... actually, watertight pirogue would be more accurate. No leaks. Thank goodness!
But I digress. First we had to get to the Tsiribinha River. So we packed our bags and left Tana for the west, travelling to Miandrivazo via Antsirabe with our three new Japanese travelling companions. The scenery around Tana is amazing: every available piece of land in the valleys planted with rice, the local people busily harvesting the small padis; piles of fluorescent orange persimmons and juicy pineapples for sale on the roadside; balconies crammed with bright yellow ears of maize, drying in the sun; aluminium cars and trucks made from coke cans arranged in little wooden stands; gushing waterfalls hidden behind stalls of raffia handicrafts targeted at tourists. The terraced hillsides, mountains in the distance and beautiful valleys with terracotta-red houses adjacent to rice padis.
But what astounded me most was the sheer extent of erosion and land degradation of this beautiful countryside. All of the trees cleared for constuction, firewood or to create grassland for grazing zebu, the hills now bare, there is nowhere for the water to go but down - taking the red soil with it. So many areas are now rife with it, the rivers a muddy red-brown and the gullies like open wounds on the landscape. But as we drove into Miandrivazo early that evening, we were treated to a beautiful sunset over the mountains and this problem was forgotten ... for now.
First task early the next day: carting our luggage to the river, where we were to depart in our river pirogue. Calling all pousse-pousse drivers! The humble pousse-pousse, similar to the rickshaw, is a major form of transport for people and goods in small towns in Madagascar, and their brightly painted forms and unique identifying slogans are a common sight. While well-designed and well-balanced, they're still hard work - as I discovered when lugging around the bags of five vazaha, to the amusement of the locals!
With our guide at the stern and his two accomplices Joseph and Elia at the rear, we set off from the ferry landing to a crowd of on-lookers, lined up in the pirogue one behind the other, our luggage crammed in between us, slathered in sunscreen, hats and sarongs to protect us from the harsh sun.
The next 2 1/2 days would be spent cruising slowly along the Tsiribhina River, watching the scenery slide by, spotting herons and nightcrowns, finches and crocodiles, chameleons and lemurs peering down at us from the tree canopies and eroded river banks, mats of water hyacinth accompanying us on our way. We camped in tents at a village on the first night, and on a sand bank on the second, enjoyingh te cooking of our guides, telling storeis around the campfire and playing with the local kids. The large red river was continually with us, its gold-specked sand smothered by the red clay, washed in by the rains and forever sticking to the soles of our feet as we walked. Lunch on the first day was served next ot a beautiful waterfall in which we leisurely splashed around until our food was ready. Life is good! Mora-mora...
We finally arrived at the end of our boat journey - but there was one more part to go: the famous and oft-photographed Avenue du Baobab.
We arrived just as the sun was setting, but were still able to spend some time amongst these beautiful, 1000+ year old giants. While we weren't the only visitors - it was the first time I'd really seen a number of tourists in one place in Madagscar, and there were still a handful of them, plus the locals passing through on their zebu carts - we still felt we had them to ourselves, as the sun set and the mighty trees cast their long shadows and reflections in the small wetlands dotted around. It really is a special place and one I plan on visiting again.
Thursday, 14 April 2011
Monday, 11 April 2011
Where the streets have long names ...
... or none at all! Welcome to Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital, and the one with the longest name in the WORLD (although I wonder if Ougadougou in Burkina Faso just beats it?) Anyway, no-one calls this town by its actual name. Tana, or Tanarive, it is.
And speaking of long names, let me give you an example of the street names. Rue Rainibetsimisaraka. Or Rue Razanakombana. Even the names of some of the parks are difficult to pronounce! Jardin d'Antanimbarinandriana; I give up! Actually it doesnt really matter, as most streets don't have signs anywhere anyway so it doesn't matter if you can't pronounce them. Just keep walking til you find yourself lost. Its very easy to do here. We've spent the last couple of days doing it.
But I think I may have just found my new favourite city.
