Emily in Africa

Loose ends,

2007-04-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

OK, so the most astute of you will realize this last post is waaay overdo and that for all you know, I may still be stranded on that safari I was mentioning below. Well, fear not, noble readers, I did indeed escape Tsavo and have been happily living in Vancouver attending grad school at Simon Fraser University for the past few months. Somehow, however, I am currently procrastinating my last minute packing for my next trip to Kenya in T-minus 19 hours. I'll be heading back to Mombasa to work on coral reef ecology for my grad studies and if you're interested in the stories/antics and inevitable adventures that willl accompany that trip, you'd be looking for the original website:

http:\\www.morefeistynomad.blogspot.com

And yes, several people have suggested to me that this new link is indeed similar to http:\\www.feistynomads.blogspot.com, and http:\\www.onefeistynomad.blogspot.com, or perhaps even http:\\www.solofeistynomad.blogspot.com. What can I say -- Alyss and I picked a winner!

As always, thanks for reading.

love, em

Safari: While it translates to "journey", it's only an adventure!

2006-04-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well I am happy to report I am no longer ashamed to be a traveller in Africa. Yes, I have finally gone on safari. And the best part is, I didn’t go in a tourist minibus! With the kids out of school for a two-week holiday, Christina decided it was time to get out of the city. And so, we hatched a plan to head for Tsavo East National Park, one of the more remote and less touristed safari parks. Friday afternoon, we hit the grocery store, petrol station, bank, loaded up two 4-year olds, one 10-year old, one nanny, many bags of groceries and hit the road. For 10 meters anyways. Yes, we hadn’t even made it out of the driveway when we got a flat tyre.

But one hour later, we were really on the road - and oh, what a road! Just for the record, the Mombasa-Nairobi highway is one of the worst roads in the entire country – especially the first 60km out of Mombasa where pavement is in short supply and potholes are not. The crashed tractor-trailer trucks that have been left abandoned by the side of the road doesn’t do much for one’s confidence either. It really is amazing to imagine that all the goods shipped in and out of East Africa come down this highway! By sheer luck and excellent driving, we managed to avoid some close calls with trucks, matatus, buses and one goat.

So after 3 hours of driving, some very frayed nerves and one night in a lodge later, we finally entered the park early Saturday morning. The park is huge reaching from the middle of Kenya to the border with Somalia. In fact, the entire north half of the park is entirely closed to visitors due to an increase in illegal Somali poachers with AK-47s. But not to worry, we stuck to the south end and saw lots of animals that first morning. The only one up close was the large babboon that nearly got in through the car window while we were parked outside the range station, but that’s ok! Even if it was far away, we still saw a herd of buffalo, elephants, zebras, ostriches, and one very large ex-lava flow.

After a brief siesta in the afternoon (for me anyways, Tina was busy saving the life of the nanny who nearly drowned in the pool, which is another story entirely). We headed back into the park around 5pm, just in time for prime wildlife viewing. Which is was – the late afternoon light on the plains was beautiful. I think it was the contrast of colours that was the most amazing: red dirt roads, green bush, blue skies, the setting sun turning the lakes pink….it was pretty neat. The big excitement was a lion “sighting”. To be honest, ,it wasn’t more than a grey amorphous shape about 2km away in the bush, but I’m sure I saw a tail! However, that half an hour we spent peering at the lion made us a little late for our expected departure time from the park. Since all cars have to be off the roads by 630pm to avoid being trampled by elephants and/or attacked by lions, we figured we would just put the pedal to the metal and somehow make the gate 80kms away in under an hour. Which sounded like a great idea…until the sun starting setting really fast and we were nowhere near the gate. Not even on the same page in the map.

It’s at these times one makes a “plan B”. Ours was to turn on the headlights and bomb it as fast as possible to the gate while avoiding all trampling elephants and then use our beguiling charm to have the park guards unlock the gate and let us out. So it was all looking fine…until we turned our headlights on. They flicked on and then promptly turned off. In fact, all the lights in the car turned off. So then we were in the middle of a safari park at dusk with no headlights, interior lights, dashboard lights…things weren’t looking good. While some people (like my mother) may think this was cause for panic and alarm, we simply moved on to plan C: find somewhere to sleep..and fast! After a quick peek at the map while convincing the kids in the backseat that of course we knew where we were going and that we driving without lights makes for a proper safari experience, we reversed course and headed for the nearest campsite. We sped along cursing quietly under our breath for nearly 18 kilometers, of which the of very speedy driving and then another 2 of me holding my headlight out the window for light, we finally pulled into the campsite and heaved a big sigh of relief. Besides, was it really our fault that this just happened to be the most exclusive tented camp in Tsavo?

