Emily in Africa

So it's been a long two weeks and I'm sorry for disappearing from blogging. Even though I'm in a country with the fastest internet connection I've seen in a long time, it just wasn't happening...But no excuses, here's what's been happening:

I arrived in Cape Town two weeks ago and went straight to Gansbaai, the small town famous for its great white sharks where I was going to spend a 6-week internship working on sharks...not sure what, but something to do with sharks.

Yup, the sharks are cool - I went cage diving one morning and it was pretty cool. I think I've learned though that I'm just not a "shark person". I don't wake up giddy with the excitement of spending all day on a boat and watching sharks. I guess we all have things to learn about ourselves. So this in mind, when it appeared there was an opportunity to go back to Mombasa and keep working on fisheries, I was in. Big time.

So (melodrama unmentioned), I am now in Cape Town where I've spent the past two days sightseeing and running around arranging visas, airline tickets and malaria pills. To say it was stressful would be an understatement, but I am now pleased to announce I am on the next flight out to Mombasa and I cannot wait to go back! Even if it means no fast internet, satellite tv, hot water, paved roads and/or reliable electricity (so there definitely were a lot of perks in South Africa). Speaking of luxuries, I'm on the fastest internet connection I've ever seen (and will see for the next month) so there's lots of new stories (below) and pictures (on the right). I'll be in touch!

P.S. And I wasn't kidding about my iShuffle - it's deader than dead. The Apple guy says it has altitude sickness. They definitely didn't write anything about that in the manual.

Cape Town is great. The weather is beautiful (a sunny and 100% not-humid 27C), the scenery is great and the food, well, it's spectacular! So far highlights have been every meal! First there was amazing Cuban nachos and wine, then pancakes with fruit, muesli and real maple syrup, calamari and chips (the best calamari I have ever had) and today at the Cape Town airport, a delicious hamburger and salad. Yup, I am living a life of luxury!



(side note: Do you know that everyone always laughs at me when I take these food pictures? It's a good thing I've discovered the tripod and the self-portrait. But seriously people, it's just for times like these! And Alyss always understood!)

And aside from the food (although we all know a happy Emily travels on her stomach), I've a had an amazingt time. The streets are always hopping with people and music, you can walk everywhere and it's got such a great vibe. When I'm not running around stressing over tickets to Kenya, it's a really great place! And I can't wait to come back and do all my Africa shopping in one-month just before I fly home. It's going to be great! Anyways, pictures below (and more on the link at the right):

During my nearly two weeks in South Africa, I saw a lot of sharks. Big sharks. So that was pretty cool. I was working on Shark Fever, a big boat (catamaran to be specific) that took 12 tourists, 2 crew, 2 research interns and 1 shark research out to sea every day. Even on weekends. Even if it was cold. And windy. And cold and windy. And...well, you get the idea. Gansbaai was freaking cold and always windy. And did I mention there were no palm trees?

The claim to fame of Shark Fever was it's shark diving cage. And don't let the "diving" thing fool you - it's really just under-glorified snorkelling. You don't even get a snorkel! But you do get a really thick wetsuit for 15C water, a mask, and specific instructions not to touch the sharks. One day, a tourist didn't listen and got his finger busted open by a shark. There was a lot of blood and we tried not to tell other tourists about it. So I went cage-diving one day and it was pretty cool - that's a lot of teeth and jaws coming towards you!



But what I really did was keep track of what sharks we saw during the day by drawing pictures of their defining features (like scratches on their dorsal fins, rope marks, etc.) and then record what time during the day we saw them. All day. Like below (that's Mark the other intern who was actually keen on sharks and doing a fantastic job!)


And then we'd take the tourists to see the seals, come back into shore, have a beer and then Mark and me would go home and watch TV until we went to bed. Since it appears Gansbaai is the sleepiest Bavarian town I've ever been too. We lived outside of town by the harbour where there were no restaurants, groceries, pubs or other form of entertainment. But we did have great neighbours and tasty barbeques (called "braais" - that took me a long time to figure out).

So day in, day out, there were a lot of sharks. For the last week we even had a crazy German film crew on the boat. FYI I'm going to be the next big thing to hit German television. Just so you know.

When I came to Africa there were a few things I had to do. Absolutely, positively could not leave Africa without having done. While for some people, these things might be going on a safari or climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, but for me, it was seeing Pam Gordon. Pam and her boyfriend Mark have been in Africa since September and they are currently living in a small village in western Kenya near the border with Uganda. And sure that small village is a more than 20 hour bus ride from Mombasa, but was that stopping me? Absolutely not. Especially since I took a plane.



