Today is the last day for many things..
Last day of DR
Last day of the entire group being together
Last fire pit
Last volleyball games
So about 15 people are leaving to National Park Site a day early tomorrow because their flights got changed.. but the other half of the group has to stay back and stay at Kilimanjaro Bush Camp for another night. When we leave KBC to head over to NPS, the other group is going to be leaving NPS to head to the airport. Such a strange system, but I guess it kind of makes sense..
Still can't believe it's been over 3 months since I've arrived in Africa!! I have no idea where the time has gone, I still clearly remember the day that I left for Africa-- I spent the day with my mom going around and buying last minute things for my trip, and I had chicken wings from that korean wing place as my last meal in America. I'm really excited to go back home, but at the same time I really don't ever want to leave! It'll be weird driving down the road and not seeing giraffes or zebras on the side of the road.. and not seeing the 30 other students that I've been living with for the past 3 and a half months. But still excited to leave SFS and have freedom in Africa for a few days! And also for our night in London!!
Yesterday was pretty our 'last dinner' because today we're having community presentations for our Directed Research projects that will last all day. He made us an amazing dinner, all of our favorites! He made tacos, burgers, veggie burgers, bbq chicken, anddd he set up a burner and made carne asada! And for dessert, he made us a great cake and even bought 3 cases of ice cream!! We've only had two opportunities to have ice cream here so it was a real treat.
Probably won't have time to update until I get home! Leaving for Moshi in 3 days, climbing in 5, back in America in 14!!!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
6 days
only 6 days left with SFS. I can't believe how quickly the program went! It's pretty sad- I can remember the first day that we all met each other and how awkward everyone was.
but with 6 days left in the program, that means only 6 days till we head down to Moshi Town to start climbing Kilimanjaro!! So the plans to climb are finalizing-- sample of our schedule so far:
May 5th: leave Kilimanjaro Bush Camp and head to NPS, the site that we spent our first night in Africa- how appropriate.
May 6th: leave SFS, say goodbye to the non-climbers, and head into Nairobi to catch a 13 hour shuttle to Moshi Town, Tanzania.
May 7th: Rest day, gathering rental equipment, meeting the guides, and preparing for the climb!!
May 8th-May 14th: Conquering Kilimanjaro.
May 14th: Spend a night in Moshi, celebrate our victory.
May 15th: Leave for Nairobi, bright and early.
May 16th: Catch a morning flight to London! Spend a night in a real city for the first time in 4 months!!! ++ indian food.
May 17th: Wake up early for a flight back to Los Angeles!
I'm getting really anxious to come home, but I still have a lot in front of me before that happens.
So I haven't updated on what's been going on recently, so very briefly since I have to finish up my research paper:
We had a Christmas Celebration that was a hit. We had a secret santa gift exchange and everything! I"m definitely going to miss how everyone likes to participate in all of these spontaneous events.
For the gift exchange I had Sarah- since she loves elephants so much I got her a little elephant collage made out of banana leaves. I also made her one of those people paper chains but of elephants (yes I know how to make people paper chains- product of being bored and having nothing to do in Africa).
Hannah had me for secret santa and gave me a gift that was great because of its simplicity. Before dinner she had Molly come in and give me a flower arrangement that was very impressive and well arranged for the flowers that grow around camp (more like weeds). For the gift exchange she made me a puzzle box within a puzzle box, that was filled with pressed flowers that she picked up throughout our time in Kenya! Very creative and thoughtful gift!
Some other cool gifts that people got were handmade 'elementary science fair' volcanoes, hand stitched stuffed animals (a cool bird and a wildebeest), a personal letter from Lady Gaga, candy, and dishwashing services.
And right now, we're in the middle fo the Cook Crew Cook-Off 2010!!! Which is getting very intense.
So to fill you in, when we got to Africa we were put into groups of 6 groups of 5 and each group is named after a tribe found in Tanzania and Kenya. Everyday one of these cook crews has to wake up an hour before breakfast, and make the breakfast with the kitchen staff. And after dinner of the same day, they have to clean the pots, pans, and serving dishes used to prepare the meal.
A few people came up with the great idea of having a breakfast cook-off. Judging is based on 5 criteria: Quality, quantity (not too much or too little), creativity, presentation, and logistics (timeliness, dryness of plates, etc. ) Everyone votes on teh chalkboard, and the scores are averaged and totaled. So far the scores are:
Iraqw: 39.09
Sonjo: 38.80
Mang'ati: 45.55
Hazabe (MY CREW!!)
Maasai
Chagga
Tomorrow morning is our cook crew's turn!! I'm super excited, we've come up with a great idea. We're planning on a Harry Potter themed breakfast, hopefully no one here reads my blog so it'll be a surprise.
We're going to have a hat with the names of the different houses (Hufflepuff, Griffindor, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw). People will pick from the hat and sit at their respective table, which will hopefully be decorated to match the house. We're going to change up the food serving by putting family style dishes on each table, and when the food runs low there will be a magic wand at each table that people will wave along with a magic spell (our cue to go and refill their dishes). We're trying to incorporate some kind of house point system so it's more interactive, but haven't come up with an idea yet..
hopefully it'll be great and we'll win the cook-off!! or at elast get 100% for creativity, presentation, and logistics.
And about Directed Research-- today is the last day!!! Everyone's getting pretty tired of DR and are ready for it to finally be over! I'm finishing up some editing and I'll be done soon, hopefully.
My research topic is on the current roles of tourism in the Amboseli Ecosystem and the effectiveness in meeting the expectations of the local people. My findings are that the people aren't benefiting as much as they would like to, or should. And that there needs to be changes to dissolve the barriers that prevent the local community from participating in and benefiting from tourism (financial barriers, education/skills barriers, and accessibility to the market. and how financial leakages and the limited tourism market are issues that need to be addressed. It's pretty straight forward, and a lot less focused on innovation then I planned- but this is because we couldn't collect the data that we wanted. but whatver we'll be done in a few hours!!!
Sadly tomorrow is our last non-program day. We're heading over to Mada Lodge, the lodge that Sateesh and I went to to collect data for our research! I'm not sure if I'll get the buffet, but I'm for sure going swimming. That pool is too cool to pass up.
I'll hopefully post a few more posts before I head home, but don't know what the situation will be like for the next few days.
CAN'T WAIT FOR AMERICA!
but with 6 days left in the program, that means only 6 days till we head down to Moshi Town to start climbing Kilimanjaro!! So the plans to climb are finalizing-- sample of our schedule so far:
May 5th: leave Kilimanjaro Bush Camp and head to NPS, the site that we spent our first night in Africa- how appropriate.
May 6th: leave SFS, say goodbye to the non-climbers, and head into Nairobi to catch a 13 hour shuttle to Moshi Town, Tanzania.
May 7th: Rest day, gathering rental equipment, meeting the guides, and preparing for the climb!!
May 8th-May 14th: Conquering Kilimanjaro.
May 14th: Spend a night in Moshi, celebrate our victory.
May 15th: Leave for Nairobi, bright and early.
May 16th: Catch a morning flight to London! Spend a night in a real city for the first time in 4 months!!! ++ indian food.
May 17th: Wake up early for a flight back to Los Angeles!
I'm getting really anxious to come home, but I still have a lot in front of me before that happens.
So I haven't updated on what's been going on recently, so very briefly since I have to finish up my research paper:
We had a Christmas Celebration that was a hit. We had a secret santa gift exchange and everything! I"m definitely going to miss how everyone likes to participate in all of these spontaneous events.
