April 21 Entry - Part I

Simba, Twiga, Tembo….Oh, my!

Since the arrival of my parents on March 30, our life here in Tanzania has been a whirl wind of adventure. Safari and lazy days on the white sand beaches of Zanzibar have dominated our time. And sadly, now my parents are leaving in just a couple of days, and life will return to “normal” around House A-6 in Moshi.

I’ll begin this blog by telling about our safari, and then follow with an entry about Zanzibar. Christian is ascending Mt. Kilimanjaro this morning, and I’m sure you’ll soon receive his exciting or harrowing account. I got up this morning at sunrise to take a photo of Kili - but alas, it was very overcast and all I could see were clouds.

After taking about a week to find a good safari company, pay for it in shillings (which took a daily trip to the ATM for about 5 days), and pack up, we left for the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti on the morning of April 6. Michael, our driver, picked us up promptly at 11 am, and we swung by the hospital to pick up Christian after his rounds. It took us about 6 hours in total to drive to the crater, which involved several stops along the way. We arrived in the late afternoon and enjoyed the scenes from our lodge that was situated right on the edge of the crater rim. From the observatory deck outside we could see gray spots that upon closer examination with binoculars revealed elephants – our first wildlife spotting! After dinner and a good night’s sleep in the cool temperatures of the high altitude, we descended early the next morning into the crater, down a bumpy and rocky road (thank goodness for our 4X4 Land Cruiser and Michael’s driving expertise!) into the beautiful green and lush crater. The moment we reached the bottom, there in the near distance was a group of zebra and gazelle, and it brought tears to my eyes! They were stunning and beautiful, and nothing like what I have ever seen in the San Diego Zoo! Our drive continued throughout the day as we explored the floor of the vast crater, and in total we saw so much wildlife it boggles my mind: elephants, lions, a lone cheetah, herds and herds of buffalo, at least 6 black rhinoceros (these are rare!), zebra, hippopotamus, warthog, black-faced vervet monkeys, Grant’s gazelle, Thompson’s gazelle, and wildebeest. Everyone has their favorite animal, but Diego’s favorite story is of the monkeys jumping into the car. We were taking a restroom break and some monkeys in the area decided to jump into the car next to us. Diego thought this was the greatest thing ever, and still tells the story to whomever will listen! My favorite part of the day was driving alongside a mama lion and her three young male sons. They were just right there, next to our Land Cruiser, meandering along the road as we drove slowly with them. We also saw several full-grown male lions hanging out by some big water pipes, and then when we peered inside the pipes, we saw several females and another male, taking an afternoon snooze. We were easily 3 meters from these kings of the jungle. It was crazy. Elephants crossed our path in the road and rhinos were visible by eye in the near distance. There were a thousand birds, but we’re not real bird-watchers, so we didn’t spend time identifying them. Our driver named them all for us, but we didn’t keep a list.
At the end of the day, we climbed slowly out of the crater on a very difficult road, and arrived back to our lodge for a feast of a dinner and some more sleep. The next morning we got up early again to drive to the Serengeti. Leaving the crater we saw our first giraffe (many more to come!), which was amazing. They are so very tall and elegant, and they look much bigger in the wild than in the zoo. This was a very long, hard drive. The Serengeti is incredibly vast with little to see if all you’re doing is driving through it. In this land of never-ending tall grass, we drove for so many hours on very bumpy roads that my whole insides were shaken when we arrived somewhere in the middle of the Serengeti – the Seronera Valley – and found our lodge situated in the middle of no where. It was a beautiful lodge, and there were monkeys and hyrax and mongoose running freely over the grounds. (Supposedly, a Boa Constrictor lived in the rocks, but we did not get a chance to see him – thank goodness!) Diego thought this was the greatest, and we followed monkeys around for quite a while, at least until our first sunset wildlife drive. He played with them through the windows of our lodge room, jumping back from the window in excitement as the monkey approached with his hands and face on the glass. This lasted a good half an hour, with delightful screams from both child and animal.

