For the eyes.

Writing from a houseboat in the Holland.

Carpe quickyinternet. Taking the opportunity to post some photos we would have liked to have posted many moons ago.

We begin with our trek up (and down) Mount Kenya:

1. Day 1. I fed the wildlife. Biscuits. *Moves dirt around sheepishly with toe.* But my trespasses did allow me to take several dozen photos of these little brown birds. Mountain somethingorother. Here is one midstep. Cute, eh?

2. Day 2. The peaks! I think the one we climbed, Point Lenana, is hidden... Please note the lobelias.

3. Day 3. Old Man's Beard Moustachios in the vertical bog. Manchu and French? Or is it Belgian?

4. Day 1. Ostrich lobelia! Our favorite. This little one in particular was one of the first we saw. They grow much bigger. Upwards of 7 feet (no joke).

5. Day 4. Chameleon. A beautiful thing, no?

Next, tidbits from Nanyuki to Lake Bunyonyi:

1. A scorpion uncovered near Lake Baringo.

2. Kylie, Limo (our "nature walk" guide) and the cliffs. We climbed up (an easy bit) for a soul-at-peace view of Lake Baringo at sunset.

3. A giraffe amidst the greenery of Hell's Gate National Park (Lake Naivasha).

4. Tea time at the Tea Hotel (Kericho). Worn charm.

5. Tea!



6. A sitatunga - the world's only semi-aquatic antelope - in Saiwa Swamp National Park. Poor beasts. 2 square kilometers is all they have left...

7. Bougainvillia in the first of the outdoor showers (Marich Pass).

8. The river running behind our favourite camp (Marich Pass).

9. Sunset on the Ssese Islands.

Time for bed!

More tomorrow perhaps.

Best,

Sancha.

Wirlwind through Tanzania (aka Kylie ate goat)

poa kuchizi com ndizi nani frigi

Likely butchered that a hundred-fold but it's something about being as cool and clean as a banana in the fridge...oh my.

It's been awhile since we've written and we've of course had many adventures in the meantime, so I think I may address them in list form and we'll see how long I last in this stuffy internet cafe where I have limited arm movement due to my dress and have seen a number of mosquitoes circling above.

1. After a 21h (yes, that's right nearly an entire day) bus ride from Kampala to Arusha we disembarked only to be swarmed by touts and after steadfastly refusing, donning our bags and tromping off in what we believed to be the right direction one of them took "pity" (pity being naturally laced with ulterior motives that we were too exhausted to care about) on us and walked us to our hotel (very cute, bright and clean Catholic hostel). After a day of hunting for tours we found ourselves, two days later, at the base of Mt. Meru with two rather fit couples, one German and one British, in their 30's/40's. Mt. Meru was a lovely, lovely climb, though it didn't quite measure up to Mt. Kenya overall. We spent day one hiking though cloud forest, day two doing a similar hike only to find SUNshine! at the second hut and climbed up Little Meru (3800m) in the afternoon. The next morning we set off for our summit hike at 3am and it was absolutely beautiful. We followed our guide Godwine up first to rhino point and then up along a ridge around the ash cone from the volcanic blowout and up to the peak (Socialist peak, 4566m). As we neared to the peak the sun was rising and we could clearly see Kilimanjaro in the background, it was a stunning hike and strikingly different going up and down despite it being along the same path. After making our way back to saddle hut (Godwine complimented us by writing "extremely fit" in our comments sections) we then headed down to the first camp to spend our last night and hiked out the next day.

Kylie is losing paaaaaatience....

2. Off to Lushoto in the heart of the Usambaras there we
a. Ate delicious food at the Irente farm
b. Looked out over the Usambaras and down a 1500m drop to the valley below
c. Met Eddy the Ediburgh rugby player from NZ who joined us on the rest of our Usambara adventures.
d. Spent a day at the Mkuzu waterfalls (the sun came out!), swimming in ice cold water, sleeping in the sun, spotting chameleons, and Eddy believes he saw a green mamba that skirted across his shoeless feet...
e. On our third day we set out for a day hit to the Mzumbai forest (some of the only virgin rainforest in the area). We first took a daladala to Soni, then to Bumbuli and then walked along the road. And some more. And still some more. We kept asking and everyone kept pointing along the road so we kept walking. After a few hours we finally came to some forest and kept walking in search of the guesthouse that was rumoured to be hiding in its depths. When we came across the guesthouse we were surprised to see that it was a perfectly maintained colonial home with wood floors, massive bathrooms, down comforters, a usable hearth, and absolutely no one except the care taker inside. We decided that we couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend the night and sent Eddy off to the market on the back of the caretakers motorcycle to fetch us the ingredients for dinner. We took hot water bucket baths in the enormous bathtubs, curled up next to a roaring fire and pondered over how this place could possibly exist. (note: the Swiss owner up and left in 1981 and hasn't been seen since but somehow it's still being funded and is run).
f. Next day we returned to our home at the Karibuni lodge in Lushoto for a satisfying dinner of beer, buns, and peanut butter. Day after, Dar time!

3. Experienced first real African traffic jam in trying to get back into Dar's city center after cruising out of town to get our Dar-Nairobi tickets (so soon!), we did make our ferry on time.