For the gift exchange I had Sarah- since she loves elephants so much I got her a little elephant collage made out of banana leaves. I also made her one of those people paper chains but of elephants (yes I know how to make people paper chains- product of being bored and having nothing to do in Africa).
Hannah had me for secret santa and gave me a gift that was great because of its simplicity. Before dinner she had Molly come in and give me a flower arrangement that was very impressive and well arranged for the flowers that grow around camp (more like weeds). For the gift exchange she made me a puzzle box within a puzzle box, that was filled with pressed flowers that she picked up throughout our time in Kenya! Very creative and thoughtful gift!
Some other cool gifts that people got were handmade 'elementary science fair' volcanoes, hand stitched stuffed animals (a cool bird and a wildebeest), a personal letter from Lady Gaga, candy, and dishwashing services.
And right now, we're in the middle fo the Cook Crew Cook-Off 2010!!! Which is getting very intense.
So to fill you in, when we got to Africa we were put into groups of 6 groups of 5 and each group is named after a tribe found in Tanzania and Kenya. Everyday one of these cook crews has to wake up an hour before breakfast, and make the breakfast with the kitchen staff. And after dinner of the same day, they have to clean the pots, pans, and serving dishes used to prepare the meal.
A few people came up with the great idea of having a breakfast cook-off. Judging is based on 5 criteria: Quality, quantity (not too much or too little), creativity, presentation, and logistics (timeliness, dryness of plates, etc. ) Everyone votes on teh chalkboard, and the scores are averaged and totaled. So far the scores are:
Iraqw: 39.09
Sonjo: 38.80
Mang'ati: 45.55
Hazabe (MY CREW!!)
Maasai
Chagga
Tomorrow morning is our cook crew's turn!! I'm super excited, we've come up with a great idea. We're planning on a Harry Potter themed breakfast, hopefully no one here reads my blog so it'll be a surprise.
We're going to have a hat with the names of the different houses (Hufflepuff, Griffindor, Slytherin, and Ravenclaw). People will pick from the hat and sit at their respective table, which will hopefully be decorated to match the house. We're going to change up the food serving by putting family style dishes on each table, and when the food runs low there will be a magic wand at each table that people will wave along with a magic spell (our cue to go and refill their dishes). We're trying to incorporate some kind of house point system so it's more interactive, but haven't come up with an idea yet..
hopefully it'll be great and we'll win the cook-off!! or at elast get 100% for creativity, presentation, and logistics.
And about Directed Research-- today is the last day!!! Everyone's getting pretty tired of DR and are ready for it to finally be over! I'm finishing up some editing and I'll be done soon, hopefully.
My research topic is on the current roles of tourism in the Amboseli Ecosystem and the effectiveness in meeting the expectations of the local people. My findings are that the people aren't benefiting as much as they would like to, or should. And that there needs to be changes to dissolve the barriers that prevent the local community from participating in and benefiting from tourism (financial barriers, education/skills barriers, and accessibility to the market. and how financial leakages and the limited tourism market are issues that need to be addressed. It's pretty straight forward, and a lot less focused on innovation then I planned- but this is because we couldn't collect the data that we wanted. but whatver we'll be done in a few hours!!!
Sadly tomorrow is our last non-program day. We're heading over to Mada Lodge, the lodge that Sateesh and I went to to collect data for our research! I'm not sure if I'll get the buffet, but I'm for sure going swimming. That pool is too cool to pass up.
I'll hopefully post a few more posts before I head home, but don't know what the situation will be like for the next few days.
CAN'T WAIT FOR AMERICA!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
best NPD ever
After two and a half months we finally, finally, finally, FINALLY!!! SAW A CHEETAH!!
We've all been waiting to see a cheetah since our expedition in Serengeti, where we were told that we had the greatest chance of seeing one! The other group of students saw about 4 cheetahs, and even saw one hunt an impala down, but we finally got to see our own!!
We saw it at Amboseli National Park yesterday on our non-program day. We passed by another safari car that stopped us and told us where it was, very nice of them.
It was just hangin out in the shade of a little bush, getting up every once in a while to stalk a herd of impala a couple hundred yards away. It was amazing. I feel kind of bad though because I think we scared off its meal.. But by scaring the meal we got to watch the cheetah walk around a bit
Today was our 6 day of data collection for directed research. On Thursday we finally finished with our local community interviews!! It was interesting to hear the views of the locals on tourism based industries, but after 5 days of 12 interviews a day, it started to get reallll old. Today we went to lodges to interview tourists, drivers, and lodge managers. By far the best day of data collection so far.
Sateesh and I were assigned to go to Mada Lodge, right at the entrance to Amboseli NP. Right when we walked in a worker gave us warm towels to wipe away the dust and ice cold glasses of juice. The receptionist told us that the manager was currently in a meeting and directed us to the buffet by the pool to eat until he was done! the buffet was great and the pool was by far one of the coolest pools I've ever seen. It was a giant shallow pool with a raised deep pool in the middle of it, with bridges that lead into it. The dessert at the buffet included cream puffs and a real chocolate cake!
While we waited after we ate, we interviewed a few drivers but got no interviews from tourists (they were too busy relaxing to let us interview them..) There was also this big spiral staircase in the middle of the dining room that went to the top of the building. It gave us a beautiful view of Kilimanjaro and Amboseli park.
We then met with the lodge manager to ask about the lodges involvement with the local community. He said that all of their staff is local, and they occasionally buy local products from farmers when they run low on produce. Also, the owner of all of the Mada lodges in Kenya is an Indian family that has lived in Kenya for years. Pretty interesting.. Our interview with the manager was cut short when he had to return to his other meeting. So it was a pretty bad day data collecting wise, but a great day of relaxing!
We've all been waiting to see a cheetah since our expedition in Serengeti, where we were told that we had the greatest chance of seeing one! The other group of students saw about 4 cheetahs, and even saw one hunt an impala down, but we finally got to see our own!!
We saw it at Amboseli National Park yesterday on our non-program day. We passed by another safari car that stopped us and told us where it was, very nice of them.
It was just hangin out in the shade of a little bush, getting up every once in a while to stalk a herd of impala a couple hundred yards away. It was amazing. I feel kind of bad though because I think we scared off its meal.. But by scaring the meal we got to watch the cheetah walk around a bit
Today was our 6 day of data collection for directed research. On Thursday we finally finished with our local community interviews!! It was interesting to hear the views of the locals on tourism based industries, but after 5 days of 12 interviews a day, it started to get reallll old. Today we went to lodges to interview tourists, drivers, and lodge managers. By far the best day of data collection so far.
Sateesh and I were assigned to go to Mada Lodge, right at the entrance to Amboseli NP. Right when we walked in a worker gave us warm towels to wipe away the dust and ice cold glasses of juice. The receptionist told us that the manager was currently in a meeting and directed us to the buffet by the pool to eat until he was done! the buffet was great and the pool was by far one of the coolest pools I've ever seen. It was a giant shallow pool with a raised deep pool in the middle of it, with bridges that lead into it. The dessert at the buffet included cream puffs and a real chocolate cake!
While we waited after we ate, we interviewed a few drivers but got no interviews from tourists (they were too busy relaxing to let us interview them..) There was also this big spiral staircase in the middle of the dining room that went to the top of the building. It gave us a beautiful view of Kilimanjaro and Amboseli park.