I arrived in Kisumu with the sunset on Thursday night where Pam and Mark met me at the airport. The sight of Pam jumping out of the tuk-tuk and running to meet me is something I won't forget for a long time (nearly brought a tear to my eye!) We spent the first night in Kisumu over beers and pizza catching up for hours - quite the Queen's reunion. The next morning we hopped on boda-bodas (my new favourite form of transportation -- a pillow attached to the back of a bike complete with rider who pedals you around) and went on a quick tour of town. Kisumu is amazing - it's much more chill than Mombasa, both in weather (I wore a long-sleeved shirt!!) and attitude. No one really bothers with you or trys to sell you things...a refreshing change to be honest. We spent the morning at an internet cafe (Pam and Mark's weekly brush with technology), buying groceries and I even managed to get a sneak peek at Lake Victoria and the infamous tilapia/nile perch fishery (more on that later).

After buying more groceries than we could carry, we piled into a tuk-tuk and headed for the local bus station. The small village where Pam and Mark live is about a 2 hour bus ride from Kisumu and we spent the whole bus ride chatting in fast Canadian english and catching up on Mark's NGO work in the Congo, Pam's backpacking through Africa and my own travels. It was so normal to be hanging out that it was quite a shock when the bus suddenly lurched forward and bananas and long poles of sugar cane started being handed through the window! I had definitely forgotten I was on a rickety bus ride through Kenya!



After surviving 2 hours of really really really bumpy roads (unbelievable, and we were in the back of the bus too which didn't help!), we hopped off the bus in Ruma and quickly grabbed our backpacks and boxes of groceries before the bus hurtled off down the road. The next thing I saw was Pam running down the road after the bus waving and shouting for it to slow down!! Turns out they had given us the wrong box of groceries!! Which, considering it had chocolate, chicken, cheese, peanut butter and a 3L box of wine, would have been a HUGE disaster. But luckily after the bus realized Pam wasn't just waving goodbye, they stopped, exchanged boxes and then we were on our way into Ruma.

Ruma is amazingly green. I don't know what I was really expecting...actually, I do. Red sand and dusty trees. Oh wait, that's Mombasa! But I definitely hadn't expected western Kenya to be so green - there's grass! And it even comes with dew on it in the mornings! Seeing all the mountains threw me too - such a change from the coast. There's much to tell about Ruma but there's only time for highlights now, so:

-Pam and Mark live in a cute little cement house with no electricity, no running water and a bucket for a shower. There are lanterns and candles for light and one-burner kerosene stove for cooking/boiling water/etc. It's like camping...every day. But with good company and a glass of red wine to watch the stars come up, what more do you really need?



-Saturday was a big party at the Ruma Women's Group, where Mark and Pam are volunteering. The organization does a bunch of amazing things, but this ceremony was the graduation ceremony for the first bunch of kids to come through the school program. There are 300 partial and full-AIDS orphans in the program and they are supported through primary, secondary and polytechnic education with money for class fees and lunch. It was great to be included as a guest of honour for the whole-day ceremony which had singing, dancing, speeches, and even a little bit of homegrown Kenyan rap.

-We went exploring (well I did, they knew where they were going!) through fields and along roads at sunset, into villages and market squares. And yup, there are lots of cute kids everywhere. And the best part is they love having their picture taken! Never a dull moment - especially with little kids yelling "Mzungus!! MZUNGUS!!!!" and running after you full throttle to see what's going on. Hilarious




-Nights were usually spent drinking wine, cooking up amazing concoctions on the afore mentioned ONE-burner stove, and staying up late listening to BBC on Pam and Mark's shortwave radio. We did so many fun things, but just chilling out in the evenings were one of my favourite things in Ruma. It was great to catch up with Pam, who I haven't seen in over a year, and meeting Mark was great too. It's amazing how well you can get to know someone in just a few days....especially when you acidentally wear each other's contacts for a morning! And that's not even mentioning the insanely crazy bus ride on the way back to Kisumu! Yup, Pam and Mark are doing well, having a great time in Ruma and doing amazing things with their volunteering. They've started up a small library which they are turning into the first community library this side of Lake Victoria and completing a Participatory Rural Analysis which will help Ruma secure development funding in the years to come.



-Sunday morning was a 20km bike adventure (my bike had no brakes) down bumpy dirt roads to Lake Victoria and a fishery landing site! Could I be any happier? It was a great bike ride and so cool to see the 2nd-largest freshwater lake in the world. OK, I'm a nerd - I'll admit it. But all the fisherman, their big boats and HUGE fish were pretty cool to see, especially since I've got pretty familiar with the reef fishery on the coast over the past month. Quite the difference.

