I was checking all of my memory cards and low and behold the card that I recorded all of my vidoes on (and I had thought was damaged), did in fact contain vidoes!! I cried and then went yahoo,
I have placed them on youtube if any of you are interested in viewing them.
Please keep in mind:
1) I have never video edited until this week ;)
2) most where filmed from a moving vehicle
3) the camera I recorded with was very low end
4) I did not place wonderful music to set an ambience for any of them
5) I am so sad that the audio for Tadeo's interview is too quiet!!
enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/user/habitatdawn?feature=watch
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
finally photos
I have linked each day of this blog to the photos that correspond to it and have also placed an album on picasa that can be found below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/105226841757151966002
I had mentioned that I would put up another list of memorable moments/facts/thoughts, and so in no specific order at all, here goes:
the sizes of the loads on the locals heads and bicycles
don't pet the dogs!
has everyone taken their Malarone?
eating Nsima with our fingers
'left' hands are only used for wiping (can you believe 5/13 of us are lefties?
Babie announcing "time to knock off"
Robin's beautiful window
the talent required to actually ride a bike on their roads
Facebook is truly EVERYWHERE!
50% of Malawians have AIDS
Enter to learn, Depart to serve - sign on the secondary school
Heathrow doesn't make typos!
Robin reprimanding Juma for 'rubbing me out' on the brick line.
the airport in Blantyre
touching African soil
looking at the Sudan desert out of the airplane window - sand as far as you could see
the look of total awe on the toddlers face when I touched his hand
Tadeo's passion for what he does and his goals
Tadeo's new found love of youtube!
Nancy's beautiful smile and spirit
the lump that formed in my throat everyday when we pass the coffin shops
the sight of Mount Mulanje everyday from the worksite
jumping into the pool at the base of the waterfall
Sue trading her clothing for curio items
the Lion-Pig jokes
Malawi - easy
monkeys outside our dorm - seriously?!
the tiny shops in the 'shopping malls' with all signs in English
operation "eagle" - yahoo Ken
operation "Zebra" - yahoo Karyn
operation "Wilda beast" - how is that one going Karyn?
Barb's luggage arriving and the photo with her Dad's trowel
ladies tailored skirts paired with a North American t-shirt
cell phones and i pods everywhere
Carlsberg clubs everywhere
the soccer match vs the private girls school
the belly laughs of the children lining up to wave to our van
aloe vera plants the size of a small table and poinsettia trees
Robin's huge smile every morning
Market days in Chitikale and Nkamvo
monkeys playing in the yard, trees, rooftops
the children of Juma skipping rope, playing soccer and coloring
making scaffolds out of the tree branches beside the house
the view from Grandma's 'new' bedroom window - breathtaking!
Limbani driving while talking on his cell phone
Tadeo exclaiming 'on your face' to Sue after a serious game of 'Bawo'
Sue placing her Mom's photo in the mortar of the wall
Vera with the machete
the safari lodges, tranquility pool, exotic animals everywhere!
the school visit - broke my heart
the beautiful music at the final celebration on home made instruments
operation 'MONKEY'
the dancing moves of the small children
Kevin opening the Kuche Kuche with a water bottle
mission - find us a giraffe Paxon!
the sunset while at the safari
http://picasaweb.google.com/105226841757151966002
I had mentioned that I would put up another list of memorable moments/facts/thoughts, and so in no specific order at all, here goes:
the sizes of the loads on the locals heads and bicycles
don't pet the dogs!
has everyone taken their Malarone?
eating Nsima with our fingers
'left' hands are only used for wiping (can you believe 5/13 of us are lefties?
Babie announcing "time to knock off"
Robin's beautiful window
the talent required to actually ride a bike on their roads
Facebook is truly EVERYWHERE!
50% of Malawians have AIDS
Enter to learn, Depart to serve - sign on the secondary school
Heathrow doesn't make typos!
Robin reprimanding Juma for 'rubbing me out' on the brick line.
the airport in Blantyre
touching African soil
looking at the Sudan desert out of the airplane window - sand as far as you could see
the look of total awe on the toddlers face when I touched his hand
Tadeo's passion for what he does and his goals
Tadeo's new found love of youtube!
Nancy's beautiful smile and spirit
the lump that formed in my throat everyday when we pass the coffin shops
the sight of Mount Mulanje everyday from the worksite
jumping into the pool at the base of the waterfall
Sue trading her clothing for curio items
the Lion-Pig jokes
Malawi - easy
monkeys outside our dorm - seriously?!
the tiny shops in the 'shopping malls' with all signs in English
operation "eagle" - yahoo Ken
operation "Zebra" - yahoo Karyn
operation "Wilda beast" - how is that one going Karyn?
