Days 5-8: Zanzibar

days 5-7: The brutal travel

I'm not going to lie, the past few days haven't been my favorite, yet despite the hardship of the travel I am still so grateful to have this opportunity and to see such a different culture - even if it seems like it has been from afar.

Since the last blog post not too much exciting has happened, but we have covered a lot of distance. Moshi was nice - there was a good bar across the street from our campsite that was playing the World Cup and had a decent wifi connection (although not good enough for FaceTime). We had a nice group dinner made of Scottish Pie (just like Shepard's Pie), and some cucumber soup. I stayed up later than I normally do and went to bed around 9:30. Even though I got to sleep relatively early, we were up the next morning at 3:30 a.m. and departed Moshi by 5 a.m. to be on our way to Dar Es Salaam. The truck ride was pretty brutal - there were a lot of speed bumps, a lot of bad roads, and a lot of traffic - all of which made sleeping almost impossible and caused the hours to drag on. We didn't make it to our camp site until about 5:45 p.m., but our guide had said that he didn't expect to make it before 8. It took us about 2 hours to travel 10 km to our campsite through the traffic in Dar Es Salaam.... I'm thinking the city needs some serious civic engineering. One thing that I have been witnessing in Tanzania is the fact that many road's construction is sponsored by foreign governments. Japan has sponsored many from what I can tell, and seems to be the most active foreign government in the country.

It was quite nice once we made it to our camp site. The site was located on the beach, and although the general area was not a safe one, the campsite was guarded by multiple Masai men and was very secure. The bar was nice, and the facilities were spacious, but unfortunately the showers used salt water. Nonetheless, it was nice to be on a beach after such a hectic drive. The travel didn't stop there, however. We got up this morning at 6 and were ready to go by 7. Instead of taking the truck, we were picked up by Tuk Tuks who drove us to a ferry site so that we weren't walking through a bad part of town. We boarded the ferry along with a ton of locals to get across the bay to the main part of Dar Es Salaam, and had to endure a stampede of people trying to get on with us. Luckily everyone made it and we were able to carve out some standing space for our group on board the ferry. When we got to the other side of the waterway, we got off and walked 2km to another ferry that would take us to Zanzibar. We waited about half an hour in the terminal, then another 30 minutes through the boarding process. We got seats inside, which was air conditioned, but unfortunately it smelled SO bad and really was tough to handle along with the rolling seas. The ferry ride lasted 2 hours. We were met by a local G Adventures representative in Zanzibar who had a bus waiting for us. We all got on, stopped for some water, and drove another hour and a  half to the north tip of the island to our hotel for tonight and tomorrow night. I couldn't be happier to be here now! The room is fine but the view at the hotel is unreal. We're on the water and the water is just beautiful. The restaurant and bar is a great location, and the food and drinks were good albeit a bit expensive on the African scale. They also have a massage parlor on site that I took advantage of upon arrival. For $20 I was able to treat myself to an hour long massage, which really helped to relieve some of the tension of the past few days. I still have a bit of a headache which is probably the result of dehydration along with just being worn down, but I'm hoping that with a little more rest in Zanzibar it will go away.

Tomorrow I am going scuba diving and I'm really excited for the trip! I'll write again when I'm back.

Day 8:
Today was the first day off the road and it was fantastic. I woke up early, sat at the breakfast table by the sea for hours drinking multiple cups of tea, and I had a wonderful time scuba diving! We dove two spots at about 15m a piece. We saw a ton of pretty fish, a giant sea turtle, a sitting octopus and so much more - it was a truly enjoyable experience. The sunset tonight was great, and I had dinner with one of the other travelers down the beach thanks to our dive shop for comped our meal. I'm happy and settled. We get back on the road tomorrow to head towards Stonetown in Zanzibar. On our way there we're stopping for a tour of the spice plantation - It'll be a great trip, but I'm sad to have to leave the beach - it's been absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately the internet is still weak and I cannot upload pictures, but I can't wait to share some of the images of my journey!