4. And here we are on Zanzibar, a gorgeous town despite being full, full, full of tourists. We've had a lovely day and a half just wandering the narrow, maze-like streets and eating and snacking all day long (dates, coconut, fresh bread, bananas, coffee, spiced cookies). The sea is gorgeous and we're heading to the beach tomorrow for a couple days of swimming, frolicking and sunning ourselves. We've just come from the fish market where we dined on skewers of red snapper, shark fish, kingfish, prawns, tuna, fallafal, casava, salad, and drank cane sugar juice with ginger and lime (yummmmm). We of course finished off with a banana chocolate zanzibari pizza, essentially fried dough with banana and chocolate inside and covered in sweetened condensed milk and chocolate sauce.
Oh food.
Alright, I need water, and some stretching, and some fresh air and packing.
Take care, much love, and hopefully I will be seeing you all soon!

Water

Water. I suppose that is the theme of our Ugandan travels.
Since the rapids at Jinja, we have seen the surging rush of Murchison Falls.
Followed by the endless waters of Lake Victoria around the Ssese Islands.
And finally, the deep cool of Lake Bunyonyi.

Some days ago (I don't know when) we left Kampala in search of the Ssese Islands.
A matatu took us to Entebbe (the nearby airport town) from which we caught the ferry to the islands. A pleasant place! Very green and very friendly. Kylie and I *ahem* invested in olive oil and a bottle of white wine.

[Our camp cooking has been improving. Our first meal was a tasteless mash that consisted of tomatoes and partially cooked beans mixed with unsalted ugali. Mmm. Now, after some collecting, we've upgraded to some tasty things. For example, pasta with a tomato sauce that includes garlic and onions sauteed in olive oil (not no-refrigeration-necessary margarine). The other night we improvised a peanut sauce for our green beans. Not half bad!]

The ferry ride (4 hours long, not the single hour cited by the guide book) brought us in sight of a paradise. Endless water, lush green veg and tidy white sand beaches. Disembarking we were greeted by a young man holding a sign for Hornbill Camp. A short walk along the beach brought us there.

Not too much to write. Ky and I spent our days reading, walking and talking in the sunshine. Venues for reading included: a) reclining chairs, b) hammocks and c) the sand. I swam a bit too... maybe not the wisest decision as the shallows are host to Bilharzia - a liver parasite. Easily treated (one horsepill in 6 weeks that will make me ill for two days should set me right) but a bit disconcerting.

Ha! Noteworthy was the couple running the camp - Tina and Dika. An odd but fantastic couple.
She had the biggestfunniest laugh I have heard in a long time. Maybe best described as an inhaled guffaw? The kind of laugh that made others pause to have a listen.
Both man and wife were hilarious, but especially together. The time we spent at the little bar left us with sore faces from smiling too much. Fantastic story-tellers.

(Internet) time is short.

After the island Ky and I hopped over to Lake Bunyonyi.
Caught a bus to Kabale. A bus that was too full to accommodate another bum, thus we stood for a good couple of hours. The man beside me was rather large and kept taking swigs of his Bond 7 whiskey, but he was very helpful in directing us as to where we should get off to catch a connecting flight.
Beautiful lake. Very cool, very deep, and free of hippos, crocs and Bilharzia! Swimming in the morning, swimming in the afternoon and swimming at night. Bliss.

Next, Tanzania!

Best wishes.

Bits of Tid

Ahoy from Kamp-ooo-lala!

Kylie and I arrived this morning on an overnight bus.
And what a bus it was!
Began the journey from Kabale at 9:30 pm. Seated in seats 47 and 48.
We were (more than a little) dismayed to discover that the bus had a television. One music video was followed by another. Homemade-quality compositions in Luganda, Swahili, or English and most often featuring a generously proportioned lady (with a booty to keep time) in tight-fitting clothes.
Worse. (Or better?). We were then treated to Forest of Promises, parts I and II. The story (as far as I could gather) of a female police officer and her forbidden love for her convicted-of-man-slaughter charge who, naturally, saved her from the cocaine dealing ambusher. What more? She was engaged to the police chief. Many intense dialogues with furrowed brows. Ha! Evidently a product of these parts, but in English. Instead of subtitles in the local language, one man dubbed the whole ting... but not over top of the sound track. Rather, he spoke in place of the sound track. The result of which was a few seconds of frantic gunfire or impassioned speech interrupted by monotone translation.
And then the horn! Short three-note jingles sped up and blasted into the night air. Sent Kylie and I into a fit of exasperated giggles... until the lady seated behind curtly asked us to close our window.
Arrived, mostly sleepless, in Kampala at 3:30 am. Many passengers hunkered down in their seats to wait out the sketchy hours of the early morning. Ha! I grabbed the long back seat for a couple hours of shuteye, but was followed shortly by a man with hot sweaty feet... we touched.

Not sure how much ground there is to cover, but I would like to attend to some tid-bits. Following shortly, a few short stories.

To begin, The Midget, the Albino and the Woman with the Wandering Eye.
It took yours trulies two days to reach Murchison Falls to the North.
The middle bit took us from Masindi to Bulisa. (Did Kylie mention that?)
Bulisa = tiny town, but within 1/2 an hour we: a) bought water from a little person, b) were served beans (and beans only) by a lady with a wandering eye and c) passed by an albino on our stroll to the petrol station. Encroyable!

Next, for those who were at Mpala, The Recurring Incident of Edupu's Extraordinary Shirt, FTA.
Do you remember Edupu's special chemise? The one with black and yellow and fringes and texture?
You thought it was one-of-a-kind, didn't you?
Nay! We've seen it crop up here and there all over Kenya and Uganda! Sometimes black and yellow, sometimes black and blue, and other times red and black, but always, always stunning.
Who makes them?
Who sells them?
What marks a man to buy one?
Eternal mysteries.

On the menu, our excursions to Murchison, Ssese and Bunyonyi.

A la prochain,
Sancha Pants... and the other one.