Dan Leger sighting in Ruhengeri?

sigh

Have you ever felt like your heart and mind have been in two different places at once? The last couple days I've been achingly home sick, but since I cannot fly back early I've really been able to dedicate most of my mind to my trip. Valerie Leger, you hold my heart in your hands. Be gentle :)

Often I've visited Val's parents and thought, hmmmm, "Is Dan the missing Link?" Have we as humans evolved from Ape's (some more than others) and was Dan the first upright walking primate? Somehow I doubt it, he only walks upright sometimes. Quite certain I saw Dan scratching himself after he fell out of a tree. Hmmm?

I cannot begin to describe how it felt to walk up the Virunga Mountains, bordering the Congo and Uganda (in Rwanda) and describe what my hour with the Gorillas was like. Neither can I really capture how I feel about the 4 hour hike to Diann Fossey's research site, and grave that she shares with dozens of Apes. Notably Digit, her favourite and Titus (Digit's son) who died only two months ago! Tonight we've arrived in Lake Kivu, and saw the sunset over the Congo. Hard to put into words, so I'll do it another day.

I'm coming home on Wednesday, and no I won't be going anywhere else....anytime soon.

Val,

Kigali and Nyungwe Forest

Kigali is by far the cleanest, best developed and hardest working civilian city I've SEEN here in Africa....Of course I have a bias and I knew Rwanda was always going to be my favourite but it's gorgeous. The whole city and country are rolling hills, green and lush, clean (ban on plastic bags-- how's that for innovative!).

I arrived on Saturday and didn't do much other than miss Val, and blog and check my hockey pool. Sat by the pool for a bit, is all. Met my group on Sunday morning, it's apparently an "Adult" tour with hotel stays and restaurant meals. I figured the price was a little or lot higher than the other tours. It's really more like a Seniors tour, my tour mates are 70 and 49 respectively. Luckily I can request my food not be mashed or pureed, and I can refuse to be turned during the night to avoid bed sores!

Sunday was the Kigali Genocide Memorial and this morning we stopped into a Genocide site near Butare. The country in it's recovery, has greatly put alot of resources into preserving the memories and brandishing the past. I don't think I care to really comment much on what I seen, it's not for the faint of heart and I'll leave it your imaginations to figure out. If you want to ask me when I get home, then so be it.

Monday we drove to the Nyungwe forest bordering Burundi and the Congo. It's a very hilly, gorgeous drive along all sorts of towns. Rwanda is the most densely populated country in Africa and every square foot of it looks like it's farmed or Jungle. People everywhere.

Got up at 0400h on Tuesday for a Chimpanzee trek, and that was very good. We found a clan of 30 chimps and I couldn't get a single good shot (not allowed to use flash) but got several cool video's and we got as close to 15 feet from one. Their quite large, and quite chattery. I'm really really excited about the Gorilla trek on Friday (supposedly the come quite close to you) but we have to stay 5-7meters away. Then I have a Diane Fossey grave site trek and tour, then on Sunday a lazy day at Lake Kivu.

I'm really kinda struggling to keep my thoughts here, don't get me wrong Rwanda is a MASSIVE highlight for me and I'm loving all the sites (Amohorro stadium, Hotel des milles collines, the Genocide sites, the UN buildings) but I'm really missing Val like crazy. So I've one foot staying here and enjoying the twilight of my tour, but one foot sorely missing home and eager to start the rest of the great EXCITEMENT that is coming in my life.

Where does one begin?

I've arrived freshly from Zanzibar in the big city of Dar Es Salaam, it's 1630h and a hot humid 35 degrees. The ferry ride from Zanzibar was rough, it's open water in a speed ferry and I was perhaps a little green, so I was reluctant to sit up, walk around and chat with the group.

Two weeks ago, when I was more than stir crazy, alone and having seen all I had set out to see in Nairobi and over using the internet perhaps a little bit.................I set out with my Acacia tour group. We all met at 1800h on Saturday October 10, and everyone except for myself (22/25) were Aussies travelling south from England (working) and heading home. 2 people from the UK and myself. We had a meet and greet, and dispersed. As I sat down to eat dinner for the last night at the Hotel Boulevard I was invited over to a table and had a lovely time with an Aussie couple, having just arrived in Kenya. It was great, I was started to feel starved for company after 4 days in Nairobi alone or with the driver....Who I'd paid a King's ransom, but was kept safe.

