the globeTROTTERS

If you want to experience yin and yang firsthand, try going from a sleepy, laidback town like Lamu then immediately to the frenetic pace of Cairo. We were both excited and full of dread at the same time to go to Cairo. Obviously, it would be a crime to take a RTW ('round the world) trip and not see the pyramids and of course we wanted to see them. But friends and fellow travelers alike had warned us about the harassment that we could expect to receive from Egyptians. A tout on every corner trying to sell you something. Paying baksheesh (bribes or tips depending on how full your glass is) for anything and everything. The blood-boiling anxiousness of crossing the street and living to tell the story. Cairo was going to be a necessary evil and we planned our itinerary to maximize sights in the least possible amount of time.

We didn't even make it out of Immigrations before we had to pay baksheesh. An Immigrations official kindly let us circumvent Immigrations to use the ATM to buy our visa and then stuck out his hand after we had returned and properly gone through the line. As usual, I went nuts and Bill had to tell me to chill out.

Arriving at the Meramees Hostel, we were greeted by Amr and Deena. They checked us in and then showed us to a spacious room that we had all to ourselves. We collapsed onto our bed and fell fast asleep. The next morning, we went to the common room where Amr brought us a hot cup of Egyptian tea and breakfast. The tea was great - much stronger than the weaker stuff we had been drinking. The bread was good, but I was delighted when Amr brought us his breakfast (fuul) to try. I bit into the pita and beans and was immediately in love. It tasted like a bean burrito! Yummy. Amr saw my reaction and gave me all of his breakfast.

We obviously couldn't carry all of our guidebooks with us and Egypt was the first place that we arrived to without having a guidebook. As a result, we were happy to find a Lonely Planet on the bookshelf in the common room. We finished breakfast and started to plan our time. Again, Amr came to the rescue. Like many travelers before us, we were looking to see Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Edfu and Abu Simbel. The hotel had a package that would enable us to take a bus to Luxor, float down the Nile on a luxury cruise ship and see the sites and temples along the way. It would also take us to Abu Simbel via armed police escort (more on that later) and return us to Cairo via bus.

We had initially planned to take a felucca up the Nile, so we were hesitant to commit too fast. A felucca is a traditional Egyptian boat that is slightly larger than the Lamu dhow but just as rustic. Having survived the Amazon-slow-boat-from-hell/hammock fiasco and having taken countless boat rides, we contemplated for a few minutes and decided that a luxury cruise ship would be a better alternative. Still, peeing off the side of a boat would've been fun...oh well.

So on our way to the ATM, we got lost and hesitated and were immediately "helped" by a man that first just wanted to show us his shop. I tell you, we need to stop going to ATMs. The guy was nice, his tea was good and he suckered us into buying pure lotus oil extract for a hefty sum. I didn't even know we needed it. Somehow, we both left feeling that we did.

Amr had wisely advised us to save the Egyptian Museum for our last day so that we could appreciate what we were seeing and we would understand who the major players were in ancient Egyptology. Heeding his sage advice, we spent the first day in Islamic Cairo and at the Citadel, the site of political and military power for 700 years. Strangely enough, that wasn't the major tourist attraction. I was. There were hundreds, nay thousands, of people and a large faction of them were fascinated by a western woman. Within minutes, I was posing for photographs with little girls and boys. There was usually at least one person in the group that spoke English and was the designated talker. It was quite comical and I was enjoying being the center of attention. I felt like Angelina Jolie. All was fine and dandy until one boy copt a feel. Bill, oblivious to the situation was still snapping pictures away as I am about to drop kick the kid.

Me getting swarmed at the Citadel

Me and my Cairo posse

The Mosque at the Citadel

Just before sunset, we arrived at Ibn Tulun Mosque, paid baksheesh for no foreseeable reason to some guy there and then ascended the beautiful minaret for a lovely view of the city. We were lucky to get there just before they closed to visitors for evening prayers.

Ibn Tulun Mosque - Vew from the minaret at dusk

We arrived back to the hotel around dinnertime and were quite exhausted. It was Thanksgiving back home, so it seemed obligatory to go out for some sort of meal. When we got up to the lobby, Abraham (one of the owners) was there petting Bob, the resident kitten. As if reading my mind, Abraham offered to order food for us. A rather rotund man, he pointed to his stomach, smiled and said he knew good food and he would take care of the ordering.

The food came and the man was right. He does know good food. Duck, beef kabob, rice, fasoolyeh (stewed green beans in a tomato sauce) and soup were delivered. Bob came over and was going crazy trying to get his paws on our food. He was slightly satiated when I gave him a few pieces of the duck. The fasoolyeh was amazing and it reminded me of Greek greenbeans, which I love. I couldn't get enough of it. Man. My mouth is salivating right now just thinking about it.

The next day we got up and had a taxi driver take us around to the pyramids at Saqqara, Dahshur and Giza (The Pyramids) for the day. We started with Saqqara, the cemetery of the ancient capital of Memphis. A burial ground for 3,500 years, there are 11 major pyramids there including the Step Pyramid, part of Zoser's funerary complex. It was built by the deified chief architect, Imhotep and is the earliest stone monument in the world.

The Step Pyramid, for those only scanning the pictures

Is anyone still reading? Have your eyes glazed over? If so, then you have an idea of what the first few days of travelling around Egypt is like. When you have 4,500 plus years to cover, things start getting a little bit confusing. Especially when all that you remember from school is King Tut and Nefertiti. Well King Tut is big to everyone but the Egyptians (he served for only 9 years before keeling over and is famous only because his tomb was the only one in recent time to be discovered with the burial treasures). And Nefertiti? Not a word was uttered about her in all of the places that we went (although admittedly, we did miss the Valley of the Queens).

So I said all that just to say that I am going to spare you all of the gory details. I took copious notes and had originally planned to enlighten our readers on everything we learned. But as I continue to write this entry I find my own eyes glazing over and my mind wandering to other things, like what I am going to eat for dinner.

I will say the ancient Egyptians were phenomenal builders. It was interesting to watch the progression from Saqqara to Dahshur and culiminating at Giza. We watched the step-like form of the Pyramid of Teti transfigure into the pyramid shape that we all know and love, beginning at Dahshur. The pyramids were all built to house pharaohs' bodies and store their posessions to help them in the afterlife. All of these fantastic monuments were started when the pharaoh rose to power and needed to be completed within 60 days of the pharaoh's death (this was when the mummification process would be completed).

It is hard to imagine the time and effort that went in to building something of such magnitude with such rudimentary tools. Contemplating all of this, we laughed when thought of the poor guy that had to tell one of the pharaoh's that their pyramid was going to be, er, bent. The Bent Pyramid began at 54 degrees angle, but had to be adjusted to 43 degrees when they realized that the measurements weren't going to work out. Imagine how that conversation must have gone. And you thought your job was hard.

Look closely...it's the Bent Pyramid

By the time we arrived to the Pyramids at Giza the day was growing old. For some unknown reason, going by camel sounded like a good plan. After unsuccessfully negotiating a good price, we settled on a price anyway and met "Hunny" our guide and Frank and Moses, our camels. Bill and I immediately distrusted Hunny and were weary especially when he "found" a piece from a necklace. Flashbacks of our crooked Kilimanjaro guide, Stephen rang through our head. Either way, I don't think that Hunny was expecting the look of disgust that we both gave him.

Even our camel was a BSer...can you really trust a face like that? OK, OK.  I loved the big guy.

As we rode along, Hunny continued to talk and talk and talk. At one point, I had to ask him to stop so that we could enjoy the view. He was more interested in being our photographer though and took over control of the camera. "Do you trust me?" No. "Do you? Trust me. This is my business". We let him work his "magic" and ended up with 20 crappy pictures. The only good ones were the ones that Bill was able to take on occasion.

It was the world's fastest view of the Pyramids. We were promised that we would be able to get off the camels and walk around, but this never materialized even when we asked. "Why would you walk when you can ride?", we were rhetorically asked.

