Rwanda

In Rhungeri we trekked gorillas in Volcano national park which was unbelievably fabulous. The gorilla group was 9 and we found all of them just chilling out under this clump of trees - so we got to go underneath into the clearing with them so there were 4 of us and 9 gorillas all staring at each other in this little 8m canopy cover. The little ones were curious and came almost close enough to reach out and touch. I nearly had a heartattack when 'charles' the massive (200kg) silverback ran at us at full speed pounding his chest, but the guide just laughed and gave me a little pat on the arm because it makes you a silly white girl to react the car-sized monkey.
We went back to Kigale to catch a bus south to Butare (because all roads really do lead to Rome, all buses only go to and from the capital). Butare was quiet, but the view from absolutely everywhere in Rwanda is fantastic, which made just wandering the town a nice way to spend the afternoon. Danielle and I went to the National Museum in the morning while the others went to one of the memorials outside the city. Then Dave, Danielle and I got back on a bus to Rome and spent the afternoon wandering the old neighbourhood in Kigale. We spent a good part of the next day at the Genocide memorial which was incredibly intense, but really well done. Yesterday we wandered the outdoor markets in Kigale, and took motos (everyone in Kigale rides motorcycle taxis because car taxis are hard to come by and cost an absolute fortune) all the way to the north end of the city to go to the movie theater we had thought was playing a local-made film about the genocide. Turns out the cinema shut down 3 years ago and our guide book is slightly outdated. We sat at a bar with a pretty view of the city for a few hours, then taxied to the airport at 1am for our 4 am flight. Dave is going to bus across Uganda, and Danielle is right now on her connecting flight to amsterdam - so the original 6 has officially fallen apart. But the other Malawi group has seen fit to adopt me so we are now a group of 7.
We landed in Nairobi at 6:30 and convinced the YMCA to let all of us sleep in a 3-bed dormroom until our other rooms were ready. Very cosy - but so desperate for a nap. Today is a public holiday in Kenya, so not much is open, but the city itself is interesting and this is the first time we've been allowed to roam the city.

Still here!

I actually only have about T-minus 10 mintues to catch the bus so this is just a quick 'hello' to let you all know I'm still kicking around.
Malawi was fabulous, very green, and very relaxing. Dave and Danielle and I spent the last 4 days busing across Tanzania, which was slightly less fabulous but still a cool adventure.
We crossed the boarder into Rwanda yesterday and met up with another group from the programme and today we are all headed out to Volcano national park to do some hiking. Rwanda is not only incredibly safe, but incredibly modern - there are paved roads and tall office buildings and the biggest supermarkets I have seen since Nairobi. Its incredibly cool - I will fill you in on all the details soon.

Malawi!

So the hummus place, it turns out, no longer exists, but you'd amazed at how good a mashed-up can of chickpeas and some serious amounts of garlic powder can taste after 3 months of longing.
The train ride was a blast -it was 5 hours delayed which dragged out a bit at the end - but our cabin was relatively roomy, and triple-layer bunk beds were enough of a novelty to keep us happy for the night.
The train got in at Mbaya which is in the south of Tanzania. We found a hostel to crash in and then spent the next day hiking Mbaya peak. It took us 3 hours to reach the third fake summit (1 more fake was still aparently between us and the real one) when the whole expedition was called on account of thunder. Fabulous view though and my legs are still screaming from the exercise. We got up early the next morning and caught a bus to the boarder. It took two more buses to get us from the boarder to Kogonga and then to Livingstonia. Livingstonia is an insanely remote little village that costs a fortune to get to because the road is actually dirt trail full of potholes and ill-placed rocks that winds 16km straight up the mountain. Our cabins at 'the mushroom farm' were sitting nearly on the edge of the cliff and you could look out clear to lake malawi. The guy working at the mushroom farm is actually a McGill-alumni who was biking from Cairo to Capetown with a big group , but lost interest when he hit Malawi and is spending the next two months running a couple of the lodges in the area. So weird. Even weirder is that he's Jen's roommate's ex-boyfriend. I love that even in Africa its a small world. We stayed for 2 nights, hiked to the village and toured the museum and Livingston's church. Apparently though Livingston himself never actually made it there which was mildly dissapointing - there was however a large collection of his random personal effects, like his spoon, and the blanket from his bed. Also an cross-stitched picture that the Girl-guides of scotland apparently made for the Girl-guides of Nyasaland (pre-indepence Malawi).
Yesterday we came back down the mountain and took a bus to Mzuzu. We are staying at the Mzoozoozoo which is alot of fun and has a great book exchange. We not only met up with the other malawi group from the trip but also the cool Ottawa couple that we met in the north of Zanzibar. The night was chill because everyone was tired from travel days, but this morning there were banana pancakes with honest-to-goodness CANADIAN maple syrup. Like a little easter miracle. Happy Easter by the way!

