Via Mozambique: Malawi's Capital to Zimbabwe's Capital

We unzipped our tent to the bright light of the waxing full moon. Some clouds of the rainy season had parted while we slept and thus the moon was in full force as we made our way a short distance from the frontier ring of tents to relieve ourselves. Our tents were in a frontier ring for safety and security because last night was the first night that we had camped by pulling off the side of the road (they call this bushcamping). Up to this point, our campsites had been at various lodging facilities including lodge/camp areas on beaches, a family farm, and by shady hotel rooms out the back of a gas station.

To find our bushcamping spot in Mozambique, we turned from the main road, drove down a dirt road for twenty or so minutes and found the first un-cultivated clearing as far from people as possible. The un-cultivated clearing made me nervous because of the history of the region that we were driving through. We drove through Mozambique's "gun-run" corridor. This is where much of the fighting occurred in Mozambique's decade+ long civil war. It is also the only way to move goods from from Zimbabwe to Malawi, so during the civil war, trucks would drive as quickly as possible through the approximate 300km gun run corridor in attempt to not get caught in the crossfire. The real fear of landmines kept trucks and their passengers on the tarmac, as it was too uncertain and risky anywhere on the dirt either side of the road.

Mozambique's civil war had been between FRELIMO -- the socialist/communist styled popular government who backed the anti-apartheid efforts of the African National Congress in South Africa -- and RENAMO -- the western styled rebels many of whom were mercenaries paid by the white-african governments of South Africa and the former Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) to disrupt a black african-led FRELIMO, and consequently Mozambique.

It is estimated that 900,000 people died from what became a proxy war between the West and Communism. Many deaths and injuries were caused by landmines planted during the civil war, estimates go up to 5 million casualties total. In high school, after I watched a NOVA program about this subject, I raised money for the Red Cross's Anti-Landmine Foundation. I think that the Red Cross's efforts, and other efforts like those supported by Princess Diana removed many of the landmines in the area but it still felt a little freaky to camp on an irregularly shaped un-cultivated island surrounded by farmland with a few square holes found sporadically around the 'camp' off an anonymous dirt road.



The day before in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, we had learned that Malawi avoided what could have been a conflict this past April, when its president died. We had a coffee with a foreign service officer from the U.S. Embassy who told us that the U.S. Ambassador had worked tirelessly after the former president's death to advocate that Malawi follow its own constitution and progress through a legal succession. Very thankfully, a constitutionally-legal non-violent succession occurred and Malawi now has its first female president, Joyce Banda. From what people told us, President Banda seems to be making positive steps for Malawi. Great news for a country that did not allow women to wear pants 25 years ago.

We left Lilongwe late yesterday because our visas for Mozambique took an extra day. As a result, our bush-camp spot was much closer to the Malawi border then our tour leaders would have liked. So at the bushcamp, our tents needed to be packed up by 5:30 am to make the 670km to Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, tonight. As we speed along the former gun run, the topography has changed from carefully hoe-cultivated dark soil fields and distant mountains to rocky secondary forest with yellow grasses. The houses made of mud seem more rudimentary than in Tanzania and Malawi. We haven't seen any water projects and life seems harder here. Looking out, we wonder what stories of war, survival, and grace are found in the humanity that we pass.



 

Being Helpful: Uganda and Zanzibar

Muriel and I are starting our 4th week here in Africa, which is stunning for both of us. Certainly one of the most positive responses we have seen from any post on this blog, here in Africa or otherwise, has been the one Mu wrote about being helpful on this continent where there is such pressing need for help. We have been keeping our eyes and ears peeled for good organizations to recommend and have two to share below.

The sad reality of aid in Africa is quite messy, with many people and orgs taking advantage of the big hearts and the wallets of Westerners to carve out deadweight loss that goes right into their pockets and not direct to the recipient org. In the below cases, we have strong reason to believe that most/all of the money, support and labor that these orgs receive make their way towards their core mission.

Name: Lake Bunyoni Community Orphanage

What is it: Orphanage in Uganda

Website: http://www.lakebunyonyi.org/ and http://www.facebook.com/lakebunyonyi




Right up front, I need to note that this is not an organization that we actually visited or seen. Rather, the Lake Bunyoni Community Orphanage is the designated receipt of Oasis' (our overland tour company) support and has been pre-screened as a result. For example, any material that is deemed surplus along the journey by travelers (such as pillows and blanketsO will be brought back north to Uganda and donated to this organization. I am sure that we will be throwing in some stuff when we get to Cape Town in a little more than a month.

We necessarily trust the choices and decisions made in this regard by people working here much more than any impression we get in an afternoon or day. We have seen firsthand that our overland tour company has a strong ethic of utilizing local tour operators, encourages travelers to get into the communities where we visit and, in general, has a quite progressive and helpful bent.

The Mission

Our community started to help children, widows and widowers who have been bereaved by HIV and AIDS in the local area. In many cases children are able to live with extended family (Aunts, Uncles, etc) but that family may not be in a position to help with school fees for the child, and in many cases the extended family is situated far from the school requiring the child to walk many hours each day. In those cases we are proud to be able to provide help to those children with school fees, day care and lunch times. We usually have around 10-12 children requiring a permanent home with us, and on any given day over 150 children requiring lunch and other types of support.

