Dispatches from Africa (Ethiopia / Southern Kenya / Tanzania)
From my first day in Ethiopia:
While I'm waiting for materials to arrive and organizers to get their act together, thought I'd let you know I got here okay plus way too much information about how it's going (once you get me started...).
The trip is going well so far - everything takes f o r e v e r as expected, plus it seems our materials haven't passed customs, so our 3 or so hours wandering the conference center compound yesterday were futile. There are so many people staffing but no one who seems to know anything (or be bothered to find out), but what can ya do. So I had yesterday morning to myself: had an excellent, much-needed night of sleep (though Paul was incredulous because apparently there were prayercalls from about 3am 'til dawn). After I got up, I had some breakfast and then got to stretch out by the pool for digestion / reading in the sunny sunshine! Really strong sun here, by the way... Then a few hours trying to find the booth, trying to find registration, trying to find food and then trying to find whoever sold food coupons as they were the only accepted currency for food (though everyone says, "they're finished" or, not quite understanding you, will agree with everything you say and just make matters more confusing!). We eventually gave up and came back to the hotel and I hit the treadmill running with the company of Man U v Everton (football is a very powerful bonding tool with the Ethiopians; unsurprisingly Arsenal and Manchester United seem to be the darlings). Afterwards I just read up on good, traditional restaurants, narrowed it down to 3 options and then spoke with the concierge who heartily recommended one (Yod Abyssinia). Before I met with Paul, I busied myself looking up food so I could be prepared and order the right things (not the wrong like: k'itfo which is raw, minced beef marinated in chili powder and clarified butter; or figel, which is goat; or tere sega which is another raw meat dish). The evening went down an absolute treat. The food was awesome, the huge hall was full of locals, families, clapping, singing, and the performances and music all night were great. The dancing style here was absolutely killing me: it's either this subtle grampy waggle or the most jerky, expressive, nuanced interpretive dance. I loved it! And it also made me realize one major joy of the club scene that is (wholly?) absent in the UK: dance circles. Paul is lovely, conversation is super easy. We got to experience some other typical rites of eating - for example when they bring a handwashing station to you before and after the meal. It's a large silver watering can almost full of warm water and they have this catchement thing and a soap dispenser, so you catch some soap and suds up while they pour water over your hands and catch the falling water in this spilloff contraption.
So today we'll see if we can find our materials alright, and if not come back to the hotel maybe. Too bad it's not safe to walk around (and it is NOT), but the hotel, though a bit tired - a relic of the 70s with smoking permitted and a dusty little Western Union office buzzing away - has very nice grounds.
As far as other impressions: the view from my room overlooks a sprawling shantytown, though most of the shacks have satellite dishes. Also, there aren't many complete risers; every semi-tall building is a skeleton surrounded by the most rickety-ass looking bamboo scaffolding.
Day two and three of Ethiopia:
It'sa me!
A little tmi update first - coming out of the woods after my first bout of food poisoning. Actually quite impressed with the resilience of my bod, although still a little tender. Really hoping that I am in the clear, because it'd be such a shame to miss anything on the calendar today! Paul and I will work the booth, then leave for a tour of the city covering Entoto Mountain, the National Museum, an Ethiopian Orthodox church, the 'Merkato' and a supposed swing through the old city. Then tonight we'll try another one of the really traditional restaurants - his flight leaves at 3 am, then it'll be me, m'slef and I. Everything (e v e r y thing) we brought was taken (well, excepting some lingering registration cards, though we've already raked in 240 in less than 2 days.
Traffic is perpetually locked at standstill since there are no traffic lights or signs, so it's every driver for themselves. And there are throngs of people walking amongst cars and looming by the windows - feels quite sinister when you see it because they don't even seem to be begging for anything half the time - just lurking and looking. Anyway, so yeah, it's pretty grim. The sidewalks everywhere look blown up; there are trenches between roads, very few buildings look like they'd hold up to a windstorm (many are lean-tos, and a huge proportion are unfinished, empty with eucalyptus or bamboo branches used as official scaffolding).
