Out of Africa

“If I know a song of Africa, of the giraffe 

and the African new moon lying on her back, 

of the plows in the fields and the sweaty faces of the coffee pickers, 

does Africa know a song of me? 

Will the air over the plain quiver with a color that I have had on, 

or the children invent a game in which my name is, 

or the full moon throw a shadow over the gravel of the drive 

that was like me, or will the eagles of the Ngong Hills look out for me?”  

~Karen Blixen 

I am now a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer,

but a piece of my heart will always live in Africa

♥

Tanzania: Zanzibar

“When you play the flute in Zanzibar, all Africa dances.”

~Zanzibar Proverb

Our four-day visit to this island was a wonderful end to my vacation. It takes about two hours by ferry to get to Zanzibar. We arrived in Stone Town and immediately went on a spice tour and city walking tour. We visited an area where they grow spices and teas, and tasted spices right off the tree/bush. Then we returned to town and learned about the history of Zanzibar. It was the center of the slave trade in Eastern Africa for many years. Slaves were brought over from Africa's mainland to Zanzibar, where they were sold and shipped off mostly to the Middle East. We were told that the reason you don't see many black people in the Middle East today, who would be the descendants of these slaves, is because they were castrated immediately upon arrival. I found this tour very interesting, because  East African slave trade is not something I remember being taught in school. We learned that about 99% of Zanzibaris are Muslim. Most all the women wear the traditional black robe and many men wear a kofia, a white, tall hat. We also discovered that because of the Muslim predominance on Zanzibar, most of the restaurants do not serve  alcoholic beverages.

The next morning we left for the town of Nungwi along the beautiful north shore of Zanzibar. The hotel we stayed at was beautiful! There was air conditioning in the rooms, a big pool, two restaurants, small shops, and the view of the ocean was amazing. It was a nice break from tent-camping. On our first night in Nungwi we went cruising along the shore and watched the sunset over the Indian Ocean. The next day there was an unexpectedly long snorkeling trip.  It took over an hour to reach our destination off the coast of a private island near Zanzibar. Afterwards, we returned to the shore of Zanzibar and left the boat to enjoy our delicious lunch on the beach. We had to stay longer than expected, because a wind storm came through, pelting us with sand and making it difficult for the boat to leave for the hotel. Despite this inconvenience, the beach provided an unbelievable view and scenery. There is not a prettier place on Earth where I would rather be stranded for an hour. Unfortunately, all the time on the boat and beach left most of us with pretty horrible sunburns once we got back to the hotel! We spent our last night hanging out together and enjoying a big group dinner.

We caught the ferry from Stone Town to Dar es Salaam the next day. I have been on my fair share of ferries, but this was the WORST ferry ride of my life. It was one of those high speed catamaran-style ferries. Going back to Dar es Salaam from Zanzibar you are traveling against the current and the water is very choppy. At about a half hour into the trip a few of the cabin crew came out and handed everyone a couple of black plastic bags. At first this seemed very odd. Only about five minutes later I realized why, because everyone started vomiting into their bags! I have a very hard time seeing people get sick without joining them. Sitting there listening to  a whole crowd of people throwing up had me turning green.... an absolutely agonizing experience. Looking back on it now, though, I can laugh. It was kind of hilarious, especially remembering one man in the back who was SO loud that everyone on the whole boat could hear him, like "BlaaAAA!!!!" every time. EW! It was such a relief to finally reach the shore. Haha.

I spent my last night on the tour (and my last night in Africa) in Dar es Salaam, and flew to Dubai the next day. The tour continued on, ultimately going all the way to Cape Town and picking up and dropping off people along the way. I hated leaving my new travel friends. Looking back on our time together, it feels almost unbelievable that we got to see the things we saw and do the things we did. It was the trip of a lifetime and a perfect ending to my Peace Corps service. Although it was hard to say "goodbye" after living there for over two years, there is still so much more to experience in Africa. I know in my heart that I'll be back. 

Tanzania: Serengeti

“Wilderness gave us knowledge. Wilderness made us human. 

We came from here. Perhaps that is why so many of us feel a strong bond 

to this land called Serengeti; it is the land of our youth.” 

~ Boyd Norton

After traveling out of Uganda and back to Nairobi, Kenya to pick up some new people joining the group, we headed down to Tanzania and the incredible Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park. These two days were my favorite game drive days of the tour. Inside the Ngorongoro Crater live all kinds of creatures and the incredible thing is that they never leave. When you are inside the crater you can do a 360 turn and see the rim of the crater all the way around. My favorite animals were the giraffes, who live up on the rim of the crater and not down below with the rest of the wildlife. Our guide told us it's because the drop down inside the crater is too steep and the vegetation up on the rim is more lush and suitable for them.

Then we left the crater and headed west to Serengeti National Park, which is absolutely HUGE! To get there we had to travel for two hours on probably the worst road I have ever been on in Africa, but it was definitely worth it. I am still amazed by the animals we saw and how close we got to them! We saw three leopards, elephants, zebras, lions, baboons, and much more just on the first day. That night we camped inside the park. Before going to bed we were told that we should not leave our tent until morning, because animals roam freely around the campsite during the night, and boy were they right! I heard all kinds of different noises, but I got the most freaked out when I heared a lion growl and run through the camp chasing something. When we woke up we found that something had knocked down a couple of tent canopy poles. The next day was an all-day game drive in the Serengeti. We saw more elephants, zebras, and I got incredibly close to a lion who decided to come right up to our car and lay down right outside of my window. I was so close I could have reached out and touched him. He was beautiful, but he could have used a bath because he smelled pretty awful. This was a day I will remember for the rest of my life. 

Rwanda

“We are preaching hope, standing on the bones of the past.”

