Blogs from Africa - page 2704

Happy 4th of July! We woke this morning to the most beautiful sunrise over the bay. Gail joined us for a scrumtious "full" breakfast (juice, fruit salad, eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato, mushrooms, toast and tea) on the terrace outside our rooms. We watched constantly for whale spouts or tails, but saw none. Oh, well. After cleaning up, we said goodbye, and headed off to find a computer place that could convert my Microsoft 2007 files (which no-one can open) to an older version. "Dot Com" was recommended to us, but we had other things to do first! We went for a brisk walk along the Point, climbed up to a very old cave of the Khoisan people, saw a TON of dassies (herd?, flock? cliff-face??) and splashed about in some more tidal pools. These were even ... read more

Again, writing from journal. After my last post, I realized that I really goofed Achebe's character name... I think it was actually Okonkwo. 7/2 Exhausted, but it's only 9:30 p.m. Great Mississippi-style breakfast prepared by Mr. Banda and Mr. Blessing (real name... so cool!). Fried eggs, sausage, buttered toast, and mixed fruit jam. We have each meal with Jerome and Tarrita. Got to change money and visit an internet cafe in "City Center" today. All locations are given by area number and then have some neighborhood name as well, so "City Center" is the area where a lot of gov't buildings and banks are located. Afterwards, we went to Hillside school on the outskirts of the city. Mission Africa, the organization hosting us and headed by Mississippians Chris and Connie Taylor, got involved with the school ... read more

Through another series of visa mishaps and miscalculations, I’ve managed to turn the short cross-border jaunt from Jerusalem to Amman into a long afternoon of overpriced taxis across miles of blistering earth. Really, I’m turning into a regular Lawrence of Arabia. Back in charmless Amman, my stomach fattened on a few last rounds of hummus, my backpack stuffed with bootleg DVDs, I say my sad goodbye to five months in the Middle East - a heartfelt massalamu that’s only slightly dampened by the grinning, mustachioed cab driver who tries to rip me off on my way to the airport. It’s a two-hour flight to Doha and a five-hour wait till my plane leaves for Nairobi. Qatar is like the waiting room of the Middle East, a place where virtually anyone going virtually anywhere stops for ... read more

I just tried to upload afew photos, but the internet is a dial up and it would take me all afternoon, So only two photos and text. You still have to visit us at oude Wellington to see the rest ;o)) 28.06.07 “ red elephants and hungry lions” After breakfast we moved on to our first night in a Kenyan Game park Savo East National Park via Mombass along the coast. The ferry crossing and travel hrough town was uneventful. The outskirts of town are oper crowded, polluted and extremely busy with mtatats, busses etc, competing for every meter of unbroken tarmac. But we made it just fine and saw our first game by 16:00. We encountered a large family of red elephants. The soil in the park is deep red from iron and the ... read more

We took a break from the hustle and bustle of Kedougou and decided to bike up to the falls. We made our way through many small villages along the way, and were immersed into the completly rural side of the Kedougou area. Everyone we passed gave us a smile, and the kids look at us like we were from another planet. The falls themselves were very immpressive. It was like being in a giant's shower for the day. We could hardly see the top, and the water was actually cold!!... read more