This is our hotel room we got for our first nights in Nairobi. Ah... Hotel Boulevard... only $175CAD a night. Please notice Matty's sexy ghost. It was all down hill from here as we would consume all available starch in Africa.
Toys in the market. Probably the last time I saw any toys at all.
Outdoor market in Nairobi.
It is amazing how long people of developing nations can keep cars running... unfortunately it looks like this bus has reached the end of its road. I feel for this dude pushing.
Nairobi's train station. Obviously not very busy...
Date Park (aka US Embassy Memorial). Some Nairobi families having lunch in the park. Other than these people and us, everyone in this park was on a date. It apparently is THE place in Nairobi to bring someone you are courting.
A friendly game of football.
A monument to celebrate Kenya's independence. Behind me are 2 dudes eyeing my camera...
Some Maasai shields at a tourist trap located on the highway between Nairobi and Arusha. Lucky, we escaped without buying anything but water.
On our way to Mount Kilimanjaro. This is the last town and we stopped here for final supplies (i.e. meat).
That is our guide, Severin (#12), buying our meat from the World Trade Centre Modern Butchery. Is it just me or does the butchery's name define oxymoron twice?
The Kili Hike begins... A lovely waterfall. The first 1000m of elevation (1700 to 2700m) were in rainforest.
The sun trying to penetrate the dense rainforest.
The poor porter who had to carry my over-loaded backpack.
Another very scenic waterfall.
Colobus monkey. Mere metres away from our first hut, Mandara.
A colobus mom and her baby.
Our first sight of the peak (it is on the left with the snow). It doesn't seem too far away... (Mawenzi peak is on the right.)
Porters. (Not ours.) But they put everyone to shame. I still don't know how they balance that amount of random stuff on their heads.
Flowers on the way up. The rainforest has given way to arid fields.
Matty marking his territory.
Matty mauwin' bench. It's been a tough day.
Some crazy flowers. Fields of them.
5 years ago the mountain had a fire. It burnt these flowers but somehow they remain. It was kind of eery.
View of the sunset from our second hut, Horombo.
More Horombo sunset. Our A-frame huts are on the right.
Matty, Severin (our guide), and I. Ahhhh.... Severin the freakin' Snake!
Getting closer... Amy is decked out hardcore. Coming down, it was probably around here where she termed Kilimanjaro as "the worst elected experience" of her life.
More red rock, less clouds.
6am. At the summit of Kilimanjaro. We started hiking at midnight to arrive at sunrise. Matty's massive upchuck is about 300m to the right. You tell me: Is this worth $1200USD?
Proof we were here.
At the top of Kili!!! The only smiles we could muster.
On the way down. See that ice/glacier in the distance. Matt was convinced it was a weather station... Poor girl coming up...
Pic from Gilman's Point. I would have been happy just making it here...
The mish-mash hiking team extraordinaires.
Our Kili support team. Does everyone look like they enjoyed the tips we just handed out?
Starting our safari. It is in this cramp landrover that we would bond/experience/over-share over the next 4 days.
Baboon attacking a Landrover. The driver is suspicious.
It is always fun to joke metaphorically about blue balls, but it'd be devasting to actually have them.
Lake Manyara.
Old tree. Lake Manyara.
Ah giraffe. They are oh so placid. But that is because they are mute.
Mauwin' tree.
Pic of the savannah beside Lake Manyara.
Safari-ing. All eating, sitting and standing. (Nice camera...)
Ngorongoro Crater. One of the most beautiful and must-see places on earth, in my opinion.
Team Safari Over-Share. Giving the mzungo thumbs-up.
Serengeti Gate. It is always nice to be greeted by an elephant.
Matty with the Tsetse shirt. Don't were blue in Africa; their version of the horsefly will attack you. Some people remain defiant... The day after this, Matt randomly bumps into his sister here. (Rover-mate Kelly is in the background.)
Rover-mates Mandy and Phebe (left and centre). Our cook, Richard maintains his menacing persona.
