Safari So Good

We are finally at a location where internet access is decent — taking advantage and uploading some new pics.  Enjoy!

Giraffe means elegant, which they are; and look at those eyelashes.

Baby hippo being supported by Mamma (literally).

Baby hippo being supported by Mamma (literally).

Baby elephant crossing road in front of us – how cute is he?

Two baby leopards – one crawling down and one in crook of tree.

Coming to a third world country from an industrialized, technologically advanced country like the US is a little like Alice in Wonderland falling down the rabbit hole.  Everything seems strangely out of whack.  Very young children tending herds of goats and cattle by the side of the road, people sitting on porches and just milling about mid-day when they should be at work, half built brick houses next to occupied straw covered mud huts*, bee hives hung from tree branches, large carts being pulled down the road by people, children running around with no underwear on, and people with goats boarding buses.  It is helpful if you plan to visit this country to suspend judgment and irrational fear, so that you can savor the experience.  That being said, there are challenges to being in this country for those of us who are spoiled and generally indulged (i.e. Americans).  Among them:
Bad Hair — at the end of our first game drive (after several hours of riding in the Land Cruiser with the windows open due to no air conditioning in the vehicles, of course), I started to comb my hair only to discover that I had the early beginnings of a head full of dreadlocks.  It was at that point that I abandoned all hope of looking respectable and realized the best I could hope for was getting the comb through my hair at the end of each day.  In fact, I had to wait until I was in the shower with my hair slathered with conditioner, before I combed it.
Ticks — We read warnings of flies and mosquitoes carrying diseases, including the dreaded malaria (for which we have taken meds each day) but nothing of ticks.  So when I noticed a spot of what appeared to be a speck of mud on my ankle, I paid no attention to it.  Later, I tried to brush it off and it didn’t budge.  I reached down with my hand and with horror realized I had a tick!  I pulled it off and yelled for Michael to kill it.  Needless to say, I was distraught for a few hours, thinking I would surely contract some sort of
spotted tick hemorragic fever.  It wasn’t until Masha assured me that ticks in Africa cause no problems that I stopped worrying (sort of).
Vermin — We saved a couple of apples from one of our box lunches and took them back to our room in case we wanted a snack later.  We went to bed and the next morning, Michael asked, “Did you eat some of that apple?”  “No, I did not!”  was my response.  Well, something chewed on it during the night.  One of the apples was about one quarter gone and had little teeth marks in it.  The other apple was on the floor (our guess is that the culprit ate until full, then tried to take the second one with).
Rough Roads — Approximately 90% of our travel has been on very rough, unpaved roads — I’m talking off-road-willis-jeep rough.  The paved roads have speed bumps every 200 meters near towns or anywhere people, goats or cows might pass, so even the paved roads are a bit rough.  I have bruises all over my ams, legs and hips from being bounced around in the Land Cruiser.  At one point, we were traveling along a detour or “diversion”  (marked by tree branches and rocks) when Masha unexpectedly hit a huge hole.  Karlene (sans seatbelt) flew up in the air, hitting her head on the metal bar on the ceiling, almost knocking her out!  Masha was very apologetic, while the rest of us tried really hard not to laugh. 
Tse Tse Flies — In spite of the fact that Michael and I followed all the instructions provided in the brochures (wear light colored clothes, long pants, lots of insect repellant with DEET) the tse tse flies bit us every time we stopped the Land Cruiser to take pictures.  Fortunately, this was mostly the case in the dryer, more arid locations, which was the exception, not the rule.  Nonetheless, their bites are painful.  They are also very aggressive, dive bombing into your eyes, nose and mouth, if you are not careful.  
Communication — Internet access is intermittent, at best. Cell phones generally don’t work.  Posting this blog has been hit and miss and trying to include pictures, even worse.  One night, it took 40 minutes to upload one picture.  We were finally successful, but by then it was late and we were too tired to try more.
Stone Town, Zanzibar — After the safari portion of our trip sadly concluded, we headed to the small island of Zanzibar, off the Eastern coast of Tanzania.  We spent one night in Stone Town.  This is a dirty, stifling humid, hot, mostly Muslim town with vendors who aggressively peddle their wares on the street as you try to walk around.  Never Go There!!  Michael summed it up best with this statement “They are 11 hours ahead and 1,000 years behind.”  Nuff Said.
    
Remember this blog is about the challenges of being in Africa and in spite of how it might sound, does not negate the incredible experience we have had here.
 
*There are no mortgages in Africa, one must pay cash for a house or building material.  Consequently, it can take many years to finish a house. A man will work for a while, buy as many bricks as he can, build until the bricks are gone, then work until he has enough money to buy more bricks, and so on and so on. 

This is not the roughest road; we couldn't take pictures with the vehicle bouncing around.