Set loose

Last monday, we signed away the programme and were turned loose to wreak individual havoc on the continent. We spent a day wandering stone town, shopping and taking some time to regroup.
2 friends and I went up north and spent a few days in Nungwi. We caught a daladala which is the local kind of bus system, it is essentially a flatbed truck but with a kind of cabin instead of a truck bed. There were benches and a roof , and handles to hold on too, but you would be amazed at the ability of people to find a way to turn 2 free inches of space into room for another person. It was an absolute riot - and I even got to rock my Swahili trying to ask the woman sitting across from me if I could take a picture of the live chicken she was carrying in her handbag. (the computer won't read my thumbdrive - but its a great photo)
There was not much to do up north besides lie on the beach but the people were wonderfully friendly and the water was gorgeous. We met a fabulous couple from Ottawa who'd been traveling since November starting in Europe and on their way down to Johannesburg. They were some of the only backpackers that we've found since we got here in January- Africa seems to be a place where old people come to travel and feel wealthy. Especially Italians but no one's really sure why.
On friday we caught a daladala back to stone town and then a Ferry to the mainland. We are staying at the YWCA in Dar Es Saalam which I think has probably not changed since the 1950s since there is actually a 2 page list of rules including a description of the authority of, and the diciplinary action that will be taken by the matron. Yesterday we went grocery shopping, and then treated ourselves to a movie. ( 'we' by the way is the group of 6 I'm traveling in to Malawi. 2 guys and 3 other girls from the programme, all of whom are lots of fun) We saw Marley and me, which I guess was entertaining, but was actually a huge cultural experience. Dogs are not at all the same here- there are very few of them, and they're not so much pets as guard dogs or tolerable strays. It was incredible to see the different reactions in the audience, and blatantly obvious that only the ex-pats and tourists were really broken up by the ending. So funny to really notice that taking animals as family members is a genuine luxury. Its crazy how the little things can get you here.
Today we are hunting for a small restaurant that is rumoured to serve hummus - and I am at the point where I am actually willing to look all day- so keep your fingers crossed.
Tomorrow we hop the train and its a short 26 hours to Malawi. - we've started collecting bottle-tops for our very own travel checkers set, which should help pass the time.
Be in touch soon.
xxK