My bout with leprocy. I'm just glad it was isolated to my nose.
Herd of elephants. Come closer damn-it!
Zerbas. They love showing you their asses.
Hippo Pond. Laziest animals in the world. That yawn was the most action we witness in our 10 min. wait here. It makes one wonder how long those National Geographic photographers have to camp out to see anything...
The Serengeti savannah.
A little cards before dinner. Later the hyenas will circle around here... And for the record: warm hats that cover the ears are called toques not toboggans!
The Serengeti sunset.
More sky this time.
Tent city. My advice: don't ever do Africa with an overland tour. That tent is your home for weeks and they make you break camp at 5am every morning.
Serengeti sunrise.
Our one and only cheetah.
What?!? Hippo out of water...
Ah wilderbeast. Easily the stupidest animals alive. They only survive because they are just smart enough to follow herds of zebra, who warn them of danger.
Lioness climbing a tree.
Team Safari Over-share with our guide Anwar.
Male elephant drinking from our camp tap on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. I couldn't zoom out any more...
It is freaking HUGE!
The Ngorongoro Crater sunrise.
That is a black rhino to the left and north of the ostrich. You'll just have to believe me.
Lionesses and a cub about to head out for an unsuspecting wilderbeast.
Lioness in the long grass.
Stupid tourists that showed up after us and wrecked the lioness' hunt.
Elephants are so majestic.
Typical African traffic.
Some Tanzanians singing/dancing about something.
Our first and only sight of Kilimanjaro in all of its glory.
Mzungo (white person) getting harrassed at the Kenyan-Tanzanian border crossing.
Typical roadside town in East Africa.
A two-lane highway. The middle lane was created by over-aggressive drivers trying to get to Nairobi.
Lake Nakuru (Kenya). A flock of possibly the ugliest birds ever.
See! Ugly!
Thousands and thousands of flamingos. And this year was a low year...
These damn birds are so skittish. I just couldn't get close to them at all. The closest I got was maybe 100 yards. Maybe. And for my efforts of plodding through mud and feces: two canyon-sized cracks on my heels. Oh, and these pics.
White rhinos. A male on the right and a female with her baby on the left.
The male for some reason attacks the female.
And then chases her for about 20 minutes.
More baboons. The only animals in more abundance then zebra and wilderbeast. Our presence broke up two baboons going at it...
My bag. After it fell out of the Landrover. Was not impressed...
Finally a male lion! Some people complained that they were sick of seeing lions. Not us. Not even close.
Local market in the sketchy part of downtown Kampala (Uganda).
Typical African craziness. (Kampala)
Kampala was the first time we really saw people begging. Unfortunately, most of them were kids, probably organized like the kids in Slumdog Millionaire.
Night, well like 8pm, Downtown Kampala. Matt and I just finished a very romantic candle light dinner.
Rural market somewhere between Kampala and Kigali, Rwanda.
Pretty flower tree. (Kigali)
Downtown Kigali.
And again.
Kigali's Genocide Memorial. The wall contains a list of names of people that were killed in the genocide. It is no where near complete.
Looking at the city from the Memorial site.
A procession. Some genocide remains were recently discovered and were brought to the Memorial site to be buried in the mass graves here. The Memorial in Kigali was extremely powerful. The pictures were graphic and scarring. The testimonials were disturbing as they were by people my age. The most tragic: a room celebrating the children killed in the genocide by blowing up their picture couple with a plaque that described them as well as how they were killed - easily the most emotional place I have ever visited.
On our way to another genocide memorial. A kid hanging out in front of his clay home.
A church where the priest sold out his people to the genocidaires and 30,000 were massacred inside.
Their clothes are piled on the pews.
Our guide. He was a survivor of this massacre. He spoke no English and only broken French but we managed to understand how the genocidaires hacked apart his family. To vastly understate, it was a very surreal experience.
Some kids with Matt. Matty didn't trust them at all cause he thought they were eyeing our wallets. They'd later try to ask for money.
