deb and gary's african adventure.....a three part mini series
23 january 2001

jambo {hello in swaheli},

our tale begins on xmas eve day with a 23 minute "hop" to brussels, one of the lovely european cities we've visited before. i must admit, i really enjoy the more understated xmas season here in europe, not that we didn't shop and groove on the spirit, but the "running around like a maniac trying to buy random things at the last minute" feeling doesn't really surface here. we spent the afternoon wandering, buying chocolate and other goodies {not all edible}, and immediately after lunch, came across a stall selling fresh escargot in broth. what a treat! in preparation for our long travel day, we opted to veg out at the hotel and watch "it's a wonderful life" but had to change rooms to get the right channel. the staff looked at us funny but indeed, it was relaxing and just how we wanted to spend the evening.

a smooth, yet lengthy flight to nairobi but we were able to track our location on the personalized computer screen and got very excited being over the sahara desert. we could see the nile from the air! we had shed our winter stuff in belgium by stashing them in a locker; no need to schlep them to the equator. it was warm and i was ecstatic!!! air conditioning on xmas night, what can i say?

there's really no reason to stay in nairobi, a crime ridden, heavily guarded city these days so next morning we were on our way to the coast. not having to deal with jet lag {only a two hour time difference}, was a bonus. destination: lamu, reachable by flying to an airstrip {not an airport} and then taking a boat to the island. as we quickly learned, we would always be escorted by two or three young men to find a hotel. this got old very early on but africa is a place where street touts abound and there isn't much you can do about it. most people are extremely personable and love to say "karibu", or "welcome", and they say it with a really smooth inflection. they also were very interested to know if we voted for bush or not. everyone speaks english very well, as kenya was a former british colony. lucky for us, since we somehow left our swaheli phrase book back in holland.

lamu is a very special place and gary knows me so well, as to start our trip at the beach. the island is predominately inhabited by muslims, once being a very busy hub for the arab traders around the 14th century. it was the very end of ramadan, a month long observance whereby muslims fast during the day, and everywhere were women shrouded in black veils, sometimes with only their eyes showing. it is an interesting juxtaposition to see this black attire against the striking color of the white sand beach. at night the power was often out due to an ongoing generator problem, and these figures brushing past us in the narrow alleyways was a bit eerie. going to sleep in the heat of that first night under our mosquito net, hearing the buzz of the generator which stopped abruptly, the donkeys braying, the roosters crowing, and the harmonious chanting to allah at 4:30 am brought the realization that "we weren't in kansas anymore". it really felt like an entirely different world. didn't get much sleep but loved it just the same.

we actually chose to stay on shela beach, about a 40 minute walk to "town", all part of the same island. at dinner our first night, we met julius, our waiter, who insisted on bringing us to his house the next day. julius was typical of the africans we met; friendly, intelligent, curious about us, and very gentle in manner. we followed him through the streets of lamu, a place without cars, and very old buildings of stone on either side of tiny alleys; donkeys and children at every turn. the children love to say "jambo" with a certain sing song rhythm that sounded very familiar to me after a while. beyond a mosque, we arrived at the house, a cinder block structure that didn't resemble anything i would picture to be someone's living quarters. there were two rooms with basically nothing in them and i have yet to figure out where the cooking was done. a humbling experience to say the least. but there were julius, his wife, and two beautiful small children smiling at us and offering us cokes. his son had just been circumcised and julius was very proud of this. his wife gave me a beaded necklace that she made and i offered some of my beaded bracelets to her in return. she did not speak english. when we left, we gave them some money, as julius mentioned that he wanted to buy the kids some clothes for the new year. certainly, meeting people like this presents a new perspective on the basics of life. i suppose they were happy, it's hard to tell, considering what our own standards for survival are.

we stayed at that beautiful coastal town with sand dunes and quietude for three nights, the last in a room with a view of the ocean. it was hard to move on. i was appeased by the fact that we would still be on the coast. we flew in a 13 seat airplane to a town called malindi. we sat directly behind the pilot! i read that air travel in africa is quite common, some people have their own landing strip on their property. i'm for that. upon arriving, we had another great encounter with rajab, the booking agent/luggage handler/all around nice man who helped us with arrangements to zanzibar, our next destination. we took him and our taxi driver out to lunch. that's one way to meet the locals. malindi was billed as a great place to snorkel so we spent the weekend there. it was somewhat disappointing. although the beach was pretty, with the whitest sand i've ever sunk my feet into, the atmosphere was "resort", not exactly our favorite scene. the goggling {snorkelling} was okay, and gary managed to crispy critter himself to a glowing shade of pink. he would later peel, but of course now he has a gorgeous tan. we did meet a very interesting white kenyan and his malaysian girlfriend. david and daisy shared some ping pong with us, as well as some great conversation, and after dinner daisy and i viewed a maasai dancing exhibition. gary and david were deep in "boy talk" and missed the performance.

