Tony's Tanzanian Trip

Thats It

2006-07-15T01:15:00.000-07:00

Well... I'm gone.

I'm now in Bracknell just outside of London.

My last week in Tanzania was great, for the most part - I did have to appear in court 3 out of my last 5 days and the trial is still proceedings painfully slowly, but at least I got to give my statements to the magistrate.
Saying goodbye to everybody was so hard, harder than saying goodbye when I left Canada because I dont' know when I'll be back - I will definitely come back, but it'll probably be several years.
Everyone else who has left told me that the shock of leaving didn't hit them till they got on the plane, but that didn't happen for me. Instead it was starting to hit the two or three days before I left since many people were away travelling so I had to say my goodbyes early to many of my closest friends. Also for my last night a bunch of us drank at Udassa for a couple of hours and then went to Bilicanas (pole sana for those of you who dont know or like this club - you know who you are!). On the way there David's friend came up from South Africa with his convertible Ferari which we cruised in to the club (more stylish than I've ever been!). So when I got to the airport at 7am after a 20minute nap at home the shock was slightly dulled.

But last night I went out for some drinks with Ruth (dont ask me how we are related exactly) in Bracknell.... and thats when it hit me: white people are fucking weird!

So the adjustment is starting, unfortunately.... i'll have to start waiting in lines, accept prices as stated, and worst of all hold back on Swahili.

Yar.

Its been Great. ninamachunguu tele kabisa! ninasikitika pia!

Kwa Heri Nchi Yangu Pili! (au, sasa, kwanza).
Kwa Heri Rafiki Zangu, Kicheche Wangu, Walimu Wangu, na Watanzania Wote!!!
I will miss you all.... and i will say now with sincerity: Tutaonana!! Naandika Ukweli! Nitarudi Nyumbani, Tanzania!!!

10 Years and 1 Language Apart

2006-06-29T05:00:00.000-07:00

This is Gloria Gumzu. I met her in Korogwe. She lives in one of the houses built by Habitat for Humanity with her niece. I love Gloria.

When I first met her to interview her so that we could use her in our 'homeowner stories' and for a video shoot that was coming up I didn't know what I was getting into. At first she was just quiet staring, figuring out the situation. But when I started to try to talk to her in kiswahili and she would answer back in a furry of hilarious cynicism (which had to be translated for me) I realized I was i over my head. She's crazy. So funny (everyone is always dying of laughter around her) friendily as anyone I've ever met (when I told about my love of chipsi mayai she proudly dragged me to her chicken coop and explain how good they were) and independent (no one, not even the booming Mississippian director could order her around).

I decided on my last trip to Korogwe that if she was 10 years younger and if I could speak better swahili, I would marry this woman. This is one more person I will very much miss when i leave here, but at least meeting her made my normal routine a whole hell of a lot more fun!

Bye Gloria!!

Boda Boda - The Only Way to Travel

2006-06-29T02:39:00.000-07:00

Finally got my pictures developed - this film camera is a whole lot more work.

In Kigali and Kampala the bodaboda motorcycle taxis were the most fun way to get around, and were relatively cheap... and apparently (as everyone warned us) very dangerous, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I was amazed at how well this photo turned out (most were not so good on my crappy camera) I took it form the bike in front. It was especially fun using them in Kigali since the city is built on such a steep slope so all of the roads zig-zag up and down.

Less than 3 weeks

2006-06-27T02:44:00.000-07:00

Friday I was in Korogwe, Tanga. I had been there all of last week working with a filming crew and a Global Village team from the states. That morning I was having breakfast with Maggie who I was working with on these projects - when it hit me.... i leave in 3 weeks. I dont know if i'm ready.

After i booked my ticket I was sure I was ready to head back to the True North Stong and Free, to enjoy the convience, choice and plentifulness of the dominant civilization (sorry, just read Huntington finally), to walk around at night without getting robbed, and to walk around in the day without being a spectical for everybody elses humour. But now I dont know. I've gotten used to speaking broken swahili, to standing out in a crowd to watchin my pockets at all times (even though that took some time to get used to). More importantly I've gotten used to not carrying about physical, personal space - if we're on an empty bus and you take the seat right next to me, that fine! I've gotten used to dressing how I like and not caring about others opinions because no body cares! I've gotten used to being able to stop and talk to a complete stranger without any awkwardness or taboo. And of course i've gotten used to the Chipsi Mayai, Wali Rosti, Chapati and the other wonderful foods here.