Butare, Rwanda. Only the coolest dude ever!
On our way to Gikongoro and the Murambi Genocide Memorial. Please have respect for the following pictures. They are of real people and I only posted them to give an idea on how intense their memorials are. I struggled with my conscience whether or not to post the photos. I am still struggling if I made the right choice. But people must know. Please have the utmost respect for these victims of that grave injustice.
From a Travelblog (http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/angelagiampolo/trip_blog/1170528360/tpod.html) Our experience and reaction was nearly identical: "There is a memorial at what used to be a poly-technical college. The largest one day coordinated massacre occurred in Gikongoro and 50,000 people, mostly women and children, were slaughtered and buried in mass graves. The school was newly constructed and not yet operational when people took refuge there. Unfortunately, the school was built on a cliff so when they were attacked, the Tutsi's either had the choice between staying and being massacred or jumping off the cliff. Later the bodies were exhumed and covered with lime to prevent decomposition and laid out on wooden thatch tables in the classrooms of the college."
"There are 24 rooms in all, and each contains the remains of at least 100 bodies. The lime preserved the bodies very well; they still had their hair and teeth and you could see where they had been cut with machetes. You could make out the wombs of the pregnant women and see where the Achilles tendons on children had been cut so they couldn't run away. The guide that took us around lost his mother, father, wife and 4 siblings in the massacre. I'm not sure how or why he survived, but watching him unlock the doors for us, knowing that he'll never know which remains belong to his loved ones was sickening. Let alone the smell. I don't think I'll ever forget that smell. I felt every emotion and absorbed the horror in the first two classrooms. In the last two I took lot of pictures and video. At that point I had completely disassociated. I almost didn't enter the last classroom. The guide even said, "it's just more bodies.""
One of our 3 guides. He pointed out his mother and sisters on one of the tables. I couldn't take pictures of them, out of respect for him and the surreality of the moment. I don't know how he does comes to this place - his work - everyday. He walks people around, unlocks the doors, and - as I can only imagine - relives the horrors. To me, that is true strength and courage.
Here is the country side where this massacre took place: one of the most beautiful of places on earth.
Skulls of the genocide victims.
Our three guides. As survivors, I don't understand how they can come here everyday reliving the atrocities.
Tea pickers.
Tea fields.
Tea picker's modest home.
Inside Nyungwe National Park.
Nyungwe's famous waterfall.
Two Calgarians we met randomly with our taxi driver.
Our Nyungwe guide, Robert.
Tea picker.
Our gorilla guide with some porters.
Here we go... Off to see the gorillas.
The mountain forests where the gorillas live. Oh so dense.
Apparently this was the best way to the gorillas.
Liz taking a picture.
Gorilla hiking sticks. Our machine-gun wielding protectors (from the army) are chilling in the background.
And the Silverback.
Oh shit! He is coming right for us!
One of the youngens.
More silverback. He is freakin' huge!
One of the female members.
The two women in our group posing with one of the females of the family.
The youngest. He is about 1 year old.
Stick to trees and bamboo young one...
He has master the art of posing for us, the imposing visitors.
Some of the trekking group.
The gorilla ponder.
The kiddies wrestling with each other. It was crazy how human they were, or maybe it should be: how primate we are.
The troup. Our Japanese professional photographer took this one (on Liz's camera).
Edward our gorilla guide.
Rain-soaked flower.
Heading out to the pre-school just outside of Ruhengeri.
More mzungo thumbs-up. It is a skill learned at a very early age.
This kid was the most enthusiastic student. And quite the dancer.
The youngest age group: 2.5 to ~3 years old. The classes were about 40 kids each but the kids were so well behaved it was amazing. We realized how bratish even the best-behaved Canadian kids are...
Very few girls had long hair as most are too poor to afford to style it. The kids are still beautiful though.
Poor girl just does not want to be in class today.
The school provides a single cup of juice everyday to every child. Unfortunately, they can only afford to give bread 3 times a week. Sometimes it is the only food these kids will have in the morning.