It is our great wish to be self sufficient and many local families have joined our community so we can share land for growing our food and share all the many jobs which make life in a community so much easier compared to living alone. For example we have community jobs like cooking, cleaning, building, collecting water and so forth.

How you can help

- Donating: http://www.lakebunyonyi.org/donations/

We are doing well by growing our own food and are thankful for the natural resources of Lake Bunyonyi. We are also able to do a lot of building with locally made materials, i.e. mud bricks and trees! But we do also need to spend money on things like roofing for the new school, and clothes and teaching materials etc.

If you are able to make a donation you can keep tabs on what your money is doing by joining our facebook group where we will post pictures of our projects and our developments...If you would like to make a donation for a specific purchase then of course you can specify that, otherwise cash donations are pooled for the community and the community council (who has a new treasurer each year) will decide how best to allocate funds.

- Volunteering: One commentator on the previous post mentioned their interest in a good place to have a 'volunteer vacation', whereby they would combine tourism and volunteering. My understanding is that a few people have already done this at the Lake Bunyoni Orphanage and had very nice experiences. Here is the link for setting up a volunteer experience: http://www.lakebunyonyi.org/volunteer/, this would be a very a good situation as all of the energies and monies from contributing go directly to this project, which has been growing steadily but patiently. (Also from previous travels, Mu says that Uganda is a stunning country from its capital, Kampala, to its lowland mountain gorillas).

 

Name: Mnarani Natural Aquarium

What is it: Turtle Sanctuary in Ngunwi, Zanzibar

Website: http://www.nungwinaturalaquarium.com/




For those interested in environmental/conservation causes, Mu and i had the chance to see the Mnarari Natural Aquairum in person, as it is located at the northwest tip of Zanzibar. We walked down to the aquarium thinking we would swim with turtles, like others in the group had done the day before. Luckily, we stumbled across Mnarani, a community based natural aquarium, instead of the commercial outfit where swimming was allowed. We learned that Mnarani does not allow swimming because human contact can make the turtles sick. We had to get by with feeding these large, car tire sized turtles endless seaweed, which they can apparently eat up to a hundred pounds of a day. In the main sea water fed pool, the aquarium had about 20 very large green turtles that had been rescued from fisherman. In smaller concrete pools, they also had loggerhead and sawtooth turtles. These turtles will live and rehabilitate at the aquarium until Feb 20th, when there is a large ceremony to set them back to the ocean, far from land.

We were very impressed with the aquarium, especially upon hearing that it started not from the state/local government environment agencies, but rather by local community. They wanted to set up a system to protect these majestic turtles, which can be over a hundred years old. It is far from common to find a conservation program aimed at protecting a vulnerable species that originates from a local, impoverished community.

- Summary of Aquairum, in their own words;

The main target of this project is to improve and increases the diversity of marine turtles which are now is in extinction in the World. The project is going to make regular follow up and supervision of those areas around coastal area of Nungwi such as Kwamwana wa mwana, Sazani, Kikadini, Jomba, Moyuni, Kendwa and Mnemba. The purposes of these to find turtle’s eggs, young turtles and even adult turtles which have been captured by fisherman. Meanwhile, it is going to clean the beaches which surround the conservation area.

How you can help

The aquarium does not have a donation page on their website, but they do have a program aimed towards volunteers. This would be a cool way to experience the paradise of Zanzibar and do some good. I wish that we had done a half day or something while there.

- Volunteering: http://www.nungwinaturalaquarium.com/voluntieer_application.html

 

A day in the life: the Chombe to Livingstonia Traverse

Today was a big day, covering dozens of kilometers while climbing a nearby peak. The evening before, we had arrived in Chitumba, Malawi, on the shores of 500 km long Lake Malawi. When we arrived, we realized that we could do a "massive" hike to climb Mount Chombe. The hike is estimated to take 12-13 hours and we eagerly looked forward to a day devoted to hiking through the countryside. As is normal here, we arranged for a guide for the day, which costs less than ten bucks a day per person. Below is a timeline of the day.




- Out of the tent at 5:30, and it does not even feel all that early since we have been watching the red-orange sun rise from 'bed' since before 5. Yes, the sun poked above the lake around 4:45 am. I did not know that was even possible.

- We leave at 6:15, but it feels like mid morning and is beginning to get hot. Uh oh. We can see our goal of the towering Mount Chombe from the lakeshore at camp.

- The steep ridge that we climb is part of the great rift valley, which extends thousands of kilometers to the north up to Ethiopia and is the cradle of human history. We hike aggressively up through small villages and agriculture with grand vistas across Lake Malawi. Our circuitous route finds us walking through a primary school and we hear urgent cries of "mzunga, mzunga!" (white people) - the kids shout to each other. Some of them run out of their school to approach us -- they are shy at first, but get braver as they surge towards us while still shouting "mzunga."

The kids' (and some adults') attention and excitement will be repeated throughout the day and exemplifies a white person's experience here. So many people look at you and want to talk to you -- we're rockstars. We admittedly, and a bit embarrassingly, like (and don't like) these rockstar moments but this attention based entirely on skin tone highlights the injustice of this continent, which has been largely left behind in the world's economic growth of the past 50 years. I think that much of the attention arises from the reality that any foreign traveler has much more money and opportunities than the majority of Africans have.





