Leah’s Travel Page

We flew to Zanzibar from Mombasa, after 3 hours of delay during which we managed to weasel our way into a free meal from the airport. We were hardly in the air when the descent onto the island began. We flew over amazing turquoise waters, tiny white-sand islands and mangroves forests, before landing in Stone Town. We waited in a huge line to get a Tanzanian visa, and then just when we were two people away from the front, the guy went on a break, so we had to go to the end of another line…And then a bunch of people’s luggage was left behind in Mombasa (but thankfully not mine). It began pouring torrential rain while we were in the airport, and as we were driving to the Garden Lodge, the streets filled up with probably a foot of water… Not the most auspicious of beginnings.

But once we began to got to the hotel, it was amazing. It was a gorgeous old building with amazing Muslim architecture and gorgeous canopy beds (draped with mosquito nets, of course). By the time we arrived there, the rain had stopped, and from the dining room on the roof of the building we could watch the sun set over the Indian Ocean. It was gorgeous! Then a male voice began singing in Arabic, projected on a P.A. system out throughout the whole town, calling the men to evening prayers (This would happen 5 times a day).

Stone Town itself was a pretty incredible place to experience, especially for someone who;d never been to an entirely Muslim community before. The narrow streets were full of people dressed in traditional clothing coming and going by foot or bicycle, and with the ancient buildings and laid-back atmosphere it was as though I’d stepped into a medieval storybook. All of the girls in our group would drape ourselves in shawls and sarongs to be as covered as possible, but still we would get harassed by men wherever we would go… I never felt as though I was in a bad situation, but I definitely made sure to be walking around with guys after dark, and I felt as though the guys with us definitely had more of a chance to explore freely.

Unfortunately it was the last week of our program, so we had to spend a fair bit of time finishing up assignments and writing essays. But thank goodness we were there for nine days so that we could fit a ton of amazing things in. We spent one day out at a spice plantation, and seeing all the various spices growing in nature was actually really cool – pepper, cinammon, vanilla, tumeric, cloves (Zanzibar is one of the world’s largest exporters). Too bad the temperature was over 40, and we all thought we were going to melt into the earth, but at the end we got to eat local fresh fruit, which is always amazing – the mangoes on the coast are absolutely glorious, and I don’t even normally like mangoes.

We also took a dhow (one of the traditional sail boats) from Stone Town out to Prison Island, which is visible from the town, and where they used to keep slaves during the Indian Ocean slave trade. Around the island we got to do some great snorkelling over the coral reefs – I was doing a biology project on the association between clown fish and sea anemones (think Finding Nemo), so I got to do a bunch of observations on them in their natural habitats, as well as crazy amounts of starfish, eels, rays, sea urchins and other fish… And of course I got probably the worst sunburn of my entire life on the back of my legs and couldn’t sit down for a week without being in pain.

Probably the greatest experience of all that I had in Zanzibar was the chance to go swimming with dolphins in the wild. We went out in groups of 10 in local boats where they knew there are frequently groups of dolphins, all dressed up with our flippers and snorkels, although they warned us that it’s not guaranteed to have a sighting… Well then we must have been the luckiest group in the entire world. Within 5 minutes of being out in the crystal blue waters, a group of humpback dolphins glided by, coming out of the water. However, you’re not allowed to swim with humpbacks because they are afraid of humans, so we had to wait until we found some bottlenose. A few more humpbacks went by before we actually saw any bottlenose dolphins. The thing you have to do it drive the boat up ahead of the dolphins, the get into the water and let them swim towards you, because they will be frightened if you just jump in beside them and chase them. The first time we got in with three bottlenose, the just swam about 30 feet below us, but it was still pretty amazing. But then our boat hit the motherload. We saw a large group of dolphins approaching, and me and Dominique, one of the other girls on the trip, were the first to get into the water. Suddenly in front of us, we saw three adults slowly emerge out of the murky waters, coming directly at us. The sun was beaming through the water in rays as they approached, closer and closer until we could almost touch them and then just in time they swooped below us (and a good thing too, because they were huge! Much bigger than I expected). Then I turned around and saw probably about seven adults and two or three babies all swimming around our group. One of the guys swam down low in the water and a dolphin went down and did a loop-the-loop around him, and the babies swam right beside their parents as they continued in circles around us. The dolphins would come right up to us at the surface, I swear looking me right in the eye – so many times I felt I could reach out and touch them. They probably stayed with us for a good two minutes, and then as they began to swim away, suddenly there was an explosion out of the water 100 yards away as a dolphin soared into the air before splashing back into the water! Probably four dolphins did this as they left us – I didn’t even know they did that it the wild! It was so exciting and incredible, that the whole group of us bobbed on the surface and just screamed and yelled out of sheer excitement! I can hardly think of time in my life when I have felt so elated! That was definitely the most wonderful Zanzibar memory.