Barb's luggage arriving and the photo with her Dad's trowel
ladies tailored skirts paired with a North American t-shirt
cell phones and i pods everywhere
Carlsberg clubs everywhere
the soccer match vs the private girls school
the belly laughs of the children lining up to wave to our van
aloe vera plants the size of a small table and poinsettia trees
Robin's huge smile every morning
Market days in Chitikale and Nkamvo
monkeys playing in the yard, trees, rooftops
the children of Juma skipping rope, playing soccer and coloring
making scaffolds out of the tree branches beside the house
the view from Grandma's 'new' bedroom window - breathtaking!
Limbani driving while talking on his cell phone
Tadeo exclaiming 'on your face' to Sue after a serious game of 'Bawo'
Sue placing her Mom's photo in the mortar of the wall
Vera with the machete
the safari lodges, tranquility pool, exotic animals everywhere!
the school visit - broke my heart
the beautiful music at the final celebration on home made instruments
operation 'MONKEY'
the dancing moves of the small children
Kevin opening the Kuche Kuche with a water bottle
mission - find us a giraffe Paxon!
the sunset while at the safari
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Habitat Thank - you
received the following from Habitat, it has tips on how everyone can make a difference.
http://habitat.ca/welcomehomeletterp1790.php
my favorite line:
"Our lives become dead the day we go silent about the things that matter.” – Martin Luther King
http://habitat.ca/welcomehomeletterp1790.php
my favorite line:
"Our lives become dead the day we go silent about the things that matter.” – Martin Luther King
sleep and photos
Got to bed at midnight and was out like a light, up at 6:45 - actually a sleep in considering our African schedule, called home, blogged my little heart out and am off to print some photos to take to the golf tourney tomorrow and to Neepawa for the weekend!
Taking the photo of my feet on African soil was pretty great but to be standing back on Canadian soil is even better (so was the cup if Tim's last night!!)
xo
I plan to do another blog of highlights, factoids and such later on today (or possibly tomorrow)
thanks to those of you that followed our journey (remember I warned you at the beginning that I am not a writer - I teach math not ELA)!
Special thanks to our fearless leader Kevin and to my team of: Deb and Taylor, Karyn and Ken, Meag and Sue, Marleen, Lisa, Sue K and my travel buddies Vera and Barb!
see you in September to share photos, share laughs and share wine!
Taking the photo of my feet on African soil was pretty great but to be standing back on Canadian soil is even better (so was the cup if Tim's last night!!)
xo
I plan to do another blog of highlights, factoids and such later on today (or possibly tomorrow)
thanks to those of you that followed our journey (remember I warned you at the beginning that I am not a writer - I teach math not ELA)!
Special thanks to our fearless leader Kevin and to my team of: Deb and Taylor, Karyn and Ken, Meag and Sue, Marleen, Lisa, Sue K and my travel buddies Vera and Barb!
see you in September to share photos, share laughs and share wine!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Lilongwe home. Hee hee. Kenya to Heathrow tonight!
Tuesday July 20th
Woke up at the Longonut Lodge (district 3 of Lilongwe), ate, attempted to blog and headed downtown by foot to do our last bit of shopping at a curio market (the airports of course have shops too). Once again the curio shop owners are very, very aggressive and all try to talk to you and push their goods at once. It is a very uncomfortable feeling and certainly killed the joy of shopping for me.
Back to the lodge, loaded bus and Shorai joined us to the airport. The lineups were huge and there was anxiety about making our flight. Turns out all was good as the planes were all somewhat delayed. Kevin waited until we were checked in to head out for the rest of his week in Africa - Tadeo made plans to meet him in Mulanje to climb the mountain with him. We were at our gate in sufficient time and boarded the first of many planes home.
Boarded the plane was the key statement here as we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours as there were concerns about some tar on the runway. Barb, Vera and I played 2 games of crib and Barb won both to kill some time and reduce anxiety - we now have 3 hours rather than 5 to make our connecting flight to Nairobi.
Once in the air all was good. Flight to Nairobi was short and sweet ( about 2 hours). Did some last chance souvenir shopping, bought a 26 of African rum (made from sugar cane) for Derricks' 40th bday and awaited the next flight. Barb started to feel ill and we are hoping the flight will go well.
