Nairobbery

Nairobi, Kenya has the nickname -- earned or not -- of Nairobbery. Our experience would be more accurately, yet not as eloquently described as Naihighwayrobbery.

We didn't spend enough time to get to know Kenya's charms, only transited through on our way into and out of Tanzania. When we landed in Nairobi, we found a very friendly visitor information desk that called a hotel for us, reserved our shuttle and called us a cab. We were cautiously surprised at how well organized Nairobi was. Our caution was confirmed when we found out that we paid almost double for our bus tickets than we should have. When we got the the hotel that night, Najam went across the street to check on the shuttle for the next day. The attendant at the front desk stopped him before he left and insisted that he take an attendant with him for his safety. We weren't even in the dangerous parts of the city.

When we came back through Nairobi, it was a 14 hour overnight layover before the second flight in a five flight journey home. The Nairobi airport is incredibly uncomfortable with no carpet anywhere and unmovable armrests on every chair. Najam was also feeling incredibly ill and had to run to the bathroom several times per hour. A janitor who was a permanent fixture in the men's restroom noticed Najam's comings and goings and tried to extort money from him for using the facility. In the middle of the night, the manager of the VIP lounge approached us and said that we could use the lounge if we paid him. We were also approached by "airport security" who wanted to know all the details of our travel plans and probably would also tried to extort money from us had there been less people around. All of this bloodsucking fit right in with the pesky mosquitoes who also wouldn't leave us alone throughout the night. O, did I mention the government who took $100 from us just to transit through?

One thing that I am very grateful for is that we got out of there just one day before elections. It was interesting to hear the discourse around elections, with safety over person and property being a major theme. Fears became fulfilled when widely accepted claims of election fraud erupted in rioting and violence leaving hundreds dead. Kenya was largely held as one of the more stable countries in the region. Economic and political recovery from this incident will not be easy.

Zanzibar

Aside from the incessant touts, dodging sewage on the streets and the attempted pick pocket, we enjoyed Arusha a great deal. But, we had more than a week left in our journey and more adventure in us so we headed for Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania with gorgeous beaches and a rich history and culture. To get there, we took an early morning bus to Dar Es Salam and a ferry to Zanzibar the next morning.

We landed in Stone Town, a unique, beautiful and pleasantly claustrophobic place. The buildings are old and arranged in a narrow maze of streets and alleys. The island is predominantly Islamic which shows in the architecture. Many of the wooden doorways are large and wonderfully handcrafted, adorned with brass studs whose original purpose was apparently to deter elephants from ramming them down.

After a couple of days in stone town, we headed to the famed northeast beaches. Being almost on the equator, the water is incredibly warm and aqua. We strolled, swam and relaxed. Najam made meditative sand balls. We went out on a boat, snorkeled at a small offshore island and ate fresh caught and BBQ'd fish. Much of our trip was very hectic, constantly in transit, constantly on guard, constantly deciding where we would sleep, how we would eat and what we would do. It was nice to just settle and enjoy paradise for a couple of days and a perfect way to end our trip.

At Least We Weren't Mugged

Post Safari, we hung out in Arusha for a couple of days figuring out what to do with the last week of our African journey. We decided to head off to Zanzibar for some island relaxation. While walking back to our hotel after booking bus tickets, we were pick pocketed.

Well, it was really an attempted pick pocket because they didn't get anything. Being the risk averse people that we are everything was tucked away behind zippers and under clothing. We were angry and rattled but the situation was really pretty funny. This was a typical scheme involving two guys. They picked an opportune time when we were sufficiently distracted, Najam was handing me his drink and we were about to cross a street. An older man, bumped into us and quickly grabbed the bottom cuff of Najam's pants, slapping it repeatedly as if to wipe the dust away and profusely apologizing. A teenage kid also bumps into us and, we're guessing, searched Najam's accessible pockets for goodies while our attention was being drawn to the older man and Najam's "soiled" pants. This all happened within maybe five seconds and ended when I nudged the old guy off insisting that we were OK. The two quickly dispersed and a few onlookers snickered. We were pretty sure they didn't get anything right after it happened but we had a nagging feeling for days that we would eventually discover something missing.

After the fact, we thought about how we responded. The best thing to do is just try to get out of the situation quickly and avoid conflict, which is basically what we did. I think it would have been funner though to mirror the older man, slapping the cuff of his pants and repeatedly apologizing. It might have been fun to reach for his pockets too, after all, he was distracted. The next time we travel, we're definitely carrying an extra decoy wallet with a booty of monopoly money inside covered with poison oak.

