After about 55 hours since our last bed, we all made it to sleep last night; Shayna first at 6:30 pm, Rebecca next about 9 pm, Marc at 10 pm, and Marci at 11:30 pm.
Marc is thinking of marketing a new book called, "The Uganda Diet" since he lost 9 lbs. on the trip, even as he ate and ate and ate through Kenya.
The MONKEYS: Marc found one LAST BAG of nuts in his backpack, which he handed to our guide to LOCK in the jeep so the monkeys wouldn't come back to his new tent. The hotel management, wanting to do good, assured the guide they would store it in a REALLY SAFE PLACE. The morning we left, the bag was returned.....with two staples closing the lower left-hand corner of the bag...hummmm.....how could that be? But why? A quick flip of the bag and.......holes in the shape of a monkey's claw.....wait a minute...there were many more nuts when I last saw this bag. They assured me that no monkeys got into the bag?! Maybe it was the baboons?
Now, off to opening all that mail....
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
London to San Francisco to San Rafael
January 9, 2009
Never did I think that London would be 'almost home.' Our flight from Naibori landed about 530 am local time. We said our goodbyes to the Weiss' who are staying in London for the night before venturing to South America tomorrow to see Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and sail through the Antarctic to celebrate Zvi's 50th birthday. We took some moments in Heathrow with kids, talking to them about their African experience, sharing our hopes for them through the experience, and asking each of them to talk about their experiences. Marc captured each persons reactions on video, which he will make into separate movies for each child to keep as they grow up.
The Dollingers continued on to what has become our favorite London-Heathrow Terminal 5 restaurant, appropriately called 'Giraffe', for breakfast. We did some shopping and now Marci is helping the girls with some homework assigned by their teachers about the trip while Marc is sitting here in the terminal catching up on the blog. Our flight to SFO leaves in about 2 hours...
Until we update from home...
Never did I think that London would be 'almost home.' Our flight from Naibori landed about 530 am local time. We said our goodbyes to the Weiss' who are staying in London for the night before venturing to South America tomorrow to see Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and sail through the Antarctic to celebrate Zvi's 50th birthday. We took some moments in Heathrow with kids, talking to them about their African experience, sharing our hopes for them through the experience, and asking each of them to talk about their experiences. Marc captured each persons reactions on video, which he will make into separate movies for each child to keep as they grow up.
The Dollingers continued on to what has become our favorite London-Heathrow Terminal 5 restaurant, appropriately called 'Giraffe', for breakfast. We did some shopping and now Marci is helping the girls with some homework assigned by their teachers about the trip while Marc is sitting here in the terminal catching up on the blog. Our flight to SFO leaves in about 2 hours...
Until we update from home...
Off to Nairobi
January 8, 2009
today begins our long journey home, which will be about 50 hours, door to door. we woke up about 630 am, finished packing our last suitcases, and headed to breakfast at 700 am. We said our goodbyes and headed out towards Nairobi. On the way, we traversed the Syro-African rift, which starts at the dead sea and travels thousands of miles down the African continent. it is about 100 miles wide in Kenya and a breathtaking view as we scaled the opposite side. Magic found a restaurant in Nairobi popular with the white Kenyan crowd and it was, by far, our best meal on the trip. We just kept ordering and ordering every possible vegetarian appetizer. Marc enjoyed the best chicken tikka in years.
After lunch, we visited giraffe manor, both a hotel and a sanctuary for giraffes. the fun part is feeding the giraffes, who come right up to you (we were standing on a raised platform) and lick the food from your hand. A few brave Weiss's took the challenge to kiss a giraffe by placing the food between their lips. LICK. And they were kissed by the giraffe as it took its food. The Dollingers were not inclined to be kissed, even as the giraffe guides there assured us that their saliva is antiseptic.
From giraffe manor, we traveled to Mapendo, an NGO created by Sasha Chanoff, nephew of our friend Matt Chanoff. Mapendo offers medical care and legal advocacy to urban refugees in Nairobi. Their staff welcomed the 10 of us, gave us a tour of their facilities and introduced us to two of their refugee families. One from Magadishu, Somalia, escaped both the war as well as religious persecution since the family converted from Islam to Christianity. The other family fled from the Congo. In both cases, there was no father on the scene. One had been arrested for lack of proper documentation while the other abandoned the family. There were 12 children between the two women. It was heart breaking to hear their stories, to understand both the personal and individual pain as well as the enormity of the refugee crisis in Nairobi, in Kenya, and on the African continent. The two families left in time to get to their homes before dark. We stayed and spoke with the professional staff for about an hour longer, to hear their stories, to understand the processes involved. We learned of their efforts to get as many refugees as possible relocated to the United States, which holds 70,000 places each year. We left with heavy hearts and the feeling that this was the right and best way to end our journey to Africa.
We headed to the airport, said our goodbyes to Magic and Aden, and boarded the midnight flight to London.
today begins our long journey home, which will be about 50 hours, door to door. we woke up about 630 am, finished packing our last suitcases, and headed to breakfast at 700 am. We said our goodbyes and headed out towards Nairobi. On the way, we traversed the Syro-African rift, which starts at the dead sea and travels thousands of miles down the African continent. it is about 100 miles wide in Kenya and a breathtaking view as we scaled the opposite side. Magic found a restaurant in Nairobi popular with the white Kenyan crowd and it was, by far, our best meal on the trip. We just kept ordering and ordering every possible vegetarian appetizer. Marc enjoyed the best chicken tikka in years.