-Leaving Sunday afternoon was hard - it was so nice to catch up with old friends and I wish I could have stayed longer. Pam had to stay in Ruma for community work she had on Monday, so Mark (eager to head back to the internet cafe) and I braved a very very interesting bus ride back to town. Basically the entire bus was PACKED with people. I spent the first hour trying to find room for my feet to stand up straight (wasn't happening) and trying to reposition myself out of people's armpits (a definite disadvantage of being short). Luckily the bus cleared out after the first hour (due to police checks and actual enforcement of passenger limits) and low and behold, we had seats! So we were doing really well...until that fateful popping sound, the tire ripping sound and having an impromptu tire change on the side of the road.


But Mark and I made it back to Kisumu in one piece with lots of time before my flight back to Mombasa. So we headed for the nearest bar that served chocolate milkshakes (it had been that kind of day), watched some soccer, had a masala dosa and then I headed back to the airport. 72 hours well spent!

This weekend was a 2-day field trip with the whole office to Kisite Marine Park down south on the border with Tanzania for the annual monitoring survey. It’s a beautiful site and we had a great time…complete with adventure on the high seas. After a 3 hour drive from Mombasa via the infamous Likoni ferry, we arrived in town and was immediately told by the warden that she hadn’t been called ahead of time and we would have to go home. Which was a slight problem since we were supposed to use her boats, gas, permits, etc. Serious problems. So after she refused to change her mind (other issues apparently), we rented a big wooden sailing boat that usually takes out tourists and today was taking out marine biologists. But more importantly, it was a BIG step up from the small motorboat that would have had some staying-afloat problems if we had taken it through the waves we went through on the first day.

These two days were the “substrate” days which involved a lot of measuring coral cover, herbivory and sea urchin predation. I got to have the funnest job which involved the urchins. Now, you might not think this would be fun, and I must admit, I had my doubts. Not only did I have doubt, but I had childhood trauma too! When I was 9 I went snorkelling for the first time ever and after putting my head in the water, refused to go on because of the spiny sea urchins that I was convinced would swim after me and poke me with their posionous spines! I’ve always had a large aversion to sea urchins since then and I wasn’t entirely sure of the idea of touching them…

Luckily, this field work turned out to be good therapy. Not only did I get to touch urchins, but I got to kill them too. And in a really painful way -- OK, so even though they can’t really feel pain, they certainly didn’t look very happy. In order to see how many fish are on the reef, you punch a hole through the sea urchins, string them up with fishing line like christmas ornaments a tie them onto the reef. Then you leave them overnight and come back the next morning to see if there is anything left. Apparently this is a good way to see how many big fish there are, but I just think it’s a lot of fun.

But the adventure doesn’t stop with sea urchins. We went on “springs” tide which means that it’s the biggest difference between high and low tides. And tides are big here in the first place – about 2 meters is normal but springs kicks it up to 3.9, 4 meters – which is like 12 feet!

So because we were late getting out to the site on the first day, we ended up being there high tide which nearly drowned us, well not really but there was a LOT of water – you couldn’t even see this huge boat when a wave was in front of you and it felt like being in the middle of a very very big ocean. But then you’d duck your head underwater, see where you had to tie up your sea urchin and wouldn’t really worry too much about it.

We spent the night in the little town called Shimono and stayed in some little “bandas” (Kiswahili for store/cottage/building/etc – I think it loosely translates to “will likely stay up for the night but likely no running water”). But dinner was at a fancy hotel on the sea where we were served up grilled fish, chicken and local delicacies of scouma (spinach), walli (coconut rice) and french fries (ok, not really a local dish, but still tasty!). Then I stayed up much too late chatting with people from the office about local NGO politics before finally making it back to our bandas in the dark and only tripping over one very pregnant goat.

So after the adventure of high day the day before, we decided on the second day to aim for low tide…And do I ever mean LOW tide -- there was maybe 6 inches (usually less!) of water over the corals we were supposed to be working on, which would be nice on a calm day but there were just loads and loads of waves smashing into you and pushing you onto coral. Nasty and very frustrating – it wasn’t a good day but I feel much more battled-hardened now, and I even have the coral wounds to prove it. And it helped that I got to work on my tan too. And yes, I do mean tan and not sunburn for anyone who was wondering (Joan!)

So that was the excitement of two days in Kisite – and I won’t even start to tell you about the flat tire on the ferry ride home! Have I mentioned its never dull around here? (No complaints, it’s the way I like it).

So while most people will probably thing being a marine biologist isn't actually that much work, there always seems to be lots to do...I mean, sure it usually involves a lot of sand, sun, and sunscreen, but it's hard work nonetheless. I seem to be spending time between cruching numbers in the office and driving to fisheries landing sites along the coast, so...

(Also, pictures to come...yet again Blogger is slowing me down!)