- Malawi is super poor, for example it has a median family income of $900 (220th country in the world) and life expectancy around 54. Terrible stats, with the latter illustrated by the sad example from our guide's family. Both his mom and dad have died in the last year, one from a bad traffic accident while using public transport and the other from cerebral malaria. Way too typical, and preventable, tragedies in this country.

- Summit: at the impossibly early time of 8:45, we gain the broad summit plateau of Mount Chombe, with the lake and countryside spreading out below us, many thousands of feet below. It has been a challenging hike, the feeling of the heat and humidity is akin to Birkram Yoga (with no cool water or shivasana at the end) and the trails tend towards the direct route over switchbacks.

Wow it is early, we thought it would take several more hours to get up here, but this means we can try to hike to the colonial mission town of Livingstonia (another separate hiking option that we saw back at the camp). Yes! The newly named Chombe-Livingstonia Traverse, should be about a 45 km triangle in total --camp to the summit of Mount Chombe to Livingstonia and back to camp.

- With renewed purpose, we head out across the broad valley towards Livingstonia. On the side of the road/trail, we stop and buy 10 deliciously sweet bananas for thirty Malawi kwacha from the family that lives in the below enclave. This works out to one cent a banana and means we could buy 60 bananas for the cost of a soda back at camp. I am a little embarrassed at how cheap this food is.

Traveling by foot in Africa evokes Europe in the ubiquity of human presence. It is pastoral and tranquil, but in contrast to hiking in the U.S. where you range far from the imprint of civilization. Here we are never far from a family hut, or school or other people. Both are fun, but I tend to prefer the U.S. model of vast, wild open space.

- Dixon, Mu and I pull into Livingstonia at 11:15, with five pretty, and hot, hiking hours under our belt. Livingstonia is fully 900 meters above lake level, and has commanding views over the countryside. The plateau is quite large, at least a kilometer or two in either direction. The town was the 'founded' by missionaries from the Free Church of Scotland in 1894, and there is a church in the center of the town from that year. The sense of colonialism mixed with missionary zeal remains today, over a century after the missionaries were some of the first Europeans to arrive in the country. There is an ordered benevolence and purposefulness in the air, as the town is now the home of a large hospital and two universities, even though it does not have many actual residents.

- After a much welcome lunch and some chilled water, we head out of town towards the lake/camp via mix of a dusty 4x4 road and shortcuts, with kids calling out to us throughout. We walk by two massive waterfalls, 2 or 3 steps that must add up to over 300 feet from top to the bottom. The water spills into a shockingly steep canyon. We edge to the top of one fall and peer over the top, man is it far down! I am always surprised how calm waterfalls can be on the top just an instant before the water becomes the epitomy of dynamic movement in its flight down.

- From the falls, we head down the 4x4 track towards camp. It sure seems far away. In a couple of hours, we make slow and steady progress. Along the way, a few highlights include:

- Mu taking pictures of a bunch of woman hiking back up from the valley floor market with huge bundles on their head. They do this at a minimum weekly, and do not seem noticeably tired from the extraordinary effort. They all get a kick out of seeing their picture on my camera's viewfinder.

- Later we cross paths with a girl wearing a short skirt, with a heavy bundle perched on her head. The skirt is not much shorter than Mu's hiking shorts, but here in the very conservative country she certainly stands out. Until just a few years ago, woman were not legally allowed to wear pants, much less a mini skirt, in Malawi. Media as banal as magazines and medical textbooks were banned in the country because of their perceived ability to corrupt. The vestige of conservativeness is still in this girl's psyche, as she is tugging at the hem of her mini every 15-30 seconds until we pass.

- Back to camp by the Lake @ 3:15 and we are quite dehydrated. We both drank over a gallon of water, but with hot yoga hiking and the accompanying rivets of sweat sustained over many hours, there was just no way to replace all the water while moving. We set forth diligently re-hydrating, a process that will take the better part of a day to complete.

There it is, a day in the life for the korol's. Dinner was a truck tradition of a huge roast cooked over hot coals and all the fixings, which I very happily devour.

 

Zanzibar: from hijabs to bikinis

After wandering around the market, we locate dalla dalla 116, heading all the way north to Ngunwi. There are a dozen or so bags of rice on the roof of the pick up truck, and we fill into the flatbed, near the cab, and wait for critical mass to be achieved. Before we get the requisite 20 or so passengers in the 1/2 ton Nissan, we have added a freezer and another dozen items to the roof. The wooden frame groans under the weight, but we are assured that the it is 'not broken enough' to be of any worry. This is standard local transport here in Zanzibar and many other places around the world.


Just 30 minutes prior, we were wrapping up a scrumptious, lingering and decadent lunch, on the 2nd floor verandah overlooking the Stone Town harbor. Lunch, equal to pretty much any I had in foodie San Francisco, included an app of amazingly tender baby calamari, two fish dishes that were excellent, and a desert of passion fruit creme caramel. All washed down with fresh mango juice, spiced tea and coffee. In this public space, the patrons all look like us, white, sunburnt and well fed, while the servers are darker, scrawny and unbelievably polite. This is standard ex-pat dining in Zanzibar and many other places around the world.