I am looking forward to coming home.... but I will definitely be back to East Africa as soon as I get the chance.

I have two weeks left: coming up will be hanging out in Dar and enjoying the city for the last time, then for my last weekend here its off to Zanzibar for one last weekend of silky beaches and endless sea.....then London, UK... then South West Ontario, thats gonna hurt the ol' pysche....

RAFTING THE RIVER NILE

2006-06-27T02:21:00.000-07:00

Again, sorry i've taken so long to write - but ya know... the laziness.

I'm still waiting for most of the pictures from out Uganda-Rwanda trip cuz they're on matt's sweet camera and my crappy film camera could only be used so much. But luckily when we "RAFTED THE FURIOUS RIVER NILE" (must be said like an announcer at a Monster Truck rally) many pictures were taken of us flipping over and struggling against the craziness of the waves. Matt, Erici and I had been travelling together for a while by this point and hanging out a lot even before so by the time we got to the 'RIVER NILE" (again - monster trucks) we had so many stupid jokes that had been going on for so long we must have seemed very strange to the 3 Danes and onc Canadian girl that joined us. The Zimbabwean guide was definitely weirded out, but he was cool..... for example on of our joke's was using that Monster Truck rally voice to talk about everything not just the River, by the end of the day we were clearly the stereotypical, loud abrasive North American travel - but at least the ride came with free beer at the end.

The Border

2006-06-13T06:30:00.000-07:00

Here we stroll through the no-man's (or no-woman's land for you feminists out there) between Uganda and Rwanda. The scenery in Rwanda was amazing.... I have better pictures of it than this, but you'll have to wait for my hour long slide show series i've been preparing. I really really loved Uganda, and Rwanda was beautiful but strange - the worst part was that you didn't know what language people would speak so I just got into the habit of approaching everyone saying: "Hello, Bonjour, Habari Yako?" It seemed to work... unless, of course, they responded in French. Luckily Erici is a good Canadian and bridged that old lingual divide I won't touch with a ten-foot pole. (fine I'll admit it, I feel a little guilty about it)

Three White Moons

2006-06-13T05:50:00.000-07:00

Well after spending a day in Kigali we headed out West to find a beach on Lake Kivu (we could see eastern DRC from out position... but its not so obvious in this picture). We couldn't find the beach, so we found some rocks near some reach ex-pat houses and chilled out by the lake. It was actually kind of crazy how similar the geography was to rural Canada out in that direct. Aside from the searing heat and palm trees --- i'm serious!
By the way i think i'm getting love-handles.... jesus christ.... this is like a life-alterting moment...

Silly Hats in Kigali

2006-06-13T05:33:00.000-07:00

Well I just returned from my trip to Uganda and Rwanda. I was away for less than 2 weeks, so I didn't get to see as much as I would have liked - especially of Kampala - but it was still a great time. Here are the two fools I travelled with Matt (Mak in swahili) and Eric (Bwana Erici in swahili). This is during our touristy afternoon in Kigali trying on the hats in a souvenier store - Erici's is clearly the best!

The People of Chaani and Me

2006-05-25T05:04:00.000-07:00

After a day of interviews and walking around checking out the place we had one last big photo shot. It was really nice, at first all the kids were scared to have their pictures taken, but they loved it by the end. Heres a fun challenge see how long it takes you to find me in this picture then challenge your friends at home.

My Job

2006-05-25T02:35:00.000-07:00

Well I have been working at Habitat for Humanity Tanzania as the Resource Development and Communications Officer (sounds real professional, eh!) for 3 months now. And here a couple pictures to prove that I haven't been just sitting on my ass (although I am, ironically, sitting on my ass in the above picture). This was my first trip to the field in the village of Chaani in Northern Zanzibar where I got to interview the women we work with there about how they felt about our project and, more generally, about their lives and what/how they want to see them improve. (I then take this fascinating information and boil it down to a heart-warming story about a family in need so ya'll open up your wallets - but i'm not here to judge)

Karibu Ms. Fowler and Happy Earth Day (be-lated)

