what a way to end my time in africa...
my last 10 days here were spent searching for the big 5 on safari, sleeping under an incredible star lit sky, gazing upon one of the most brilliant of natures 7 wonders, and thrilling adventure sports!!
so it all started the day after my last blog...a van came to pick us up at 5 am at our backpackers. 10 sleepy girls stumbled into the van as 2 chirpy tour guides (johannes and bheki) greeted us good morning. and yes....i said '10 girls', our entire tour group is girls!! 5 americans, 4 britts, and one mexican! what are the chances?!
so we set out to Kruger National Park where we would be camping for the next 3 days searching for animals on safari. It was great fun! During the days we would drive around the park and look for all the wild animals. We saw tons of elephant herds, 6 white rhino (one who had a little baby), lots of giraffe, deer, buffalo, warthogs, kudu, hares, wild dogs, and much more! the landscape and animals is exactly what one pictures africa to be. Wild grass land with scattered trees and animals roaming all about. the sunsets were amazing...deep red over the whole horizon. At night we camped by a fire, cooked dinner (i was the main chef =) ), and made smores!!! they were delicious! it was the first time our african guides had tasted them and i think we got them hooked :)
After 3 days in the park we headed out to Botswana and stayed the night in a "traditional cultural village". It was so corny...when we arrived the locals were sitting around in basketball shorts and t-shirts and when they saw us they quickly changed into their animal skins and came rushing out to meet us. The village was like disney-land-africa, clearly not lived in and built solely for tourists who hop of the plane, go on safari, and then hop back on a plane without seeing any real local lifestyle. after living in our village in the gambia, all we could really do was laugh at this fraud. Anyway, the next day we continued on our way through Botswana, driving mostly on a terrible road completely filled with potholes, stopping occasionally when someone spotted another animal. Day 5 we reached Zambia and took the ferry across the mighty Zambezi river separating Zambia from Botswana on one side and Zimbabwe on the other. We took a truck straight to Victoria Falls (one of the 7 natural wonders of the world). And boy does it deserve this award!! The sight of these massive falls is truly breathtaking!
We walked around the falls taking it all in and snapping many photos for the rest of the day. After that we hopped on an evening 'booze cruise', which was a beautiful boat ride down the river with hippos and crocs all around, providing dinner and all the beer, wine, and cocktails you can drink in 2 hours! We met tons of other travellers out to see the amazing falls and the mighty river. The night continued on with all sorts of parties, music, campfires, and smores back at our campsite!
The next day was an early rise to go white water rafting and river boarding down the mighty zambezi river!! and what an amazing day it was! after a looooong and treacherous hike down the gorge (easily the hardest part of the day), in which an elderly man in our rafting company had a heart attack and another guy dislocated his arm, we got down to the river and launched our rafts. After hitting the first four level 4 rapids, Shields (a good friend of mine from my tour group) and I hopped out of the rafts and strapped on our boogie boards. the rapids coming up were level 5 and we were doing on a board with flippers and a wet suit on and nothing else. It was such a crazy thrill! Albeit one of the most exhausting things i have ever done! and boy was the water cold!! but i think our hearts were racing so much that we didn't notice it too much! At one point we all stopped to clamber up the rocks on the Zimbabwe side and jump off a ledge 9 m above the river. sooo scary! shields and i were the first to go and we just had to jump when they said to go or we never would have made it!
The day was so exhausting i couldn't even feel my legs by the time i climbed my way back out of the gorge and stumbled back to the campsite! but wow what an awesome day it was! That night we went out to dinner and drinks with all our river guides from the day which was a great time! I always have so much fun when hanging out with the locals!
And then the tour group was gone....and Jess and I had 2 days left in Zambia before saying goodbye to the African lives we had lived for 2 months. In the last 2 days we spent alot of time at the falls and the river hiking around and shopping at the markets. We visited Livingstone island, which is a tiny island at the top of the falls jutting out over the edge. You can walk to the edge and look straight down into the plummeting water (900 million Liters per minute!), 111m down!
