Anyone still coming here?

Well, Amber and I are back and trying to adjust.  It feels a little weird.  I may come across as a jerk when I say that American culture is really bland compared to some other places I've been but it is.  It could be just that I'm from here and therefore used to it but I'm not as inspired here, in an artistic sense, as when traveling.  I  do love my home region, especially its history and scenery, but I keep it in my heart and memory and take it with me when I go out in the world.  Africa was grand, grand, grand.  It was so great to experience another way of living.  And the long break from work allowed me to put my body into deep charge.  I notice a new reservoir of energy in me.  I'm also very thankful that Amber and I did not bring malaria or giardia home.  I feel we are blessed.

So now what?  I've grown to love blogging.  It's been easy to do given all the unique things I did and saw.  Can America provide the same quality of inspiration?  I don't know.  I think I shall keep writing and posting but not here.  I'm announcing the launch of my new blog called "What's Dean Doing?"  where I will write about my continuing adventures and strange things I come up against in, I should say, North America since I'm going to Canada next weekend.  I can't promise it will be as interesting as Dark Star Safari but I can promise that it will be an outlet for my writing which is important for me.  It should also be a good way for me to keep anyone who's interested up to date on what I'm doing.  Hence the name.  Hopefully there will be another trip before too long but at this point there is no plan.

Okay, I'm posting this and then going to start the new blog.  I'll email friends and family with the new address once I have it.  Bye!

Last Thoughts Before We Go?

We’re on our way back to the Northwest. Amber is finished with the data collection for her project and we are out of money. We fly back at the end of June and will be living with my Dad and Stepmom near Poulsbo until we figure out where we are going to live. I will be doing some construction projects on their house and Amber will be focusing on writing her dissertation and jumping through the necessary hoops to graduate. Although it feels a little weird to be moving in with my father and stepmother at age 36, I am thankful for a place to go that’s familiar, for work to jump into immediately, and for cheap rent. We look forward to seeing you all, it’s been a long time and we’ve missed you very much. We’re also going to miss Uganda and all of our friends we’ve made here. This has been an awesome adventure. This may be my last post from Uganda as I will be wrapping up projects, packing, trying to finish a couple of songs and paintings, soaking up a few more equatorial rays, and starting a daily regiment of pushups and situps to get my muscles back. Hope to see you all very soon but until then, here’s a few more thoughts on Uganda…

It hasn’t been difficult at all to communicate with Ugandans here as English is spoken quite fluently by many. But there are many phrases and sayings, colloquialisms if you will, that are endemic to Uganda as with anywhere you go. I know the way I speak sounds funny to them too so I’ve made some adjustments and I’ve been doing it for so long now that it’s natural and I don’t really notice I’m doing it. I’ve always been a bit of a parrot. What will happen when I get back to the States. Will I quickly revert to my old ways or will I keep talking the way I have been here for a while before slowly settling into my old vernacular? Many of these “Ugandanisms” I’ll call them, have become very dear to me and I’d like to keep a hold of them. The beauty of getting to know a new place is learning a new way of looking at things and the slang will often contain that unique angle on life. “How is the going?” and, “How is your good life?” are my top two favorite greetings. “Nice time!” is a common way of saying, “see you later” often with a “well done” thrown in for good measure. “Eehhh” with a descending tone, like you would say while you’re thinking, is a standard way of saying yes here. Perhaps the biggest change I’ve made in my speech, something I learned from Amber, is emphasizing my “t’s” when talking. This seems to go a long way in helping a Ugandan to understand what you are saying but it sounds pretty wierd.

I often hear people using a mixture of Runyankole (the local language) and English. In Runyankole, as in English, there are some rules and exceptions to them. One of these rules is used when a word sometimes will have an “L” sound and sometimes will have an “R” sound (just like “I before E except after C” doesn’t always work). This has created some fun effects when applied to English. There’s a shop in town that advertises selling photos “with flames”. There’s a truck driving around with a great big “Rastafalian” painted across the front in the red, green and gold rasta colors. I often see a boda boda go by with an advertisement on the back for “Papalazzi Photography”. “God bress you”, and “I’ll play for you”, are common phrases used at church. The best one is when our friends Drew and Erin saw a something run across the road in front of their car and when asking their Ugandan driver what it was he called it a squealer. After some thought, they realized what he meant. It was a squirrel.

One thing I’ll probably never be able to explain fully or understand is “The What”. When a Ugandan is talking they will frequently interject the monologue with this question and then answer the question. There is a pause but it’s too fast to answer. The question is rhetorical. For example, “After going shopping for the trip we are going to do what? We are going to pack for the trip.” Another example, “I want to show you my what? My house, so we are going to do what? We are going to walk there now.” It seems pointless, doesn’t it? But it happens a lot. Some of our muzungu friends equate it to our “umm” that is to say they are thinking about what they are saying as they are saying it, but that explanation is somewhat unsatisfactory to me. I think it is a device used to distinguish the speaker from the listener. It creates an “I am the teacher and you are my student” relationship. I think that might be a lot of the reason for it. Ugandans have a reputation of being very proud and this may be another manifestation of their pride. It’s just my humble opinion, though, I have no idea what the real reason for “The What” is.

