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Noloholo, Day 23: Sunday Quiet
A quiet day. I am feeling significantly under the weather in the morning, so I forego all planned activities and just rest in my tent. I finally get up in the afternoon, read a little bit and finally start writing up my work for WCS. I’ve decided that Sundays are perfect days to relax, but also to do my big projects that I never got around to. My ( Read more... ) -
Noloholo, Day 22: Oral Rehydration Solution - elixir of the gods.
When I think about the memory of this day, it is filled with the flavor of orange Oral Rehydration Solution. It is: sodium chloride, potassium chloride, orange flavoring and glucose. It doesn't quite taste good, as it has the flavor of diluted seawater with a vague orange scent. But, I soldier through it and keep pouring as much down my gullet as I ( Read more... ) -
Noloholo, Day 21: It Takes a Season To Know a Place
I wake up unusually early for the day, 5 am, and since I am already awake I decide to tag along with Dennis, the Hadza, and Christy for their tracking activities. One of the ways that APW gets a sense of the predator populations is to drive transects (basically, along straight-line roads) and look for the footprints of predators in the dirt. The ( Read more... ) -
Noloholo, Day 20: Maasai names and trading safety
I want some air to flow through my tent and so before I head to breakfast, I pull my rain fly half off and loop it through another tent section. But after lunch, I find my rain fly has been carefully replaced and clipped back down by one of the guards who watches over Noloholo. I am so touched by the thoughtfulness that I can’t bring myself to ( Read more... ) -
Noloholo, Day 19: The Dangers of Generalities, A Night's Drive
It is a beautiful day here at Noloholo, the sky like an enormous robin’s egg over our heads, dotted with fanciful white clouds that shapeshift constantly as they drift on a constant wind ( Read more... ) -
Noloholo, Day 18: Do you want to take this back to America?
I wake to the death-alarm shrieking of Francolins outside my tent, and take advantage of their proximity to snap photos. I discover, too, that an ant-and-termite colony has taken shelter under my garbage-bagged pack; indeed it is a safe place from the birds and the elements! I shift the bag on top of some grasses, under a nearby tree, and try not ( Read more... ) -
Noloholo, Day 17: A lion track
First night camping and when morning comes, both Andrew and I profess to have been terrified of every single noise we heard. It is simultaneously unnerving and thrilling. There is no real possibility of being eaten, of course, but I begin to appreciate at last, the fear that strikes those people who live with species like lion, hyena, leopard, even ( Read more... ) -
Noloholo, Days 15-16: Ceremonies and a new home
Yesterday (Saturday) we spent the day at a 5-hour special ceremony commemorating the opening of a nursery school just outside of Loibor Siret. It was a marvelous event, with a full fledged bishop there and an entire Catholic ceremony including a blessing for the ground and the buildings, as well as the Parliamentary representative for the region. I ( Read more... ) -
Breakdowns.
I had these days of desperation and, indeed, fear last summer. The memory comes welling forth like fresh blood from a wound reopened. I remember expressing my frustration to many of my loved ones, only to be gently reminded that the goals I’d chosen to pursue were difficult ones with a high likelihood of failure. Julia said that she asked herself ( Read more... ) -
Noloholo, Day 14: Paced
Tobiko came by to chat with me while I was sitting on the patio this morning. He has a kind, gap-toothed smile and was about to water the bird bath. I have to say I bungled it terribly; my ear is barely able to pick out the verbs and even when I do, I can’t remember the meaning. The conversation involved a lot of ways to say hello, how are you, ( Read more... )