coming home!

so the strike has been lifted! and i will be able to come home as planned. which is nice because for as much fun as i have had, i am starting to get a bit lonely (have really started talking to myself!) and well, it is time, no need to be sitting in the hostel or at the south african airlines queue at the airport for that matter. i got out of lusaka yesterday morning, which is a good thing because renee just emailed me and told me that lusaka has a diesel shortage right now and buses are not running...and she also told me that one of the suspects in the london bombings was just arrested in lusaka, good grief!

with my last day in joburg, i went to see some fossils and a live cave, it was pretty cool.

i just packed and weighed my bags--i left for africa with 1 backpack weighing about 13 kilos. i am coming back home with 1 backpack, 1 other bag and 1 fragile parcel that needs to be gate checked, estimated total weight: 35 kilos! crap. i am one of those people who will have to rent the trolley to push my stuff through customs.

when i get back to town, i will put some pics online and a list of travel tips to africa.

wish me luck that there are some quality in flight movies!!! peace out.

back to lusaka

not a very exciting post today...i completed the diving certification with flying colors! unfortunately, no turtle sightings!

i left tanzania for lusaka via 26 hr bus to start my return trip back to the stateside...i have been chillin' with renee and matt in their posh pad--i must say, the expatriate lifestyle here in lusaka is pretty cool. renee's complex has a pool so i have been hanging there and watching their new cable tv (apparently purchased just in time for the european soccer season to start).

other than chillin like a villian, i have been trying to figure out the details of this stupid airline strike. it is just a big pain because south african air really has no concrete info to give me... and i might have to forgo my flight from lusaka to jo'burg for another 24hr bus so that once in jo'burg, they can put me on a different airline carrier back home. blah.

another birthday shout-out...

...to arrin k. happy birthday arrinster!!!

i had my first 2 real dives in the indian ocean today! it was awesome. i saw TONS of fish and coral reefs. i must admit, with my fear of otters and ocean current, i was a little freaked out but just for the first 30 seconds or so and then, it was all cool. tomorrow, i head on my last 2 dives with my instructor before i become fully certified. wish me luck, i hope to see some turtles tomorrow.

after my dives, i met up with charlie, an american who is a peace corps volunteer here in zanzibar and also a divemaster who showed me around town like the locals...i rode the local dawa across the island which is just a pickup truck with bench seats and a metal top. on my way back to town, the dawa was so crowded that they made a little kid get up so that i could sit down...he ended up sitting on my lap all the way back...well, the ride only cost me the equivalent of 20 cents instead of a $2 cab ride.

i just found out that south african airlines might be going on strike starting tomorrow---in perfect timing for my return trip to the states, how convenient!

scuba!

i got to zanzibar this morning and decided to take a scuba course! yes, this is coming from the same person who is afraid of otters in the lake. by friday i will be a PADI certified scuba diver! i went to a dive shop to sign up for afternoon snorkelling (because, well, it is cheap and i already have the mask and snorkel) but the people in the dive shop tried to convince me to take the scuba course---after i spent 20 minutes convincing them to drop the cost for me $50 and not charge me the 10% surcharge for using a credit card for payment, i couldn't exactly say no to the scuba instruction. i think i got a great deal because i am getting private lessons.

i just had my instructional video and pool instruction today so no exciting underwater life to report on. hope all is well!

oh and trovers, you forgot the comments from FL.

birthday post

a great big happy birthday to eric h!

nothing too exciting on the africa front...am leaving for zanzibar on tuesday morning for some snorkelling and sun.

after about 3 weeks here, i could escape the african continent without any digestive difficulties, but who was i kidding? without going into gross description, i have been confined to the house all day, sipping ginger tea and sprite. hence, the zanzibar excursion got put off by a day. such is life.

a note to my BT friends: remember how LH would drone on and on about african "red" tea? and how great it is? yeah, that is crap. africans drink the same tea as the rest of the world--black. i think i have seen the red tea once or twice but it is definitely not the norm. actually when i ask for it, most africans have no idea what i am talking about.

well, i guess that's all, i will have a better update from zanzibar!

back from safari

this is a bit of a long post...