Either way day one started out seeing and loading the big Acacia bus, and then heading out to the town of Narok which is the gateway to the Masai Mara game reserve in Western Kenya via the picturesque Great Rift Valley. Chatted up the other members of the group and they became my game viewing partners for the next three days. Got to the camp site on the edge of the Mara reserve, and settled in. Chatted to fellow group members and at 1500h headed out for the 1st game drive. Saw tonnes of baboons, zebra on the road already....Once in the game park though, it was all Cape Buffalo, Elephants, Giraffe, a feeding Cheetah in the distance and in the weeds, and many many Lions. It was GRAND! Open spaces, Acacia trees, grasses.....Many Thomson Gazelle, Eland, Vultures. Our guide seemed to have his own agenda, obviously us MZUNGU like our big gamers. So it was sleeping lions in the middle of the road, sleeping lions under trees and fornicating lions. That was all I'd seen them do! Except of course, on our way out of the park at dusk we saw a Lion slinking it's way toward some Zebra...Shoulders slunched, belly low to the ground she (the hunters) got close. The tension was palpable. The Zebra group totally unawares, and the sun was setting. We waited. Looked around for other animals but still waited. Then BAM!!! She pounces up took 2-3 quick steps, got up on her hind legs and clawed down the back of the |Zebra as the zebra pushed foward (Screamin!) and ran into the crowd leaving the lion breathless, watching as supper ran away...All this two hours into my 1st game drive. It was surreal....I'll never forget the sound it made, clawing the zebra's back.

Day two was awesome: Leopard running toward and climbing up a tree, Rhinoceros, many Giraffe and Elephants and all the previously mentioned animals as well. We drove toward the Serengeti, which borders the Mara to the south to visit the Mara river and saw tonnes of HUGE crocs and hippos, we were escorted by two armed soldiers. It was cool. Hotter than stink and monkeys were trying to poach or lunches as we sat for sandwiches near the water. That afternoon we had another game drive and headed back for the night only at 6pm. The next morning was yet another game drive and then we drove back to camp outside Nairobi before heading south to Arusha Tanzania back down that nasty horrible highway I discussed a while back. Outside Arusha we stayed at the Meserani snake park, and saw tonnes of caged constrictors and poisonous buggers. There was a Dart board and real slick, character filled bar run by South Africans Mar and BJ. The guys I'd climbed with had mentioned they were going to the place and didn't Mar ask me where I was from and I said Canada of course and she comp'd me a free beer and knew my name as George. Those guys were something else. The next day we headed into the Serengeti and on game drive saw an eating cheetah (gazelle) a meter away from the game truck!!! The serengeti was so barren, dry and dusty: it was so HOT. Thankfully for the wind, lots of clothes turned brown with dust, teary eyes and messy tents. We camped right out in the park, mindful to zip up and keep boots in the tents...Hyenas go crazy for rubber. Oh before I forget, the last game drive we saw two lions eating a buffalo and a group of hyenas circling and stealing the carcass. Our crazy truck driver had a hyena ring tone he'd use to torment animals and this one hyena was going NUTSO! It charged at him, and I thought for sure it would lunge but he frantically rolled up his window.

Back to the serengeti, we saw and drove into the Ngorongoro Crater which was massif! and awesome. Lots of wildebeest (hadn't seen the migration, so we went to it). A hippo, out of the water and lot's of the same previously mentioned but never boring animals. We actually saw two-three leopards more in the serengeti, and lots of cubs (lions, and gazelle) and wart hogs. The serengeti was so barren though, it being dry season. Oldlupai gorge was AWESOME, not sure many people know but for the longest time I always wanted to be an archaeologist and it was there that many and most of the earliest human forms/skeletons have been found! It spoke directly to my inner nerd and I LOVED IT. It was here that the fabled first foot steps were set to fossil in lava ashes, and then covered up and it now preserved and guarded by Masai warriors. It was three days there, and then back to Meserani. I won 2/3 dart games, in a bus wide tournament (never knew I was any good) and then the next morning was a Masai village tour and we were brought there on Camel back. It was so cool. The kids came running out to us, begging to hold our hands and be picked up. They really are so beautiful and they compete like crazy for as much attention as possible from the MZUNGU's.