Despite Hunny, the Pyramids did live up to the hype. They are truly amazing and something to behold. The Great Sphinx was a lot smaller than I expected (kind of like the Alamo), but was impressive nonetheless. You don't have to see them to be impressed. Consider this fact - The Great Pyramid was built in 2,570 BC, took only 20 years to build and is constructed of 2.3 million limestone blocks, each weighing 2.5 tons each. That, my friends, is truly impressive. Contrary to popular belief, historians now believe that the pyramids were built by farmers when they were not tending their crop, not slaves as previously believed.

Me in front of the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx

On the way out, Hunny tried to do the obligatory stop at the papyrus shops, but quickly backed down when we told him "no" and gave him the same look that he got with the gem line.

That evening, we sat atop the stable house and watched the light show for free. It was a bit cheesy watching the Sphinx narrarate, but it was nice to see the pyramids lit up.

That night we caught an overnight train to Luxor. Like all overnight transportation, it wasn't exactly quality sleep, but it allowed us to maximize time and save money on a hotel. Amr didn't provide any details on the plan for the next few days even though we repeatedly asked him. He just kept saying not to worry about it and someone would be there to take us to each place and would find us. To his credit, this was true, but perhaps our western ways wanted us to have some sort of schedule so that we could plan accordingly. Still, it was nice to have a break from itinerary planning for a while.

Arriving to Luxor and en route to the cruise ship, we met Marla and Justin, an American couple vacationing for a couple of weeks. Marla, a yoga instructor, had just finished 6 months in India at a yoga school and was reuniting with Justin in Cairo as a mini-vacation before they returned home to Rochester, NY (coincidentally, I have family there too).

By taking a budget travel deal, the cruise ship that we would get was a crap shoot. Basically, we were filling empty cabins. Luck was on our side, however, and we ended up on an Oberoi ship (Oberoi is a luxury hotel chain based in India). We were promised five-star accommodations and we feel that we got them. Although we had twin beds, we were thrilled with a hot shower, a beautiful ship with a pool, pool tables, ping pong, bar, etc. We were even given a loofah for the shower! [You have no idea how the little things really get you jazzed after a while]

We met up with Marla and Justin and were picked up by our guide, Ahmed, to visit the west bank and then the east bank of Luxor. Ahmed was truly amazing. He wasn't just a tour guide. He really knew his stuff and would passionately answer any question that you had not only to your satisfaction but beyond any question you could even think to ask. This is a guy that really loves his job.

The first stop was the Valley of the Kings. Memphis, the capital of the Old Kingdom, was later disposed by Luxor, the capital of the Middle Kingdom. The Valley of the Kings became the new burial ground for the pharaohs and their wives were buried in the nearby Valley of the Queens. It is suspected that this site was selected because the largest hill in the valley resembles a pyramid (perhaps because of cost or the amount of men and materials involved, pyramids were not built during the middle kingdom).

The Valley of the Kings

Our ticket allows us to visit just 3 of the 62 tombs that have been found. King Tut's tomb is here, but is an additional add-on fee and we are told it has little decoration since he was king for such a short amount of time.

We opted to bypass Tut's tomb and asked Ahmed to select the 3 tombs. He decided to show us a tomb from each of the prominent dynasties that are represented in Luxor - King Tuthmoses III from the 18th dynasty, Ramses I from the 19th and Ramses III from the 20th dynasty.

• Tutmoses III (1479 - 1429 BC): Because of his military prowess, he is considered the Napolean of his time. Two rooms, the small room descends to a larger room. The celing is painted with blue sky and white stars. The antechamber's walls depict 700 gods and demigods
• Ramses I (1295 - 1294 BC): Only ruled for 1 year, therefore very simple decoration inside of the tomb but the paints are among the best and most vivid. Ahmed promised that we would be impressed despite the small size and he was right; the artwork was impeccable
• Ramses III (1184 - 1153 BC): One of the largest tombs though not the straightest. It was started by his father, Sethnakht, but abandoned when the tomb builders hit another tomb. Ramses III had builders cut to the right. The tomb is 125m long and contains sunken reliefs. The paintings are beautiful here as well, but pale in comparison to Ramses I

All of the tombs have the same general layout. There are several passages, each symbolizing a different stage on the way to the after-life. The scenes depicted on the wall provide the king with instruction (in hieroglypics) as to how to get to the after-life. The burial chambers are built in the shape of a cartouche (an oblong oval). Scenes from The Book of Gates and The Book of the Dead provide the guidance. As the pharaoh navigates through the passages en route to their tomb (and the after-life), they are confronted with, and must fight, evil spirits. When the pharaoh reaches the sarchophogus, there is a scale with a feather on one side and his heart on the other side. If his heart is pure, it will be lighter than the feather and he and those in his employ will go to heaven.

After leaving the Valley of the Kings, we stopped for a quick photo with the only two pillars remaining of the Colossi of Memnon. King Amenhotep II had originally built his funerary complex near here and the colossi were to serve as guards in front of the structure. Unfortunately, Nile floodwaters ruined the complex and today the only reminders are these two statues.

One of the two statues of Amenhotep II, the only remains of his funerary complex

Next, we headed to the Temple of Hatshepsut, a woman who ruled Upper and Lower Egypt during the 18th century after the death of her husband, Tuthmoses II. While allegedly awaiting for her stepson, Tuthmoses III to take the throne, she took over control and is often depicted wearing the fake beard of the pharaohs.

Temple of Hatshepsut. It was filmed here, but I can't look at this place without singing the Indiana Jones song

Like the burial chambers, many temples also follow a set form. Most are preceded by a Great Court, followed by a hypostyle hall. The hypostyle hall is often my favorite feature of the temple. It is usually at least two rows of limestone columns with a papyrus (symbol of Lower Egypt) and/or lotus flower (symbol of Upper Egypt) design at the top. Each room gets increasingly smaller and is constructed with ramps that go up as the ceiling shrinks. The ceiling gradually descending was said to be stairs for the gods. The last room is the sacred hall and contains an altar and sometimes statues of the gods.

Because our train had initially arrived ate we did not have time to visit all of the sites on the East Bank.We bypassed the Valley of the Queens and opted instead to go to the Temples of Karnak and finish the day at the Luxor Temple.

The Temples of Karnak is a large complex that consists of pylons, obelisks, and statues. It was built by over 80,000 people over 1,500 years and was linked directly to the Luxor Temple.

Bill in the Hypostyle Hall at the Temples of Karnak

The Luxor Temple is one of the few temples that you can visit at night and it glows radiantly making it a perfect place to end the day. The complex was largely built by Amenhotep III, however changes and additions were made over the years by King Tut, Ramses II, Alexander the Great and the Romans. In fact, Alexander the Great even portrays himself in sme reliefs in the temple in Eyptian style.

The obelisk and left-side of the first pylon at Luxor Temple

We headed back to the cruise ship and ate a quick bite before retiring to the upper deck.

We arrived on the island of Lamu after a torturous two-day journey from Zanzibar.  It was late evening and parts of the island were without power (this happens almost every night).  The streets in Lamu are very narrow with tall buildings bordering either side.  Navigating these streets at night, without light, would have been difficult, at best.  We hired an old man at the dock to guide us to the hotel we had selected from the guidebook.

Chrissy and I both don our headlamps and try to keep up with this old guy as he jogs ahead (without a light), and carrying Chrissy's backpack.  The entire town is built on the hillside surrounding the port, so anywhere you want to go from the dock is uphill.  The doors to people's homes are open and most are lit inside with candles.  After a lengthy trek through windy streets we arrive and our chosen hotel is full.  This happens frequently, I think every traveler uses the same book and the same hotel always sounds appealing.  Our guide offers up a few other choices and we head out again.

We arrive at the Amu House hotel, which is without power and the lobby is lit with small hurricane lamps.  The place is a very old Swahili home which as been renovated.  It was over 450 years old.  The caretaker named Lawrence shows us to our room which is awesome.  It is on the second floor of the three story building.  The door to the room was a good example of classic Swahili wood carving.

The bedroom had three beds in it, each a cool looking piece with carved posts.  Connecting the bedroom to the bathroom was a sitting area which looked down over the floor below.  We were quite pleased with this find and negotiated a good price from Lawrence because we wanted to stay six days.  After a nice diner of fresh seafood we go to sleep in our cozy room.