JAMBO!

i just made it through the bus ride from hell back to dar es salaam from the serengeti. since it is the african winter (it is a peaceful 75F instead of 110F) the africans seem to think it is too "cold" to open the windows on the bus. well, imagine what a full bus feels and smells like for 8 hrs, especially after a stop at a road stall where all the passengers just picked up lunch of chicken and chips. i thought i was going to die.

the serengeti on the other hand, was STUNNING. i don't think i will ever hit up another zoo. i did a 4 day/3 night camping safari in the serengeti and the ngorongoro (the 'n' in ngorongoro is silent) crater. i was in a group of 4 (girl and guy from holland and girl from hawaii) plus our land cruiser driver and cook. i was lucky to have an awesome group who was prompt and fun during all the super early morning game drives.

brief history lesson on the serengeti and ngorongoro crater:

steward white, an american hunter from nairobi, is credited with discovering the serengeti paradise in the early 1900s (1913 i think) though the land had been inhabited by the maasai villagers for centuries before. the maasai have raised their cattle on those grassylands and called that land 'siringitu' (or endless space of land). since the serengeti plains are now controlled by the government, the maasai have been pushed out of the borders of the serengeti national park, into the outskirts called the ngorongoro conservation area. the serengeti is home to hundreds of animals, mainly various breeds of wildebeest, zebra and birds. may to about october is the dry season and november to march is the wet season in the serengeti plain. so during may - oct, the hundreds of animals migrate from serengeti up north to the masaamara region in kenya where water is a bit more plentiful. the ngorongoro crater is the worlds largest unbroken caldera in the world (about 20km in diameter) and has the most unique red soil that allows the most interesting vegetation for all the wildlife, flora and fauna, that live there.

that said, i went on 4 long game drives through the serengeti and managed to drive through over 60% of the park. our driver, frank, opened the top of the land cruiser and allowed us to stand on the seats as we drove through. i saw so many animals including zebra, wildebeest, impala, gazelle, hyena, cheetah, dik dik, monkeys, giraffe, hippo, topi (antelope varieties), hartebeest as well as the big 5. the big 5 are the 5 biggest predators: leopard, elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion. i actually saw a leopard in a tree with the impala prey that it just caught! turns out that leopard viewing is extremely rare because leopards are very selfish and operate alone (no pride like lions or elephants). they live alone and hunt alone, which is why the leopard kept the prey in the tree, because it doesn't want to share with vultures or hyena.

i also saw some honeymooning lions where i saw the male lion trying to court with the female lion but she gave him the paw! during our sunrise game drive, we saw the end of a hunt where 2 lion and a few hyena were feasting on what i think was a zebra carcass. the dirty hyenas were bloody and licking themselves. TRULY EXCITING! big props to my camera and AK for the extra battery because the campsite had no electricity and i managed to get all my 400+ shots in without running out on battery life. when i get back, i will post selected pics of all the exciting stuff.

all in all, a very exciting safari. it is nice to be back in dar because after 5 days of travelling with minimal running water, my clothes and sleeping bag can use a good scrub down--my clothes are in such a state, i doubt even titus and abdul will want to deal with them.

KARIBU!

living like paris hilton

got to tanzania after a 30 hr bus ride. the bus was actually an african luxury liner! they serve sodas and biscuits and tea on the bus...you dont see that kind of service on the chinatown bus.

nothing too exciting to report from the last couple of days, just loafing around and living high off the hog. my aunt has a couple of maid servants, titus and abdul and they pretty much take care of everything so i don't really have to lift a finger. they pull my bags out of the car, do my laundry (they even ironed my tshirts!) and take my dishes after i eat...it is actually a bit weird but apparently thats what they are getting paid for so i have been told to just leave stuff whereever i feel like it. i bet this is how paris lives.

titus and abdul have also taught me bits and pieces of swahili (okay about 3 words but i think they are important). jambo! that means hello and it is the proper form that you use address people the first time you meet them each day. it is also important to ask an african how they are doing, how is their family, etc, even if you just saw them the day before.