From there we drove west past a cloud covered Kili, but not to worry I pass over her again tomorrow as I fly to Kigali, Rwanda via Nairobi. We camped and drove west again all the way to Dar Es Salaam on the Tanzania coast. It's a real swell city, very mosaic with many many mosques and a mix of Arab/African influence. We, myself and my tent buddy Chris upgraded to a beach hut and I was eaten alive by Sand flea's.....In case people forget what I look like I've got a slightly sun burned face, dirty clothes and many red bites on my ankles. So is every other Mzungu (white person) on the tour. The next morning, tuesday we headed to Zanzibar the spice island jewel of the indian ocean. THE INDIAN OCEAN, can you believe it?

Spent the day navigating the maze of Stone town, had some great swahili food and headed on a spice tour. Saw turmeric, pepper, vanilla, ginger, coriander, maze, pineapple, jack fruit, custard apples, lemon grass, cocoa fruit, and all sorts of great things. The guide was great, and that totally makes or breaks the trip of course. Custard apples are incredibly good. Then a guy scaled an 80 coconut tree, and cut down some coconuts. Very good. After this we went to the old slave market, very sombre, where the Africans were sold and traded at auction.

So we returned to Stone town, had a drink at Freddie Mercury Bar-----long live Queen! (watched the best sun set I've ever seen) and went to the fish market with some GREAT Aussie friends and then ate some local food at Monsoon Restaurant (sitting on the floor with cushions and ate with our hands). GREAT experiences, before we headed north to Kendwa for the next three nights. On wednesday I parked it on the beach. Thursday I got up at 0445 and arranged a fishing trip with 5 other people on tour, so we rented the boats, guides and got snacks and water for 50$ ea....while the going rate was 100$ on fancier boats. So out to open water we headed, with the option of keeping the biggest fish. By 0820, with the help of two guides I hauled in a 15kg Trevally fish (Massive, biggest fish I've ever seen) and all the guides were going crazy....no mzungu catches fish that big! I had the fishing rod, one guy hand pulled the fish with the line and one guy hauled it in with a hook. In all we caught an 8 kg Tuna and a 5 foot long barracuda. It was the Trevally we kept and had it cooked by BBQ last night, it fed 20 people! and still there was left over. I supplied supper (I can't eat fish, allergic and TZ is not the place to test hospitals) for most of the bus and the locals. What a great experience.

So this morning, packed up and took the ferry back to Dar where I received very warm good byes and well wishes from a great set of mates. They are heading south, most to Cape Town or Jo'Burg. My trip takes me west to Rwanda, and I start the final leg of my trip. Can't wait to get home, but I'm not going to waste a second of absorbing as much of Kigali and the Gorrilla's as possible....

Do I miss work? HAHAHAHAHAHAHaha.....

Val, I'll be home in less than two weeks...:)

Three days in Nairobi

I arrived only late on Wednesday, after a long, dry and hot ride from Moshi, TZ. I had a big supper and tried my best to settle into bed. Then it hit. I've been away from home for about a week and a half, and had the highs of meeting such a great group as the S. Afrikaans and I think that distracted from how much I missed Val. Cuz once I got here, it all felt pretty lonely. Thankfully, I have a journal for such times. I did some "tub" laundry, and hung out everything to dry and fell asleep with my iPod on.

I awoke Thursday eager to check out my Nairobi highlights. Had breakfast, showered and got ready to pound the pavement....Ok, I didn't go far, I walked around the corner to the National Museum. There must've been 1000 school kids there, and I swear they weren't nearly as interested in Lions, Elephants, the earliest discovered human remains of 1,000,000 years ago. They were interested in me, it appeared to be a contest who could come up to me and say "hi" and go off giggling to their friends. It was cute. So I spent a couple hours looking at early rock art from all over the continent, checked out the different tribal presentations and actually ate some Street food. For 100Ksh, or 70c US I ate some Irio- Potatoes, mashed with onion, corn and peas....It was an authentic Kenyan food display, only the corn and peas were more like rocks....but hey, it was cheap! After that I came back to the hotel for some Tusker, and then sought out a "private car hire" or Hotel Taxi for a city tour. David from Kisumu drove me around for the next 2 hours in the craziest streets, traffic and pedestrian traffic ever. They have these Matatu's cheap buses where people are literally hanging out the windows weaving in/out of traffic. The city buses looked like mobile refugee camps, so I was thankful for my cozy shotgun seat. We checked out the Nairobi UN bombing site, Kenyatta avenue (parliament) and the railway museum. There I absorbed all I could about the Tsavo Lions, and the railway buildings....Sure the guide wanted to show me what kind of teapots and stuff but I wanted the real mccoy, train 12, British Railway line, Ghost and the Darkness kind of stuff. And it didn't dissapoint. That night I got home, showered went to Carnivore restaurant (with David as Driver) and feasted on all sorts of roasted meats, only I was slightly dissapointed that they stopped serving Antelope and some other game meats, I filled up on Goat and Ostrich :)

