Well it is now coming up to two months since my African adventure ended. In fact, I am writing this post from beautiful New Zealand.
As promised this is a final post to give you a taste of the highlights (and low lights) of my time in Africa. You will see that it contains a mixture of things from my time in Uganda volunteering, my time travelling alone in Kenya and my time 'On Tour'. I wanted to allow some time to pass between leaving Africa and writing this final post so that I could truly reflect on the experience.
I have attempted to set out my top 5 and worst 5 experiences. In truth it is almost impossible to do so. I have so many good memories. I even reflect on the 'worst' experiences as good memories because they are vivid memories which I am sure I will remember and reflect on for years to come. Anyway here goes.
Top 5 experiences
1. HIV testing on an island on Lake Victoria, Uganda. An absolute eye-opener.
2. The general experience of volunteering in Uganda. Meeting local people, talking politics and gaining a small appreciation of life in Uganda. It was unlike any other travel I have done before and if you are a person who likes to get under the skin of a country, rather than just seeing the sights, I'd highly recommend it. It was one of the best things that I have ever done in my life.
3. Meeting my sponsor child, Lucy, in Kenya. It was very humbling to see where the $40 odd dollars that comes out of my account each month actually does.
4. Seeing the migration in the Serengeti. It was literally animals as far as the eye could see. In fact, the animals in general in Africa blew me away. Unlike many people I had not really gone to Africa for the animals, but seeing wild animals in their natural habitat was truly incredible. I also had a very lucky run of animal spotting: lions, leopards (including a cub), elephants, giraffes, zebras, hyenas, African wild dogs, jackals, water buffalo, hippos, rhinos, baboons, gorillas, impala, springbok, oryx, (plus many other hoofed animals), cheetah, alligators, I could go on...
5. Watching the sunset from the top of Dune 245 in Namibia. The colours and landscape in Namibia where absolutely stunning.
Top 5 'Worst' experiences
1. Having a boil lanced while staying in Nairobi with limited pain relief. If you have ever watched a YouTube clip of a boil popping you will get the gist of what this involved.
2. Enduring a bus ride from Kampala to Nairobi with said boil whilst also suffering an allergic reaction to the antibiotics I was taking to tackle the boil.
3. A very hot and looonnng bus ride whilst on tour from Arusha to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. We left at 4am. We arrived at 9pm. Enough said.
4. Generally the transport in Uganda. Often uncomfortable and almost always unnerving. Thankfully it only occurred to me after I left Uganda that my travel insurance probably wouldn't have covered any medical care for accidents on a motorcycle when not wearing a helmet.
5. Having an infected toe that required a trip to the doctor on Christmas Day. I think that people on my tour thought I was overreacting, but damn did it hurt.
Now two months on, as the memories begin to fade, the overwhelming thing that I have been left with from my trip is a sense of just how lucky and fortunate my life is. It is easy to lose perspective in life, to get stressed about the small things, but in truth, none of my worries even vaguely compare to those of the vast majority of people I met, particularly those people I met in my time in Uganda. I am always going to have a roof over my head and food in the cupboard - which is more than can be said for so many people in the world.
Many people have commented on how brave it is to do something like volunteering in Uganda. At the time I didn't consider that it was as all the foreigners I met there were doing similar things. However, as I slip back into my old comfortable world I can see, in a way, how for some people doing such a trip seems like a brave move. For me is was a no-brainer. All in all, I am very pleased with my decision to head to Africa. To anyone that has ever thought about doing something similar, don't hesitate. Life is too short.
I am currently in New Zealand and enjoying the comforts of home, catching up with friends and family and fully enjoying my lady of leisure life. I head back to the Northern Hemisphere in April and rather than enter the corporate rat race in London again I am planning and traveling and working my way around Europe for the next few months. Should you wish to read about my new adventures please tune in to http://lucyunderworldskies.blogspot.co.nz.
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Sunday, January 20, 2013
The joys of camping
I have made it to Namibia and now have only one more week of my tour. The last five weeks have gone very quickly. While I have loved it I am pretty excited about sleeping in a bed on a permanent basis again.
Blow up sleeping mats have definitely transformed camping trips like this (compared to those horrid foam mattresses) but having to pack up my bed each morning and dismantle my tent is beginning to take its toll.
I'm also looking forward to not having to spend hours on the road each day. By the time I make it to Cape Town I will have travelled over 10000km in 6 weeks. A lot of road time!
I'll try and write a best and worst of Africa blog entry (ie the top 5 experiences, and worst 5 experiences) in the next few weeks.
Blow up sleeping mats have definitely transformed camping trips like this (compared to those horrid foam mattresses) but having to pack up my bed each morning and dismantle my tent is beginning to take its toll.