On the last day I took a microlight flight over the falls which was fantastic! It's a tiny plane/hang-glider with me as the only passenger. It zips over the falls taking in the majestic sight and spotting all sorts of wildlife in the surrounding landscape. It was such a great way to take in the whole view and wind up my stay in Africa.
Jess and I said goodbye in our stop over in South Africa and I spent the next 32 hours on various planes and in various airports making my way back to San Francisco. It's very strange to be back in america, to have a hot shower and eat fresh vegetables, to be in a clean house and have on clean clothes, to listen to local music and watch television....
I think back on these last 2 months and realize the different universes we can exist in across the globe. The different ways we live our lives, perceive our world, interact with our fellow humans, and value our different things. I hope that this time in africa, the people i have met, the things i have seen, the lessons i have been fortunate enough to learn will stay with me forever. i really am so blessed to have had such amazing experiences.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
the journey to freedom....
where do i begin?! my traveling thus far has been quite the whirl wind experience!! we started in cape town, which was quite the culture shock!! to be landed basically back into a 'first world' city, after living in west africa for a month was an upending experience! we had some family friends of mine meet us at the airport and drop us off at our snazy backpackers, just to pick us up the next morning and take us on a gorgeous tour around the wine country, tasting wines and driving through beautiful scenery which could have easily been my local napa valley! the night life was great in cape town and we manage to catch live music 2 nights in a row, one a local white south african band which was very similar to dave mathews band, and the other a township band which was jazz-rasta, lyrics in Zulu (the local language). both were fantastic and we had the best time listening to the music, dancing, eating random meat (kudu - deer, ostrich, and crocodile), and meeting fun locals and other travelers. unfortunately it was raining the whole 4 days we were in cape town, so we couldn't make it up table mountain (the local mountain with a supposed-amazing view =( ), couldn't get the boat to Robben island (where nelson mandela was imprisoned for 27 years), and risked our lives on another boat we dared to get on to get out to see seal island! but we were quite the cheesy tourists...riding the double decker bus, going on cheesy bike tours around the cape, and taking plenty of pictures!
after many of our tours and plans were rained out, we decided to book a flight to durban and a bus up to Lesotho, a small country in the mountains completely surrounded by south africa. it has the claim to fame of having the highest low point of any country in the world!! we got there and it was FREEZING!! it was 2 degrees Celsius during the day and -14 at nite!! and no central heating....we were staying in a tiny lodge at the base of Sani pass, which had a central lodge where they kept a fire burning and was nice and warm. but to leave that room and head to bed was quite a daunting task!! sooo cold! luckily they gave us water bottles that we could fill with boiling water and take to bed with us....it made the world of difference once you jumped into bed and hugged it close to you, you could get comfortable quickly!! luckily for us...on the bus on the way up to the pass, we met a local south african who has a farm near by and when she saw that we had no coats, she took her own off and instructed her daughter to do the same, and gave them to us to borrow for 3 days while we were up in the mountains! such amazingly nice people!!
we did our own hike the first day there which was so beautiful! up one mountain, around the 2nd, and then we dove down into the valley and wound our way down the mountain along a river which had many stunning waterfalls and clear pools. the whole thing took us about 7 hours including our lunch break at the top. it was so nice! i met a lovely Afrikaans family in the lodge and got to know them quite well. there were 2 daughters 11, and 13 who loved soccer and were so excited about travelling. and the parents were lovely and very easy to talk to. they invited me to their farm in the future and promised to come visit me in california one day. we exchanged phone numbers and email address, and i hope to see them again one day! really such fantastic people!
