Out of Africa, Part 9: Fiordani Beach Picnic

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

One of my absolute favorite activities in Zanzibar was feasting on the beach at dusk. Because the sun sets by 6:00 PM every day on the equator, darkness settles in early. The sight of brightly lit lanterns all along the beach illuminating the white chef outfits of the merchants was beautiful and romantic. There were tables and tables of food, each one piled with probably 15 kinds of fresh fish and shellfish. The chefs walked us around the table naming each type of fish. Then we chose what we wanted and watched as they grilled our choices. This had to be the most delicious fish I have ever tasted - it was just melt-in-your mouth fresh, and oh-so-good!

Here is the soda cart - the Fanta mango and pineapple were two of my favorites. Soda in bottles, sweetened with real sugar cane - it is so yummy! In the U.S. I always drink diet, but there is no such thing in Africa! On a rare occasion we did find Coke Lite; but the Stoney ginger soda and the Fanta flavors were too good to pass up.

Zanzibari pizza was another new experience. You can see it being prepared in this picture. It didn't really resemble our pizza, but it was good! The chefs top something like a tortilla with a cooked meat/onion mixture (I think); add some veggies and then crack an egg on top. This is then fried and topped with another "tortilla." It sounds strange, but you have to try it - delicious!

Here we are sharing some of the fish and "pizza."

And then there was the fresh sugar cane juice. It was so interesting to watch it being made. The sugar cane stalks were put through the press over and over, each time being folded in half once more. It was amazing how much juice was produced! Then delicious fresh lime juice was added, making a wonderfully tasty drink.

We enjoyed the juice so much that we went back for another!

And no picnic is nearly as much fun without the perfect companions! Annikah loved showing us all of her fav things in Zanzibar, and of course we loved sharing those times with her.

Apple Picking

We had fun last Sunday afternoon at the orchard with Annie, Justin, and Claire. Wilson's is a great place - HUGE with so many apple varieties. We were happy to know that Honeycrisp apples were available and plentiful, so we picked a couple of pecks. Annie and I had fun recalling a year ago when just she and I went - Annie was only two months away from Claire's birth, and it was such a humid day when we were there. The rolling hills made it hard for us to each carry our two baskets, and we stopped and laughed often! It was much easier this time with our hubbies helping out. And Claire definitely enjoyed herself, too!

Out of Africa, Part 8: On Safari

A note to my readers: I am ecstatic to finally be able to post this entry about our safari experience. I began working on this September 1, and had added to my draft numerous times. But alas, I have no computer savvy, and was experiencing many technical problems in the blogosphere. I don't know HOW many frustrating hours I spent on trying to complete that post, but finally in sheer exasperation, I deleted it entirely and then began again from scratch. Ugh! So I didn't mean to leave everyone hanging after the road trip (though that was one big Survivor challenge!) - I was only dealing with technical challenges. I hope I've been able to recreate and even improve upon what I started several weeks ago . . .

Friday, July 24 - Saturday, July 26

Jason drove us to Arusha early Friday morning to meet up with our safari company to begin our adventure scheduled for the next three days and two nights. We booked our safari way back in March and emailed back and forth numerous times with Dyness, whom we looked forward to meeting. We weren't sure if his name would be pronouced "Dennis" or "Dinness," but we definitely were anxious to put a name to a face. Often it had been a challenge to work out the details. He had asked for a 50% deposit, which we opted to put on a credit card. That was one ridiculously drawn out and strange process. We had to fill out a detailed "authorization form," and make a photocopy front and back of our credit card. We thought it would be more secure to fax the info, but after a couple of unsuccessful attempts at that, Dyness let us know that the office's fax machine was broken. I'm pretty sure it remains broken to this day after having been in Africa and seeing firsthand what happens to items once they no longer work! We were somewhat leary of emailing all of that info, but went ahead and did it. And again when our safari time got closer, we had to pay the final 50% payment and go through the entire process AGAIN! It took an entire month each time for the payment to go through to their office. So much for credit cards being fast and easy. ANYWAY, we were surprised to find out when we met that Dyness was a very pretty young woman, and her name is pronouced "Dighness!" Funny how both of us were thinking of Dyness as being a male. She had with her our driver, Antone, and after dropping Dyness off back at the office, stopping to pick up bottled water and boxed lunches, Antone soon had us on our way to Tarangire National Park to begin our animal viewing.

Within just a few minutes of driving through the park we viewed our first animals. It was definitely a thrill to see them wandering free in their natural habitat. The first animals we spotted were huge groups of zebra and wildebeest. Antone explained that we would often see the two groups of animals together, as wildebeests are too dumb to find water on their own, so they follow the zebras around.

Wildebeests certainly are not the most attractive animals! Something we noticed throughout the miles and miles of the Tarangire National Park were these gigantic ant hills - up to eight to ten feet tall, and they were everywhere! Here is a group of wildebeest hanging around one.

