long time no blog

well, we have completed the east africa tour and are finally back in Nairobi. What a crazy trip. After the congo we made it to Rwanda. Kigali was quite an experience. We made it to the genocide memorial which was incredible as well as Hotel Milles Collines, the hotel featured in the film Hotel Rwanda, and the location where the 10 Belgian soldiers were killed during the conflict (in the pic). The whole time there seemed pretty surreal.

After Rwanda, we flew to Dar es Salaam and then took the boat over to Zanzibar where we spent 4 days relaxing on the beach. We stayed in this awsome hotel on the south east coast of the island. Its called Mount Zion, appropriatly a term used often by the legendary Bob Marely. The place was super-chilled; as expected as it is run by a bunch of 'Bob Marely cigarette' smokin rastas. We had a great time and even did a little snorkeling, it made me pretty damn seasick.

We returned to Nairobi and immediatly were off on safari to Massai Mara. Its the low season so the animals were not so plentiful but it was still a bunch of fun with the great crowd we went with.

My clip finally aired on the cbc. I was away from email for a while and missed my heads up email from the journalist but apparantly you can watch it online. I managed to watch it but I think it is no longer there because the link works for some other news episode now, maybe it was rotated out, I give up. Any suggestions please leave a comment.

gorillaz for the gorillas

There are only a few hundred mountain gorillas left in the world, all of which live in a small area that crosses the borders of Uganda, Congo and Rwanda. We agreed that our safari around East Africa would not be complete without seeing the gorillas. Many people told us that it was worth the expense and honestly it was. We met some English guy who had just seen the gorillas that day and managed to take a video of the Silver back gettin it on with one of his many ladies. This was really hilarious. I thought that we might be lucky enough to have the same experience but I wanted to ensure the big Silver back could go at it in style, especially with a bunch of mzungus watching. So when we left, I was ready with my iPod, speaker and Feel good Inc by the Gorillaz loaded up to provide a little mood music.

From Kisoro we hooked up with Daniel the gorilla guide from Congo. He took us accross the border and to some spot where congalese guides took us into the jungle to find the gorillas. After about a 2 hour trek the guide started getting excited. Every 5 min he would look back at me and go "see dat, dat gorilla shit" or "see dat, dat gorilla food" or "see dat, dat gorilla prints". Finally we got there and he laid out the rules. Don't touch them and if they charge slowly crouch down. Hmm, Ok?



We walked right up to them it was pretty amazing. International law says that you are not allowed to go within 10 feet of them, but at times we were so close we could touch them. They really are a funny bunch. Unfortunately for us there was no funny business, just eating. So I did not play music for them, I think the guards would have shot me anyway, they looked pretty trigger happy with there AKs.

After seeing the gorillas we travelled accross Congo all the way to Goma where we spent the night. Goma was completely destroyed a couple of years ago when a volcano erupted and the lava hit the town and wiped everything out. The damage is still apparant today and quite shocking.

I have updated the white water rafting entry so that it now includes pictures, have a look. It was seriously nuts.

accepted everywhere......but here

We ran into a little trouble in Kisoro. The banking world seemed to have forgotten this little town and there is absolutly no way of accessing a credit card or atm. The closest atm is a 5 hour drive. We realized this about 20min after making arrangements to go see the gorillas for the next morning. To see the gorillas costs money and we were pretty much screwed, if not completely stuck in rural Uganda.

We went to the western union, they were just about to close and any transfer takes at least an hour. I pleaded with the manager to stay open but he said "it is impossible". Apparantly they use the single Internet connection into the town for all transactions and it is controlled by the Internet cafe accross the street. Nothing is impossible in Africa. So I said "what if I gave you a million dollars, would you be able to stay open then?" this caught their attention. Somehow we managed to convince both companies to stay open late enough to allow the transfer to happen. Sarah's mom saved the day and sent us some cash, thanks Debbie.

When the transfer finally came through I was without my ID and sarah had to take a motorcycle (boda-boda) to the hotel to get it. Let me tell you, this was a stressful day, but somehow pretty funny. It would really make a great commercial for Western Union as the end result was that we were able to go trekking to see mountain gorillas in the Congo.

We have made it to Kigali, Rwanda after a couple of stressful days, I will put a new post up later with details when I am able to upload some pics.

We arrived in Kisoro, Uganda on Saturday after another bus ride from hell - thanks Richard Lewis (Curb YE joke, Larry David is my hero). The scenery in Uganda is absolutly amazing. Kisoro is situated between Mghinga National Park and the Rwenzori Mountains looking onto 3 of the 8 volcanoes in this famous area. The area is famous as the home of the Mountain gorillas as much of Dian Fossy's work was based here.

Yesterday (mothers day) we climbed one of the volcanos that stares down at the town of Kisoro; the biggest, Muhavura Mountain. At an altitude of 4200 metres it is quite a task for a single day. Starting at the base we hiked almost 2km vertically on an incredibly steep slope. I am proud to say that despite being asmatic, Sarah made it to the top too. The top is home to Crater Lake. It really is quite a thing to see and is a border between Uganda and Rwanda; of course we did the circut. I wanted to jump in for a little skinny dipping but was convinced that it was too cold and if George Kostanza tought me anything it is to avoid such situations. Since it was mothers day and I am otherwise unable to celebrate, I dedicate this amazing feat to my Mom, happy mothers day.

We were guided by 3 park rangers, all carrying AK-47s. I swear the things were accidentially pointed at me like 10 times. I kept asking them to point them up. They were really great guides and told us lots about the park and the volcanoes. What a tiring but rewarding day.