the maasai are a tribe of warriors and cattle herders. they are easily recognizable by their colorful, usually red, kikois {skirt like wraps} and shukas, {shawls}. they are migratory and live both in the hills and in towns and we saw them throughout our journey. they make beaded jewelry and like to adorn themselves. they have a custom of elongating their earlobes and wearing big earrings, a little freaky the first time you see it. okay, everytime you see it. i read quite a bit about them and their customs; a fascinating tribe especially in terms of how they function in the "modern" world. i did get to dance with them, i think we were doing a pre lion hunt ritual type of dance; there's a lot of vertical jumping in their movement and they can jump very high. their movement, especially in unison, has an aggressive quality about it; not surprising since they are very proud of their warrior status.

africa has cured us {at least temporarily} of our sleeping late habits. the sun and sea were calling us by about 6:30 each morning, and on this particular morning we were headed to mombasa by taxi {same driver we took to lunch} so that we could fly to zanzibar. tanzania here we come. you know how we are, we don't always book ahead and arriving on new year's eve day presented the challenge of finding a hotel. our wonderful muslim taxi driver patiently drove us around in the scorching mid day heat in his car that was literally falling apart at the seams. how could it even run? there was "no room at the inn" in that whole town, except at the serena, which happens to be the most expensive hotel on the island. in a weak moment, gary checked us in there and indeed it was exquisitely designed in the islamic style that i have come to love.{if we ever buy a house, i fantasize having at least one room in this mode}. you get what you pay for and i suppose this is true because we were ever so comfy in our suite with two bathrooms. not to mention the pool with the spouting lion figures.

out and about during the hottest part of the afternoon, we did manage to sweat our way through stone town, another port settled by the omanis. the architecture is typically arabic with grated balconies and heavy doors, complete with large goldish knobs, used to deter elephants from charging at one time! some of this town is slated to be restored and some buildings already have been but most have a pretty ancient feel to them. we toured the old slave market, one of those places that make you wonder how people can treat other human beings in such a manner. a tiny space for 70 or 80 men being chained there {literally} with no toilet in the oppressive heat. unfathomable. on that same site, is a cathedral built by a missionary in the 1860's right as the slave trade was coming to an end. churches started to look a bit out of place to me among the many mosques we saw in these muslim settled towns. we strolled a while longer, ate lunch by the water, nevertheless, expiring in the heat. even i was hot, no complaints though. only one solution: the pool.

back at our "over priced for new year's eve" hotel, i lounged and swam. upon returning to the room, i noticed gary was curled up in bed looking rather green. he was now having second thoughts about booking this extravagant room for three nights. did i mention it was out of our price range? so we decided to only stay for two, and that made us feel better. after all, it was new year's eve, milennium. we both have an aversion to nye, having worked so many of them so we always try to do something off the beaten path. we found just the thing.... barbeque and a show of traditional african dance and music in a building that used to be an old fort for {and this is the best part}, $10.00 us dollars! it was fantastic. there were a few musicians, one playing an oboe type instrument with an amazing amount of breath control, and 7 dancers, 4 women and 3 men. okay all you jazz dancers, eat your hearts out. i certainly was, watching the way they can isolate the pelvis. how do they do that? it was something very beautiful to watch. once again i was called up to dance with them and it was really fun. didn't get the hang of it at all, as the photo gary took, will attest to but oh well. the buffet bbq was a pleasant surprise and we couldn't have enjoyed ourselves more. afterwards, we strolled by the waterfront where hundreds of families were picnicking and stalls were set up with food and trinkets and everything else. it was a grand scene, very different from our western style nye celebrations. i think there were fireworks at midnight, but we were out cold long before then in our nice cushy suite.

i can't think of a better way to start the new year than to tour a spice plantation. we were accompanied by three muslims, said, our booking agent, solomon, our driver, and salem, our actual guide. we felt well taken care of. not only are the farms lush and beautiful with their palm trees and bougainvillea, but on closer inspection, fragrant with vanilla, cloves, black pepper, cinnamon, tangerine and ginger, just to name a few things that grow there. we smelled and tasted exotic fruits, many which were new to me. ever hear of jackfruit? it's gigantic. early in the tour, i turned around to see said weaving a basket from palm leaves, which he gave to me so that i could collect samples of everything we saw. it was completely full by the end. we particularly got a kick out of the lipstick tree, which sports a fuzzy red bloom that is used cosmetically. we also learned that iodine is a sap that comes from the iodine tree and to harvest it, a bucket is placed under the leaf to catch the liquid. who knew? expectedly, they had stalls with all of these things packaged and ready to be sold so we bought a few items, such as vanilla pods. back at the hotel, we layed out our colorful collection, photographed it, and just sat admiring it for a time.

later, more pool time for me while i sent my nubian slave, gary, to find a travel agent to book our flight to arusha the next day. that night we chose to stay in and order room service....we paid for that room, damn it, we were going to use it! we took full advantage of the balcony overlooking the ocean, that is, until the mosquitoes moved in. another wonderful night's sleep in the larger than life bed with six pillows, breakfast with a lovely view of the sea, and one more stroll around town. we managed to fit in a tour of the "house of wonders", a huge palace with a huge balcony, once belonging to the first omani sultan of zanzibar. nice view from the top. we could have stayed longer on this inviting island or even gone to another surrounding island and it was a difficult decision but alas, it was time to book our safari......

to be continued.......