A Day at the Office:

Work usually starts around 8am and its a strange day if I'm not up by 7am. Especially since Jake usually needs help in the mornings finding the best toy car to take to school and since I live in the toy room...So, after a light breakfast of coffee and cereal, it's off on the peaceful beach walk to work..Ha! Actually, fending off the various "beach boys" on the beach trying to sell me boat trips/safaris/giraffe carvings/etc. is enough to make me want to take a matatu! (Yup, that bad) In fact, getting hit on is really starting to get to me - nowhere is safe. But luckily all it takes it some snippy remarks in Swahili and they usually leave you alone.

The mornings are usually spent analyzing data for my fisheries project -- Christina and I are looking at 10-year trends in the fishery to see what management, if any, is needed. But the highlight of mornings usually come around 11am, when Jimmy, the guy who takes care of the office, always makes Kenyan tea around 11am. I use the word "tea" here loosely since Kenyan tea is mainly sugar and milk with just the tiniest hint of tea. (Once I tried to ask for it "black" at a cafe and they looked at me in shock. Then they look more relieved as they asked me how much sugar I wanted. When I said no to this too, the guy actually said "sweet jesus!" and my tea never ended up coming.) But very surprisingly, I'm starting really like Kenyan Chai now...I'm pretty sure all that sugar is addictive.

At lunch time (usually around 1:30-2pm when it's not so freakin' hot) we usually head down to the beach for some cheap Swahili food. After trying the menu, my favourite is "pojo", a lentil stew/curry thing with a chapati (a fried roti/bread thing, tasty!). If I'm feeling virtuous I may get coconut rice, but how someone could ever pass up oily, fried chapati-goodness is beyond me. Also, I'm quite proud of being able to order entirely in Kiswahili...and more importantly, have what I think I ordered actually arrive!

Then the afternoon is more data until around 5pm when we call it quits and I usually take a matatu down to the Nakumatt Mall and get my internet fix for the day. I think I might try to stop doing this every day, but it's so hard to get un-addicted to the internet or head home along the beach. If I go to the mall ("mall being used loosely, it's no Eaton Centre), I'll pick up a sandwich for dinner on my way home (it was tragic the other day when the German deli was out of bread!) and hop on a matatu to get home by dark. Nights are usually pretty chill, either reading outside trying to cool off outside (especially if the water's out and I can't get a shower) or working on fish stuff (by headlamp if the power's out). So nights usually depend on if there's water and/or electricity. But luckily even if there's no power, the Tuskers usually stay cold in the fridge so it's never that bad.


Field Work on the Coast Days:

For the last few weeks, Christina and I have been hitting the road to the South Coast every few days which is a great way to see the coast and get some fresh air. Trips down south can be anywhere from 2-3 hours, if not more when you factor in waiting for the infamous Likoni Ferry. Yup, that's the one the radio has been predicting is about to sink and you have to wait in line for at least 40 minutes to get on. Once we get on (Allah willing!), we roll down all the windows and plan the best way to swim out before buying water or cell phone minutes from the en-route vendors.

After a relaxing drive down the coast avoiding pot holes and goats, the big adventures start on the small "roads" down to the beach where the fisherman will come in with their fish. When we get to a landing site, we generally chat up the Mama Karangas (the women who will buy the small fish from the fisherman) while we wait for the tide to come in, and along with it the fisherman. The trap fisherman are usually the first to come in, then the nets, spears and hand line guys. If you're lucky, it will be staggered out so you don't have to run all over the beach after the fish. When a fisherman comes up, we'll attempt to convince him to let us measure his catch and we'll record what species he caught and how big they are. As the loyal scribe, I'll write it all down while Christina gets to play with the fish and measure them. Trying to track down all the catch will usually takes a couple hours, by which time we're hot, tired and sweaty.

Which makes it a perfect opportunity to grab a coffee at one of the fancy beach resorts up the road before tackling the ferry ride home. The hotel we stop at is on Diani Beach, one of the nicest beaches on the South Coast and it's quite relaxing to watch the kite-surfers fly by while sipping a cocktail or coffee (depending on our moods!) And their air-conditioned bathrooms are on my Highlights of Kenya list.

Then it's time to head back to town, which means braving the massive traffic of the Likoni ferry - we usually end up waiting in line for about 45 minutes, but it can be up to 2 hours. And once you finally make it onto the ferry, there's no time to let your guard down! The radio has been saying the ferry's about to sink any day now, so we make sure we have the windows rolled down and our hard-collected data in hand so we can swim off the ferry if necessary. And after that, it just gets more exciting with driving through downtown Mombasa in rushhour and avoiding the swerving matatus, people, tuk-tuks and goats that decide to leap in front of our truck. So all in all, it's never dull when we head to the coast!

Anyways, hope you enjoyed my "day in the life" -- it's always pretty busy around here but that's part of its charm. It's hard to believe I only have one more week left in Mombasa - time does fly. But then again, no rest for the wicked!