 

The distance between these two concurrent realities of cramped dusty travel and luxurious abundant lunch is vast, with the attendant socio, political, economic and historical context. This is travel in the developing world, when you are able to sample the extremes of human existence within minutes and even sometimes seconds. We are somewhat used to this duality, but the velocity of the change between the poles can be disconcerting. For instance, the base price for this backpackery, camping tour through Africa is more than 10x the current median yearly income for a family in Madagascar. It is the bastion of privilege to be able to occupy both realties seemingly on demand.

We have mentioned our trip out to Zanzibar a couple of times and thought it would be good to write a bit about that island. Going into our trip, Zan was one of the places i was most anticipating because of the exoticism that its very name carried in my mind, and the reality of the island proved to be a bit underwhelming.

Zanzibar has an history that is quite divergent from that of mainland Africa. It has centuries of sultan control from the Middle East, as well as a number of periods under European colonial rule. It is an island about 90k by 30k, and has been a cross current and intersection of African, Indian, Arab and European influences for many centuries. My anticipation was that the Arab and Indian influence would be very strong, but while there I found that first, and foremost, it is an island of massive luxury resorts and abject poverty, writ large the duality above. In addition to this duality, the dominant thread was the island's similarity to mainland Tanzania.

The island only became part of Tanzania back in 1964, after a bit of a messy transition from colonial rule that was started in year before. The stronger muslim influence is felt more strongly than on the mainland. For example, the majority of our co-passengers in the dalla-dalla were women and girls in hijabs. In fact, one of the women that we tried our Kiswahili on was a woman named Ameena (mother of Muhammed). However, as we rode the dalla-dalla to the northern beaches, we looked at similar housing, towns, and crops to the mainland, Zanzibar. It just did not feel all that different to me than what we have been cruising through, both before and after.

 

Beach Boredom

We spent 2 days up in Ngunwi, which is at the northern tip of the island, about an hour drive from Stone Town in a direct car or 2+ hours via local transport. This is the archetype of paradise, with sunbaked vivid white beaches, crystal clear water that is perfect for swimming, great seafood, and grand vista sunsets. Nungwi also has a robust tourist infrastructure (for instance, a Hilton).

Then why was i so bored? We had been there only 18 hours, including 8 or so sleeping, when i turned to Muriel and stated - 'I am bored'. Already that day, we had gone for a jog, explored a bit and took pictures, seen some cool sea turtles, checked out the local art market, had lunch, read and I was tapped out. My hope of going for a bike ride was shut down by the heat and this stretch of paradise does not include surfing. What I could really have gone for was a fast internet connection and some american football on TV (thought soccer would also have been just fine). Here were were in true paradise and I wanted to tunnel into a man cave and not come out for hours. Hmmm, that seems a bit off.

I am just not a beach person, I guess. It is pretty, and the actual beach is wonderful for running, but I am not hardwired to idle away the hours. Instead of being relaxing, it induces stress for the activities i am not doing, for the opportunity cost of doing nothing. I get relaxation by doing things, burning calories, sweating. We will go to many more beaches, and I will get anticipatory seduced into the archetypal beach ideal. But, the sample size is sufficient, I am just not the beach type.

I think that part of the problem is that this magnificent beach could have been a beach paradise anywhere in the world. It didn't seem especially African or more specifically Zanzibarian. The over-baked tourists and the local touts trying to sell their wares felt homogeneous and distant from even the small pieces of local exoticism that we had experienced on the dalla-dalla.

 

Thanksgiving comes early in Africa

We have returned from Zanzibar and are now heading west across Tanzania towards Malawi and the massive Lake Malawi., where both water sports and hiking/trail running should be on tap. Tonight we will stay at a farmhouse that makes its own bread, grows all sorts of vegetables and raises a number of different animals for meat. My locavore heart and stomach is already anticipating the deliciousness.

Heading west

When traveling, the holidays can be the most powerful reminder of time passing. With the collective memory that holidays hold both for years gone by and the present, those events ares a powerful reminder that we are 'away'. Of course, being away is not the same thing in the hyper connected world of 2012, but the reality is that thanksgiving, christmas, 4th of July are not going to come close to transmitting via facebook, email and the phone. This is a known dynamic, and we are comfy with this choice. We have done it many times before, and are sure to do it again. But our choice does not make the perceived distance any less acute.

During this very fun holiday week in the states, we hope all of our loved ones are having a great time. The energy of this time of year is palpable. We are jealous of those getting to see loved ones, recalling many great gatherings of years gone by and sending lots of love back home.

I enjoy the act of reflection that is implict in thanksgivng, it is in the damn name actually, and have done a fair bit of thankful reflection over the last couple of truck days. It is very easy, painfully so in fact, to be thankful for the life that has led to me being on this grand adventure while driving past the mud huts, bare feet and poverty that dominates so many lives here in Tanzania. We clearly have much to be thankful for this year, and every year. I am particularly thankful that my lovely wife has recovered so well from her nasty ski accident in April. She is so inspiring in the way she handled that entire horrific day, from lying in a creek bed with her hip dislocated to hiking the John Muir Trail, all in 4 short months. Amazing.

