Good times in the Kenyan Capital

Well, our original plan was to skip Nairobi. Then we planned on staying for a day or couple days, max, once we arrived in town. In the end though, we've been here a week... The last few days have been amazing though, and the past week may have been the best yet on the trip. (I wrote this wayyy back, when it was actually somewhat recent but just before I was able to publish it, the power went out in typical African style so I wasn't able to post it, and lost a good part of the post in the process as well... so this is what was saved... I'll try and give a better update in the next few days..., especially since this past week, as in the first week of April's been pretty memorable as well!)

Highlights in and around Kenya's capital city include:

*Hitchin rides all over the place, from English NGO workers, to a few Kenyan guys, to a Coke truck (yep, that's right! =D)

*Watching probably one of the most demanding and talented acrobatic acts ever as part of a Kenyan cultural presentation.

*Kissing a giraffe, haha... yea, really.

*Close encounters with baby elephants and a baby rhino.

*Feasting on crocodile, ostrich, and a bunch of other meats at Carnivore, supposedly one of the best restaurants in the world. (not sure if I'd rate it that high, but it was still an awesome experience!)

*And, of course, going to the World Cup Qualifier soccer game between Kenya and Tunisia. Unfortunately (but not all that unexpectedly), the home team lost; but it was still a pretty exciting time, and an experience that would make anyone a soccer fan.

Nairobi!

Writing from Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya and the largest city in the East Africa region. We just arrived late Monday night, delayed by a two hour stop to fix the gear box, which wouldn't shift out of first... nothing too unsual for Africa, but a little unsettling nonetheless.

So last post, (which I realize was over two weeks ago, sorry) we were headed down to Zambia. Well, due to a missing customs officer who was less than efficient when he was finally tracked down, we missed the boat down from Burundi to Kigoma, Tanzania. The following twenty four hours are another adventure that I don't have the time to write about here, but we ended up arriving in Kigoma almost exactly one day after we'd hoped. Unfortunately, this also means that we missed the ferry destined for Zambia. With our limited time and the next ferry not leaving until the following week, we made a snap decision and hopped on the "express" train for Dar Es Salaam the following morning. So, following a somewhat grueling and less than luxurious 40 hour ride, we arrived on the East coast of Tanzania and saw the Indian Ocean for the first time. For the records, it looks a lot like the other oceans... After nearly going on a safari due to being offered a really great deal , we opted instead to hop on the next bus for Arusha, more than a eight hour ride (ended up being over 10 after the brakes failed around the halfway point, again, nothing too unexpected). We ended up spending Nearly a week in Arusha, making a visit to the base of Mount Kilimanjaro (the highest mountain in Africa), swimming under a waterfall fed by waters from Kili, and of course, going on a short safari (got an even better deal on it, not even completely sure that the operator made a profit but oh, well). And with just a day left on our Tanzanian visa, we caught a shuttle (essentially a bus, but called a shuttle) to Kenya, the fifth, and most likely, last country on the trip.


Anyway, all the reviews we've recieved, both from guidebooks and from other travellers, have been consistently less than complimentary. However, and maybe it's just because we had the absolutely lowest of expectations for this city, we've been nothing but impressed by what we've seen in the past two days. As we approached the city, I was treated to the refreshing sight of divided highways, street lights, pedestrian crosssings, and proper street signs (all things that I can't really say exist in the other countries within the East Africa region.

Gotta end off here as we're heading off to a campground just outside town tonight (near a giraffe sanctuary that we plan on visiting tomorrow) and we'd like to get set up before sundown. I'll pick this up when we get back to town!

Chimps!

As we'd hoped, we were able to arrange a chimp trek in the Vyonda National Forest Reserve over the weekend. Again, the chief responsible for the parks in the region accompanied us to arrange a guide for the following day. And when he found out that we hadn't yet tried Ugali, (the Burundian staple food made from cassava flour), he even took us out for beer, brochettes, with a little Ugali on the side! So, many thanks to Mercule, the best example of Burudian hospitality that we've met!