Part 2

After my day as a professional cattle chaser we packed up our gear and went to Malindi. We pitched our tents less than 100 feet from the indian ocean and spent a glorious afternoon turning our white tummies a vibrant shade of red. The town was really neat and we had a bunch of lectures on conserving the costal forest, and one from this group that runs around saving sea turtles - but really it is all shadowed by the long-awaited beach time. We had to say goodbye to our Bunduz crew (they drove us all around kenya in massive trucks and cooked our meals when we were camping and were generally fabulous) which was very sad - but they actually baked us a cake! On a fire! It was totally outrageous. We detoured for the chance to stagger and crawl along the longest and sketchiest raised walkway that took us over a mangrove forest on our way to mombassa - made flycamp for the night and then started out at an absolutely ungodly hour to make our flights to Zanzibar.
We arrived on Saint Patty's Day and celebrated by a taste test of each brand of Tanzanian beer. We are still in Zanzibar now and have settled in until the end of the programme (only another 4 days!) It is actually a million degrees here (generally 32C in the morning hitting a balmy 40C by midafternoon) with the added bonus of being a highly muslim area so that you have to be covered to your knees and shoulder to elbows at all times, and occasionally a headscarf during call to prayer. I am uncovering a whole new level of sweating I would never have believed existed. The culture here is absolutely fabulous. It has been a major port here for centuries so there is a wonderful meshing of indian, arabic and african influences into this distinct 'swahili' culture. Our class spends most of the days listening to lecture from poloticians and professors from the university of Dar Saalam. Its incredibly interesting. For lunch we are given free range of stonetown so it has become a bit of a competition to see who can find the best quantity and quality of food for under $3.50. - And you would be surprised at how far that goes. On Saturday we had a spice tour of the island, which included ruins of the home of a Zanzibari princess, a massive lunch, and a tour of a spice plantation. On Sunday we got to go out in boats to see the dolphins and snorkel in the reefs of the marine conservatory. And then yesterday we were taken out on one of the large traditional sailboats called a Dhow which are absolutely fabulous - although I don't have any pictures so I'm going to have to again refer you to a google image search.

And then...

Hello loved ones! I hear its practically spring time which is very exciting news! Right now I am learning just how much one person can sweat in a day, but I'll get to those details in a bit.
So in Nairobi (I'm back to the first week of march) we spent some time hanging out in the National museum and where all our little bits of archeological gold were going to end up to be sorted, catalogued and studied. We also visited another of the large slums in Nairobi called Mathare to see the education project that the Beijing consulate has started funding - a group of students dressed in bright red little dresses and did this really wild traditional dance that put every school pagent/performance I've ever been a part of to shame on a scale of cool-ness. We also discovered that flash photography in the Beijing school is a novelty of epic proportions and spent a good couple of minutes provoking screams of delight from entire classrooms of small children. So much fun. Besides that in Nairobi we wrote finals for our second session courses and enjoyed a few days of running water.
On the 7th we made our way to Tsavo East national park. Our campsite was right inside the park which means that we were accompanied by a team of armed askaris to keep wildlife at a safe distance. The coolest part is that a 'safe distance' was at one point as close as 50 feet for this pair of enormous elephants that were terribly curious about our setup. One night a lion actually ran through our campsite which freaked everyone out pretty thoroughly (Tsavo is where the 200 railroad workers were killed by man-eating lions - its the plot of the movie 'ghost in the darkness') needless to say our risk-management guy was not terribly pleased. Tsavo east has the highest concentration of elephants anywhere in Kenya so we spent alot of time talking to people about conflict with the animals -who are notorious for crop-raiding and trampeling people to death - not quite the gentle giants I had come to expect. We visited a secondary school to see the wildlife education programme in action - and I met this fabulous girl my age who is in her last year and wants to become a nurse to council people on HIV/AIDS. She says she's already working to set up a peer councilling circuit among the schools to help girls stay safe and finish their education. The next day the Geography class (my session 3 choice) went into the park to herd cattle (who illegally graze and take resources from the wildlife) across the boundary line. It was exhausting and so futile... and oh man my internet time is up... more to come! xx

