Africa Trip

Bonjour

2007-05-08T01:26:00.000-07:00

I made it to Paris safe and sound, although very tired. I didn't sleep at all on the flight from Banjul, but I did manage to sleep for about an hour (during my 4 hour layover) in the Brussels airport (streched out across 4 chairs). So I arrived in Paris at around 10am with about 1 hour of sleep...but honestly, its not hard to stay awake in Paris on your first day.

Radiohead has a song about tourists running around trying to see all the "sites" that the tour books tell them to see, but they end up missing the important things about the city...the little things that make it unique and interesting. I think that pretty much sums up my last two days. I have been running around playing tourist, and have managed to see all the major sites. I even made it to the top of the Eiffel Tower, something I (along with Stamos, Hammond and Crater) failed to do the first time I was in Paris (due to renovations). But worry not boys...they still let you drink 1665 (or any other beverage of choice) on the streets while walking around seeing the sites! Anyway, tomorrow (my last day) I plan on taking it slow, staying away from the tourist spots and try and really experience Paris.

I wish I could post some photos but I can't connect using my computer so I can't upload any. For any of you interested I will post a few on my usual blog site (mattlisack.blogspot.com) when I get home.

The Capital City Banjul

2007-05-04T14:09:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Banjul, the capital of The Gambia. My tour guide took me around to the arch, through the streets, the beach and to the market. Here is the view from the top of the arch:

The market:

A fishing boat by the beach:

A couple kids who came up to the tour guide (Karamo) and I on the beach...they got a kick out of seeing their picture on the digital camera of themselves:

Tomorrow (Saturday) I leave for Paris at 7:00pm and arrive in Paris Sunday morning...election day...it should be an interesting time to be there. Not sure if they are covering it in America, but it is all over the news here. The hostel I am staying at has internet access so I should be able to post a few more blogs while in Paris.

Black Wine

2007-05-03T14:07:00.000-07:00

Not much to report, just two things that made me smile over the last two days:

Yesterday, on the drive back from the embassy, the driver asks me if I'm married...I told him no, but I'm engaged. He tells me that Gambians get married very early, and sometimes they have no choice...they are set up by their parents, but if you aren't happy with the first wife, rather than cheat on that wife, you just find another one and get married again...then he told me he has 3 wives! At first I wasn't sure if he was serious or not...but he was, so I just laughed and told him that one was more than enough for me.

Then tonight, I went to dinner and ordered a Guiness, and one of the waiters looks over and says "ah, black wine". I was a little confused because Guiness isn't that strong...but then I looked at the label and noticed it was 7.5%, (and it tastes great)! Slightly stronger than the American version which is around 3.5% or 4% I think:

Anyway, today was my last full day of training and tomorrow is a half day which should be pretty easy. After work tomorrow I am going into the capital city Banjul (I am staying about 20km outside the city), to tour around a bit, so hopefully I will have some more interesting pictures tomorrow.

A Welcome Change of Pace

2007-05-01T11:45:00.000-07:00

Today is a holiday in Africa...May Day, so I had the day off (tough life I lead...I know). Again, I went for a run on the beach, but this time it wasn't some random guy who joined me, it was a group of kids...it was pretty funny, I felt like Rocky. Later I came across some cattle walking down the beach, wish I had my camera, there was around 50, pretty strange.

Monkey Business

2007-04-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

I was able to get the internet set up in my room, so I can post some pics. There are a few peacocks on the hotel property that I noticed yesterday, so of course I had to take some pictures:

Today after the training, while the guy was setting up the connection in my room, I looked out the window and saw monkeys (Hammond, you would be in heaven)! I said something to the guy and he said they are always around, and you can even feed them...later I saw someone hand one something to eat...pretty wild.

They were all chasing each other around and wrestling:

Love this shot:

Later I went for a quick run on the beach, and once again, I quickly had a running partner. I really wouldn't mind it, if it just happened once in a while, but everytime I leave the hotel grounds it happens. Afterwards he wanted to set up a time to run tomorrow...I'm looking forward to Paris where I will be ignored, ha.