We had headed for Lamu at this time because it is the week of their annual cultural festival.   They have different activities each day including boat and donkey races, traditional dances, etc.  We spent the next morning walking around town looking for an event schedule.  It most places something like this would be easy to find.  But this is Africa, and things like schedules aren't readily available.  We do eventually score a schedule from the organizers of the event (it was their last one) and plan our week.  Museums this day.  Boat races that day, etc.  We settle in to Lamu.

Things move at a fairly slow pace in Lamu.  Each day only had a few planned cultural activities, most in the evenings.  So, we wake late everyday and enjoy the nice breakfast provided by the hotel.  Breakfast was served by Lawrence each day in the oldest part of the building.  It was a full American style breakfast with coffee, eggs made how you want them, toast, and fruit.  After breakfast we would wander around the town streets poking into shops and taking pictures.

Narrow street leading to our hotel

Lamu has a very unique feel to it.  It is a Muslim city, so the streets are full of shrouded women and skull capped men.  There are no cars, the streets are too narrow (actually, there are two, one for the island chief and one as an ambulance, but as far as I can tell they can't drive anywhere).  Any heavy lifting is done by donkey and these seem to be wandering everywhere in the city, often unattended.  When not being used to carry bricks of stone up the hill most donkey owners let them roam freely.  So you share the streets with the donkeys and the infrequent cow.  Most doors on the buildings are beautifully carved, in the Swahili tradition.

Traditional Swahili carved door

All streets lead down to the port which is full of dhow boats.  These are small wooden sail boats that are used for fishing and transportation to other islands and the mainland.

After wandering the streets we are getting a little antsy to do something else.  Almost at exactly the same time we run into two locals peddling activities to tourists.  The first is a dhow captain that has offered to take us on a fishing trip in his boat.  We agree to go the next day.  The second fellow is a rather fat man who cooks traditional dinners at his house for you then has his children sing you songs.  We sign up to go to his place that evening.

Dinner at Ali's was an interesting experience.  We ate on the floor, along with four other tourists.  He served lobster, shrimp, fish, rice, and home made juice.  Surprisingly, he brought out an electronic keyboard at the conclusion of dinner and played piano as his grandchildren sang songs.  They were quite good.

The next day we headed out with another guy named Ali.  This time Ali the dhow boat captain.  He was assisted by Ali, another boat captain/assistant boat captain.  For those of you that are lost by now, we have three Ali's.  Ali #1 the fat cook.  Ali #2 the boat captain, and Ali #3 the other boat captain.  There are a lot of people on Lamu named Ali.  It is a Muslim town.

Two Swedes joined us on the boat for the fishing trip.  Together our group caught fourteen fish.  We caught yellow and white snapper as well as a coral fish and a barracuda.  Our captains docked the boat on a scenic beach and cooked our fish over a fire in a curry and served them with rice.  It was a pretty sweet setup and we swam in the bay while they cooked.

The festivities continued the next several days and we were able to watch donkey races and dhow boat races down by the port.

 
Donkey and boat races that are key events in the annual Lamu Cultural Festival

In the evenings we gathered with several other sets of couples and drank in beer in the limited number of restaurants serving beer in Lamu.  We had quite the cliquish little group going by the end of the week.  We enjoyed Lamu more than expected.  It is a very unique place that goes at its own pace.  I could see us spending more time there the next time we happen to be in Africa…

 
Our friendly host, Lawrence and his pals

Bill

Leaving Stone Town, we hired a shared minivan to take us to Jambiani on the eastern side of the island. After about an hour and a half’s drive, Bill and I were finally dropped off at The Kipepeo (“Butterfly”) Lodge. We took off our shoes and set them outside of the door to the room. We would not put them back on until we left 5 days later.

The first thing we noticed was the delightfully simple and clean bedroom. The bed had a mosquito net around it and a nice breeze was flowing through the window. We technically had a shared bathroom, but the other room did not have any occupants. In fact, there are only five rooms and we there was only one other couple with their small child there the whole time that we were there.

As we walked into the large common area, we were immediately greeted by the friendly staff. Kim manages the place for the Italian owner and his staff includes Nisha, Fatima and Maudy. They have also taken in a new, permanent guest that I named Tiger. They found her at just a few weeks old wondering alone on the beach.

Tiger helps with the housework

The lodge, like all buildings on this small, sleepy town is made of coral stone on the bottom with a high, thatched roof. As you walk out of the common room and onto the back porch, you are greeted by the Indian Ocean. The beautiful turquoise waters recede back to the horizon until the tide comes in around 2 p.m. In late afternoon, it is less than 30 meters away but during low tide you can walk nearly 100 meters before you get to more than a couple of inches of water.

The beach at Jambiani

The blue-green water is full of seaweed near the shore and provides a good income for the local people. Medical and cosmetic companies buy the harvested and dried seaweed for their products. The women and children all go out in the morning and afternoon and pin seaweed to wooden grids that they have put into the sand during low tide. The seaweed flourishes and within a week is ready to be picked. Curiously, the people of Jambiani are all terrified to swim so they only go out when they can walk in water just above their ankles.

Staying in Jambiani can make a person quickly forget time. Every day, we had the same routine. We woke up, put on our swimsuits and went outside to the patio for a nice breakfast of papaya, banana, orange, tangerines, naan and leavened bread. After lunch, we would head towards our beach chairs where Nisha would daily set up a mattress-thick cushion and cover it with a kanga (Swahili name for a sarong that comes in colorful patterns and always includes a fun Swahili saying).

Around 11:30 a.m. or so, Fatima would come by and ask us what we would like for lunch. No matter what we ordered, it always took at least 2 hours to get the food (this actually worked out nicely once we figured out the system). Later in the day, a sweet little girl named Lukaya would come around and sell donuts that her Mom made from scratch everyday. We would often talk for a minute and then she would sit next to me in silence, watching everything that Bill and I did. Later, Bill and I would fall asleep on our chairs. In the evening, we would go to the patio and play Yahtzee or cards while drinking beer until dinner came. Once our food was served, Tiger would come over and cry and cry and cry until she was fed all that she could eat. She was picky and ate nearly all of my fish and prawns on a regular basis. She would then climb on my lap and take a nap while Bill and I continued our game.

In the middle of our stay, we decided to be productive and we went out snorkeling with Rasta Dula. Yes, that actually is what he goes by and yes he does wear Rastafarian dreads and a multi-colored knit cap. We navigated through the low tide to the dhow boat and climbed inside. Twenty minutes later, we arrived at our destination. We saw a lot of beautiful fish, but the highlights were certainly the starfish. Medium-sized stocky starfish of a pale gray hue seemed to beacon us with their vibrant red-lined markings. We were dazzled and a bit frightened by the gigantic sea urchins below the surface. They were too numerous to count and too big not to be a bit on edge.

On the way back to shore, I had the unfortunate experience of stepping on a sea urchin. Fortunately, it was a smaller variety and even more fortunately, it was dead dead and could not actively sting me with its poison (ergo, I did not have to put fresh mango or pee on myself - always a positive).

The following day, Bill decided to go out fishing with Rasta Dula.  I stuck to the routine and sat on the lounge chair all day.

Westerners are definitely tourist attractions around these parts and the kids all love to come up and give you a big smile and say, “Hello.” They are so proud of themselves for speaking another language that they often say it as many times as they can and still get a response back from you.

As I am sitting in the chair, a group of small schoolgirls in matching pink niqabs and navy blue skirts stop to smile and chat. I say “hi”, but they continue the sentences that they sort of know how to say and possibly understand. “HI. PEN IS GOOD. MONEY? PHOTO IS GOOD.” [I had brought extra pens explicitly for this purpose, but had lost so many of my own pens that my original supply was nearly extinct. During our safari, Shannon had given me some pens that she had brought for poor African children but had given me a few to help me out. Yes, I know. That is a sad commentary, but I lose everything.]

