African Safari December 2008
Given the problematic starts, Africa could have turned out to be a disaster for me, but it did not. That does not mean that everything could go wrong, did not. Quite a bit went wrong. A week or so before leaving, an ATM card swallowed my American debit card. That was the only way I had to get money. In order to bring dollars to Africa , which were required by some of the tour vendors, I had to wire Century Bank to send money to my Thai bank so I could then turn it into dollars. The wired money arrived just in the nick of time, the day before I was leaving. Praying I would have enough, I headed to the airport to take my 12:40 a.m., December 23rd flight to Nairobi . I arrived at 10 p.m. on the 23rd in order to have plenty of time to catch my flight. Yes, you got it. I should have arrived on the night of the 22nd. Naturally, my flight had been long gone. So I frantically searched the airport for another flight and found one on Emirates airline that was leaving at 2:30 a.m. on the 24th. I had hoped that this did not portend things to come. Welcome, I got to spend several hours in the morning at Dubai airport where I sat in an Irish Pub and had one of those huge Irish breakfasts. It was a pretty colorful place and I had wished that if I had a few more hours, I could have taken a city tour.
As I toured the airport and had coffee, etc. I had an opportunity to see that whoever might be waiting for their flights obviously were not Thai as they were sleeping all over the floor, against walls, covered in colorful blankets and cloths while lots of bare feet were sticking out from under the airport waiting chairs. Guess they don’t feel that the feet pointing are insulting to other human beings as the Thai do. To the Thai the feet are the most vulgar and low parts of the body. The head, therefore, is the highest. One should never touch anyone on the head. During one of my sitting sojourns, I talked to a man from Pakistan who has children in the U.S. in North Carolina and Chicago . He had visited them four years ago and was unfortunately upset with his treatment by customs and immigration who subjected him to numerous delays and investigation of documents because he, of course, looked like an Arab and was from Pakistan . He was sorely still hurting as he could not fully understand how his status and respect was reduced to being someone only identified by a document and not his person. “Documents define us” in this world today,” he said.
On the flight Dubai to Dar Es Salaam, I spoke with a man from Oman who was all Obama and like many Africans I was to meet could not wait for January 20 to come. I will insert right now that the Obama enthusiasm that I encountered from both Africans and other foreigners was so full of expectation that I began to fear for Obama. How can one man solve all the problems that are real in the world and live up to the expectations so many have of him. My Oman seat mate said: “He (Obama) could be President of the World.” Amazing. Whenever I told someone I was from America in Africa , there was a great welcome and many invited me to come back to wherever on January 20 and be part of their celebration. They were all planning big parties and joyous celebrations in both Tanzania and Kenya .
Fortunately the driver who had been scheduled to pick me up at 9:30 a.m. waited until 3:30 p.m. to pick me up and take me to the campsite at Dar Es Salaam …or rather to a small island about 5 minutes by ferry: Kopepeo Island . I was supposed to meet the tour group, but they had gone on ahead to Zanzibar , so there I was pretty much alone on Christmas Eve but I hardly noticed as there were many families celebrating Christmas and the festivities were simple but enjoyable. Sunset brought the most remarkable sight of the Indian Ocean as the sea colors begin as the deepest turquoise I have ever seen in water, then were bound by the rolling but gentle white caps of the waves, and beyond was the deepest marine blue stretching to the horizon: quite awesome to watch all this in front of the orange-pink sunset.
I met my official Safari driver and talked with me awhile and he, too, was so enthusiastic about Obama. He was from Kenya and evidently a lot of Kenyans as well as other African leaders are attending the Inauguration. Obama’s grandmother will be at the head of the Kenyan delegation and, if he is correct, I am sure we will see her pretty well placed on the platform. No question, she is a revered lady in Kenya . Her house is under guard all the time for both privacy and security reasons.
Early on Christmas morning three of us left to meet up with the others on Zanzibar . In trying to make sure I had access to cash, before I left I called my MasterCard provider to allow cash advances while I was in Africa just in case. That did not work either – so much for some advance planning. I was now thinking about getting frantic but decided to stay cool. If there was a problem, my school pay was going to be deposited on the 30th so I could always tap into that. Turned out that there could have been a horrendous problem as the cash they suggested that we bring was not enough. Everything had gone up: the local payment; the tour to Serengeti: and I had not anticipated the expense of Zanzibar or various ferries that I did not know about. It was not so much that the costs were hidden, just omitted or underestimated by the information that I received. Of course, I had not anticipated having two cards fail on me. And in general Africa is much more costly than one would expect even if they do tell you it is not cheap.