Tanzania - Africa Journey Days 2-5

Days 2-5: Arusha, the Serengeti Plains and the Ngorongoro Crater

The past few days have been incredible. We departed Nairobi fairly early on the morning of the second day of the tour, but not before we had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel. Before digging in I was quite nervous to try the eggs, because they were really runny and had a consistency comparable to oatmeal. Yet, they were probably the best eggs I have ever had, and my friends who had climbed Kilimanjaro who were served eggs every day for breakfast confirmed this from their experiences.

While I would call the vehicle that we are traveling in a bus, our CEO (Chief Experience Officer) Massivu has made it clear that we must refer to it as a truck. In fact, every time someone calls it a bus they have to contribute a dollar to a group party fund. The truck is great - it seats 22 people, but because our tour is only 11 strong each person gets a row. There's a bulletin board in the front that lists the chores and schedule for the trip, as well as a table to put community items on and a couple of coolers for keeping water. No one has used them yet, however, because its plenty cold outside as it is. There are also two tables in the front seats that you can work at that have strips of power to recharge devices and cameras.

The roads are OK. In Kenya we travelled on a lot of dirt roads, which made us bounce up and down in the truck. There are some paved highways, however, which have been a great treat. In Tanzania the roads have been a bit better. We crossed the border from Kenya to Tanzania without much difficulty. We had to get out of the truck and walk across the border to get our visas, and along the way we were bombarded by women selling bracelets. I tried to say no, but they placed one on my wrist anyways saying that it was a gift. I ended up paying 100 kenyan shillings for it though. I'm happy to have it - it's beautifully beaded and I have worn it every day since. My Tanzanian visa cost $100, but all of the travelers from other countries only paid $50. The German, Canadians, Japanese, and Kiwis were lucky...

Tanzania is actually made up of three different republics, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, and Ugunja. The name Tanzania is derived from Tanganyika and Zanzibar. The country consists of  over 120 tribes with the Masai and Bantu being the main two tribes. The country gained independence from Britain in 1961, and has been a very peaceful country that is growing in infrastructure and economy.

The Masai people keep cows and goats. They gave the Serengeti its name, as it means "endless plains" in their language. The Masai practice polygamy - each man will have multiple wives proportional to the amount of cattle he has. The wives build homes out of mud and wood, and each woman gets her own hut for herself and her children, but they help each other to build them. A Masai diet is very different from out own, and consists almost completely of meat, milk, and blood. They will tap cow's jugular veins to release blood in order to mix it into the milk, and the cows heal within 4 days.

After a long day of travel and learning about Tanzania, we arrived at our first camp site it Arusha, Tanzania. The site was called Snake Park, and while it didn't have electricity, it ended up having nice enough facilities and a really cool zoo of sorts that had many of the regions most poisonous snakes, crocodiles, and large lizards. Right off the camp site was a snake clinic that was the only one in the region to provide free anti-venom. The owners, two kiwi expats, fund the clinic through the sale of beer at their bar to travelers camping there. I thought that it was a very interesting example of social entrepreneurship.

We departed the camp early the next morning in new vehicles - two 8-seater land cruisers to begin our adventure into the Serengeti. In order to make it to the Serengeti we first had to drive through the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area. The park rose up to about 2500 meters in altitude and was very densely forested. We saw our first glimpses of wildlife here, and stopped for a panoramic view of the crater - which was absolutely BREATHTAKING. I nicknamed it the "Land Before Time Paradise," because it was void of all human life, had a huge lake, green pastures, and was surrounded by forested mountains. It is home to thousands of animals.

We didn't drive down into the crater that day, but instead continued into the Serengeti for a game drive. Along the way we witnessed multiple tornados - each of them very weak and harmless but awesome to watch nonetheless. The Serengeti plains are unbelievable. The plains have an area of 14,763 square km and is home to more than 1.6 million herbivores and thousands of predators (gadventures). Although we only covered a fraction of the park, the amount of wildlife we saw was incredible. We searched for the big five: Elephant, Rhino, Lion, Leopard, and Bull. We came away only seeing 3 of them, but our full list was quite large:

-Elephants
-Lions (males, females, cubs...!)
-Bulls
-Wildabeast
-Zebra
-Black Mamba (At our camp site! Ah!)
-Impala
-Topee
-Gazelle
-Water Buck
-Hippo
-Cheetah (we even caught it hunting! It is SO fast!)
-Serengeti Eagle
-Hyena
-Baboons
-Blue Ball Monkeys
-DikDiks
-Guinea Fowl
-Giraffe
-Ostrich
-Warthog
-Mongoose
-Hyrax
-Vulture
-Secretary Bird
-Bastar Bird
-Lizards
-Maribu Stock
-Tste Fly
-African Fish Eagle
-Lovebirds
-Red Birds
-Egyptian Geese
-Lilac Breasted Rollers
-Storks
-Crown Crane
-Flamingo

We also made our way down into the crater after two nights on the Serengeti where we spent the first night camping in the middle of the plains where there was absolutely no boundary with the wild, and the second night at a community campsite near the crater where there were about 40 other campers. The views were incredible, but it was really cold! The temperature was around 45 degrees f, but we drove with the top up and the windows open, which made it markedly colder.

We're currently on our way to Moshi for our next campsite. The police are really strict in Tanzania, so we cannot go a single km over the speed limit which makes for slow traveling. Tomorrow we make our way to Dar Es Salem and will travel 500 km in the truck - it'll be quite the long day. We'll make it to Zanzibar soon though and get to spend some time off the road, which will be really nice. I cannot believe that I have this opportunity to see a new part of the world. I realized last night while I was looking up at the stars that this trip is my first time in the Southern Hemisphere. I saw the southern cross and scorpion constellations for the first time, and was blown away by how even the skies can be different here. I am having an incredible time, and am so glad that my journey will continue on this continent for another 35 days!

*Note: This blog post was written on the bus without internet. It may be posted days later. Date written: June 27, 2014.

Arrived in Africa!

I've officially broken my record for the longest travel to reach a destination. I left Austin on June 21 at 4 p.m. (which meant that I left my house around 1:30 p.m.), caught a flight in Houston to Istanbul that departed at 8:30 p.m., spent 11 hours in the air then another 9 hours at the airport before boarding my second overnight flight in a row from Istanbul to Nairobi that had a 7 hour airtime. It was intense.

I somehow managed to get really lucky though - on my flight from Houston to Istanbul I was upgraded to the comfort class with Turkish air, which is roughly equivalent to business class on other airlines. I had so much space, could recline deeply and had a foot stand, and enjoyed great service and amenities (for the time I was awake.. I managed to sleep for 9 hours!). When I landed in Istanbul I was really tempted to go out into the city for a couple of hours before catching my layover, but the visa lady said that it wasn't enough time, and since I landed at 5 p.m. I was pushing it with the darkness - which is not OK when travelling alone. Instead, I made a measured investment and checked into the Prime Class lounge for about $35 to spend my 8-9 hour layover. The lounge had wifi, dinner, an espresso machine and a bar, and was much more spacious than the terminals. I probably ended up spending the same amount there as I would have on all of the services seperately in the terminal. I was shocked by how many people commuted through the Istanbul airport - at times I was almost claustrophobic because of the constant stream of densely packed people moving passed me and the force of the current of people moving with me. The lounge ended up being a great saving grace for me, and I was able to get all of my readings for Bain done in the layover, which was surprisingly productive.

My flight to Nairobi wasn't nearly as comfortable. I was fooled into thinking I might have been lucky enough to get another upgrade because my seat was 05A, but unfortunately the plane was a normal domestic size and I was placed behind the bulkhead instead. Because I had slept so well on my way to Istanbul I could hardly sleep a wink to Nairobi, even though we were flying from 1 a.m. till 7:30 a.m. Instead I watched three movies, two of which featured Africa. The movies were great and made me excited for my adventure.

My time in Nairobi has been incredibly smooth. I was able to obtain a visa upon arrival almost immediately, and because I am staying in Kenya for under 3 days I only had to pay $20. My transfer was at the airport waiting, and the hotel and tour group so far has been great. Traffic in Nairobi is INSANE. It literally took us an hour and a half to travel 15 km. Yet, amidst all of this traffic is a bustling culture of advertising and sales. Women walked through the lanes of traffic selling different towels or newspapers, and men on roller blades went from car to car handing out flyers. There are tons of people who walk alongside the road, which I found was familiar to India and Pakistan, but so different from home. It was fascinating.