A lot of the clothes people wear here have come from far away. It took me a long time to realize why I was seeing a lot of AIG shirts and Fly Emirates shirts. They’re the chief sponsors of Manchester United and Arsenal football teams. But when I ran into a guy wearing a jersey from my 4th grade soccer team at the gas station the other day I was a little surprised. The guy wearing it did not speak English but was willing to have his picture taken.


This man is hauling a bunch of matoke, an important staple, to the market. A bunch will sell for maybe 5000 Ush or 2.50 US, and last about a week in a household of 4. Some people I’ve seen live so far from the market, and in such hilly countryside, that they can push only 1 bunch of matoke at a time walking as far as 19km to the market, taking most of a day. Others I’ve seen can push 6 bunches at a time and make more than 1 trip to the market in a day, thus greatly increasing their hourly wage. Day to day living can be very different from village to village due to these differing conditions. It’s such an easy climate to live in but living is still a struggle. Our friend Danny, who recently went back to the states, has some great insight on this topic. See the link to his blog at the upper right hand corner of this page (Lynn And Danny’s Excellent Adventure) Miss you guys!

This may sound strange coming from me but I like to golf. I can count the number of times I’ve been golfing on my fingers and all but once they have been right here in my own backyard in Mbarara. It’s a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. The cost is low (5000 Ush per person = $2.50 US and 2000 Ush per person tip for the caddy is standard) and the dress code is not enforced. It’s a 9 hole course but made 18 by using different places for teeing off. You have to watch for traffic as there are as many as 6 places where you are hitting over a road, and the neighborhood has no scruples about crossing the course for a shortcut. For clubs we borrow a friends, an Irish father named Charlie who has lived in Mbarara for some 20+ years. The set is incomplete and ancient, but I can’t complain. There’s me hitting one out of the park just before the gallery goes wild. The kids in the background are watching the game to learn how to be caddy’s and if we lose a ball they will find it for us, for a small fee of course. I’m going to miss playing golf because in the US it’s way too expensive and just not going to be the same.

Birds, Birds, Birds, Birds

I’ve always had a fascination with birds but never considered myself a “birdwatcher” or “twitcher” as they say. But Africa being the amazing place that it is there’s no surprise that there are some amazing birds. Lots of amazing birds. One of the most common books I see in people’s hands, apart from the “The Bradt Guide of Uganda” is “The Birds of East Africa”. We got our guide hand delivered to us by a friend coming back from San Francisco after buying it online from Amazon for less than half the price you would get it for here, yeah!, and it has been put to great use on all of our trips, walks and drives through the Ugandan countryside. Of the mzungus I know I’d say about 90% of them are at least self admitted, if not what I would call avid, bird watchers. We love it. The only point we seem to differ on is whether or not to mark the book when you spot one. For those of you readers interested in birds (Kris) then this blog’s for you. The following is a list of birds I’ve seen with accompanying commentary where necessary explaining a particularly interesting sighting. If I were keeping an actual log I think I’d need to note the time and place of the sighting. I’m not quite that bird crazy yet.

Maribou Stork – One of the first things you’ll see in Uganda that’s rather shocking are these 4 foot tall inhabitors of the trash heap. They’re in every dumpster in every town and rarely spotted outside of the cities. This has prompted the use of their name to describe a person who never leaves the city even to visit relatives during the holidays. These birds, although cautious about humans, are quite accustomed to the presence of humans. They’re not afraid to fly close to your head or to grab your trash as soon as you let go of it. They’re hideous.

Crows – House, Pied. Pied means black and white.

Pied Wagtail - Black and white and wags its tail, hence the name.

Black Kite – Probably third in line for highest population. It’s still really cool every time to see a raptor flying nearby. They have a way of using their tail during flight that makes them easy to spot.

Hadada Ibis – I like to call them kazoo birds because they have a very loud kazoo like call. They like to gather in groups outside our house and honk together as if they’re ringing in the new year.

Shrikes – Common Fiscal, Grey Backed, Lesser Grey.

Brown Parrot – I see these about once a day eating guavas off the tree near our place. They’re only brown on the head and back. The rest of the body is bright green and yellow. Wild parrots, neat!

Plantain Eater – Kinda parrot shaped. Their flying style is aggressive and gangly as they lob themselves from tree to tree.

Long Crested Eagle – My friend Pasco has a great series of photos he took of one of these swallowing a rat whole.

Crested Crane – The national bird. Really stunning. I wonder if they would be good eating?

Bare Faced Go Away Bird – These really grab your attention. They’re really nosy and kind of clumsy fliers. They’re called this because their call supposedly sounds like they’re saying “Go away!” They must like me because I’ve never heard their call.