So, I have no extra pens and I am not giving out money, but I can take pictures. I ran inside and grabbed our camera. The girls are playing model and love being the focus of the camera. It was really cute. I took several pictures and then they would run over to me and give me big hugs and crawl all over me as they tried to all squeeze in and see the picture. When they saw their pictures, the girls laughed hysterically and started pressing buttons to emulate what I was doing (reviewing the pictures).

     
"The Girls"                                         Playing "Model"

It was all fun and games until all of their friends show up. Before I know it, I am surrounded by 16 kids and no one else is around to save me. We are sitting in the sand and I am having visions of sand getting in the lens and Bill killing me. So I end picture time and put the camera away, but the kids are still there. I can’t think of what to do, so I take out some paper and ask each child their name name and then put it on the piece of paper and hand it to them. They loved it. I wasn’t sure how to spell anyone’s name, but no one seemed to notice or mind. I thought I had it under control until I looked over and saw three kids chugging my Coca-Cola – two from the bottle and one from my glass. All I could do was laugh. The only way that I could escape was to go to the room for a bit.

When I came out, it was nice and quiet so I laid down on a hammock. Lukaya came with her donuts and sat down next to me. We sat there in silence for nearly 15 minutes and then she started rocking me in the hammock.

After a while, Lukaya left and Fatima returned to remind me that it was massage time (yes, it’s a hard life). Many of the local women have been taught massage by volunteers that have come to town and help with sustainable tourism. Fatima was excited to try her new skills and I willingly obliged.

As I prepared myself to lay down, Lukaya ran by crying and very, very upset. She and I were friends and this upset me. I tried to ask her what was wrong, but she wouldn’t say and started running away. I called for Kim and he went after her and talked to her. Apparently, two of the boys that had been playing with us, took her donut money and Lukaya was going to be in big trouble at home. Kim kindly gave her the money for the donuts so that she would not get in trouble. We later found out her mom had 11 mouths to feed. [The next day, she would return, but this time with her older brother!]

Bill returned in the early evening the proud owner of a caught barracuda. Technically, neither he nor Rasta Dula had caught it – the dhow captain had – but the was kind enough to give it to us to cook that evening for dinner. Maudy prepared it perfectly and it was one of the best meals that we had. Tiger seemed to enjoy it, too.

Bill's barracuda as prepared by Maudy

Our time in Jambiani was so relaxing and the people treated us like family. The evenings were always fun to see the children coming out after school to play on the beach. There was a group of boys that would always come out and catch sand crabs by throwing a lasso around them. The first time the boy said what he was doing, we laughed. We didn’t think it was possible. Two minutes later, he came by and showed us the three crabs he had caught. Now believers, we watched him and his friends catch several more.

Some shells that I found on the beach

Another day, as we sat on the beach, two Maasai men came by selling jewelry. Having visited a Maasai village in Kenya and being in the midst of reading a book about the Maasai, I was excited to look and buy the jewelry. I didn’t get a particularly good deal, but I didn’t really mind because I felt like I was supporting the community. Rasta Dula was visiting Kim inside and I showed him my beautiful new purchases. “Yes, they do nice work,” he says. “The fake Maasai.” Huh? So I ask him if I’ve really been duped.

“You didn’t really think they were Maasai did you? What would a Maasai be doing here? There’s nowhere to herd their animals.” Yes, I really was duped. Oh well. All in good fun*. We still had time, but had heard about a cultural festival coming up in another coastal town along the coast of Kenya. Although we were sad to leave, we put our hiking boots back on, caught the van and headed back to Stone Town in preparation for leaving the following day.

I hadn’t even gotten in the van yet and I missed Jambiani already.

- Chrissy

*Apparently several men on the island pretend to be Maasai to get jobs as security guards. Being perceived as the strongest tribe, most managers prefer to hire them over other non-Maasai applicants.

- Chrissy

We had just completed fifteen days of Safari in Kenya and Tanzania.  Thoughts of the pending Kilimanjaro climb had been running through my head since arriving in Africa.  I wasn't looking forward to this little bit of our trip at all.  What had sounded good over wine in Dallas was now clearly a crappy plan.  Two things were bothering me about climbing the mountain:

1.  We had climbed a much, much, smaller volcano in Chile called Villiroca as a daytrip and this had almost killed me (see relevant notes on that experience here).

2.  I am very much afraid of heights

Now with the beginning of the climb starting I was sure that it would end with me either too frightened by the plummeting cliffs to continue, or my lazy ass wouldn't be in good enough shape to get up the hill anyway.

Before I go on, some brief background on the mountain:

1.  Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa and the fifth highest mountain in the world

2.  It is supposed to be the easiest of the Seven Summits to climb

3.  22,000 people attempt to reach the summit every year, about 40% of these don't make it

3. An average of seven people dies every year attempting to reach the summit

4. Don't think too much of all this, some Frenchman named Valtee Daniel did it at an age of 87

We had organized the climb through the same outfit that facilitated our Tanzania safari.  This in itself was slightly concerning; I was hoping that it wasn't the same lazy guy who drove our safari van who would be leading us up the mountain.  Climbing Kilimanjaro requires a fairly large crew.  Our group was made up like this:

• 4 climbers (Chrissy, two friends from Dallas: Stephen and Shannon, Myself)
• 1 Guide
• 1 Assistant Guide
• 1 Cook/Porter
• 11 Other Porters

18 People Total

Here is a day by day on how the climb played out:

Night Before Start Of Climb

We had spent a long day prior traveling to Moshi from the end point of our Safari.  The evening consisted of me and Stephen walking around town searching for an altitude sickness drug called Diamox.  Some of the pharmacies in town carried it and some didn't.  I had decided we didn't need the stuff while planning back at home, but like a lot of things your perspective changes standing at the foot of a mountain.  The town is kind of a crazy place with touts chasing you everywhere wanting you to buy a t-shirt or some damn thing.  The touts are so desperate that they will follow you for hours just to sell one bracelet.  We did eventually find some Diamox which is cheap in Tanzania (no prescription needed) and retired to our slightly shady hotel to get some rest before starting the adventure.

Day One

Our guide meets us early in the morning at our hotel.  His name is also Stephen, same as one of our friends who came from Dallas for the Safari and Kilimanjaro climb. 

Here is a photo, so there is no confusion (guide on the left, our friend on the right).

Stephen is a rather large, stocky dude, but I notice right off that he has the makings of a beer gut going.  How to you climb a mountain for a living and keep a gut?  It is just him and a driver; he will hire the porters and such on the fly at the bottom of the mountain.  We all load up in a van similar to those that we have used for Safari and start the couple hour drive to the base of the mountain.  We can't see the top of Kilimanjaro as we drive up because it is hidden in clouds as it has been for the whole time we have been in Tanzania.

Kilimanjaro has like 15 different routes up to the top.  The most popular of which is called the Marangu route.  The trailhead of the Marangu is where the main park office is; it has a place for renting gear, and is where most of the freelance porters hang out.  So we head there first even though we have chosen the Rongai route as our trail to the summit and the Rongai trailhead is on the other side of Kilimanjaro.  First stop at the Marangu base is a fairly sketchy wooden shack where Chrissy and I are supposed to rent the additional gear we need.  We need several items that were not included in our round-the-world traveling kit. 

The plan was to rent:

• Fleece Pants
• Rain Pants
• Gloves
• Hiking Boots
• Hiking Poles
• Day Hiking Packs
• Ponchos
• Sleeping Bag

The rental stuff is obviously items left/donated by previous hikers.  Not the quality gear we rented for our other climb in Chile.  There isn't much to be done about it, so after trying on a few items, we gather it all up and head over to the little camp store that is also there at the Marangu base.  Here we are buying up all kind of necessities; toilet paper tops the list, along with: candy, extra batteries for our headlamps, chewable energy tablets, etc.  We over-buy and over pay for all this crap, but what can you do.

While all this is happening, the guide is procuring the porters.  I don't really understand the system for this.  He tells us that some of these guys wait around at the base of the mountain for weeks waiting to get a trip up the mountain.  There is some quiet pushing and jostling, as these guys jam themselves in our van.  It was like a clown car.  There were only two extra seats for the porters but they jammed like six of them in.  They were all piled on top of each other.  It was ok because we only had another two hour drive to the other side of the mountain and the Rongai trailhead.  We head out.