Alas, all good things had to end. So now, as many of you know, I’m in Nairobi, and our program just ended so I’m travelling independently now. I was supposed to stay on for a few months to do an internship in Nairobi, but because of a lot of logistical problems it kind of fell through. So I’ll be spending the next months travelling with friends before returning to Montreal to take some summer courses at McGill (which I’m actually really looking forward to…I’ve had so many experiences that I’m totally okay with taking some time away from it to digest it all).

Right now, I’m at Nairobi Backpackers, and I leave in a few hours on a bus for Kigali, Rwanda (22 hours, via Uganda). I’ll be there with 6 friends for 12-14 days, before heading back to Nairobi. Then I’ll have a few spare days before heading back to the coast to go to the island of Lamu, an island that’s similar to Zanzibar, only more remote – there’s a huge annual festival while we’re there called the Maulidi festival that’s supposed to be extraordinary. Anyways, I’ll keep you all up to date now that I have no school work to bog me down! So next time I send in my report, I’ll be in Rwanda!!!

Once we left Nairobi, we headed off for Mt. Kenya, which also happens to be the 2nd tallest mountain in Africa. It was totally different from anywhere else I’ve seen in this country, especially considering the lack of rain in most parts. It was lush rainforest, with some of the most amazing waterfalls I have ever seen, a little bit of rain, and actually quite chilly – reminded me of B.C. in a way… well, except for the massive piles of elephant dung all over the camp (I am so unfazed by dog poo now) and hearing the forest buffalo calling at night. Unfortunately, in true Leah style, I was sick with a fever for most of the time we were there, so I got to know the inside of my tent quite well (at least it wasn’t like in Nguruman, where we woke up one morning to discover probably 2000 ants crawling all through our stuff, which then forced me to engage in a large-scale massacre, DEET being the weapon of choice). I did manage to get up enough to climb up Mt. Kenya with the rest of the group…well, we didn’t go the whole way, that would have taken five days, but we did get a good ways up, far enough to where the vegetation changed to bamboo forest, which was so awesome – I definitely never thought I’d stop to have a picnic amongst a natural forest of bamboo. The campsite was also really great, except for the fact that we had some sanitation issues when our toilets stopped flushing and the showers stopped running because 40 people over-extended the system. But of course, we could solve the latter problem by showering in the waterfall that was 500m away – insanely cold but very surreal.

After Mt Kenya, we had to make our way to the coast, which was about 30 degrees hotter and 100 times more humid than where we had just come from. Enroute, we spent 2 nights in Tsavo National Park, which is where ‘Out of Africa’ was filmed and is the biggest national park in East Africa. The coolest thing here were the baobab trees, which look absolutely amazing – massive stocky trunks and then wild thick branches – like something out of Ichabod Crane. In Tsavo I also saw my first leopard!! Now all that is left for me are the elusive rhino and cheetah. Also, as we were leaving the park, the sky was so clear that you could very clearly see the distinctive Mt. Kilimanjaro in distant Tanzania, which was really exciting.

