On top of the world - climbing Mt. Kiliminjaro

What an epic week! Our group of 12 climbers headed down the road from Moshi towards the village of Marangu, where we would enter Mt. Kiliminjaro  National Park. We were originally supposed to have two additional climbers, but they both fell ill to ecoli and giardia respectively. Africa is no joke folks. There are many different routes up the mountain, but only  one where you can stay in huts along the way, and that is the route that has been chosen for the past 15 years of UGA Study  Abroad in Tanzania. I’m not sure our students would have enjoyed camping up about 15,000 feet in a freezing rain and sleet storm, so it was the Marangu route for us.

After all signing in at the park gate and getting our guides and porters squared away, we said goodbye to Mama Whitney, Mama Moshi, Mama Chris, and Julia who all rode along to send us off. Our group consisted of 12 climbers, 5 guides, and roughly 20 porters and wait staff. We would be joined by two more guides for assistance on summit day. I say roughly 20 porters because you never saw them all in one bunch.  We just knew that our stuff got from Point A to Point B each day and all we had to carry was a day pack. Not a bad deal. Did I mention that they cooked, cleaned up after us, and made sure we had safe drinking water the entire trip. We owed these guys everything. They work so hard, and for very meager pay.

We took  our obligatory photos at the gate, and we were off up the mountain. We started the climb around 6,000 feet and ended the climb at our first stop, Mandara Hut, around 9,000 feet. The students were in for a rude awakening. We have been living (and exercising) at around 2500 feet above sea level in Moshi for the past 3 weeks, so the first day proved challenging with a 3000 foot, 4.5 mile hike up to Mandara. But we all were in good spirits as we settled in to trail life. We stopped for lunch along the way, and even saw our first blue monkeys. Pretty large creatures that didn't seem to notice us at all. As we were walking through a rain forest, there were lots of interesting plants to look at, including the Kilimanjaro impatien (found only here!) and some neat waterfalls. Before we knew it, we arrived at Mandara hut and were treated to hot water to wash and fresh popcorn and hot tea to warm us up. After a short afternoon hike to Maundi Crater, we ate a tasty dinner and then called it a night. I shared with the group that hiker midnight is actually 9:00 pm, and there were no complaints.

We awoke to clear skies and chilly temperatures. We officially introduced ourselves to the two other groups that happened to be travling with us. One group were a four Brits (originally of Indian descent) consisting of two brothers (probably in their 50s), and two of their daughters. The other was a honeymooning couple from Holland. The fact that the Kili hike was the first leg of their honeymoon says a lot about the couple. The fact that they had to sleep next to the four men in our group talking about God knows what late into the night makes me feel  sorry  for the new bride on the first night of her honeymoon! They turned out to be great sports and became fond of our group. We eventually summited together, and yes, they are still married about that intense experience. But I digress, back to the story.

We quickly warmed up as we climbed another 3000 feet or so up to 12,300 feet and Horombo Hut. This would turn out to be our favorite camp.  The views were spectacular, and our bodies could still function at this elevation.  Along the way, we saw the red hot poker plant, which I had been wanting to see, and the mountain looming in the distance. Even though we keep getting closer, it still seems pretty far away.  There were shouts of joy when we finally spotted Horombo Hut.  Since we were all pretty poopedJ. But not before checking out the stars. The stars up here are AMAZING.  We learned a few of the southern hemisphere constellations and have all enjoyed spotting them nightly, gazing at the sky in awe.

after a long day of hiking, we just ate some dinner and retired to our cabins. This time around, I was with the men and one other female student volunteer. Rooming with the 4 guys definitely took me back to my thru-hiking days. The smell alone would  have killed even the hardiest soul, but throw in the vulgar conversation, and I was ready to put my ear plugs in and quickly  fall asleep.

Day 3 was our acclimatization day so our bodies could get used  to the higher altitude. We went for a morning hike up to  Zebra Rocks. Most of the students were still feeling okay at this point, just some mild stomach and headaches. We all enjoyed  playing around on the black and white colored rocks and having a mini-photo shoot. When we arrived at the high point  (around 13,500 feet), we had to put on a few layers while we let our bodies recover. Back down to Horombo for a hot lunch of veggie crisps and fried potatoes. We spent the rest of the day quizzing folks that had already climbed the mountain and having a euchre tournament. I am now ready to play some serious euchre back in Athens. Corey, I hope you are ready!