Anyway, we set out for the park at 630 the next morning, eager and excited to see these chimps that had already eluded me in Uganda thus far. After more than four hours of hard trekking(/bushwacking) and almost turning back in defeat at one point, we finally heard their cries. Around an hour later, we spotted one of the chimps across the valley from us. And another thirty minutes later, we were a stone's throw from them. These chimps, unlike ones in parks in other countries, are not at all habituated to humans. And as we approached, they almost suddenly appeared in a semi circle around us, making some pretty intense cries (probably equavalent to war cries, I imagine) to try and scare us off. But, as our guide assured us, they were a lot fearful of us than we were of them. And then, after a few minutes, and a few attempts to try and scare us off, they disappeared. We saw a few trees rustle as they ran off, but other than that, these human sized animals disappeared even more suddenly than they appeared. Overall, it took over seven hours from the time we entered the park to when we made it back, but it was an awesome day, and totally worth the pain of trying to walk the next day! =D

In other news, we're (finally) on our way out of Burundi today. It's been a really great time and in my opinion, as beautiful as Rwanda may be, Burundi is even better! We'll be boarding a cargo ship this afternoon destined for Kigoma, Tanzania. After we arrive tomorrow, we'll have a few hours to explore the town before boarding a ferry for Mpulungu, Zambia, at the very end of Lake Tanganyika. So, hopefully the next post will be two countries from now, and after we've travelled down the longest lake in the world!

Bujumbura!

Salut from Burundi!

It's been a quick two weeks since Jenn arrived in Uganda. So far, we've split the time between the orphanage in Kampala, Canada House in Mbarara, and the capital cities of three different countries.


We left Uganda last Wednesday morning, catching the early bus from Mbarara to Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. The better parts of Wednesday and Thursday were spent just venturing around town and eating, a lot. Chris, the remaining engineer joined us in Kigali on Thursday night on his month end break, and we left the following morning for Bujumbura, where we currently are. Similar to the country of Burundi, Bujumbura is smaller than most capital cities, less developed, and has fewer Western amenities than are available in Kampala or Kigali.

We’ll be moving on this weekend towards the Tanzanian border, after a week in Burundi. But first, we’ll try to visit the Parc Nationale de Bururi to see some chimps and for our last stop in the country, to camp out on the shores of Lake Tanganyika at Nyonza-Lac, which supposedly has one of the nicest beaches in the country, and also happens to be on our way to Tanzania.

And a bit about this beautiful, yet little known, country. In an almost constant state of political upheaval and civil war over much of the past two decades, the country has only recently stabilized enough to really begin the long process of rebuilding an economy that is evidently lagging behind those of its neighbours. Often overshadowed by the genocides which took place in Rwanda in 1994, the atrocities that occurred in Burundi around the same time period are much less publicized, yet were of near the same scale.

However, similar to Rwanda, it is difficult to see the effects of the recent troubles in the people of Burundi as they are incredibly warm and friendly. Although the country still has much to work to do to catch up with its neighbor to the north, it must already be much improved from where it was just a few years ago.

Oh yea, I'll be writing all entries on this blog from random internet cafe's that we find along the way. So with limited time, scattered thoughts, and intermittent internet connection, expect posts to be a little less refined with a lot more grammatical errors than on my other blog.

Anyway, here are some of the Burundian highlights that we’ve experienced this past week, also the top reasons, from our personal experiences, to visit this awesome little country in the heart of Africa:

1. Obviously, a given, but it couldn’t be any more true, is the warmth and friendliness of the people. By chance, we met a pastor at a guesthouse that we were trying to find lodging at. It turned out to be full, as did the following four guesthouses that he kindly drove us to. In the end, we found a Christian youth centre (I'm still not entirely sure what exactly it is) that we're now staying at for less than three dollars Canadian a night! The Burundi section of the Lonely Planet is a lot thinner than the other countries in the book, probably because it wasn’t secure enough for the authors to have spent much time in the country at the time that it was published. Thus, we’ve often found ourselves having to ask the locals for directions, suggestions, and other forms of advice. And it is always the case that they are more than willing to help out, often even walking with us right to the place that we are looking for.