African Thrush – Everywhere. Boring

Brown Babbler – Everwhere. Also boring

Starlings – Ruppell’s,Purple. Also everywhere but, contrary to the starlings in the NW, really beautiful. The most common type I’ve seen is an iridescent indigo/purple/green with a bright yellow eye.

Sunbirds – Bronze, Green headed, Olive bellied, Scarlet Chested, Variable, This one is a Marico.

Palm Nut Vulture – One early morning drive through Queen Elizabeth National Park we saw about 30 of these so called “solitary raptors” just off the highway. We came back through the same place about 2 hours later and not a single vulture in sight. ?!?!

African Fish Eagle – Very similar to our bald eagle but with more white and a lighter brown body. I’ve seen them fishing up close on Lake Mburo.

Bateluer – Bad ass bird with a bad ass name.

Spoonbill Stork – Often seen filtering the water for algae on the lakeshore next to a crocodile. Maybe they don’t taste very good.

This picture contains all of these birds;

Great Cormorant –

Great White Pelican-

Pink Backed Pelican – Amber’s fave.

Black Headed Heron – Reminds me of home.

Sacred Ibis –

Yellow Billed Stork -

Long Tailed Cormorant –

Pied Kingfisher – A very smart looking black and white cliff dweller.

Malachite & African Pygmy Kingfisher – Despite being very small, they’re very bright orange and blue so they’re easy to spot.

Woodland Kingfisher – An early favorite of mine. This was one of the first brightly colored birds I saw here. They’re turquoise, black, and white with a bright orange bill.

Lilac Breasted Roller – A multi-colored bird with a similar shape as a kingfisher. One of my favorites.

Broad Billed Roller – Rusty red with a yellow beak. They like to sit on the cactus trees.

African Jacana –

African Finfoot – Extremely rare apparently. Our guide at Lake Mburo told us that serious birders come there specifically to see the finfoot.

Black Crake – Black body, bright red feet, a blue eye, and a yellow beak. The way this bird bops around looking for food looks like it’s got headphones on and is listening to techno music. I always think it’s about to do a moonwalk.

Guineafowl – Crested and Helmeted

Double Toothed Barbet –

Pelican –

Paradise Fly-Catcher –

Weavers – Black Headed, Lesser Masked, Northern Brown Throated, The males build a hanging nest by weaving grass hoping for approval by the females. If the potential mate does not approve of the nest she will destroy it by cutting it off the tree and letting it fall to the ground.

Black Headed Oriole –

African Green Pigeon-

Little Grebe-

Hamerkop – With a hammer shaped head this little bird is quite the builder. The nest it makes would be big enough for an ostrich but the hamerkop is about the size of a common seagull.

Saddle Billed Stork –

Egyptian Goose –

Spur Winged Goose –

Yellow billed Duck –

African White Backed Vulture –

Pallid Harrier –

Gabar Goshawk –

African Goshawk –

Great Sparrowhawk –

African Harrier Hawk –

Augur Buzzard –

Common Buzzard –

Tawny Eagle –

Wahlberg’s Eagle –

Lesser Spotted Eagle –

Scaly Francolin –

Red Necked Spurfowl –

Purple Swamphen –

Lesser Moorhen –

Black Bellied Bustard –

Black Winged Stilt –

Water Thick knee –

Lapwings – Spur winged, Long toed, African wattled, Crowned, Senegal

Green Sandpiper –

Lesser Black Backed Gull –

Speckeled Pigeon –

Doves – Blue Spotted Wood, Ring Necked, Laughing

Great Blue Turaco –

Coucals – Blue Headed, White Browed

Mousebirds – Speckled, Blue Naped

Cinnamon Chested Bee Eater –

This is truly fascinating, isn’t it?

Hornbills – African Grey, Black and White Casqued, this is a Crowned Hornbill sitting on my friend Tony’s car just outside our front door.

Double Toothed Barbet -

Swallows – Red Rumped, Mosque, Lesser Striped, Barn,

Red Shouldered Cuckoo Shrike –

Common Bulbul –

Robin Chats – White Browed, Red Capped, Grey Winged

Common Stonechat –

Northern Wheatear –

Flycathers – African Paradise, Red Bellied Paradise, African Blue,

Black Headed Gonolek –

Black Crowned Tchagra –

Fork Tailed Drongo -

Yellow Billed Oxpecker – Often seen picking lice off of Cape Buffalo.

Fan Tailed Widowbird –

Black Bishop –

Black Winged Red Bishop –

Red Billed Firefinch –

Black Crowned Waxbill –

Wydahs – Broad Tailed Paradise, Pin Tailed.

Whew!

Greetings from Uganda

From the beginning this blog has not been only for you, family, friends and faithful readers. It has been a way for me to better my skills as a writer and to document the experience for the future. I feel successful on both counts but at this moment I’m feeling like it’s been a while since I’ve explained what Amber and I are up to on a more average, day to day level. It’s easy to write about the exciting stuff that happened but it’s much more difficult to convey what happens pretty much every day, and make it interesting to read for everyone. I’ve written about what it’s like to shop and to eat out and to get the car fixed. It’s still like that to me although some of the people I shop from know me by now and will sometimes add an extra tomato or throw a couple of oranges in with my lemons. My regular mechanic, I’m guessing he’s around 23 years old and a wiz on a RAV4, calls me once in a while to make sure the car is running well and if anything needs fixing. Sure, he’s trying to drum up business but he knows the car well and I have to say it’s nice to have his concern.