I'm also looking forward to not having to spend hours on the road each day. By the time I make it to Cape Town I will have travelled over 10000km in 6 weeks. A lot of road time!
I'll try and write a best and worst of Africa blog entry (ie the top 5 experiences, and worst 5 experiences) in the next few weeks.
Friday, December 28, 2012
Tour Time
Unbelievably I am now up to Day 13 of my 42 Day tour. I have really slipped into full on tourist mode and travelling Africa feels like a world away from my time in Uganda. It is nice to see the tourist side of things, but at times I do find myself missing the volunteering as I most definitely have not got 'under the skin' of the countries I have visited in the way that I did in Uganda.
The tour has 24 people. Largely Kiwis and Aussies (can you ever escape them?), plus a smattering of Americans and British and a couple from Dutch and Iceland each. On the whole the group is really good, but there are the inevitable politics associated with a group of 20 plus people bundled on a bus together for long hours at a time.
The tour itself started in Nairobi and we headed straight to Arusha, Tanzania, our base for a trip to the Serengeti. The Serengeti was incredible, we saw the Big 5 on the first day, plus all sorts of other animals including cheetahs. Jo (the friend I am travelling with at the moment) and I had a close encounter with a hyena going to the bathroom one night and the whole experience was topped off by seeing part of the annual migration. There were thousands of zebras and wildebeest as far as the eye could see. Absolutely incredible.
After the Serengeti we headed to Zanzibar (via a 15 hour bus ride) for a few days of relaxing (and drinking). Zanzibar was beautiful. Stone town was lovely and the beaches were amazing too. My tan is now fairly well developed.
Christmas morning was spent on Zanzibar and in the afternoon we headed back to Dar el Salaam. It was a pretty different Christmas for me. Pizza for lunch, and I missed Christmas dinner as I had to go to the doctor on Christmas night to get antibiotics for an infected toe. (A whole other blog post will need to be dedicated to medical services in Africa, thus far I have visited the doctor five times in three different countries. I'm just hoping to avoid the doctor here in Malawi so that I have at least one country where I haven't had to go to the doctor).
Internet access is pretty hard to come by so no promises when my next update will be. We are currently in Malawi and have three more nights here before heading to Zambia (where I will be ringing in 2013).
The tour has 24 people. Largely Kiwis and Aussies (can you ever escape them?), plus a smattering of Americans and British and a couple from Dutch and Iceland each. On the whole the group is really good, but there are the inevitable politics associated with a group of 20 plus people bundled on a bus together for long hours at a time.
The tour itself started in Nairobi and we headed straight to Arusha, Tanzania, our base for a trip to the Serengeti. The Serengeti was incredible, we saw the Big 5 on the first day, plus all sorts of other animals including cheetahs. Jo (the friend I am travelling with at the moment) and I had a close encounter with a hyena going to the bathroom one night and the whole experience was topped off by seeing part of the annual migration. There were thousands of zebras and wildebeest as far as the eye could see. Absolutely incredible.
After the Serengeti we headed to Zanzibar (via a 15 hour bus ride) for a few days of relaxing (and drinking). Zanzibar was beautiful. Stone town was lovely and the beaches were amazing too. My tan is now fairly well developed.
Christmas morning was spent on Zanzibar and in the afternoon we headed back to Dar el Salaam. It was a pretty different Christmas for me. Pizza for lunch, and I missed Christmas dinner as I had to go to the doctor on Christmas night to get antibiotics for an infected toe. (A whole other blog post will need to be dedicated to medical services in Africa, thus far I have visited the doctor five times in three different countries. I'm just hoping to avoid the doctor here in Malawi so that I have at least one country where I haven't had to go to the doctor).
Internet access is pretty hard to come by so no promises when my next update will be. We are currently in Malawi and have three more nights here before heading to Zambia (where I will be ringing in 2013).
Saturday, December 15, 2012
On the road again
Tomorrow I begin my six week tour of Africa which will take me all the way from Nairobi to Cape Town.
I have really enjoyed my past few weeks travelling solo, but I'm looking forward to not having to worry about the logistics of getting from A to B. I'm also relishing the prospect of not having to hang around bus stations or matatu stands. (why is it that in every country bus stations are inevitably in a dodgy dark and dingy part of town?)
I'm also happy that I'll no longer have to take solo taxis at night in strange cities with all my belongings - I always feel most vulnerable when in reality I am solely at the mercy of the taxi driver.
I'll try to keep updating on the road, but it will depend on finding Internet access. The next update will most likely come to you from Zanzibar where I will be spending Christmas in 30+ degree heat.
I have really enjoyed my past few weeks travelling solo, but I'm looking forward to not having to worry about the logistics of getting from A to B. I'm also relishing the prospect of not having to hang around bus stations or matatu stands. (why is it that in every country bus stations are inevitably in a dodgy dark and dingy part of town?)