The Gambia

2007-04-29T13:22:00.000-07:00

Well, after over 24 hours in airports and planes I arrived in The Gambia. I was able to sleep for a couple hours on the 2 long flights (first one was almost 10 hours and the last one was around 7 hours), and my luggage actually made it! I flew from Windhoek, Namibia to Frankfurt, to Brussels to Banjul in The Gambia (it was that or spend the night in Dakar airport...no thanks). The Gambia is very very poor from what I can tell. On the ride from the airport to the hotel I saw maybe one house that I would consider livable. The hotel however is very nice...it is right on the beach and the room/facilities are nice. It is pretty strange/depressing however to be in such a nice place when you know right outside the hotel is so poor. There are a few restaurants/shops right outside the hotel, but as soon as you walk out of the hotel area, people come up to you and either try and pull you into their restaurant, offer you some service that you don't need, or just ask for money. You can't make it five feet without being approached. It happens just as much on the beach too (once you get outside the hotel area on the beach...fortunately there is a guard to keep people from bothering the hotel guests)...I went for a run this morning and within 3 minutes I had someone running beside me...he was nice enough, but give me a break, I just wanted to be left alone and go for a run. Luckily he didn't last too long. I don't have any pictures right now because I don't have internet access in my room yet, I am using the hotels computer in the lobby...but hopefully tomorrow it will be set up and I will be able to post a few shots. I am definitely looking forward to Paris, but it was pretty nice being able to watch the sun set on the Atlantic Ocean tonight.

Day Trip and The Gambia

2007-04-27T05:38:00.000-07:00

I finished the training early on Thurday, so I booked another half day trip to another game reserve. This time the main attraction was a leopard and two cheetahs. Here is the leopard:

The cheetahs:

It was really cool to see them so close, they came right next to the vehicle.

Afterwards we stopped at the main house on the property and had a drink. While on by the house I noticed this flower growing out of some cacti:

On the way back a rhino crossed the road right in front of us. He was pretty curious about us and hung around the vehicle for a while right beside the road. This was pretty lucky for us to see...even the guide took out his camera and took some pictures!

Today I fly to The Gambia today. It will be around a 20 hour trip, I am not looking forward to it. I make 2 transfers (I fly all the way to Frankfurt, then Belgium, then to The Gambia...it was that or spend the night in the Dakar airport) during the trip, so I figure there is a good chance that my luggage will get lost somewhere along the way, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't.

Joe's Beer House

2007-04-25T13:23:00.000-07:00

Tonight for dinner I went to the famous (at least in Windhoek) Joe's Beer House with one of the guys from the embassy and his wife. The best meal I have had since I have been in Africa by far. I ordered the Bushman Sosatie, which included Ostrich, Crocodile, Zebra, and Kudu...and everything was great! If you are ever in Windhoek, you should make an effort to go:

http://www.joesbeerhouse.com

It's a wild wild life

2007-04-24T13:27:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the previous post, I went on a half day trip to Daan Viljoen Nature Reserve. The nature reserve was just 20km (12 miles for you Americans) outside of Windhoek. Basically we just drove around the reserve hoping to spot some wildlife. We saw plenty of wildebeest throughout the drive:

There were zebras on the hill:

We got out to walk to a pond and saw a warthog in the distance:

During the walk we also noticed this guy (a Kudu) checking us out:

The highlight was definitely seeing the giraffes...There were 9 total, including 3 babies:

They were right next to the road (dirt path) and weren't afraid of us, so we slowly got out and were able to take some pictures, pretty wild:

On the way back the guide pointed out this bird...don't remember what it was called, but it looked pretty cool:

Not quite a safari, but I'm glad I was able to get out and see some wildlife.

Windhoek, Namibia

2007-04-22T05:28:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Windhoek, Namibia last night. It is very different from Dar es Salaam. Very dry...reminds me of Arizona. The city (town really) of Windhoek is pretty nice, still has remnants of German style architecture, and german is widely used. It is clean and seems very safe, at least during the day. I guess its a little more dangerous at night, but what city isn't. After dinner last night I was asked if I wanted to be "escorted" by a young girl...uh, no thanks.
Woke up early today and toured around the city, it is so small that everything is within walking distance.
Here is the main street (doesn't look like Africa huh?):

Fidel Castro St??

Some masks and wooden carvings sold on the street:

This afternoon, I booked a half day tour of the Daan-Viljoen Nature Reserve. "This tour offers you game viewing amid the beautiful scenery offered by the steep hills and valleys of the Khomas-Highland Mountains. A panoramic excursion up to almost 2000m above sea level to the many hills around Windhoek." Hopefully it will be interesting.