We’ve spent many weekends going somewhere or other to see as much of the country we can afford. Most weekends, however, are spent right here in Mbarara sitting in the sun, or shade depending on how hot the day, catching up on organization or projects. A Couple of times we’ve gone to the big hotel in town to swim in the pool (7000 Ush = $3.50 US roughly) and drink a cold Nile Special (approx. 22oz and only $1.25 thank you very much). In the afternoons our neighbors and ourselves often congregate somewhere whether it be for a walk or around a table on the porch for some drinks. Sometimes we go to Pasco and Alicia’s for a movie on the laptop projector and a potluck dinner. They have a big, flat, blank wall and plenty of space for seating. I have to say, I’m a huge fan of the potluck. Everyone here is a pretty decent cook and, with a short list of ingredients available to us, someone will make something great that I wouldn’t think of myself. So it’s a great place to exchange ideas about food and information about which store currently has what. The potluck is also a common place for people to show off their recent care package arrivals. We recently got a package from our friends Erin and George that contained Vegetarian Sloppy Joe Mix! Man, were we the hit that night.

During the week I’m usually up first and so I make the coffee. Sometimes we have a toasted piece of my homemade bread. Sometimes we have a fresh passionfuit and banana smoothie (8 passionfruit for 50cents and 1 bunch of size small bananas for 50 cents makes about 6 8oz. smoothies). I try to alternate my days with writing all day on one and painting all day on another, but end up spending most of my time writing or reading. Painting is fun but I feel like writing more these days. Amber, after sending her research staff out for the day to gather data, spends most of her days entering data or planning the next phase of the project. Sometimes she has to go out into the field to oversee some new procedure or, in the case of recent visitors Cissi and Todd, show our friends the ins and outs of her project. She’s also been giving advice and instruction to some of her staff on applying for graduate schools and showing some of the other researchers the capabilities of computer mapping or giving advice on their research. That’s Amber, always giving, always going. It’s great to see her perform in her element. As for me, I can complete a painting within a day but don’t usually get very far, even after spending most of the day, writing. It’s a painful, sometimes self-deflating job to try to write something worth reading. But when you do something good it really feels good. I do make progress, but I look forward to the days of more progress in less time.

Thursday has become the most productive night of the week for me. It’s the night I do Deano’s Pizzeria and many have said its their favorite night of the week. Orders average somewhere between 12 and 18 but often I make 20 to 30 pizzas in one night. The record right now is 32. Someone will put a few tables together and round up as many chairs as we can and it turns into a party. After making pizza for everyone I’ve often brought out the guitar and entertained folks as well. I get my orders the night before so I can make the dough and let it proof in the fridge overnight. On Thursday morning I go into town and do the shopping then come back and spend the rest of the day doing prep. It takes the whole day to get ready to make 20 + pizza’s. Around 5:00 p.m. Amber will put her research aside and help out by decorating the pizza’s as I roll out the crusts. Amber and I, with tons of kitchen experience collectively, are a powerful force in the kitchen and can crank out 30 pizza’s in just a couple of hours. I’m usually sitting down with my own dinner, kitchen clean and everything put away, by 9 or 9:30. My prices are similar to pizza prices in town, averaging 10,000 Ush per pizza. So let’s do the math. I put about 2 hours into getting orders and making dough on Wednesday. Then I work from 8 til 9:30 on Thursday. Amber puts in 2 hours to make the total hours of labor to be 15.5 for one pizza night. Lets say it’s a good night and I sold 22 pizzas. At 10,000 per pizza that 220,000 Ush gross income. The supplies for 22 pizzas cost 75,000 Ush which makes my net income to be 145,000 Ush. Divide that by 15.5 and you’ll find that I’m making 9,355 Ush per hour which, with the current exchange rate at 2100 Ush to the US dollar equals $4.54 per hour. That’s not enough to live on at home but here it pays our electric bill and gives us a little extra something to save for special occasions. It would be nice to pass this little business on to an entrepreneurial Ugandan to keep it going but for now it’s kinda saving our skin here. I even got a uniform from the Deano’s Pizza in Santa Barbara courtesy of Danny and Lynn. Thanks guys, I finally feel legit.

I’ve spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks patching holes in the fence where dogs come through at night. We have 2 dogs on the compound full time and one is in heat. This has attracted every scraggly male around and they get into fights right outside our door at the most in hospitable hour. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten out of bed at 3 a.m. to throw rocks and chase them off. It doesn’t matter if I successfully block off all the holes in the fence. Some of the dogs are so skinny they fit between the bars on the gate. Oh well, she won’t be in heat forever. And when she's not things will go back to normal and I'll get better rest.