The next day would prove to be our toughest yet. It started out sunny enough, all of us in shorts and t-shirts. But around 11 am, as we were ascending up to Mawenzi Ridge, it grew cloudy  all of sudden, and started snowing. Talk about extremes! As we got  further up the mountain, it got colder and the snowflakes turned to sleet and freezing rain – yikes! Most of us were not too happy about the turn of events, but we layered up  and hunkered down to finish the climb up to the 15,200 foot Kebo Hut. At last, it came into view, and we hurriedly checked in. We were all in one room, but I asked them to spare modesty for the time being and quickly change into dry warm clothes. Several of the students were close to hypothermia. Luckily, we all had dry layers to put on and after some hot cocoa, and sleeping bag snuggling, everyone warmed up. The guides were kind enough to dry a few things over their cooking stoves so that the students would have dry gloves for the summit. Many of us were not hungry  when dinner time arrived, but we knew we needed to be strong for our summit attempt in just a few short hours, so we chowed  down as best we could. Then, it was off to catch a few winks before our midnight departure.

I did actually fall asleep for about 2.5 hours before the guides came to wake us up. We hurriedly put on all our warmest layers and nervously drank some hot tea and down a few cookies. My stomach was in knots! They lined us all up outside and we began our climb up to 19,300 feet. Pole pole (pronounced pole-lay, pole-lay) was the phrase of the day. The guides kept telling us to go slowly. Right, like we could physically go any faster! We took breaks every 1.5 hours or so. One of the students started feeling the altitude right away and vomited a few times. She turned back around Williams Point around 16,000 feet. Pretty respectable if you ask me! The rest of us trudged our way towards the top.  Several other students became physically sick, but we all kept going. Vomiting is just part of the experience, according to our guides. Luckily, I was able to keep everything down the whole trip! Around 6 am (yep, we had walked for 6 hours straight in the dark), we were so close to Gilman’s Point. It’s not the top, but once you’re there, the actual summit is not too far way. The bright rays of sun’s first light started peeking out behind Mawenzi Peak. We were in awe. That was actually my favorite part of the whole experience – seeing that sunrise at Gilman’s. It was magical and it gave us all the energy and hope we needed to continue on.

From Gilman’s, we have an up and down hike to the actual summit – Uruhu Peak at elevation 19,300 feet above  sea level.  Step by step, we make our way over there. At this point, everyone is in their own world. I was no longer the trip leader; I was just one of the group, with my own struggle for air and the summit. At last, the sign telling us we had made it to the highest point in Africa, and we now stood on the tallest free standing mountain in the world.  I felt so lucky to be there, gasping for breath, icicles forming on my eyelashes and clothes. It doesn’t get any better than this. Well, watching nine students and one father make it to the top after struggling for so long, actually was better than me summiting. I couldn’t help but tear up a bit. What an amazing accomplishment for these students who weren’t sure they would make it to the top. I’m so damn proud of every single one of them.

After the excitement of the summit, we now were in a race to get back down to Kebo, before we all became giant icicles! Going down was actually a lot scarier than coming up, because when  we were coming up, we couldn’t see what was around us.  But slowly at first, we navigated the rocky, snowy terrain. Then, the guides taught us how to “ski/run” down the mountain carefully and that definitely sped up the process. We finally made it back down to Kebo, and the exhaustion started to creep in. We were allowed about an hour to rest up before we ate a light lunch and had to descend down to Horombo. At this point, we had been going for 13 hours straight, but we had to push on a bit more. The students were in pain, but they persevered and we all made it down to Horombo. I said a silent prayer that we had all made it safely. We ate what we could for dinner and then collapsed in bed.  I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.

On day 6, we hiked 11 miles back down to the gate.  There was a pep in everyone’s step, or maybe it was a limp. Either way, we were all pumped when we made it safely down the mountain, with Mama Whitney welcoming us. We had all made it back down, on our own two feet, and I couldn’t be happier. I spoke a lot about mental toughness on this trip and I really believe the students now understand what that means. If they can make it to the top of the Mt.Kiliminjaro, they can do anything they put their minds to. They will be able to reflect up on this experience the rest of their lives, and draw strength from it. That is the power of the natural world, and that is the power of outdoor education. 