February

So from Jinja we went to the Maasai Mara (which is a huge game conservatory)We pitched a little tent city inside the park (actually right inside teritory already claimed by a group of 5 male lions who insisted on voicing thier protest at our presence at various hours of the night)We did game drives every morning, so I got to add Elephants, Cheetahs, buffalo, warthoggs and meercats (who dissapointingly did not break into song, lions, crocodiles and a whole bunch of ungulates (which is the intelligent sounding word for gazelle-things)to my life-list. We took a drive out to the Mara river to see the hippos (there was a 1 day old baby - and it was actually still the size of a large dog), to straddle the line between Tanzania and Kenya, and to see the 250,000 year old stone blades that are just lying around by the river side (I started my archaeology class in the mara so prepare for lots of excitement over rocks.
on the 20th we moved camp to Elangata Waus. It is right in the rift valley, its like camping in a forest - only all the trees are thorn trees, and the dirt is bright red and dusty, and there are peices of animal skulls scattered really notchalontly between the trees. At Elangata Waus they had arranged for us to go in pairs and spend the night with a Maasai family on the ranches in the surrounding area. It was an absolutely unbelievable night. I got to milk a goat and we cooked dinner (with food the programme provided) over the fire inside the tiny mud house (ugali and cabbage for dinner, rice and tomatoes for breakfast)We talked well into the night through our youth guide, who was acting as a language and cultural translator, ugh, it was too nuts, too fabulous. The next morning we walked back to the main road, and the bus picked us up to take us to church. Church lasted from 10-1 (we snuck out early, church normally goes as late as 4), it was a pentecoastal church so there was lots of singing and dancing in the isles which made the time pass quickly. After church one of our professors had organized an 'olympics' of traditional maasai weapons. There was a staff team, a maasai team, a student girls team, and a student boys team (4 on each) and then we had to score points for the win. The first game was archery, the second a rungu toss (its a short club that you throw at gazelles to break their legs - we threw it at a chair- 1 point for a hit, 2 points if a piece of the chair broke off), the last was a spear throw which we had to make stick in the ground like a javalin. The Maasai team unsurprisingly won, but the girls came in second and since we had bet a round of beers with the boys team, I feel like everyone walked away happy (except possibly the boys who came last). The next day we visited a primary school and spent some time talking with the kids and then organized a big game of soccer against some of their older boys. We were owned (3-0) but in our defence many of the 8th graders were going on 20 so the beating is not quite as severe as it sounds.
On the 24 we drove to MPALA ranch (a research centre in likipia) we were still 'camping' but at the ranch the large canvas tents were permanent and comfortably fit 3 beds and all our bags. There was a man who came around and lit a latern outside our door each night and a stone fire pit dug into the ground like a pool, with a stone bench covered with cushions lining the outside. At Mpala the archaeology class kicked it into a seriously high gear since we had 4 days to clear up the excavation site my prof had started in 2005 but had had to abandon since 2007. We spent the mornings rotating between digging in the two trenches (i found 84 peices of flaked rock, and old tools just in my little 1 m patch, Nico found 103 in his!)and surveying the area for surface artifacts made visible by erosion and mapping them on GPS. The first afternoon we made our own stone tools (i managed to smash my fingernail into 3 peices - were I really a homo habilis I feel I may have been the end of the line) and then after that we had lectures for the rest of the week to learn what it was exactly we were working so hard to uncover. On the very last night a huge group of 25 or 30 people came down from the staff village dressed in traditional costume to teach us how to dance (Turcana style). It involved a lot of wild arm flinging, purposful stomping and jumping as high as you possibly can while seeming to not try at all. It was unbelievably fun, and I can't wait to bust out my new moves in the club.
Yesterday we arrived in Nairobi, today we are going to the National Museum to see what has been found at other sites in Kenya, to see the lab and pique an interest in interning to help catalog and analyze what we brought with us from MPALA.
I will try and post pictures soon, but all our final projects are due in the next few days so the laptops are a very hot comoditiy and I may not be able to get my hands on one until Savo.
Miss you all terribly.
xo

BACK!

I will take time (when the line up for computers is not knee-deep and verging on a fist-fight frenzy) to tell you all about the adventures of the last 3 weeks. In the meantime I wanted you to know I have found my way back from the wilderness safe and sound and with a new appreciation for electricity.