Tana is beautiful; on the on hand it feels like Europe, with its terracotta-tiled roofs, cobblestone streets, brightly painted buildings and MANY stairs - this city was built in a very hilly place, and you definitely get a workout wandering around. But doing so is much more a pleasure than a chore, especially in the Haute-ville which still has that old French colonial villa feel. The rest of the city slams you back into Africa, from first glance; its hectic and dirty and smelly, there's rubbish lying around and beggars asking for money, not to mention the pickpockets at the very vibrant and busy markets selling everything from car batteries to torches to traditional medicine and all sorts of fruit and vegetables.
But its the people here that have surprised me most; it's such a diverse and interesting mix. The people here are called 'Malagasy', which means 'Malaysian (Mala) people (gasy)'; hundreds of years ago, people came by sea from Malaysia and Indonesia to settle here; they are most evident in the central (where Tana is) and north/eastern parts of the country. We often wanted to start speaking Bahasa Indonesia to them! Others came from Africa, mainly from Kenya I think, and settled in the western regions. And there is also an Arabic influence. So when I look around at the people here, I don't just think of Africa - I think Indonesia and the middle east too. It's a real melting pot - there are those with the typical dark African skin and hair, some very light-skinned (and dark-skinned) 'Indonesians,' with more Asian features, and everything in between.
From what I've heard of the language, there is a real mix of influences too. Some words are similar to Indonesian, but the language is difficult to understand to my ear. Hopefully I'll pick up a bit of it while I'm here. So far: 'salaama' - hello. One down, a million to go...
Sitting atop the highest hill of Tana is the Rova, which is the old royal palace for the Medina Kings and Queens that ruled Tana before French colonisation. Its unfortunately closed due to slow renovations from a fire that happened there a few years ago, but what was salvaged from the palace is housed in a nearby museum (which has another massively long name that I can't remember!), which used to be the Prime Minister's residence. Interestingly, the last 3 Queens of pre-colonial Madagascar all married the one Prime Minister, who was a nasty piece of work. He killed his first wife, in order to marry her cousin, who then became the second Queen; she then died of the flu not long after they married, and the Prime Minister then helped himself to a third, and much younger, woman to marry and crown the third Queen, before the Frenchies came along.
This city lends itself very well to just wandering around (and up and down...) for a few days. I havent gotten tired of it at all; its really beautiful. Every little passageway leads to a new view of the city, another crumbling abandoned mansion, a small art gallery or artisan's shop, another old cinema or Salon du The in which you can sit and watch the world go by, nonchalantly munching on your baguette and drinking your coffee. The French certainly did leave a good legacy food-wise.
But we can't stay here forever, as pleasant as it is. So it was great that a guide randomly approached us one night and asked whether we'd like to make a river trip by pirogue to accompany 3 Japanese tourists.Why not? We were planning on doing it anyway :)
Three days cruising in a pirogue, spotting lemurs and watching river life go by? I can handle that. So, Tsiribinha River, here we come!
And speaking of long names, let me give you an example of the street names. Rue Rainibetsimisaraka. Or Rue Razanakombana. Even the names of some of the parks are difficult to pronounce! Jardin d'Antanimbarinandriana; I give up! Actually it doesnt really matter, as most streets don't have signs anywhere anyway so it doesn't matter if you can't pronounce them. Just keep walking til you find yourself lost. Its very easy to do here. We've spent the last couple of days doing it.
But I think I may have just found my new favourite city.
Tana is beautiful; on the on hand it feels like Europe, with its terracotta-tiled roofs, cobblestone streets, brightly painted buildings and MANY stairs - this city was built in a very hilly place, and you definitely get a workout wandering around. But doing so is much more a pleasure than a chore, especially in the Haute-ville which still has that old French colonial villa feel. The rest of the city slams you back into Africa, from first glance; its hectic and dirty and smelly, there's rubbish lying around and beggars asking for money, not to mention the pickpockets at the very vibrant and busy markets selling everything from car batteries to torches to traditional medicine and all sorts of fruit and vegetables.