The biggest shock of my trip, however, has been how COLD it is here! It's 64 degrees F, and we are located just on the equator! It's Africa's winter - which means I am in for some cool nights ahead. Thank goodness my mom made me pack my sleeping bag liner as well as my sleeping bag - I was really obstinate because I had the misconception that it was always hot in Africa... I am so off, and a little embarrassed by my naivety.

I have stayed at the hotel all day after making an agreement with my parents that I would stay low in Nairobi because of the recent upheaval. I wish I could have gone out to explore and meet up with people - I was introduced to a local through a friend I met whitewater rafting in Slovenia and would have loved to catch a yoga class at the Africa Yoga Project, which was recommended by a friend I met while in Pakistan. Yet, taking a day of rest has been very rewarding, especially since we start a long and arduous journey tomorrow. I'm pretty sure we'll be in the bus 10 hours to travel the 300 km from Nairobi to Arusha, Tanzania, with an expected 2-4 hours at the border for immigration. Kenya and Nairobi have been great, and everyone I have met has been so kind. I hope that the Kenyan tourism industry can turn around - it affects so many people here when the U.S. and other countries issue travel advisories. I fully understand the need to remain safe and secure, and appreciate all efforts that work towards that. Yet, the security is so heightened here currently that I think a traveller could feel very confident. It's been interesting to read the local newspaper discussing the internal debates about how to handle keeping forces in Somalia after these attacks. I will be intrigued to follow the situation further after I leave. The one thing that I learn repeatedly in my travels is that the greatest fear to have is that of the unknown. The moment I board a plane to a new and unfamiliar place my heart beats so heavily and I am always extremely nervous. Yet, as soon as I am in a car on the way to my destination after landing I always feel so at ease and excited by the culture. I'm still cautious, but I often find that most of my fears were unfounded or heightened. It's this type of introspection and personal challenge that makes travel so intoxicating for me. In overcoming my fears I get closer and closer to understanding just how similar and connected we all are across the world.

I will have VERY limited access to wifi over the next three weeks as we will be camping almost every night. I should have some periodic access in the big cities in Tanzania, and will see if I can get some photos up then. If I don't get a post up soon, don't worry - I'm safe! I'll just be out in the wild.

Until then....

Holland

Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia

I'm back in action traveling. These past two weeks I was in the former Yugoslavia with my mom exploring our heritage. When we began the trip, we had a very vague understanding of where my great-grandfather immigrated to the United States from - we knew it was the former Yugoslavia, and believed it to be somewhere close to the Croatian/Slovenian border. Which country or what village it was alluded us.

We began the tour in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia Herzegovina and a region that was heavily affected by the war in the 1990s that resulted from ethnic tensions between Serbians, Bosnians and Croats living together in Yugoslavia. It was unbelievable to see how much damage the war caused in Sarajevo. Almost every single building was damaged from bullet holes or shells, the economy and tourism suffered, and the diversity that the city had once seen amongst its inhabitants lessened. That being said, Sarajevo was one of the most interesting places I've ever seen in terms of religious diversity - it is probably second only to Jerusalem. In the Old Town of the city you can find a mosque, a christian Orthodox Church, a Catholic Church, and a synagogue. We visited the Catholic Church and the Mosque on our tour. Our guide was Muslim, and says that although she doesn't participate in the 5 daily prayers today, that she did during the war - she said that "during the war, everyone was praying." My mom and I gained an even deeper understanding of the take that the war had on individuals when we spoke with one of our waitresses, who said that the war broke out when she was just 19 - so excited to get out and experience the world for herself. Her mother was muslim and her father was orthodox, and the war pitted her family against one another. I couldn't imagine being in such a tense and unpredictable situation. Unfortunately, during my first full day in Sarajevo I came down with a strep infection that stayed with me for the duration of the trip.