Mu killing it on the JMT

I am also so thankful that Mu and i have had the courage to embark on this grand adventure. A year ago, we were working in our satisfying and challenging jobs, readying for ski season and maintaining our very busy and enjoyable social lives. All was right in that world. Now, we are on a modified truck touring Africa with nearly two dozen people we met 2 weeks ago and several months of travel under our belt already. It feels great, and empowering, that we made the leap, one we have been working toward and thinking about for years. I am thankful that we had the opportunity to make this choice and thankful we were raised in the plenty of America.

Paradoxically for me, the food side of Thanksgiving (kind of central) is always a bit muted. The dinner that is so beloved by many elicits a 'meh' nearly every year, no matter how succulent the turkey and decadent the pies. My preference would be to have a big pot of cioppino or fall off the bone ribs, to name just a few of the preferred substitutes.

Here in Africa, the food side of Thanksgiving came early and elicited pure delight. The genesis of this early thanksgiving started several days ago, when we wandered through a very large fish market in Dar Es Salam. This market had vendors peddling fish large and small, from tiny sardines heaped in a pile to dry in the sun to large red snapper and tuna. It all looked pretty good, and was a real spectacle to wander with boats messing about, hundreds of people, the color (and pungent) fish, the stinky fish juice and detremis. My favorite moment was watching the auctioning of 4 massive red snappers, which went for about 55 dollars. The fish were beguiling beautiful, with their tropical red hue and the passion of the buyers, seller, and auctioneer were running hot. I wanted to throw my name in the ring and do some bidding, even though I speak very little swahili and had no use for that much fish. Money was angrily flung in the direction of the auctioneer to signal the end of the bidding and one little man was quite happy to have secured his catch of the day.

Fish market in action, Dar Es Salam

We really enjoyed exploring the market and recounted this enjoyment to the tour leaders. The tour leaders went to the fish market yesterday while we were on the ferry coming back to Dar from Zanzibar. When we arrived back at the truck, already sitting on ice was a 25-30 pound full tuna. This was to be what mu and i now consdier our thanskgiving dinner. Now, for those of you wondering how large a 30 pound tuna might be, it went about 3 feet from head to tail, with a powerful mid section. The tuna's eyes were bigger than a human's eyes, the scales were light blue and the spine had little spiky fins that had some yellow flecked in. Yes, it had a powerful fish smell and its innards oozed a bit of blood by the time I hefted it out of the large cooler when we pulled into camp for the night.

Gutting the fish and dressing the fish fell to a team of three guys from Australia and New Zealand, for which I was thankful. These guys had some serious skill and knowledge, for which I felt emasculated in my ignorance. Some of the meat literally pulled off the bones and the steak sections were quite long, maybe 2 feet at their apex, ranging from a pale white to deep red. Once the meat was separated, the pile of meat covered one and half large cutting boards. We cut up some steaks for everyone, as well as set aside some extra fine bits for sashimi and improvised ceviche. The former we ate raw, or dipped in a soy/vinegar/garlic mix, and the latter sat for awhile in lemon juice before getting the same treatment. The steaks were pan fried, mine for about 15 seconds on just one side, and came out sublime. The sides were simple, and comforting, mashed potatoes and steamed veg with a delicious lemon ginger garlic butter sauce.

Fresh tuna - 3 ways. A feast that we will not soon forget. Mu and I channeled Thanksgiving and went back for 3rds, 4ths, even 5ths. It is that delicious, and the taste were heightened having been part of the process of turning this beautiful, powerful fish into a scrumptious feast. It might not have been turkey, but our feast was collective, bountiful (we are having fresh tuna fish salad for lunch today since the fish proved too large for a hungry group of 24) and hence these Korol's 2012Thanksgiving came just a few days early.

We wish everyone a great holiday, and hope you have much to be thankful for this time of year.

 

Returning to a continent that I love: All you see is all there is

Lying on the beach in Nungwi

I am writing this from a hot paradise -- the clear water and white beaches in the town of Nungwi on the island of Zanzibar. Zanzibar is an island off of Tanzania that until 1964 had a unique existence and history from Tanzania. But shortly after Tanzania gained independence from the English and Zanzibar gained independence from the Oman sultans under the British Protectorate, Tanzania and Zanzibar united to form the United Republic of Tanzania.

The United Republic of Tanzania is the 12th African country that I have travelled/lived within (the others are South Africa, Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Egypt, Morocco, Benin, DRC, Republic of the Congo, and Madagascar). Like many countries in Africa, Tanzania's diversity is astounding -- it has 120 different tribes of people. Most people speak at least two languages -- their mother tongue (Masai, Chagga, etc.) and Swahili (the language of commerce in Kenya and Tanzania). Tanzanians also learn English in school and to excel in secondary education -- they must master English since subjects such as Math and Science are at least partially taught in English.

Cultural Center in Arusha

Tanzania's diversity and complexity is common to the majority of Africa. And yet, it is so easy to treat Africa as a monolith. The uniformity with which Africa is often perceived seems strange when one considers its grandness. Four of the United States could fit within the borders of the continent. There are probably thousands of languages spoken here.

