From A to Zanzibar
Africa was a wild ride in every sense of the word. We kissed lions, pet cheetahs, rode ostriches, ate ostriches, dove with sharks, got kicked by a giraffe, photographed every animal out there. We bungy jumped, rafted, abseiled, hot air ballooned, snorkeled, flew in microlights, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. Victoria Falls, Ngorongoro Crater, Zambezi, Maasai, Table Mountain, Garden Route, SOTENI, Zanzibar, Soweto Jazz Fest, Kruger and Tarangire and Chobe National Parks. 6 countries in 6 weeks.
An overview of Part 2:
11/24 Flew from Joburg to Nairobi to Kilimanjaro
11/25 – 11/29 Climbed Mount Kilimanjaro
11/30 Recovered from climb
12/1 Tarangire National Park
12/2 Village walk in Manyara
12/3 Ngorongoro Crater and Maasai
12/4 Hung out around Arusha
12/5 Flew from Arusha to Zanzibar
12/6 Spice tour
12/7 Snorkeling on the Murogo Reef
12/8 Explored Stone Town
12/9 Flew from Zanzibar back to Arusha
12/10 Flew from Kilimanjaro to Nairobi, night bus to Bungoma
12/11 Toured the SOTENI Village of Hope in Mbakalo
12/12 SOTENI, night bus back to Nairobi
12/13 Walked around Nairobi, flew to Dubai
12/14 Flew from Dubai to Bangkok
Tanya and I took so many flights that it didn’t hit us that we were leaving just because we were at an international airport. Am I really out of Africa? Of course the smells of different foods now crowd the streets, and a “Jambo!” receives a puzzled stare, and it would be a challenge to find a black person around, but is this the end of the ride? What about the sand dunes of Namibia, the King Kong gorillas of Rwanda, and the pyramids of Egypt? What about the children who wouldn’t let go? What about the 2 weddings we were invited to?!
Whereas India was in my face, Africa was in my heart. Especially having finished at the SOTENI Village of Hope. After watching our interactions with the locals, Edward told Tanya and me: “A smile from you two is a better treatment than medicine.”
When we arrived at the Bangkok airport yesterday morning, David, The Chairman (though he doesn’t go by that) of Rustic Pathways, greeted us with a welcome hug and the 2006 summer catalog hot off the press. I highly recommend that you check out a certain 2-page spread on a certain somebody taking a gap year…and the rest of the catalog, I suppose.
As I talk with friends from home nowadays, I realize how much can change in just a year. I feel for those seniors that fretfully await early decision letters, and, for the record, I drank a pina colada in Zanzibar in your honor, guys. While I can relate to those people, I can’t relate to friends from my grade now nearly halfway done with freshman year. Two roads diverged. “Finals” and “freezing” are the 2 most commonly spoken words from them, and perhaps another f-word in front of both. I’ve had tests, but not the paper kind. And I’ve been cold, but only in the showers of third world countries.
While I sit in the Rustic ricefields house in Udon Thani, I force myself to reflect on my current situation: back from Africa yesterday, off to Laos tomorrow.