We then met with the lodge manager to ask about the lodges involvement with the local community. He said that all of their staff is local, and they occasionally buy local products from farmers when they run low on produce. Also, the owner of all of the Mada lodges in Kenya is an Indian family that has lived in Kenya for years. Pretty interesting.. Our interview with the manager was cut short when he had to return to his other meeting. So it was a pretty bad day data collecting wise, but a great day of relaxing!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
halloween in april
Before I talk about the great halloween night that we had 2 days ago, I'll put up some pictures from the Tsavo expedition...
laval flows that we drove through on our way to Tsavo West NP - view of chyulu hills in the background.
Mzima springs- saw some crocs here
Driving through the serene chyulu hills
hikinh up a cloudy hill in chuylu
The elephant that tried to charge our car!
So two nights ago, the wonderful social committee put together a festive halloween party, to celebrate finals being over, DR starting, and to just bring everyone's spirits back. The event was actually a brain child of Caroline and me; when we're bored we sit around and think of random themed days that we could have- in Tanzania we had Blue Day where we played depressing music at breakfast, put blu food coloring in all of the breakfast food, and made morbid/depressing place mats for everybody (it actually turned out to be a really sad day - we had an extra hour and a half of ecology class with the bitchy Dr. Wallis, and our amazing swahili teacher quit to start a new job in Dar es Salaam.)
Anyways, halloween started at dinner, where everyone was obligated to show up in a costume. I was so surprised at how everyone participated and how creative people managed to be with such limited costume resources! After dinner we had a costume parade down the middle of the chumba, and an awards ceremony to give out medals to the most creative, most africa appropriate, most awkward, sexiest, funniest, most ecologically destructive, cutest, smelliest, most magical, best cat walk, and a few others I can't recall.. Oh and the whole time we played the nightmare before christmas soundtrack.
Columbian drug load, pirate, and velma.
Everyone lining up for dinner in their awesome costumes.
Award winners!
Yesterday was our fist non-program day in weeks! it was amazing! we started the day late, at around 9:30, with a hike down to a beautiful gorge in the middle of nowhere. We drove for about 45 minutes to a random field of corn. We got out, hiked through the corn fields for about 30 minutes (corn stalks are a lot taller than I imagined ~10-15 feet) and descended a slippery hill into a tropical gorge filled with gigantic viney trees. At the bottom of the gorge was a waterfall and stream that separated the side that we hiked down and a giant rock cliff. The cliff was covered in huge loose roots that hung down all the way from the top of the cliff to the bottom of the gorge. We crossed the stream, with the help of Molly, and hung around on the roots for a while. Then we had a nice relaxed lunch by the waterfall and headed back up to the cars.
After we drove into Loitokotok town and stopped at an HIV clinic and then went into town to look around. I, along with a few others, skipped the clinic because I felt a little weird going in.. and just went straight to the town. It was nice to have the freedom to just walk around and cross streets without having to ask permission. We walked up and down almost every street looking through the different shops and market stalls. After about an hour we got back into the cars and went to a few curio shops with the whole group.
After some souvenir shopping at the curios we went to Club Kimana again for a few drinks!!
TODAY!! was our first day of data collection for our directed research! My group, environmental policy, went out to Entonet, a small town at the base of kilimanjaro, to interview the locals on the tourist industry and their economic background. We got some pretty interesting answers, and a lot more people were involved with the tourist industry than I thought. Being in the tourism industry here is a pretty big deal; it's a solid and stable source of income and it pays much more than agriculture or pastoralism.
One household that we went to was extremely friendly! they let us into their home, allowed us to eat our packed lunches in their living room, and even bought cokes for us! They turned out to be our translators family friend, so the exceptional hospitality wasn't that surprising. When we left they even gave us bracelets as a thank you for taking interest in their worries.
Now that DR has started things are going to get pretty busy.. I have data collection for the next week and then write up for the week and a half after that. During data collection we get to go to more local communities to interview farmers, lodges to interview tourists/lodge managers/tour guides, and we also get to have discussions with Group Ranch managers and government officials (Kenya Wildlife Service.)
so excited!! and after we finish with our research reports we get to present our findings to the community!
wooo
laval flows that we drove through on our way to Tsavo West NP - view of chyulu hills in the background.
Mzima springs- saw some crocs here
Driving through the serene chyulu hills
hikinh up a cloudy hill in chuylu
The elephant that tried to charge our car!
So two nights ago, the wonderful social committee put together a festive halloween party, to celebrate finals being over, DR starting, and to just bring everyone's spirits back. The event was actually a brain child of Caroline and me; when we're bored we sit around and think of random themed days that we could have- in Tanzania we had Blue Day where we played depressing music at breakfast, put blu food coloring in all of the breakfast food, and made morbid/depressing place mats for everybody (it actually turned out to be a really sad day - we had an extra hour and a half of ecology class with the bitchy Dr. Wallis, and our amazing swahili teacher quit to start a new job in Dar es Salaam.)
Anyways, halloween started at dinner, where everyone was obligated to show up in a costume. I was so surprised at how everyone participated and how creative people managed to be with such limited costume resources! After dinner we had a costume parade down the middle of the chumba, and an awards ceremony to give out medals to the most creative, most africa appropriate, most awkward, sexiest, funniest, most ecologically destructive, cutest, smelliest, most magical, best cat walk, and a few others I can't recall.. Oh and the whole time we played the nightmare before christmas soundtrack.
Columbian drug load, pirate, and velma.
Everyone lining up for dinner in their awesome costumes.
Award winners!
Yesterday was our fist non-program day in weeks! it was amazing! we started the day late, at around 9:30, with a hike down to a beautiful gorge in the middle of nowhere. We drove for about 45 minutes to a random field of corn. We got out, hiked through the corn fields for about 30 minutes (corn stalks are a lot taller than I imagined ~10-15 feet) and descended a slippery hill into a tropical gorge filled with gigantic viney trees. At the bottom of the gorge was a waterfall and stream that separated the side that we hiked down and a giant rock cliff. The cliff was covered in huge loose roots that hung down all the way from the top of the cliff to the bottom of the gorge. We crossed the stream, with the help of Molly, and hung around on the roots for a while. Then we had a nice relaxed lunch by the waterfall and headed back up to the cars.
After we drove into Loitokotok town and stopped at an HIV clinic and then went into town to look around. I, along with a few others, skipped the clinic because I felt a little weird going in.. and just went straight to the town. It was nice to have the freedom to just walk around and cross streets without having to ask permission. We walked up and down almost every street looking through the different shops and market stalls. After about an hour we got back into the cars and went to a few curio shops with the whole group.
After some souvenir shopping at the curios we went to Club Kimana again for a few drinks!!
TODAY!! was our first day of data collection for our directed research! My group, environmental policy, went out to Entonet, a small town at the base of kilimanjaro, to interview the locals on the tourist industry and their economic background. We got some pretty interesting answers, and a lot more people were involved with the tourist industry than I thought. Being in the tourism industry here is a pretty big deal; it's a solid and stable source of income and it pays much more than agriculture or pastoralism.
One household that we went to was extremely friendly! they let us into their home, allowed us to eat our packed lunches in their living room, and even bought cokes for us! They turned out to be our translators family friend, so the exceptional hospitality wasn't that surprising. When we left they even gave us bracelets as a thank you for taking interest in their worries.