The vastness of the continent is felt much more strongly when one travels in the way that many Africans across the continent travel -- foot, bicycle, or bush taxi. Yesterday, Wilson and I travelled by bush taxi to get from the south of Zanzibar to Nungwi in the north. Bush taxies feel common in many places across the continent -- usually they are over-stuffed vehicles (either small vans or small trucks). The bush-taxis here are called Dalla-dallas and the one that we took on Zanzibar was a covered truck with benches along the sides. At one point, we counted that there were 25 of us in the back of truck with another 20 huge bags of rice or other goods, various metal, and an entire freezer on top of the truck's covered roof. I can't even begin to estimate how much weight was on this poor pickups springs. For the trip, we paid a little over one dollar to go 35 or 40 miles and it took us 3 hours. The rest of the folks on our trip took a private bus and it took one hour and cost them $9.




I think that the commonality of the living standard in many African countries (e.g. overstuffed transportation), the heat, and the fact that the lingua franca is often the language of the colonizers (French, English, Portuguese) make it easy to merge this complex and huge continent into a single entity. Seeing these peripheral commonalities in Africa and merging the continent is probably falling prey to what, nobel-winning economist, Daniel Kahneman would call -- "All you see is all there is". In Kahneman's book, Thinking: Fast and Slow, he discusses how human beings have a tendency to discard, as non-existent, things that we don't perceive -- thus, all you see is all there is.

Village outside of Arusha

Because it is very difficult to actually perceive and appreciate the complexity of an individual African's life, we only see what is on the periphery -- poverty, nature, external happiness in the midst of poverty, etc. And, even despite spending more than 3 years in total on this continent that I deeply love, I am guilty of this mistake of appreciating the commonality rather than delving into the complexity. Indeed, I am happy to be back on this continent basking in the dominant themes of heat, wild unpaved roads, vibrant colors, chaos and the joy that people express when you speak (or try to speak) to them in an African language. But I wonder what I am also failing to see?

 

Travel recommendation: in awe on Safari in Tanzania

***Parental discretion advised: eyewitness account of animal intercourse


The first major activity/destination along our overland tour is across the Tanzanian border, on the famed northern circuit of safaris. We are based for 4 days in Arusha, with the option to head further west towards the many national parks that are home to all sorts of big animals, crazy looking birds and massive vistas.

We weren't sure what option to select and eventually narrowed in on a 2 day safari with one day at Lake Manyara National Park and the other at the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. The agenda for both days consisted primarily of 'game driving' which is basically hanging out in a Toyota Land Cruiser equipped with hinged roof panels. The roof panels allow riders, by standing on the seats, to poke out of the top of the cruiser.

The guide drives the truck on 4x4 tracks, while everyone keeps their eyes peeled for animals. When you see something interesting, you drive as close as possible, park the truck, turn off the engine, and watch. The stillness of the vistas after the car is turned off is quite satisfying and we ended up hanging out -- transfixed for large chunks of time while nature took place right in front of our eyes.

The animals, some of whom are truly massive such as elephants, and others that are extremely dangerous, such as lions, are inured to the 4x4s. Perhaps the animals see the truck as a single large entity and one that is not fruitful for hunting or messing with -- probably its not worth the calories required to take on the hunks of mental -- even if there are tasty people on the inside. This allows us to get incredibly close, in some cases just a few feet, from animals that are wild in every other sense of the word.

I know this is going to be a shock, but Mu and I really enjoyed the entire experience. We stood on those cruiser seats pretty much the entire time in both parks, saw about 20 large mammals and at least as many cool birds. In essence, the entire set up is fantastic and we had 2 truly unforgettable days. I got an additional thrill over watching my lovely wife throughout both days, seeing and feeling her unbounded excitement. The biology major in her (true story) came to the fore and her love for animals and birds was palpable. Seeing that pleasure in my life partner brings me profound happiness.

Lake Manyayara National Park

This national park is about a 2 hour drive from Arusha, a drive made much more interesting because it traverses through a number of Masai villages, and passes thousands of cows in herds being tended by shepherds as young as 7-years old. The men (or boys) are usually clothed in bright red wraps, carrying a stick used to manage the animals, while the woman are in blue and carrying a bundle of sticks or jugs of water on their heads.

The national park is quite good for a safari because it is on the smaller side and has a number of biomes within its borders, leading to a nice diversity of animals. We drove first through a rain forest section, which had a number of ververt monkeys and baboons. I really enjoyed watching the interplay of the pack in the baboons, who had some cute interactions and mannerisms that reinforced their similarities genetically to humans. Then, we emerged into a semi-forested section of the park, which allowed for better viewing, and saw a number of antelopes and impalas, including the impossibly cute dik-diks, which are miniature antelopes, maybe 18-24inches high, with fine features. They are - 'omg, super cute!'

After a couple of hours, we arrived at Hippo Hole, which had an expansive view across savanna, and hundreds of animals. In one view, we could see hippos wallowing in the creek out of the mid day heat, zebras milling around in a pack, two male wildabeast having a challenge match, a river eagle taking it all in from high in a tree, thompson gazelles trying to blend into the grassland and a ton of other birds. This is what I imagined a proper african safari would include.