That first day we felt like we saw everything - I recorded 14 types of animals and birds, along with seeing some very interesting trees, including the huge baobob trees, acacia, ficus, and euphobia, which are a giant cactus-type tree. Our driver was at our beck and call - would stop whenever we asked for as long as we wanted to look. The top of the jeeps are either removable or lift up, so we were able to stand and look in every direction with our binoculars and take pictures with our cameras. We often stood also while driving, but the dust got to be too much at times, so mostly we just stood up when we had spotted something and wanted to stop for a better look.

It was such a peaceful sort of feeling to see the animals free to roam, eat, hunt, etc. as far as they chose; and to intermingle with other animals. One of my favorite things was seeing groups of zebra, giraffe, wildebeest and ostrich together (as in the picture below) - something you usually don't see in captivity.

The second day of our safari we drove to Lake Manyara National Park and saw many more of the animals already seen, but this day we spotted our first lions and hippos; and saw huge groups of baboon, very close to our jeep. We watched them for very long periods of time - so interesting and in many ways so much like humans!

We were provided with boxed lunches both days. The lunches usually included a hard boiled egg, chicken (very tough with little meat), some sort of meat pie, an apple, some chocolate or cookies, and a juice-box type container of mango juice, which was delicious. Antone would decide when it was time to stop for luch and knew where the picnic places were. One day as we ate, a huge group of children from a Tanzanian Christian school happened to be there on a field trip. They all crowded around us (I think they wanted our table), but were also very interested in these wazungu tourists. We found out that they learn English in school. Some of them were very good at speaking it and seemed excited to talk to us. So teacher that I am, I loved engaging them in conversation and asking them about their school, etc. I discovered that many of them were first graders - no wonder we related so well! I let many of them try my binoculars until it became a problem of too many kids grabbing them from each other (some things are global, I guess!)

We stayed in beautiful lodges both nights - the first night was the Tarangire Sopa Lodge, right in the park; and the second night was more of a local lodge located off the road between Tarangire enroute to Lake Manyara. At each one upon our arrival, the African workers employed there would meet us with a warm, wet washcloth to wipe off the dust from our faces and hands; and then we were offered fresh mango juice or watermelon juice. After we were refreshed we would check in and be shown to our room. We enjoyed wonderful food and drink and had very nice comfortable rooms with hot water showers and real toilets! Yeah!!

On day 3 Antone picked us up a little early to be on our way to Ngorongoro Crater for there was much to see there. But an early arrival was not meant to be.

Roxanne had told us that no visit to Africa involving highway driving would be complete without experiencing a car breakdown, and we were not to be disappointed. After only 20 minutes on the road, the radiator in our jeep went out, and we spent 2 1/2 hours on the side of the road waiting for a replacement jeep to come to our aid. We were fortunate that our jeep driver was responsible and it was his job to solve our problem. He merely needed to call the safari company to send a replacement. However, on your own if you experience car trouble in Africa, who knows how or when help would be provided. Mechanics and gas stations are very few and far between, and having to explain a problem in swahili

is a place I would not want to go! We drew quite a lot of attention from Africans while we waited and a couple of young guys hung around watching us the entire time we were there.

At Ngorongoro we saw much of the same types of animals that we had already viewed. Seeing the crater itself was magnificent - driving down into it and out again an adventure in itself. But the dust there was very bad, and Jim had a lot of trouble with his contacts. It is crazy, too, when you start to say - "Oh, it's just another group of zebras . . . no big deal!" Funny to make a comment like that when in our day to day lives that would be a very unusual thing, but on safari it's pretty commonplace!

Though tired and dusty at the end of our third day, we both agreed that we had experienced something very unique and most likely a once in a lifetime occurrence. I recorded 34 different animals that we saw, and many of them were beautiful birds that I didn't even know existed. Seeing the landscape where these animals thrive, seeing evidence of animals having been hunted and killed by other beasts, and watching them interact, and enjoying beautiful lodgings and delicious food served by friendly and loving African people was certainly a fascinating experience and a definite highlight of our trip to Africa.

Out of Africa, Part 7: Road Trip

Wednesday and Thursday, July 22 and 23
Planning done, suitcases packed, and backpacks in tow, the five of us left Zanzibar island on Wednesday enroute for the mainland in preparation for what we called our "road trip." Jason, Annikah, Jim and I headed to the ferry port and once again had the opportunity to ride the "puke boat" to Dar es Salaam.