After lunch, we visited giraffe manor, both a hotel and a sanctuary for giraffes. the fun part is feeding the giraffes, who come right up to you (we were standing on a raised platform) and lick the food from your hand. A few brave Weiss's took the challenge to kiss a giraffe by placing the food between their lips. LICK. And they were kissed by the giraffe as it took its food. The Dollingers were not inclined to be kissed, even as the giraffe guides there assured us that their saliva is antiseptic.
From giraffe manor, we traveled to Mapendo, an NGO created by Sasha Chanoff, nephew of our friend Matt Chanoff. Mapendo offers medical care and legal advocacy to urban refugees in Nairobi. Their staff welcomed the 10 of us, gave us a tour of their facilities and introduced us to two of their refugee families. One from Magadishu, Somalia, escaped both the war as well as religious persecution since the family converted from Islam to Christianity. The other family fled from the Congo. In both cases, there was no father on the scene. One had been arrested for lack of proper documentation while the other abandoned the family. There were 12 children between the two women. It was heart breaking to hear their stories, to understand both the personal and individual pain as well as the enormity of the refugee crisis in Nairobi, in Kenya, and on the African continent. The two families left in time to get to their homes before dark. We stayed and spoke with the professional staff for about an hour longer, to hear their stories, to understand the processes involved. We learned of their efforts to get as many refugees as possible relocated to the United States, which holds 70,000 places each year. We left with heavy hearts and the feeling that this was the right and best way to end our journey to Africa.
We headed to the airport, said our goodbyes to Magic and Aden, and boarded the midnight flight to London.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
masai mara
January 7, 2009
this is our last full day in masai mara and in kenya. last night, we went to our new and separate tents...no more monkeys jumping on the bed. we awoke at 630 am for our 7 am breakfast followed by a five and a half hour game drive. it turned out to be the slowest of the drives. we were looking for the elusive leopard, which is nocturnal and rarely spotted during the day. after a few hours of following various leads from other guides, we retreated back to the tent camp for a late lunch, followed by swimming, napping, packing, and then...
at 430 pm, we headed to the nearby masai village for a tour. we were greeted by one of the warriors who told of the masai. the men and women each performed their welcome dance for us. of course, we were all welcomed to join in the dancing and we did.
then, we learned some interesting facts about the masai. among them: each man is entitled to marry up to 7 women; each women brings 10 cows into the marriage; each woman must make her own house for herself, her children, and her husband on the nights he is with her; they circumcise men at age 14 in the middle of the cow pasture so that all can witness; they circumcize women at age 14 in the building that houses the young cows; they drink the blood of cows mixed with milk [featured on an episode of survivor;africa a few years ago], they make their homes from sticks, mud, and cow dung; they cut holes in their lower ear lobes so that they hang very very low off their ears; women must wear particular earings or they are beaten; they have no electricity or fresh water. rebecca told me it was 'awful' and sought to question the group leader on whether women were considered property. marc told rebecca about the difference between relativist thinking and positivist thinking and told her this was a time to be a positivist; we told her that, unlike the massai, she would get to choose her husband. on the way back to the tent camp, rebecca, shayna, and e.j., the 13 year old daughter of zvi and debbie weiss who are all traveling with us, were talking back and forth processing the experience. as troubling and disturbing as it all was, it was great to hear them reflect back and forth about what they saw, how they felt about it, how it compared to their lives in the u.s., and how they manage both respect for a different culture and their own, now even more strongly held beliefs, that their system of family and community is much better. rebecca did challenge our tour guide magic about conditions for masai women. magic explained that with the addition of a new school building funded by richard branson, many of their practices are being engaged and challenged by the younger generation. magic suggested that rebecca return to spend a year teaching in the school and sharing her perspective with the masai. rebecca responded that she's already decided that, if she's going to spend a year teaching in a village, it will be in uganda among the abayudaya.
after the tour, we were brought to their own version of a crafts faire mini-mall. they had dozens and dozens of wooden stands set up selling various hand-made items for sale to the tourists. since this is our last full day traveling, marci and i were not reluctant at all about buying. for wonderful, thoughtful marci, the idea of picking the wares of one family's stall over another's was just too much. so...she made sure to pick at least one item from each and every family there. in fact, as she proceeded around the giant square market, she gathered her own following of sellers encouraging her to buy more. i was looking on my own and, at a certain point, called marci to the center of the market for a quick conference. the end result; buy, buy, buy. the one angle that marci did not consider....when it came time to negotiate the price on all our purchases, we were faced with at least 30 different vested villagers who needed to agree on the one price we would pay for all the goods. believe it or not...believe it....we selected nearly 200 items and asked magic to help us with the negotiation. when they rejected our counter, magic encouraged us to walk....we walked....they followed....we countered....they held firm....we held firm...we walked....they followed....eventually, most order collapsed as their chief negotiator could no longer hold all the masai venders together. individual massai craftsmen broke from the collective and tried to get us to buy their item separately... we rejected that and encouraged them to tell their representative to agree to our price...shayna, dear shayna, was attached to me at the kneecap, utterly surrounding by scores of screaming massai all trying to get their price, fight with their representative, encourage me, cajole magic. i reassured her that all was really in control...then we walked again. at this point, the sun was beginning to set and with darkness coming upon us, and no electricity or lights, i figured the bargaining would soon come to some sort of conclusion. magic assured us we could just leave and find all these items somewhere else tomorrow. now the game was fun and the difference between our price and theirs quite small. marci and i huddled and decided we would demand a few more freebie items in exchange for their price. we agreed. magic instructed me to shake hands with the masai elder who was in charge. money changed hands, everyone stopped yelling, now we all started shaking hands and i learned how to say thank you in swahili and masai.