The Rongai trailhead is much smaller and quieter than the Marangu.  Basically, a couple of shacks.  A park official had us sign into a log book as other guys weighed our packs.  They do this because there is a limit on what each porter can carry.  In the past these guys were badly abused and made to carry massive amounts of crap up the mountain.  No problem with our stuff.  We hit the trail.

The group before we start out (from left: Bill, Chrissy, Shannon, Stephen)

One of the cool things about Kilimanjaro is that you hike through a very diverse range of climates: cultivated fields, rain forest, heather/moorland, alpine desert, and ice capped summit.  The first part of the climb is tropical jungle mixed in with the farms.  The going isn't too steep, and the walk is quite pleasant.

The advice that everyone gives about climbing Kili is that you must walk very, very slowly.  Slow translates to "pole" in Swahili and the guides and porters say "pole", "pole", "pole" to you over and over.  The reason for this is that you body needs time to adjust to the altitude.  If you go up too fast, you get altitude sickness, which amounts to really bad headaches, possibly vomiting, stomach pain, etc.  Once you get sick, if you don't descend to a lower height you could eventually lose consciousness, die, etc.  Good stuff.  The main cause for getting sick is that the air gets thinner as you go up and each breath brings less oxygen.  The Diamox stuff we were taking was supposed to cause your body to take more frequent breaths, thus getting more oxygen in you.

So, we walk along that first day, through the jungle and pass by local people's houses and kids come out to wave and they all shout "hello", and "chocolate" over and over, which someone has taught them to say in English.  We don't have to walk too far this day, it is three hours to the first campsite, called 1st Cave, because there is a small cave there in some rock.  We get there without any troubles.  The camping is primitive.  There are outhouses that cover holes in the ground for toilet activities.  Our porters have arrived much earlier than we have (they don't have to walk as slow, even as they lug our stuff).  Tents have been set up for us to sleep in and one big tent is used for cooking.  We are given basins of warm water to wash our face and hands.

The porters used a propane tank to heat water for us to wash our hands with at the end of each day.

As I said, one of the porters is the designated cook.  His name is Peter, and does good work.  Like the rest of Africa, each meal starts off with a soup followed by the main dish which may be chicken or beef in a curry with rice, followed by fruit for desert.  We eat our meal by candle light in the cooking tent and then head back to our tents for some sleep.  First night is spent at 2,600 meters.  Pretty cool so far.

This leads me to BIG FAT LIE #1 as told by our guide Stephen.

BIG FAT LIE #1 is: "The rental sleeping bag is very warm."

It is a standard mummy type bag, but not any brand that I had heard of and there wasn't any kind of temperature rating that I could see on the tags.  I wake up cold as hell in the middle of the night and put on a heavy sweater.

The next morning I mention this to our guide and he says I just need to wear more clothing at night.  I am thinking that with a "very warm" sleeping bag you shouldn't need to wear all this crap when it isn't even cold outside yet.  This could be an issue at the top of the mountain.

Day 2

We wake at 7 AM, have a breakfast of tea, eggs, sausage, pancakes, and fruit.  By 7:30 we continue climbing and only have a 2 hour trek to the next camp.  This sounds easy, and it is for the most part.  That's how the hike is supposed to go.  A slow, measured hike up to get the body conditioned for the altitude.  The second camp is called Kikelewa Caves, (yep, there is another small cave there), and has a similar setup of outhouses. 

I should mention that our whole group got sick from eating the food made by our last safari cook.  This makes frequent visits to the outhouse necessary.  The other thing going on is that the Diamox has kicked in.  It has the lovely side effect of making you pee all the time.  Okay during the day, but sucks at night when it is cold and you have to crawl out of your tent and dress to go to the outhouse.  The other weird thing about Diamox is that it makes your hands and feet tingle, like they do if you have fallen asleep on your hand, and cut the circulation off.

We have a good view down into the valley now.  We hit the sack early.  Kikelewa Caves campsite is at 3600 meters.

Day 3

After breakfast we begin a four hour hike to the next camp.  The going is getting difficult now.  We reach camp and then climb up an additional 40 meters above camp and come back down.  This is called an "acclimation" hike.  You do this at higher altitudes to expose you body to the effects of the higher altitude and then let it rest for the night at a lower point.  For the first time we are feeling the effects.  I get a headache, as does most of the group.  We spend the night at Mawenzi Tarn campsite which is at 4330 meters.

 
Here is Mawenzi Tarn Campsite.

Day 4

Day four starts at the usual time with the usual breakfast.  We hike for five hours to the Kibo Hut campsite (4,700 meters).  This is the most difficult hiking we have done thus far.  The trail is very steep and rocky.  When we get to Kibo Hut, we then trek for an additional hour up the mountain for more altitude acclimation.

   
From left: Bill resting in the alpine desert, group arrival at Kibo Hunt, and the Kibo Hunt welcome sign.

Kibo Hut is the point at which the Rongai Route meets us with the Marangu Route.  The Marangu Route is the most popular path up the mountain.  It is nicknamed the "Coca Cola" route because at every campsite along the Marangu there is a store where you can buy Coke.  Sure enough, when we go to the park office at Kibo there is a guy selling Coke and even beer.  If you go Marangu all the way you can sleep in cabins as well, don't have to camp.  We had chosen the Rongai because it is more scenic and upon looking at all these cabins and such at Kibo, decided that Marangu people are weak.

We tooled around the camp for a bit, ate lunch and then lay down in our tents to get some sleep.  That night we would be making our attempt at the summit.

The accepted method to getting to the top is kind of nuts and it didn't make much sense to me until after we did it.  You are supposed to do most of the climb in the dark.  Groups leave Kibo between 11 PM and 12 AM.  You do this because the whole top part of the mountain is covered in scree.  Scree is this horrible crap made up of loose rock and dirt.  For every two steps you take in this stuff, you slide back down one.  The idea behind hiking at night is that it’s crazy cold and all the scree is frozen making it half way solid and easier to walk through.

So after our naps we wake and start preparing for the climb.  This involves putting on more clothes than we have been wearing.  Mainly another pair of socks and these hoods that cover your whole head.  Chrissy and I also load up on Diamox and Imodium (don't want to need to go number two on the freak’in mountain).  Peter the cook makes tea and sets out some crackers for us.  We have taken longer than planned getting ready and it is 12:30 AM before we are ready to head out.  It has started snowing.

Heading Toward The Top

Only the main guide (Stephen), the assistant guide (Nicholas), and we paying climbers (Chrissy, Shannon, Stephen, and Me) do this last bit evolving the summit.  The porters all stay at Kibo.  The four of us are hiking along at an incredibly slow pace.  Nicholas is leading us up an extremely steep switchback trail.  As we plod along it is apparent how crazy this whole thing is.  It is dark, cold, and snowing.  Even at this slow pace we are all out of breath because of the altitude.  Chrissy looks like the ice queen because the falling snow has frozen in all the pieces of her hair which have come out of the hood she is wearing.  They look like long thin icecicles.  The snow is melting somewhat as it hits our jackets.  Which brings me to:

BIG FAT LIE #2 is: "The rain jacket you have is junk and you will need to rent another one."

Stephen had told me that the jacket I had with me wasn't good enough for the weather at the summit and that I would need to rent a poncho.  There isn't anything wrong with my jacket, but I rented the poncho like he wanted anyway.  This behavior makes sense when you know that the guide gets a commission on the gear rentals.  Later on I realized that my legs (which were covered by rental rain pants) were soaking wet.  My upper body (outer shell being my jacket, the stupid poncho never left my day pack) was perfectly dry.  This all didn't really matter, I didn't realize how wet I was until we were down the mountain.  Irritating, anyway.

We are at the Hans Meyer Cave (5150m) by this time, which is half way between Kibo and Gilman’s point (last stop before the summit).  The going is pretty rough now, our friend Stephen is really feeling the altitude, and has started vomiting/dry heaving every 15-20 minutes.  We all stop frequently to rest (it is too damn cold to sit down; you just kind of stand there on the trail and rest your head on your poles).  On we go.

