My daughter, Whitney called on Sunday. Her report was much like Krissy's. She assured me she would write a long, descriptive email. I am waiting patiently. I then received a short instant message yesterday (Mon). She said the wireless service for internet was not working well and the Amazon email would be delayed. I don't think she had gotten out of bed since the ship left port. They were absolutley worn out. She also mentioned that she was dealing with some Amazon revenge, the type of digestive problems that go with foreign travel. Combine those facts and I am not surprised the news is taking its sweet time being relayed. But I do know she was ecstatic (sp) about the trip and assured me my imagination could not even get close to what she had experienced. "Like National Geographic, but so much more, and you just can't believe what you are seeing.".
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Ship life
If you are worried about sea sickness, I got an instant message at 4am our time (Texas) the the seas were 13-15 feet, temp about 84 05 85 degrees and gale force winds. But the sun was shining. Go figure. Whitney was on her way to lunch and said food was flying off the tables and the waves had thrown her out of bed. Yikes! But she sounded GREAT, had on a sea sick patch and seemed to think it was a grand adventure.
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South Africa
We docked in Cape Town early in the morning on Feb. 19th. It did not take us long to clear customs at all. The first part of the day was spent shopping, stocking up on some American supplies, especially food. By noon we had everything we wanted and Jenny and I hired a cab driver for the day to show us around.
First we went to Boulders Beach, which is enrooted to Cape of Good Hope. The beach was beautiful, but the beach it self was very narrow, with lots of giant boulders. The interesting thing is- penguins live on the beach, hundreds of them. They are very used to people, so we could get really close. Jenny and I took off our shoes to wade around the boulders and go see more penguins. The water was freezing! We both tried to pet one of the penguins, but it started grunting at us and clipped its beak, so we left it alone. They also are a little bit stinky. The beach itself does not smell at all, but sometimes when you get close to one of the penguins, you get a whiff of something that is not very pleasant.
After the beach, we went onto the Cape. It is inside a National Park. We drove up into the main part of the point and got out of the car. Jenny had a diet coke in her hand and all of the sudden; two baboons ran out of the bush and started chasing us. Keep in mind that these baboons came up to my waist and were a good 3 or 4 feet tall. They also had bog teeth and blue and red butts, with a long tail. One of the local guides saw us running away and told Jenny to put down her coke. She threw it on the ground. The baboon ran up and grabbed the coke, climbed on top of a car and finished off the rest of the drink. The baboons have wised up to people being nearby and have started �mugging� tourists for their food and drinks. They will grab a lunch sack out of you hands and sit there and eat it in front of you. We saw one giant baboon run up to a small child and rip the ice cream cone out of his hand. It was actually kind of funny.
We decided to hike up to the top of the Cape instead of taking the railcar. It was a bit of a hike, but definitely worth the effort. We got to the top and looked around. It was An amazing site to see. The water was a deep blue, but got very light as the waves crashed. There was a little guardrail around the edge of the top, so you would not fall off. Jenny and I decided to climb over the rail to get some better pics out on a little part of the rock that stuck out. Looking back it was probably a really dumb thing to do, but oh well. We got a lot of great pictures.
The cape is the meeting of two oceans- the Indian Ocean and Atlantic. It was weird to look south, straight towards Antarctica. We hiked back down, which is much easier. There is a small gift shop on the way down so we stopped and got some souvenirs. As we walked back to the car through the parking lot, there were more baboons than ever! It was weird to see them all sitting around- lots on top of cars and just hopping around. One of the girls told us a story about how a baboon got locked inside a friend�s car. It had figured out how to get in a car, but could not figure how to get back out. She said the baboon went crazy, tearing up the seats and ripped the steering wheel out. She said the baboon eventually broke the windshield and climb out. I am telling you, those things are scary.