Now that DR has started things are going to get pretty busy.. I have data collection for the next week and then write up for the week and a half after that. During data collection we get to go to more local communities to interview farmers, lodges to interview tourists/lodge managers/tour guides, and we also get to have discussions with Group Ranch managers and government officials (Kenya Wildlife Service.)
so excited!! and after we finish with our research reports we get to present our findings to the community!
wooo
Sunday, April 4, 2010
easter sunday
Happy Easter!!
Easter in Kenya was surprisingly festive. For dinner we had tacos, a rare delicacy, and someone even decorated the tables with flowers and candles. And as we speak someone is whacking away at a pig pinata, in replacement of the easter ham, filled with candies and rehydration salts. Pretty fun easter!
Yesterday we got back from our 5 day expedition to Tsavo West National Park! It was a lot of fun, and really different from our expedition to Serengeti NP. One difference is that there were nearly no animal sightings. We did see a leopard eating a klipspringer, but other than that nothing very exciting. But the park itself was really beautiful. On our drive in we passed through a huge field of lava flows. It was pretty cool driving down a little road and being surrounded by black lava remains from hundreds of years ago.
We also got to go on a hike up the Chyulu hills, probably my favorite part of the expedition. It was a pretty short hike, but we had an amazing view. We first ascended a little hill, crossed a ridge, and then hiked up another connecting hill. All around us we were surrounded by green hills shrouded in clouds and covered in trees. At the top we had a lecture for environmental policy.
The last day of our expedition we went to a rhino sanctuary in the morning and then to the Serena Lodge again! weeee.
The rhino sanctuary would have been a lot better if we actually saw some rhinos.. the sanctuary was a 90km sqrd inclosure within Tsavo West. It only had about 60-70 rhinos, and we only drove through it for about an hour and a half, so it's not surprising that we didn't have a rhino sighting.
The Serena was a little disappointing, compared to the other lodges, but who am I to complain when I come to africa to study wildlife management/policy. The food was great, had pork steaks with mustard sauce, a turkey carving station (kinda unique), spicy veggie curry, lots of cakes, and a pasta bar. The pool was pretty small and didn't have a view like the other lodges did.. but the dining area had a landscape view of the park to make up for it.
We left early sunday morning, per usual, and got back to camp at around 12pm. We rested for the rest of the day, the first rest time we've had in what feels like weeks, and then went to bed early!
Tomorrow is my last final!! It's a combined test for all three classes, so it should be fairly easy and short. After the tests are over I just have a few papers to turn in and then we start our directed research!!!!! Finally! I've been waiting for this for a long time. I hope I get my first choice of Environmental Policy DR because it seems the most interesting and beneficial. If I get that DR topic, versus wildlife management or ecology, I get to interview locals, government officials, tourists, and lodge managers about the tourist industry and its implications on wildlife conservation. The other ones are based on habitat assessment and group ranch locations.. We'll see. We submit our top choices for DR tomorrow so I should know by Tuesday!
I realize I didn't post pictures for this post-- kind of tired and not up to it so I'll do it tomorrow maybe.
Easter in Kenya was surprisingly festive. For dinner we had tacos, a rare delicacy, and someone even decorated the tables with flowers and candles. And as we speak someone is whacking away at a pig pinata, in replacement of the easter ham, filled with candies and rehydration salts. Pretty fun easter!
Yesterday we got back from our 5 day expedition to Tsavo West National Park! It was a lot of fun, and really different from our expedition to Serengeti NP. One difference is that there were nearly no animal sightings. We did see a leopard eating a klipspringer, but other than that nothing very exciting. But the park itself was really beautiful. On our drive in we passed through a huge field of lava flows. It was pretty cool driving down a little road and being surrounded by black lava remains from hundreds of years ago.
We also got to go on a hike up the Chyulu hills, probably my favorite part of the expedition. It was a pretty short hike, but we had an amazing view. We first ascended a little hill, crossed a ridge, and then hiked up another connecting hill. All around us we were surrounded by green hills shrouded in clouds and covered in trees. At the top we had a lecture for environmental policy.
The last day of our expedition we went to a rhino sanctuary in the morning and then to the Serena Lodge again! weeee.
The rhino sanctuary would have been a lot better if we actually saw some rhinos.. the sanctuary was a 90km sqrd inclosure within Tsavo West. It only had about 60-70 rhinos, and we only drove through it for about an hour and a half, so it's not surprising that we didn't have a rhino sighting.
The Serena was a little disappointing, compared to the other lodges, but who am I to complain when I come to africa to study wildlife management/policy. The food was great, had pork steaks with mustard sauce, a turkey carving station (kinda unique), spicy veggie curry, lots of cakes, and a pasta bar. The pool was pretty small and didn't have a view like the other lodges did.. but the dining area had a landscape view of the park to make up for it.
We left early sunday morning, per usual, and got back to camp at around 12pm. We rested for the rest of the day, the first rest time we've had in what feels like weeks, and then went to bed early!
Tomorrow is my last final!! It's a combined test for all three classes, so it should be fairly easy and short. After the tests are over I just have a few papers to turn in and then we start our directed research!!!!! Finally! I've been waiting for this for a long time. I hope I get my first choice of Environmental Policy DR because it seems the most interesting and beneficial. If I get that DR topic, versus wildlife management or ecology, I get to interview locals, government officials, tourists, and lodge managers about the tourist industry and its implications on wildlife conservation. The other ones are based on habitat assessment and group ranch locations.. We'll see. We submit our top choices for DR tomorrow so I should know by Tuesday!
I realize I didn't post pictures for this post-- kind of tired and not up to it so I'll do it tomorrow maybe.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
KBC
long time no post..
I've arrived safely at Kilimanjaro Bush Camp in Kimana, Kenya! The long anticipated transition went smoothly and the Olympics against the Kenya group was a lot of fun!
My last few days in Tanzania were amazing. After finals ended, about a week and a half ago, we had about 3 days of free time fun time. The Sunday after our last final we went back to Watoto Care Orphanage and built the children a swing out of logs and rope. It was great and looked a lot cleaner than I expected.
The next day was another Serena Lodge day! It was comprised of buffet and swimming, also me breaking my 8 day streak of vegetarianism. Such a great day to become normal again!
Then on Tuesday, we got a goat from the market for the goat roast. He was tied to the satellite dish next to the kitchen, we named him Bucket after my future goat pet. Kind of morbid, I know.
At around 2pm we took him down to the fire pit to be slaughtered. I don't think I should post pictures of that, don't know who might freak out. While he was cooking a group got together to go down to Zebra Handcraft, a local curio shop with a bar! We all got a little silly and came back to camp for Bucket! He was pretty tasty.
The next morning we said our goodbyes to the Havennature staff :(, then left for Kenya. On our way we stopped in Arusha to get some milkshakes and to go to the grocery store. A REAL GROCERY STORE! I spent about $40 USD on 6 kit kats, 4 snickers, toothpaste, 2 boxes of cookies, apples, and a white chocolate bar.
A few hours later and we were at the Kilimanjaro Bush Camp!!! The other group was ready in the parking lot to greet us.
The next day was the Olympics! Here are some pictures of the games:
In the end we won more than Kenya, giving us the title as the Olympic champions!
Now about the KBC site. It is a lot bigger and better suited for our program. The library is larger, there are more bathroom facilities, the chef is an ex-Serena Lodge chef!!, the Bandas (huts) are roomy with 4 beds and 4 dressers, there is a field in the middle of the site for playing games and sports, and the running track gets a view of Kilimanjaro! There's actually a view of Kilimanjaro from pretty much anywhere in camp!