The sky starts to lighten, we were supposed to watch sunrise from Gilman’s Point (5 681m), but we have been going pretty slow and are behind.  Stephen has decided to take it at his own pace and has broken off from the group with Stephen the guide.  They are somewhere behind us when we finally do reach Gilman's.  It seems like it took forever to get here.  We all sit down to rest and drink some water.  Chrissy, Shannon, Nicholas, and I have been resting for about fifteen minutes when Stephen and Stephen catch up.  There is some brief discussion on who wants to continue.  Gilman's is the point where most people decide to turn around, if they don't make it to the top.  Our group is going for it.  Stephen is still pretty sick, but he decides to continue, even while vomiting on Gilman's.

We maintain the two group setup so Stephen can take it slow with the other Stephen.  We are all damn tired now and are barely moving forward.  We start to pass other groups that are now coming down.  Our crew is the last set of people going up.  The sun is fully up now and we have turned our headlamps off sometime back.  I had been fearing sunrise because I thought the light would reveal some crazy steep drop-offs that would not appeal to my fear of heights.  To my surprise, it wasn't that bad, steep but not like cliffs and such.  The road to the summit after Gilman's actually isn't as bad as I would have thought.  You have covered much of the vertical height already and need to hike over to go up some more to the peak.  We did pass another hiker that was puking as he was coming down and some mean lady made the comment to us that we had a long way to go (can you say bitch?)

Some eternity later we come over a steep rise and can see a small flat area with a wooden sign at the end.  We have reached the summit!  The summit is called Uhuru Peak and is at a whopping 5895 meters. We all feel elated to be there.  I for one didn't have a lot of confidence that I would make it.  We do a lot of hugging and back slapping, then the camera's come out.

Chrissy and Bill, elated to be on the summit of Killimanjaro.

The view at the summit is pretty obscured by the clouds.  I had imaged seeing herds of Zebra rooming the African plan, but this was not to be.  The sun did peak through the clouds every few minutes and we got a quick look at the glacier that is off to the south side of the summit.  We have to take photos really quick because your camera battery dies because it is so cold.  We are getting cold as well having stood around at the top for about twenty minutes now.  There has been no sign of Stephen and Stephen and we assume that they have turned back.

Look closely at the far left of the picture and you can see Stephen coming out of the fog

We are about to leave when we see them coming up the path.  Stephen is still in a bad state, but here he is, limping his way to the top.  Literally limping.  Frozen balls of snow have attached to one of his boots and he is dragging them along.  We start the hugging and back slapping all over and break out the cameras again.

The whole crew on the summit, sun hidden by the clouds.

After the last batch of photos we head back with a new spring in our step.  Not too much spring, but some.  Going down is certainly easier than coming up.  Stephen the guide takes the lead and sets a crazy pace on the way back.  Not sure what his rush is.  We soon break into groups again.  This time with Stephen the guide up front (way up front) then Chrissy, Shannon, and I.  Stephen is coming back with Nicholas.  We head down a different way than we came up.  Stephen doesn't want to do the switchbacks again.  He is going the no trail route down through the scree field.  The dude is basically jogging down.  Chrissy and I lose Shannon.  This isn't cool cause we aren't following a trail and Shannon is too far ahead to go back with Stephen and Nicholas.  I am getting pissed off that our guide feels the need to go down this fast and is so far ahead.  We lose him as well.  The scree field ends at some point and we pick up a trial, finding the guide resting in the shade of some rocks.  What a guy.

We are really, really, tired but make it back to Kibo camp in time to take a nap before we must pack everything up and head to a new campsite.  I hear Stephen and Shannon come in sometime later; Shannon spent some scary time on her own but managed to meet back up with Stephen and Nicholas.  After our naps we pack our stuff and head out.  We will be taking the Marangu route back (for some reason you can only go up on the Rongai route).

Day Five

Having accomplished what we came for, we are all pretty happy.  The sun is shining and we can see the mountain behind us as we head down.  We stop at a designated latrine along the trail for a bathroom break.  Which brings me to:

BIG FAT LIE #3: "I found this Tanzanite by the path near the bathroom."

Tanzanite is a precious stone found in Tanzania.  It is a really pretty blue color.  It is rare.  You don't find it on the ground near the bathroom.  Like most of Stephen's fibs, it sounded reasonable at the time.  The guide gave two small stones to our Stephen saying he could think about giving him something for them later.  This guy was always working it.  We stop for the night at the Horombo Huts.  This is a really sweet camp that is on a steep side of the mountain.  The sunset view is spectacular.  We score ourselves a four bunk hut and after a nice meal in a warm dining hall retire for the evening.

Day Six (Final Day)

The morning brings an equally stunning sunrise over the valley.  We are also confronted with BIG FAT (and most disturbing) LIE #4.

BIG FAT LIE #4: "An English lady died after attempting the summit the previous evening, they have just carried her body through camp."

Stephen drops this bomb on us as we are getting ready to eat breakfast.  Again, it sounded reasonable at the time.  According to Stephen, this unfortunate lady went halfway to the summit from Kibo hunt and got very ill, she then came down and died while sleeping in one of the bunk houses.  People can die of altitude sickness; it was only after considering the other deceptions that we looked into this one later.  A death on the mountain would be big news and it was never reported in the weeks after this that Chrissy and I remained in Tanzania.  You wonder why our guide would make something like this up.  Who knows?  The only thing I can come up with is he wanted us to feel very lucky and hence provide him with a larger tip.  Crazy.

The last day’s hike down to the Marangu gate at the base of the mountain was very pleasant.  We took things slow and enjoyed the hike.  It started to rain a bit, but this was okay.  It felt kind of weird when we got to the bottom, I was disbelieving that the whole thing had occurred.  At Marangu gate you sign your name and details in the official park register. This is also where successful climbers receive their summit certificates. Those climbers who reached Gillman's Point are issued green certificates and those who reached Uhuru Peak receive gold certificates.  We are all pretty pleased to have the gold certificates.

We gathered around with our porters and they sang us a traditional Swahili mountain song.

The climb was definitely tough, but we all felt good about being able to power through it.  Our guide was on the shady side, but this only added to the craziness of the whole thing.  I don’t think any of us plan to make a go of it again.  I do know that it will be one of those most memorable parts of our round the world journey.

Cheers,

Bill

We left Lake Manyara and traveled westward to Olduvai Gorge, a.k.a "The Cradle of Mankind". Olduvai is actually wrong - the original and correct name given by the local Maasai is Oldupai - in honor of the plant that grows in the area with the same name.

The gorge is where Louis and Mary Leakey made some of the most important archeological finds of the last century. Mary and her team found the famous Laetoli footprints which established the first known record of bipedal people. The footprints are set in volcanic ash and were removed, cast and then reburied in the gorge for preservation purposes. Today, the visitor's center provides just a short, but good, glimpse of the discovery and the work of Louis and Mary.

There are five distinguishable layers, the oldest lava layer dating from approximately 2 million years ago. The other layers in chronological order include volcanic ash (~1.5m years ago), mixture (~1m years ago), volcanic ash (800-700,000 years ago) and the current layer (100,000 years ago to present). The gorge is 35 km east to west and plunges 90 meters down.

While it was quite awe-inspiring to see where it all began, it was a bit disappointing to only be able to stand on a ledge and look down at the gorge. Oh well. All in the name of archeology.

By dusk, we reached our camp along the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. Apparently, we weren't the only ones privvy to this cool camping spot; it was packed. But we were able to get a great spot overlooking the crater.

The Crater forms resides along part of the rim of the Great Rift Valley. [The Great Rift Valley stretches from the Middle East to Mozambique and includes Ngorongoro Crater and seven lakes (including Lake Nakuru). "Lucy" was found in the Great Rift Valley in Ethiopia].

The crater contains...are you ready for this?....30,000 animals. In fact, almost every identified species of East African animal lives here including the Big Five. If you are quickly skimming, please pause as you digest that. Envision a large crater hole in the ground and then imagine it full of animals like cheetahs, leopards, elephants, rhinos, lions, etc. It is unequivocally one of the coolest things that I have ever seen. But first a little background. The crater was formed when a neighboring volcano exploded for the third time and actually impoded, creating the crater.