Little White Boy

Contrary to what he might like you to believe, D.O.G. is thriving here. As he moves into his golden years (he’s 16 now) he seems to be appreciating the sun and the shade in our compound while at the same time complaining about everything for attention, his usual modus operandi. He goes on little walks looking for mice (of which he’s eaten many and at least one lizard which he promptly threw back up). He has his spots in the bushes where he can sleep in the shade or the sun without worrying about being disturbed by anyone. And he has us to answer to his every need and to watch over him in case any stray cats or dogs threaten his way of life. He’s looking thinner than he ever has I assume from the exercise. He’s still an endless source of entertainment for Amber and I and now for our new friends here. D.O.G. must have scored high on the karma spectrum in his last life.

The first time D.O.G. went outside in our new home a large group of small birds landed on the fence nearby to check him out. It was as if they had never seen a cat before. I had yet to see a cat in Uganda too so I wondered what they were saying as the birds chirped up a storm and D.O.G. scowled back at them. Many of our Ugandan friends, upon meeting D.O.G., have been shocked at how big he is so I imagine those birds were maybe thinking the same. So D.O.G. is sitting outside in the fresh air for the first time in a long, long time, smelling the air and feeling the sunlight when someone walked by. You’d think he had never seen a black man before because he sunk to the ground and crawled back inside. Is our innocent little cat prejudiced? He’s having a hard time feeling comfortable with Ugandans. It doesn’t help that many of our Ugandan friends don’t know how to pet a cat properly. Our cleaning lady, while perfectly comfortable with him now, had a long period of getting used to an animal as big as D.O.G. lounging around the house. If it were a goat or a chicken I think they wouldn’t think twice but D.O.G. is a cat. Maybe they think of him as a small leopard. Maybe D.O.G. would like to be thought of as a small leopard.

Early one morning, the sun just a hint on the horizon, I woke up to something big and black flying around our bedroom. Recently our friend Danny and I spent 45 minutes trying to get a bat out of one of our neighbors’ apartment so it seemed it was our turn. D.O.G. was already on the case, following it around the room on the floor. Uh oh, I better keep him away from that so I got up and the thing flew into the other room with me and D.O.G. in pursuit. I didn’t really know what to do so for some reason I grabbed a towel. I could tell from D.O.G. that it had flown into the bookcase and was hanging out about 2 shelves down. What do I do? I moved to the other side of the room and crouched down to get a look. Just as I was kneeling down it flew out straight at me. I threw the towel over it. It sank to the ground and there was no movement, just me and the cat staring at a towel for a moment. Then I picked it up slowly. It wasn’t a bat it was a giant black butterfly. D.O.G. tried to bite it and took a piece if the wing off as it flew off somewhere. He also got a face full of black powder. I felt awful for traumatizing a butterfly. Traumatizing a bat is acceptable for some reason but a beautiful butterfly is kinda sacred, no? It survived our attack only for a few hours. Later that day I found it’s body on the floor.

Many of you know, D.O.G. makes friends pretty fast. I’ve pulled him out or and seen him run out of nearly every apartment in the row. If he sees an open door he takes it as an invitation to come in and have a look around. Some people love it when a cat unexpectedly rubs up against their leg, some people don’t. I think a lot of people don’t think of cats as pets. I’ve gotten the impression from many people that cats are dirty. Understandable when you get a look at a stray cat around here, and anywhere for that matter. This has led to some startling reactions when we tell them that he sleeps in our bed. We’ve had some puzzling expressions when we explain to them that D.O.G. doesn’t pee outside, he pees in this little tub where we put newspaper we’ve cut into little strips for him to pee on. “What does he eat?” you ask. Well, his prescription food is not sold in stores here so we had to carry over for him a YEARS SUPPLY! The lengths we go to please our little guy are not the practice of many folks, let alone many Ugandan folks. But after 16 years of taking care of what may in the end be the worlds’ most expensive cat, it’s just what you do. here's D.O.G. napping in his favorite mint patch just outside our place. Now that's inner peace.

The Leopard

2 hours drive northwest of Mbarara, on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, and wedged between 2 mountain ranges is one of the most beautiful national parks I’ve ever seen. True, national parks are always in unique and beautiful places, so I guess it’s extraordinary-ness is normal. I don’t know why, but I always feel, when beginning a blog entry, that I need to make things sound extraordinary and amazing, so that you, the reader will be gripped by my story, riding the edge of “wow” and “I don’t believe you, Dean. That’s incredible!” I always tell the truth, though, and exaggerate only when necessary, which in a land of extremes is never. But being in Uganda and having so many new and different experiences, almost every day, does provide me with plenty of great stories to tell. That being said let me preclude this story with “WOW!! THAT IS EXTRAORDINARY” and continue.