exhausted, we returned to the camp for a late dinner.
zvi, our travel partner, will be celebrating his 50th birthday in a few weeks. in his honor, we asked for a birthday cake at dinner tonight. with some intervention from magic, we ended up getting about half a dozen masai warriors, in full dress, with spears, enter the dining tent performing a dance. they circled around, chanted, danced, and finally presented zvi with his cake. we sang. we ate. it was great.
i type now and then will head to the tent to do our final packing. since we may not blog tomorrow, here's the schedule; 7 am breakfast, 8 am departure for nairobi; lunch as we approach nairobi; a visit to giraffe manor, home to many many friendly giraffes in the early afternon; a visit to mapendo, a shelter and service center for african refugees who are not eligible to be aided by any other international organizations; it was created by sasha chanoff, the nephew of our friend matt chanoff; then dinner and off to the airport for our british air overnight flight to london then flight to sfo, landing friday afternoon.
if we don't get to blog, we look forward to hearing from you, and seeing you, on our return.
lailah salama
this is our last full day in masai mara and in kenya. last night, we went to our new and separate tents...no more monkeys jumping on the bed. we awoke at 630 am for our 7 am breakfast followed by a five and a half hour game drive. it turned out to be the slowest of the drives. we were looking for the elusive leopard, which is nocturnal and rarely spotted during the day. after a few hours of following various leads from other guides, we retreated back to the tent camp for a late lunch, followed by swimming, napping, packing, and then...
at 430 pm, we headed to the nearby masai village for a tour. we were greeted by one of the warriors who told of the masai. the men and women each performed their welcome dance for us. of course, we were all welcomed to join in the dancing and we did.
then, we learned some interesting facts about the masai. among them: each man is entitled to marry up to 7 women; each women brings 10 cows into the marriage; each woman must make her own house for herself, her children, and her husband on the nights he is with her; they circumcise men at age 14 in the middle of the cow pasture so that all can witness; they circumcize women at age 14 in the building that houses the young cows; they drink the blood of cows mixed with milk [featured on an episode of survivor;africa a few years ago], they make their homes from sticks, mud, and cow dung; they cut holes in their lower ear lobes so that they hang very very low off their ears; women must wear particular earings or they are beaten; they have no electricity or fresh water. rebecca told me it was 'awful' and sought to question the group leader on whether women were considered property. marc told rebecca about the difference between relativist thinking and positivist thinking and told her this was a time to be a positivist; we told her that, unlike the massai, she would get to choose her husband. on the way back to the tent camp, rebecca, shayna, and e.j., the 13 year old daughter of zvi and debbie weiss who are all traveling with us, were talking back and forth processing the experience. as troubling and disturbing as it all was, it was great to hear them reflect back and forth about what they saw, how they felt about it, how it compared to their lives in the u.s., and how they manage both respect for a different culture and their own, now even more strongly held beliefs, that their system of family and community is much better. rebecca did challenge our tour guide magic about conditions for masai women. magic explained that with the addition of a new school building funded by richard branson, many of their practices are being engaged and challenged by the younger generation. magic suggested that rebecca return to spend a year teaching in the school and sharing her perspective with the masai. rebecca responded that she's already decided that, if she's going to spend a year teaching in a village, it will be in uganda among the abayudaya.
after the tour, we were brought to their own version of a crafts faire mini-mall. they had dozens and dozens of wooden stands set up selling various hand-made items for sale to the tourists. since this is our last full day traveling, marci and i were not reluctant at all about buying. for wonderful, thoughtful marci, the idea of picking the wares of one family's stall over another's was just too much. so...she made sure to pick at least one item from each and every family there. in fact, as she proceeded around the giant square market, she gathered her own following of sellers encouraging her to buy more. i was looking on my own and, at a certain point, called marci to the center of the market for a quick conference. the end result; buy, buy, buy. the one angle that marci did not consider....when it came time to negotiate the price on all our purchases, we were faced with at least 30 different vested villagers who needed to agree on the one price we would pay for all the goods. believe it or not...believe it....we selected nearly 200 items and asked magic to help us with the negotiation. when they rejected our counter, magic encouraged us to walk....we walked....they followed....we countered....they held firm....we held firm...we walked....they followed....eventually, most order collapsed as their chief negotiator could no longer hold all the masai venders together. individual massai craftsmen broke from the collective and tried to get us to buy their item separately... we rejected that and encouraged them to tell their representative to agree to our price...shayna, dear shayna, was attached to me at the kneecap, utterly surrounding by scores of screaming massai all trying to get their price, fight with their representative, encourage me, cajole magic. i reassured her that all was really in control...then we walked again. at this point, the sun was beginning to set and with darkness coming upon us, and no electricity or lights, i figured the bargaining would soon come to some sort of conclusion. magic assured us we could just leave and find all these items somewhere else tomorrow. now the game was fun and the difference between our price and theirs quite small. marci and i huddled and decided we would demand a few more freebie items in exchange for their price. we agreed. magic instructed me to shake hands with the masai elder who was in charge. money changed hands, everyone stopped yelling, now we all started shaking hands and i learned how to say thank you in swahili and masai.