Mbita

We left Jinja and crossed the boarder back into Kenya and were met by our giant tank-like safari busses (which I cannot wait to show you all pictures of because you are not going to believe these monstrosities). We drove to Sauri, which is the pilot project of Jeffery Sach's millenium village projects. It was really interesting to see what had been done and how the theory worked when it had been put into motion, and you could definately tell there was progress being made. The goal is for the communities to be self-sustaining in 5 years, and since Sauri is only at the 4 year mark we are just going to have to wait and see how the pull-out part of the plan is going to work. We camped out for the night near the water and discovered that 2 HIPPOS (which by the way are the craziest, most massive and terrifying animals I have yet to lay eyes on) had also set up camp 50 feet from where our tents were set up. Luckily, there was no midnight stampeed that turned us all into tented mush, so ultimately the Hippos were just really really cool.

We spent the next day travelling and took the ferry across to Mbita (I love that vowels are optional here - its litterally pronounced Em-Bita). We've had some lectures from some local MDs and health workers about the problems in the area (mostly HIV and Malaria, not so surprisingly) and then we got to go into the village and visit the hospital (which believe it or not does not actually employ a single doctor - the doctor is at the bigger hospital which is about 20km from here)
Today was much the same as yesterday but with more emphasis on AIDs and a visit to the HIV clinic. All very cool. More updates to follow. And thank you for leaving comments, it makes me feel so warm and fuzy to know you are slogging through this rambling. Miss you all!

Return from the jungle!

So Sunday before last we flew to Kampala (in Uganda) and then drove to Kibale National park where we stayed at the field station just inside the park. We stayed in dorm-style buildings with bunk-beds that felt just like camp - except that you had to be extra careful not to leave your door open so the baboons wouldn't get into your stuff. I was in the primatology class so I spent most of the week in the forest studying the red colobus monkeys - it was freaking nuts. On the second day we did a census count of all the primate species in the forest and my group stumbled on the CHIMPS! It was freaking unbelievable. Chimps are huge and so intelligent looking and there were 60 of them sitting in this tree. ugh, I wish I could describe them well enough to do them any justice at all... One of them actually came down from the tree and wandered past me so close I actually had to move off the path to get out of his way! For the rest of the week we worked on our individual research projects on the red colobus, and I now know more about the social interactions of females with infants than I thought my brain could ever contain.
Last Sunday we started the morning by going to church in the near-by village. I went with the pentacostal group; there were cow hide drums and dancing in the isles and all kinds of brimstone and hell-fire. It was absolutely fantastic. After that we went to the official opening of the Kibale health centre which was put in place by 2 of our proffessors and Dr. J last year. The women's co-op group did some educational dances and some skits about malaria and using the clinic to stay well. After that there was a soccer match organized. Team Canada against Team Uganada and the ENTIRE village turned out to watch. I have never had so much fun being so terrible at a sport. The crowed just loved Rochiera who was playing net for us, because apparently women don't play soccer here, and the fact that she was so good seemed to blow everyone away. In the end we only lost 3-1 which we counted as a very near win.
On tuesday we climbed back onto the bus and drove 8 hours to camp out at Lake Nabugabo. The primatology class spent the first day talking to farmers about the local monkeys (called vervets - they are bold little guys with teal-coloured testicles) crop-raiding. Yesterday we did food experiments to test aggressive behaviour, including one where we put a huge stack of bananas under a bucket with a brick on it to see if they could figure out how to get at it (turns out it took them like 3 seconds, but it was fun to watch).
Today we traveled to Jinja, and so far we havn't done much but discover the internet cafe. Hope you're all doing wonderfully! And 10 points for getting all the way through this massive entry.
xx

Water and Sanitation

Yesterday we went to Nairobi University to hear a lecture about water and sanitation projects being done by a local NGO in the slums in Nairobi. After we went to Nairobi's water santitation board and had a talk from their CEO on government water supply and sewage collection in the city. Apparently only 40% of the city is supplied! 40%! and that doesn't even count the slums because the official government stand is that they don't exist. Then we went back into the city and had a talk from the city council about the beautification projects in the city, and some rather questionable stories about where all the street children had gone.
It is unbelievably gorgeous and sunny today and perfect T-shirt weather. I'm not rubbing it in, I just need to convey the full depth of how happy this morning is. Tomorrow morning we are flying out to Kibale National park where I think internet is going to get a whole lot sketchier, but I will keep my fingers crossed and be in touch soon!