the next day we took a 4 x 4 up sani pass into lesotho where we took a brisk walk in the freezing cold snow and visited a local village to see the way they live and what their lives are like. they were amazing people, very friendly and welcoming. one woman welcomed us into her home and introduced us to 6 of her children. she also sold us some bread and had us taste the local beer (is was sour and disgusting!!). i really felt a strange homely feeling when i was with the family...they were so loving and had so very little. they were living in the freezing cold in a tiny hut, smaller than any bedroom i've ever lived in. yet they were so happy, welcoming, and kind to us...it was really a humbling, warm feeling....all i could really do was give them the bit of money i had in my bag and know that it would go a long way for such resourceful people.
to continue my soul searching and getting to really know local people and their lives, we continued on to jo-berg where we decided to stay in a backpackers in Sweto (the biggest township in south africa). it was a really amazing experience to see how all these people live and to hear all about their hardships and the battle they are still fighting to be free. today we took a bike tour around the ghetto and really got to interact with the local people. they were amazingly friendly and invited us into their homes and couldn't wait to talk to us and tell us their story. combined with the tour we went to the apartheid museum which was the best museum i have ever been to, really making the struggle of black africans a reality you can feel. they depict such a real and heart wrenching struggle of these people, it's impossible to be a part of it all and not walk away with tears in your eyes and a whole new perspective of what is freedom, equality, justice. to think, all these crimes and tragedies have taken place in the past 40 years!! since we've been alive! it's amazing to think that the people we befriended here have faced these terrible fights for freedom....again, this has been one of the most eye-opening and humbling experience i have ever been a part of.
it really makes you appreciate everything we have been born with. but at the same time question why?? why them? why me? and how can we change for the better? as a world...as human beings.
much love to all, thank you for being a part of my life and allowing me to see the world in this way.
after many of our tours and plans were rained out, we decided to book a flight to durban and a bus up to Lesotho, a small country in the mountains completely surrounded by south africa. it has the claim to fame of having the highest low point of any country in the world!! we got there and it was FREEZING!! it was 2 degrees Celsius during the day and -14 at nite!! and no central heating....we were staying in a tiny lodge at the base of Sani pass, which had a central lodge where they kept a fire burning and was nice and warm. but to leave that room and head to bed was quite a daunting task!! sooo cold! luckily they gave us water bottles that we could fill with boiling water and take to bed with us....it made the world of difference once you jumped into bed and hugged it close to you, you could get comfortable quickly!! luckily for us...on the bus on the way up to the pass, we met a local south african who has a farm near by and when she saw that we had no coats, she took her own off and instructed her daughter to do the same, and gave them to us to borrow for 3 days while we were up in the mountains! such amazingly nice people!!
we did our own hike the first day there which was so beautiful! up one mountain, around the 2nd, and then we dove down into the valley and wound our way down the mountain along a river which had many stunning waterfalls and clear pools. the whole thing took us about 7 hours including our lunch break at the top. it was so nice! i met a lovely Afrikaans family in the lodge and got to know them quite well. there were 2 daughters 11, and 13 who loved soccer and were so excited about travelling. and the parents were lovely and very easy to talk to. they invited me to their farm in the future and promised to come visit me in california one day. we exchanged phone numbers and email address, and i hope to see them again one day! really such fantastic people!
the next day we took a 4 x 4 up sani pass into lesotho where we took a brisk walk in the freezing cold snow and visited a local village to see the way they live and what their lives are like. they were amazing people, very friendly and welcoming. one woman welcomed us into her home and introduced us to 6 of her children. she also sold us some bread and had us taste the local beer (is was sour and disgusting!!). i really felt a strange homely feeling when i was with the family...they were so loving and had so very little. they were living in the freezing cold in a tiny hut, smaller than any bedroom i've ever lived in. yet they were so happy, welcoming, and kind to us...it was really a humbling, warm feeling....all i could really do was give them the bit of money i had in my bag and know that it would go a long way for such resourceful people.