CBC update: My special should air sometime this week. Sorry for the vagueness but its all I've got. Thanks for staying interested and again I'm sorry for the early heads up. If you miss it, you can see it the next day on cbc.ca/national.

Nile River Rafting with nuts

We travelled to Jinja, Uganda on thursday of last week. It is the outdoor capital of East Africa and comparably the Whistler of Uganda; hippies included. The Nile River is the highest volume (water) commercially rafted river in the world, and the safest as there are very few rocks. This uniqe combination provides arguably the best rafting in the world. We went rafting in Whistler a couple years ago and saw class 3 rapids, it was pretty fun. Anything above a class 2 is supposed to be able to kill you; a nice way to classify. 6 and up is supposed to be humanly impossible, however there is controversy around this system as there are arguably class 6 rapids that have been run by seriously insane people. If you survived Niagra Falls on a raft it is supposed to be classified a 5.99. We saw at least 4 class 5+ rapids during our day on the Nile, plus many others.

Typically, the idea behind white water rafting is to travel down the river in this nice safe raft and try to avoid flipping over; not the case on the Nile. When we started our intro training our guide Chloe said "Ok, when we flip over this is what we will do....." The goal of the guides at Adrift (rafting company) is to flip the boat as often as possible; we flipped 4 times. It is completely insane, we bought the video and watched our guide ripping the side of the boat up to ensure a flip. What a nut, but soooo much fun. I have this picture implanted in my mind of us in this raft at the bottom of a 10 foot wall of white water, then being sucked underwater, tossed in every direction feeling absolutly helpless against the power of the water wishing for nothing but a breath of air at the suface and just reminding myself of Chloe's advice "you will come up" and we did; eventually. Absolute craziness, what a rush!

Kampala update

Kampala is a pretty crazy city, its even more hectic than Nairobi which is hard to believe. We have been able to relax and enjoy though. These boda-bodas are insane; motorcycle taxis that drive in and out of traffic like maniacs. They are nuts but so much fun. The place we are staying is called 'backpackers hostel' its this great little hippy joint. Everyone has dreads and walks around barefoot; a very chilled place. Backpackers really are a unique bunch and you can really find them everywhere.

We met up with a friend of mine from Kenya: Jackson. He was a VSO volunteer in Kenya but has since finished his service and returned home to Uganda. We went to his little suburb outside of Kampala to visit his little shope that he has just recently opened. He took us on a tour of an authentic Ugandan brewery: Nothing like Molson's at all. It is this local brew stuff that they ferment for 3 days and then men come and 'sit' around a bucket and drink the stuff through 5 foot straws. Its hilarious, you are charged for sitting not drinking and it is cheaper if you want to stand; you will fall over sooner. I think the idea is that you drink till you cant drinks no more.

Yesterday we went to a small town outside Kampala; Entebbe. There was some wildlife center with monkeys and whatnot. It was kinda cheesy though; Africa is not a place where you want to go to the zoo, but monkey island was too expensive. Wandering around the zoo, not part of the zoo, were animals that you would only see in zoo's at home. It was kinda cool, especially the massive spiders and vicious monkeys.

We have had some more itinerary changes so it looks like we will be hanging out here a little longer so that we can go trekking to see gorillas and hike some volcano. Tomorrow is white water rafting on the Nile River, so excited.

Kampala

Ok, we made it to Uganda. The bus ride from Nairobi was hell. 14 hours on the WORST ROAD IN THE WORLD! potholes are an understatement. It was so bumpy you could not pick your nose without drawing blood. But we made it though and Kampala is very nice. It is a city on a bunch of hills and everyone uses motorcycles as taxis to get around; super fun and so much less hassling than in Nairobi.

The National: DAMMIT! It turns out that it is now scheduled for the 'week of the 15th' DAMMIT! I don't know what that means, but it should be on sometime that week. I'm sorry for getting everybody to watch the other night, I was seriously told that it would be on then. They are saving it for the perfect time when all of canada will be watching.

ok, maybe not

I was told the story was finished and it was to be aired yesterday May 4th but apparantly it was not. Oh well, keep watching the National, it should be any day now.

watch the National tonight!

The long awaited television debut of Hockey Night in Kenya airs tonight, Thursday May 4, in Canada on the cbc. Be sure to watch The National at 9pm on cbc to see my little story and clips from my house, the bar and of course the big game. Poa sana!

Lamu, again

Lamu is officially the greatest place on Earth.... but sshhhh, don't tell anyone; we don't want to spoil it with too many tourists. There are already a bunch of the worlds richest buying and building places here.

We have been here for 6 days now and are having trouble finding the courage to leave. Its just so chilled. Everyone is either a 'bob marely cigarette' smoking beach boy or a muslim; its an interesting mix. The first day here there was a dhow race and a donkey riding race both of which attracted the entire town and a huge party. The next day was a muslim celebration, Maulidi, that was absolutly incredible. They paraded down the main strip and met in the town square for prayers and singing all night long. It was really fantastic; without trying to offend, I felt like I was in an Indiana Jones movie.

We went on a dhow trip yesterday for some fishing, a beach lunch and a walk in the Takwa ruins. It was a pretty cool day, with our captain being one of these 'bob marely cigarette' smokin beach boys, we had a great time. For a good part of the day Captain Asan was walking around in just his gitch; we and the others on the boat were constanly being reminded of the myth that goes along with black men. Today I am just trying to shake the image. Other than that the trip was loads of fun. Tomorrow we are heading back to Nairobi missing a few of our intended destinations in leu of a few others. If all works out we should be in South Africa next week.

I have not heard about my story on the cbc yet, it will be on tv this week I think. It will air on 'The National' during or after the hockey games so be sure to watch. As soon as I know I will send a message and post the details.