Roxanne would travel over by air, one of the special priviledges of being a nauseous expectant mom! We were sure to take our Dramamine ahead of time, and it really did the trick - sort of lulled us to sleep and prevented us from succumbing to motion sickness. We reached Dar about lunchtime, hired a cab, and headed to the guest house (with a Subway stop on the way for lunch). This is one of the places that Roxanne dreams about when craving something "western" while on the island. Dropped off the suitcases, picked up the van at the guest house, and drove to the airport to pick up Roxanne. We all enjoyed western style burgers and fries at Spur, another one of JaRox's fav places on the mainland. Up early on Thursday, we piled into the van to begin our nine hour trip to Arusha. I think this road trip was definitely one of our most difficult (but interesting) Survivor challenges. Have I already mentioned the challenges of driving in Africa??? First is driving Britain-style- steering wheel on the right; driving on the left. But that's just the beginning. The roads are narrow and bumpy; and even in the country, people will be on foot, on bicycles carrying huge loads, or guiding overloaded cow/donkey carts. I don't remember seeing too many signs along the road, such as "no passing," or yellow lines painted on the road to signify that; or speed limit signs. They may have been there, but I was riding in the back of the van constantly interacting with Annikah, so maybe I just didn't notice. No need for "slow down" or lower speed limit signs as you enter a village, either, because numerous speed bumps are in place so you have no choice. And it's not just one or two - each village had an entire series of 2 - 3 speed bumps at a time. No wonder Roxanne's stomach was lurching. One other item lacking on this trip was rest areas (with bathrooms) and/or gas stations with bathrooms. In one little village we stopped at a decent-looking hotel, bought a soda, and asked the location of the bathrooms. They were not what I had hoped for - here I am, armed with my TP, not so sure whether I wanted to aim for the hole in the ground. (There are brick platforms on either side of the hole for your feet; you can see that the walls, especially near the floor, do not look the cleanest . . . )Other times we opted for using the bushes along the way. If there were no bushes, no worry, just use the open air, as seen in this picture. When you gotta go, you gotta go! After this trip, I was known to say that I'll never again complain about having to use a porta-potty!

In each village the people had something to sell. We saw lots of oranges for sale and many beautiful fresh vegetables. We stopped for a bag of veggies to supplement the other food Jason and Roxanne had brought to eat while they stayed in their little banda (cottage) for a few days while we would be on safari.

As always, the children were curious about the wazungus, and would crowd around and pose for pictures.

Jim enjoyed spotting anything Pepsi along the way.

And village after village displayed what we would call a backward and primitive way of life. Homes were really just huts, yards no more than the dirt the huts were built on; and always, litter and garbage was strewn everywhere.

We were thankful to arrive safely at our destination - the little banda where Jason, Roxanne, and Annikah would relax for a few days, and where all of us would spend this night. The evening was cool - we all put on sweatshirts and jeans and settled in for a night of rest.

***Commercial Break*** A word from our sponsors: Claire, Silas and Joel

So I have to take a quick break from the Africa saga to post what's been happening here at home with the grandkids. I just couldn't resist buying this coat/hat ensemble for Claire. She loved trying it on, and screamed when I took it off! It was just too hot in August to wear it any longer!
We took Joel and Silas on a quick trip to "Africa" last Saturday so that they could see some of the sights for themselves! They even got to go "on safari." We had a great time with them at the Niabi Zoo in the quad cities area.
On their safari, they got to drive their own jeep! And they experienced some great animal sightings along the way!
It was a fun day - we also got to visit "Australia," a petting zoo, tropical bird house, plus lots of other adventures that included sightings of panthers, black bears, porcupines, anacondas, pythons, alligators, and many more. The train ride through the park was an adventure in itself, especially passing through the long, dark tunnel. So . . . if you don't have the time or money right now for the REAL Africa, how about taking in a day at the Niabi Zoo??

Out of Africa, Part 6: Island Explorations (cont.)

Tuesday, July 21- Prison IslandToday Jason, Roxanne, and Annikah hosted us on another tropical island adventure! We rented our own private boat and were off to Chungu - better known to tourists as Prison Island (please note Jason's "manskirt" in picture). The island holds historical interest as the buildings on the island were meant to house prisoners at one time, but instead served as a quarantine site. Who knows, if H1N1 hits Zanzibar soon, the buildings here may have to be used once again for something other than tourism!

This island is also home to the giant turtles that Annikah couldn't wait to show us. At first Bibi and Babu were afraid of such big turtles . . . but Annikah demonstrated how to feed them - she's a real pro at this - and then we weren't so afraid to try!

Once the turtles were fed, we were hungry so we walked down to the gorgeous, almost-private beach to enjoy our gourmet picnice of homemade hummus and fresh veggies in lime juice, served on homemade tortillas. Thank you, Roxanne, for such a yummy meal!Jason and Annikah found a huge starfish who nicely cooperated for a picture before being put back into the water. The rest of the afternoon the girls relaxed on the beach and hunted shells, while Jim and Jason went out for a good hour or more of snorkeling.We were not lacking for local entertainment while we relaxed on the beach. One interesting sight was this boat that went by - hmmm . . . just how many people do you think one small boat can hold and still stay afloat?? Another fun sight was when a boat of tourists docked near us on the beach. The tourists were all wearing bikinis (girls) and Euro trunks (guys - you know those really skimpy ones?); but the African boat driver was wearing a quilted ski-jacket type coat! I realize that July is their winter, but what??? We thought it was wonderful warm beach weather. I regret that I didn't have my camera ready for that one.Little Miss Annikah even allowed Babu to be her "best friend" for awhile as they played together in the water. She can really turn on the charm . . . look at this little doll. Who could resist that little face? On the boat ride back to Zanzibar, Annikah showed us how the African ladies dress. Back home we enjoyed pumpkin soup (made from a pumpkin grown in the backyard!) and spent the evening packing to be on our way to Dar in the morning to begin our road trip to Arusha.