Queen Elizabeth National Park is situated in the west arm of the Albertine Rift Valley. This valley is formed from 2 plates of the African continent ripping apart. The north plate is pushing northward into the Middle East and the Mediterranean and will eventually build a mountain range somewhere in Saudi Arabia. The south plate is going, well south I think. Also known as the Great Rift Valley, it and its surrounding mountains are home to the Nile River and many of its tributaries. You get the idea. It’s big. The park vegetation is diverse. There are many lakes that support fish and wetland plants and trees. There is jungle so thick you can’t see more than a couple of feet into. And there is vast, vast, vast arid grassland just like you see on National Geographic. The valley is full of big animals and there are lots of roads to drive on for viewing them, which we did, Amber and I with our friend Cissi visiting from London. It was Easter weekend and all the lodging in the park was booked full so our plan was to spend the day in the park, have dinner at the fancy lodge, and then drive to Kasese just outside the park for the night. We didn’t know this would be a problem. No one told us you’re not allowed to drive on the park roads at night. Sure, it makes perfect sense now that we have driven on the park road at night. All those big animals come out at night. And it gets really dark in Queen Elizabeth. You don’t see them until you are very close.

Ok, Ok, back up a little. Let me tell you about the beautiful day before I get into the exciting night. We woke up at 6:30 a.m., still dark, full moon reflecting on a smooth black lake, and ate breakfast at our favorite place, Jacana Safari Lodge. You have to get an early start if want to see any lions as they go to bed early in the day. Also, the light is best for photographs when the sun is low in the sky. And that day was gorgeous. Within the first few hundred meters of our game drive we were taking photos of a huge herd of Ugandan Kob eating grass still wet with morning dew and with a full view of the Rwenzori mountains in the background. That alone was worth getting up early for but the drive continued to be beautiful and cameras were firing at will as we watched herds of waterbuck, buffalo, exotic birds, and even a lone hippo grazing out of the water in full sun. Hey hippo, are you so hungry, hungry you don’t care about getting sunburnt. (Hippos generally stay in the water all day to keep cool and to keep from getting sunburnt and then go out at night to graze. FYI) We had lunch at the lodge and a few beers and then were back out for a boat ride in the Kazinga Channel and more animal viewing just before sunset. The Kazinga Channel connects 2 huge lakes, George and Edward, and is a great place to see animals interact as they bathe, drink, and keep cool on the lakeshore. Elephants clearly are the king of the jungle. Everyone moves out of their way as they stroll about getting wet and eating trees. Destroying trees actually. There are crocodiles strewn about the shore with their mouths open to attract bugs. The bugs, attracted to the saliva, will land in the crocs’ mouth and when there is enough to be bothered with the croc shuts it’s trap and down the gullet they go. We pass a sand bar with every square inch taken up by some bird drying their feathers and beaks off in the breeze coming off Lake Edward. I’m planning a blog entry entirely on birds so I’ll be going into this more then. There’s a fishing village on the channel. People living in harmony with the animals you think? Maybe but I met someone who works at the hospital nearby and she has seen many fishermen come in with injuries from hippos who get annoyed and decide to tip their boat and try to crush them. Hippos have a reputation of unfriendly behavior and they could snap you in half as easy as you can snap your fingers if they feel like it. The sun is going down and it’s coming up on time for dinner so we head back to the lodge for that and then it’s off to bed in Kasese.

It’s 9:30 p.m. and we’re at the gate to leave the park. The ranger, not the first one we’ve talked to, is the first one to tell us that it’s illegal to drive in the park after dark. He’s telling us we can’t leave. But the lodge is full, there’s no place for us to stay, we have to leave. Amber gets out of the car and tries to reason with him. The ranger radios someone and they discuss what to do. It took a fair amount of convincing on Amber’s part but the ranger eventually concedes, not without instilling some fear in us. He explains that most of the animals are nocturnal and to drive very slow to avoid hitting one. He also gives us his personal cell phone number with instructions to call immediately if we run into any trouble. It’s about 16km on a dirt road to the park gate and the tarmac highway. Almost immediately we are scaring away birds that were warming themselves in the road so I’m going pretty slow. We come around a corner and about 20 feet in front is something big squatting at the edge of the road. It’s head turns halfway towards us and we get a profile. It’s a big cat! It’s spraying or peeing on a bush at the edge of the road and doesn’t stop what it’s doing for us. We wait a few seconds while the cat finishes and starts to move. I inch a little closer and we finally get a look at the markings. It’s a leopard and it’s at least as big as me but maybe a little bigger, made entirely of muscle and teeth, and not afraid. The cat steps calmly off the road and gives us the death stare, its mouth hanging open as we crawl past. Yes the windows were rolled up as soon as we saw it. Oh, My, God! That got the adrenaline flowing. I pick up some speed and come to a hook in the road. On the inside corner of the curve stands a bush about 8 feet tall. Above the bush, as we round the corner, I see a big black shape about 12 feet tall moving across the road. It’s an elephant and it’s running to get out of our way! It gives out a deep loud squeal as we peel past and get a close view of its rear end. Being that close to a running elephant, even from inside a car, you feel every step in your chest. Ok, we need to get off this road. It really isn’t safe at all. But driving faster would be the wrong thing to do. So I set the pace at about 20km per hour as the fastest we can safely go and we continue. We catch the moonlight shining off the backs of 2 hippos grazing just off the road. Keep going Dean, there’s a lot of eyes glowing out there. We do eventually reach the gate, get on the highway and make it to the hotel with time to spare for a beer to calm the nerves. The only regret I have is there aren’t any pictures of the leopard. I don’t think a camera flash would’ve helped our situation and we would’ve had to have the windows down to take a photo. That was not going to happen.