Then I got to talk to Val, well I called her for a minute (560 Ksh, or close to 8$) and had her call me back at the hotel. Hearing her voice helped build back up my strength as it's still pretty early to be so lonely, I'm sure (as of today, Saturday) that once I get out on Safari my mind won't wonder so much! Talking to Val put everything back in order.

Friday I went to the David Sheldrick trust, it's an Elephant and Rhino orphanage. Most of the rescues are from Drought area's and/or orphaned by Poachers. The babies were the best,1 mos old and coming up to your waist level. They get coconut oil baths on Fridays and so were pretty slimy but it was awesome to play with them, pet them and get real up close. The 6 mos and 2 year olds were quite large and vocal, it's feeding time and they don't waste precious seconds. They feed 5pints in about 2 mins. There were again about 1000 kids from schools there, and it was cute at one point there was a huge commotion over where the kids were. They were screaming and carrying on, only to have a 50-70lb wild boar run through the crowd. The boars, you could tell get jealous of the attention the elephants receive and the display is literally out in the open in the Nairobi National Park. Saw some baboons, and giraffe on the drive in. After that we had some lunch and I returned to the hotel for a nap. I awoke to a Nairobi rainstorm, very heavy and I enjoyed my African Supper under the covered patio listening to the rain.

Today, I'm organizing my things and heading out for safari tomorrow. We meet the group tonight.....So I just got back from the pool, and will probably sit around, read or watch the movie network in my room.

Hope all are well, it'll be awhile but the next update I'll load a couple photo's. Thank you for all the positive energy and comments!

George

Bruer Leka

I met Dierk after arriving at the hotel, he was awaiting friends that were motorcycling up from South Africa. They arrived only the day before our Machame climb (De Vos, Jacques and Renier). We all were like minded, strong willed and relaxed AND WE ALL SUMMITTED!!!!!!!

I summitted at 06:42 on Monday morning Tanzania time, so around 23:32 on Sunday in Ottawa. I would have summitted much earlier, as I did not experience a single altitude side effect, I was actually in a full walking pace from Stella point (about 5700m above sea level) and left my group, I was sobbing, I had mucus running down my face, it was FREEZING. My water was frozen, the wind was horrible....But then the sun rose.

I felt in my heart and my mind all the desires I left with and all the will I had to summit, so I TOOK OFF. The assistant porter twice tried to restrain me, pulling on my back pack, but I told him to keep pace or get out of my way. I was sobbing, he thought I was ill, I pushed on, he kept up....Then it hit me.

I came all the way up the mountain with these guys, I will summit with them. I waited in the cold about 10-15 minutes, and Renier came along at a slow shuffle. I willed him on, held his walking poles, paced him about 10 meters at a time. He was suffering altitude sickness and the cold (-15 was very cold at that level, even for a Canadian). Then came Jacques, and Dierk.....1/2 hour later, De Vos (who was quite ill).....a bear of a man though. So I chose the fellowship of completing with great new friends over the solitude and personal satisfaction of finishing my quest. Obviously, what I did was far more rewarding. I wouldn't change a thing. The guys have been commenting on how much of a horse I was, and they said I had this ferocity in my eyes. Probably something Wendy, Kassy and Coralee have seen in my "Spin modes" and I know that Valerie has witnessed more than often my stubborn will and determination.

I made it, I did my Atlas pose at the peak and a special photo for Wendy. Yes I did in fact!!!! sit atop Kilimanjaro, and have the picture to prove it!

God bless.