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Tanzania
I still keep saying this, but I cannot believe I am pretty much halfway through my voyage. I just left Dar es Salaam and am headed to Madras, India. So, WOW. A safari, me looking and seeing wild animals in their natural home. It was like being on National Geographic or something. So it starts off on Sunday, March 2. (Happy Birthday, Mom!) We pull into Dar and it is quite a sight to see. On the starboard side is a lush, tropical jungle looking. On the port side is a whole other world. It is highly populated, with low run down buildings. There were people washing their clothes in the water and a HUGE group of people crammed into a market. It was very strange to look out and not see one white person, not one. We definitely stuck out on this trip. The water was very dirty and it SMELLED. I mean, woof. Not to generalize Tanzania, but it smelled bad. A lot of the people had a certain aroma to them. The smell was BO- and sometimes it was super strong. We grouped together and boarded the buses to Arusha. The buses were like Greyhounds, but an off brand. They smelled kinda funky too. We were lucky enough to have air conditioning on our bus. So, we start out for the TEN HOUR bus ride to Arusha. It was so long, I mean looooooooooooooong. I feel really bad for the bus that did not have air conditioning. Our buses were �Royal Coach�, but I would maybe say Roach Coach? At least we got to watch movies. Well, we saw �Baby�s Day Out� and �Sheena�. Sheena is an old b movie- with a blonde girl lost in the jungle adopted by natives, etc. It was um, great. Then we got to watch music videos of Britney Spears, Paula Abdul from the 80s and Celine Dion. There was also this one video that had the most annoying song, �We�re going to Ibiza.�
We passed Mt Kilimanjaro on the way- Not to poopoo the mountain, but I thought it would be A LOT bigger. It was still really pretty though, with a flat plateau top with ice. We finally arrived at our hotel in Arusha, Mount Meru. It was dark when we got there, so I could not really see the area. It seemed like it was in the middle of a very underdeveloped area. My roommate for the whole trip was Kelly Wade- we had a great time together. We saw and acrobatic show- kind of like Cirque de Soile. We all went to bed early, since our vans were leaving early in the morning. The food was ok, but it was just the same thing over and over and over. I lived off rice and watermelon. I was not a big fan of the meat, although the gazelle was pretty good.
My breakfast was ok, although my cereal had little weevils in it. I got up early and went to the hotel store to go buy some Tanzanite. Tanzanite is a really pretty blueish/purple stone. It is only found near Arusha, Tanzania. Arusha is in the north eastern part of the country. It�s really expensive in the states, so I went ahead and stocked up. We all met out front of the hotel and piled into our safari vans. My van was me, Kelly, Barbara, Kourtney, Troy from CO, Kathleen from Dallas, Phil from Pitt and his mom, Nancy. Our fearless leader was Gregory- super nice, and was very informative. I wish I could say that we were in those super cool landrovers, but we were in little vans with stadium seating. The tops popped up kinda like jeeps and all the windows opened so we could get some air. We started off driving towards the Ngorongoro crater. Ngorongoro is the most amazing place. It a natural crater, four miles in diameter. It is home to so many animals and has changed into a natural game preserve. The roads to the game preserve are EXTREMELY bumpy. The roads, if you can call them that, are super dusty. I was covered in dust- dark, red dirt. Before we got to the crater, we stopped in at Gibbs coffee farm. It was a gorgeous place, with little cabanas for couples to stay in. We ate lunch outside, underneath the trees in the deep shade. Around us were rolling hills, lined with coffee bean plants. The food was SO GOOD. They had this great chocolate souffle thing. I don�t know exactly but I had about 3 or 4 helpings. There were lots of flowering trees. I think the flowers were lotuses- they smelled like gardenias and magnolias. There was a hike through the farm, but we decided not to go and had some Kilimanjaro beer underneath the trees.