i will be leaving for the serengeti tomorrow so this might be the last post for the week (sorry to disappoint if you are bored at work!) and the picture thing is not working and i am sick of trying so i will just post them when i get back to the stateside.

in lusaka

went white water rafting with maura along the zambezi river yesterday...what an adventure! we were the only 2 on our boat to have gotten so wiped out during one of the gnarly rapids that my shoe fell off (but later got found by the safety kayaker, thank god, because otherwise i would have had to trek all the way up the gorge, which is practically vertical, with one shoe) and i ended up stuck underneath the boat for about a minute and ended up getting pulled into someone else's boat. maura had to get saved by the safety guy on the kayak. the zambezi rapids are the downward rapids coming from the victoria falls so the current is pretty strong.

i have moved onward from livingstone to lusaka this morning and finally had a normal shower at renee's compound. since africa is so freaking dusty, i do not think i have had clean feet since i got here. i am leaving on my 24 hr bus ride to dar es salaam, tanzania this afternoon to stay with my aunt and uncle. pray that the bus actually leaves ontime for a change. i should be heading to the serengeti on the 11th.

apparently, my pics never showed up from my previous post--i apologize...the computer keeps freezing during the upload. i will try to put some pics on flickr when i get to dar tomorrow night.

peace out.

Pictures, finally!

here are some pictures of the elephant, immobilized.

also, the others are from a boat ride safari i took in chobe game park, botswana.

saturday, i went on a game drive in chobe before heading across the border to livingstone, zambia. i saw impala, buffalo, lion, elephants, sable, kudu, giraffe. i was lucky enough to have my own guide because no one else scheduled a game drive at the same time as me! so the safari driver stopped the truck just for me to get as much animal viewing in as possible. lucky me! saturday afternoon, i arranged a lift from kasane, botswana upto livingstone, zambia.

i've been staying with renee's friend maura in her peace corps house. she has no refridgeration and the water stops running at 10pm, which means the toilet stops flushing at that time too. i guess you'd call it "roughing it" but it is quite fun actually. at least the toilet is western-style! we saw victoria falls yesterday (the largest waterfalls in the world, apparently it keeps expanding every year) and are going whitewater rafting tomorrow!

well, happy 4th of july everyone!

in kasane--ELEPHANTS

so the truck driver managed to get me to kasane just in the nick of time. i met up with my friend jonah and his team who started the elephant tracking project. i have some awesome pics from this adventure that i am dying to share with everyone but the cafe has me blocked from posting so i am going to try to do it from renee's when i get to livingstone.

here's the lowdown on the elephant project that i was so fortunate to actually witness--i still have unanswered questions of my own so i hope this info is helpful for you all...

--the vet rides in a helicopter with the elephant tracker who is tracking the elephant via satellite.

--he shoots a tranquilizer gun at the elephant

--people rush in to the elephant that is now on the ground.

--they take the collar off the elephant.

--the vet now injects the elephant with a reverse tranquilizer that will wake up groggy elephant.

--we all run away from groggy elephant.

--elephant goes back into wild

what kinds of collars:

2 main types that the fit the elephants with

1. GPS based - are very expensive (obviously) so this team didnt use them but can track data remotely on a day to day basis.
2. satellite based - used by this team to track elephant data for about a 2 year period on the collar itself, then remove the collar to download the data. this method sucks because in the 2 year period, if the elephant falls into river and dies, the elephant team is SOL.

why the collars:

--to learn about the elephant migration patterns. turns out that the botswana to angola regions are some of the only areas where the elephants still roam free and they are dying rapidly due to the landmines in angola.

--to learn about their vegetation patterns--how are the elephants competing with the people that live on that land for the food on that land area.

--to learn about reproduction patterns.

______________________________________________________

after the elephant experiments, i hung out with these people (they work for Conservation International) and went to a buffet dinner where they had kudu, impala and ostrich (for all my meat loving fans). but also plenty of produce for me.

off to another game viewing and a boat cruise this afternoon! hope all is well on the stateside...oh and GOODLUCK to my BT softball homies.