Blogs from Africa - page 2744

Red dust covers everything and as we drive, seeps into the window cracks, choking us. I guess you get used to it, as people walk all around us, seemingly unaffected. We stop at a road construction blockade and up the hill, an entire school of children rush out to wave, jumping and screaming in what seems like a ritual that buses bring to break up the monotony of their day, like any children looking for an excuse to pull them away from their studies. We’ve driven over four hours from El Mina on our way to Kumasi and the drive brought lush landscapes, fascinating villages full of life and stories, and time to reflect on the beauty and difficulties of the past month. I’m mostly tired, as it has been an exhausting experience, but sad to ... read more

Off the coast of Kenya is Lamu Archipelago teeming with a vibrant Swahili ("People of the Coast" or "coastal dwellers") community--an example of what happens when two distinct cultures infuse together over centuries time without warring, land stealing, and having power struggles. The Swahili people are descendents of the Arabs and Bantu (Africans), which occurred when the Arabs started trading with Africa, and the resulting intermarriages slowly brought about a new language, society and culture of...ta-da ...Swahili! I was a little confused about Swahili being just a language or an ethnic group, as the language widely spoken all over Eastern Africa is Swahili, though not so much in Rwanda (French colonizers...self explanatory). Well, my understanding of it is that though Swahili is spoken widely here by Kenyans, Tanzanians, and Ugandans, the Swahili people are sort ... read more

Sorry this entry was lost in the Travel Blog Crash.. But at least we can still enjoy the pictures ~Julie ... read more

A giraffe drifted past the breakfast table view bidding us good bye as we started our 7 hour drive from Masai Mara to Lake Nakuru. The road for the last couple of hours was very dusty and bumpy as there were lots of large trucks. Nakuru National park is very wooded with flat plain down to the lake. It was rainy when we first arrived and our first glimpse of the flamingo in all their thousands (1.25 million on a good day apparently) were seen in the rain. We added buffalo and rhino to our list too. You can't get too close to the flamingo because they just drift off. It is an amazng sight. I wasn't prepared for the noise and smell. Sort of constant trilling. As we were losing light we drove up ... read more

Another exciting day... For some reason people like to plan meetings and then cancel them at the last minute. It leaves me (and S.) sort of roaming around the Ministry for Health with not a whole lot to do, but wait until the next meeting. However, today, we had to go and pick up my tickets for Malawi. Because the whole e-ticket fad hasn't caught on here in Mozambique. So, we've been to the travel agency 5 times now, and finally today I am supposed to get my tickets (to leave tomorrow at 6am). However, it seems that I am missing one of my tickets. Did I leave it with the travel agent, like I had the others? Was it in my hotel room? No matter. The travel agent just said to walk across the street ... read more