On our sunset drive, we toured the river, which during the dry season (the rains still had not arrived) is where the animals are concentrated. We saw hippos and lions and all sorts of other animals, including a tree full of baboons. The next day we spent driving around all of Serengeti, beginning with a 6 am drive and a long rest in the afternoon. The most exciting adventure in the Serengeti was seeing a hippo out of the water cross our road as it foraged in the early morning for food (it is rare to see hippos out of the water!), and seeing probably around 50 hippos in the famed “Hippo Pool,” along with a crocodile sunning on a rock. The least exciting part of that trip was getting bit by annoying flies – their bites seriously hurt! We also saw in the Serengeti more giraffe, hyena, a jackal, hartebeast, water bucks, impala, eland, topi, and the tiniest dik-dik (the smallest gazelle in the family). As we left the Serengeti the next day for a VERY long 10 hour drive home, we did not anticipate seeing many animals at all. Our driver, Michael, was intent on getting us home as quickly as possible. Somewhere along the way a car flagged us down to tell us that a cheetah was not far off the road. Now, Michael is a rule follower. In fact throughout the trip, he was not only enforcing all of the rules of the park for us, but scolding other drivers who were breaking rules (we appreciated this as some of the safari companies really do agitate the animals and cause destruction to the land). Seeing the cheetah up close and personal would mean that Michael would need to break the rules and go off-road. He did so without hesitating so that we could see our beloved cheetah (the only other cheetah we saw was in the distance and our photo of her was not very good). We found her resting comfortably under a tree about 500 meters from the road, and we were the only car there looking at her. She was just 3 meters from our view, and one of the most beautiful, amazing animals we have ever seen. She was calm but cautious in our presence. As soon as another jeep pulled up, she got up and began walking gracefully to another tree, and then she wandered away from us all in search of peace and quiet. She was truly an amazing sight to see. We felt so lucky to have this up close interaction with her as our last wildlife sighting before leaving the Serengeti. The only animal that eluded us was the leopard – one hadn’t been observed in four days. It seems that most people who see a leopard don’t see a cheetah and vice versa. While I had hoped to see the beautiful leopard (more powerfully built than the cheetah), seeing the graceful presence of the fastest animal on earth was pretty amazing.

We arrived home around 5 PM after one of the longest days of travel in my life. Thankful to be home, we spent the next several hours downloading photos and remembering all of our wonderful safari adventures. Definitely worth every penny we spent, and quite frankly the long journey to Africa, we all agreed that a safari trip is not for the light-hearted, and that no matter how “luxury” you get (and some of the places you can stay on safari are seriously luxury) the roads you drive to see the animals are all the same, and they are rough and difficult to endure hour after hour in a 4X4. This is also the kind of trip that one may only do once or twice in a lifetime – it is a concentrated vacation, and not altogether relaxing, but one filled with much excitement and adventure. For those of you who were feeling sorry for me….don’t….I’ve had quite an amazing month of travel and adventure – getting outside of Moshi to the surrounding areas has been very good for my soul.

April 21 Entry - Part II

Zanzibar – Paradise?

The Ramers-Herfindahl traveling group spent just three days in Moshi before returning to a life of travel and adventure. This time, we were headed to the island of Zanzibar, just off the coast of Tanzania. Zanzibar is part of Tanzania, and other than some similarities in language and custom, it is a very different place than the rest of the mainland. The first most noticeable difference is its dominance of the Muslim culture. When we arrived to the small airport in Stonetown, after a one hour flight from Kilimanjaro airport, we immediately knew we were in a different land. All of the ladies wore bui buis, covering their whole bodies from hands to feet and head coverings. Many women only showed their eyes. In the sweltering heat of the island, it was unbelievable to me that this is how the women live their every day – covered up and hidden from the outside world, often in very dark colored wraps and many times all in black. Some men wore western clothes with the traditional Muslim cap, while others wore long white gowns. Throughout the day you could hear the traditional call to prayer, and the most prevalent building in Stonetown is the mosque. They are also the nicest looking buildings all over the island. It is very common to see large groups of men bowing and kneeling throughout the day. Stonetown is filled with rubbish, and most of the town outside of the tourist area is very run down and poor – similar to the local communities in Tanzania.