Safari

After climbing Kili, we went on a 4 day safari to Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro crater. There were seven of us including our hiking friend from Kili, an academic from Mexico, a young lady from Finland, our rasta driver guide and a cook. We piled into a land rover and headed for the wild. Among the wild, we saw clans of baboons, herds of wildebeest, flocks of flamingos, families of hippos, prides of lions and a monkey with blue balls. No, seriously, velvet monkeys have blue testicles all the time and it apparently has nothing to do with that old adage.


The places we camped were not fenced or enclosed in anyway so we were told not to go on late night bathroom trips. On the second night, Najam heard rumblings of lions behind our tent. I was asleep, thankfully. I did get awakened by the shrill cries of hyenas in the night. In the morning, we saw both hyena and lion tracks confirming our late night visitors. On the third night, we saw elephants close to camp and heard that one of the guides had spotted a lion in camp shortly after dinner. We removed all food and anything perfume like from our tents to keep the warthogs away. Also, we were told to not make too much noise in our tents and especially not to shriek if we got scared. Apparently elephants respond to shrieking tents by trampling on them.

One of the more impressive sights was viewing the drama of a lion pride and their half munched buffalo carcass from the night before. A hyena stalked the food and was chased off a few times by a female and a cub. But, as the sun waxed the lions energy wained and the hyena's persistence paid off.

A number of land rovers carrying other safari goers clustered around the scene. With not much other shade in the area, the lions took advantage of the shade from the vehicles and sprawled right next to the trucks. Much to their dismay, the trucks moved occasionally. It was funny to watch the mild agitation of one alpha male when his shade truck moved. Bothered by the sun, he moved on to the next truck, rubbing up against it first just as my cat does to my legs, and then pissing on it which my cat thankfully does not do to my leggs.

I thought of Mr. Meows back home and felt warm fuzzies in the presence of his distant cousin. These warm fuzzies quickly fled when my eyes met with the alpha's near our truck. When my cat looks into my eyes, usually he's saying "pet me, feed me, let me out now." When the lion stared me down, it was as if he was saying "I know you're looking at me, I could eat you." Very unnerving.

Pole Pole

"Pole Pole" means slowly slowly, and is the mantra on Kilimanjaro. When we started, the guides seemed to creep along like snails and I wondered if I could take the madness of the pace. But the scenary was so amazing that it was madness to go any faster. Also, hiking the mountain too fast leads to altitude sickness and possible death.

Ahh, the landscape! We saw so many strange and breathtaking vistas. We hiked the mountain for 6 days and each day there was a new treat for our eyes. The first day we hiked through thick and humid forest live with bird songs and the occasional monkey call. By the end of the first day, the folliage changed suddenly and drastically to smaller trees covered with bright green moss. We hiked through barren scree, rocky moon like landspapes, alien folliage and water falls. The 4th day, we clambered up tricky switchbacks on a near verticle slope. By the end of the 4th day after gaining around 2,300 ft. over the course of 5 miles in about 8 hours, we reached a height of 15,300 ft. We reached camp by 5pm that day and were supposed to take a quick breather only to start the assent to the top that midnight. We had wanted to arrange an extra day on the mountain to acclimatize but the agency told us to play it by ear and pay for it only if we felt that we wanted it on the mountain. However, it became clear from the guides that another day wasn't possible. Therefore, after experiencing the worst headache I have EVER had and Najam having a headache and nausia to boot, we decided to bundle up and sleep for the night rather than another 4000 ft ascent to the peak. We are not unhappy with our decision. The peak wasn't as important to us as the journey. The sunrise from Barafu camp was no less spectacular. As a bonus, we were rid of writhing tourists gasping for air and wincing from headaches. For anyone completely hooked on getting to the summit, however, we recommend taking the extra day up front.