In case I didn’t mention this before, plan C also relied heavily on the fact that we were a carload of women and children who, unfortunately, did not have a reservation for the evening. Luckily a couple from Nairobi hadn’t managed to show up for the night (something about trampling elephants? Just kidding, mom!) so here was one tent left in the whole place. Even more luckily, our accomodation included all meals! Score! Sure, it mean I was no longer on a “budget” for my safari adventure, but have you seen this place? FYI, in addition to a toilet and toilet paper, there was also a sink and shower in our tent.

(ED. NOTE: OK, flickr has done all she can do and is now refusing to upload more pictures..but, do check out the link on the right, if interested)

After an entertaining dinner (imagine 3 screaming children descending on a luxury dining room), it was finally time for bed…for the kids, of course. Christina and I stayed up late drinking Tuskers by the fire and enjoying various impalas and waterbucks that came up just 10m away from us. Amazing. All the tents are placed around a large clearing and a waterhole, which is the only year-round water source in this remote area of the park. During the dry season when all the water in the bush has dried up, you can see elephants, zebras, rhinos, hippos, hyenas and even lions at the water hole just next to your tent. Which is also why they keep armed azkari (guards) patrolling the site. But alas, it was the rainy season and so the only animals we saw that night were impalas, antelopes and waterbuck. Hoofed animals only go so far after one’s impression of a Kenyan safari is based mainly on the Lion King.

Luckily the next day we saw lots of cool animals, and right up close too!

But almost more importantly, several other things happened as well:

1. We actually made it out of the park,

2. We did end up using our beguiling charm to talk our way out of an US$30 park fee for staying an extra day,

3. I drove stick in a safari car with my left hand (very fun), and

4. We discovered that by making a sarong barricade, you can almost not hear the howling of two very overtired children in the back seat. Here’s a picture of brilliant discovery:

So safari was a big thumbs up. But it was still nice to get home – actually, that’s a whole other story. While you would think that we would have been organized to make it off the the most dangerous highway in Kenya by dark since we didn’t have working headlights, that would be giving us way too much credit. However, for future reference, jiggling your swiss army knife in the fuse box under the hood really does work! And so our lights miraculously start working again, we held our breath, and somehow managed to make it all the way home. There’s just nothing life a do-it-yourself safari in Africa.

2006-04-06T09:12:00.000-07:00

It’s great to be back! Even though I spent 5 hours in the air, it still took me over 24 hours to arrive in Mombasa – never dull travelling in Africa! But since I spent my first afternoon with Christina and the clan at a fancy resort swimming and napping under the palm trees, I’m pretty sure it was all worth it! I think that was my main problem in South Africa – have I mentioned there weren’t any palm trees there? And they call it a civilized country! The other thing that South Africa doesn't have is a tasty post-lunch snack called Labania, a sweet peanut and jaggery sugar snack that is my favourite thing around. Other than all the palm. And look, there's both in this picture! (Taken from Nicko's banda on the beach, the usual lunch spot)

So all is well and Kenya will be a great place to spend my last month in Africa. Jake has agreed to rent out his toy room to me for one last month as long as I help him pick out a car to take to school every morning. Fair trade if you ask me! This week is school holidays and one of Jake’s friends, Chazzer, has moved in which makes two 4-years olds running around – and helping me with my work in the mornings. It’s quite nice doing work early in the mornings and having the two of them crawl in and out of my lap. Until they start arguing and screaming anyways, but someone else usually takes care of that. It’s a sweet life.

But most days are spent either in the office doing loads of work or road-tripping up the coast visiting fisheries landing sites with Christina. Luckily the Likoni ferry has miraculously been fixed while I have been gone and it’s practically speedy getting around! But don’t worry, we still roll the windows down and plan our escape routes, just in case! We also saw a huge sting ray caught on the South coast the other day – my favourite part was watching the guy cut the head out and then put his hand through the hold and sling it over his shoulder to carry it up the beach. Never seen that before.

So life is good and I hope it’s treating you well too. If anyone just feels that need to get out in the next few weeks, there’s always space in my toy room.

"How my iPod has altitude sickness" and other tales of woe

2006-03-31T08:32:00.000-08:00

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

2006-03-30T09:13:00.000-08:00

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):

Sharktown, S.A.

2006-03-30T08:46:00.000-08:00

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.