After spending an afternoon at the beautiful Tembo Hotel, swimming in the cool pool, and exploring the intricate catacomb-like streets of Stonetown (which is quite dangerous since they are all very narrow and cars drive very fast down them, honking to get walkers out of the way), we found the restaurant where we had reservations for dinner. It is a local home, where dinner is served at just two tables, thus the name – Sambusa Two Tables. In this home, a meal is cooked for up to 16 people. Since it is low season in Zanzibar (due to rain), there was just one other couple that joined us for this feast of local fare, including fish in coconut sauce and many other delicious treats. It was such a treat to not only see a local home and meet a family from Zanzibar, but to enjoy our first taste of the island’s fabulous seafood. Diego met their two year old daughter, who was quite hyper and had a high-pitched scream, and soon their laughter and jumping around turned into her falling and crying. She was a bit aggressive, even for Diego (and for those of you that know Diego well, aggressive women are what he’s used to!). She was promptly removed from our room, and Diego’s playtime was over.

The next day we headed east towards the beach. First, we took a Spice Tour (somewhat touristy, but very interesting nonetheless). We visited a local spice farm and learned about all of the local spices and how they are grown. We smelled and tasted right from the ground lemongrass, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, cardamom, and other exotic spices. After buying a few spices to take home and cook with, we continued on our tour to some ruins. We learned all about the history of Zanzibar, and most especially about the sultan who had 90 concubines and built a palace for them, which burned down. We saw the ruins of it where donkeys now live. We also saw a dhow (local boat) repair location, and learned all about how dhows are made and preserved. When a boat was ready to be sealed, they killed sacrificial cattle inside and let the blood and internal organs of the animals rot inside the boat to seal the wood.

An hour or so later, we arrived to Evergreen Bungalows in Bwejuu, where we found a rustic environment set right on the beach with hammocks and sisal lounge chairs. Our bungalow had an upstairs and downstairs, with a single shower (cold water only) and a functioning flush toilet. The rooms were simple, with no fan and of course no A-C, but the beds did have mosquito nets. Most of our time was spent outdoors on the beach or in the restaurant where we ate breakfast, lunch and dinner. There was only one other “hotel” next door, and nothing else for miles. I thought the bungalow was expensive for what we got, given that mom and dad had to sleep in an oven upstairs in the thatch roof of the bungalow. The food was quite good, and we enjoyed fresh fish dishes and plenty of Tanzanian beer! It was hot and sunny most of the days here, with just one day of downpour rain, which was a nice reprieve from the sweltering heat. At night, the staff brought us lanterns, and the evening ambiance was just perfect!

We left the Evergreen bungalows on Monday afternoon, dropped Christian off at the airport (as he was flying back to Moshi to begin his Kili climb the next day) and the four of us traveled farther north to Uroa, where we stayed at the Tamarind Hotel for the rest of the week. At the Tamarind, we found the accommodations to be upgraded a bit, with a triple bedroom, strong ceiling fan, separate bathroom (tiled!), and an overall nicer feel. Our porch was close to the beach as well, and when the tide was in the water came right up to the edge. The grounds were not well cared for with overgrown grass and deteriorating walkways and sea walls. Plus, there was a terrible trash problem with all sorts of trash floating to the surface when the tide came in – mostly shoes, bottles, plastic sacks, and other random items. Each morning we collected two bags of trash at least so that the beach in front of our bungalow was cleared of trash. We certainly weren’t able to clean up all of the trash, but we did our part. We learned later from the manager of the hotel that the trash problem was much, much worse before the two hotels in this area brought in tourists. Let me assure you, though, that the trash problem is not solved – I was shocked by how much trash came in via the sea, and it made me so sad each morning to see how our oceans have been destroyed by this junk!

