We were picked up in a beat up landcruiser early Friday morning to drive the 7 hours south to Selous Game Reserve for our camping Christmas Safari. We stopped for lunch, and we ventured the rest of the journey on a very bumpy dirt road for the next 3 hours or so we thought. We were on this road for about 20 mins when there was a disturbing grinding sound coming from under the wheels. We pulled over, and our driver Peter pulled out the machete to "fix" the shocks. As we continued down the road, there were a whole new set of sounds. Amy, Jordan, Violenne, and I could not stop laughing because it reminded us of Little Miss Sunshine but much worse. It sounded like the car was about to collapse at any second, AND we were on such a bumpy dirt road. We stopped in a tiny village to repair the car before it got dark. At first, there was a large group of men just starring at us through the windows. Then all the children came to see us Mzungus and sat down in a group to stare at us. We couldn't really communicate because they were speaking a different dialect of Kiswahili. Many of the men were under the car with Peter helping him while we decided to play with the children. Jordan and Amy drew Hop Scotch in the dirt and we all demonstrated for them. Then some of the older boys would take turns. After each turn, we all laughed and clapped with each other. It was such an incredible moment because we were just hanging out, but it meant so much to all of us. Roughly 2 1/2 hours later, we headed to Sealous for camping. Of course the truck was still not fixed so we were all silent for the rest of the way as it had become dark, and Peter was extremely concerned for our safety. But then we would say things like... "Would you rather be stranded in the middle of the bush with the lions or in between villages where boys would shoot at you with there hands as you drive by?" Just before arriving at Hippo Camp, we saw a hyena. Peter also mentioned that there were many black and green mambas. We were all sure that the other truck with the rest of the group was worried because we were so far behind them. Of course cell phones don't work in the African bush:) So after a very long day of driving on Christmas Eve, we knew we wouldn't be sleeping well after seeing the hyena, staying at a place called Hippo Camp, and we were all aware of the presence of elephants, snakes, hippos, crocs, and the dinosaur like bugs that kept flying into the truck. We walked down this dark path in the bushes to greet the rest of our group. They even waited for us to eat dinner. We all shared our story, had an amazing dinner, and had as many beers as possible to get a good night sleep. I was pleased to find that we were staying is tiny bungalows. Mine even had a large tree inside of it with a giant leafy branch directly above my pillow! I slept completely sound after hearing the hippos snort near by, thinking of mambas, and listening to the beautiful orchestra of what seemed to be 100's of 1000's piercing locusts.
We woke up at six am to get on a very small boat for the river part of our Safari on Christmas Day. We saw monkeys, crocs, hippos, and tons of colorful birds. The hippos sleep during the day and graze on land at night near our bungalows. All the females huddle up and sleep together in the water while the males stay on the outside to protect them. We were back at 8am for breakfast, then off to our Game Reserve ride in the repaired landcruiser. Peter stayed up all night fixing it for us so that we would not be stranded with the lions:) We saw tons of giraffe, elephants, water buffalo, wildebeast, baboons, impala, and crocs. We were a bit nervous when Peter pulled over in the middle of the Game Reserve to eat our lunch and have a bathroom break. We all squatted next to each other behind a bush in fear that a lion would run out of the tall grass near by and eat us for lunch, but Peter didn't seem too concerned about it. By 5pm, we were so dehydrated, sunburned, sweaty, tired, and delirious, we couldn't wait to have a few Safari beers and Christmas dinner which was pasta, eggplant, and some sort of egg/meat/pizza pie. I thought I would get a good night sleep from exhaustion, but the noises at night were nothing I have ever experienced. I could hear the loud high pitched sound of the locusts, the group of elephants that liked to hang out, the hippos grazing, and I must not forget the man walking around with a very large gun ready to protect us at any moment. Looking back now, it was an incredible experience.
We woke up at 6am on Sunday to start the walking portion of our Safari before heading back to Bagamoyo. We meat this almost naked tracker covered in ash, carrying a hand made bow and arrow, and he was smoking what appeared to be a giant leaf wrapping a giant wad of ganja. Turns out, he was just smoking elephant dung. We had to stop twice, so he could have a lil smoke session. He said that it made him think clearly, attract elephants, and he said it was much stronger than ganja. I think we were all a bit shocked by this one. We saw elephants, yellow baboons, a giant baobob tree which he climbed, and we learned how to survive in the African Bush if you had to for some reason. He even taught us how to protect ourselves from a lion and showed us how to set a booby trap for dinner. I have videos, but those will have to wait until I get home. After a meal, we finally headed back to Bagamoyo. I have never been so excited to get back to CCS and take a trickle of a cold shower in my life. The Red Cross is on vacation this week, so I will be floating around at different placements all week which is exciting. I am also visiting the medicine man, and I will be working on a garbage clean up project in the village. Merry Christmas!!