But its the people here that have surprised me most; it's such a diverse and interesting mix. The people here are called 'Malagasy', which means 'Malaysian (Mala) people (gasy)'; hundreds of years ago, people came by sea from Malaysia and Indonesia to settle here; they are most evident in the central (where Tana is) and north/eastern parts of the country. We often wanted to start speaking Bahasa Indonesia to them! Others came from Africa, mainly from Kenya I think, and settled in the western regions. And there is also an Arabic influence. So when I look around at the people here, I don't just think of Africa - I think Indonesia and the middle east too. It's a real melting pot - there are those with the typical dark African skin and hair, some very light-skinned (and dark-skinned) 'Indonesians,' with more Asian features, and everything in between.
From what I've heard of the language, there is a real mix of influences too. Some words are similar to Indonesian, but the language is difficult to understand to my ear. Hopefully I'll pick up a bit of it while I'm here. So far: 'salaama' - hello. One down, a million to go...
Sitting atop the highest hill of Tana is the Rova, which is the old royal palace for the Medina Kings and Queens that ruled Tana before French colonisation. Its unfortunately closed due to slow renovations from a fire that happened there a few years ago, but what was salvaged from the palace is housed in a nearby museum (which has another massively long name that I can't remember!), which used to be the Prime Minister's residence. Interestingly, the last 3 Queens of pre-colonial Madagascar all married the one Prime Minister, who was a nasty piece of work. He killed his first wife, in order to marry her cousin, who then became the second Queen; she then died of the flu not long after they married, and the Prime Minister then helped himself to a third, and much younger, woman to marry and crown the third Queen, before the Frenchies came along.
This city lends itself very well to just wandering around (and up and down...) for a few days. I havent gotten tired of it at all; its really beautiful. Every little passageway leads to a new view of the city, another crumbling abandoned mansion, a small art gallery or artisan's shop, another old cinema or Salon du The in which you can sit and watch the world go by, nonchalantly munching on your baguette and drinking your coffee. The French certainly did leave a good legacy food-wise.
But we can't stay here forever, as pleasant as it is. So it was great that a guide randomly approached us one night and asked whether we'd like to make a river trip by pirogue to accompany 3 Japanese tourists.Why not? We were planning on doing it anyway :)
Three days cruising in a pirogue, spotting lemurs and watching river life go by? I can handle that. So, Tsiribinha River, here we come!
Monday, 4 April 2011
Golly gosh, a safari!
I've always said that I don't like the idea of safaris because I was always worried about seeing more jeeps than animals. Not to mention that they're one of the most expensive things you can do in Kenya (which, surprisingly, is quite an expensive place). However, Anna and I decided, after some advice from various people, and given it is currenly low season, that we would head to the world famous Masaai Mara National Park and do some animal spotting, aka 'game drives'. I find this term rather perculiar - like we're going hunting the big 5 or something - but that's what its called.
So, Monday morning we jumped into our white pop-top van - perfect for scanning the countryside for elusive creatures - and headed off towards Lake Naivasha, before turning off toward the town of Narok and entering Masaai country. Dry, dusty, with scarce, thorny vegetation dotted around and not much else besides herds of cattle, goats and sheep being driven by red blanked-cloaked Masaai men across the countryside in search of food. Here and there we passed shabby towns dotted in between the Masaai villages with their telltale circular fences made of tree branches for keeping the animals at night.
Even before we reached the gate (not before enduring the backbreaking, pot-holed road for a good 5 hours) there were herds of zebra and giraffes grazing elegantly, nonchalantly watching us as we passed, wary families of warthogs trotting off with raised tails and solid African buffalo chewing their cud.
It was straight into the 'game drive' when we arrived late afternoon, and for the next couple of hours we drove the grassland plains of the Mara looking for our soon-to-be-familiar companions in the park. While it's low season, which thankfully means few tourists, this is because there are also few animals - not huge numbers of them that you see in David Attenborough's nature documentaries. Its the end of the dry season and only the animals that stayed in the Mara - choosing not to migrate back to the Serengeti in Tanzania with the others - were to be found. Come August/Sept the millions of wildebeest will be back, along with the packs predators and the other herds of animals, chasing the food that the rains bring.
