see it. He made me tell him the story three times because he thought it was so absurd that he must have heard me wrong. We probably saw and average of five babies a day here. Why did I worry? Hakuna Matata!

Out of Africa

Were you worried about me? Don't be! I am having a great time in Africa. Our first stop, the Maasai Mara, was wonderful. We saw a leopard eating it's kill in a tree, and went on a lion hunt. I went to a Maasai Village, and it was facinating. Then we went to Lake Nakuru, where there was the elusive black rhino and flamingos as far as the eye can see. Then we traveled to several sites from Out of Africa, and we were able to see tons of hippos. They even put on a show fr us- although I think they thought they were fighting. Then we went to Amboseli, where there were so many lions I felt like I was in the Lion King, and so many elephants, I wanted to stay forever. It was a desert (dessert?) right beside marsh land- so weird! Then I crossed over into Tanzania. We went to Lake Manyara, where a monkey tried to get in the truck with us. Then we headed to the famous Serengeti, where there were even more elephants. I saw a herd of over 40. A male elephant tried to sneak in to mate with a young female. The matriarch of the group got really pissed, pushed him off the female, and ran that player right out of town. What a sight. Now we are in Ngorongoro Carter. They place we are staying is 9000 feet above sea level with one of the most beautiful views I have ever seen. The people on my tour are pretty cool. There is a Dutch couple; the woman is an African travel agent, so we have all been getting the best treatment. There is also a mother daughter pair- both widows. The mother is 89 years old! Well, that is all for now. I miss you all.

On Safari

Tomorrow I leave for Africa. After 12 vaccinations, weeks of packing, troubles with booking the trip, and lots of pleas to stick around for yet another ground breaking project at work, I am ready to go. I will fly from Columbus to Detroit, Detroit to Amsterdam (for a quick smoke), and then from Amsterdam to Nairobi. It will take over 24 hours to get there. Good thing I have lots of reading materials! This map shows where I will be. Cross your fingers for me. If emergencies come up, text me, but otherwise, check here. I think I will get a chance to blog along the way- I hope so! Post comments if you can, I love reading them. Safari means "journey" in one of the East African tribal languages, and I am ready (given lots of sunscreen and bug spray).

Pig In a Blanket?

This week Angela, Chris, Shawn and I went over to our friend Shannon’s for a dinner party. It was a feast. Salmon and black rice and asparagus and bread and Sugardaddy’s and Jeni’s for dessert. Shawn and I could barely roll ourselves home. Well, I believe I was punished. Through no fault to the food, I felt awful for the rest of the week. To make things even scarier, swine flu is taking over the world. So there I sat on my couch hoping I was no patient zero here in Franklin County. Why did I give tours to so many people at the statehouse? Could one of those grubby kids have infected me? I asked BF if he thought I had swine flu, and he said, “Probably not.” He couldn’t have just said no?! My biggest worry is that Africa will not let me in because of the swine flu scare. Can you imagine, after all those vaccinations, that they might not let me in because of swine flu?