The white sand beach here stretched a few miles long between one fancy resort (with a pool) on one end, and a small fishing village at the other end. The beach was endless and beautiful, cluttered with beautiful large seashells and some seaweed. When the tide was out, we watched local fishermen and women walk out hundreds of meters to collect fish of all sorts. Small dhows took people out fishing, as well, and clearly this industry sustains the small village of Uroa. We feasted each night on local fish and seafood – prawns, whole fried fish, octopus – the most delicious seafood I’ve ever had. Our chef at the Tamarind Bungalows was really quite amazing. And since we were the ONLY family staying there the entire week, we were treated to the very finest service and meals! Most of the time we read, walked the beach and played near the water. Unfortunately, the first 3 days in Tamarind were rainy and overcast, but it came as a nice break from the hot sun in Bwejuu. The storms had attracted all of the jellyfish to a more sheltered bay, so our beaches were also full of jellyfish, and I was too nervous to go out swimming in the waters. One day, we visited the fancy resort next door and used their pool, but around noon got caught in a rainstorm, so we had lunch under shelter, and returned to our hotel in the later afternoon. Another day was nice and sunny in the morning, so I decided to take in some sun. Due to the strong Muslim presence in Zanzibar, it is not acceptable except on the tourist beaches to wear swimwear. In other places, women should wear shirts covering their shoulders and long pants or skirts below the knee. Men should wear pants and short sleeve shirts. I felt comfortable wearing my bathing suit in front of our hotel, though, and laid out a towel to do some tanning. Several local people did walk by, and at one point I was harassed by two Muslim women. I heard them coming towards me and glanced over, but continued to lay out in the sun and mind my own business. They proceeded to divide up and one walked below my feet and the other over my head. They made loud grunts and kiss noises as they passed me, then snickered as I glanced up at them after they had passed. This was the only act of real harassment that I have experienced here so far, which in two months is not too bad, but I did feel angry by their treatment, given that we were allowed to wear swimwear at the resorts and that they must have been used to sight; during high season our hotel and the one down the way is always full of visitors, mostly from Europe.

After four days of mostly rain, we decided to head back to Stonetown for a day of shopping. Of course that morning was beautiful with sun, but we knew that going back to Stonetown would be a good transition for us before returning to Moshi. We swam some more at the Tembo hotel, did some shopping, ate at an OK restaurant that had terrific ambiance right on the bay overlooking dhows, and the next morning flew home with little hassle through Dar Es Salaam (Tanzania’s capital) to Moshi. Upon our return, we enjoyed a quiet evening at home with spaghetti and the final episodes of the first season of 24. We expect Christian home any time now, exhausted from his 6 day adventure on the majestic Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,000 feet tall!).

Mom and dad leave on Tuesday, and we have just 3 ½ weeks left here in Moshi before leaving for one week’s stay in Nairobi, Kenya. Can I start counting down?

Oh, and one thing I have neglected to mention here is that the closing of escrow on our house was delayed by a tree falling on the roof! On Monday, as the movers were loading our boxes and furniture, high winds took over the city and many, many trees fell. Our neighbor’s tree fell on our roof, damaging just a bit over the bonus room. There was no structural damage, thank goodness, but it took several days for the tree to be removed by a crane and then for a roofing company to fix a few shingles. Leslie and Kim, our realtor, handled the emergency like pros! Unfortunately, due to some strange insurance policies, WE are responsible for paying for this accident, even though the tree was on our neighbor’s property. All in all, it cost us a $500 deductible and a few extra days to close escrow. The cost was mostly emotional for my sister and Kim, who spent many hours on the phone and at the house trying to get it fixed as quickly as possible so that we did not lose our buyer. I am hopeful that we will close escrow this week and put all of this behind us! Just our luck – four days before closing and a tree lands on our roof.

