{realtime update - july 11, 2012}

the night before i start climbing mt kilimanjaro!

july 11, 2012

hello from the amazing mount meru hotel in arusha!  just wanted to let you all know that tomorrow morning i start climbing mt kilimanjaro.  we hope to summit on the morning of july 19th - however, if the weather is good, we may try for the 18th.  if any of you are on facebook and want to watch for updates from the mountain, you can become a fan of "kiliwarrior expeditions"

hopefully we'll be able to post daily updates there.

wish me luck!

xoxo

{safari, part 2, and july 4th in the serengeti}

serengeti national park

July 3-5, 2012
we made our way from musoma to the serengeti to spend 3 days and 2 nights in serengeti national park. the serengeti was something very high on my list of things to do and it did not disappoint!

just before entering the park we enjoyed a picnic lunch among monkeys and baboons, which are a lot meaner than they look. the cook, affectionately known as "babu" or "grandpa" told us the monkeys and baboons are only scared of black people.  after lunch, i have to admit i think he's right.

after some group photos outside the gate (which i hope to get a copy of soon!), we entered the park on the northern side and were able to witness some of the great migration. thousands and thousands of zebras, buffalo, and wildebeests were making their way north out of the serengeti. breathtaking!

after about a 3 hour afternoon game drive, we made our way to the campsite and set up our tents. it was the first night the temperature was going to be a bit chilly, and given that i didn't have a sleeping bag - only a sleeping bag liner - i layered up to combat the cold. the campsite isn't fenced in, and that night we slept with hyenas, elephants, and even a male lion making their way through our campsite. after a chilly night (i realized i'd actually left a lot of my warm clothes on the bus and was too frightened to go get them in the middle of the night), we were up at 430 the morning for a sunrise game drive.

4th of july!

we saw many of the same animals we'd seen the day before (zebras, buffalo, hippos, wildebeests, giraffes, warthogs, impalas, gazelles, baboons), but also spotted some lions and a leopard relaxing in a tree.

(there's a leopard in the tree!)

we took a break and went back to the campsite for lunch, and at about 3 pm left for our afternoon, sunset game drive.

so i have to admit that the fourth of july is one of my all-time favorite holidays. i think it stems from spending every july 4th growing up at our family's lakehouse with my cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents.  it's not july 4th to me unless you're on the water somewhere...OR after this year, in the serengeti. given i was the only american on the trip, i can't say too many others were as excited as i was this particular day. but i have to hand it to everybody on the trip - i guess my excitement was contagious and everyone else embraced the holiday.  either that or they were just humoring me. :)

(some of the group excited for july 4th!)

(random serengeti animal. apparently their poop is good for altitude sickness - i almost grabbed some for my kili climb. i kept calling them "panya" but our guide kept yelling at me because they "are not rats!")

(silly hyena)

(beautiful 4th of july sunset!)

we enjoyed then sunset over the serengeti with an afternoon beer, and made it back to our campsite for a fabulous meal. our cooks had made pumpkin soup (my favorite), and our guide and driver had built a massive campfire. 12 of us sat around the campfire until about 11 pm (which is late for us) sharing a bottle of konyagi, forcing me to sing patriotic american songs and tell stories about fourth of july celebrations in the states. it was definitely a holiday i'll never forget! thanks to you aussies, canadians, africans, and europeans for making it so special!

that night I slept warmly in almost every piece of clothing i brought with me, and we left early the next morning for our game drive out of the serengeti, through the rift valley, and on to the ngorongoro crater!

(see ya later serengeti national park!)

(our first view of the crater!)

("selfie" in front of the crater)

{safari, part 1}

nairobi to kisii to musoma and lake victoria
july 1 to july 3, 2012
our safari bus (with 18 travelers, 1 guide, 1 driver, and 2 cooks) left nairobi bright and early sunday morning, july 1. it was a very interesting drive through nairobi to narock, with a stop at a soapstone carving factory, and our first night spent sleeping on church grounds in kisii.

on a walk through town in kisii, we encountered some interesting people, bought some fruit and vegetables (though i found kenya as a whole to be very expensive compared to tanzania, the produce on the side of the street was very cheap), and played with some of the local children. i enjoyed the afternoon here, but have to admit, it wasn't my favorite spot.

(sawing the soapstone)

(starting to shape the soapstone)

(painting the design on the soapstone.  this one was a "twiga"!)

