Many things have been happening this week, some very interesting and i am following leads for unexpected research that i would rather not publish on the internet. in any case, firstly, i should mention that i have malaria. it makes life almost impossible, but i am on medication and i am sure will recover soon. high fever, muscle and joint pains, all of the symptoms i have and so my brain has not been working quickly lately. the internet is my one activity of the day so i am not stuck in bed all day. instead of taking the train back [View Full Entry]

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that night we slept at the park hostel, which is rather expensive at 20 dollars a night per person. the night before if i didnt mention, we went to stay in the village near the burundi border and woke up early to catch a boat to gombe. the night in the park we met a very nice solo lady traveller danielle and spoke to her all night about her travells for the past 10 years all over east africa. the 2nd day at gombe was not near as exciting as the first because there was a major fire in the park. [View Full Entry]

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The spirit of the chimps and jane goodall i did not feel until we walked about ten minutes into the forest, i was so upset over the bearacracy of the park. it is so badly runned and the visitors get no respect at all, unless of course you spend thousands of dollars there. anyway, the first day it was just us and a dutch couple. i hate to admit this, but i think its how the universe wanted it and its how life was before cameras, but i brought my video and the charger but i forgot the converter, so i [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday 15th February Harriet had asked us before whether we wanted to go to the mnada earlier in the day and cut our Akie visit short, but we had declined as we were not particularly interested in seeing the animal slaughter which was taking place in the morning. We would miss some of the commerce and most of the cattle and goat selling, but the Akie visit more than made up for that. There would still be lots going on at the market in the afternoon and Harriet especially wanted us to eat some goat meat which could be bought and [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday 15th February How sad didn’t this morning feel, this trip’s last full day? Harriet woke us up early as we had a meeting with our friend Mr Meela, the bee expert, today. We were to spend the morning with him and Harriet on a field trip to see how the Akie tribe was getting on with the beekeeping and animal husbandry project they were involved in. In the afternoon we were planning to go to the big ‘mnada’ or Maasai market in Kibaya which happens on the 1st and the 15th of every month. After breakfast we set out with [View Full Entry]

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Monday 14th February After a feverish night I swallowed some paracetamol and got up early. The morning sun was shining through the flimsy curtain, and there were African morning sounds coming from outside; chickens, dogs barking in the distance, askaris talking softly to each other. Harriet had left breakfast for us as she had gone briefly to her office, which is just walking distance from her house. We ate breakfast outside on the veranda, bacon, eggs and toast. Harriet’s houseboy Charles was in the kitchen cooking food for Dessie and the cats. We liked Charles immediately, [View Full Entry]

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Sunday 13th February I must confess to having had a lousy night. Anja wasn’t too happy either with her ‘trasa’ substitute. Even the comfortable bed seemed lumpy and hot, and Paul’s tossing and turning with his sore legs didn’t help. I was however looking forward to today as we were going to Kibaya, to Harriet’s home and to somewhere completely new. I decided to totally ignore my virus infection, pack myself full of paracetamol and carry on regardless. I just couldn’t afford to be ill just now, with only a few more days to go. I could always [View Full Entry]

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