So, while this meant we had to drive a lot further to find smaller numbers of animals, there were still plenty to be found. We were greeted by herds of grazing giraffes, zebras, elephants and Thompson's and Grant's gazelles in their hundreds. Other animals to be spotted included water buck, antelopes, buffalo, warthogs, guineafowl and numerous other little birds flitting about. We were also extremely lucky to spot a beautiful leopard hiding in the grass, feeding on something we'll never know about; a pride of sleeping lions and their cubs, lazing around under the bushes, oblivious to (or ignoring) our presence; a couple of male cheetahs, just cruising around; vultures and secretary birds, perched in the few acacia trees growing on the plain, and two solitary hyenas.
The animals are active in the early morning and late afternoon, when the searing heat of the sun has gone. In the meantime, all you can do is sleep! ... as we did, heading back to our tents in the middle of the day when the sun was too hot for us too.
Other sightings during our time in the park included two beautiful crested cranes, their yellow head feathers crowning them in gold; a family of hippos wallowing in the lake, ever watchful of the giant croc sunning itself on the river bank, as were the Maribou storks standing quietly on one leg; a family of lions out for a morning stroll, mother not keen to feed all 4 of her cubs at once but having little choice; another group of cheetah cruising around; a huge male lion, sunning himself right next to the road, not caring if we pulled up right next to him; and a mother leading her twelve baby ostriches across the plain, all in single file.
Most exciting for me was coming across a cheetah on the prowl; she'd lined up some Thompson's gazelles for a kill, but failed fairly quickly when the gazelle moved too far away. Our driver/guide quickly noticed however that she immediately went back to the same place, and it was then that we discovered she was a mother, and three tiny cheetah cubs emerged. they were only 2 weeks old and still maintaining their afro hairstyles - in the form of baby fur.
And so we were sad to leave the Mara for the long drive to Lake Nakuru, the next part of our trip; but we were also excited, as Nakuru is home to thousands of flamingoes who live there, feeding on the shrimp in the saline water; We'd also read that since the introduction of tilapia fish into the lake, large numbers of pelicans had also taken up residence there. What we didn't expect were the thousands of pelicans that seemed to have taken over the place, hanging out with the Maribou storks, and while amazing in their numbers, there were so few flamingoes that their pink feathers were difficult to spot amongst the sheer white masses of pelicans. Apparently many more flamingoes are normally present in Lake Nakuru but they return with the rainy season. Still, the numbers are extemely low compared to what once were there.
One fantastic thing about Nakuru is that it is the only totally fenced National Park in Kenya. Why is that fantastic, you may ask? Well, the fences keep in the endangered black and white rhinos that have been relocated there for conservation purposes - and keep people out. We came across ten white rhinos on our first drive there, and up close they are certainly magnificent creatures. On the second drive we were also extremely lucky to see a black rhino (though you can't tell the difference by the colour; they look exactly the same! You have to look at the shape of their mouth to differentiate them).
Other animals we spotted in the reserve were gazelles; antelopes; rock hyrax, resembling giant guinea pigs; big families of baboons, many with tiny babies; water buck; guinea fowl; and stately giraffes, wrapping those long tongues around the spiny acacia trees to get at the leaves.
All in all it was a great wildlife-spotting adventure. We even topped it off with a slice of luxury accommodation at the Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge (inside Lake Nakuru NP mind you; go figure) and its massive buffets and cool leafy gardens full of colouful and cheeky little wrens, weaver birds and finches vying for your breakfast left-overs. And so it was back to Nairobi for one last night before the REAL adventure.
MADAGASCAR.
So, Monday morning we jumped into our white pop-top van - perfect for scanning the countryside for elusive creatures - and headed off towards Lake Naivasha, before turning off toward the town of Narok and entering Masaai country. Dry, dusty, with scarce, thorny vegetation dotted around and not much else besides herds of cattle, goats and sheep being driven by red blanked-cloaked Masaai men across the countryside in search of food. Here and there we passed shabby towns dotted in between the Masaai villages with their telltale circular fences made of tree branches for keeping the animals at night.