Within the crater, you can easily see end to end. But what you do not realize until you start to drive around, is that beyond the savannah, there is also forest, swamp and a lake. The grass is mostly short, but there are also large pockets of longer grass.

When we were originally planning this trip, I thought sure that this would be a place where we were assured to see a lot of animals. But then the real day came. And as we began to descend into the crater, I couldn't see anything but zebras and gazelles. I was a bit disappointed.

That ended up being short-lived. Within minutes, the empty grass became alive with animals everywhere we looked. As we drove by a ditch, a hyena slept in it right next to the road. A jackal running across the savannah. Kori bustards, the largest bird in Tanzania, perched on wood near the road.

A wild party in the Crater must have kept this hyena up late

We saw a group of trucks huddled around an area that had some flat savannah preceding a small embankment. We joined them and sat staring for a few minutes trying to understand what everyone was looking at in the distance. Eventually, someone in the car saw a hyena sunning himself. At this point, we got frustrated because we thought we were dealing with amateur safariers (we were, at this point well seasoned, of course). We'd seen a few hyenas and we sure as heck wouldn't cause a scene to stop for one. We were disappointed in the lot we were parked next to and about to leave...and then the cheetah stood up. It turns out, our compadres were actually not as dumb as they looked (just kidding) and had spotted a hyena following a cheetah looking for seconds of whatever the cheetah would be eating. 

What's all the fuss about?

We sat for several minutes and watched the cheetah make a move. OK, not so much. He did move, but only to another shady tree. He walked, the hyena walked. Pretty cool.

The crater also provided us with our first - and only - look at a pride of lions. We were fortunate to see 8 sunning themselves on a rock. We also saw four additional females and a male and female pair in the distance for a total of 14 lions!

Perhaps one of the saddest things to witness is the few elephant bones that remain. Male elephants come to the crater when they get older (into their late 40s) and have lost many of their teeth for chewing. They remain in the crater until their death.

At lunchtime, we stopped near the river and got out our packed lunches. [Sidebar: when we crossed the border into Tanzania, we had to get a new cook and driver because Kenyan operators are not able to work in Tanzania. We were now traveling with Joseph, the driver and Daniel, our cook. Daniel was a phenomenal cook but Joseph was a bit slimy]. Daniel had made us a nice lunch and we all got out of the car to enjoy the hippos in the water in front of us and sit down for lunch. Other safari vehicles were parked near us but everyone seemed to be eating in the trucks. Again, we chocked it up to lame safari people.

Hippos and a stork in the lake next to our picnic spot

As usual, we were the last to be clued in on kite birds. Their name is a propos. The little bastards dive bomb you. That's really all I have to say about them. Oh, one more thing. They suck.

So 30 minutes later, we are driving and I realize that I am missing my glasses. Thinking that I was too-cool-for-school, I never have gotten contact lenses and walk around 99% of the time somewhat blind. On safari, I had my glasses, but I also had my non-prescription sunglasses. I rectified this by wearing glasses AND sunglasses on top of each other at the same time. I really am a catch.

Anyway, all that is irrelevant save for the fact that I lost my glasses. Because I lose everything, no one believes me when I mention it. But everyone is a good sport and looks for them with me. Joseph then pipes up and mentions that someone found some glasses on the bonnet (hood) of another truck. I knew that I did not set my glasses on another truck, so I dismiss this comment. He calls other trucks though on his radio and we begin to stop and interview everyone we drive by. It actually starts to get comical because all of the drivers have seen and held the glasses and passed them on to other drivers. We don't know why. Finally, I resolve to the fact that my glasses are gone and tell Joseph that we are ready to leave. He agrees and we head out.

That night, we return to camp and are surprised to find a very large bird at camp. In fact, aside from an ostrich, it's the largest bird that I've ever seen. Bill aptly names him the "tuxedo bird" because he is black with a white tummy. He actually just hangs out with us for most of the evening and then leaves. Later, we find out he is a Marabou stork. It's a beautiful, crazy bird.

The next day, we are on schedule to head out to the Serengeti. Joseph picks us up and hands me my glasses. What the...? Apparently, he went to dinner in town and ran into another driver who was meeting another driver who had my glasses for dinner. All's well that ends well, I say.

Vision restored, we head out to the Serengeti.

Animals spotted in Ngorongoro Crater:

• Big Five
  • Buffalo
  • Lions (14)
    • Pride of 8
    • Pair in the distance
    • 4 female
  • Elephants (bulls)
• Cheetah with hyena following
• Countless hyenas
• Jackal
• Hartebeest
• Hippos
• Warthogs
• Birds
• Kori bustard
• Flamingos
• Crowned cranes
• kites
• bustards
• Marabou stork

I would guess that most everyone has head of the Serengeti in Tanzania. But perhaps less people have head of the Kenyan counterpart, the Maasai Mara. Having watched only a limited amount of National Geographic prior to our trip, I admit that I was not familiar with the name.

For geographical purposes they are located within the same area, but for political reasons they are considered two separate parks depending on which of the two countries you are in. To add to the confusion, even though you can easily step foot into Tanzania from the park (you can even take your picture at the marker), you cannot actually cross the border in this area. In fact, you must travel another 150 km before you can get your passport stamped. I mention all of this because our trip encompassed both the Mara and the Serengeti, but because of the border crossings, we did not get to the Serengeti until a week later.

As we drove along in our minibus, we all tried to focus on something other than the continual potholes that we were hitting and dodging all at the same time. I beliee it was unanimous- we all stopped talking and gasped at the beautiful sight before us - 19 giraffes silently walking in a row. This was not in the park. These giraffes were just walking among the trees in the wild. "Graceful" would be the most appropriate word to describe what we were looking at before us. They slowly went about their business walking and stopping occasionally to chew on a branch. 

After a quiet dinner, we all retreated back to our tents. It was very quiet and tranquil as we walked along in the dark. Shannon and I walked along chatting until we saw a large man standing beside us in the dark. There was nothing to worry about - it was a Maasai man standing guard over the campsite. Again, just further proof that I would last two minutes on my own in the wild. I never saw the guy until he was right in front of me.

The next day, we woke up and went to visit one of the local Maasai tribes. The Maasai are nomads that roam the area with their herds of livestock. They are well recognized for their warrior skills and are one of only four nomadic tribes left.

It felt a little touristy to pay $20 a piece to visit the village, but there are many villages and you can go to any one of them so they have no reliable source of income from tourism. And as much as it irritated me to pay a premium, I was intrigued by their culture and I wanted to get a firsthand glimpse of what their life is like.

The young men of the tribe came out and performed a dance for us. One of the young men had recently been circumsised and was wearing the traditional lion's mane hat to indicate so. The men all jumped to a rhythm in what can best be described as a vertical jumping contest. Bill and Steve were both invited to perform and gave it their best shot.

Steve proves he can hang with the best of 'em

Next, it was the ladies' turn. The women came out of the village and took our hands. Lisa, Shannon and I were led into the village area and were taught to dance with the women. A small boy that could barely walk immediately came up to me and held my hand. He wanted to dance but his Mom wasn't paying attention, so he picked me as the next best option.

Me and my buddy

Touring the village really put things in perspective for me. I have neither the patience nor the skill that these women posess. While the men tend to the herds, the women do the bulk of the work. They are responsible for building the houses, maintaining them, child-rearing, cooking, cleaning the clothes and the dishes in the nearest river and making jewelry to sell.

A Maasai woman with her baby

Like me, the Maasai eat only animals and no vegetables. Unlike me, the Maasai drink blood from the jugular vain of a live animal if they have no milk or have lost a lot of blood (e.g., after circumcision or child birth). I prefer Starbucks although I have never given birth and I do not qualify for circumcision.

Touring a hut was a humbling experience. John, a friend of the chief, showed us one of his houses. I say one of his houses because John has four wives. The Maasai are able to marry as many women and have as many children as they can realistically and equally support. John must not have been doing too bad for himself because he has three wives and seven children with each wife.

