Blogs from Africa - page 2701

I arrived in Arusha on Wednesday where we camped for a night before heading into the Serengeti National Park with a local tour company (our truck couldn't get into the park as the entry roads were too narrow and windy). I have now seen all of the big 5 as we saw 2 leopards in the Serengeti - one on our evening game drive and one on in the morning - it was quite dark both times though, so I haven't got very clear pictures. We also saw 4 cheetah on Thursday in the Serengeti - we spotted the first one in the grass and then followed it as it went over to a tree, where there were also three young cheetah sitting there! We camped in the Serengeti on Thurs night and then went to ... read more

Happy July 4th to everyone!! I definitely was thinking about all of you this week and missing the shore, fireworks, bar-b-q's and other patriotic things that we do back there. It was funny, when I was writing the date on the blackboard at school, and I wrote 4th of July, and asked if anyone knew why this date was important to me, no-one knew and I was actually surprised by that since they know everything else about American life...our politics, our music, our celebrities...but not our Independence Day...anyway.... So, 2 weekends ago, I decided to go on a self-prescribed field trip with my 2 buddies. I've already told you all about Anna...my 13 year old side-kick who I just adore. The other one is a 16 year old boy named Gregory, who lives at my ... read more

I know it's been a few days since I posted, but really, nothing that exciting has happened this week that would warrant an individual entry. So, instead, you guys get a whole week's worth of happenings. On Monday, after class, Eric, Michael, Britt, Kristin and I decided to go to the beach town of Muizenberg, where Britt and Michael wanted to surf. Initially, I thought I might try it, since apparently Muizenberg is one of the easiest places to learn to surf. However, when the surf shop guy told me the water was 15 degrees celsius, I decided I would sit on the beach with Eric and Kristin, and enjoy the scenery. Muizenberg was a very pretty beach, and they had these little multicolored cabanas all down the beach. We got scolded by the beach ... read more

So strong was the smell of the green rolling hills that it literally attacked me with childhood memories. I wasn’t cycling through the verdant valleys of the Western Cape, I was cycling down memory lane. Through an outdoor childhood spent at my grandfathers farm, running through the high late-summers grass, pulling pranks with my grandmother as she carried firewood down to the house and eating bedtime sandwiches and drinking hot chocolate while listening to my father’s many stories. This was cycling. Never before while travelling had I felt so free. No bus to catch in the morning. I had just to wake up whenever I wanted to, cook some breakfast on the stove and then gently start pedalling. Everything was perfect - it’s the cliché of clichés but never the less was it true. The different ... read more

Hello Everyone! I am in Kigali, Rwanda now (have been for about three weeks), and I am having an absolutely wonderful experience! I've learned so much about Operationg Crossroads, which is the program I'm working through. It turns out they are having their 50th anniversary next year and they are the program that actually started the Peace Corps. It's basically run by one guy (Willis Logan), who knows everyone's name somehow when you get to the conference in New York. While in New York, we met our group and learned about what other groups were doing. There are groups going to Kenya, Ghana, Gambia, Uganda, Senegal, and Rwanda this year, and they're all doing really different projects. Some are doing women's studies programs, others are assessing microfinancing, there are health programs, building libraries, the works. It's ... read more