Nothing better than meeting an old friend in Africa...

2006-03-15T07:27:00.000-08:00

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!

A Weekend with Sea Urchins

2006-03-04T06:23:00.000-08:00

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).

A Day in the Life...

2006-03-01T05:11:00.000-08:00

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!

Who knew Kenya had the greatest barbeque?

2006-02-25T20:51:00.000-08:00

I have officially discovered my favourite food in Kenya. While the daily lunch fare of stewed lentils and chapati (for 80 cents) can be hard to beat, barbequed meat really has few comparisions. It's called "Nyama Choma" which is Kiswahili for "delicious barbequed meat on a stick that takes a long time to cook". You order it by the kilogram (dangerous, I know!) and then eventually this steaming mass of tasty barbequed goodness is delivered to you on bones of various shapes and sizes. After two nyama choma outings, pork and chicken are my favourites. I still have to try goat but it seems like so many bones and so much work...

Also, the side dishes it comes with have also been quite a nice surprise. My favourite is "katzambari" (the phoenetic spelling) which is a refreshing salad of tomatoes and onions. And then of course there is the Kenyan beer of choice, Tusker. It's a good lager and definitely refreshing if you remember to ask for it "baradini", or cold. Otherwise it comes room temperature (boiling) which just doesn't do a lot for the beer.

Transportation: Always an adventure

2006-02-19T06:12:00.000-08:00

Ah, mass transportation...while it seems to come in various shapes and sizes all over the world, Kenyan has won the prize for Most Colourful and Loudest Reggae Volume. The matatu is a wonderful thing - while really just a glorified minivan, it's so much more than that. On any route in the country there'll be dozens of matatus at any section and passengers can choose between matatus based on decorative theme and the blasting reggae music. Apparently, school kids have a rating system based on the name of a matatu, but how could you possibly choose between "Batman Forever", "Get Back!", "Apocalypse Now" and "Crunk Juice"?

(OK, so this is a much-too-calm picture of a matatu, so don't get disillusioned to the lack of insanity. I'll take some more lively pics this weekend)

So once you decide on a matatu, next comes to fun part: Trying to squeeze into a seat. While a matatu minivan appears constructed for 14 people, this is clearly only a suggestion and the best matatu conductors can fit at least 20 people is not more (since the more people, the more money they make). And since my mum is reading this, I won't even mention the safety record of these things, but suffice it to say I make avoiding the "death seat" in the front a priority.

The most exciting matatu adventure/debacle was last weekend when I was in town and after a long, hot, dusty, tiring day I hopped on a Bamburi-bound matatu to take me home to Bamburi beach. Which was a big mistake. See, although you would think a Bamburi matatu would go to Bamburi beach, it actually goes in the opposite direction to Bamburi town and to get to Bamburi beach you have to take the Mtwapa matatu. Who knew? Apparently Jeff the friendly conductor who took me on a joyride to Bamburi town knew, but he didn't think it was that important. See, his route doesn't get many foreigners, so he had to make the most of the opportunity to hit on me.

Jeff: You are very bu-tiful
E: Great. Actually, I'm very hot.
Jeff: (winks) I know...
E: No, no. I'm hot! (Makes fanning motion with hand).
Guy: Yes, yes. Very hot. Can I have your digits, baby?
E: No, hot like grumpy. Very grumpy. Very tired. I would be a bad date.
Guy: Ah yes, you are very funny my friend. Seriously, I want your digits.

So it looks like Kenya missed the memo that "What's your digits, baby?" went out of style in like, 1985. Unfortunately I didn't know the Kiswahili traslation of "Not going to happen" or my other favourite "Dream on", it was smarter to begrudgingly be kind and give him my Queen's qlink email address (like I ever check that!). But other than getting hit on, matatus are actually quite fun. I mean, do the buses in Canada take speed bumps as not onlyan affront to their driving abilities, but also as a chance to gain as much air time as possible? I didn't think so.

Mombasa (rhymes with Mufasa)

2006-02-19T05:37:00.001-08:00

The place I'm spending my time these days is Mombasa, the 2nd-largest cith in Kenya and located right on the coast with the most important port in East Africa - goods from as far away as Uganda and Rwanda will be brought here and shipped (literally) overseas. I'm actually quite removed from the hustle and bustle of the city -- I live and work on Bamburi beach, about 20 minutes north of Mombasa proper.