to continue my soul searching and getting to really know local people and their lives, we continued on to jo-berg where we decided to stay in a backpackers in Sweto (the biggest township in south africa). it was a really amazing experience to see how all these people live and to hear all about their hardships and the battle they are still fighting to be free. today we took a bike tour around the ghetto and really got to interact with the local people. they were amazingly friendly and invited us into their homes and couldn't wait to talk to us and tell us their story. combined with the tour we went to the apartheid museum which was the best museum i have ever been to, really making the struggle of black africans a reality you can feel. they depict such a real and heart wrenching struggle of these people, it's impossible to be a part of it all and not walk away with tears in your eyes and a whole new perspective of what is freedom, equality, justice. to think, all these crimes and tragedies have taken place in the past 40 years!! since we've been alive! it's amazing to think that the people we befriended here have faced these terrible fights for freedom....again, this has been one of the most eye-opening and humbling experience i have ever been a part of.
it really makes you appreciate everything we have been born with. but at the same time question why?? why them? why me? and how can we change for the better? as a world...as human beings.
much love to all, thank you for being a part of my life and allowing me to see the world in this way.
Friday, July 4, 2008
the african boil...
does having a nasty infected boil on your leg qualify you as a true african?! because if so, i may as well be a local! this thing started on my leg as a nasty sore, and has grown into a huge infection, which is even debilitating my walking abilities!! the few times i have thought it was a good a idea to play doctor on myself i bite my lip and through tears i lance the boil, squeeze out the puss, and clean the area. only to my great dismay to wake up in the morning with an even nastier infection and more pain than i should be in post-surgery. i think it may be time to visit a real doctor in south africa....
so, speaking of...we leave to south africa tonight!! after our 1 month of work in the gambia our time has come to an end and we had a very tearful goodbye this morning and flew to dakar to await our connection to cape town. it was very difficult to say goodbye as i almost began to think of our compound as home and some of the children and adults we worked with similar to family. it's definitely a hard goodbye when you have become so close to people and shared in the conditions we have over the past month. i am always surprised and awed by how close i become to people when i travel. maybe it's because in conditions of third world countries you are forced to trust and depend on people in a way we would never expect in the independent lives we lead in america. when stripped of the amenities we take for granted and forced to face difficult things such as death, illness, loss and suffering on a daily basis, i find myself becoming more dependent on other human beings and depending on them for my well being, security, and happiness. Thus goodbyes in these circumstances, knowing that there is a good chance we will never see each other again, are very difficult.
This morning we had a meeting to say goodbye with all the staff and everyone said something about our time with them. It was extremely moving, the impact that they implied we have had on their lives (and they on mine) is more than i could ever have asked for. I found myself close to tears as i gave my goodbye speech about the equality of human beings and having the heart and the hope to change the world, a rare quality that i have witnessed in so many of my fellow workers in the gambia.
yesterday we had a day of partying, which was a great send off! all day we had the children's graduation from school, which involved numerous speeches, award ceremonies (which jess and i we assigned to), more speeches, and then a massive meal of rice and fish. after the meal there was dancing and music and finally the sports! the kids had all kinds of fun events such as 'lime on spoon', musical chairs, fill-bottle-with-water-and-then-run-with-it, pop a balloon with your stomach, and many more...we were the blue team and had a great time cheering for our little guys (even though we mostly lost!!). then the staff races...for some reason, even though it was 103.3 degrees outside, i felt that it was a good idea to get dragged onto the field and agree to race for the blue team against 10 african ladies!!! in my skirt, barefoot, in the sand!! my tubob butt had no chance!! but....wait for it...i got second place!!! how awesome is that?!?! i was pretty proud of myself if i may say so! =)
our last week in the clinic was quite busy. we saw a woman with abdominal pains, who upon questioning, we thought there may be a possibility of pregnancy (she's only about 18). We sent her to get the test and when she came back it was positive. correct diagnosis!! we were quite proud of ourselves, seeing as 1/2 the history is lost in translation and it was extremely hard to figure out what was going on. we also saw another pregnant women on wed, who had pain. i kept asking her questions and finally found out she had 'discharge'. so, being as they don't really understand colours, i got out my construction paper and had her point to the color that it was. she pointed to red. bad sign. and then said there was a puddle. another bad sign. i sent her straight away in the ambulance to the hospital. i was very worried. poor girl. she's 38 weeks along, and only 17 years old. i'm sure she's very scared. another interesting patient was an older lady who had a white-ish patch all over her body and alot of pain. her feet were also swelling. after consulting our trusty guide "where there is no doctor", we thought that possibly she has leprosy. we refered her ot the hospital as well. very interesting to see. would be nice to see if it was indeed leprosy.
