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!

Jambo (Hello) from Tanzania

What an adventure! Spent 24 hours (almost all on a plane) traveling to the other side of the world, south of the equator. I’ve never been south of the equator but it is a very temperate climate, hovering around 60-70 degrees year round. Tanzania is currently in its rainy season, and it apparently rained the three days before we arrived.  It was surreal landing in Africa and then not being able to see anything. I was in the middle of the plane in a middle seat, so not even a view of the Sahara for me.  That made it even more magical seeing Africa for the first time this morning. And we saw so much this first day! First of all, the hotel we are staying at is sweet!  More like a resort.  It’s down a bumpy dirt road on the outskirts of the town of Moshi.  Not quite a city, but moving in that direction. The “mountain” (Kilimanjaro) can usually be seen from the upstairs balcony near my room. We couldn’t see it this morning due to the clouds, but as I write in this journal at quarter to 7 pm, I can see her in the fading light.  She’s a beast, so majestic and magical with her flat top. 

This morning (May 11), we woke up to a tasty breakfast of eggs made to order, toast, porridge, and mangoes. Dr. Whitney taught us an introduction to the continent of Africa and about the mountain we will climb at the end of the trip.  I don’t know if the students or myself are more excited and as each hour passes, I find more and more to be excited about. After our lesson, we headed into town for a walking tour.  First stop, the markets where you can buy the biggest avocados I have ever seen to fried dried fish to electronics to clothes to whatever you need.  We saw that there was a lot of new construction in town and that most Tanzanians do not see white folks very often. There was a lot of staring and people trying to sell us stuff. We saw several mosques and churches as Christianity and Islam are two major religions here.  We went back to the hotel for a lunch of naan-like bread, rice, and a slightly spicy mushroom dish with chocolate-frosted yellow cake for dessert.  I don’t think I’ll be losing any weight on this trip!

We departed our afternoon walking tour right from the hotel. We walked past many types of residences and fields of corn and beans mostly.  We had a gaggle of children following us for a mile or so, all wanting to give us high fives and fist bumps, and even hold our hands. It’s hard to not want to take them home with you. First day in Africa and my heart is already melted for these kids, so many kids.  We also saw maribu storks that stand 4 feet tall and two different types of monkeys – colobus and virvet. It’s hard to get a good picture of the monkeys but they are super fun to watch!

We walked through a swampy forest and saw the second tallest tree in Africa – Millicia Excelsia. Then we walked through the rice fields (my favorite part of the day) with palm trees, rice fields, cool looking birds, and mud up to your knees if you took the wrong step (which most of us did repeatedly). What’s not to like?  We also got our first peek of the Maweksi peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro, then Kebo peak, which is the one we will be summiting.  I always make fun of Dino for taking too many pictures, but that is definitely me on this trip.  I mean, how often do you go to Africa?  Let the crazy amount of picture taking continue! I can’t believe this is only day 2 and there are still so many places yet to visit and be inspired. I feel like the luckiest gal alive.

Smoky Mountain Relay

For the past several months, I have been training for the Smoky Mountain Relay. It's a 212-mile relay ran by 6 or 12 team members. I was on a team of 12, and we definitely were the best team there, at least in team spirit. Our official team name was Hiker Trash on the Run (HTOTR) because most of the runners are long-distance hikers who have some pretty awesome hiking accomplishments under their belts. Our unofficial team name/mascot was Zebrasaurus. This comes from the combination of several team members living in the Zebra Hill house in Asheville and from team captain Dinosaur/Kathryn/K$. Izaac, our team costume designer, created the mythical Zebrasaurus and put it into costume form. You can see what Zebrasaurus looks like from this group shot from the start of the race.

HTOTR met early Friday morning at Dino's house to get the party started. A few of us had met the night before for a pre-race dinner, but the Raleigh & DC contingents didn't get in until late. After a round of sleepy introductions, we loaded into our two rented 15-passenger vans and headed for the start of the race near Brevard, NC. The forecast for the day was 80% chance of rain and t-storms. For once, the weather folks were spot on. Pockets of downpour made for an interesting day of running and relay exchanges. We made the best of the weather by drinking lots of hot green tea mate and by Zebrasaurus making an appearance at every exchange.