Officially, I'm working with the Wildlife Conservation Society's Coral Reef Conservation Project run out of a breezy office on a palm-tree lined beach, the way science is supposed to be done if you ask me! The people I'm working with are amazing and so is the project. It's only been a couple of days, but it looks like I will be working on organizing the fisheries data that the WCS has been collecting over the past few years and looking at how different fishing gears are affetcing biodiversity and catch at several sites along the Kenyan coast. I can't believe how much I've lucked out - people working on coral reef fisheries are pretty rare, let alone talented, motivated and fun people like the ones at WCS.

We go for lunch every day on the beach at a laid-back beach shanty serving up traditional Kiswahili food like beans, chapatis, rice, stews and a tasty little sugary peanut dessert called biali and fast becoming a favourite. The beaches are beautiful but what's most striking is the colour of the sky. It's a little overcast and sticky in the morning but by mid-day the clouds have burned off and it's the most beautiful blue I've ever seen.

If Christina (the fisheries person at WCS I'm working most closely with) and I aren't in the office, we'll be monitoring the fisheries landings. These are places where local fisherman will bring their catch in during the afternoon where we'll try to get our hands on as many fish as they'll let us to count what type of fish they're bringing in and how big they are. While they're only legally allowed to be landing medium-size fish, the site I went to yesterday on Mtwapa Creek uses illegal (apparently that means "only a suggestion" in Kenya) beach seines that bring in any fish it comes in contact with, from large barracudas to extremely undersized parrotfish less than 6 cms long. But it's the human side I hadn't expected. While we're greeted very nicely by the beach manager who keeps track of the economic side of things, it's still a battle in Kiswahili (that I don't quite understand) to convince them to show us the fish. The fish come onto shore in various grab bags, only some of which they want us to see. So we have to be very sneaky to try a see a real representation of what's coming out of the water.

The sneakiest of the sneaky are the Mama Katangas, the women who wait for the smallest unmarketable fish to fry up and sell on the street. They're not stupid and they know quite well it's illegal to have these fish so they try very hard not to let us see them. Even though we have no authority to confiscate the fish (and wouldn't even if we could), they still don't want us to see or let alone measure what they have. Which is a shame since this is likely what the real cost of beach seining is - wiping out the juvenile fishes which means in a few years there won't be many around to replenish the stocks. So it's important to see what the Mama Katangas have and Christina is quite intelligent about it and brings several large bottles of Coke and Fanta to share with the women while we're waiting around on the beach before the men bring in the catch. Then when they've got their share of fish, they seem to be slightly more willing to let us take a peek before they hustle it back to their frying pans.

It's so exciting being at the fish landings and I can't wait to do more next week. Not only is working on the beach in the middle of the day an efficient way to work on my sunburn, but it's also really neat to see the human side of fisheries and not just read about it. And holding all these dead fish or seeing them strung up on palm fronds like a necklace is pretty cool too. But I definitely have to work on my Kiswahili - aside from the niceties I get lost and fast. I also have to look up whatever "Siidi" means, which apparently is my name at the Marina Bay landing site. I guess "Emily" wasn't working for them. Anyways, next week will be landings on the South Coast (this week was the North Coast) and I can't wait to see more of the beaches...I mean, see more of Kenya.

Nairobbery? No-robbery!!

2006-02-19T02:24:00.000-08:00

I must admit that even the intrepid traveller in me was slightly frightened by the nickname of Nairobi, "Nairobbery", in reference to the amount of crime the city sees. Armed with this knowledge, I decided I would be the happiest traveller alive if I could only leave the city with everything arrived with. And I am very pleased to report that I was not robbed in Nairobbery and even beginning to think that this "safety" thing in Kenya isn't as hard as people make it out to be, which likely means I'll be robbed next week.

But anyways, I arrived in Nairobi after some long flights not knowing quite what to expect or even what time is was. I had arranged an airport-pickup with a hostel in town and was jointly excited to see both my checked-backpack and hostel group waiting for me. I guess the first thing I noticed about Nairobi was the breeze, it was definitely that hot, humid breeze that I was looking forward to after leaving Toronto in February. So after the usual airport scavenger hunt of 1. Bank (check), 2. Tourist office (non-existent) and 3. Food (not hungry), I hopped in a car and headed off to Nairobi Backpackers just outside of the centre of town.