We move on from the hole, spotting a warthog and then a giraffe in the distance, speeding over there to check it out. A giraffe looks a bit like a moose from far away, but once you get close it becomes more athletic and powerful. The front haunches are taut, and it is cautiously but pleasurably eating the leaves of the arcadia tree, with zebras not more than 50 feet away as well. Now this is what I imagined I might be lucky enough to see on safari.




We motor on eventually, coming by more giraffes making their way up to a body of water in the mid day heat and then stumble across a family of elephants, fanning themselves with their ears. The rhythmic undulations of their ears make an audible clap on their thick bodies, and look vaguely aquatic. In the background are 2-3 giraffes poking their heads above the canopy. It recalls truly world-class photobombing or a bad b movies with no set discipline. Another moment, that that I had dreamed to see on safari.

 

A bit later we come across a herd of elephants, at least a dozen, and park the truck for quite a while. These elephants are right next to our 4x4, within a few feet, and their heft and nobility are on clear display. Mu's eyes are as wide as I have ever seen as one adolescent thrunders by, within an arms length. We can look straight into his big, black eye and it seems as if we are looking back to the age of dinosaurs. Wow. This is what I imagined we might experience on safari!

Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area

The previous day at Lake Manyayara was amazing, but it proved to be an appetizer compared to the concentration and interrelation of the animals in the Crater. The Crater is the remnants of volcano formed from plate tectonic, and is 20 kilometers across, about a 310 square kilometers, with steep canyon walls about 500 meters tall. The steep walls, fresh water and creation of a conservation area all combine to yield a density of large African animals that might not be replicated anywhere on the continent.

Stillness and movement. These are inherently contradictory, yet I was continually holding these in my head on the floor of the Crater. Each individual organism was in motion, but they combine to create a visual experience that is somehow entirely still, and timeless.

Our safari had stayed in the closest town to the park gates, and we got a very early start, like 5 am early, to be some of the first people into the crater. Animals also move around quite a bit more in morning, before it gets super hot.

We drop into the crater and within a few minutes see 3 hyenas scampering along a dry river bed. What is in that first one's jaw? Another animal! We think the front quarter of one of the big hoofed animals. Our first carnivore, and it is in the process of eat/scavenging, wow! The hyena will find a good place to bury the meat so it can come back to the area and retrieve its caloric treasure, which is quite clever in my book. Today is off to a very good start.

 

We move on a few 100 meters and see this bright red splotch in the dry, yellow grassland. What could that be? As we get closer, there are big cats everywhere, we are within their midst so fast that it takes a few moments to register that these are lions, the top of the food chain. All told, there are 11 big cats lying around after gorging themselves on a fresh kill -- a massive water buffalo. The lions pant at the exertion of the feast and all seem sublimely content. We are speechless, as the cats are within a few feet of our 4x4. Is this safe? That one sure looks interested in me.

Wow, are these beautiful. Speechless. I am surprised at how the lions have a bit of slackness to their fur and bodies, like someone who was previously overweight and then lost a bunch of lbs, but their skin is just a little too big for their new normal. I could sit in the truck all day in this one spot, watching the lions and get on a plane tomorrow and head back to the states and be content. When we come by this very spot on the way out of the crater, there will be a solitary lioness sentry, standing guard over the half eaten buffalo and panting like crazy in the heat.

But, we push on and right down the road, and a demure distance away from the rest of the pack, is the king of the herd, a regal lion and his mate. She is the prettiest cat we saw, nearly flawless in her fur and they lie lazily in the grass. We learn that lions mate for 7 days, at intervals approaching 30 minutes, and during that time the male lion will not eat (the female lions are the hunters anyway). After roughly ten minutes, the male rises and paces around his lover, they purr at each other, growl a little and then he mounts her from behind. Lions having wild, animal kingdom sex. No way! He does not last long and after only a few minutes the two lions are back to dozing in the sun. This is way more than I had ever imagined seeing on safari!



The rest of the safari is spent circling the crater, and we must have seen thousands of animals: the silhouette of the critically endangered black rhino, the odd elephant or two in the distance, zebras frolicking with each other, a hippo submerged in a small creek, herds and herds of wildebeest, the regal and scary buffalos, packs of hyenas up to no good, a male and female ostrich in the midst of their courting ritual, a male warthog in full tilt pursuit of a female for half a kilometer. The game driving goes on for several hours through this massive geological wonder, and I never, ever get tired of seeing this rich cross section of animals. It is amazing, and an experience that is right near the pinnacle of my travel life.

Hope you Iike the pictures, there are more up on my Pisca page as well.

https://picasaweb.google.com/107842809281323581448/TheDreamTanzania

 

Life on the road: Overland tour basics

On the truck, we are cruising along at 80 kmh, perched high above the highway with grand vistas opening up to the right and left. Every couple of minutes, we passing through little settlements, with small bar/restaurant shacks and a mobile top-up store. Some of our fellow travelers are listening to their ipods, others are talking about burning man, Mu is reading a book, and a few are dozing comfortably. Music, a known indie band at the moment, is playing over the onboard stero as well. It just started raining and we put down the plastic windows to keep the water out of our little corner of the world.