Even before we reached the gate (not before enduring the backbreaking, pot-holed road for a good 5 hours) there were herds of zebra and giraffes grazing elegantly, nonchalantly watching us as we passed, wary families of warthogs trotting off with raised tails and solid African buffalo chewing their cud.
It was straight into the 'game drive' when we arrived late afternoon, and for the next couple of hours we drove the grassland plains of the Mara looking for our soon-to-be-familiar companions in the park. While it's low season, which thankfully means few tourists, this is because there are also few animals - not huge numbers of them that you see in David Attenborough's nature documentaries. Its the end of the dry season and only the animals that stayed in the Mara - choosing not to migrate back to the Serengeti in Tanzania with the others - were to be found. Come August/Sept the millions of wildebeest will be back, along with the packs predators and the other herds of animals, chasing the food that the rains bring.
So, while this meant we had to drive a lot further to find smaller numbers of animals, there were still plenty to be found. We were greeted by herds of grazing giraffes, zebras, elephants and Thompson's and Grant's gazelles in their hundreds. Other animals to be spotted included water buck, antelopes, buffalo, warthogs, guineafowl and numerous other little birds flitting about. We were also extremely lucky to spot a beautiful leopard hiding in the grass, feeding on something we'll never know about; a pride of sleeping lions and their cubs, lazing around under the bushes, oblivious to (or ignoring) our presence; a couple of male cheetahs, just cruising around; vultures and secretary birds, perched in the few acacia trees growing on the plain, and two solitary hyenas.
The animals are active in the early morning and late afternoon, when the searing heat of the sun has gone. In the meantime, all you can do is sleep! ... as we did, heading back to our tents in the middle of the day when the sun was too hot for us too.
Other sightings during our time in the park included two beautiful crested cranes, their yellow head feathers crowning them in gold; a family of hippos wallowing in the lake, ever watchful of the giant croc sunning itself on the river bank, as were the Maribou storks standing quietly on one leg; a family of lions out for a morning stroll, mother not keen to feed all 4 of her cubs at once but having little choice; another group of cheetah cruising around; a huge male lion, sunning himself right next to the road, not caring if we pulled up right next to him; and a mother leading her twelve baby ostriches across the plain, all in single file.
Most exciting for me was coming across a cheetah on the prowl; she'd lined up some Thompson's gazelles for a kill, but failed fairly quickly when the gazelle moved too far away. Our driver/guide quickly noticed however that she immediately went back to the same place, and it was then that we discovered she was a mother, and three tiny cheetah cubs emerged. they were only 2 weeks old and still maintaining their afro hairstyles - in the form of baby fur.
And so we were sad to leave the Mara for the long drive to Lake Nakuru, the next part of our trip; but we were also excited, as Nakuru is home to thousands of flamingoes who live there, feeding on the shrimp in the saline water; We'd also read that since the introduction of tilapia fish into the lake, large numbers of pelicans had also taken up residence there. What we didn't expect were the thousands of pelicans that seemed to have taken over the place, hanging out with the Maribou storks, and while amazing in their numbers, there were so few flamingoes that their pink feathers were difficult to spot amongst the sheer white masses of pelicans. Apparently many more flamingoes are normally present in Lake Nakuru but they return with the rainy season. Still, the numbers are extemely low compared to what once were there.
One fantastic thing about Nakuru is that it is the only totally fenced National Park in Kenya. Why is that fantastic, you may ask? Well, the fences keep in the endangered black and white rhinos that have been relocated there for conservation purposes - and keep people out. We came across ten white rhinos on our first drive there, and up close they are certainly magnificent creatures. On the second drive we were also extremely lucky to see a black rhino (though you can't tell the difference by the colour; they look exactly the same! You have to look at the shape of their mouth to differentiate them).
Other animals we spotted in the reserve were gazelles; antelopes; rock hyrax, resembling giant guinea pigs; big families of baboons, many with tiny babies; water buck; guinea fowl; and stately giraffes, wrapping those long tongues around the spiny acacia trees to get at the leaves.