Zanzibar had been and independent country and is now part of the country of Tanzania . For several hundred years it had been occupied by the Turks and so has an old town, Stone Town , which has a heavy influence of Moorish architecture and it is heavily Muslim. It was also occupied by the British during whose time there was an active slave trade. Zanzibar was the site of a central market where captives from all over Africa were brought to be sold to traders. Their quarters which we toured were horrific, but the slave market sited itself has been covered over by St. Paul ’s Cathedral which is Anglican. The discontinuation of the slave trade there is attributed to all to David Livingstone who witnessed the atrocities and persuaded the King to abolish the practice. Livingstone’s house is still standing and now houses non profit agencies. It was fun to stroll around the tiny little winding streets of Old Zanzibar, Stone Town , despite its declining and aging elegance. However, it is also an insane tourist hunting game site for all kinds of vendors. It was really a major distraction to keep them away and they are about the most persistent of any vendors I have ever encountered.
I finally met my tour group at dinner: our tour guide had arranged for us all to have dinner in a lovely, old former mansion now called the Africa House. Our table was second floor seaside and I truly enjoyed meeting and watching the group. They had really bonded as many of them had been together on Safari for 30 to 40 days. It was fun to watch but hard for a newcomer to become a part of. Turns out it did not matter as the rest of the trip was so incredibly fast moving, busy, and exhausting that I was more interested in taking advantage of as much as I could and going to sleep early. I did not spend another evening out until we arrived in Arusha and after our Serengeti and Ngoronoro Crater animal drives. That was on New Year’s evening where the campsite restaurant had a huge game barbecue for all of the park trekkers. We had a lovely dinner and a happy few drinks at a truly funky bar which could have lived in Provincetown or Santa Fe in the fifties despite the jungle thatched roofing; stick sides, and Aussie barkeepers. Most of the people on the Safari, by the way, were from Australia or England with three from the States, two from Russia , and 3 or 4 from South Africa . I had a hard time understanding all the accents, to tell the truth. Most were still leery of America and seemed to believe that we single handedly are responsible for the economic crisis and even one young woman financier told me, but not in a rancorous way, that nobody would feel sorry for the U.S. I agreed with her projection but also answered her by saying: “they never have.” That was a diversion, but back to holiday celebrations, Jan. 31 was the end of our animal drives so we all decided that we would celebrate where we were at 9 p.m. as we had a very long drive the very next day to Nairobi . I had bought a bottle of wine for the occasion and others, of course, had their choice. After dinner, we were all just pretty much waiting for 9 p.m. to come. We were exhausted. Finally we did congratulations on all around, some hugs, etc. and off to our tents. I do think, though, I was the first one in mine.
And the best for last.: The animal drives for two days in the Serengeti National Park and Ngoronoro Crater which is a World Heritage Site together make up the worlds largest wildlife refuge and are the destination. for the largest animal migrations every year in Africa . Lucky for me I got to sit up front with our driver, Frank, who was just great. Immediately he started calling me “Bibi” which means grandmother in Swahili. Although I am not one to gaze in the mirror often and thus have a vision of myself that has not changed much in 25 years, I began to think I should check me out more closely. Not only because of the Bibi, but also because many of the younger Thai people call me the mother. “watch the mother,” “take care of the mother,” “okay, mother, over here,” and similar addresses made me think about how I really looked. But I am not going to tell you. I like my inner mind version quite a lot so that is how it will be.
First we descended in our 4 wheel safari truck, as opposed to the huge safari transport truck that we went great distances on and was essentially our home for as long as we traveled. The transport held all of our bags, tents, personal belongings, food, cookware, chairs, and all amenities that we would need for our travels. The descent to the crater is over 600 meters – about 1800 feet) and the road was dirt, windy, bumpy and something close to a mule ride down the Grand Canyon but on wheels. I must admit the sides of the road were not such perishable straight down drop-offs. The views in the Crater were incredible with miles and miles of bottom land although they are the highlands, dry, desert and a sky that stretched for miles. Africa is truly the land of the big sky. Lovely slopes housed members of the nomadic Massai Tribe who are still living in their own small village, historic lifestyle, grazing small amounts of cattle and goats, and farming on their land. They make colorful figures as they are seen in the fields wearing their colorful blankets and in many places the children were dressed in full tribal regalia complete with beautifully beaded wide collar necklaces flapping as they moved their heads. Their homes are round, thatched, mud and wattle often surrounded by tall stick fencing to keep the wild animals out of the compound. They often stood on the roadside waving to us as we went by and many even yelled: “give me money for school.” We saw a few animals in the crater where we traveled through for the morning and then headed for a dusty, bumpy ride to Serengeti. For the next day and a half we were going to be spending our time in the Park. And that turned out to be an incredible experience. I have to tell you that there were times when I had misgivings and thinking that I had seen all this stuff on TV. Thankfully and grateful for my impulse to go to Africa , I was astounded. I felt like I was a traveler on Animal Planet looking to spot and photograph animals. Our drivers chased down animals as if we were on the hunt. By now our group was in three of the safari trucks. All drivers were in contact by radio and signaled to each other when they saw a particular animal or incident that we all should see. Then there was the mad dash to that site.
