Going to start blogging again

It's been a long time. I'm going to start blogging our trips - and maybe even blog about some past ones...

All Clear

Everything is fine here.  We never lost power.  We sprung a leak in the wall above one of our windows - and there is some water damage to the top of the window frame from that but otherwise, we're fine.  I'm not sure how we're going to repair the leak - it seems to have come from outside.  Since the window is on the 4th floor of the building there is no way for us to look out there.  I think it is because it rained so much.

The damage here seems pretty minimal.  Some trees down, some minor flooding, but this area has had much worse storms.  It seems New Jersey and New York suffered much more damage.

Nothing exciting to report - which is a good thing!

The wind is really picking up - leaves are swirling around outside and rain is coming in our side windows :-(

I just received a text message saying the school is closed again tomorrow and the news is telling us to expect up to 75 mph wind gusts later on this evening.  As of now, we still have power!

Hurricane Sandy

I think we're set. We have a lot of water, snacks, and fruit in case the electricity goes out. We're hoping it won't. Schools are cancelled, the Federal government is closed, Metro is not running - not even buses (and those usually run even in snowstorms!) and for the first time ever, Jason's work gave everyone the option to either take leave or work from home today. I'll update the blog with information about Sandy as long as we have electricity!

Prepping for Sandy

Here we are at Target - notice the empty shelf - this is where the water is (was) - we were able to get some but there wasn't much left!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Monkey with Ziggy's cookies

We got up and got ready to go meet Ziggy at 7:30. Breakfast was another buffet. We saw monkeys on the roof while we were eating. There was a variety of bread, sausage, potatoes, an omelet /egg station and fruit. Ziggy was out at the truck waiting for us and he told us a monkey had just jumped into the truck, stole some left-over cookies from the day before and it was sitting up outside of someone's room opening the package to eat them. I was amazed by the fact that the monkeys know how to open a package of cookies! He said they were in a bag on the front seat and the monkey jumped in, took them out of the bag and took off.

Ziggy asked how our evening was – how was dinner, did we sleep well, etc...? I asked him how his evening was and I was curious about where he spent the night. He said there were some cottages nearby that all the staff stay at. He said they were OK but from what we gathered, these cottages were pretty basic accommodations. He pointed them out to us as we drove by them. He also pointed out the Frankfurt Zoological station which was also located nearby.

Ziggy took us out in a different direction and we saw some more hippos and baboons. There were a lot of other people out and about in similar trucks driving around. We didn't really see any other tourists on our drive up on Saturday but on Sunday we came to understand just how touristy safaris in Tanzania really are. We would drive around a bit, then when we would pass another safari truck, we would stop and Ziggy would roll down his window and the other guy would roll down his window and while the conversation was always in Swahili, we could tell this is how the conversation would go “hey – what's up?” (Mambo!) “Not much, its cool” (Poa). “See anything good down that way?” “Yeah, we saw a hippo/baboon/giraffe/etc.” or “Naw, nothing exciting down that way”. “OK – see ya later, have a good one” “Yeah, you too”.

The landscape was interesting – it was pretty open but there were clusters of trees – Amarila trees and acacia trees – there were some rivers and creeks – and some water holes and some swampy areas. It was a lot more varied than I expected.

Sometimes, if someone found something interesting, they would call each other and then we would race off to see whatever it is. This happened Sunday morning. We were driving around and then Ziggy got a call and tore off really fast down the road (which is an adventure all on its own). We came around a corner and there were 3 or 4 other trucks stopped there and what everyone was looking at was 3 female lions milling around in an area with some fallen trees. Suddenly, one of them jumped up on one of the trees, then another one did. The third one laid down in the grass. There were baboons nearby and one of them was trying to get from one tree to another one – the lions were eyeballing them all the while but in the end, they didn't do anything other than lay there. One of the lions was wearing a collar – we are guessing that is the work of the zoological organization there.

We sat and watched the lions for a while then we took off for more game driving. We drove around and saw some other animals – by now, we were getting used to seeing Thompson gazelle, zebras and wildebeest – ho hum! We drove up to another picnic/rest area and took a restroom break and saw some giraffe off in the distance. While there some of the other guides told Ziggy there was a leopard in the area. We took off in search of that and along the way we saw a group of elephants. We were able to drive up very close to them. One was a juvenile and it was rolling around in the mud while another one (we are assuming its mother) stood guard.