exhausted, we returned to the camp for a late dinner.
zvi, our travel partner, will be celebrating his 50th birthday in a few weeks. in his honor, we asked for a birthday cake at dinner tonight. with some intervention from magic, we ended up getting about half a dozen masai warriors, in full dress, with spears, enter the dining tent performing a dance. they circled around, chanted, danced, and finally presented zvi with his cake. we sang. we ate. it was great.
i type now and then will head to the tent to do our final packing. since we may not blog tomorrow, here's the schedule; 7 am breakfast, 8 am departure for nairobi; lunch as we approach nairobi; a visit to giraffe manor, home to many many friendly giraffes in the early afternon; a visit to mapendo, a shelter and service center for african refugees who are not eligible to be aided by any other international organizations; it was created by sasha chanoff, the nephew of our friend matt chanoff; then dinner and off to the airport for our british air overnight flight to london then flight to sfo, landing friday afternoon.
if we don't get to blog, we look forward to hearing from you, and seeing you, on our return.
lailah salama
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
the masai mara
january 6, 2009
note to readers: make sure you read yesterday's blog before you read today's.
last night, marc settled into bed, which was quite warm and comfortable despite a cold night; something we loved since our africa trip has been very very warm. marc kept awaking every 2 or 3 hours from a deep deep sleep full of dreams that he was sleeping in a tent in the middle of the african wilderness surrounded by wild animals. then, he realized he really was...and went back to sleep.
finally, it was 630 am and he got himself and the rest of the family up.
we at a leisurely breakfast at 700 then boarded the jeeps at 8;00 for a long game drive down to the mara river to see hippos and crocs. [wait a moment; a bat just flew overhead. ok, it's gone. i continue]. on the way out, we saw giraffe, gazelle, zebra, crested crane, eagles, black rhino, buffalo, antelope, impala, and elephants. we returned to the site of the lion eating the giraffe. the lion was still eating the giraffe.
we continued on for a few more hours until magic brought us to a signpost. we got out of the jeeps and learned that the signpost marked the border between kenya and tanzania. we took photos of ourselves in two countries at once and then headed up the serrengetti [spelling?] for a picnic lunch under a tree in the midst of a vast rolling plain. we saw warthogs, hippos, a crocodile, monkeys, and baboons on the way. after an hour or so lounging over lunch, we headed back to camp.
when we passed a ranger station, we were told that a cheetah had been sighted back in the area we just left. magic turned the jeep around and we headed back. with help from the ranger, we found a cheetah and pulled within 20 feet of it. we watched it for about 15 minutes until it got up and started looking for prey. we headed back, once again, this time siting many elephants, and a few elephant babies, giraffes, warthogs, zebras, and more that i've already forgotten. magic is well known among the locals, partly because he is kind enough to offer locals a ride from place to place. we took one chef from a mara lodge for about an hour to get him to his family for vacation then took two masai young men who had many miles to walk home to their village.
back in camp, we returned to our tents to change for swimming. marc noticed that two of his plastic baggies full of mixed nuts had been moved from where he placed them to the table by the tent door. [because of marc's diabetes, he created many large packs of mixed nuts to keep him going between meals and, in uganda especially, to deal with the occasional missed meal]. upon closer inspection, he saw that the bags were both nearly empty and were full of jagged holes, rips, and tears. how could this be? it took but a millisecond to realize the truth....a monkey had at marc's bags of nuts. but, why were they no neatly placed on the table? the mystery deepends. marc took the disheveled bags to the hotel manager who said, I've been meaning to tell you. monkeys got into your tent and ate your food. i asked him how they could have gotten in since the tent was padlocked, as requested. he said that the monkeys can find a tiny opening in the underneath of the tent lining, tear it open, and find their way in. he told me [marc] that they had gotten into the sink basin as well. the camp crew had cleaned it all up, sealed up the tear, and we were back in business...
a few hours later, i went back to the manager to suggest that perhaps we might need to sleep in another tent. another employee of the camp who happened to be standing there said, oh, you're in tent 7. the monkeys had a real good time in your tent.' we were assured that all was fine.