All work and no play makes Matt a dull boy

2007-04-19T10:45:00.000-07:00

Nothing much to report, I pretty much work all day and prep for the next day all night. There were four other Americans from the DC area doing some work at the embassy over the last three days. Had dinner with them on Monday and last night. It was definitely nice to have a few Americans to hang out with for a little while.
Got out early today and don't have much to prep for tomorrow, so made it to the pool and had a few beers. It's actually been raining quite a bit so even if I did have time, I probably wouldn't be able to do much, but fortunately it cleared up today. The hotel is pretty nice, it over looks the Indian Ocean:

MMMMM Tusker...pretty good local beer:

Yours truly in front of the Indian Ocean

JAMBO!

2007-04-16T07:36:00.000-07:00

I must have heard that about 10 million times while in Zanzibar...it's "hello"...at least that's what I hope it means, cause everyone said it to me. I arrived early Friday afternoon in Stone Town where I stayed, the boat ride took about 2 hours (thank goodness for non-drowsy Dramamine!). Zanzibar is really poor...kind of reminded me of a Caribbean island, lots of run down buildings surrounded by beautiful water/beaches. After checking in to my hotel, I wondered around a bit, booked a spice tour for the next day, and got a tour of the city from the guy I booked the spice tour with. One annoying thing about Stone Town is that everyone is constantly trying to "help" you and then asking for money. I can't count how many times someone just started walking with me "Jambo my friend...are you english? No? American! We love Americans" etc. and then offer to give you a tour of the city, or a ride or something to get money. But the guy who showed me around was pretty nice and I felt more comfortable having someone with me who knew the streets. For $10 I got a tour of the town and some info (not bad, but then again the spice tour was only $10 and that included a full day and lunch). Market:

That night I walked to the Africa Hotel (used to be a British club or something when the British were in control of Zambia) it is the most popular place for tourists to have a drink and watch the sunset. Unfortunately it was cloudy and there was no sunset to be seen, so after 2 or 3 Tuskars (local beer) I walked back to my hotel, had dinner and crashed.

The next day I went on the Spice Tour, which was pretty interesting (you know cinnamon is from tree bark?), I got to see more of the island and after the spice farm, we hit the beach for an hour.

Pretty interesting group for the tour also...I was the only American. There was the Danish couple with the hyper kid, 2 english couples, zee German man and his son, two girls and another couple whom I have no idea where from. Anyway, the beach was nice...well, besides the dead dolphin that had washed ashore...but as you can see that didn't stop us from swimming.

On the ride back to the hotel, I took this:

That night I returned to the Africa Hotel to try and catch the sunset, but again, nothing (although it’s still cool to watch the boats go by). As I was leaving a guy came up to me and said "what? leaving so soon? the manager just ordered you another beer, so stay 5 more min." As you know, I'm not one to turn down a beer, so I sat back down, curious to know who the manager was and had my beer. Just as I was finishing it, another came...on the house. Anyway after that one, I insisted I had to leave, and went over to thank the manager (Belgium I think). He said since the sunset was "crap" yesterday and today’s wasn't much better he thought he should buy me a drink. He probably just felt sorry for the guy sitting by himself.

The next day I just walked around a bit and then caught the boat back to Dar. Not a bad trip if you like sitting inside a boat with no air conditioning with about 300 strangers and really rough seas...the Dramamine didn't do the job this time...I made it about and hour and forty minutes into the trip before puking in one of the bags they handed out to everyone. Everyone was hating life (at least I wasn't the only one). Needless to say I was very happy to be back in my hotel room in Dar after that. You may be wondering way I am writing so much...just killing time at the embassy waiting for the next session to start. Anyway, the training is going well and the embassy is pretty nice...so far so good.

Safe and sound

2007-04-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

Arrived safe and sound in Dar es Salaam. Trip was good, but long. Was in 1st class on the first flight, which was ridiculous...if you saw the Seinfeld episode where Jerry gets bumped up to 1st, its pretty much like that...well besides the supermodel sitting next to him. Definitely glad to be on the ground though, on a plane for around 20 hours gets old, even in first class. Catching a ferry to Zanzibar tomorrow morning, so I probably won't be able to post anything until Sunday night when I come back to Dar.

Trip Details

2007-04-05T09:39:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving for Africa on April 11 and not returning until May 9...I figured this would be a cool way to keep everyone (anyone who is interested) updated on things. Here are the places and dates where I will be:

April 13-15 Zanzibar
April 15-21 Dar es Salaam in Tanzania
April 21-28 Windhoek in Namibia
April 28-May 5 Banjul in The Gambia
May 6-9 Paris

Hopefully I will have internet access at the hotels and will be able to keep this up to date, and even post a few pictures.