The rest of Cissis’ visit has been filled, leisurely of course, with showing her around Mbarara. We bought produce in the market, she bought some African fabrics to make some pillows as well as some gifts for her friends. She took a few boda boda rides which are a must for anyone visiting Uganda. We took a special (that’s a what you call a cab here) down to the gas station to put her on a bus to Kampala. Hejdo Cissi until next time. As for me I’m left feeling lucky for what I’ve seen and done and also feeling like I have a lot more to see and do. One thing I’d like to get better at here is haggling. I just learned that a pineapple should cost 800 Ush. I’ve been paying 1500 Ush and feeling like I’m getting a deal. Mzungu Prices! So unfair. The exchange rate for US dollars right now is 2100 Ush to the dollar. So that’s only a difference of about 30 cents but every cent counts when you don’t have an income.

Zanzibar

Monday March 16th 2009

Zanzibar is where Arabia melds with Africa. This small archipelago off the coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean is paradise for anyone interested in swimming, snorkeling, diving, eating, history, shopping, you name it. Amber and I, along with our friends from Seattle Sarah, Steve, and Todd landed in the hot, sweaty night after a long but easy plane ride from Entebbe to Nairobi to here. After riding on the cramped, dusty buses of Uganda the economy class seats on Kenyan Air felt like first class.
After checking in to our hotel in Stonetown, the capital of Zanzibar, we took a walk to a beachside plaza to check out the seafood market. Every night vendors setup tables, oil lamps, and barbecues in this park and cook up skewers of fresh seafood. Tuna, marlin, lobster, calamari, mussles, snails, clams, octopus, you can have a giant crab claw, plus Indian flatbreads, falafel, vegetables, fresh squeezed sugarcane juice, chocolate covered bananas, heavenly heaven for a seafood lover like me. And cheap too. A lobster skewer will run you about $2 US, even less if you’ve got bargaining skills. At each table the cook has his inventory on display, most of the way cooked but not quite done. They grab plate and place on it the skewers of your choice, then when you’re ready the throw it back on the grill to finish cooking. Some of the vendors have a chili sauce, called pili pili, to brush on if you like. I like. If I lived here I would eat here every night. We sat in the grass amongst the Zanzibar stray cats and looked out at the wooden boats in the harbor and up at the stars in the sky.
The next day we got up early and ate breakfast together, included in most accommodations around these parts, on the rooftop lounge of the hotel. As you look out over Stonetown you’ll see that many hotels have rooftop places to hang out. The streets of Stonetown are extremely narrow and extremely not straight so the breeze doesn’t get down into the depths of it. But up on the roof you can see the ocean and feel the breeze coming off it and the sun heating up the day. It gets frickin’ hot here, by the way. Mid 90’s with a humidity of oh my god. We only plan to spend one day here and this is it so we all wanted to get the most out of it. We booked ourselves on a spice tour for the first part of the day. Zanzibar has built a reputation for its spices. They say that in the old days of the explorers you could smell the cloves long before you could see the island. I felt that it would be interesting but I have to admit I thought it might be a little too touristy for my taste. I was wrong, it was one of the coolest things I’ve done. After a short drive out of town and into the hills we got out for a walk through a spice plantation. They didn’t grow only one spice on this plantation. They grew pretty much every spice you can think of. As we walked the guide would stop a tree or bush and pick the fruit, flower, or leaves, pass it around and ask us to guess which spice it is. We had cinnamon bark straight off the cinnamon tree. Bite down on a fresh clove fruit and your whole mouth will go numb. Ginger, when eaten right out of the ground, is really really hot! Fresh nutmeg will make you feel light headed. All these spices were interspersed with the tasting of fresh fruit. We had the best grapefruit, lychee, orange, and coconut right off the tree. It was sensory overload.
The rest of that day the group split up and Amber and I walked around town to look for souvenier's. Stonetown is a labyrinth of narrow streets full of shops, mosques, hotels, and even workshops. Streets only had to be wide enough to get a hand cart down back then so buildings were put very close together. Getting lost is part of the experience, as is dodging scooters and warding off salesmen. Mostly built when it became the capital of the Omani kingdom in the 1800’s, it was the heart of the Arab slave trade. Many of its citizens became very wealthy. The doors on the houses are notorious for their elaborate display of the wealth of their inhabitants. And now, after over a hundred years of salt air, the town has developed a thick patina of Asian smells, African carvings, Muslim chanting and Swahili ballyhoo. It’s an ancient metropolis at a tropical island pace. They even have a phrase to use much like “hang loose’ in Hawaii is used. It’s “hakuna matata” and it means “no worries”. Amber and I dove into a few deep curio shops, bought some postcards, and just explored for a few hours before meeting up with our friends at a bar called Mercury’s which is named after the famous Zanzibar born singer Freddy.