I'm also happy that I'll no longer have to take solo taxis at night in strange cities with all my belongings - I always feel most vulnerable when in reality I am solely at the mercy of the taxi driver.
I'll try to keep updating on the road, but it will depend on finding Internet access. The next update will most likely come to you from Zanzibar where I will be spending Christmas in 30+ degree heat.
Friday, December 14, 2012
Political rumblings
The next Kenyan election is due to be held in March next year and it is impossible to ignore. There are posters for voter registration everywhere. It is all everyone talks about too.
The last elections were extremely violent. In the aftermath, thousands of people were killed. I went to a really interesting photographic exhibition about the 2007/08 election at the National Art Gallery last week and I couldn't help but think how different the situation is in New Zealand. Arguably the extent of our 'political' violence extends to mud throwing on Waitangi Day and environmental protests (who remembers how quickly the proposal to mine in the National Parks on the Coromandel Peninsula was dropped). In part I believe this is a reflection of having two very central political parties whose policies don't actually differ that much.
It is difficult to say what else sets NZ apart. Both countries are former British colonies after all. The relative lack of poverty in NZ undoubtedly contributes to our stability. The absence of corruption helps too. I saw in a recent article that New Zealand has come out first equal in the latest corruption index (alongside one of the Scandinavian countries, Finland from memory). Corruption is a big problem here. People are reluctant to trust politicians and the state here. I was travelling in a matatu the other day and saw the driver pay off a police officer with my own eyes.
No doubt there are many other contributing factors (and I'm not going to claim to even begin to understand the political position here (or indeed in NZ!))
All that I will say is, hopefully, for the sack of people here, the March election goes much more smoothly. Most people I have talked to have said that the pre-election tension was much worse before the last election. People seem optimistic. It is hard to judge whether or not this is warranted. I met an English couple whose friend is running for Parliament. They told me how two days previously he had been subject to a targeted grenade attack (he wasn't killed, but three others were killed). There were also reports in the radio today of a car bomb plot (with the explosive laden car still on the run).
I suspect that people play down the violence as they don't want to scare tourists away (after all Kenya relies on them a great deal). It is a fascinating country with a lot to offer and I really do hope for the best come March.
The last elections were extremely violent. In the aftermath, thousands of people were killed. I went to a really interesting photographic exhibition about the 2007/08 election at the National Art Gallery last week and I couldn't help but think how different the situation is in New Zealand. Arguably the extent of our 'political' violence extends to mud throwing on Waitangi Day and environmental protests (who remembers how quickly the proposal to mine in the National Parks on the Coromandel Peninsula was dropped). In part I believe this is a reflection of having two very central political parties whose policies don't actually differ that much.
It is difficult to say what else sets NZ apart. Both countries are former British colonies after all. The relative lack of poverty in NZ undoubtedly contributes to our stability. The absence of corruption helps too. I saw in a recent article that New Zealand has come out first equal in the latest corruption index (alongside one of the Scandinavian countries, Finland from memory). Corruption is a big problem here. People are reluctant to trust politicians and the state here. I was travelling in a matatu the other day and saw the driver pay off a police officer with my own eyes.
No doubt there are many other contributing factors (and I'm not going to claim to even begin to understand the political position here (or indeed in NZ!))
All that I will say is, hopefully, for the sack of people here, the March election goes much more smoothly. Most people I have talked to have said that the pre-election tension was much worse before the last election. People seem optimistic. It is hard to judge whether or not this is warranted. I met an English couple whose friend is running for Parliament. They told me how two days previously he had been subject to a targeted grenade attack (he wasn't killed, but three others were killed). There were also reports in the radio today of a car bomb plot (with the explosive laden car still on the run).
I suspect that people play down the violence as they don't want to scare tourists away (after all Kenya relies on them a great deal). It is a fascinating country with a lot to offer and I really do hope for the best come March.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Slogan Ts
Second hand clothing rules supreme in East Africa and as a consequence there are a lot of amusing/out of place slogans on display.
Some favourites so far:
- a teenage boy wearing a pink and black tee shirt embezzled with "I love Feminists"
- a guy wearing a Chiefs super 15 rugby jersey in my first week in Uganda
- seeing multiple Vancouver 2010 winter Olympic shirts (2012 Olympic gear doesn't appear to have made it to Africa yet)...
The taxis (and matatus in Kenya) and trucks are also almost always decorated with a slogan. The most popular seems to be "God is good".
The funniest one that I have seen (for fellow law geeks) was on a matatu (= taxi van) yesterday which had "The doctrine of stare decisis" written on it! Unfortunately I didn't have time to whip my camera out to capture it. I haven't figured out exactly why a matatu driver would want to make a statement about the common law and doctrine of precedent on his vehicle...