Bugs and Canadians

Today we toured the lab parts of the research centre we're staying at and had a lecture on some of the projects they are doing here. It was crazy interesting. First we had a lecture on malaria and how they've learned that your foot odor is one of the main attractants for mosquitoes, then we had a lecture on what they are doing about promoting honey bees and silk worms as an economic means for families and a way to discourage deforestation. I had no idea bugs were so lucrative.
In the afternoon we went to the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi and had some talks about CIDA and about Canada's role in the politics of East Africa. Then we went to 'the village market' which contrary to what the name might lead you to believe was actually a massive and really elaborate shopping mall complete with obscene name brand stores and a semi-indoor waterfall. It is aparently where Nairobi's upperclass do their shopping and taking us there was to show us how massive the gap between rich and poor actually is in this country.
What's insanely interesting about this city though, which I noticed I have failed to mention, is that everyone here is incredibly well dressed. Almost all men, whether students, waiters or job-seekers wear a dress shirt and tie, and the women are all dressed in really nice skirts or dresses. I travel halfway around the world from montreal and still feel like a bum when I leave the house.

UN/Kibera

Yesterday morning we went to the UN compound in Nairobi which is apparently the second largest UN base in the world (the US headquarters are bigger). The grounds were gorgeous though and we had a few lectures from people involved with UN habitat which does slum upgrading and water and sanitation development. It was intensely interesting and I took an obscene amount of notes that I still can't figure out what I'm ever going to do with...
In the Afternoon we went to Kibera (the second largest slum in all of Africa) to see some of the projects that UN habitat was putting in. About 1/3 of Nairobi's population lives in Kibera but it only takes up 1% of residential land so you can immagine how small and how packed together the little tin houses were. I wish I knew how to describe it, and the people we met there, but I've tried a whole bunch of times - and I think there just aren't words for it. Maybe once I've had some more time to process it, I'll be less tongue tied. Anyway it was a really incredible experience in both a good and a bad way, and if you google search 'kibera' there are some pictures of the houses.

Happy Obama Day

Yesterday as we were driving into Nairobi, the woman on the radio actually wished us a 'happy Obama day'. Carol said that most people were only working a half day today so that they could be in front of a TV by the time the ceremony started. We went into the University of Nairobi and had a lecture on the Geography of the city. Then we split up into small groups and had a pair of Geography students lead us around the city. They were incredibly nice and let us ask a million and 8 questions as we toured around. On the campus there were huge preperations for the inaguration like a stage with 2 big screen TVs and camera crews interviewing students and tents with tables and chairs draped in American colours. I think every person in the group at somepoint tried to convince prof. M to let us stay in town to watch. No dice though. Instead we came back to the centre, but there is a TV in the lobby which everyone crowded around after dinner to watch the actual speech. They showed the university of Nairobi students dancing and celebrating on the TV and we were all crushed we couldn't be there. It was insanely cool to see the inaguration from this side of the world though, and what it means to people here.

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!

Alright in all honesty I saw none of those things. BUT yesterday we went on Safari through Nairobi national park and I did see zebras and giraffes and huge herds of water buffalo and ostriches and a relative of the gazelle who's name I can't remember just now. And it was absolutely unbelievable! I mean theoretically I understood that all those crazy zoo animals actually lived somewhere, but it was really nuts to see them actually alive and running around wild!

We made it!

We landed in Nairobi late last night so so far there has not been much to see. But it smells wonderful here - very earthy - like a green house!
But this morning we are heading out on a safari through Nairobi national park so their promises to be stories soon.
Laura would you get this link to mom and dad please so they know we made it? I can't get my email to work!