African Religions and the Moshi Experience

One of the classes that the students can take while they are here is Intro to African Religions.  There have

been several different cultural opportunities to experience, and I have chosen to learn right along with the students. I took a World Religions class back in undergrad, but it has been a few years! Different regions have different religions, just like anywhere in America. On the coast near Dar es Salaam, there was a pretty strong Muslim presence. Here in Moshi, it is about half Muslim, half Christian, and a little bit of other religions.  Last Sunday, we went to a Catholic mass. Although there are other Christian denominations, Roman Catholic is probably the biggest as there are 3 churches here in Moshi.  The mass was in Swahili, but everything felt very similar to what I have experienced growing up Catholic in the states. The homily was a bit longer, but you could tell that the new priest was a great speaker and that the congregation enjoyed his teachings.

On Friday of this week, we had the opportunity to go to Friday prayer at a local mosque. I have never been to a mosque before, and it was quite the experience. The prayer only lasted about 10 minutes, but the lead up “sermon” lasted almost an hour. This was also in Swahili, so we really didn’t know what was being said. The men and the women are not allowed to be in the same room, so us women folk headed up the stairs and washed various body parts three times. After that, we adjusted our head garb and were ready for prayer. The hardest part of the day for me was actually getting dressed for prayer. As many of you know, I am not a skirt or dress wearer and haven’t been for years. I had to borrow two African kangas (big pieces of fabric that are essential to women here and have a multitude of uses) and have a Muslim woman help dress me. I don’t know how they do it, wearing that on their head all day long and having to have all body parts covered at all times. I was sweating pretty heavily by the time we left the mosque and couldn’t wait to change clothes. The men weren’t let off easy either.  They had to wear long white prayer robes and the traditional Muslim hat on their heads. Our UGA boys reminded me of the three wise men.

Early on the trip, we visited a Maasai village where we learned a bit about their religion as well. They are a more spiritual people, and don’t really have organized religion. They pray to God for rain and abundant crops and find their spirituality in nature. That makes sense as they truly live off the land (and their animals), mainly eating cow and goat meat, drink cow/goat milk and blood, and trade for a few small crops like beans and maze. Although I don’t want to have that particular diet, I can relate to finding spirituality in nature. That is definitely where I feel the most at peace and connected to the world in which we live.

Other highlights from this week were visiting an African hot spring and spending more time at the orphanages. The hot spring (more aptly named luke warm spring by our students) was an incredibly beautiful place. Aquamarine in color and a very tropical feel. Considering there were several vervit monkeys playing around above us in the fig trees, we could feel we were in a very special place.  We all had a great time swinging on the rope swing and trying to keep the little fishies from nibbling on our legs.

I have also really enjoyed spending time at several of the orphanages in town. Our service learning students

have spent almost all of their time at the orphanages, even when my group was away.  They just finished up their big project which was figuring out which orphanage to help out. They chose to spend their $300 at the  Kili Centre orphanage (more like a group home) on educational materials that will help the 8-17 year olds learn English, math, and science. One of the other orphanages, Upendo, is run by several nuns and houses Newborns to 5 year olds. OMG, they are so cute. Dr.  Moshi, who is the Director of this Study Abroad program and from the town of Moshi, is trying to raise money to start another orphanage that will give the 5 year olds a place to go after leaving Upendo. Right now, there are not many places for older children. So many kids, so few homes.

This will be my last post for a while, as we are starting our hike up Mt. Kilimanjaro tomorrow morning.  Hopefully, my next post will be one celebrating our successful summit of the tallest freestanding mountain in the world – woo!

Serengeti Safari

We departed Ngorongoro en route to Serengeti National Park, the largest national park in Africa at 14,476 square kilometers. Serengeti means “endless plain” and it certainly looks that way.  We saw our first giraffes before we even made it to the gate! We arrived at the gate and had to wait patiently as our guides paid for and registered our visit. They have pretty strict rules here about who goes in and out in order to protect the animals.  We played around on the kopje (pronounced kop-pee) which is basically a big pile of rocks that lions and other animals climb up on to get a better view of the area. This particular kopje are the oldest rocks in Africa (and maybe the world) as they are about 2 billion years old. Wow!