(some of the finished soapstone products.  everything here was beautiful!)

(a crazy market driving through kenya on the way to musoma)

the nextbmorning we headed off to musoma and lake victoria - definitely a highlight of the trip! once in musoma, a group of us (aka the TIA bandits) went with a local on a bike tour through town, ate sugarcane, checked out the massive sardine export business, walked through various markets, played with some of the kids, and made it back to our campsite - which was on the shore of lake victoria - just in time for one of the most beautiful sunsets to date.

(delicious lunch before the bike ride)

(part of the TIA bandit crew.  aka the circle of trust)

(posing with the sugar cane and our bike guide)

(there are sardines under there! the sardines here were plentiful, smelly, and disgusting.)

(view of musoma from the highest peak in town)

(our campsite)

the next morning we were off to the serengeti!

{bagamoyo -> nairobi}

leaving bagamoyo and starting my 8 day safari!

June 30, 2012
since it seems i live for spontaneity, about 3 days before i left bagamoyo, i booked an 8 day safari starting in nairobi on june 30 and ending in arusha on july 7.

a friend and i shared a ride to dar as well as a room at the paradise express hotel (in case you haven't noticed, they love to name things "paradise" here). the paradise express is probably the equivalent of a 2 star (that may be generous) hotel in the states, but by african standards it felt like paradise to me! my friend and i enjoyed air conditioning, free wireless internet, and TV (even though the tv only had 3 channels and was probably from 1980)!

(our room at the paradise express)

(we treated ourselves to very american, unhealthy room service.  grilled cheese and pizza!)

i caught an 8 am flight to nairobi on saturday and was pleasantly surprised when after going through customs (and having to pay for another visa, ugh) my bags were waiting for me at baggage claim. a few others on my safari were not so lucky and their bags were stolen at the airport.

though i was only there for a day, i was extremely impressed by nairobi. the city (though i'm sure there are poor areas) felt much more safe and westernized than anything i'd experienced in tanzania. english is much more common in nairobi as well which makes sense as the saying goes: swahili was born in zanzibar, grew up in tanzania, died in kenya, and was buried in uganda. all in all, it was nice to experience something different!

(though this picture doesn't do this tv show justice, i had to have a reminder for myself of the HILARIOUS african soap opera i watched.  this was almost as good as the asian soap opera with english voice-overs, which after 2 episodes in nairobi and another 2 in arusha, i actually got in to.  i'm dying to know what happens to carmen's baby.  sadly, i guess i'll never find out.)

the safari takes me from nairobi to kisii to musoma and lake victoria to serengeti national park to the great rift valley and the ngorongoro crater to meserani to arusha (i know i'm missing some punctuation in that sentence). the conditions are very basic on the safari and I'll be camping each night, but i could not be more excited!

{african food}

when i actually remembered my camera, i took photos of some of my meals. based on the photos below, it seems i was usually most inspired at breakfast...

we definitely did not go hungry at the ccs house. some meals were better than others, and i found out early on that the meat here doesn't settle very well...so i've been eating more like a vegetarian while I've been in africa. except for eggs. do vegetarians eat eggs?  that's probably something i should know.  anyway, thank goodness for beans and peanut butter!

we could also help out in the kitchen, and one of our cooks, robert, taught us to make the most DELICIOUS, completely organic, healthy (no butter or anything else added) pumpkin soup. i cannot wait to make this at home. eda also taught us to make chipate (which is not healthy), and ugali - which is served at practically every meal here, but I have to admit, is not something i'll miss. ugali is definitely a filler food-but is good for most africans as it is cheap and full of calories.

while we do always have some sort of vegetable salad, we absolutely never have lettuce. i guess the cheap, delicious avocados (massive avocados cost about the equivalent of 10-15 cents) and passion fruit make up for it.

some shots from a typical grocery store:

(that on the top shelf is butter, also known as "fat spread" here.  they don't refrigerate it.)

(africafe - the instant coffee everyone loves here)

(bagamoyo chill sauce.  no idea, but if i remember correctly, both bottles were past the expiration date.)

yummy breakfasts.  usually there were eggs, beans, and some sort of fruit. 

delicious lunches and dinners.  on a few rare occasions they surprised us with cokes!

learning to cook.  soup with robert:

and chipate with eda:

i'll miss the delicious home cooked food i've grown accustomed to!