The second night, we went to this Italian retaurant where Bill Clinton, the Jolie-Pitts and President Carter had all been. They sat us in this small room already and only occupied by this Irish couple and their small Ethiopian child. The couple were not the first we've met who are here going through the adoption process, through in their case this ordeal has already lasted 8 years (!). They're finally near their court date with this little baby boy and because of these delays have been living with him in the orphanage for the past few months (only getting clearance 2 weeks ago to take him out of the orphanage). There are apparently 6 million orphans in Ethiopia, most of which are found left at churches and mosques. We ended up essentially having dinner all together, and the servers seemed to feel left out so decided to loom around most of the dinner, at times interrupting with nonsense or interjecting. Actually quite sweet.
And the last update from Ethiopia:
I leave Addis tomorrow afternoon to fly to Nairobi, then meet Krysta's friends' driver (the world is weird!) and then her friends Lucy and Ryan for the first night. On Saturday evening I meet all my future friends when the safari group gathers for the first time. It's hard to know what to expect there; when I signed up there were 7 folks on the list but for privacy reasons identities before the trip can't be revealed. There's a max of 22 people, but I'd be surprised if there were more than 10 since I signed up so late in the game. Then it's on to the wilds of the world and it's unlikely that from ye olde field of hyenas and sand mites that there will be any internet connect, so I may not be able to update in situ!
Yesterday was my last day with Paul, which is sad because by the end of this trip we were thick as thieves. We worked the booth and then went on this tour around Addis and some of the surrounding countryside. I'm so glad we did, because it gave us a really different perspective on the city. We drove up to the highlands around Entoto mountain, where you'll pass women carrying cantilevered eucalyptus bundles on their shoulders down the muddy, almost Alpine-looking roads for sale at lower altitudes. Eucalyptus doesn't only grows up at these slightly higher altitude, but the city is devoid of arable land (unless privately owned) so this seems to be the spot to get your own. Also to be seen climbing up and down the mountain were herds of goats and religious pilgrims, as it's a sacred mountain with many monasteries and churches, and also the site of Menelik II's palace. We went to a museum at the top of the mountain, which consisted of cases of weird things: old, monastic wares (crowns, personal items, photos); Bibles written in Amharic* written on horse skin (somebody had to?), random Olympic medals donated by the winning athletes (though a quick search betrays that this was by no means an extensive collection as there were only about 3 of the 38 on display), processional, decorative umbrellas, weird walking sticks that you're meant to balance your chin on (glad some engineer figured out that wasn't the best, um, design?), and Ethiopian currency across the years. So basically, a haul of relatively unrelated Ethiopian wares. The air is much clearer up here (because of all the eucalyptus, it's referred to as the "lung of Addis Ababa") and although no better off than city dwellers, the desperation is slightly less palpable. It seems that slums exist because the poor left the more rural areas in search of work, but found themselves reserve labour.
We also went to the National Museum, an orthodox church, and the 'Merkato,' which was quite the experience. I don't know what I was expecting, but the Merkato was dismal - cluttered, chaotic, full of staring, shoving people and cars careering their way through with plumes of exhaust filling the muddy roads. We were literally the only foreigners. While we walked around, the driver stayed in the locked car to make sure our stuff was alright, and even though he was blatantly sitting there watching guard, there were constant attempts by passersby to open the doors and grab our visible bags. Not altogether too surprising, really.
*Amharic is the oldest living, written language still in use (throws back to 100 BC) and the second-most prevalent Semitic language in the world, after Arabic. (Someone told me it's also the oldest spoken language, but the internet dot com cannot confirm). Also, little fact for you, the Ethiopians observe a different calendar than ours, so it's actually 2004 in Ethiopia. For real. There are 13 months in this calendar so at the moment they're 8 years behind and will continue to trail off. I asked our driver if this is widely adopted and he laughed at me and said of course; then I asked him if it ever presents problems and it didn't seem to?
For our last evening, Paul and I went to another traditional, Ethiopian restaurant with all the rites and rituals, the singing and dancing and performance. This one was called 2000 Habesha and was quite similar to the first, though had a few different things to offer like their own "tej," which is homebrewed honey wine (not the best pair for spicy tibs, let me tell you) and a coffee + popcorn course to end the night.