After a while, they wandered off and we drove off. We drove around some more and then Ziggy got another call and took off at top speed back toward the rest area we had been at earlier. There were lots and lots of safari trucks there – at least 30 – and probably about 100 people standing around looking through their binoculars at a tree – we found the leopard! It was sitting up in the tree. Everyone was very excited. After a while, the leopard jumped down and we couldn't see it through the grass. We wandered off and were ready to go when there was more excitement and the crowd started moving. We went back over to see what it was – and the leopard had gone INTO the restrooms were just in only about an hour before! Then it came back out and jumped up onto the roof of the restrooms! It was AMAZING how easily it jumped up onto the roof. At this point the crowd was going wild – and one of the guides started yelling at everyone to get back – we were getting too close and we could all see just how fast and how far that leopard could move. It took off again back toward the tree. Someone said that it had some cubs and it lost track of them and it was looking for them. It went back up into the tree, came back down, and was slinking around in the grass. It was hard to see after that and we finally headed out. I was totally freaked out by the fact that the leopard was in the restroom I was just in! I was much more cautious about going into the restrooms after that. It is a really good thing there was nobody in there when it went in.

We drove around some more and then headed back to the lodge for lunch. We had lunch (another buffet) and we hung around there for a few hours then Ziggy came back for us at 4:00 and we went on another game drive until 6:00. On this drive, we saw a cheetah! We were driving around, not really seeing too much and he spotted it in the grass. We have no idea how he was able to see it but he did. He pulled up pretty close to it – which made us both nervous as we thought about how easily that leopard jumped up onto the roof of the restrooms earlier in the day – it seemed like this cheetah would be able to jump into the truck. We watched it for a bit and then it took off. We drove around some more and then headed back to the lodge for the evening. It was pretty much the same routine only it was raining pretty hard so we couldn't go up to the viewing platform. We sat at the bar where we met a couple from the DC-area! Small world. They told us they are JAG lawyers and on vacation doing a safari. They were doing the opposite route from us – we started in the Serengeti and ending in Ngorongoro crater, they started at the crater and were ending in Serengeti. Afterward they were going to Zanzibar.

We tried to get to bed earlier Sunday evening because Ziggy wanted to pick us up at 6:30 in the morning on Monday for an early game drive before breakfast and then after that we were going to head out to Ngorongoro crater.

Friday June 18, 2011

Jason did not have to go in to work today so we set up a ride to the Bujora Cultural Center. The cultural center was created by a Catholic missionary who set up a church in the area in the 1960s. He wanted to ensure that the Sukuma culture and history were available to the Sukuma people. The Sukuma are the majority ethnic group in the Mwanza area. The cultural center is 16 kilometers outside of Mwanza so we had Fiona, the hotel manager arrange a taxi for us. Jason's co-worker, Prosper also went along with us. He is from Uganda so we weren't sure if he would be interested in joining us – we figured it might be like us traveling to Mexico and going to a museum about Canada while we were there. But he was interested so he also went along.

The center was interesting but what was more interesting to me was the ride there. I finally got out of the hotel and saw the “real” Mwanza. My impression of Mwanza is that it is an interesting city. Lots of half-built buildings, many run-down buildings and lots and lots of garbage out on the side of the road. It made me wonder – does the Tea Party REALLY not want a central government? Because, I think if we didn't have all of the government services that we currently have – and don't even think about – like regular trash pick-up and litter laws, building codes and traffic laws (let alone signs and signals) – our country might look a lot like Tanzania! Without government oversight and repercussions for actions like littering, the few of us who do care about things like fairly clean and safe streets simply cannot control the masses who don't. I mean, think about how much litter there is on the sides of the road as it is with the laws – without the laws, you have Mwanza.

There were people everywhere. Walking along with things on their head (how do they do that?) - and riding bikes piled up with an unbelievable amount of items – some of the things we saw on bikes were piles of corn, chicken coops and big plastic jugs for water. Everything was very dusty and run down. Traffic is insane – there are two lanes and there did not seem to be any traffic rules. It was all very interesting to look at and take in.

But I digress, back to the cultural center. The taxi that was arranged by the hotel was a jalopy. Not a problem, except when we arrived, after we got out of the car, the driver lifted the hood. Prosper said “why do they always have an old car?”. It made us a bit nervous when we realized that none of us had the number to the hotel – so if the car did break down, we weren't quite sure how we might handle that – so, we just went to the information center where we were met by a nice man who collected our admission fee and began the tour of the center. There were two other young women there to take the tour.