A few days after our arrival, we got the opportunity to do a Maasai home stay. I paried up with Sateesh and we both were paired with a Maasai warrior. We went to his Boma early in the morning and stayed until about 5pm. Even though it was only about 10 hours, it seemed like a longlonglong time.
We started by helping our Maasai herd his cows out to graze. We both got sticks and guided the cows out for about an hour, turned them around and brought them back. After, we came back and our Maasai's wife made us some hot tea with biscuits! After we cut down some spiky trees to help fortify the Boma. At around 12 we had a tasty lunch of Ugali and Cabbage! After lunch we rested and worked a little more on the Boma! It was an amazing experience and
I've arrived safely at Kilimanjaro Bush Camp in Kimana, Kenya! The long anticipated transition went smoothly and the Olympics against the Kenya group was a lot of fun!
My last few days in Tanzania were amazing. After finals ended, about a week and a half ago, we had about 3 days of free time fun time. The Sunday after our last final we went back to Watoto Care Orphanage and built the children a swing out of logs and rope. It was great and looked a lot cleaner than I expected.
The next day was another Serena Lodge day! It was comprised of buffet and swimming, also me breaking my 8 day streak of vegetarianism. Such a great day to become normal again!
Then on Tuesday, we got a goat from the market for the goat roast. He was tied to the satellite dish next to the kitchen, we named him Bucket after my future goat pet. Kind of morbid, I know.
At around 2pm we took him down to the fire pit to be slaughtered. I don't think I should post pictures of that, don't know who might freak out. While he was cooking a group got together to go down to Zebra Handcraft, a local curio shop with a bar! We all got a little silly and came back to camp for Bucket! He was pretty tasty.
The next morning we said our goodbyes to the Havennature staff :(, then left for Kenya. On our way we stopped in Arusha to get some milkshakes and to go to the grocery store. A REAL GROCERY STORE! I spent about $40 USD on 6 kit kats, 4 snickers, toothpaste, 2 boxes of cookies, apples, and a white chocolate bar.
A few hours later and we were at the Kilimanjaro Bush Camp!!! The other group was ready in the parking lot to greet us.
The next day was the Olympics! Here are some pictures of the games:
In the end we won more than Kenya, giving us the title as the Olympic champions!
Now about the KBC site. It is a lot bigger and better suited for our program. The library is larger, there are more bathroom facilities, the chef is an ex-Serena Lodge chef!!, the Bandas (huts) are roomy with 4 beds and 4 dressers, there is a field in the middle of the site for playing games and sports, and the running track gets a view of Kilimanjaro! There's actually a view of Kilimanjaro from pretty much anywhere in camp!
A few days after our arrival, we got the opportunity to do a Maasai home stay. I paried up with Sateesh and we both were paired with a Maasai warrior. We went to his Boma early in the morning and stayed until about 5pm. Even though it was only about 10 hours, it seemed like a longlonglong time.
We started by helping our Maasai herd his cows out to graze. We both got sticks and guided the cows out for about an hour, turned them around and brought them back. After, we came back and our Maasai's wife made us some hot tea with biscuits! After we cut down some spiky trees to help fortify the Boma. At around 12 we had a tasty lunch of Ugali and Cabbage! After lunch we rested and worked a little more on the Boma! It was an amazing experience and
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Kenya!!
So today we crossed the border into Kenya! We woke up early to say our goodbyes to the staff at Havennature :( and got into the trucks and left.
We stopped in Arusha, Tanzania on the way to go to the grocery store (A REAL GROCERY STORE!!!) and to get milkshakes!!!! and sandwiches!!! It was all so so so delicious. At the store I bought: 6 kit kat, 4 snickers, 2 boxes of cookies, a can of pringles (salt n vinegar), nutella, apples, and toothpaste. After, I got a chocolate milkshake and a chicken, pesto, avacado, mozzarella sandwich!!
We drove a total of 8 ish hours and finally got to the camp! the other group of students greeted us at the entrance and welcomed us to our new home.
After a short welcome session, we got our tent assignments, moved in, and played some volleyball. Dinner was great! the chefs here are really good. We had chapati, chicken, guacamole, soup, mashed potatoes, kale, and real penne pasta!
The duka (snack shop) here is a lot better than the one at havennature. they have cold sodas, a huge stock of candy, t-shirts (kinda weird), and postcards! pretty convenient.
ANd tomorrow is the big day! The Tanzania (us) v Kenya (them) olympics start at 8am! Hopefully I'll kick some ass and win a gold medal for ultimate ninja!
I'll post more updates soon with pictures of the site and of my final days at Havennature. The mosquitos here are killing me so time to go to tuck my mosquito net in and go to bed!
We stopped in Arusha, Tanzania on the way to go to the grocery store (A REAL GROCERY STORE!!!) and to get milkshakes!!!! and sandwiches!!! It was all so so so delicious. At the store I bought: 6 kit kat, 4 snickers, 2 boxes of cookies, a can of pringles (salt n vinegar), nutella, apples, and toothpaste. After, I got a chocolate milkshake and a chicken, pesto, avacado, mozzarella sandwich!!
We drove a total of 8 ish hours and finally got to the camp! the other group of students greeted us at the entrance and welcomed us to our new home.
After a short welcome session, we got our tent assignments, moved in, and played some volleyball. Dinner was great! the chefs here are really good. We had chapati, chicken, guacamole, soup, mashed potatoes, kale, and real penne pasta!
The duka (snack shop) here is a lot better than the one at havennature. they have cold sodas, a huge stock of candy, t-shirts (kinda weird), and postcards! pretty convenient.
ANd tomorrow is the big day! The Tanzania (us) v Kenya (them) olympics start at 8am! Hopefully I'll kick some ass and win a gold medal for ultimate ninja!
I'll post more updates soon with pictures of the site and of my final days at Havennature. The mosquitos here are killing me so time to go to tuck my mosquito net in and go to bed!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Finals!
Can't believe it's finals week already! back home everyone is just starting to have midterms..
The work is really starting to pile up here. Not because of procrastination but because of stupid teachers that give out assignments less than a week before they're due. As of today I have to:
1. FInish a poster/powerpoint describing the mammal density distribution in Tarangire National Park (equipped with all sorts of statistical tests that make no sense to me).
2. Make a game board that teachers the players about giraffe/habitat interactions.
3. Write 25 150-250 word descriptions on animal ecology for stupid pictures. (given two days ago and due at the end of the week.) Some of the pictures include: a cricket sitting on someone's leg, a bird sitting on a tree branch, a group of giraffe standing, etc.
4. Make a statistical analysis of wildebeest counts in Serengeti. (given yesterday and due at the end of the week).
The teachers here really need to start working on giving us assignments in advance. Maybe I'm just not used to the african teaching style.
Also, classes are officially over! Today was our last lecture and starting tomorrow we just have reading days until our finals on Saturday and Sunday. After finals we have two days of returning graded material and then packing up and heading to Kenya!!
oh! and since we missed the Olympics out here in Tanzania, we're making up for it by having our own little Olympics games- Tanzania group vs. Kenya group. Us Tanzanian kids are probably going to win. We even ordered jerseys with the Tanzanian flag colors and bandanas. Hopefully we'll get face paint too.
The games:
ultimate ninja (introduced by me during RAP)
ugali eating contest
watermelon seed spitting
swahili translation
east african culture quiz
maasai jumping
volleyball
soccer
water balancing
egg & spoon balancing
I signed up for ultimate ninja and maasai jumping.