After my van passed off the relay wristband to the second van, we had a several hour break to rest up for the night section of the race. We hit the grocery store and then napped away the afternoon. Luckily, the weather started clearing up as it got closer to our next section of race. While we were waiting for our other team van, we met another really funny team called the Pusseyfooters. Their van had a life-size cheetah hanging out on top and cheetah print covering their rental van. Very classy. Around dinner time, we heard from our other team van that they were really close. We got ready for the next exchange, and we were off!

The next few legs were some of the longest for my team's runners, but also some of the fastest. Kerby had to do a 9.8 mile leg, but averaged something around 7 minute miles. Between his run and Izaac's crazy fast 5-mile leg, we had passed quite a few teams. By the time my turn came around, I didn't really have to worry much about getting passed. So I took off just after dark and enjoyed my 5.4 mile leg through the rolling hills not too far from the big town of Otto, NC. Two more runners later, we had an 11 pm exchange with van 2. All of us were pretty pooped and ready for some much needed shut-eye.

After figuring out how to get to the next exchange, via some really long forest service roads, we set-up camp around 1 in the morning in just above freezing temps. 4 am came WAY too early. Van 2 had made up even more time overnight and we were one of the first three teams on the course. We begrudgingly got out of our warm sleeping bags and took down our tents. Kayah was up first and she ran like a champ despite not having any green tea mate power in her veins. Kerby and Izaac ran so fast they beat the sun, so I was the lucky runner who got to see the sun come up on my leg. It was especially great because I saw the sun just as I was cresting Tellico Gap and the Appalachian Trail crossing. The climb up to Tellico was a bitch, but I was able to make up some time by running downhill for the next 4.5 miles. My quads were burning, but I had the best time singing my heart out to some country music as the sun was rising. It certainly was a great morning to be alive and to be healthy enough to be running this crazy race.
Check out this video of my finishing up my final leg. Notice the snazzy vest. Several of us tried to look our best for various legs of the race.
Tori and Mark brought it home for Van 1. We made our final exchange with Van 2 and headed out for some much needed breakfast. Luckily, one of the local fire departments offered an all you can eat breakfast for $5. After chowing down and catching up with one of the teams we were neck and neck with (Dead Goats Society), we headed for the NOC. We hooped and hollered for the teams we passed en route and then collapsed in the ice cold water of the Nantahala River upon arrival. Rather, Kerby, Izaac, and Tori collapsed in the water while the smarter team members (Kayah and myself) collapsed on the picnic table.

We had a decent wait for our team, since they still had some 50 miles still to run. We spent the afternoon napping, snacking, and playing games. Finally, the other van arrived. So far, no other teams had crossed the finish line. We all headed to the end of the course and waited patiently for our last teammate and captain - K$/Dinosaur/Kathryn to come flying down the trail. And fly down the trail she did! She didn't bother to stop and wait for us. Which way to the finish? We all took off behind her and crossed the finish line. Since the race officials wanted us all to finish together, we did a slow motion crossing of the finish line. Pretty hilarious.

We were the first team to cross the finish line - hooray! That meant we were the winner, right? Not exactly, but we milked it for all it was worth. We had the satisfaction of watching all the other teams finish, while we chowed down on BBQ and beer. It was nice to chat with some of the folks in van 2 since I didn't know them well. They had some pretty elite runners also. They had Moe, who ran the "Tough Mother" section and sailed past the team that was beating us. They also had Mark, who had ran the Boston marathon just last week. I feel fortunate to have been on such a kick ass team.

As most of my teammates headed back to where they came from, a few of us stayed around to watch the other teams finish and enjoy the beautiful spring day. A spontaneous dance party erupted, and several race officials joined in. The moment we had all been waiting for was seeing Seth Avett (one of the famous Avett Brothers - a favorite music group of mine) cross the finish line. I was off playing soccer with a few teammates and thankfully Dino came and pulled me over. That's the closest I have ever come to meeting him. He looked just like the rest of us, tired and satisfied after two days of running. Super stoked to see him either way.

I'll leave you with this funny shot of the best dressed group of runners at the race - Izaac, Tori, and myself. What a great experience. Can't wait to do something this crazy again. Oh yeah, and did I mention we actually came in 3rd out of 23 teams? Not too bad for this hodge podge group of runners who weren't even sure we would finish.