On day 1, we had two different game drives.  The first one on our way to the tented camp, we saw elephants, a pride of lions, a cheetah (far off), and a leopard cat napping in a tree. Wow! We also some cool looking lizards, a huge vulture hovering over its’ huge nest, and tons more of those Thompson gazelles. On the afternoon game drive, we saw topi antelopes, impalas, fish eagles, grey banded mongoose, and a finale of a pride of lions (complete with three little cubs) and a lion dinner show. Wow! The cubs were the cutest things ever and I got some great pictures and video of them playing around. Just as we were about to leave (after watching them for a good 30 minutes), the lions decided to go after a Thompson gazelle who naively went right by the waiting lions. Natural selection at its finest. One of them took it down, and then two others help rip it apart. Apparently, it’s pretty rare to see a kill right in front of you, so we are a lucky bunch!

Day 2 took us to another well-known kopje where we saw what looked like cave paintings. Our guide informed us that some of the early German and Portugese explorers drew these to show the Maasai how to make the different colors and use them for dyes for clothing, body paint (important to the Maasai), and other uses. We also got to explore another kopje that the Maasai carved out a musical instrument of sorts out of several large rocks. It’s supposed to sound like a xylophone or something similar, but I can assure you, we did not make any music that didn’t sound like us banging two rocks together. After lunch, we visited the Serengeti National Park visitor center. It was really well done (similar to American national parks), and had many informative displays. We met a large group of school children from the local area (just outside the park) and we had some fun photo ops. We also saw these little critters called hyrax that looked like big fat marmots. You can tell they enjoy living at the visitor center, as they clean up after the tourists that drop their snack food on the ground. So chubby! Fun fact about the hyrax is that they are the closest living creature to an elephant. You cannot tell that by  just looking at them, but their bone structure and genetics have proved it!

Day 3 was hungry hungry hippo day! We all got up extra early to see the sunrise and get to the  hippo pool before the hippos decided  they were tired of the tourists. There were so many crammed at one end of this body of water. The water looked a bit low which means the hippos are basically hanging out in their own sewage. You can imagine the smell. Luckily, the hippos were pretty entertaining to distract us from the smell. We saw a baby hippo trying to keep up with its mama and two male hippos fighting over who had the biggest mouth (that or they were doing some weird mating ritual). Speaking of hippos, I learned that hippos can live up to 59 years old and can weigh up to 3000 kg. That is mainly because they eat around 65 kg of grass every night. I guess they do get out of the stink water on occasion.

We also had some excitement on the afternoon of day 3. It was our last game drive, and we really wanted to see a cheetah up close (the one from day 1 was really far away). Ask and ye shall receive. It wasn't 15 minutes into the game drive, hen we saw a cheetah, and then another one!  They were hanging out underneath the tree, on the termite mounds, just watching their favorite food (the Thompson gazelles). We weren't lucky enough to see them take one down, but it was pretty cool watching them from afar. A few minutes later, we saw another cheetah lounging near the road. All in all, a pretty successful afternoon!

Before I finish this post, I need to tell you about the tented “camp” we stayed at. Think Girl Scout platform

tents, but nicer, and bathrooms and showers in each tent. I got my own tent with the most comfortable bed I have slept in all trip, and didn't even have to leave the tent to use the facilities. That is for practical reasons, as it is just not safe to be outside your tent after dark. If the hyenas that I heard laughing/howling RIGHT outside my tent don’t make you want to stay safe and sound inside, I think there may be something wrong with you. More than a little creepy! I would definitely consider this glamping as the staff bring hot water to your tent first thing in the morning so you can wash your face AND they heat up water in the afternoon for you to take your daily shower. If this is camping, I’m not sure what I have been doing all these years sleeping on the hard ground underneath a tarp!

I hope to one day revisit the Serengeti, one of the coolest experiences I have ever had. I am sensing a trend on this trip about the amazing experiences – once in a lifetime!

Ngorongoro Crater Fun

After a quick turnaround from Zanzibar, our group left early Monday morning en route to the very Northern part of Tanzania.  Our first stop was a snake and wildlife park right outside of second biggest city in Tanzania, Arusha. We saw all kinds of creepy crawlies including black mamba snakes, baboons, and crocodiles – oh my! You can even see yours truly holding one of the little non-venomous snakes. We drove by a town named Mosquito River (yep, definitely don’t want to live there) and then past Lake Manyara National Park. Our destination for night (after about 5 hours in the utility vehicles), was Highview Lodge, run by the daughter of our tour company’s owner. We have been spoiled by Zara Tours, as they do a great job.   