Don't know why I signed up for the jumping.. should be interesting,
One of the girls here, Lauren, taught us a short dance to Jai-ho. We're thinking of practicing some more and doing it as we enter the Kenya camp to intimidate them.
Since I'm leaving the Havennature camp in a week, I thought I'd upload some photos of the site since I never got around to it.
These are our tents.
The chumba! where we eat, study, hang out.
Outside view of the kitchen and where we line up for dinner.
Our very africa classroom.
The fire pit and view of the local farms.
Inside the bathroom- open bathrooms welcome birds in the morning.
Kids on the running track.
oh and I got pink eye this morning yikes!
The work is really starting to pile up here. Not because of procrastination but because of stupid teachers that give out assignments less than a week before they're due. As of today I have to:
1. FInish a poster/powerpoint describing the mammal density distribution in Tarangire National Park (equipped with all sorts of statistical tests that make no sense to me).
2. Make a game board that teachers the players about giraffe/habitat interactions.
3. Write 25 150-250 word descriptions on animal ecology for stupid pictures. (given two days ago and due at the end of the week.) Some of the pictures include: a cricket sitting on someone's leg, a bird sitting on a tree branch, a group of giraffe standing, etc.
4. Make a statistical analysis of wildebeest counts in Serengeti. (given yesterday and due at the end of the week).
The teachers here really need to start working on giving us assignments in advance. Maybe I'm just not used to the african teaching style.
Also, classes are officially over! Today was our last lecture and starting tomorrow we just have reading days until our finals on Saturday and Sunday. After finals we have two days of returning graded material and then packing up and heading to Kenya!!
oh! and since we missed the Olympics out here in Tanzania, we're making up for it by having our own little Olympics games- Tanzania group vs. Kenya group. Us Tanzanian kids are probably going to win. We even ordered jerseys with the Tanzanian flag colors and bandanas. Hopefully we'll get face paint too.
The games:
ultimate ninja (introduced by me during RAP)
ugali eating contest
watermelon seed spitting
swahili translation
east african culture quiz
maasai jumping
volleyball
soccer
water balancing
egg & spoon balancing
I signed up for ultimate ninja and maasai jumping.
Don't know why I signed up for the jumping.. should be interesting,
One of the girls here, Lauren, taught us a short dance to Jai-ho. We're thinking of practicing some more and doing it as we enter the Kenya camp to intimidate them.
Since I'm leaving the Havennature camp in a week, I thought I'd upload some photos of the site since I never got around to it.
These are our tents.
The chumba! where we eat, study, hang out.
Outside view of the kitchen and where we line up for dinner.
Our very africa classroom.
The fire pit and view of the local farms.
Inside the bathroom- open bathrooms welcome birds in the morning.
Kids on the running track.
oh and I got pink eye this morning yikes!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Serengeti
Returned from Serengeti two days ago! It was so much better than expected- saw more animals than I thought I would and camping out was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.
We started our 7 hour trip to Serengeti early on Thursday morning. We left at 7:00, passed through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and stopped at Oldupai (Olduvai) Gorge before arriving at Serengeti. Oldupai was kind of a let down.. You would think that the site of the earliest human fossils would have a better exhibition than it did, which was just a little shack crammed with scattered information about th findings. The view of the gorge was beautiful, but no different from any other landscape view we've seen. We didn't even get to drive through the trails in the gorge. It was still a great experience.
After the let down at Oldupai, we drove the final stretch to Serengeti in 2 hours and finally arrived at the entrance to the park. As soon as we drove into the park, we opened up our hatches and looked out for any animals. It didn't take long to see something spectacular- 5 minutes into our drive we saw a herd of thousands and thousands of zebra and wildebeest grazing in preparation for their great migration north.
Another hour later we arrived at our campsite! Equipped with flushing toilets, showers (which we weren't allowed to use), a kitchen space, and a fire pit. Much more luxurious than I expected. We set up our tents, 1 tent for every 5-6 people, unpacked, and jumped back into the cars for an evening game drive.
Our first game drive was very successful, we saw a pride of female lions, A LEOPARD!, hippos floatin in a pond, and on our way back we had to cross a flooded road by a river that had a crocodile swimming in it! So cool.
When we got back Judy, our chef back at Havennature Camp that we brought with us, cooked us up a delicious meal that we ate on our handy mess kits. After dinner we had announcements about the next few days and then, something crazy happened. Lions started roaring and grumbling VERRY close to our site. Sarah yelled for all of us to get in our tents and to only come out if an askari (security guard) was there to guide us to the bathroom. All throughout the night lions, hyenas, and baboons woke me up with loud roaring and screeching. It was amazing yet extremely terrifying.
In the morning we exchanged stories about what we heard, a few heard a hyena run through camp and knock over buckets of water. Sarah had to go through the tall grass to find them and only found 2 of 3.
We skipped breakfast in the morning so we could go on an early game drive, which was lame. No animals seen except a few herd of impala and some hartebeest. We got back, had breakfast, hung around camp till lunch, then went on another game drive.
This game drive was a lot more exciting. We saw more lions, some Thomson's and Grant's gazelle, hippo, hartebeest, topi, and another leopard! This leopard was chillin in a tree with at least 10 safari trucks surrounding it. It was kind of sad but the leopard knew he had control over the situation- he just jumped out of the tree and everyone dispersed. Another car from our group was lucky enough to have the leopard walk right up to their truck.
Our third day in Serengeti was probably the best. We had a 6 hour long morning game drive and since it was so long we were able to drive farther out from camp to see new areas of the park. In the afternoon we came up to a huge open grassland area with large kopis (giant rock structures) everywhere. Here we saw the equivalent of Pride Rock from Lion King. At one kopi we saw 3 baby lion cubs from about 5-10 meters away! They were looking right at us so I got a lot of good photos. RIght around the corner were 2 mature female lions basking in the sun. And on the other side of the kopi were 3 other females, one of which looked very pregnant.
After our amazing game drive we went back to camp for a rushed lunch and then headed to a research center for a guest lecture on disease prevention and control in Serengeti. After 6 hours in a bouncy car in the sun, no one was able to stay awake. I felt bad because the lecturer was very interesting, but it was just way to hard to keep my eyes open. After was another game drive. Highlights: lions, another leopard, more antelope, hippos, some beautiful birds, including ostrich.
The next day started off with another morning game drive. Again, we didn't see much. I think there's something about morning game drives.. we never seem to see anything cool. We did get to go to a hippo pool and watch some hippos fight each other.
After the hippo pool we headed over to the Serena Lodge, the chain of lodges mentioned in an earlier post. This on was just as luxurious and had food that was even tastier. Mom would be proud, I got I think 6 plates at the buffet. 2 plates of steak and veggie kabobs, baked fish, sausage, rice and chicken stir fry. 2 plates of salad and fresh fruit. and 2 plates of dessert: chocolate covered bananas, grape creamy jello, brownie bites, and fresh passion fruit and tomato fruit. The passion fruit was crazy! I was hoping I'd get to try it sometime. It has such a strong overpowering flavor, first sour and then sweet. It was great with the brownies.
After the buffet I showered for the first time in 4 days and jumped into the pool. Like the other Serena Lodge, the pool was an infinity pool. I had a few gin and tonics and then showered again and headed back to camp.
SInce we were leaving the next morning, we had a debriefing about the trip and what we learned (we did do a few exercises while on game drives for class). The next morning we woke up at 5:30 to pack up the truck with our equipment and take down our tents. Unfortunately, it was pouring when we woke up so we had to do all of this in the rain. I was soaked by the time we were ready to leave.