All in all it was a great wildlife-spotting adventure. We even topped it off with a slice of luxury accommodation at the Sarova Lion Hill Game Lodge (inside Lake Nakuru NP mind you; go figure) and its massive buffets and cool leafy gardens full of colouful and cheeky little wrens, weaver birds and finches vying for your breakfast left-overs. And so it was back to Nairobi for one last night before the REAL adventure.
MADAGASCAR.
Sunday, 3 April 2011
Jambo Kenya!
Ok, so I've arrived on the African continent! 21 hours of flights later ... via Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha - and now I'm in Nairobi. It was great meeting up with Anna again. We have also caught up with our friend Noriko who is working here for the UN - so it's been a Simeulue reunion, 2 years in the making!
We've already had a few adventures in Kenya, land of the eucalypts. We've been staying in Nairobi, and are very grateful for Solange allowing us to stay in her lovely apartment while she's not here! The city is not like I remember it 5 years ago; the main thing I remember is the central Masaai markets. But i have not felt anywhere near as unsafe as the Nairobbery tag suggests. The city seems pretty clean, but has a faded, 70's retro feel to it's CBD due to the type of buildings scattered around; it's a low-rise centre with the worst traffic congestion I've ever seen - Sydney, you're beaten hands down!
We visited a giraffe centre and elephant orphanage around Nairobi, both of which were great for interacting with these beautiful creatures. The giraffe centre breeds Rothschild giraffes for release back into the wild; the orphanage rescues baby elephants orphaned by poachers, drought, snares and falling in wells, and also rehabilitates them to go back into the wild. Such dedicated people undertaking such important work.
We've also spent a few days in Naivasha, about 2 hours north west of Nairobi. Watching a family of 12 hippos wallowing in the shallows of Lake Naivasha has been a highlight. The lakeside camp we stayed in also had a number of other interesting visitors, such as beautiful black and white Colobus monkeys, superb starlings, guinea fowl, herons and a number of waterbirds. The nearby crater lake also provided us with some beautiful hiking around the rim of the now extinct volcano, being watched all the way around by five giraffes grazing down in the crater.
The camp also was in close proximity to Hell's Gate National Park, one of the few parks where you don't need a vehicle to visit. Cycling leisurely past herds of zebra, warthogs, Thompson's gazelles, African buffalo and a stately family of loping giraffes made me really feel that I was in Africa. We hiked Njorowa gorge in the sun, and found the hot springs that form part of the vast geothermal reserves that led to a power plant being built IN THE NATIONAL PARK in 1981. Something wrong with this picture? Seeing the plumes of steam rising out from behind the ridges was quite surreal, as was the constant hissing noise of the released steam in the background. Apparently this has little impact on the park, but I'm not so sure - I would think the wildlife would be happier without it there.
Coming back to Nairobi was an interesting adventure ... we took a matatu (minivan) from Naivasha town and on the way we broke down due to running out of fuel ... so we sat there for half an hour or so, all the while the sun is setting and its getting dark, waiting for our driver and his able assistant to go for petrol, listening to the raucous Swahili conversation of the Kenyan women who had come from a hard day's work and wishing we could understand it! We even got entertained by Peter Andre thanks to 101.1FM - All Kenyan, All The Time! (insert deep breathy voice here). Radio gold.(I'm even listening to MC Hammer's Can't touch this as I type. Ha!)
By the time we hit Nairobi's insanely packed out bus and matatu station, which seems to take up a whole block, it was half seven and we had to somehow get home amongst the ridiculous crowd. Not the best place to be as a mzungu when you don't know where you're going! But luckily our saviour came in the form of Nancy, a young, strong Masaai woman who wasn't afraid of being mugged in downtown Nairobi, and after arguing with some motorbike taxis and refusing their high prices, she delivered us through the throngs to the right departing point. Not sure we would have made it without her! Thanks, good Samaritan .. although a 100 Kenyan shilling payment was requested, and granted. :)
So now, our next adventure awaits: a 4-day safari in the Masaai Mara and Lake Nakuru National Parks. Dammit - these safaris are EXPENSIVE - but I can't wait!