The kids loved hugging. We were told that most don't get a lot of attention at home, if home even exists at all. Sometimes you'd end up having 5 kids holding onto just one of your hands, each grabbing a finger.
How could I resist this pic: a kid in a Canada jersey...
More thumbs-up.
The kids are preparing for a big dance.
The dance is underway. Little dude in the foreground is so into it.
PART-AY!!!
But once school is over, the kids are once again out on their own...
We took every kind of transportation.
Stonetown, Zanzibar. The fresh fish-kebab market by the Old Fort. Just pick what you want and the chefs would fry it up for you. Absolutely delish!
More of the tantilizing food.
If it swam nearby, you could eat it.
Sugarcane juice. Possibly Matty's only true love...
Emily is just posing but Matty is sucking that sugarcane juice like the world is going to end momentarily.
The fish-kebab market in all of its flurry. Green shirt guy is scolding me for taking uninvited pictures.
Some Zanzibarian ladies leaving what appears to be a wedding.
One of wedding ladies enjoying the coolness of the night.
Stonetown roof tops.
A Muslim lady, alone on in a Stonetown street.
Spice tour guide.
Matty discovering fresh lychee. We would consume bussels before we left the island.
Spice guide assistant furiously preparing the yellow leechee.
Our little spice tour bouquet.
An old slave-holding cave.
This is the face you make when beach excitement meets beach sun.
The Zanzibarian coastline.
Old boat with anchor.
Very cool rock wall holes.
Bananas at the market.
The meat market.
Fruit and vegetable stand.
Bundles of yummy lychee.
Rice and bean stand.
Stonetown sunset.
Local kids doing tricks into the ocean.
More sunsets.
And another. Just couldn't stop myself.
Students hanging out at the Old Fort.
Something is very interesting...
Young boys on their way to school. They did not appreciate this photo.
Stonetown coffee. Quite excellent.
All those push-ups did Matty well. That coffee cup is heavy...
Typical souvenir market.
I bartered with this guy for an hour over a drum I didn't really want, but ended up buying cause I spent so much time with him. We now exchange text messages...
Market craziness.
The chicken market.
A lychee vendor on his way.
Some men watching a board game.
Matty demonstrating Stonetown's narrow streets. I love that suffocating feeling...
Stonetown's beach.
Kendwa Rocks beach. North-eastern part of Zanzibar.
These guys can and will arrange any ocean adventure you want.
Matty's view of the beach as we wait for dinner.
Some women in full birkas walk at sunset.
Two men stoll down the beach, hand-in-hand. Culturally, it seemed like the men were the only ones that physically interacted with each other. I don't think I ever saw the women interact like this. At first it was kind of weird, but you get used to it. It is almost completely opposite to NA culture.
A Sports Illustrated Swimsuit shoot. That's Matty trying his best to concentrate on his book and not on the model.
More of the shoot. The model's pose looks really uncomfortable. And look at that medium format camera. Very sexy.
Typical local sailboat.
Some local kids playing in the sand.
Local women coming to collect today's catch. Their clothing is so bright.
Ready and waiting.
Lunch on our snorkling trip. The best fish I have ever had.
Another sailing boat.
This pic is in honor of Nima. He is an inspiration to us all...
Wading back to the boat after lunch. The water was so shallow.
Sailing.
The water was so clear and smooth and warm. Just fantastic.
Boat with our captain silhouetted.
Local fishermen.
Matty having the time of his life... And the beach bod has survived copious amounts of starch we consumed...
Local woment trying to trap fish with large nets. They'd get quite excited the closer the got.
Local man with his traps.
A beautiful Zanzibarian flower.
And it grows on trees.
The sunset through a lounge chair.
Tiki torches in the purple evening.
Canada Day!
We leaving... How sad! One last look at Kilimanjaro, where the trip began. I strongly recommend you visit East Africa. It is awesome. These pictures don't even remotely do it justice...