We joined our overland tour, run by Oasis, a little less than a week ago and since this is our world for almost 2 months it seems appropriate to give you a little sense of our first couple of days and an overall sense of life on the overland tour.

The Rig

It all starts with our rig, a 14 ton merger between a truck undercarriage and a custom built living compartment above. The rig was custom built in the U.K. and shipped down to Namibia about 3 years ago, but the drivetrain is about 16 years old. It is built on one of the, if not the, most common trucks here in Eastern Africa, which means that if we need to get parts it should be relatively straightforward. I should note that our rig is called Jozi, but Mu and I are refraining from that name in deference to our dear friend Josie Bean.

The living, or more accurately the riding, compartment is quite large, with a large set of steps deployed to get down to the ground. Inside, there are 2 rows of seats along the sides, where most people sit or lay out for our travel days. Under the seats are a hollow compartments to store our personal effects. There is also a 'beach' in the front of the living compartment over the cab of the truck where some travelers lounge out for the drive. Under the floorboards, they store food, truck parts, and a 'fridge' (read: safe), as well, with two separate locks and keys for added security.

Everything that we will use for the next 56 days is on the truck, a self contained moving island through this grand continent. On the exterior of the truck are a number of lockers, some for jerry cans of water, tents, and cooking supplies. Things fit quite snuggly in these communal lockers, since space is at a premium and to minimize the potential energy of shifting cargo.

The people

Who are the people we are sharing this adventure? First, there is our fearless, and chipper tour leader, Grace, and a driver, Malcolm. In practice, these two are mr. and mrs. fix it and work very well together to keep things moving along and functioning. They both have a breezy air of confidence and competence. Then there are our fellow passengers, 22 in all. There are only 3 Americans (we are 2 of them and the other is a girl who has been abroad in Japan, Australia, and the UK for at least 5 years). There is a plurality of Aussie and Kiwis, as well as a sprinkling of folks from Canada, England and Holland. It is a polyglot bunch, with people having lived and worked far from their homeland. Mu notes that it isn't so polyglot since everyone seems to be of caucasian origin.

Mu and I are the oldest people on the trek, but not by too many years. There are several other couples, but just one other married set (although one Kiwi couple is getting married in a few months). Also, there happens to be a thread of skiing/riding culture in the group, as many logged a bunch of ski days and many done entire seasons in resorts, mostly in Canada. As i always up for talking shop regarding skiing, that has been a nice initial bond to build off. Beyond the common threads of skiing and traveling, it has been enjoyable to find common points of interests (ex: music, current affairs, sports) with fellow travelers, and that is a process that will happily continue throughout.

Thus far, we like the group, people seem to be interesting and asking good questions and the like. I am sure there are days the rig will feel very, very small, but Mu and I can always tunnel into each other and ride through any sense of claustrophobia, physical or mental.

Collaboration

While Oasis is the tour operator, it is far from a full suite affair. There is a bit of a DIY component of the trip, with daily cook groups for the shared meals and food shopping, truck watch when we stop along the journey and truck duty to clean up the truck after the day. In addition, there are many optional activities, for instance just today I went to a Masai village and cultural center with 15 or so others to learn about that very interesting culture. Everyone's experience across Africa will be different on the margins, but we are decidedly together in the grand thrust of the trip.

The vibe is quite reminiscent of a wonderful summer camp I was fortunate enough to attend in the four corners of the US, called Prairie Trek. Quick aside, for anyone with a preteen, this is an amazing experience, I was 2nd generation as my mom attended when she was a kid. Of course, it is the adult version with free will and some legal age hedonism, but the thread is similar. We set up our tent at camp, we cook our food and have to work together to make the most out of this opportunity.

Overall, we are excited to be on the trip that we planned and booked so many months ago. We did not really know what to expect and have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly this temporary lifestyle feels comfortable. We love camping and the continual movement of life on the road suits us well. Also, not having to spend hours and hours planning logistics is wonderful.



 

Itinerary: Days 60-71 (we are on Day 65)

Considering the dramatic, and a bit sudden, change in venues/continents/cultures, we thought it would be helpful to get up a quick little post outlining our first couple of weeks in Kenya and Tanzania. We will be writing about many of the things that have already transpired (spoiler alert: all good thus far, knocking on wood) and those that are in the near future.

On day 60, we arrive in Nairobi at our lodging, Wildebeast Eco-Camp around midnight.

Day 61, we wandered around Nairobi in search of supplies and plane tickets to Madagascar in January. We secured the supplies but no plane tickets, as Air Madagascar has temporarily suspended its flights from Nairobi until MArch (why, we are not sure).

Day 62: the Overland Truck tour began (separate post coming in full detail outlining what this means exactly)! We drove from Nairobi to "Snake Camp" an overland truck stop-off point 25 minutes outside of Arusha, Tanzania (the mountian above is Mr Meru, 2nd highest moutain in Tanzania, which stands tall over Arusha).

Day 63: Safari in Lake Manyari, Tanzania (more on these next 2 days to come, with lots of pictures!)

Day 64: Safari in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

Day 65: Arusha

Day 66: Arusha to the base of Mount Kilimanjaro -- the Continent's tallest us peak at 19K feet.

Day 67: Dar Es Salaam

Day 68-71: Zanzibar