when i next returned to the tent, i found some of the nuts had remained on the floor, an ant hill had developed, and it was now just plain gross. i sprayed the ants, then realized it smelled too bad to remain. i went and found two of our tent attendants who relayed even more of the monkey story. they said that 'more than 20 monkeys'were in the tent. they did not limit themselves to the sink basin. in fact, they were jumping on all our beds! he said it was a real party until they came in and chased them all away. the hotel manager had earlier said that this sort of thing was happening often and they were struggling with a way to deal with it. we told the girls the full story and shayna just kept laughing and laughing and laughing. rebecca seemed unfazed by the whole thing. marc was thinking once again, maybe we need to move tents since these monkeys may want to come back for more partying. we returned to the tent and this time really looked hard to see if any other damage was done. we noticed that one of our gifts, wrapped in newspaper, had the newspaper eaten through. when we told one of the employees at dinner about it, he laughed out loud and explained that he saw the monkey open it looking for food. finding no food, the monkey took the package outside the tent, climbed a tree, and then proceeded to drop the package from the tree to the ground. the employee picked it up and brought it back to the tent.
we had several thoughts at this point. 1, we remembered the ride at disneyland where the monkeys had turned over the jeep and were harrassing the safari folk. 2, we started singing, no more monkeys jumping in my bed, 3, we thought ruben would love this, vivien not so much 4, michael would love this, noa not so much, 5, maybe its time to move to a different tent.
finally....dinner time. we sat outside by the campfire first, chatted with magic, took pictures, look angrily at the monkeys running around [marc threatened them on numerous occasions. they seemed unconcerned]. during dinner, the hotel manager came up to us and said that he thought it would a good idea for us to change tents. in fact, he offered us 2 tents so we wouldn't have to pack all four of us into the same space.
with a millisecond's contemplation, we accepted his offer.
it is now 9 pm, marc is finishing the blog, and heading to my new tent with shayna. we'll tell you how it goes tomorrow...
laila salama from the masai mara, kenya, where the adventure definitely continues..
note to readers: make sure you read yesterday's blog before you read today's.
last night, marc settled into bed, which was quite warm and comfortable despite a cold night; something we loved since our africa trip has been very very warm. marc kept awaking every 2 or 3 hours from a deep deep sleep full of dreams that he was sleeping in a tent in the middle of the african wilderness surrounded by wild animals. then, he realized he really was...and went back to sleep.
finally, it was 630 am and he got himself and the rest of the family up.
we at a leisurely breakfast at 700 then boarded the jeeps at 8;00 for a long game drive down to the mara river to see hippos and crocs. [wait a moment; a bat just flew overhead. ok, it's gone. i continue]. on the way out, we saw giraffe, gazelle, zebra, crested crane, eagles, black rhino, buffalo, antelope, impala, and elephants. we returned to the site of the lion eating the giraffe. the lion was still eating the giraffe.
we continued on for a few more hours until magic brought us to a signpost. we got out of the jeeps and learned that the signpost marked the border between kenya and tanzania. we took photos of ourselves in two countries at once and then headed up the serrengetti [spelling?] for a picnic lunch under a tree in the midst of a vast rolling plain. we saw warthogs, hippos, a crocodile, monkeys, and baboons on the way. after an hour or so lounging over lunch, we headed back to camp.
when we passed a ranger station, we were told that a cheetah had been sighted back in the area we just left. magic turned the jeep around and we headed back. with help from the ranger, we found a cheetah and pulled within 20 feet of it. we watched it for about 15 minutes until it got up and started looking for prey. we headed back, once again, this time siting many elephants, and a few elephant babies, giraffes, warthogs, zebras, and more that i've already forgotten. magic is well known among the locals, partly because he is kind enough to offer locals a ride from place to place. we took one chef from a mara lodge for about an hour to get him to his family for vacation then took two masai young men who had many miles to walk home to their village.
back in camp, we returned to our tents to change for swimming. marc noticed that two of his plastic baggies full of mixed nuts had been moved from where he placed them to the table by the tent door. [because of marc's diabetes, he created many large packs of mixed nuts to keep him going between meals and, in uganda especially, to deal with the occasional missed meal]. upon closer inspection, he saw that the bags were both nearly empty and were full of jagged holes, rips, and tears. how could this be? it took but a millisecond to realize the truth....a monkey had at marc's bags of nuts. but, why were they no neatly placed on the table? the mystery deepends. marc took the disheveled bags to the hotel manager who said, I've been meaning to tell you. monkeys got into your tent and ate your food. i asked him how they could have gotten in since the tent was padlocked, as requested. he said that the monkeys can find a tiny opening in the underneath of the tent lining, tear it open, and find their way in. he told me [marc] that they had gotten into the sink basin as well. the camp crew had cleaned it all up, sealed up the tear, and we were back in business...
a few hours later, i went back to the manager to suggest that perhaps we might need to sleep in another tent. another employee of the camp who happened to be standing there said, oh, you're in tent 7. the monkeys had a real good time in your tent.' we were assured that all was fine.