so...that's all for now. off to cape town at 3am, and we are extremely excited for our travels and adventures there. the time spent in madina was amazing and i will never forget the impact the people have made on me, my life, and my career. much love.
so, speaking of...we leave to south africa tonight!! after our 1 month of work in the gambia our time has come to an end and we had a very tearful goodbye this morning and flew to dakar to await our connection to cape town. it was very difficult to say goodbye as i almost began to think of our compound as home and some of the children and adults we worked with similar to family. it's definitely a hard goodbye when you have become so close to people and shared in the conditions we have over the past month. i am always surprised and awed by how close i become to people when i travel. maybe it's because in conditions of third world countries you are forced to trust and depend on people in a way we would never expect in the independent lives we lead in america. when stripped of the amenities we take for granted and forced to face difficult things such as death, illness, loss and suffering on a daily basis, i find myself becoming more dependent on other human beings and depending on them for my well being, security, and happiness. Thus goodbyes in these circumstances, knowing that there is a good chance we will never see each other again, are very difficult.
This morning we had a meeting to say goodbye with all the staff and everyone said something about our time with them. It was extremely moving, the impact that they implied we have had on their lives (and they on mine) is more than i could ever have asked for. I found myself close to tears as i gave my goodbye speech about the equality of human beings and having the heart and the hope to change the world, a rare quality that i have witnessed in so many of my fellow workers in the gambia.
yesterday we had a day of partying, which was a great send off! all day we had the children's graduation from school, which involved numerous speeches, award ceremonies (which jess and i we assigned to), more speeches, and then a massive meal of rice and fish. after the meal there was dancing and music and finally the sports! the kids had all kinds of fun events such as 'lime on spoon', musical chairs, fill-bottle-with-water-and-then-run-with-it, pop a balloon with your stomach, and many more...we were the blue team and had a great time cheering for our little guys (even though we mostly lost!!). then the staff races...for some reason, even though it was 103.3 degrees outside, i felt that it was a good idea to get dragged onto the field and agree to race for the blue team against 10 african ladies!!! in my skirt, barefoot, in the sand!! my tubob butt had no chance!! but....wait for it...i got second place!!! how awesome is that?!?! i was pretty proud of myself if i may say so! =)
our last week in the clinic was quite busy. we saw a woman with abdominal pains, who upon questioning, we thought there may be a possibility of pregnancy (she's only about 18). We sent her to get the test and when she came back it was positive. correct diagnosis!! we were quite proud of ourselves, seeing as 1/2 the history is lost in translation and it was extremely hard to figure out what was going on. we also saw another pregnant women on wed, who had pain. i kept asking her questions and finally found out she had 'discharge'. so, being as they don't really understand colours, i got out my construction paper and had her point to the color that it was. she pointed to red. bad sign. and then said there was a puddle. another bad sign. i sent her straight away in the ambulance to the hospital. i was very worried. poor girl. she's 38 weeks along, and only 17 years old. i'm sure she's very scared. another interesting patient was an older lady who had a white-ish patch all over her body and alot of pain. her feet were also swelling. after consulting our trusty guide "where there is no doctor", we thought that possibly she has leprosy. we refered her ot the hospital as well. very interesting to see. would be nice to see if it was indeed leprosy.
so...that's all for now. off to cape town at 3am, and we are extremely excited for our travels and adventures there. the time spent in madina was amazing and i will never forget the impact the people have made on me, my life, and my career. much love.
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