Some favourites so far:
- a teenage boy wearing a pink and black tee shirt embezzled with "I love Feminists"
- a guy wearing a Chiefs super 15 rugby jersey in my first week in Uganda
- seeing multiple Vancouver 2010 winter Olympic shirts (2012 Olympic gear doesn't appear to have made it to Africa yet)...
The taxis (and matatus in Kenya) and trucks are also almost always decorated with a slogan. The most popular seems to be "God is good".
The funniest one that I have seen (for fellow law geeks) was on a matatu (= taxi van) yesterday which had "The doctrine of stare decisis" written on it! Unfortunately I didn't have time to whip my camera out to capture it. I haven't figured out exactly why a matatu driver would want to make a statement about the common law and doctrine of precedent on his vehicle...
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Meeting the gorillas and Lucy
I have now made it to Nairobi, Kenya after a few long days on the road.
First up was the trip down to Bwindi, Uganda, to trek with the gorillas. The drive from Kampala to Kisoro where we stayed the night either side of trekking was a solid 12 hours each way. The countryside was beautiful. Steep hillsides with terraced farming, lakes and misty skies. It actually reminded me a lot of the Peruvian highlands.
The trekking itself was awesome. The gorillas were literally within metres and I couldn't believe just how human their expressions were. I was surprised that the gorillas are usually found on the edge of the forest, they often eat the maize and beans growing on the edge of the forest.
Bwindi is in the south west corner of Uganda and Kisoro is very close to both the Rwandan and Congo borders. The UN has a refugee camp on the outskirts of the town. It was quite confronting to see physical evidence of the conflict and M23 rebel action in the Congo. (Which incidentally appears to be escalating, the borders between Uganda and the Congo are now closed.)
After returning from Bwindi I had a stressful Saturday trying to buy a bus ticket to Kenya and half fainting on a local bus from overheating on an extremely crowded bus. (Sorry Mum, I neglected to tell you that...) anyway, I got the ticket I needed (a mere £17 for a 14 hour bus ride) and endured a rather painful bus ride on Sunday.
The reason for having to be in Kenya Sunday night (and the associated bus ticket stress) was that I had arranged to meet a very special Lucy on Monday. Lucy is the 9 year old Kenyan child who I have sponsored since July 2010. She lives in a village about 2 hours drive from Nairobi. I met her, her mother and the local project partners. It was truly one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Everyone was so grateful, both for sponsoring Lucy but also for visiting her and the project. I would highly recommend the experience of meeting your sponsor child if you one and ever get the chance to visit their country. Lucy was very excited to meet me and apparently she couldn't sleep the night before - she barely stopped smiling all day too!
I'm now in Nairobi where I'll be for the next few days. I've already managed to catch up on all the important news: Wills and Kate are having a baby and England beat the ABs.
First up was the trip down to Bwindi, Uganda, to trek with the gorillas. The drive from Kampala to Kisoro where we stayed the night either side of trekking was a solid 12 hours each way. The countryside was beautiful. Steep hillsides with terraced farming, lakes and misty skies. It actually reminded me a lot of the Peruvian highlands.
 |
| Gorillas in the mist. |
The trekking itself was awesome. The gorillas were literally within metres and I couldn't believe just how human their expressions were. I was surprised that the gorillas are usually found on the edge of the forest, they often eat the maize and beans growing on the edge of the forest.
Bwindi is in the south west corner of Uganda and Kisoro is very close to both the Rwandan and Congo borders. The UN has a refugee camp on the outskirts of the town. It was quite confronting to see physical evidence of the conflict and M23 rebel action in the Congo. (Which incidentally appears to be escalating, the borders between Uganda and the Congo are now closed.)
After returning from Bwindi I had a stressful Saturday trying to buy a bus ticket to Kenya and half fainting on a local bus from overheating on an extremely crowded bus. (Sorry Mum, I neglected to tell you that...) anyway, I got the ticket I needed (a mere £17 for a 14 hour bus ride) and endured a rather painful bus ride on Sunday.
The reason for having to be in Kenya Sunday night (and the associated bus ticket stress) was that I had arranged to meet a very special Lucy on Monday. Lucy is the 9 year old Kenyan child who I have sponsored since July 2010. She lives in a village about 2 hours drive from Nairobi. I met her, her mother and the local project partners. It was truly one of the most humbling experiences of my life. Everyone was so grateful, both for sponsoring Lucy but also for visiting her and the project. I would highly recommend the experience of meeting your sponsor child if you one and ever get the chance to visit their country. Lucy was very excited to meet me and apparently she couldn't sleep the night before - she barely stopped smiling all day too!
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