when i next returned to the tent, i found some of the nuts had remained on the floor, an ant hill had developed, and it was now just plain gross. i sprayed the ants, then realized it smelled too bad to remain. i went and found two of our tent attendants who relayed even more of the monkey story. they said that 'more than 20 monkeys'were in the tent. they did not limit themselves to the sink basin. in fact, they were jumping on all our beds! he said it was a real party until they came in and chased them all away. the hotel manager had earlier said that this sort of thing was happening often and they were struggling with a way to deal with it. we told the girls the full story and shayna just kept laughing and laughing and laughing. rebecca seemed unfazed by the whole thing. marc was thinking once again, maybe we need to move tents since these monkeys may want to come back for more partying. we returned to the tent and this time really looked hard to see if any other damage was done. we noticed that one of our gifts, wrapped in newspaper, had the newspaper eaten through. when we told one of the employees at dinner about it, he laughed out loud and explained that he saw the monkey open it looking for food. finding no food, the monkey took the package outside the tent, climbed a tree, and then proceeded to drop the package from the tree to the ground. the employee picked it up and brought it back to the tent.
we had several thoughts at this point. 1, we remembered the ride at disneyland where the monkeys had turned over the jeep and were harrassing the safari folk. 2, we started singing, no more monkeys jumping in my bed, 3, we thought ruben would love this, vivien not so much 4, michael would love this, noa not so much, 5, maybe its time to move to a different tent.
finally....dinner time. we sat outside by the campfire first, chatted with magic, took pictures, look angrily at the monkeys running around [marc threatened them on numerous occasions. they seemed unconcerned]. during dinner, the hotel manager came up to us and said that he thought it would a good idea for us to change tents. in fact, he offered us 2 tents so we wouldn't have to pack all four of us into the same space.
with a millisecond's contemplation, we accepted his offer.
it is now 9 pm, marc is finishing the blog, and heading to my new tent with shayna. we'll tell you how it goes tomorrow...
laila salama from the masai mara, kenya, where the adventure definitely continues..
To the Masai Mara
January 5, 2009
We had an early morning wake up for our departure to the Masai Mara, the highlight of the trip, the best known game park in all of kenya, and, according to most, all of africa. it is located in southern kenya along the border with tanzania and would help complete our grand circle tour of Kenya. In the summertime, it is the home of the great migration of the wildbeest, made famous in the Lion King.
Magic warned us it would be a hard journey. remembering the trip to Lake Nakuru, we were fearing the worst. it actually was not bad at all. at least half the journey was on paved road and we arrived in the masai mara in time for a late lunch.
we made what is affectionately called a 'bush stop' (where the entire African bush can act as your bathroom :)''
on the way into the mara, which means 'plain'in the masai language, we saw zebra and antelope. at the gate to the preserve, we were surrounded by many masai selling their wares.
we are staying at the Sekanani camp, which has 15 tents set in the green foothills at the front of the masai mara. it is lush, and hilly, and reminds us of the swiss family treehouse, with suspension pedestrian bridge to connect the tent area to the dining area. it sways as you walk.. this camp is very unusual because it is not enclosed by an electric fence, or any fence for that matter. wild animals are free to roam to the camp, into the camp, out of the camp, and there is a large staff of massai warrior guards, with spears, to escort each guest between each place after sunset. the best way to describe this is simply to type the information provided to us in their guest handbook. here it is: 'wild animals. sekanani camp is not surrounded by a fence so animals do appear in the camp from time to time. our resident species include bushbuck, waterbuck, baboons, vervet monkeys, hyrax, bushbaby's and five species of mongooses. in addition to the resident species, we also have regular visits from elephants, leopards, warthogs, porcupines, impalas, zebras, and the occasional buffalo. the non-resident vistors usually pass through the camp in the middle of the night. this should not be cause for alarm. the night watchmen keep an eye out for any animals around the camp but once everyone has turned in for the night, they are allowed to walk through if they wish. we hope the sound of an elephant browsing around the springs below your tent will be an exciting experience and not a worrying one. at night you may hear the sound of little feet walking on the roof of your tent or perhaps on the canvas itself. this is generally a bush baby which is a beautiful nocturnal creature commonly found in the camp at night. sometimes there may be a thump on the veranda floor as one jumps down from the surrounding bushes. please do not be worried. these are absolutely harmless creatures out hunting for beatles and other insects which are their main food. after years of study, vervet monkeys have learned how to open zips and are prone to making a thorough inspection of your belongings if they get inside the tent. we've had to introduce small pad locks on the zips of the tent to prevent this from occuring.'
just as we arrived, the skys opened and it poured rain. we were greeted with a fresh towel and glasses of juice. each massai warrior gave each of us an umbrella and escorted us to our tents. the tents are large, canvas, zip up tents, with four twin beds and a separate area for the bath with a full size tub, shower, toilet, and sink. we were given a briefing on the camp rules, including locking up the tents. since we are in the masai mara wilderness, there is no electricity, only a camp generator, which runs only for two hours in the morning, and four hours in the evening. get those electronic devices charged quickly! they do provide flashlights.
we enjoyed a vegetable curry or spaghetti lunch in the dining tent, updated the blog, and spoke to the hotel manager about barack obama. he said that it proves that the u.s. really is a democracy and he held out hope that zimbabwe would learn that it too could be democratic as a result.
we took an afternoon game drive and saw lots of zebra, giraffe, gazelle, elan, antelope.