On our drive back to havennature, we stopped at Ngorongoro Crater- one of the 7 natural wonders? or something. It was probably the best National Park we went to. A little background info.
Ngorongoro Crater was formed when a gigantic volcano blew it's top and created a giant crater, 15 km in diameter. Since then, herds of animals moved in to take advantage of the rich open grasslands, many lakes, and frequent rainfall.
Getting into the park was tricky, since we had to descend the side of the crater. It was a bumpy and rough ride down the side, but we got a great view of the whole park. Inside the park we hoped to see cheetahs and rhinos, two mammals we haven't seen yet. We were lucky to see 6 rhinos, but no cheetah. :(
We also saw lots of hippo, topi, hartebeest, gazelle, lions, wildebeest, buffalo, and elephant. We even saw a female lion rolling in the grass about 3 feet away from the road!
Our journey out of the park was just as cool as our trip in. We had to take a different road up the crater, which took about 30 minutes. This road went through tropical forest and tall trees. It was cool seeing the different environment. There were also parts of the road that gave us more clear shots of the entire park.
We got back to camp a few hours later, unpacked, and relaxed. The next day was a relaxed day which included sleeping in till 8:30 (which is late for me now), going for a run, a late lunch, and a quick wildlife management class at 3. Then Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark after dinner.
We started our 7 hour trip to Serengeti early on Thursday morning. We left at 7:00, passed through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, and stopped at Oldupai (Olduvai) Gorge before arriving at Serengeti. Oldupai was kind of a let down.. You would think that the site of the earliest human fossils would have a better exhibition than it did, which was just a little shack crammed with scattered information about th findings. The view of the gorge was beautiful, but no different from any other landscape view we've seen. We didn't even get to drive through the trails in the gorge. It was still a great experience.
After the let down at Oldupai, we drove the final stretch to Serengeti in 2 hours and finally arrived at the entrance to the park. As soon as we drove into the park, we opened up our hatches and looked out for any animals. It didn't take long to see something spectacular- 5 minutes into our drive we saw a herd of thousands and thousands of zebra and wildebeest grazing in preparation for their great migration north.
Another hour later we arrived at our campsite! Equipped with flushing toilets, showers (which we weren't allowed to use), a kitchen space, and a fire pit. Much more luxurious than I expected. We set up our tents, 1 tent for every 5-6 people, unpacked, and jumped back into the cars for an evening game drive.
Our first game drive was very successful, we saw a pride of female lions, A LEOPARD!, hippos floatin in a pond, and on our way back we had to cross a flooded road by a river that had a crocodile swimming in it! So cool.
When we got back Judy, our chef back at Havennature Camp that we brought with us, cooked us up a delicious meal that we ate on our handy mess kits. After dinner we had announcements about the next few days and then, something crazy happened. Lions started roaring and grumbling VERRY close to our site. Sarah yelled for all of us to get in our tents and to only come out if an askari (security guard) was there to guide us to the bathroom. All throughout the night lions, hyenas, and baboons woke me up with loud roaring and screeching. It was amazing yet extremely terrifying.
In the morning we exchanged stories about what we heard, a few heard a hyena run through camp and knock over buckets of water. Sarah had to go through the tall grass to find them and only found 2 of 3.
We skipped breakfast in the morning so we could go on an early game drive, which was lame. No animals seen except a few herd of impala and some hartebeest. We got back, had breakfast, hung around camp till lunch, then went on another game drive.
This game drive was a lot more exciting. We saw more lions, some Thomson's and Grant's gazelle, hippo, hartebeest, topi, and another leopard! This leopard was chillin in a tree with at least 10 safari trucks surrounding it. It was kind of sad but the leopard knew he had control over the situation- he just jumped out of the tree and everyone dispersed. Another car from our group was lucky enough to have the leopard walk right up to their truck.
Our third day in Serengeti was probably the best. We had a 6 hour long morning game drive and since it was so long we were able to drive farther out from camp to see new areas of the park. In the afternoon we came up to a huge open grassland area with large kopis (giant rock structures) everywhere. Here we saw the equivalent of Pride Rock from Lion King. At one kopi we saw 3 baby lion cubs from about 5-10 meters away! They were looking right at us so I got a lot of good photos. RIght around the corner were 2 mature female lions basking in the sun. And on the other side of the kopi were 3 other females, one of which looked very pregnant.
After our amazing game drive we went back to camp for a rushed lunch and then headed to a research center for a guest lecture on disease prevention and control in Serengeti. After 6 hours in a bouncy car in the sun, no one was able to stay awake. I felt bad because the lecturer was very interesting, but it was just way to hard to keep my eyes open. After was another game drive. Highlights: lions, another leopard, more antelope, hippos, some beautiful birds, including ostrich.
The next day started off with another morning game drive. Again, we didn't see much. I think there's something about morning game drives.. we never seem to see anything cool. We did get to go to a hippo pool and watch some hippos fight each other.
After the hippo pool we headed over to the Serena Lodge, the chain of lodges mentioned in an earlier post. This on was just as luxurious and had food that was even tastier. Mom would be proud, I got I think 6 plates at the buffet. 2 plates of steak and veggie kabobs, baked fish, sausage, rice and chicken stir fry. 2 plates of salad and fresh fruit. and 2 plates of dessert: chocolate covered bananas, grape creamy jello, brownie bites, and fresh passion fruit and tomato fruit. The passion fruit was crazy! I was hoping I'd get to try it sometime. It has such a strong overpowering flavor, first sour and then sweet. It was great with the brownies.
After the buffet I showered for the first time in 4 days and jumped into the pool. Like the other Serena Lodge, the pool was an infinity pool. I had a few gin and tonics and then showered again and headed back to camp.
SInce we were leaving the next morning, we had a debriefing about the trip and what we learned (we did do a few exercises while on game drives for class). The next morning we woke up at 5:30 to pack up the truck with our equipment and take down our tents. Unfortunately, it was pouring when we woke up so we had to do all of this in the rain. I was soaked by the time we were ready to leave.
On our drive back to havennature, we stopped at Ngorongoro Crater- one of the 7 natural wonders? or something. It was probably the best National Park we went to. A little background info.
Ngorongoro Crater was formed when a gigantic volcano blew it's top and created a giant crater, 15 km in diameter. Since then, herds of animals moved in to take advantage of the rich open grasslands, many lakes, and frequent rainfall.
Getting into the park was tricky, since we had to descend the side of the crater. It was a bumpy and rough ride down the side, but we got a great view of the whole park. Inside the park we hoped to see cheetahs and rhinos, two mammals we haven't seen yet. We were lucky to see 6 rhinos, but no cheetah. :(
We also saw lots of hippo, topi, hartebeest, gazelle, lions, wildebeest, buffalo, and elephant. We even saw a female lion rolling in the grass about 3 feet away from the road!
Our journey out of the park was just as cool as our trip in. We had to take a different road up the crater, which took about 30 minutes. This road went through tropical forest and tall trees. It was cool seeing the different environment. There were also parts of the road that gave us more clear shots of the entire park.