2. The fact that we’re staying in place in the heart of the capital city for about the same cost as writing this post! Did I mention we pretty much have two rooms to ourselves as well as double doors that open onto a huge balcony? Pretty Awesome! One of the main reasons that we’ve staying in this city so long is because of this place.

3. The beaches just outside of town are incredible. Set on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, the longest freshwater and second deepest lake in the world, our guidebook wasn't lying when it said these were some of the best inland beaches in Africa!

4. The tourist industry, or lack thereof. We visited the National Tourist Centre today, finally finding it open after two failed attempts over the weekend. It's both amusing, and sad, to be handed promotional brochures and maps, all dating back to 1993. Basically, the country hasn't had any notable tourism industry in the past fifteen years. But, that's good news for the tourists who are here, since with fewer tourists comes much less inflated prices.

5. On Tuesday, we received a private tour of one of the national park reserves, and from the chief of all the parks in the whole southern region of the country no less! All for the price of less than three bucks each! Unfortunately, none of the hippos, crocs, or baboons that live in the reserve crossed our paths, but it was still a surreal experience to be able to visit these places, where most people would never have the chance to see.

6. Transport: Slow and uncomfortable at times (most of the time, really), it can be a frustrating experience but also a rewarding one too! Due to a lack of vehicles on the road to the park reserve, we had no other choice but to hire our own taxis, in the form of men on their bicycles. So, for two hundred francs (twenty cents), we made our way on the backs of a few rickety bikes, through the pouring rain down one of the main (read: only) tarmac roads to the park reserve. Also, at the request of the chief who had guided us through the reserve, the minibus we took on the way back to Bujumbura made a special stop at the monument marking the location where Livingston and Speke supposedly met; a seemingly trivial fact to me, it is oft recommended by the guidebooks and tourism offices alike. Although it was just a few minutes down a dirt path off the main tarmac road, it was still out of the way for the bus, and all of its passengers. But, we are learning to expect from the kind and easygoing Burundians, no one seemed to mind!

7. Wednesday, we went to a park just out of town known for its hippos and crocodiles. After walking into a rather unassuming park entrance, we were met by a man who turned out to be the park guide. Five minutes later, accompanied by him as a guide, and an AK-47 bearing police officer for security (although it was supposedly totally safe...) we set off in search of hippos and crocs. Turns out that the crocs aren't commonly seen in the wet season, which it is now, but we did see a baby one, as well as several groups of hippos. But the highlight came just outside of the park entrance, where, on our way out, we spotted a few more hippos sleeping near the shore just a few hundred metres upstream. So we followed a dirt path down from the road towards the group, where we found a single local man perched on a rock, as if waiting for us to join him in observing the sleeping creatures. So, for a good fifteen minutes we stood and watched the hippos, not more than 10 metres from us, far closer than we'd ever get to them in any national game park elsewhere, and probably a lot less than the distance that any guide would recommend. By the end of it, a number of other locals had joined us at the river's edge, although I'm pretty sure they were attracted more by the visitors than the hippos.

8. Yesterday, we went to visit one of the national tea making factories. Supposedly closed to visitors, according to the factory manager, he nevertheless permitted us in (probably because so few tourists would venture out to these places), and even provided us with a guide! So, as has become the norm in most of our adventures in this country, we received a private tour of the factory by the factory’s chief technician, probably mainly because he was one of the only staff capable of speaking in English.

9. The final highlight came on our trip back from the tea factory last night. As we rounded the corner along the incredibly winding road back into town, we caught a magnificent view of the whole town of Bujumbura before us, bordering the lake, with the mountains of the Congo filling the sky in the background. Oh, it was just as the sky was finally clearing following quite an intense torrential downpour interspersed with periods of hail, just in time for us to catch the sun setting over the lake. So there we sat (squished) in a bus full of Burundians eager to get home for dinner, with the Eagles playing Hotel California over the stereo.

And that, is what Africa is all about!