Our van decided to stop for pictures at a lookout point on the edge of the crater. Well, since I skipped the nature hike, I was not aware of all the plants. Anyway, I leaned forward to get a better picture. Poor me, the plants were stinging nettles. Boy was that fun. I hopped back and started squawking like a little banshee. Kathleen got it worse though- her whole calf swelled up and was red for two days. Then we got to our hotel right as the sun was setting. The hotel was beautiful and built into the side of the crater. It was kind of like a ski lodge setting. WE went outside and watched the sunset. We had the same dinner as every other night- grilled gazelle, warthog, chicken, and beef with some sauce stuff and of course, fruit. I pretty much lived off the watermelon and rice. The meat sometimes tasted funny.
We all went to bed kinda early that night. I forgot to mention that the lodges turn off the electricity at night, around 10PM. We had to finish up the night partly by candle light. We got to see the stars, and I finally got to see the Southern Cross constellation. Kelly brought a travel alarm clock, so we set it for 5:45 and went to bed. At 5:30 there was a really loud knock on the door, yelling �jambo�. Jambo is hello in Swahili. I do know some Swahili now- Hakuna Matata is a real phrase- it means �No problem.� We hurriedly got dressed, grabbed some coffee and headed out to the vans for our first game drive. It is cold up in the crater and kinda of windy. We winded our way down and passed some Maasai villages along the way. The Maasai are the most famous warriors from Africa. They are the tribe with the elaborate beaded necklaces and stretched earlobes and large earrings.
We saw so many animals down in the crater. We started freaking out at all the zebras that were everywhere- like cattle. Needless to say, I took a ton of solo shots with animals in the background. We saw a guinea hens, black rhinos, lions, wildebeests, hyenas, ostriches, gazelles, and flamingos. The lake inside the crater was covered in pink flamingos that were making this hooting sound. It was kinda loud because there were so many of the flamingos perched in the water. There was one little zebra that had a giant section of its hindquarter missing- I guess he was slow with one of the cheetahs or lionesses. The drive took all morning until about lunch time. I had to go to the bathroom SO BAD. It started at about 8AM and by 11AM, I was feeling pretty bad. You are not allowed to get out of the van in the crater, for obvious reasons. I was getting cranky and mad about the whole situation. Gregory radioed back in Swahili to headquarters and made sure it was ok. I hopped out of the van and did my business in the middle of the crater. Another van dove by, which was nice. Anyway, later Gregory told me that he had to radio because there are hidden cameras all over the park to help monitor the visitors and the animals. So basically, I was on TV peeing for all the Ngorongoro guards.
The game drive was great and we eventually left and drove towards the Serengeti. I still cannot believe that I talking about these places and that I have been there. The drive to Serengeti was not that long, and was really hot. I got sun burned on one half of my body, which was nice. There was one incident though. We saw a few Maasai boys playing on the side of the road. We stopped to say hello and offer them gifts. We were all told to bring lots of pens and sheets of paper to donate to the children, so they could go to school. Anyways, I was riding shotgun and we stopped on the left side of the road. Everyone drives backwards from the States. I have actually become used to this driving style and feel weird driving on the right side. Back to the story, I reached in my bag to give the boys a pen. As I am extending my arm out the car, one of the boys picks up a giant rock, the two times the size of a softball. He looks so mad and starts screaming in Swahili at me. I started to get a little worried and asked Gregory what was going on. He looked a little nervous. The kid kept screaming at me and acted like he was going to throw the rock at my face. I got even more nervous and looked to Gregory. He made a move to underneath his seat and started to squawk back at the boy. The boy looked even more agitated and then suddenly dropped the rock and ran off. We took off in our car and I asked Gregory what he had said to the boy. He replies nonchalantly, �Oh, I told him I was going to shoot him and kill him�. Like it was no big deal. That�s my brush with death story.