2006-05-25T01:46:00.000-07:00

Well I'm an ass so I forgot to announce that my good friend/photographer/film-maker/clown (literally, contact her for more details) has now been living in Dar es Salaam for over
a month. She was in Kenya for many a month before that. Sarah's now doing an internship with Roots-and-Shoots (Jane Goodall's organziation... but unfortunately she's still out with the chimps at the moment). Well in good hippy fashion we celebrated Earth Day here in Dar es Salaam by cleaning up the oh-so-nasty beach front in front of Jane's house. This is just one of the many many many wheelbarrow fulls of trash we collected, and its a great action shot of Johanna, Sarah and I fighting to keep the thing from tippying over - not exactly a top quality barrow. Also in good hippy fashion we only worked for a total of maybe 3 hours that day (probably less) cuz it was raining on-and-off. Luckily the local media wasn't concerned with minor details like that and so it was recorded in the Citizen as a bunch of concerned students worked from 8 am till 5 pm cleaning up the beach. (most of us were still in bed at 8 and were out buying beers by 4). YAY EARTH DAY!!!!

Caution Again - Don't Get Sick

2006-05-20T01:44:00.000-07:00

So on our last night in Lushoto (when we most certainly heard a political uprising passing by at 3 am) I developed this horrible lip... I dont know how, but damn was it scary. I thought spiders had laid eggs in my lip. but it fixed it self as most weird bodily phonomenon here seems to do. The picture captures my attitude at the time pretty well though.

Caution: Do Not Buy Tents from Wal-Mart

2006-05-20T01:40:00.000-07:00

So matt, being the genious that he is, brought a tent from home, bought at WalMart (kansas-style): a two-person, junior tent. I barely fit in it by myself, it was less than comfortable with two. Of course, had we not left things to the last moment, then drink instead of getting ready before we left (getting ready in this case means opening the tent for the first time before going camping with it) we could have borrowed Eric's 3 person tent

Super Sweet Hotel

2006-05-20T01:26:00.000-07:00

Right at the peak was this super sweet hotel that we stopped to have a beer at..... Kachizi kama Ndizi

Kama-Kama-Kama-Camelion

2006-05-20T01:07:00.000-07:00

As we were walkin along our guide jumped into some random bushes and jumped back out with this little guy. Crazy little things with velcro-like feet. This picture was taken right before Matt noticed taht it was shitting on his hand, apparently thats good luck, Matt didn't seem so comforted by that - weird eh?

Irente Point

2006-05-20T00:51:00.000-07:00

Again, sorry about not up dating this thing in so long, but I dont have my own USB stick any more (still held as evidence) so its a bit of a pain to get the pictures to the internet cafe, and i'm lazy

I look like a fool here, but you get the perspective of being a kilometer straight above plains and villages

LUSHOTO!

2006-04-11T02:45:00.000-07:00

So after that ridiculous night Matt and I woke up at 5:30 am and dragged our sorry asses to the bus station. While on the bus ride (about 7 hours) to Lushoto (and speeding along the edge of a mountain veering back and forth - i was a little tense) I realized my knee was sorely bruised - probably from the fight over the good chair Eric and I went through the night before (damn Vancouver Islanders). Well the scenery was beautiful, but it was painful to reach it, but I'm glad we did. This is the first peak we reached looking over the small villages we walked through and towards the next peak (Inrente Peak).

It just wouldn't be the same without the Green

2006-04-11T02:28:00.000-07:00

here's Matt and Li-SA showing off their green tounges - which resulted in green stool the following day - Pole!

International Ridiculousness

2006-04-11T02:17:00.000-07:00

Here is Lisa (pronounced Li-SA") who is from Sweeden, but is basically an Aussie - so clearly fun to drink with

Happy St. Patty's Day Mr. Kikwete!

2006-04-11T02:02:00.000-07:00

In proper Irish spirit (which was difficult to explain to people) we dressed in green and drank heavily! Of course my love for Jakaya Kikwete (our new honourable and glorious President!) was on display, walking around the streets however got a lot of people to stop and stare - but hey, thats something used to!

New Era

2006-04-11T01:14:00.000-07:00

So its now a new epoch of Tanzanian life - I work 40 hours a week, I live in a super SWEEET house off campus and all of the wonderful people from other countries that I became so close with last semester are gone (Flo Flo left yesterday.... by kaka!). But I still manage to travel.... my trip to Zam, Bot and Zim has no pictures cuz I forgot my camera in Dar. But it was fun I can assure you......