The social experience was as interesting as the physical one. The agency had arranged for another Seattle based trekker to join us, to make the trip more cost effective for them. For three trekkers, we had 7 porters, one guide and one assistant guide. Each day, we got up, scrambled to get our things together, ate breakfast and started the day. After we left, the porters cleaned and packed up the camp, including the tents, and then started after us. At some point, they always passed us carrying around 50lbs typically on their heads, and had camp set up for us once again when we reached our day's destination. Two of the porters also worked as a cook and a server. Each breakfast and dinner, they would set us a tent with table cloth and dishware and serve our meals in multiple courses restaurant style. We felt both guilty and grateful at being served to that extent. We did eat separate from the porters and we believe we ate more complicated and possibly more expensive food than they ate. On the final day, we made a special request that we pool all of the food together and eat as a group to get to know them a little better and to sample what they ate too. But it seemed to be either too difficult or too inconvienent for them to arrange. Another interesting and unnerving fact was that all of the trekkers we saw were white and of Euro descent, except for Najam of course. We looked through a guest log book at one of the campsites that had people's nationalities in it and it confirmed what we saw. There were however a couple of Sherpas from Nepal registered therein. The contrast between black porters and guides and white climbers was stark.

Since Kili we've been on a 4 day Safari to lake Manyara, the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. We saw Lions, Zebras, Hyenas, Hippos, Elephants and the beginnings of the Wildebeest migration. We saw a lot more, but we'll talk about it later. Tomorrow we take off for Dar Es Salaam, and possibly to Zanzibar. We have a little less than two weeks left here, we'll keep you posted!

To Arusha and Beyond!

We flew to Nairobi on Monday, after spending a Beautiful Sunday at a flee market in Joburg, Eugene or Portland Saturday Market style with artisans and performers. We discovered that the people most friendly and willing to help out are those that also want to help themselves out. Our first lesson was after retrieving our baggage at the airport in Nairobi when a very friendly cab agent volunteered to reserve our hotel and book our shuttle tickets to Arusha. It was so easy... too easy. The cab and hotel we believe we got for a fair market value, we did however pay an unintentional convenience tax of about $30 US for the shuttle, almost double what we would have paid.

Tuesday morning we left for Arusha, Tanzania. A bumpy ride took us across the border where we paid an especially hefty $200 to get visas to the land of Kilimanjaro. Everybody else was either getting in for free, or paying half or less. We consoled ourselves by viewing this as 'Bush Tax.' More bumps and dust through Masai land finally brought to another set of very friendly people. A group networked by cell phones politely stalked us, tracking our every move and offering to hook us up at every corner. After we talked about a particular tour company at our coffee shop table, Najam left to buy something at a store near by. Apparently a guy was waiting for him inside who introduced himself as being from that very tour company. His buddy had phoned him from the table next to us. It seems many people in the tourism industry here make money by inserting themselves as middle men. The situation was annoying but a little comical.

One aspect of Arusha that we did not know about before coming here is that it is the home of the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. It is an international court set up to deal with the war crimes of the infamous Rwandan genocides. Visitors are allowed to observe certain sessions from a glass viewing gallery, with ear phones for translation in multiple languages. We attended an open session for the trial of Augustin Ndindiliyimana, one of the individuals charged with masterminding the genocide. When we walked in we didn't have any context, and the proceedings were a little difficult to follow. Clearly whatever was taking place was slow and arduous. It was quite creepy to be separated by little more than a thin sheet of glass from someone who may have been responsible for the murder of close to a million human beings. The smiles and the joviality of the accused were disturbing to say the least.

On to what we came for ... we are now booked for a 6 day trip up the mountain, via the Machame route, for tomorrow, December 6th. Wish us luck!

Their Leader is Better than Ours

and AIDS crisis in Sub Saharan Africa. This event was part of a campaign and concert series put on by Nelson Mandela called "46664," named after his prisoner number. Peter Gabriel, Angelique Kidjo, Annie Lennox, the Goo Goo Dolls and many other local and international artists played the event. The music would have been incredible enough, but the highlight was seeing Nelson Mandela. What a reaction he got from a crowd of around 50,000! Everyone stood. Everyone cheered. There was so much love and admirationWhen we got to Joburg, we saw advertisement everywhere for a benefit concert helping to raise money and awareness for the HIV for him. Coming from a country so impoverished in leadership, it was refreshing for us to see a real leader respected and admired for the right things. One who is still, at the age of 89, solving real problems as opposed to invented ones. We felt very fortunate to be there.

A disturbing statistic shared last night was that close to 1 in 3 pregnant women in South Africa have HIV. It's estimated that 20 % of the South African population is currently living with HIV or AIDS. The main message from the event was that it is "in our hands," meaning that everyone has a personal responsibility and ability to take care of themselves and each other. Use a condom, talk openly, get tested and treatment works.

Check out our video or one on you-know-who-tube. Website: http://www.46664.com/

We fly for Kenya tomorrow morning.