Unfortunately, we won’t have many more exciting adventures, except maybe the travel to Kenya. Christian will finish up the next 3 weeks here doing pediatric rounds, and I will spend most of the time trying to enjoy life here and preparing to leave. I have to say, though, that I am anxious to return home, and already I am looking forward to a big Starbuck’s Latte!

The other exciting thing that happened in the last week was that I received an email from an AVID District Director in Bellevue, WA. She heard that I was moving to Seattle, and that I may be interested in part-time work. I spoke with her on a satellite phone, and it sounds like this will be a beautiful relationship. They are looking for someone who can be flexible in their work schedule and provide professional development to AVID schools. Between the work I do for AVID Center traveling, this will be a perfect opportunity in an ideal setting, to work locally and reduce travel. I am more than excited! And Dion Jahoudy, the District Director in Bellevue, sounds lovely!

late entry - pole sana!

(This post was mistakenly not posted, it was written on April 4 right before our adventures began in Tanzania with safari and Zanzibar)

Grandparents are GREAT!

Bibi and Babu are here! Diego’s abuela and abuelo (fondly known as Aba and Abo) arrived on the evening of March 30. Lauren surprised them by picking them up at the airport around 9 PM. I heard my dad say from behind the glass divider, “Ann, look, it’s Lauren!” Needless to say, they were pumped to be arriving to Africa, and it was fun to see Africa through their eyes – a new Tanzania, one that had not been worn out and frustrating, like it has become for me. In actuality, Moshi has been more fun and relaxing with their help. I have company during the day, and the responsibilities are divided between the three of us, freeing me up to relax and settle into life here. On our way back from the airport, we saw our first “game” – an adult hyena crossed the road in front of us, and it was gone before we even realized, hey that was a hyena. I told mom and dad that I paid good shillings for that to happen just as they arrived! But really, this is the first interesting animal we have seen, so it was exciting, even though it was a scavenging large cat!

Most of this week has been spent in planning for safari. We are going with Mem Tours, for five days, to Ngorongoro Crater (literally, a crater with animals roaming in plentitude down in the crater) and the famous Serengeti. We will have a 5 day safari, 4 nights – 2 on the crater rim and 2 in Serengeti. It will be wonderful to finally see these African animals that you see so many photos of – right before our eyes! Diego is amazingly excited to see monkeys (that is his answer today) – we will see elephants, rhinos, zebra, gazelle, lions, and a sundry other wild beasts!! Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate with bunnies and eggs. We’ll be hanging out with giraffe and leopards and cheetahs! No silly bunnies for us.

Next week, we leave on Friday for the spice island – Zanzibar. We’ll spend the weekend with Christian, who will return on Monday to mainland in order to climb Kilimanjaro. Mom, dad, Diego and I will stay on in paradise on the beautiful beaches drinking beer (well, that’s what I’ll be doing….) while Christian labors 19,000 feet or so into the African sky. Beer? Altitude sickness? Hello…..!!!

Mom and dad sadly depart soon after our return from Zanzibar, and then we have just 3 ½ more weeks in Moshi, 1 more week in Nairobi, Kenya, and then we are HOME! Can you believe it??? I can’t wait!!!!

House still set to close April 19, with our stuff getting packed and moved on April 16, contents to arrive in Seattle on April 27 or 28. We are still haggling about small repairs, etc. but that should wrap itself up this week, I hope. Well, we’ll be on safari, so it had better!

Love to all of my loyal amigos who continue to send emails and support. Your words are encouraging, and the strength you send me to endure here has really worked. I am in a much, much better place now, and grateful that I have such wonderful, giving and supportive parents. I couldn’t have survived this month without them. Just their presence is a blessing.