So now I've been making some new friends and still travelling - a couple weeks ago I went to Lushoto, a small village in the Usambara mountains with my buddy Matt (he's from Kansas, but I've done my best to overlook that fact). But of course, the day before we left was St. Patrick's day... and thats where it all begins

Sorry for the Slack

2006-04-11T01:01:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone, well its been a long time since I've updated this thing - some of you have been kept up to date through emails and what not, but no picture - Pole Sana.

In part its been my laziness, and in part its been the absolute ridiculousness of the past several months.

After a shitty January I went travelling to Zambia (with Matt and Mercer) then to Botswana and Zimbabwe (by myself).... thats when I met Farai, who then travelled with me back to Dar es Salaam and proceeded to befriend me so he could then steal a couple thousand dollars from me. I didn't know it was him that stole the money until a month later (the beginnin of March) when he had come back to town to "look for a job" (i.e steal more from my white ass). But my bank called me (props to TD!) and gave me some info that guarenteed that it was this bastard that stole my money.... well the next day i got the police (after several hours of arguing) to go and search his room.... and we found all my stuff - we're now awaitng the trial set for the 21st. More on this later....

Also during that time I was struggling to find something to do - I applied to at least 20 different NGOs and after 2 weeks of nothing, I was about ready to pack up and go back to coldness of Ottawa. Well at the end of all that I got three interviews in two days and got to choose where to work. I've now been interning as the Resource Development and Communications Officer for Habitat for Humanity Tanzania - which I love: most of my time is spent in a comfortable airconditioned office, but I get sent out fairly regularly to remote villages to talk to people about how they feel about the houses, about HfH's work and about development and life in general (then I turn these into sappy personal stories to get Westerns to open their wallets - but hey, at least I'm not whoring myself out on the street corner anymore)

My Maasai Buddy

2006-01-12T09:23:00.000-08:00

We left Selous by a small one-propeller plane, but we had to wait on the grassy 'run way'... but our Maasai friend came with us for the trip and was loving posing for pictures. I told you, i'm in the group.... there's no going back :)

Maasai Village

2006-01-12T08:59:00.002-08:00

Well we were very lucky to go and hang out for the day at a Maasai village. One of the villagers was friends with the manager at the lodging place we stayed at so he agreed to take us around his village and explained their culture and history to us, it was really nice since it wasn't a touristy place.

The Boat Safari with the Parentals

2006-01-12T08:59:00.001-08:00

While it was wonderful having my parents being here to visit me, and they also were happy - i would assume, its not like i asked - to pay for an incredible safari to Selous Game Reserve in the south.

A Somber, but not Sober New Years

2006-01-12T08:59:00.000-08:00

The end of the year event was happening in pretty terrible circumstances, so we just sat up on the roof and drank heavily, but we were all shirtless by the end of the night (sorry, no pictures of that... or maybe thats a good thing).

In Loving Memory of Camille

2006-01-12T08:40:00.000-08:00

This is my favourite picture, it basically sums everything up. Here we're drinking at the "Coldest Beer on Zanzibar" bar that we went to every night over the christmas weekend. It was wonderful.

The Whole Gang

2005-12-19T05:37:00.000-08:00

Heres the Whole crew, healthy and happy (clearly this was before the hike started). The Cast from left to right: Justin (a.k.a. Pocahontas, due to his wearing of a flower behind the ear); Florian (aka the stereotypical austrian tourist - see below, the coordinator, the paramedic); Lovisa (aka the MVP - she was the toughest, least whiniest of the bunch); Myself (a.k.a. the smartass); Mattius (aka the guy that says climbing Kilimanjaro is 'no problem' - say in austrian accent); Norman (the organizer); Eric (aka. AmEric - to differentiate him from CanEric from Carleton, and also: Captain America). On the bottom we have Paul (whos role was unknown, but he came out for drinks with us); Aaron (a.k.a. fearless guide); Olav (aka the Norwegian Terrorist - very elusive!)

Stylish even on a Mountain

2005-12-19T05:22:00.000-08:00

Heres Justin wearing his dazzling bright yellow baklava, brown pants and a possible item in Calvin Klein's 2006 line (seriously, its from a CK designer and hasn't been released)

The Rain

2005-12-19T05:07:00.000-08:00

On the second day the rains were heavy and cold, sometimes becoming freezing rainy.... with our crappy rented equipment we had to hide out under some rocks.