WARNING. WARNING. ALERT SMALL CHILDREN. THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION IS GRAPHIC. towards the end of the drive, magic turned around the jeep and we headed for an incredible sight. first, we saw a giraffe....but this giraffe was on its side, thoroughly dead, and a male lion was feasting on its disengorged belly. upon closer inspection, we noticed three lions in the immediate area as well as vulchers up in the trees watching the whole scene. magic parked the jeep as we watched this horrific, and incredible part of nature occuring in front of us. the girls were less traumatized than we imagined, but shayna did decide she'd seen enough and just stopped looking. we learned from magic about the process of a lion kill, of the order of feasting, from lions to hyenas, to vulchers. we also learned that it was very unusual for a lion to kill a giraffe since the lion is not capable of getting at the giraffe unless the giraffe is drinking, which forces the giraffe to lower itself on its legs. magic thinks the lion took a big leap and went for the giraffe's neck and then just brought it down. if any of you do have morbid curiousity, it is, of course, all on video.
the lion kill delayed us past our usual return time so that by the time we were heading back, the sun was already setting. at this moment, we saw a giant bull elephant standing just off the road. when we passed the elephant and looked back, we saw the silhouette of the elephant, set against the setting sun, set against the masai mara plains. it was stunning and we stopped the jeeps and just took lots of photos as the sun set below the horizon.
back at camp, we went right to dinner. vegetable crepes for most of the folks and lamb for marc. yeah.
we met our massai warrior guide outside the dinner tent. he escorted us back to our tent. we zipped ourselves in, padlocked ourselves in, reassured the girls that all the noises, sounds, animals, thumping on the roof, screeching noises, clicks, clacks, and lots of other decibals were all part of nature, of camping, of our experience, and that they should get to sleep.
lailah salama.
We had an early morning wake up for our departure to the Masai Mara, the highlight of the trip, the best known game park in all of kenya, and, according to most, all of africa. it is located in southern kenya along the border with tanzania and would help complete our grand circle tour of Kenya. In the summertime, it is the home of the great migration of the wildbeest, made famous in the Lion King.
Magic warned us it would be a hard journey. remembering the trip to Lake Nakuru, we were fearing the worst. it actually was not bad at all. at least half the journey was on paved road and we arrived in the masai mara in time for a late lunch.
we made what is affectionately called a 'bush stop' (where the entire African bush can act as your bathroom :)''
on the way into the mara, which means 'plain'in the masai language, we saw zebra and antelope. at the gate to the preserve, we were surrounded by many masai selling their wares.
we are staying at the Sekanani camp, which has 15 tents set in the green foothills at the front of the masai mara. it is lush, and hilly, and reminds us of the swiss family treehouse, with suspension pedestrian bridge to connect the tent area to the dining area. it sways as you walk.. this camp is very unusual because it is not enclosed by an electric fence, or any fence for that matter. wild animals are free to roam to the camp, into the camp, out of the camp, and there is a large staff of massai warrior guards, with spears, to escort each guest between each place after sunset. the best way to describe this is simply to type the information provided to us in their guest handbook. here it is: 'wild animals. sekanani camp is not surrounded by a fence so animals do appear in the camp from time to time. our resident species include bushbuck, waterbuck, baboons, vervet monkeys, hyrax, bushbaby's and five species of mongooses. in addition to the resident species, we also have regular visits from elephants, leopards, warthogs, porcupines, impalas, zebras, and the occasional buffalo. the non-resident vistors usually pass through the camp in the middle of the night. this should not be cause for alarm. the night watchmen keep an eye out for any animals around the camp but once everyone has turned in for the night, they are allowed to walk through if they wish. we hope the sound of an elephant browsing around the springs below your tent will be an exciting experience and not a worrying one. at night you may hear the sound of little feet walking on the roof of your tent or perhaps on the canvas itself. this is generally a bush baby which is a beautiful nocturnal creature commonly found in the camp at night. sometimes there may be a thump on the veranda floor as one jumps down from the surrounding bushes. please do not be worried. these are absolutely harmless creatures out hunting for beatles and other insects which are their main food. after years of study, vervet monkeys have learned how to open zips and are prone to making a thorough inspection of your belongings if they get inside the tent. we've had to introduce small pad locks on the zips of the tent to prevent this from occuring.'
just as we arrived, the skys opened and it poured rain. we were greeted with a fresh towel and glasses of juice. each massai warrior gave each of us an umbrella and escorted us to our tents. the tents are large, canvas, zip up tents, with four twin beds and a separate area for the bath with a full size tub, shower, toilet, and sink. we were given a briefing on the camp rules, including locking up the tents. since we are in the masai mara wilderness, there is no electricity, only a camp generator, which runs only for two hours in the morning, and four hours in the evening. get those electronic devices charged quickly! they do provide flashlights.
we enjoyed a vegetable curry or spaghetti lunch in the dining tent, updated the blog, and spoke to the hotel manager about barack obama. he said that it proves that the u.s. really is a democracy and he held out hope that zimbabwe would learn that it too could be democratic as a result.
we took an afternoon game drive and saw lots of zebra, giraffe, gazelle, elan, antelope.