We got back to camp a few hours later, unpacked, and relaxed. The next day was a relaxed day which included sleeping in till 8:30 (which is late for me now), going for a run, a late lunch, and a quick wildlife management class at 3. Then Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark after dinner.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
rafiki ain't a baboon
he's a blue mandrill. and he shouldn't be able to speak swahili cuz they're only found in west africa not east.
we've been having weekly movie nights and tonight is Lion King night. It's funny that I can point out all the discrepancies in the movie after only a few weeks in tanzania.
anywayz..
we're going to Serengeti this Sunday!!! we'll be camping out for about a week. I heard that last year a hyena got caught on someone's tent and an askari (security guy) had to come and scare it away. I'm really excited for my night pees, too. if we have to pee at night we shine a flashlight outside of our tent and an askari has to escort us to pee in the bushes because of the animal dangers. wowow hopefully we'll finally see some simbas.
ew the part of lion king when simba pounces zazu just came on. I guess they added a new song here and it's awkward and sucks.
I can't believe that we're already more than half way through with our time in Tanzania! We're going to have finals in 2 weeks already! so crazyy
Oh and sad sad sad news... Yuda, our swahili teacher, morning walk, and hiking guide is leaving SFS to Dar es Salaam to work at a national park :(. Tomorrow is our non-program day for this week so we're going on our last hike with Yuda and then heading to Karatu Town for lunch and a surprise going away party for Yuda!
well, new post when I get back from Serengeti in a week!
we've been having weekly movie nights and tonight is Lion King night. It's funny that I can point out all the discrepancies in the movie after only a few weeks in tanzania.
anywayz..
we're going to Serengeti this Sunday!!! we'll be camping out for about a week. I heard that last year a hyena got caught on someone's tent and an askari (security guy) had to come and scare it away. I'm really excited for my night pees, too. if we have to pee at night we shine a flashlight outside of our tent and an askari has to escort us to pee in the bushes because of the animal dangers. wowow hopefully we'll finally see some simbas.
ew the part of lion king when simba pounces zazu just came on. I guess they added a new song here and it's awkward and sucks.
I can't believe that we're already more than half way through with our time in Tanzania! We're going to have finals in 2 weeks already! so crazyy
Oh and sad sad sad news... Yuda, our swahili teacher, morning walk, and hiking guide is leaving SFS to Dar es Salaam to work at a national park :(. Tomorrow is our non-program day for this week so we're going on our last hike with Yuda and then heading to Karatu Town for lunch and a surprise going away party for Yuda!
well, new post when I get back from Serengeti in a week!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
watoto
Yesterday was our third non-program day. In the morning we went to an orphanage a few miles away from our campsite called Watoto Care (Children Care). Most of the kids that live there moved in because their parents died from aids so it was a pretty heavy experience. At first it was really sad hearing the director tell us about the history of the kids and the orphanage, but then they started to dance and play so it was nice to see that they were happy.
We played a few games with them- little sally walker, duck duck goose, red rover- and then read books with them. We were only there for a few hours because we had lunch reservations at a lodge down the street... I felt really bad that we also planned to go to lodge for a buffet and swimming after our trip to the orphanage. But we did pitch in a bunch of money to buy them 75 pounds of rice, beans, loaves of bread, soap, and some meat. I made good friends with a few of the kids but wasn't able to get their names.. But I did get to read a few books to them and swing them around the yard. Hopefully we'll be able to go back soon! It was a lot of fun.
Here are some pictures from the trip..
watoto playing little sally walker
caroline, jackie, and miriam playing with the kids
We left the orphanage right before lunch and got to the Serena Lodge right as the buffet opened (going to a lodge seems so contradictory to every reason that we came here). Buttttt the buffet was probably the best meal I've had since I've been here. There was beef brisket, grilled chicken (without all the bones mm), REAL salad!, spicy vegetable curry, fried buttery fish, seasonal veggies, a wide cheese assortment, lasagna!!!, fresh fruit, and delicious desserts! If any of you ever make it big and decide to come to africa to have a very non-africa experience, I recommend you stay here (http://www.serenahotels.com/tanzania/lakemanyara/home.asp) The pool was just as great as the buffet. The whole resort was on the side of the rift valley, overlooking lake manyara, and so was the pool. We got a few drinks, that were about 10 $$$ each.. and headed out right before dinner time.
After Serena Lodge we went to a curio shop down the street to buy some souvenirs. I got some pretty cool things, most gifts so I shouldn't write what I bought for you all to read.
Oh and recently it's been pretty rainy and it seems like it's having an effect on the size of the bugs.. I've been seeing a bunch of gigantic bugs around camp recently; gigantic moths (8? inch wing span), bigbig praying mantis, huge stick bug at least 9 inches long. Hopefully it won't get much worse.. I'm already freaking out about the huge moths. If you didn't know I have a strange fear of moths for some reason. I think it's their sporadic flying patterns- they fly in one direction and the next second they're dive bombing your face. And the disturbing sound of their wings fluttering. There's been one in the bathroom for a really long time and I think it finally died. It nested on the ceiling and would spaz out every night. I feel like they're too big to even fly because they can barely get off the ground.
A girl told me that the reason they fly around lights is because they use the moon to navigate so they get confused now with the advent of electricity. Stupid ass bugs. Electricity has been around for a long time, you'd think natural selection would've kicked in by now.
no pictures of the moth but I'll get one soon
We played a few games with them- little sally walker, duck duck goose, red rover- and then read books with them. We were only there for a few hours because we had lunch reservations at a lodge down the street... I felt really bad that we also planned to go to lodge for a buffet and swimming after our trip to the orphanage. But we did pitch in a bunch of money to buy them 75 pounds of rice, beans, loaves of bread, soap, and some meat. I made good friends with a few of the kids but wasn't able to get their names.. But I did get to read a few books to them and swing them around the yard. Hopefully we'll be able to go back soon! It was a lot of fun.
Here are some pictures from the trip..
watoto playing little sally walker
caroline, jackie, and miriam playing with the kids
We left the orphanage right before lunch and got to the Serena Lodge right as the buffet opened (going to a lodge seems so contradictory to every reason that we came here). Buttttt the buffet was probably the best meal I've had since I've been here. There was beef brisket, grilled chicken (without all the bones mm), REAL salad!, spicy vegetable curry, fried buttery fish, seasonal veggies, a wide cheese assortment, lasagna!!!, fresh fruit, and delicious desserts! If any of you ever make it big and decide to come to africa to have a very non-africa experience, I recommend you stay here (http://www.serenahotels.com/tanzania/lakemanyara/home.asp) The pool was just as great as the buffet. The whole resort was on the side of the rift valley, overlooking lake manyara, and so was the pool. We got a few drinks, that were about 10 $$$ each.. and headed out right before dinner time.
After Serena Lodge we went to a curio shop down the street to buy some souvenirs. I got some pretty cool things, most gifts so I shouldn't write what I bought for you all to read.
Oh and recently it's been pretty rainy and it seems like it's having an effect on the size of the bugs.. I've been seeing a bunch of gigantic bugs around camp recently; gigantic moths (8? inch wing span), bigbig praying mantis, huge stick bug at least 9 inches long. Hopefully it won't get much worse.. I'm already freaking out about the huge moths. If you didn't know I have a strange fear of moths for some reason. I think it's their sporadic flying patterns- they fly in one direction and the next second they're dive bombing your face. And the disturbing sound of their wings fluttering. There's been one in the bathroom for a really long time and I think it finally died. It nested on the ceiling and would spaz out every night. I feel like they're too big to even fly because they can barely get off the ground.
A girl told me that the reason they fly around lights is because they use the moon to navigate so they get confused now with the advent of electricity. Stupid ass bugs. Electricity has been around for a long time, you'd think natural selection would've kicked in by now.
no pictures of the moth but I'll get one soon
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