We got to the coast via Mombasa, and then headed up to a beach just south of Malindi, called watamu. The water of the Indian Ocean was the most perfect colour of turquoise I have ever seen, and was warmer than a bath (WAY warmer than most of the showers I’ve had on this trip, for sure). Dhows (the coastal sail boats) dotted the clear waters, and the white sand and palm trees were gorgeous…the environment definitely made it difficult to concentrate on school work (not withstanding the fact that when we woke up in the morning it was 31 degrees, and easily hit 41 by eleven o’clock)! Whenever we could we all ran to the beach, which was interspersed with giant coral boulders. This part of the country is very Muslim, so the architecture and the culture and the dress was so unique compared to what we’ve seen so far. All the houses were built out of coral and seashells. The Islamic influence, though, had nothing on the traditional and amazing experience of Zanzibar…I’ll write about that very soon!

After our long foray around the Mara, as February turned into March, we stopped back in Nairobi for a few days before heading north and then to the coast. Although the stay was brief, there were a few things of note about it. First of all, there were the first signs that the rainy season was imminent – tons of heavy rain, which was a nuisance in that we couldn’t do our laundry if we wanted it to dry, but really was a blessing. I can now appreciate it so much more having been through some of the more arid regions during this horrendous drought. The second thing of note was that we got to see President Kibaki, as he was laying the cornerstone for a new wing of the National Museum (one of our profs is the director of the Kenya Museums, so he hooked us up). Now, this is not necessarily that auspicious since Kibaki is currently embroiled in a massive corruption scandal and about to be deposed, but nonetheless, it’s always cool to see a head of government (Well, maybe not Canada’s Head of government, but that’s another story).

The best experience we all had was spending a few days with MYSA, the Mathare Youth Sports Association. Nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, the organization was started by a man from St. Catharine’s, Ontario. The purpose of the organization began in the Mathare slum of north-east Nairobi, and involved organizing soccer leagues for youth to play in to get them involved in something worthwhile outside of their squalid living conditions. It has now spread to many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, getting kids playing soccer, doing dance and performing some AMAZING acrobatics. Many of the kids have gone on to get scholarships at North American universities, and it is involved in an annual tournament in Norway, that some of the most talented and dedicated youth can get to attend. It really is a source of inspiration for the entire Mathare community. We also became friends with many of the people involved with MYSA, and so got the chance to visit their homes in Mathare. As in previous experiences, it is always extraordinary to visit a slum, see inside the tiny homes, walk the miniature pathways filled with rubbish, try to imagine where people collect their water or go to the bathroom. We also got to visit one of Mathare’s elementary schools, which has been there for 10 years but you’d never know it – it’s basically been put together makeshift-style in what I imagine was once a small abandoned office building of some sort. Definitely some of the most cramped teaching quarters I’ve seen yet. A couple of people in our group are doing work with MYSA after the program…I don’t think I’ve really done it justice with my hurried summary, but I think you can check it out at www.mysa.org, so please do because it’s a really extraordinary example of a community coming together to try and make an improvement in the lives of their children.

Sorry everyone! I’ve been entirely neglecting my blogging duties because, a) I spent a considerable time away from internet (and electricity, and running water, and showers, and general hygiene), and b) frantically finishing up ridiculous amounts of school work that I had had no choice but to procrastinate upon before because, heck, I’m in Africa. But basically my infrequent interneting has been simply to monitor incredibly urgent matters, such as where the Canucks and Habs are in the standings (hangin’ in there for now, eh, boys?), and whether or not Roy Halladay will be able to start the season for the Blue Jays… You see, these are the thoughts with which I am consumed, and I’m sure you can all understand therefore why I gave the appearance of having fallen off the earth.

So I guess I have an insane amount of catching up to do, what with my month-long disappearance. So I’ll just give a synopsis of the best parts (that’s really all you wanted anyway, isn’t it?).