WARNING. WARNING. ALERT SMALL CHILDREN. THE FOLLOWING DESCRIPTION IS GRAPHIC. towards the end of the drive, magic turned around the jeep and we headed for an incredible sight. first, we saw a giraffe....but this giraffe was on its side, thoroughly dead, and a male lion was feasting on its disengorged belly. upon closer inspection, we noticed three lions in the immediate area as well as vulchers up in the trees watching the whole scene. magic parked the jeep as we watched this horrific, and incredible part of nature occuring in front of us. the girls were less traumatized than we imagined, but shayna did decide she'd seen enough and just stopped looking. we learned from magic about the process of a lion kill, of the order of feasting, from lions to hyenas, to vulchers. we also learned that it was very unusual for a lion to kill a giraffe since the lion is not capable of getting at the giraffe unless the giraffe is drinking, which forces the giraffe to lower itself on its legs. magic thinks the lion took a big leap and went for the giraffe's neck and then just brought it down. if any of you do have morbid curiousity, it is, of course, all on video.
the lion kill delayed us past our usual return time so that by the time we were heading back, the sun was already setting. at this moment, we saw a giant bull elephant standing just off the road. when we passed the elephant and looked back, we saw the silhouette of the elephant, set against the setting sun, set against the masai mara plains. it was stunning and we stopped the jeeps and just took lots of photos as the sun set below the horizon.
back at camp, we went right to dinner. vegetable crepes for most of the folks and lamb for marc. yeah.
we met our massai warrior guide outside the dinner tent. he escorted us back to our tent. we zipped ourselves in, padlocked ourselves in, reassured the girls that all the noises, sounds, animals, thumping on the roof, screeching noises, clicks, clacks, and lots of other decibals were all part of nature, of camping, of our experience, and that they should get to sleep.
lailah salama.
lake nakuru
january 4, 2009
we woke up to hot tea and chocolate and a wake up visit to our tent. some people complain of no hot water but marci's shower had no cold shower so she opted for a hat day. once they got the cold water pump running, we were back in business. we had a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit, juice, eggs, and pancakes (which they call waffles). after breakfast, we took a half hour drive through nakuru town, the third largest in kenya, to lake nakuru, a preserve famous for flamingos and rhino. there we saw pelicans, giraffes, rhinos, baboons, monkeys, jackel, wolf, two lions, gazelle, wart hog, impala, storks, flamingos, and antelope. we drove across the dry lake bed viewing many varieties of birds. in fact, this lake is a world center for bird watchers. we enjoyed an elaborate picnic lunch at a beautiful vista point high above the lake, which was used to film scenes from the movie out of africa. kudos to all, and especially the women, who took advantage of the only outhouse available and did, indeed, pee in the ground. we're campers now.
lunch was great. they packed veggie burgers, hamburgers, butternut squash soup, bananas, drinks, african tea.
back at the equator yesterday, noah left his glasses at our lunch stop area. through careful inter-guide communication and transportation, we intercepted the glasses from another tour bus just outside the park entrance.
we stopped at the gift shop for ice cream, negotiating with the dozens of monkeys that surrounded us, attempting to get a bite of the food.
on the drive back to our camp, we played sweet and sour, seeing how many of the local people would wave back to us. we spent the afternoon relaxing in the very very cold pool, and on our deck. the kids wandered freely around the campsite while we packed for the next stage of our journey.
dinner at 630, shephards pie, butternut squash soup and sweet pancakes for dessert. for the diabetic carnivore (Marc), it was lamb and a little fresh fruit.
during dinner, we played games to entertain ourselves while they prepared the courses. after dinner, we played a couple rounds of boggle before retiring to our hot water bottled beds. lailah salama (good night in swahili)
we woke up to hot tea and chocolate and a wake up visit to our tent. some people complain of no hot water but marci's shower had no cold shower so she opted for a hat day. once they got the cold water pump running, we were back in business. we had a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit, juice, eggs, and pancakes (which they call waffles). after breakfast, we took a half hour drive through nakuru town, the third largest in kenya, to lake nakuru, a preserve famous for flamingos and rhino. there we saw pelicans, giraffes, rhinos, baboons, monkeys, jackel, wolf, two lions, gazelle, wart hog, impala, storks, flamingos, and antelope. we drove across the dry lake bed viewing many varieties of birds. in fact, this lake is a world center for bird watchers. we enjoyed an elaborate picnic lunch at a beautiful vista point high above the lake, which was used to film scenes from the movie out of africa. kudos to all, and especially the women, who took advantage of the only outhouse available and did, indeed, pee in the ground. we're campers now.
lunch was great. they packed veggie burgers, hamburgers, butternut squash soup, bananas, drinks, african tea.
back at the equator yesterday, noah left his glasses at our lunch stop area. through careful inter-guide communication and transportation, we intercepted the glasses from another tour bus just outside the park entrance.
we stopped at the gift shop for ice cream, negotiating with the dozens of monkeys that surrounded us, attempting to get a bite of the food.
on the drive back to our camp, we played sweet and sour, seeing how many of the local people would wave back to us. we spent the afternoon relaxing in the very very cold pool, and on our deck. the kids wandered freely around the campsite while we packed for the next stage of our journey.
dinner at 630, shephards pie, butternut squash soup and sweet pancakes for dessert. for the diabetic carnivore (Marc), it was lamb and a little fresh fruit.
during dinner, we played games to entertain ourselves while they prepared the courses. after dinner, we played a couple rounds of boggle before retiring to our hot water bottled beds. lailah salama (good night in swahili)
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