It was a rainy morning as we made our ascent towards Ngorongoro.  We were greeted by a troop of baboons that looked like they could do some damage and waited for about 40 minutes until we were admitted into the park. As we reached the highpoint, some 7800 feet above sea level, we still couldn’t see anything.  Luckily, it started clearing just as we were about to go into the crater and we got our first million dollar view.  We also saw zebra and wildebeest even before going down to the crater. We would see a ton of animals outside of the crater and Sergenti National Park because there is a conservation area surrounding all the national parks that give all the wild animals a bit of a buffer from the general population.  I think this is a wonderful idea as no sheep/cattle/goat herded wants a lion taking out their bread and butter. Nor do we want the poachers having free reign of the animals. 

As soon as we dropped down into the crater (about 2000 feet, now at around 5400 feet above  sea level), we started seeing all kinds of animals. The animal most likely to be seen on safari is the Thompson gazelle. A cute little guy that makes an excellent meal/snack for a variety of the predators here.  They reminded me of our overpopulation of deer back in the states. We also saw many more wildebeest, flamingos, topi antelope, and even a BLACK RHINO! We were all pretty stoked about this, as there are only 28 of them in the entire crater. P.S. the crater is about 10 miles long and 12 miles wide and was actually formed when a volcano erupted and imploded on itself. It’s actually a caldera, but much larger than Crater Lake in Oregon.

We stopped for lunch at the hippo pond but the hippos weren’t feeling incredibly social at first.  We fought a few birds while we ate our lunch and used the facilities. You are not allowed out of your vehicle in the crater as you could possibly get mauled by an animal or shot by one of the rangers for suspected poaching. They are very strict (as they should be) mainly because of the rhino who was poached almost to extinction. After we finished eating, a few of the hippos started coming closer and put on a bit of a show for us. And we saw our first elephant as we were leaving the hippo pond. There is definitely something majestic about seeing a creature that large out in the wild!

The coolest part of the day came just before we ascended back out of the crater. We came around a bend and saw a lioness drinking from a stream. We were five feet away from her.  Turns out lions can drink up to 25-35 liters of water in one setting, especially after a kill.  It looked like she had just eaten, as she was really thirsty! Then we saw all of her friends a half mile down the road. They were all cat napping. Must have been a successful hunt! Nearby were a few gazelles and a striped jackel. Man was that little guy cute. Looked sort of like a coyote and a fox combined. 

On our way to the wildlife lodge (our destination for the evening), we stopped and saw the crater from up high. What a beautiful scene.  We saw wildlife right up until we checked into the hotel as there were a few cape buffaloes about a mile from the hotel and a hyena maybe 100 yards out. Definitely glad to be indoors tonight, and at a super snazzy place to boot. All the rooms have a view of the crater and we got to sip on our safari beer while we watched the sun go down. All in a days work!

Zanzibar!

So far, Zanzibar has been my favorite part of the trip and here's why. It is ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS here.  We arrived by ferry from Dar es Salaam and found our hotel right by the ferry terminal, another very nice place considering we are in a third world country. On day 1, we went on two different tours, one of the markets here, and one of old stone town, where Zanzibar was first inhabited. We went to the old slave trade building, which was turned into a church by an English missionary.  The old whipping post was cut down and the altar was built in its place. They left the stump of the post to remind us all of the sacrifices those poor slaves had to endure.

Zanzibar has quite the interesting history. Arabs and the Portuguese were its earliest inhabitants. Currently, it is 95% Muslim and 5% Christian and Hindi. It is made up of 50 small islands and is roughly 100 mikes long and has about 1 million people total across the islands. Most everyone is friendly to us here on the island because tourism is their number one industry. It has been interesting to see how people respond to me here versus in America. I regularly get mistaken for a boy in America, but here, not one person has thought I was male. My hypothesis is that women present more androgynous here, and since I look more androgynous and not (definitively) male, they just assume I am female. Fascinating.

On day 2 here, we went on probably the coolest snorkeling trip I have ever been on. We took a little dhow boat (see pic) out to one of the little islands near Zanzibar called Bawa Island. There is a reef this surrounds the island and has tons of different types of fish and coral for us to snorkel around. We saw starfish, giant clams, and black nemo fish and so many more. I used my underwater camera for that so look for pics from that on my Facebook page. 