The cultural center consisted of a number of buildings each with different artifacts related to the Sukuma people. There was a traditional house, traditional tools, drums, etc.


Traditional Sukuma house












He also explained the different Sukuma tribes and showed us some of the items the King of each tribe uses – headdress, chair, etc.















We also had a tour of the church – which was very interesting because it is still a functioning Catholic church. In fact, when we were there, a number of children were in the church taking a class of some sort. The most interesting thing about the church was how the pastor there mixed both the traditional and catholic rituals into the layout and structure of the church.

The tour ended in a building that had artifacts related to the Sukuma's dancing rituals. The building had a net outside hanging from the rafters. It wasn't exactly clear to us what the net was for but there were a number of mummified bats in it. When we got inside, we noticed there were a number of live bats hanging from the ceiling. It was a bit concerning to us but our guide didn't seem to notice or care. For an additional fee, we could have taken a look at a live python – but none of us really wanted to spend the extra money so we declined the offer. Jason wandered out a back door and almost saw the python for free – but our guide caught him just in time.

After the tour we drove back to the hotel and had a nice late lunch. After that, we went for a swim in the pool and then went back up to our room to get ready for our safari.

Eclipse Wednesday Night

We watched the eclipse last night - we had a great view and it was really pretty. Very red because of all the volcanoes. One recently erupted in Eritrea. We took these pictures with our new camera/video camera.

We also took a picture of the lake at night. It is really pretty.

Not Much Going On

Not much has been going on here. Monday evening we walked down the road to another hotel for dinner. The road is dirt and there is a lot of mucky water and garbage on the sides of the road. There are also an awful lot of half-built buildings around here. I wonder what the deal is with that. Dinner was pretty good - we all had Indian food. We sat outside which wasn't the best idea. Bugs kept flying into our meals. We saw some cats, I looked them up, they are African wild cats. They look like regular house cats but they have different markings.

When we ordered our drinks at dinner, Jason and I ordered a bottle of water to share. The water came and the guy poured us each a glass and I took a couple of drinks. Then, a few minutes later when the server came back to take our order, Jason asked if we could have another water. I asked why and he pointed out to me that the label on the water seemed to be pasted over another label and on the side someone had hand-written 1.5 liters. The picture is kind of blurry but if you look closely, you can see the hand-written 1.5 liters. I'm glad he noticed this but was worried because I already drank some of it. Everyone at the table assured me it was probably boiled water in a re-used bottle. We're not sure why they brought us that instead of the regular brand of water we've come to expect. I seem to be OK though. I need to be more diligent about checking the water.

Jason has been busy working he was up until midnight last night working on some issue they are having with the database. I think he got it worked out. The internet connection here is very good but we've both been having problems uploading some things.

Jason said that in town he saw these huge storks digging through the garbage. He said there were also people digging through the garbage and the storks were as big as the people - it was freaky. He looked it up online to show me - they are called Marabou Storks.

Because I've been hanging around the hotel all day, I'm getting to know the people who work here. I already told you about Fiona, the manager. There is also Bonifant - he works in the restaurant and he taught us how to say "What's up?" in Swahili (Mambo) and the response which is "I'm cool" (Poa). Fatuma cleans the room each day and there is one other woman I talk to every day in the restaurant and I can't think of her name at the moment...

This morning at breakfast one of the guests started playing piano and the young woman (I wish I could remember her name!) sang a song - that was really nice.

Here are some pictures of the area outside of our hotel room. You can see the guard tower in the background of this one. It is very green around the hotel. On both sides there are gardens and people work in them almost all day. I asked who the people were and if the gardens were for the hotel. Bonifant told me that the people who work in the gardens are villagers and they sell the vegetables at the market every day.

There also seems to be a lot of farm animals around here. There is a rooster (maybe multiple roosters, I'm not sure) that does his little rooster call all day long. There also seems to be a sheep or goat or something nearby that bleats all day long - bleaat...bleaat...bleaat.

I think there are literally millions of different frogs around here - at night you can hear all sorts of croaking. It is far from quiet.





Nothing much else going on. Today is another work day. It looks like it is going to be another beautiful day too. It is in the 60's right now and breezy. There have been passing thunder showers every afternoon.

Jason might be finished working tomorrow. If that is the case then I'm going to see if we can arrange to go to the Bujora Cultural Center on Friday.

I'll post again if anything interesting happens before our Safari which begins on Saturday.