You can't get a real feel of Nairobi at night, but the hostel was great. Lots of friendly travellers which would work out well for the days to come. And other travelling stories are a great way to get a feel for the country. My favourite one was from two guys who had taken the bus from Ethiopia to Kenya which hit an impala on the highway. Since killing safari animals is strictly illegal here, everyone had to get out of the bus to try and decide what to do about this. At least, this is what they thought. First the poor thing was still alive so they got someone to humanely kill it with this guy's Swiss Army knife (apparently everyone else had left their machetes at home). Then something had to be done about the carcass since they couldn't leave it on the side of the road (illegal). So apparently it was decided that they would divvy it up and people could all have impala-meals for the next day. Then people starting tracing outlines on the impala with their hands it was carved up. While the hindquarters were the most fought-over bits, nothing beats the driver ripping the still-warm liver out of the body and eating it right there on the road! Anyways, even though I wasn't there it was to good a story not to pass on. I'm not quite sure how much that typifies Kenya, but I started to get the hang of it after that. Actually, the oddest part of the story to me is that the guy telling it was a South African named Sean who is a younger clone of Chris Eckert! I guess you just never know who you'll meet...

My next two days in Nairobi were spent sightseeing. Highlights included the local Maasai Mara market which is built on what seems to be an abandoned excavation site in the middle of town. Vendors set up their wares on dusty blankets in the dirt and paths between them run up hills, into gutters, around shrubs....it's all quite different and certainly unlike any other market I've ever seen.

I also had my visit-the-safari-animals day, which included a baby animal orphange and a giraffe sanctuary. The animal orphanage is inside Nairobi National Park and rehabilitates injured/orphaned rhinos and elephants before returning them to wild herds in another National Park. When I went, there was one rhino and 10 elephants in the orphange - other than being really neat for tourists, the rehabilitation seems to be working as they've managed to put nearly 100 animals back into the "wild" over 30 years. But the giraffes were definately the coolest -- there's a platform where you can feed giraffes food pellets right out of your hands and for the brave, get them to "kiss" you and they take the pellet right out of your mouth. Both hilarious and not as wet as I thought - giraffes seem to have a dry slobber. As it turned out, our guide from the backpacker place used to work at the giraffe centre so after the platform feeding, we crossed the road (leaving all the other tourists behind) and went for a hike in a nature sanctuary across the road. While it was mostly hot, dusty and dry forest there were acacia trees and thorn trees -- very Africa! And then we found two giraffes and fed them right there in the forest. They were taking a day off from the platform area and on their "honeymoon" so we didn't stay too long but it was really really neat.

The other thing about Nairobi was the dryness - after missing the "small rains" in mid-November, Kenya is in a serious drought with most of the country facing famine and a terrrible crop season. Currently in Nairobi, this means there are water limitations and the entire city is covered in a thin film of red dust. It also means that the Masaai people, herders who graze their cattle and goats for a living, have been forced to bring their animals to feed in Nairobi. Aside from being an excellent chance to see the famed Maasai warriors, the urban Kikuyu "tribe" (ie. people who work in the city) are not pleased and there seems to be a simmering tension around the city.

My other highlight was spending a night in the very humble ex-pat abode pictured below, with some friends of the family who kindly offered to put me up for a night and show me around Nairobi.

So then it was time to head to Mombasa on the night train and start some work.There may or may not be a post about the train ride, but suffice it to say that the deluxe accomodations in 1st class makes VIA look good. And if a train is billed as having "colonial elegance" it likely means it was built in the 1800s and hasn't seen a cleaning since.

PS. For more pictures check out the Flickr link on the left.

lonelynomad.com?

2006-01-29T16:55:00.000-08:00

So here I am, about to go off to Africa for 2 and a half months. Wow. And so there's a new blog...I guess this makes two travel blogs now? Second wow. The internet really IS addictive. And while I was tempted to call this blog "lonelynomad.blogspot.com", in a reference to the fact that I will be travelling solo and without the other feisty nomad....In fact, Alyss is actually packing her bags and jumping on a plane to India as we speak -- her new blog is:
www.solofeistynomad.blogspot.com

As for my adventures, the first stop is Kenya and an internship with the World Conservation Society in Mombasa on an apperently spectacular beach coast with palm trees...Yes, you can now seeing exactly why I took this internship! The project is working with sustainable fisheries and coral reef conservation and will hopefully leave room for some travelling on my part. If all goes well, I will manage to run into the now-native Pamela Gordon, a friend from high school and Queen's (for those of you who don't know her), who has been in Africa since September living on a boat:

As for me, after 5 weeks in Kenya, it's then onto South Africa and some sharks (but there'll be more on that later). Right now I'm back to packing, which I must say is much easier the second time round. Take care and I'll be in touch.

Love, E

(This announcement has been paid for by Queen's University)