The plains contain vast fields of vegetation on which animals can feed, wander, hide, hunt and play. They are free to do what they do. The plains are their home and their space. The predators chase the grazers. Miles and miles of zebras and wildebeest passed us as we drove, or I should say we passed them. These animals graze peacefully together and together they just walk and graze, walk and graze and their lines spread forever, it seems. Our driver and those with keener cameras and binoculars than I had were able to spot lions in the grass, in the rocks, or in the trees. We were lucky enough to see a leopard which seems to be an animal everyone wants to see, but all the drivers said it was very rare to see one as they are quite stealthy. We saw one and it posed, wandered, sat tree-side and in general kept its eye on us we snapped away. There were a few people who said the main sighting they had hoped for was to see a leopard; we did, and on our first day. Our driver was an incredibly patient man, seeking the animals and then holding for us for as long as the group wanted to take pictures or just watch
Although I had not expected to see nature in its entirety; I don’t know why and think I just assumed that some things only happen on Animal Planet because the photographers stay and stalk and wait for days. We saw two kills: one roadside and one only about 30 feet from the road. A lion had killed a zebra and it was really a sad site when its rear end was all open to the sky. A kill are attracts the clean up predators like the hyenas and vultures but they do not move in until the lions are finished. Once the mother lion had her fill, it was time for her pups to feed. There were three and they knew exactly what to do, but one was much more interested in playing with the tail of the zebra much as a kitten might play with a rope or string….flat on its back flipping the tail with its paws and legs. Watching this drama of feeding pups from a dead prey and a playing kitten-like pup was an awesome and real event to be viewing. The integral connection between life and death was certainly clear. As soon as the pups were through, the hyena and then the vultures got their fill. It is true that the vultures wait silently on the ground or in trees or circle the kill until it is time for them to feed and clean up the remains. They really create an incredible sight as they are so huge and several times we saw them circling from a distance but whatever they were seeking was too far away from the road for us to see. A similar incident was repeated when we saw a hyena capture a wildebeest. All safari vehicles travel only a designated road. The Plains are the wildlife homes safe areas where we are only observers of their lives and not allowed to intrude. We had a wonderful couple of days viewing in the wild and two more most impressive sights included the huge African elephants and giraffes. Elephants and giraffes are truly majestic, large, but graceful animals and nothing compares to seeing them in the wild. They are both huge in their own physical stature and watching them confidently feed and drink was quite thrilling. I had never seen a giraffe bend or drink before and it is fascinating to see how it splays its front legs outward before bending its neck to the ground. The animal drive ended on New Year’s Eve where we went to our camp, celebrated at 9 p.m. and then slept through a night broken with the roar lions not too far off in the bush. Quite an experience!
Our trip to our final campsite was from Arusha to Nairobi and that was a day’s journey over bumpy and windy, mostly dirt roads with many small detours. We thought it would never end. Everywhere we went in Africa was dry, windy and dusty and this route was exceptionally dusty. While we were on the game drives there were huge dust devils flying around the plains and lots of dust from all of the game vehicles. Our campsite had a restaurant and a bar and I immediately got a beer to take back to my room. There were rooms there so I opted for that. I no longer wanted to deal with the putting up and taking down of my tent. It was difficult for me, although the tent was really an easy gear. Tension supports were hooked onto the tent, but reaching the top and bending the poles were a bit difficult for me. Often I had help and during the game drive my “Bibi calling”
driver took care of putting up and taking down my tent. I was so grateful. This part was all a great experience, I suppose, but not something I want to do again. Next time, I will take the Lodge route. Friday night and I was looking forward to relaxing and going home on Sunday.