Tally Ho!

2005-12-14T01:55:00.000-08:00

On the third day we were high spirits, jumping around on the rocks and taking ridiculous pictures. By the end of that days hike, however, no one of us were feeling so healthy... it seems that around 4000 m a.s.l. we all felt the effects.

The Elusive Norwegian Terrorist! Found on Kilimanjaro

2005-12-14T01:24:00.000-08:00

A Stereotypical Austrian Tourist in his natural habitat

2005-12-13T23:15:00.000-08:00

The Sickness

2005-12-13T22:47:00.000-08:00

On the third day things got bad: Justin puked in the morning before our 4 hour hike. I felt great until we stopped for lunch, and then an hour later I was puking up blood, and that continued throughout the evening until I finally managed to keep down a couple bites of rice. Florian puked after dinner, and (shown above) AmerEric had a really rough night, and an even worse morning. All of us felt sick and tired, but the other 3 managed to keep down their food. Of course our porters were still all fine, smoking their cigerettes and catching some laughs.

The Mid-Night Ascent

2005-12-13T22:29:00.000-08:00

So after 4 days of walking to ever higher altitudes we were woken up at midnight tried to eat a little bit of food and drink some tea (we all still felt very nautious). So at 1 am we began climbing - literally now, we actually had to use our hands and knees to get up the cliff face - for 6 hours in dark. The view of the small cities was beautiful and the stars were unlike anything i've ever seen. It was during this hike that i lost all feeling in my fingers. Because of the cold, lack of oxygen and total exhaustion none of us took pictures during this hike, we were just trying to to collapse and fall.

The Final Trek

2005-12-11T10:43:00.000-08:00

This is what the barren landscape at the top of Kilimanjaro looked like, a surprising lack of snow but still bitter cold and windy - i still dont have the feel back in in my finger tips! It was at this point that all of our weaknesses started to come out, the last climb to Uhuru peak from here seemed nearly impossible, especially under those artic conditions. After that I was quite happy to get back to the coast and sweat constantly

Dawn on Kili

2005-12-11T10:34:00.000-08:00

The view from the top of Kilimanjaro was pretty spectacular, we were well above the cloud cover so it was a beatiful dawn albeit bitterly cold. Unfortunately we have no pictures from the midnight hike up the rocky cliff since we were all far too cold, tired and/or sick to take pictures during that ascent. So this is first picture after we reached the plateau.

UHURU PEAK

2005-12-11T10:07:00.000-08:00

Finally we made it to the top! 5895 meters above sea level. Here Olav and I are cheersing our cans of Kilimanjaro beer that we brought to the top to drink, but because there is about half as much oxygen at that altitude compared to sea level we didn't feel the need or desire to drink. We reached this peak at about 8am local time, after 7 hours of climbing up rocks in the bitter wind we were all quite delirious. It was a hell of a day and we were all on the verge of giving up, but once we reached to peak it all seemed worthwhile.

The Americans

2005-12-01T10:19:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the many 'Americanis' staying here. These guys put in all the effort to go out and buy the random and scarce food that they cooked for 20+ people. Left to right its: Alex, Tanisha, Kevin, Kate, and Mercer.

An American Thanksgiving in Tanzania - obviously

2005-12-01T10:04:00.000-08:00

So here is my self, Kevin to my left and Camille to my right during our wonderful American Thanksgiving celebration we had - its the first one i've ever celebrated, so it seemed very appropriate to start in Africa. It was a wonderful mix of chicken, pasta, squash and mashed potatoes - the best I've eaten in months! And of course I gave thanks for the security blanket they give, allowing our wonderful welfare system to function :). Haha.

Cattle on Kipepeo

2005-11-20T19:46:00.000-08:00

I thought one picture of Kipepeo during the day was necessary... these cattle walk by every day for some reason.... i'mnot sure where they're actually going to graze, but it seems to work for them

Beach Fire

2005-11-20T19:40:00.000-08:00

Heres one night that some of us went to Kipepeo Beach in Dar es Salaam. Its a beautiful natural white sand beach and only takes an hour or so to get there from campus (by travel standards here thats damn fast). We build the fire ourselves with a wood I found lying around, much of which seemed to be pieces of furniture (shelves, table legs etc) but no one came out to complain... Hakuna Matata. here is (left to right): niki, Me, Kevin, Justin, Kate and Mercer

The Roof

2005-11-20T19:36:00.000-08:00

Here is one of the many times that we are on the roof of my residence building. We go up there most nights to hangout and drink a bit. Theres no railing or anything so you gotta be careful, but in the day or night its a beautiful view. The university is on a hill overlooking Dar es Salaam, and my building is on the highest hill onthe campus, so you can see far and wide (from the airport to the Indian ocean).