After breakfast the next day I had a scooter driving lesson planned. We wanted to go to the other side of the island, mostly beach, and we thought scooter would be the best way to go. Since I don’t have an international driving license I had to pay for a temporary permit (about $7 US). After 20 minutes of starting, shifting gears, coming to a complete stop and then starting again, the instructor felt comfortable enough to let us go and our friends followed in a rented car. As we zipped across the island we were wafted by the smells of ocean and spices. What a way to go! It took a little over an hour to get to our little bungalow on a length of powder white beach stretching all the way up the northeast side of the island. We spent the next few days lounging in the shade, swimming in the pool, snorkeling around the atoll nearby, drinking blue and green cocktails at happy hour, and eating in luxury.
It’s Saturday now and time for our friends to head home. Amber and I have a couple more days to explore. After coffee on the beach watching the sunrise we ate breakfast and took one last dip in the pool before parting ways, until next time. We hopped on the scooter, me in the drivers seat backpack on my front, Amber on the back with a backpack on her back. We scooted straight down the middle of the island to Unguja Ukuu (South Zanzibar). We were stopped twice by the police to check our license but, contrary to much warning about it, never were pressured to pay a bribe. The police are not paid very well and so many have resorted to using their authority to extort innocent passersby. This is the reputation they have built anyway and while they didn’t come across to me as being friendly, I never felt like I was in a situation I didn’t want to be in. I have no problem proving to the authorities that I’m following their rules. I may need their help sometime.
2 hours later we found ourselves at Menai Bay Beach Resort, among huge baobab trees, in another piece of tropical wonderland overlooking the Menai Bay Nature Preserve. It’s pretty quiet on this side of the island. Upon signing the guest book we learned that we’re their first visitors in a month. Luckily we had called ahead and they were ready and willing to take us in. After settling in and washing off the road, scootering in paradise is dirty work you know, we walked down the beach to the only other business establishment in the area, a little mom and pop Thai restaurant. Run by an older couple, she’s from Thailand he’s from Italy, this little restaurant has it all figured out. Great spot, great food, great service. “We’ll be back for dinner, thanks”.
We got back on the scooter and went about 10km down the road to the Jozani National Park for a guided nature walk. For only $4 US + tip for the guide you can stroll through some of the strangest forest you’ve ever seen. The first part of our three part walk was through thick mahogany and palm trees. With the water table just 2 ½ feet below ground the trees don’t have much to grab on to and so, after reaching about 100 feet tall, they simply fall over. Some trees have adopted a strategy of grabbing on to other trees for support. These are called strangler trees and they end up killing the other tree and they both fall over together. Add to this a bizarre little native, the freshwater crab. What? We’re at least 5km from the ocean and there’s not a lake in sight. But with the water table so close these crabs have no problem getting the water they need by burrowing down to it.
Next we crossed the road into an almond grove that is home to a large colony of red colobus monkeys. These cute little guys have gotten quite used to people staring at them so they’ll get very close to you as they snack on fresh almond leaves. Watching them jump from limb to limb and swing from tree to tree will make you wish you were a monkey too. And they get so close you want to reach out a grab one for a hug if it weren’t for the many diseases you can get from simply touching a monkey. My folks always told me not to touch the monkeys. Sorry.
Next part of the walk was on a boardwalk through a mangrove forest. A mangrove forest is basically a swamp where trees are growing, in this particular forest, in brackish water. Brackish water is half salt, half fresh water. This mangrove happens to be a tidal flat so, although it was low tide when we walked through, at high tide the boardwalk is often underwater.

(Author’s note: I’m struggling here to describe every strange detail when a few photos would save a lot of explaining. I’m uploading this entry on a friends high quality connection instead of my usual slow one. Hopefully this means I’ll get a few photos up.)

Just two days left here and feeling like we’ve grabbed a huge bite out of the place. We woke up feeling great and looking forward to the beaches of the southeast coast. It’s not surprising then, in hindsight, that something unexpected should happen. Well, we knew it could happen but were wishing it wouldn’t. About 4km before we reached the nearest petrol station we ran out of gas. It was 10 a.m. and the sun was just getting cooking. It was time to get off and push. I have to say, if I’m going to run out of gas at a place of my choosing it would be on Zanzibar at anytime of day. Everyone we passed wanted to know what the problem was and if they could help. Unfortunately there’s only one solution to no gas. We soaked ourselves in sweat doing it but we did get gas and dried ourselves off doing 40km per hour to the next beach. Just part of the adventure.

So that was Zanzibar. Back at the compound in Mbarara today the first lady, Janet Museveni is visiting to give us a speech. I think I saw her convoy go by a little while ago and now the place is crawling with soldiers. Maybe I’ll go try to look over the fence and get a peek. Talk at you later!