Also, just so you know, I'm in solidarity with you UK-dwellers as even weather in Equatorial Africa can completely suck. Today is one of those: cold, wet and coldandwet.
Mid-way through the trip, work conference over, in Nairobi just before the safari started:
Okay, this might be your for real last ping from east Africa. I'm just about to get my last wink of sleep in a normal bed before the camping starts. I've had a really lovely day or two in Nairobi, first with Lucy and Ryan (and their adorable babygirl, Elsie), then around various elephant orphanages / giraffe centres / crocodile reserves with Peter, and ultimately in the city centre to meet up with and have my first night with the rest of the tour group before tomorrow's early morning departure. At first pass, and over the course of 36 hours, Nairobi seems worlds apart from at least Addis Ababa. Much, much more advanced infrastructure; slightly more organized traffic; far greener (they're in the middle of one of two annual rain seasons: the long one, which just means more continuous unbroken rain - a big problem for flooding in the slums); and dare I say safer? Well, at least highly safeguarded, gated, monitored. Not what I'd expected, honestly. The elephant orphans I met went from a few months (tiny, tiny, with little blankets on their backs to keep them warm) to much older (30s?). We got to pet them and watch their bizarre interactions with their keepers. The giraffes come at you with their purple, waggly, reptilian tongues but are truly the most gentle giants and let you pet their Dr. Seussey horns and Petrie-shaped bill snouts. The crocs have to be kept separate depending on how old they are, cause they'll just eat eachother. Other fun facts about those guys: the only edible part of a croc is the tail, cause they keep their food in their body so long, their flesh becomes toxic (... sick); also, one way to tell the difference between a crocodile and an alligator is to look at their mouths when they're closed. If they've got teeth busting out all over their chops, they're crocodiles. If they keep their grills all in theoir mouths, they're alligators. Picked up some tortoises, fed a few ostrich, but mostly want to see animals that aren't in confinement (bring on the week!).
The group seems really cool so far - 20 of us: 7 Australians, 5 Muricans, 1 Canadian, 3 English, 1 Japanese, 3 to arrive tomorrow. Stayed up talking to one of the Australian guys who's a physio-therapist for Olympic athletes so keeps signing short term contracts so he can keep moving around and travelling the world. Has been doing this 3 YEARS already! Also a couple from London who met years ago on a trip like this this :)
From day 3 or so, Lake Victoria, Kenya side:
In a little, dusty city on the shores of Lake Victoria taking an internet cafe break while our stocks get piled for the wilds of the Serengheti! Still quite a bit of driving ahead (and reams and reams of road passed underfoot so far: 8 - 9 hours driving on day one; 5 - 6 hours driving on day two; here goes day 3 with 4 - 5...), which is just a necessary part of covering these m a s s i v e countries!
Because of the driving, the trip has gotten off to a bit of a slow start, though our first game drive will be this afternoon and since we'll be in the Serengheti for 2 nights, tomorrow will be even more gamey. We had night one altogether in the Nairobi hotel, then one in a bunk house and last night was the first of the camping nights. Our tents are super old school: the heaviest canvas & solid iron framing. Last night we camped on the shore of Lake Victoria (largest tropical lake in the world, but full of these nasty liver-eating worms so not really swimmable. Beautiful, though! Shame to let so much water - 68,800 square kilometres - go to the worms). Tonight and tomorrow we won't be in a fenced-in area, so we've had a short briefing on some of the animals we might run into in the middle of the night, with a vague reference to other groups having 'incidences'.
We stopped along the drive for a tour of a soapstone carving centre, seeing the process end-to-end from taking the blocks of quarried rock to the little mint dishes at the end. And then in this little village we took an innocuous little bike ride that ended up taking us off-road, essentially mountain biking in beach cruisers. The whole way you hear little kids anticipating you with their squeals and either the English phrases they all know 'HOW ARE YOUUUU, HOW ARE YOUUUU' (or 'GOOD MORNING' when it was about 6 pm), though more often 'MUSUNGU! Muuuss-un-guuuumuusss-un-guuu,' which just means 'white people'. We stopped at a fly-blown fish market, a dusty seeds and stones market, and various greatest hits according to our guide. The 2 1/2 hour ride turned into an aimless 4, but it was really fun (taunting aside. Okay, that was kind of hilarious, too). We got back just in time for a sunset over the lake, a cold shower, fresh fish and then most of us watched / struggled to stay awake for the Man Utd - Man City game.