The huts look small from the outside but are surprisingly spacious on the inside. Made from twigs and cow dung, the huts are comprised of three very small bedrooms - one master, one for the children and believe it or not, a guest room. And all of this is done with 150 - 200 square feet. Each bed is made of switches and covered with cow hide. The hallway doubles as the kitchen with an ever present fire ready for any unexpected company that may arrive. A small window above the fire helps to remove the smoke from the inside of the house. A small room near the entrance is used to house newborn animals during the night.

The huts are constructed around a circle. The purpose of the circle is to allow the animals to reside in the middle of it at night and be protected from the large cats or anyone that would dare to steal from a Maasai warrior. Because of this nightly ritual, the ground is covered with cow patties and flies abound. As our group tried to tactfully dodge the dung, we watched the barefoot women and children walk through the mess. The flies relentlessly attacked the faces of the children.

Some of the houses in the village that we visited

One of the beautiful children that we met

The men then taught Bill how to make fire vigorously rubbing a piece of soft wood against a piece of Cyprus. For just a small price, Bill could take home the wood and show his friends. Bill politely declined.

That's my man putting his Boy Scout skills to work

At the end of our trip, we were ushered to an area where they sold their crafts. Shannon and Lisa talked Steve into doing a group bargaining and Bill and I were left to find for ourselves. Both the Maasai men and myself were unsuccessful in talking Bill out of his watch. Bill wouldn't even fold when they offered to give him a whole table of stuff in exchange for it. Next time, I'm bringing extra watches. 

I decided not to buy earrings from this guy

After leaving the village, we went to the park and I got my first glimpse of a cheetah. Three male brothers in fact. I had been driving Raphael and the gang crazy with my obsession about seeing a cheetah. The real thing was no let down. The cheetahs seemed to ignore us as they relaxed under the shade of a bush. Having crossed them off of my list, I moved on to searching for leopards.

Groovin' on a Sunday afternoon

That night, we climbed into bed and were immediately greeted by an elephant trumpeting and going through camp. Not to worry, the Maasai man was on the case. So, too, was Shannon.

On our last day in the Mara, we had a brief game drive that was followed by breakfast. Later, we headed out to the grass airport strip within the park. As we drove, we noticed a group of trucks near where we were. "Christina", Raphael informed me, "you are getting your wish". There before us were two male leopards relaxing on two separate trees next to one another. Neither seemed to mind the crowd that had gathered around them. In fact, one got up just to stretch and rearrange his sleeping position. Imagine my surprise when we also passed a cheetah just a few hundred feet away!

One of the leopard brothers

We arrived at the airport (read: dirt road in the middle of the park) and had a laugh as we watched the Maasai employees usher wildebeest off of the runway. Shortly thereafter, our plane arrived and we jumped into the small 12-seater and jetted back to Nairobi.  

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We took a ton of good pics here (at least in our opinion), here are some of our other favorites:

Young love...ain't it the greatest

Summary of Animals Spotted in the Mara:

On October 11, Bill and I flew from Santiago to Nairobi via London. We had a one-day stopover in London that allowed us to buy a camera bag and even see Buckingham Palace and London Bridge again. As Clark Griswalk once said, "Look, kids - Big Ben, Parliament".

When we boarded the plane to Nairobi, we looked around for Shannon and Steve – they were supposed to be on the same flight through London. We went through the A340 twice, but were never able to find them. We later found out that President Bush was flying through the Chicago airspace on the day that they left and they missed the original plane to London.

The next day, Bill and I went to the Eastern and Southern safari office and found out that the rest of our group would be meeting us the following day. Bill and I were introduced to our guide, Raphael; our cook, Weston and were off to Samburu park.

The guidebook mentioned bumpy roads, but maybe they should have elaborated. We had gotten used to going airborne in South American buses, but Kenya roads take it to a new level. If you’ve never ridden on a road in Kenya, then you’ve never seen a proper pot hole. We watched as hundreds of Kenyans peered into the ditch next to us at the car that had just flipped over (no worries – it’s a common site here and one that is often not fatal).

We arrived at Samburu in the evening, in time for a late game drive. The park is very small and is very rocky. With the exception of the tamarind trees along the bank of the Ewaso Ngiro river that runs through the park, there is very sparse canopy cover.

Immediately, we were introduced to the myriad of antelope types that run through many of the parks in East Africa. Impalas, Thomson gazelles and the smallest of the bunch, the dik-dik (stop laughing). Although they are very common, the dik-diks are among our favorite because they are so tiny and cute. You never will see one without the other. 

Samburu also has a couple of animals that other parks do not have. The gerenuk is an antelope that has a distinctively long neck and the oryx has an amazingly beautiful face with black markings and strikingly large horns. The park is also host to the Grevy zebra, a different breed from the common zebra, with perfect stripes.

As we arrived at our campsite within the park, we quickly realized that we were beyond rustic. Despite the spacious Army tents that littered the camp, we found ourselves in a cozy two-person tent in front. Although we were the only patrons at that particular camp, the local Samburu people that help run the park stayed in the large tents. 

Weston cooked us a fantastically tasty meal of spaghetti and sauce (a ginger tomato sauce that included meat and carrots) followed by fruit. While dining, Bob - a local Samburu stationed at the campsite - picked up a slingshot and pretended to shoot. As we looked around, we saw the cause – tons of baboons and Vervet monkeys surrounding us! Having already been peed on by one baboon at the Mendoza, Argentina zoo, I vowed to stay clear of the baboons.

That night, we went to bed around 8:30 p.m. With literally no fence or protection, I thought that we would not sleep well. We were literally sleeping in the middle of a game reserve with little more than Bob and his slingshot! The only warning given was not to move if we heard the elephant – they are easily spooked when traveling alone and will trample you. 

We slept reasonably well. We could hear baboons walking by us. And then…

ROAR
ROAR
ROA
RO
RO
RO
RO
RO
RO
RO 

For those slow on the uptake, that’s a lion. That can be a bit unsettling when there is nothing but canvas between you and said lion. Without a better plan, we stayed very still. We knew it was not right next to us, but we also knew that it was not far away.

Things died down again and were going well until I heard the elephant. Bill had already gone back to sleep and started to roll over. “DON’T MOVE. BILL – SERIOUSLY. DON’T MOVE”. He kept moving. I could hardly wait for morning. 

The next morning, we watched the baboons fight and play and got ready for the morning drive. Bill and I walked to the bathroom and each picked a stall. [For those curious, “stall” equals “large pit in the ground”. You squat. It’s quite natural, really. Really.] We opened the doors about the same time and realized we had a dilemma. The baboons literally had us surrounded. Baboons - on the roof, on the ground, on the fence in front of us. These creatures can be quite vicious if they want to be. We tried to come up with a plan for this conundrum as well. Being city slickers, we had bupkus. A tour bus drove by and screeched to a halt so that European tourists could take pictures at our misfortune. Finally, the guide gave us a good plan – “RUN!”

We headed out for the morning drive and then had a good breakfast. The late morning drive would be followed by a trip to the gate to pick up Shannon, Steve and Lisa from another driver. This later drive gave us our first look at lions and it was quite a treat. We were able to see four female lions with two cubs. 

By 2 p.m., we had picked up the rest of the group and were on our way back to camp. Lisa, our new friend, was in for quite a shock. Steve did not exactly provide full disclosure and Lisa had never camped before. She took it like a champ and was brave enough to spend her first night camping in the midst of the wild.

Animals we spotted at Samburu:

• Big Five
  • Buffalo
  • Lions
    • Male and female
    • Pack of 6 - 4 female and 2 cubs
  • Elephants
• Grevy Zebra (beautiful and found only at Samburu)
• Gerenuk (long-necked antelope found only here)
• Grey Mongoose (saw a group of them)
• Oryx
• Waterbuck
• Reticulated Giraffes (found only here)
• Warthog
• Thomson Gazelles
• Dik-dik (smallest of the antelopes)
• Jackal
• Vervet monkeys
• Baboons
• Impalas
• Ground Squirrel
• Rabbit
• Birds
  • Ostriches - male and female
  • Guinea Fowl
  • Paint branch bird
  • Black-billed Hornbill
  • Oxpecker