Meghan
We were picked up in a beat up landcruiser early Friday morning to drive the 7 hours south to Selous Game Reserve for our camping Christmas Safari. We stopped for lunch, and we ventured the rest of the journey on a very bumpy dirt road for the next 3 hours or so we thought. We were on this road for about 20 mins when there was a disturbing grinding sound coming from under the wheels. We pulled over, and our driver Peter pulled out the machete to "fix" the shocks. As we continued down the road, there were a whole new set of sounds. Amy, Jordan, Violenne, and I could not stop laughing because it reminded us of Little Miss Sunshine but much worse. It sounded like the car was about to collapse at any second, AND we were on such a bumpy dirt road. We stopped in a tiny village to repair the car before it got dark. At first, there was a large group of men just starring at us through the windows. Then all the children came to see us Mzungus and sat down in a group to stare at us. We couldn't really communicate because they were speaking a different dialect of Kiswahili. Many of the men were under the car with Peter helping him while we decided to play with the children. Jordan and Amy drew Hop Scotch in the dirt and we all demonstrated for them. Then some of the older boys would take turns. After each turn, we all laughed and clapped with each other. It was such an incredible moment because we were just hanging out, but it meant so much to all of us. Roughly 2 1/2 hours later, we headed to Sealous for camping. Of course the truck was still not fixed so we were all silent for the rest of the way as it had become dark, and Peter was extremely concerned for our safety. But then we would say things like... "Would you rather be stranded in the middle of the bush with the lions or in between villages where boys would shoot at you with there hands as you drive by?" Just before arriving at Hippo Camp, we saw a hyena. Peter also mentioned that there were many black and green mambas. We were all sure that the other truck with the rest of the group was worried because we were so far behind them. Of course cell phones don't work in the African bush:) So after a very long day of driving on Christmas Eve, we knew we wouldn't be sleeping well after seeing the hyena, staying at a place called Hippo Camp, and we were all aware of the presence of elephants, snakes, hippos, crocs, and the dinosaur like bugs that kept flying into the truck. We walked down this dark path in the bushes to greet the rest of our group. They even waited for us to eat dinner. We all shared our story, had an amazing dinner, and had as many beers as possible to get a good night sleep. I was pleased to find that we were staying is tiny bungalows. Mine even had a large tree inside of it with a giant leafy branch directly above my pillow! I slept completely sound after hearing the hippos snort near by, thinking of mambas, and listening to the beautiful orchestra of what seemed to be 100's of 1000's piercing locusts.
We woke up at six am to get on a very small boat for the river part of our Safari on Christmas Day. We saw monkeys, crocs, hippos, and tons of colorful birds. The hippos sleep during the day and graze on land at night near our bungalows. All the females huddle up and sleep together in the water while the males stay on the outside to protect them. We were back at 8am for breakfast, then off to our Game Reserve ride in the repaired landcruiser. Peter stayed up all night fixing it for us so that we would not be stranded with the lions:) We saw tons of giraffe, elephants, water buffalo, wildebeast, baboons, impala, and crocs. We were a bit nervous when Peter pulled over in the middle of the Game Reserve to eat our lunch and have a bathroom break. We all squatted next to each other behind a bush in fear that a lion would run out of the tall grass near by and eat us for lunch, but Peter didn't seem too concerned about it. By 5pm, we were so dehydrated, sunburned, sweaty, tired, and delirious, we couldn't wait to have a few Safari beers and Christmas dinner which was pasta, eggplant, and some sort of egg/meat/pizza pie. I thought I would get a good night sleep from exhaustion, but the noises at night were nothing I have ever experienced. I could hear the loud high pitched sound of the locusts, the group of elephants that liked to hang out, the hippos grazing, and I must not forget the man walking around with a very large gun ready to protect us at any moment. Looking back now, it was an incredible experience. 
We woke up at 6am on Sunday to start the walking portion of our Safari before heading back to Bagamoyo. We meat this almost naked tracker covered in ash, carrying a hand made bow and arrow, and he was smoking what appeared to be a giant leaf wrapping a giant wad of ganja. Turns out, he was just smoking elephant dung. We had to stop twice, so he could have a lil smoke session. He said that it made him think clearly, attract elephants, and he said it was much stronger than ganja. I think we were all a bit shocked by this one. We saw elephants, yellow baboons, a giant baobob tree which he climbed, and we learned how to survive in the African Bush if you had to for some reason. He even taught us how to protect ourselves from a lion and showed us how to set a booby trap for dinner. I have videos, but those will have to wait until I get home. After a meal, we finally headed back to Bagamoyo. I have never been so excited to get back to CCS and take a trickle of a cold shower in my life. The Red Cross is on vacation this week, so I will be floating around at different placements all week which is exciting. I am also visiting the medicine man, and I will be working on a garbage clean up project in the village. Merry Christmas!!
Hi Meg,
ReplyDeleteThe safari sounded like an adventure!! Miss you and think of you every day. Takae lots of pictures!!
Love Mom
I have been taking a ton of pics, but it is very expensive and it takes a very long time to upload them. So I will upload a ton of pics as soon as I get back. I miss you so much!! But I am not ready to leave yet...
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