This morning, 4 am on cue! The prayer call starts. When you're in a tent you can hear the first crackle of the speaker and the amusement of the caller before they break out into interpretive droning; when you hear the full process (the shifting, the crackling, the pauses for thought) it sounds more like an open mic morning for callers. I was under the impression that Wednesdays and Fridays are kinda a big deal in Ethiopia, but since the end of Ethiopia there has been, without fail, an abrupt awakening around 4 am for 'All Ya'll to Think About Gawd.' At least that's how it strikes me.
And after Tanzania!
I'm composing this on the bus to send from UK territory later, since my phone's on airplane mode (and since there's been no internet access for days, hold onta your butts for a doozy). I just crossed the border again from Tanzania back into Kenya and am headed (splattered head-to-toe in earth, in a fog of trace bug repellant, and head-o-windblown hair: it's a good look) to Nairobi, where I'll eventually make my way to the airport and come on home.
It's been such an experience coming here - each leg so different from the former.
So I last left you at an internet cafe on the shores of Lake Victoria. From there, we crossed into Tanzania to make our way to the massive and *truly* majestic Serengheti National Park. On the way to the Serengheti, we had a few hours to look at Tanzania, which immediately distinguished itself from Kenya: many more homes here are round huts made of what looks like a circle of spears and dried grasses. Kenya is BRIGHT, with the most liberal, whimsical use of bold color combinations and applications; Tanzania struck me as more earthen, though it may be the heavier concentration of Maasai in the countryside we cut through. The Maasai aren't confined to Tanzania (in fact, I think the majority of their settlements are in Kenya), and although they are indigenous pastoralists, some have moved into bigger cities. Tourist routes headed to the Serengheti cut across Maasailand, so you'll see them prominently represented with their long robes and shawls all in tones of red, very dark purple and blue accents. Many have hair cropped very short, gauged ears and decorative jewelry. Maasai men carry small machetes and some a tall spear, though it's quite common to see them blow by in a furl of red on bikeback, too. Most native Tanzanians are actually of Banto descent, but the Maasai get the lion's share of attention to indigenous for their fame and easily identifiable look.
We arrived at the Serengheti at lunch and then had our first half day of game driving. Absolutely incredible! First of all, the scene: the Serengheti is more than 14,700 square kms (5,700 miles) of dry, flat scrubland, with acacia and apple orchard standing alone and the odd copse of some tropical tree or another or a bloom of hippo pool breaking up the landscape. The mountains in the far distance indicate the borders and the expanse opens up the sky's belly to all manner of weather, so in one direction you might see a lightning storm, another a rainbow, another a sunny day. We had a day and a half of driving around the Serengheti and over the course saw: impala, zebra, serval cat, dik-dik, hippo, lion, leopard, giant elephant, buffalo, warthog, giraffe, ostrich, crocodile, baboon, wildebeest, gazelle, hyena, silver-backed jackal, and much more that I'm forgetting. The little dik-dik (tiny antelope-like, prancy things that have life partners they're always seen with, unless one dies and they never re-couple) and the serval cat were my favorite. The serval cat was very well-hidden, but one of the eagle-eyed women on our trip spotted its little ears poking out of the tall grasses about 50 meters away. Even when we stopped and had bioculars on it, the ears looked much more like a resting butterfly, with the way they dovetail and fan out. After much patience it peeped its beautiful little face out. The leopards are amazing, and their postures are hilarious. The only way you can see them really is when they're flopped on a treelimb, dangle of a tail a giveaway, arm tucked up in this air of unflappability. Only they're so shy! I love a leopard. Since it's still the rainy season, there's a massive problem with vehicles getting stuck in this soft, red mud. We got stuck for about 2 hours midday and had to all pile out of the bus, help push and flag down a car to help pull as well. I'm not going to lie - standing out in the middle of the Serengheti as this vulnerable little animal when we've just been spotting dangerous, potentially violent animals was a little nerve-wracking.
