Blogs from Africa - page 2706

today we fly out of entebee for a week vacation on zanzibar island sponsered by iams pet foods, but just in case our sponsors r reading this we aren't spending ur money on zanzibar, we're spending it on strippers and nile rafting yesterday we went down to entebbe for a day trip, the taxi here are awesome, they are shared and crammed but to go the 40km it was $1.33, we went to a wildlife place run by dr. s's girl, it was a good day trip, on the way back we decided to go to sam's to get game meat, we had wildebeast and spring bok, both were awesome, 2 more animals to my list, the event of the day came before, we were walking and it was dark and i wasn't paying attention, sometimes ... read more

On Friday morning me and 4 of my fellow volunteers (Ali, Naomi, George and Tom) caught a matatu up to Malindi airport to fly to Lamu. Unfortunately our flight got cancelled and we ended up sitting on a bus for 5 hours! The road to Lamu is very bumpy and pot-holey and about 60 miles away from our destination we had 2 armed guards join us because of the risk of bandits and the fact that we're very close to Somalia! We arrived in Lamu late afternoon and checked into our budget hotel (GBP2.30 a night). We went out to a restaurant called Bush Gardens owned by a guy called Satan! The food was nice enough but it was so slow! We must have waited about an hour and a half for our starters alone! ... read more

Well, we are now finishing up our time in Uganda. We spent the last week working with Dr. Berna in her private practice and in her work with the USPCA. Among our different activities, we got to travel around Kampala and some surrounding areas helping with average practice type animal activities (deworming, abscesses, vaccines, spays). It is different because most people get home visits, instead of going into the clinic. The most entertaining visit was one dog with a chain stuck on its neck (very vicious dog, it took 2 tries and a Rabies pole and a few towels to sedate it). We managed to get the chain off, but with the muzzle on, the dog was in a permanent snarl, even though it was pretty much asleep. Miraculously, no people were hurt. With the USPCA ... read more

Getting to know the Moroccan way of life is to know the Medina, which means the old city, usually contained within high walls and a containing a souk, or market. Depending on what you are after, you can find anything from spare car parts, to an eyeglass case, to fruit and vegetables. The souk often has small, uneven, windy streets that you can easily lose yourself in. In Meknes we were escorted through the streets to see butchers displaying various parts of sheep, cow, and camel. Yes, camel. Camel burgers are pretty popular here, and some of the group even tried it out. First, you buy the meat from the butcher, then you take it to the restaurant to be cooked up in pita bread. I didn't try any, of course, but many did, and they ... read more

After last years birthday spent paragliding in Switzerland, this year we were in Africa. We finished our Gorilla tour on the Saturday and spent Sunday relaxing at the hotel. We had booked to fly back to the UK on the Monday evening (my birthday) but during the day we went to see our World Vision Sponsor child Mbithe, who lives about 3 hours out of Nairobi. We have sponsored Mbithe for 12 years since she first entered into the World Vision child sponsorship program at the age of 5. She is in her second last year of secondary school and is the top girl in her class and 3rd overall. We were picked up by World Vision staff and driven out to her village seeing various World Vision projects along the way. We were then taken ... read more