We left Sarajevo on the 3rd day to journey to Dubrovnik, Croatia. My Mom had been there before with her Mediterranean cruise, but it was my first time to visit. On the way to Dubrovnik, however, we were able to stop in one last Bosnian town for lunch - Mostar. Mostar is an incredible town. It was the second most damaged city behind Sarajevo from the war of the 90s, but it is home to one of the most beautiful bridges in the world - the Old Bridge, which was originally built during the Ottoman Empire in a Turkish arch style. The view from the bridge was just gorgeous, but the stones that made up the bridge were so slippery that it was an adrenaline rush just to walk across it. I suppose the locals got over that adrenaline rush though, because there were many men who were seeking an even bigger rush by JUMPING off the bridge! They would walk the bridge in their speedos among all of the tourists gathering tips, and when they decided that they had earned enough, they jumped! It was amazing to see.

After Mostar we got caught up at the border - it took us almost 3 hours to get through, but once we made it to Dubrovnik all that tension went away as we were greeted with a wonderful buffet dinner and the most gorgeous sunset I have ever seen. And... the Australian Water Polo team was staying at my hotel. That was a gorgeous sight in itself. The spa at the hotel was wonderful as well - complimentary saunas with relaxation rooms, cold water, ice showers, and hot tea. It was exactly what I needed being so sick - it didn't heal me, but it made me feel better for the time being which was so needed. The next day we toured the Old Town, and had the chance to have lunch on one of the most beautiful terraces I have ever seen. I took about an hour to explore the Old Town by myself, and decided that it would be nice to bring my mom some ice cream when I left to meet back up with her. The stand that I bought the ice cream from was only a 2 minute walk from our meeting spot, but the weather was HOT, and by the time I reached my mom ice cream had melted EVERYWHERE. I had ice cream on my purse, on my dress, on my shoes and all over my hands. It was quite the comical moment. The good news - it tasted delicious.

After Dubrovnik we travelled to Split and Trogir, the two places I had visited two summers ago with  my friends during my study abroad experience. I found my old hostel, and explored the city to see how it had changed. I must say, it is still magical. Trogir is still one of the most charming spots I have ever been to, and I can't wait to be able to stay in the town for a longer period.

Probably one of the most AMAZING parts of my trip was getting to travel to the Plitvice Lakes. They are a series of over 7 lakes connected to one another through waterfalls, and they are just gorgeous. My camera skills couldn't capture their beauty, but check them out anyways and schedule a trip to see them for yourself - it's the most amazing place in the world! The only thing that would make it better is the ability to swim in the lakes.

After the lakes, we continued our Journey into Slovenia. We made it to the Postojna caves, which was unbelievable. The caves are some of the largest in the world. We took a train 2 km into the caves, walked 1 km through them, then trained out 2 km, and we only saw the main cavern! The experience was incredible. I would love to have the opportunity to go back one day and climb through some of the more compressed spaces with a small guided group. Caving is one of my favorite things.

After the caves we made it to Lake Bled in Bled, Slovenia. What a beautiful place! The town was much smaller than the other cities we had been visiting, but it was heaven for any outdoor enthusiast. There is horseback riding, white water rafting, swimming, rowing, walking, hiking, sky-diving and more! We visited the castle that was on top of the mountain, and I went white water rafting with some British kids in the afternoon. It was a great journey.

Our second to last destination was the capital of Slovenia, Lubijana. The city was so charming - it had very symbolic architecture (check out the national library if you ever make it there), a very open market, great food, and lively music. I was surprised by it, but it was one of my favorite places on the tour. I had wonderful food from their international market, and of course I tried some sausage. Slovenia is famous, after all, for their Kranjska!

Our final destination was Zagreb - the capital of Croatia. Here we finally uncovered the truth about my great-grandparents. We figured out their villages, and learned how we can plan a future trip to go visit the area and do research about our family history. We had a wonderful tour guide, and learned a lot about the government of Croatia as well as some of the customs. Because it was the last day, Mom and I went shopping in the flower market to get flowers for our bus driver's family. We didn't over exert ourselves too much, but I did go for one last adrenaline rush by having 'champagne in the sky' at a table that was hoisted 17 stories into the air by a building crane. It was a gorgeous view.

It was a trip of a lifetime, and I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to travel with my mom and to spend time with her. On Saturday I will depart once more for a new journey in Africa! Stay tuned.