But again destiny had another thing in mind. We all went into the City of Nairobi on Saturday morning to go to the ATM and get a few items if we wanted to. On the way I started having horrible cramps and just felt muscle ache and nauseous. I was really concerned and could barely walk. So I asked one of the women to take my card and get money for me. I waited in the lobby of the hotel where we were parked and tried to get comfortable. It seemed forever before all returned for the trip back to camp. I took the front bench in the truck and just lay there until we reached camp. I was so worried that I was going to be seriously sick and could hardly climb down off the truck. I went straight to my room and decided to take some medicine. Just in case, I had some Cipro with me so I took one of those. For the muscle aches, I took ibuprofen and in order to sleep it all off I took a sleeping pill. I fell asleep immediately and woke up maybe an hour or more later. I got up and one of the guys appeared at the door inviting me to go see the video of the trip he had finished. Not realizing I was probably still asleep and somewhat groggy from the meds, I said sure thinking it would be great to see the trip from the beginning. . I walked out of the room to follow him and next thing I knew I was thinking how gravelly the walk felt and then woke up on the ground with a couple of people standing over me. I had fallen on my cheekbone and forearm, quite literally. It was not until the next day that I realized that I had quite a cut and scrapes on the right side of my face and a bad cut on the right side of my wrist. But lucky for me when I woke up on Sunday morning, I felt fine except for looking like a battered woman. I have no idea what came over me but it was not long lasting as I had no symptoms of any of the usual traveler’s diseases. I packed to go home and believe me I had a lot of dirty clothes to tapack. The smartest thing I did for the trip was to pack disposable underwear and was it ever a blessing as I could not have kept up with the drying. As it was much of my clothing was pretty damp and I had spread it all around the room to dry before packing for the flight home. My room looked like a teenager’s bedroom.
I was delighted to get to the Nairobi airport and made sure to arrive about 5 hours early. After the long process of getting to the check in agent, I was astounded to find that Kenya had cancelled my reservation. No reason why – it just happened. I was sent to a sales agent. As he said “these things happen sometimes.” I was not happy and really not taking it in stride because all I wanted to do now was get home to Phuket. There was no way to get on my original flight because they had overbooked by 1/3 and for some variety of reasons I had to buy a new ticket. I was assured that the request for a refund of my original ticket had been processed. As I write this I am still waiting to see that refund show up on my credit card and writing furiously to customer service at Kenya . The rest was annoying as I used the hotel agent recommended by the ticket agent and ended up in a hotel under reconstruction but whose rooms were nonetheless old and dirty and the price was a ripoff. The bathrooms and bed were clean, for sure, but the rest: furniture, curtains, rugs, drapes were all needing cleaning, replacing and washing after years of use and wear and tear. I did want to go to an internet to let people know that I would not be back on time, but was told that I should not leave the hotel and go out alone. Nairobi is not a safe place and its nickname is Nairobbery. I could not even get hold of Air Asia to change my flight so that was another problem waiting.
Early the next morning I got to the airport midst fears that this flight would also have problems waiting for me, but fortunately all went well. We left on schedule and arrived at 11:00 pm Bangkok time, which was way too late to get another flight to Phuket. So I spent the night in the airport walking continuously with my trolley full of my baggage. I really did feel like a bag lady. But I could not sleep, for sure, but I did go immediately upon collecting my baggage to the internet to see what I could do on line and inform school and others of my delay. I was so tired I could not read much, got something to eat and drank lots of coffee. Promptly at 5 a.m. when Air Asia opened, I was first in line to get a ticket on a 7:20 flight. They would not exchange my ticket and told me I would have to deal with customer service to see about a refund which was almost never granted but maybe my circumstances would be extenuating.
No doubt these extra mishaps have sure dented my limited resources and will cause me a decent amount of arguing back and forth. But I sure was happy to be back on Thai soil and just ecstatic to be back in Phuket where my regular taxi lady was waiting for me at the airport. What a relief. Before morning, I could not use my cell because it had run out of battery and I could not get it topped up until the mobile office at Bangkok airport had opened; so I was able to text Sunsat of my new arrival. Upon arriving home, I showered for a very long time and went to bed. I have no regrets but I will not travel like that again. Roughing it has its place but I had all the fun I could stand. The trip and experience were worth going, however. After getting over the mishaps and relaying the trip to friends here, I realized that I had loved the experience of seeing Africa and the animal migrations. Africa itself outside of tourist areas is what you think it is: poor, dirty in many places, dusty, magnificent in some places, big in space and vistas and skies, and chaotic. It was always amazing to see people walking what one knew was for miles and delightful to see women in such beautifully colored clothing in a variety of activities: selling, carrying buckets of water and goods on their heads, going somewhere with family for the New Year holiday, and taking care of kids, or parading on the beaches offering massages or trinkets.
It was a real delight to go to school the next morning and see my colleagues and my adorable students. We are getting for mid-terms, I am giving review lessons, and my face has healed quite nicely…no lasting impressions. My son is taking care of things at home; his girlfriend has been a great help to me and to him and I miss them both. I miss my friends, of course, but I am delighted to be employed in my new youthful state!!!
Hope you have enjoyed reading of my adventures and if you get this far, send me a line or two. As always I love hearing from home and yes I do plan to watch as much of the Inauguration as they will show here in Thailand .