First off, I NEED to talk about the amazing opportunity I had to do a homestay with a traditional Maasai family near Elangata Wuas in the heart of Maasailand. I was paired up with another girl on the trip, and a local interpreter named Paul, and we stayed with the Kibunga family. The other girl’s name is Aliya. My name is Leah. Think about explaining that one to a group of people who only speak Maa. We walked to their home, which was about 45 minutes from the nearest village, through incredibly dusty savanna and acacia land, across huge dried up riverbeds with makeshift wells dug into them during this drought period, past a few carcasses of cows that had already succumed to the intensely dry conditions (enroute we also saw some camel, ostrich and dik-dik…all in a day’s walk). The Kibunga shamba (a kind of enclosure containing 4 or 5 buildings), had four houses (for all the various family members – it’s a very biiiig family) and a cow/goat enclosure in it, fenced by thorny bushes. The houses were small, maybe the size of my kitchen at home; the walls were made of sticks and cow dung (it didn’t smell…or maybe I was just used to it), and inside was incredibly smoky, as the cooking was done in the adjacent room. The walls were so thin that you could be speaking at virtually a whisper and someone in the next room would resond – not much privacy, eh? The bed that Aliya and I slept on (normally the father’s bed) was a slightly raised platform built of more sticks, cardboard and covered with a cowhide. The roof was covered in tin and plastic sheeting – it actually rained a tiny bit that night, and the sound was like rice falling slowly into a can. The Kibungas had no electricity or running water (given the location, it’s almost a preposterous notion)…To go to the bathroom (referred to locally as taking a “short call” or a “long call”) involved finding a patch of bushes where there were as few children running around within eyesight as possible!

The family family was great. We spent most of our time with the father, his three wives, and some of his sons and daughters (he has 17 children in all – some of whom have already left home). We went with two of the wives to go collect water from the well and firewood, although these two little old ladies were able to carry way more than us on their shoulders. We also milked some goats, although there was very little because it’s in the middle of such a hard drought and they produce very little. The family also has several cows, but they were off with other family members being herded in some distant area that wasn’t completely dried up. There was a little puppy that was running around the shamba – we asked if it had a name and the response was that they call him “Dog”. So we asked if we could name it, and we chose “Hanson” – then we tried to teach the whole family the song “MmmBop”, but that was a highly unsuccessful venture. In the evening (or shall I say, once the sun went down, because there really is no evening), everyone sat indoors by candlelight, drank tea and listened to the radio…and yes, a little Celine Dion came on. One of the sons also asked us if we listened to Sean Paul….what???!!! If only these artists could imagine where their music was being listened to.

For supper we ate cabbage and ugali, which is an extremely dense starch made from maize that is the absolute staple in this part of East Africa. We ate with our fingers, even though we knew they had spoons, but apparently they feel more comfortable without. They fed Aliya and I such massive portions that it was absolutely impossible to finish what they gave us…and yet we had to eat it all because it’s very rude not too! They kept on laughing at me in particular for how slowly I eat. And then of course, the next morning at breakfast, they fed us the exact same meal in the exact same gigantic quantities (Although they normally only eat one meal per day, a big dinner – it was just that they had guests, and that we had brought food for them, that they made so much on this occasion). The morning we awoke to find the entire family already up and about – at 6:30am, we had clearly overslept! Not my lifestyle, I tell ya. It was Saturday, which is the major market day at Mile 46 (the name of the village). So we all walked back to the village and wandered around the market before saying goodbye to our family and connecting back up with the McGill group. I wish I could think of more details to tell you about the experience, but there are so many that it’s hard to sort through…I’ll definitely add more as I think of them.

Well, that was a lot of writing. I’ll take a break now before doing the summary of my last few weeks on the program.

Hi all,

I arrived back in Nairobi two days ago after our 16 days of relative isolation throughout southern Kenya. It was a totally FANTASTIC time…but nonetheless, it’s good to be back in a place where you can buy laundry detergent and chocolate bars again. (Side note: the chocolate you buy in Kenya is not as sweet as the stuff back home, because it has some quality that makes it less likely to melt…however, when you’re in the middle of 40-degree weather, no chocolate has a prayer.)

The one thing that I was sad I missed was the Olympics…we were literally out of touch the ENTIRE time. The one time I was able to buy a newspaper was the day after the first Men’s hockey games…which Canada won, so naturally I had visions of gold in my head for the entire remainder of the time! Ahem…not so much. But I’m soooo excited that we did so well in everything else, in terms of medal counts and everything (especially the Newfoundland men’s curling gold…awesome!). Wish I could have been watching! But anyways, enough about the Olympics. Most people we ran into had no idea what hockey is, let alone snow-boarding, let ALONE…bobsled?? Try explaining THAT one to someone in broken Swahili!