We had a few lovely nights there staying in the park, waking up to chewed up shoes if left outside, and when Shane got up really early for a sunrise hot air balloon ride he saw both a hyena and a hippo on our campsite. One night during our campfire, we had our leader tell us some stories of things gone awry in past trips. Some things he just implied and couldn't talk about, but here's one story for you:
After lunch, one guy wasn't feeling very well, so while everyone left for a late afternoon game drive, he decided to stay behind. He heard something near the tents, so peeked out, saw a warthog and decided to take some close-up pictures. He took a few pictures, the warthog moved into the bushes, and he kept following for more pictures. A little wander into the woods, and he realized he was lost, so kept walking to look for camp. About dinnertime, everyone else got back to camp and he was nowhere to be found. They started searching the area, called the rangers, and then it got dark. They called in a helicopter to search and eventually, hours deep into the night he stumbled across another camp and has those people contact the rangers. He ended up walking 20 kilometers in the wilds of the Serengheti, and at night! And with no flashlight. He is so, so lucky he didn't run into any animals on the way. When the rangers got to him, he was fined and immediately deported; basically for a million reasons don't let yourself get lost in the Serengheti!
The people on this trip would need a massive email all to themselves. There were (half were dropped off in Arusha) some really, really lovely people - really everyone, to be honest, with an odd ball or two bouncin' about, but really good luck with a group 25-large (including staff). The chemistry was great and many of them will be friends beyond, I hope. It felt like overnight camp for adults (only more rudimentary provisions with a full week of camping, drop toilets and meals eaten around a campfire). I'd do another group trip in a heartbeat; a great way to travel as a single person and see so, so much more than you'd otherwise have the means to.
The camping & general filth did get old (6 nights straight of camping). Also, for 3 days when we're all frantically taking thousands of pictures, we had no access to power outlets. So stressful! We'd bring our charging gear to pit stops and implore if we could have a little blip of a charge from shopkeepers, grocers, gift shop cashiers for the 15 or so minutes we'd be there, desperation all over our faces.
From the Serengheti, we drove to the rim of Ngorongoro Crater for our second-to-last night. Before leaving the Serengheti, we had the fortune of running into the great, annual migration of wildebeest (1,500,000 of them), zebra and impala. As. Far. As. The eye can see.
The campsite at Ngorongoro was honestly the most beautiful, atmospheric campsite I've ever stayed in. The Ngorongoro Crater is a nature reserve, 9 miles across with a flamingo-filled pool in the middle. It's also among the last unspoilt calderas: essentially a collapsed mountain rich in resources. Many of the same animals we saw in the Serengheti made appearances here, with the notabler addition of black rhino (we saw 2, which is 10% of the total population in Ngorongoro, I understand!). Unfortunately no cheetah :(
We had a spate of animals stealing our food - we ate a picnic lunch in the car but this guy Tony took his banana outside to eat and had a kite sweep down and snatch it. And then the baboons. Oh god. Just outside the park, I got out of the car to take a brownbag of rubbish to the trash and stopping a moment to talk to someone through the window a huge baboon came bounding at me from the side at full speed. I remembered from Gibraltar that it'd be the bag he'd want, miracle of miracles, as he was a bound away when I saw him out of my periphery, screamed, threw the bag way away from me and proceeded to... fall sideways on myself. Terrifying but more hilarious, really. One man from South Africa had told us a truly gruesome story of baboons attacking their family dog when he was a little boy and the family was taking it out for a walk, so I had that imagery in my head and the face on that baboons face definitely betrayed "oh it's about to be a problem."
Last night was our last - given mostly to bonding and fawning over each other, a full night in the pub and then the 5am wake-up (which was almost everyday, except for the odd 6am lie-in) this morning. I'm going to get back to my people watching - looking forward to seeing everyone again! And cleanliness!