We carried on to the Serengeti. It looks very much like South Texas- flat, dry and some random dispersed trees. We saw a family of giraffes, hippos, lions and elephants. We did see some sad stuff though. We first saw a male elephant hanging out by a tree. Suddenly, the cob radio started buzzing with a bunch of stuff in Swahili. Gregory takes off and drives about 30 yards ahead, and stomps on the brakes. Knowing our need to see some violence, he points out 6 or 7 lionesses and their cubs snacking on a baby elephant. He wasn�t sure if the lionesses took the baby down or if it died because it was sick. We took some pictures and watched the lionesses lazy around. The male elephant we just saw starts to saunter slowly towards the dead baby and swishes its trunk around. The lions don�t seem too interested and keep on eating, but still keeping an eye on the elephant. He gets closer and closer, finally chasing the lionesses off about 10 feet away. This is when it gets really sad- the elephant starts to pet its dead baby with its trunk, gently poking it and smelling it. It was such a sad thing to see. I was videotaping during all of this and you can definitely hear me start to get upset. I have seen this kind of behavior on those discovery channel stuff, but it so much more powerful to see it in persona and see these animals care for their young. We leave the elephant in peace and drive onto our lodge for the evening.
Our place for the night is a little lodge is the middle of the Serengeti- you can see animals out your window walking around. There was a bunch of these little rats like animals running around. They were actually pretty cute- they made these little squeaky grunts and scurried around. We watched the sunset and the fires. The fires were off in the distance and slowly made their way over the crest of the hill and the mountains. We were told that these fires were set intentionally to help new grass grow and all that kinda stuff. The sunset was amazing, by far the best one in Tanzania. It was a deep red and orange- so pretty! We had a few drinks and dinner and sat in the bar for awhile. Troy asked one of the bartenders how they keep the animals, specifically lions and leopards out of the lodge since it is so open. He tells us there aren�t any animal guards and the animals are free to go wherever. Well, he then tells us about when a lion wandered into the bar one evening and scared a whole bunch of people out of there. He told us that a giant male lion wandered into the bar in December. A giant male lion just hanging out in the bar. I got a little nervous� Then the bartender also told us another story about why the lodge is sometimes called the Leopard. It turns out that a leopard came in and attacked a hotel guest while she was checking in at the front desk. She was eventually ok, but still� animals just coming into the middle of the lodge courtyard, like it is no big deal. Needless to say, Kelly and I definitely locked our windows and our doors that night.
We got up the next morning at 530 and were in our vans by 7 on the game drive. It was great- we saw lots of lions and elephants- and oh yea, cheetahs too. There were two herds of impalas grazing next to each other and one of the males started grunting really really loud and tried to herd his women away from the other male impala. It was pretty neat to watch. Then, we saw the baboons. Since this is an all audience email, I won�t go into detail about what those little dirty primates do. But, all those rumors you hear about baboons, yep, they do all that stuff. It was actually kinda funny. And yes, Barbara video taped the whole scene while laughing hysterically.
We went back by the lions eating the baby elephant and they were still going at it. The daddy elephant was gone though. We decided to climb on the roof of the vans to get a better look. Of course I drop my binoculars covers into the brush. Poor Gregory doesn�t want to get out and get it. I am certainly not getting out of the car. Those lunching lions are only 10 to 15 feet away. Gregory hops out of the van and grabs my stuff for me. What a nice guy. We kept on driving and finally got to see some more Hippos- they are one of my favorites. We saw one walking/waddling around in the brush. Gregory said it is hard to see them out walking, so I guess we were pretty lucky. The hippo just waddled back and forth, but he walked faster as another van came up. Those fat things can waddle FAST. I think our hippo was shy because he went and hid in some marshy brush so we could not see him anymore. We then went and saw some mongooses (mongeese?) You know, like Rikki Tikki Tavi? I know everyone has seen that cartoon. I think Timone from the lion king is a mongoose too. Anyways, there were about 30 or so piled up together on one of those giant termite mounds and were eating some termites for breakfast. They made all these little chittering noise.