After leaving the snorkel island, we went over to prisoners island named because, you guessed it, the Zanzibarians used to keep their prisoners there.  Now it is a pretty nice beach resort that also has a tortoise sanctuary. Over 100 tortoises originally from the Sechelles Islands now call this place home. I don't think this species will be going extinct any time soon because we saw lots of tortoise whoopy happening (and have the video footage to prove it!). 

  

In the afternoon, we went on a spice tour. Now I know where a lot of our spices come from! We saw everything from lemongrass to coffee beans to cocoa beans to vanilla to ginger. A man named Butterfly showed us how he gathers coconuts by climbing up the palm tree in his bare feet, singing a song and dancing as he climbed. Then we got to drink coconut water right from those freshly picked coconuts. Awesome!!

On our last full day in Zanzibar, we went to the other side of the island to a village called Paja. There we learned about the seaweed project that the local women now work on to earn extra money for their families. They basically farm seaweed and the sell it directly to companies that ship it all over the world. They make about 50,000 shillings every two months, roughly $30. That's not much but it goes a long way to help clothe and feed their children. 

After eating the best meal I have had so far in Tanzania (red snapper caught just that morning and grilled to perfection!), we travelled back inland to Jozani National Park. There we saw red colobus monkeys that live in the wild. Above is one of the babies. I'm not sure they could get any cuter! And they were right next to  us - oh man!

The last thing we did was take a sunset cruise out into the harbor on this really cool boat. It cost us a little extra but it was well worth it to see the sunset. I'd heard that Zanzibar sunsets were some of the best in the world and I was not disappointed. It was the perfect end to our time on Zanzibar. Now it's back to the mainland and on to the safari!

Dar es Saalam

After 2 days in Moshi, the interdisciplinary program (6 students, Dr. Whitney, and myself) headed to Dar es Salaam, the biggest city in Tanzania and the former capitol. They moved the actual Capitol a few years ago so it could be more centrally located since Dar is on the southern coast. Think the NYC of Tanzania, mainly because the traffic is awful! There really aren't any traffic laws besides which side of the road you drive on (opposite of us). And sometimes that doesn't even really matter as we saw lots of people going around other people with oncoming traffic coming right at them. I don't understand why there are not more wrecks! 

We spent most of day 3 traveling to Dar by plane and then an hour ride (with traffic) to the hotel, which is very fancy by the way. We are eating most of our meals at the hotels we stay at, as they serve food that appeals (and is pretty easy) on Westerner's stomachs. The food has been amazing and (thankfully) has agreed with me. Some of the students haven't faired as well. I've been handing out immodium and pepto like candy. The food is pretty similar to Indian cuisine. Thank goodness that is some of my favorite food! I think being vegetarian is helpful here. 

On day 4, we got to explore Dar some more, starting with the fish market right by the Indian Ocean. It was really cool and I saw more types of fish for sale than I ever have. We have two main guides here - Mama G (you address all your elders as either mama or baba -depending on gender of course -,and Juma) but a local fish seller took us around to see all the crazy fish. It was awesome. Most people at the market weren't sure what to make of us, partly because we are now traveling with a group of five Koreans. A professor from UGA and several of her friends from home asked to tag along on the trip, and so here we are. To say we look like tourists would be a bit of an understatement!

After the fish market, we went by the "White House" of Tanzania but we're not allowed to take pictures as we drove by due to the fear of terrorism. It was pretty impressive! We headed to the national museum of Tanzania and Dr. Whitney lectured on early African civilizations. I love to learn so you heard no complaints from me! The most powerful part of the museum for me was seeing the U.S. Embassy bombing memorial. It happened in 1998 and 6 Tanzanians died saving the Americans working in the embassy. Now that I am visiting the country, it all hits closer to home, just like every time I hear about atrocities happening near where I visited in Russia in 2008, I worry about the friends I met there. I think that is one of the most powerful take aways from visiting a foreign country, the connection you now have to that place. I hope the students remember that.

The last thing we did today was visit the African heritage museum which is basically a bunch of replica huts of many of the tribes around Africa. There was also a group of women that performed a traditional African dance and song. I got some great video that I'll have to post at a later date. On to Zanzibar!