~ John Rucyahana, the Bishop of Rwanda

On one of the free days during our stay at Lake Bunyoni in Uganda seven of us decided to take a day trip over to Kigali, Rwanda, about a 2.5 hour drive from Uganda. Rwanda is known as the "Land of a Thousand Hills," and I have to say that it absolutely lives up to its name. The drive to Kigali was beautiful as we passed by terraced farms on hills and villages along the road. When we arrived in Kigali we first toured the Kigali Genocide Memorial where 200,000 victims of the 1994 genocide were buried. Next we went to lunch at the real "Hotel Rwanda," the Hotel des Mille Collines. It was a beautiful hotel. It felt so surreal to be there and wonder what it was like during the genocide. I was surprised at how centrally located it was; I had always pictured the hotel being a little outside of town and not right in the middle of the city.

Before leaving Kigali, we drove around to see more of the city and visited the site where 10 Belgian UN Commandos died after fighting off Rwandan forces for several hours. It was hard to shake the eerie feeling I had as I looked around the city, knowing what happened there just 20 years ago. I couldn't help but wonder what these people saw and experienced, and how they rebuilt their lives in the aftermath, but it's something that seems very taboo to talk about with others, so I kept my thoughts to myself. This place has such sad history, but to understand Africa you have to recognize and acknowledge the troubles as well as the beauty. I am glad I had the chance to visit Rwanda.

Gorilla Trekking in Uganda!

“I immediately was struck by the physical magnificence of the huge,

jet-black bodies blended against the green palatte wash

of thick forest foliage.”    ~Dian Fossey

The beautiful scenery of Uganda reminded me a lot of Togo. The highlight of our time here was trekking through the mountain jungle to visit the gorillas of Bwindi Impenetrable National Park. We stayed at a lodge on the shores of beautiful Lake Bunyoni for a few days. One morning we left very early to make a two hour drive to the park, which is home to 300 of the 700 remaining wild gorillas in the world. Fortunately, our driver is best friends with one of the head trekking leaders, so he told his friend to find us a gorilla family not too far away. We were lucky and after about 1 1/2 hours hiking we arrived at the location of the Bweza gorilla family.

Our group was the first one to find the gorillas. The trek was very hard, going up steep, muddy, slippery hills at about an 80-degree incline. Thank goodness I decided to hire a porter to carry my pack, and help me climb and descend the hills. Those who didn't really struggled, and most were slightly covered in mud by the end. When we finally arrived at the site where the gorillas were it felt SO worth it!! It was incredible to be only about 10 feet from a whole gorilla family. I couldn't believe that I wasn't in a zoo, but sitting in an African jungle watching them eat, relax, and chill out. It was so entertaining to hear all their sounds, like munching food, grunting to each other, and even farting!  They were so calm and just looked at us like it was no big deal. I was awestruck!!

To protect the privacy of the gorillas, we were only allowed to view them for an hour before heading back down. There are trackers employed by the park who stay near the gorilla families during the day to monitor and also protect them from poachers. This was an incredible day that I will remember forever. Absolutely worth every penny!! 

Painting classrooms in Jinga, Uganda

An African birthday party

Kenya!

“It’s really beautiful. 

It feels like God visits everywhere else, 

but lives in Africa.”

-Will Smith

When I arrived in Nairobi it felt so good to have a day to decompress in my hotel room, enjoying warm showers, free wifi, a comfy bed, and just chilling out on the rooftop deck. After meeting up with my safari group, our first stop was a visit to the Masai Mara. We went on an all-day game drive, where we were fortunate to be able to witness thousands of wildebeests during the annual "Great Migration," when the wildebeests migrate from the Serengeti in Tanzania up to the Masai Mara National Reserve in Kenya. We also saw lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, water buffalo, a cheeta, and other animals.

wildebeests

lion family

In the afternoon we visited a Masaai village. They sang traditional songs for us and performed dances, including their traditional competitive jumping. We toured the village and visited their homes. I met a man wearing a beautiful piece of fabric. When I told him I loved it, he offered to sell it to me. I bought the clothes off his back! This trip through Kenya was the first of many great adventures with my awesome new friends from Australia. They made every day special.

Masaai 

Lake Nakuru National Park

rhino

Spent two nights at a campsite next to an orphanage

Moving On

“Why is it you can never hope to describe the emotion Africa creates? 

You are lifted. Out of whatever pit, unbound from whatever tie, 

released from whatever fear. You are lifted and you see it all from above.” 

~Fransesca Marciano

Well the day is finally here. I am officially an RPCV. WOO!! HOO!! This past week has been a little stressful, going through all the administrative check-out procedures. I have to say to people who think that the Peace Corps application process is difficult, just wait until it’s time to COS, then you will experience the REAL arduous process. What made the whole week more fun was going through all that paper work and check-out with the 27  fellow RPCVs who embarked on this crazy experience with me back in July 2012. I’d say the theme to this week was, WE DID IT!!

Most people are leaving today, either out of the Lome airport on evening flights bound for European connecting flights, or leaving to go to Ghana to catch flights home tomorrow out of the Accra airport, which sometimes has cheaper rates than the Lome airport. After dealing with my flights being cancelled twice, I FINALLY got a plan that works and I'm leaving in just a few hours. 

It hasn’t hit me yet that this period of my life living in West Africa is over. I still have a busy month ahead of me before I can process beginning to let those emotions out. I’m sure it will sink in once I get home in September.  As for the immediate future, before heading back to the U.S., I am making my way to East Africa for a month of tent-camping, safari adventure. I decided to give the Africa overlander tour experience another try, this time traveling through Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. With any luck, this will go better than the last trip did! If I have internet access along the way, I’ll try to post some updates. Now I’m off to the airport. Au revoir sweet Togo! I will never forget you.