W e left the Serengeti and began to make our way towards Olduvai Gorge. Olduvai is nicknamed �the cradle of civilization� because this is where the oldest fossils of human form have been found. It�s a neat gorge, with 4 layers of different rocks. It was weird to think that the dirt at the bottom of the gorge is about 3.5 million years old. We had a box lunch at the gorge and moved onto the Maasai village.
The Maasai are an old old race/tribe of people. They have lived in this area for thousands of years. They are cattle raisers and live off the land. They wear a red cloth/cloak thing draped over their bodies and have recently started to wear homemade flip-flops. They are most distinguished by their beaded jewelry. They all wear these elaborate beaded collars that can be two feet in diameter and intricately beaded. We were told to bring things to trade with the Maasai to try and get one of their ceremonial necklaces or bracelets. So, I brought t-shirts, pens and stickers for the kids. When we got there, the Maasai did not really wan any of our stuff. I finally got some trading in motion. I gave them my watch, t-shirt and a few pens for some necklaces. I could not get them to give me one of hose giant ones. I kept on persisting and finally offered to throw some American dollars into the mix. The Maasai really liked getting the dollars. They only trade their cattle with others, and needed the money to buy things they cannot trade for. I finally got one of those giant necklaces. Its white, with some bands of color striped in. I ended up getting 1 giant necklace, 3 smaller ones and this lion club. The lion club is from carved wood and has all these beads and metal disks on it. Anyways, there are a few Maasai warriors running around in PiPhi rush t-shirts. ( I wish I could have gotten pics of them wearing them). I took a bunch of pictures with all the Maasai. Me in my little safari khaki outfit, they in native garb. Oh, I forgot to mention that they all stretch their earlobes into giant loops with huge holes. Their teeth were funny colored too. We left the Maasai and drove on towards Lake Manyara.
We stopped in by a local market in town and trade to get more stuff. Troy got so much stuff. The locals wanted anything- shoes, pens, bandanas, candy, you name it. I did not have much left to trade, so I just got some carved wooden spoons with giraffes on them. The hotel was just down the road and Kelly and I immediately headed to the pool. This hotel was by far the most modern, with a pool and hot water. The pool felt great � I was covered in dust. You get so dirty on all the safaris. We all had dinner together and tried to stay up a little later because it was our last night in Tanzania. We all told scary stories and went to bed. We got up again at 6 and were loaded into the vans to head onto ARusha. We meet back in Arusha at our first hotel, Mount Meru. We changed into bigger greyhound like busses and started to 10 hour drive. It was so hot on the bus. They said the ac was on, but I doubt it. I took a sleeping pill to try and just sleep through the whole thing. We left at about 9AM and got home about 7PM. The line to board the ship was so long. I finally made it to my cabin. I showered and went to bed asap.
So now it�s Saturday, March 08, 2003. I wonder what al you kids are doing. I know it is Spring Break. I hope everyone has a great time- be safe ya�ll! Our next stop is Chennai, India. Chennai is also called �Madras�- it�s located on the east coast of India, north of Sri Lanka. If things get unsettled and India becomes unsafe, we reroute to either Sri Lanka or maybe Myanmar. We get to India on the 15th and from there I leave for a five day trip to Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. I get to see the Taj Majal, Ganges River and the pink city. Should be pretty interesting. I have heard India smells awful and some people get sick just from the smell, let alone the food. We�ll see how this turns out�.
Love ya�ll!
Whitney
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Whitney
Ship Life
Just received a phone call from Whitney. (MOM! My cell phone works in India!!!....I'm wondering if this is good news???) But it was that reassuring phone call. On board, everyone was ordering cheeseburgers, going to take and shower and watch the movies they bought for $2.00. Back to being college students. No signs of Delhi Belly, but she heard it takes about 12 hours for onset.
The important news was the announcement for a MANDATORY MEETING at 11 am tomorrow morning, their time. She said that although some meetings called mandatory were skipped by some, this one was ABSOLUTLEY mandatory and would be addressing the current world situations. I feel sure after that meeting there will be important messages to be received.
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