We've already had a few adventures in Kenya, land of the eucalypts. We've been staying in Nairobi, and are very grateful for Solange allowing us to stay in her lovely apartment while she's not here! The city is not like I remember it 5 years ago; the main thing I remember is the central Masaai markets. But i have not felt anywhere near as unsafe as the Nairobbery tag suggests. The city seems pretty clean, but has a faded, 70's retro feel to it's CBD due to the type of buildings scattered around; it's a low-rise centre with the worst traffic congestion I've ever seen - Sydney, you're beaten hands down!
We visited a giraffe centre and elephant orphanage around Nairobi, both of which were great for interacting with these beautiful creatures. The giraffe centre breeds Rothschild giraffes for release back into the wild; the orphanage rescues baby elephants orphaned by poachers, drought, snares and falling in wells, and also rehabilitates them to go back into the wild. Such dedicated people undertaking such important work.
We've also spent a few days in Naivasha, about 2 hours north west of Nairobi. Watching a family of 12 hippos wallowing in the shallows of Lake Naivasha has been a highlight. The lakeside camp we stayed in also had a number of other interesting visitors, such as beautiful black and white Colobus monkeys, superb starlings, guinea fowl, herons and a number of waterbirds. The nearby crater lake also provided us with some beautiful hiking around the rim of the now extinct volcano, being watched all the way around by five giraffes grazing down in the crater.
The camp also was in close proximity to Hell's Gate National Park, one of the few parks where you don't need a vehicle to visit. Cycling leisurely past herds of zebra, warthogs, Thompson's gazelles, African buffalo and a stately family of loping giraffes made me really feel that I was in Africa. We hiked Njorowa gorge in the sun, and found the hot springs that form part of the vast geothermal reserves that led to a power plant being built IN THE NATIONAL PARK in 1981. Something wrong with this picture? Seeing the plumes of steam rising out from behind the ridges was quite surreal, as was the constant hissing noise of the released steam in the background. Apparently this has little impact on the park, but I'm not so sure - I would think the wildlife would be happier without it there.
Coming back to Nairobi was an interesting adventure ... we took a matatu (minivan) from Naivasha town and on the way we broke down due to running out of fuel ... so we sat there for half an hour or so, all the while the sun is setting and its getting dark, waiting for our driver and his able assistant to go for petrol, listening to the raucous Swahili conversation of the Kenyan women who had come from a hard day's work and wishing we could understand it! We even got entertained by Peter Andre thanks to 101.1FM - All Kenyan, All The Time! (insert deep breathy voice here). Radio gold.(I'm even listening to MC Hammer's Can't touch this as I type. Ha!)
So now, our next adventure awaits: a 4-day safari in the Masaai Mara and Lake Nakuru National Parks. Dammit - these safaris are EXPENSIVE - but I can't wait!
Thursday, 24 March 2011
An African adventure begins ...
Destination: Madagascar.
Why Madagascar, you may ask?
Well, it all began on a little island called Simeulue ... which you may have read about in my last few posts. My good German friend Anna and I were out kayaking on the beautiful little lagoons and bays of Simeulue one morning, discussing various issues as we did, when we began talking about places we've always wanted to visit, but didn't know why.
Places that intrigued us, allured us, made us want to visit ... for reasons we weren't really sure about. And we both agreed on one particular destination. Madagascar.
What was it that made us want to go there? All we knew about this exotic country was that it 1. was ecologically unique, with many plant and animal species that had evolved in isolation from the rest of anywhere else on the planet; 2. it was an island; 3. it was in Africa. Oh, and 4. some pretty cool animated films had been made about it. That was it.
So we decided that we should go there together, one day, after we'd both left Simeulue.
So that's where we're going. It's been almost two years since I was in Simeulue, but we're doing this!
I'm guessing I won't see any of these guys...
... but I am hoping to get to here:
The country looks AMAZING.
Oh, and did I mention that we'll also be spending some time in Kenya, and hopefull Uganda as well?
Let the adventures begin!
... and the good news: I leave in two days. Woohoo!
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