Killing time cuz its Kili Time

2005-11-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

here we are driving between the two parks, drinking on the way which is the norm here..... its a nice relaxed policy towards alcohol in the car... well not so much 'relaxed' and non-existant. The beers you can see are Tusker (a nice local lager) and Kilimanjaro (that i'm holding which is the standard national beer) both are quite good.

The Whole Gang

2005-11-20T19:26:00.000-08:00

This is group after the safari (and after several days without a shower... or even a bucket). From left to right its: Me, Moses, Justin, Sam, Kate, and Matt

Baubab Tree

2005-11-20T19:21:00.000-08:00

This huge tree is called the 'upside down tree' in Masai because the branches look like roots and roots look like branches. Apparently its used to all sorts of traditional medicines, but they're crazy huge and live hundreds of years.

Boudacious Bods...

2005-11-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

This is me and my best friend here Justin. On the last day we didn't see many animals so we decided to tan at the same time and hope the animals would be lured to the car by our powerful, manly pheramones.

Looking for More animals

2005-11-20T19:10:00.000-08:00

This is my buddy Matt and I looking through the top of the jeep. It was fine most of the time but on the bumpier parts of the road we'd get thrown around... we were all bruised up around the hips by the end of it.

Just the Beginning

2005-11-20T19:02:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of myself (...the white one...) and Moses (on the left) and Sam (on the Right, our crazy driver). we got out of the car and we're right on the cliff overlooking the 500m+ drop down the edge of the Ngorongoro crater.

My New Favourite

2005-11-20T18:43:00.000-08:00

Baboons

2005-11-20T18:29:00.000-08:00

well it just wouldn't be a wildlife adventure without the standard monkey-butt-cleaning scenario

Me and a Lion

2005-11-20T18:20:00.000-08:00

I know its cheesy but we had to take some pictures of us with the animals.... and i guess it also puts in perspective how close we were to these lions. And you get to see me in my shuka

Buffalo Soldier

2005-11-20T18:06:00.000-08:00

This picture is in Ngorongoro crater. I'm standing with my newly bought Masai spear (which i then used to kill some of those Zebras for our dinner). I actually bought it off a Masai dude in the crater... by the end of the trip i was basically an honourary member (myself determining the honour) based on my buying of a spear, shield and shuka (the red/purple robes they wear).

The World's Happiest Zebra

2005-11-20T17:55:00.000-08:00

The Lion's Pride

2005-11-20T17:38:00.000-08:00

I have many more lion pictures, but I'll spare you... this is the pride that the male lion was watching over.

Wildebeast

2005-11-20T06:49:00.000-08:00

It just wouldn't be the same without many many photos of many many wildebeasts.

King of the Jungle... believe me, I established dominance!

2005-11-16T19:19:00.000-08:00

Well last weekend I went on a trip to Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater... a world heritage site (everyone say ooooohhh!).... so here are some pictures from it. This one is my personal favourite: after about 5 minutes driving into the Serengeti we got to see an entire pride of lions, and the male lion (quite the rarity we were told) was about 15 feet from our jeep.

2005-11-16T19:01:00.000-08:00

Well, its been about two months in Dar es Salaam now and I've had some pretty good experiences so far, so I thought I should try to share them with people interested in my pictures and such, since I've already taken far too many to send in any one email. And even trying to send just a few in an email didn't seem to want to work for me here. Yar.

So I hope everyone enjoys them, and please send me and email or something if their not working at your end.

The Pregnant Lion

2005-11-16T08:26:00.000-08:00

This is the other crazy event in our weekend. Just as we about to leave we saw this lionness on one of the kojpes (like 'copy'... damn dutch) which are the rocks that randomly jut out of the ground in the Serengeti. Apparently when a lionness is about to give birth she goes to one of these and calls out to the pride that join her afterwards. So we were there, about 10 feet away, as she was roaring out to the rest of the pride, it was quite the wild experience.