So I guess the last time I updated was just before we left Mbita. Our next destination was the Maasai Mara Nature Reserve, which is in the Kenyan extension of the Serengeti plains. We were tenting in a campground adjacent to the park, and at night could hear lions roaring and hyenas laughing (creepiest sound ever, by the way). We did several game drives during our 4 days there…The first day we went into the park, and saw hardly any animals, just some ungulates and zebra and hyenas (which, jaded as we are, are now old news…we wanted some lions!). Apparently, because of the massive drought that’s going on here, the wildlife migration patterns are all messed up. There are also lots of Maasai cattle herders that have had to move their livestock into the park to graze (illegally) because there is simply no grass anywhere in the country. So the next few times we took Maasai guides with us, and they new where the wildlife was outside the reserve…Within about 15 minutes, we found two female lions and 8 cubs, chilling out in the evening sun…The cubs were adorable, and started nursing and pouncing on each other, it was amazing. Then the next morning we went out and saw about four more prides all chowing down on some wildebeest breakfast. We also saw tons more giraffe and elephants and other animals… the Maasai guides even took us off the trucks to get down really close to hippos in a river (they warned us that if we saw air bubbles really close to us, to throw a rock at it so the hippos wouldn’t come up too close!). We also got to visit our first of many Maasai villages, numerous clinics and primary schools.

After the Mara, we headed to Lake Naivasha, which is one of the big Rift Valley lakes. Being the big geology nerd that I am, it was so amazing to spend the next few weeks travelling through the Rift Valley, with all its crazy escarpments and extinct volcanoes and geologic formations. At Naivasha, our campsite was right on the Lake, so we had to watch out at night that hippos didn’t come up on shore, and then we’d wake up in the morning with GIANT marabou storks looking into our tents. Naivasha is a huge horticultural area, so we visited some of the massive flower farms in the area…if you buy a dozen roses anywhere in Europe, odds are they come from Naivasha. At this site, it was actually pretty cold…we’d wake up in the morning and could see our breath. But that didn’t last too long as soon as we moved on south of Nairobi.

Once we left Naivasha, we headed to another ICIPE camp at Nguruman, which is just east of Magadi. We stopped in Magadi on the way, because they are a huge salt-production centre (and since I think salt is just about the most interesting thing ever, I was pretty excited to tour it…although maybe I was the only one!). The area around Magadi is INSANELY hot…I’ve never been in such a barren, boiling wasteland in all my life. The word “hell” was uttered by many a student while we were there. Then we moved on to Nguruman, which was marginally less hot and WAY off the beaten track. Not to much wildlife here…except a few scorpions (no one got bitten though) and the giant ant infestation that I woke up to one morning in my tent (I went on a massive DEET massacre and showed them who was boss). We also got to visit a Maasai primary boarding school (which is important, because many Maasai children have to be absent from school when their parents move with the cattle, so a boarding school is a great asset). They put on an amazing cultural show for them, and then they creamed us at a game of soccer (5-1 for them). While we were in Nguruman, we also got to visit a bunch of local farms, where we got to see their irrigation practices in action – they used the water at the top of the Nguruman escarpment, and then divert it with furrows to individual farms. Each farmer can use the water one day a week, and they manually go through and divert the water through their crops by creating little mud dams at each plot…Okay, so maybe that’s not the best description ever, but it was pretty cool for me to see since I think irrigation is just about as interesting as salt production!
Okay, well I have more to write about Nguruman and after, but there’s a huge lineup of people waiting, so I’ll complete my update later whenever I can get on. Generally, it’s been amazing. The only ailments I’ve had are that my gluten allergy has re-emerged after a 3-year hiatus, and I had this weird growth on my face which we thought might be an insect burrowing into my cheek (which we all kind of wanted it to be, so then it would sprout wings and fly out of my face), but it turned out to just be a giant festering bite. Other than that, I’m all good.

Make sure to keep me posted on events now that the NHL is back on, and of course any other non-European sport updates!