Nairobi to Heathrow - 9 looooong hours, I am clearly not meant to sleep on a plane. Cannot complain about the Kenya airlines service or planes at all. The staff are wonderful, food is fine and the planes all have individual TV's with a bout a dozen recent Hollywood movies, TV shows, Children's' movies music and more. Our only issues with Kenya airlines was in the bookings or should I say lack of bookings department - our trip down was great on the plane but was a nightmare for checking in and getting connections and boarding passes.
Wednesday July 21, 2010
Arrived at Heathrow international airport and made our way to gate 3 - Air Canada here we come! Was very sad when they took away my bottle of rum for Derrick they did not seem compassionate for the fact that we could not check it in in Nairobi as our bags were already checked through to Toronto or that the Nairobi Duty free sealed the already sealed bottle in a plastic wrap - shucks!
Although we had a 5 hour layover, we immediately made our way to the check in counter as a few members of the group had been given boarding passes in Lilongwe for the flight to Toronto but most of us did not have one. Turns out air Kenya did it to us again. Five of the 10 of us planning to fly home to Toronto were checked in.
Marleen Jonker, Vera Rumley, Meagan and Sue Luckay and Sue Krakolovich were good to go. The rest of us were to report back in 4 hours to see if we could go standby. The airline reported that summer break had just begun in Europe and the Air Canada flights were all overbooked, we knew not to hold our breath.
An hour later we were once again trying our charm.
We maintained some optimism that there would be some no shows for the flight to Toronto but unfortunately that was not the case. We told the staff that we would be happy to get to Wpg through Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal or Toronto if that would help, and that we would be willing to split up the group. She was appreciative of that and tried to do magic but told us to return again in an hour to see if there would be standby seats on the Calgary flight. She said every flight out for the day was overbooked.
An hour later, she called us off to the side and handed 4 boarding passes over for Lisa Ferguson, Barb Birch, Ken and Karyn Fanstone and one with the hand written message 'if possible please let her on last minute pass' for me. We were off to the gate and I was fine with the situation until Barb hugged me and the tears started.When boarding time came I was told - sorry we can't do it. Was OK until Ken's big bear hug and again the tears erupted.
Back to the lovely Air Canada desk once more. This time the check in staff were expecting me as the boarding staff had already radioed to them I was given the now expected 'please come back in an hour' message but also a 'we will try really hard to get you onto the Edmonton flight' to go with it, they were very all nice to me.
Off for a bag of chips and chocolate bar for both comfort and distraction!
It was very sweet when the lady from check in (that had worked her magic earlier with he boarding passes) came over to my usual seat on the floor near the window to say she was going off shift but that she had made sure to tell the other check in staff to take care of my pass. A half hour later, I was once again in line and given a standby pass for Edmonton and off to another gate. There were about 20 of us with standby passes and so I was not certain that I should feel so optimistic about my flight.
At one point an boarding staff member came out to call names but mine was not on the list - darn - she returned a while later and said if you are on a standby ticket please back away as they want the other passengers to not be confused about the line up - I ventured over to say - that I was on standby but did have a boarding pass for a connecting flight from Edmonton to Winnipeg but unfortunately was snubbed).
About 10 long minutes later another lady came out and said is there a Dawn Birch here?
Music to my ears!
I went in and the original lady actually apologized and told me a window seat was awaiting me and enjoy my trip home! 36 hours of no sleep and tension took its toll as I could only mumble a quiet thank-you through my third set of tears for the day!
off to Canada I go!
Arrived in Edmonton with an hour to my connecting flight, texted Barb to say I was in Canada and could she let me know if my luggage made it to Winnipeg, also send it with Vera and I would cab it over there when I landed.
Flight form Edmonton to Winnipeg was great. Sat with a structural engineer and that provided some very interesting conversation to both keep me awake and pass time quickly.
Arrived in Winnipeg!!
Text from Barb saying glad to hear I was in Edmonton. Let her know when I get to Winnipeg. Called Vera's house and found out they were not home yet, texted Barb and turns out that she was still in the parking lot. Vera also responded from minutes away she and Wayne turned around and came back for me.
As it turned out the flight from Toronto was delayed so the Calgary travellers arrived an hour earlier that everyone else as well as an hour before the luggage that was on the Toronto plane. My flight arrived only a half hour later and since I had no luggage to pick up I had just barely missed everyone.
What an incredible end to an incredible journey!
Woke up at the Longonut Lodge (district 3 of Lilongwe), ate, attempted to blog and headed downtown by foot to do our last bit of shopping at a curio market (the airports of course have shops too). Once again the curio shop owners are very, very aggressive and all try to talk to you and push their goods at once. It is a very uncomfortable feeling and certainly killed the joy of shopping for me.
Back to the lodge, loaded bus and Shorai joined us to the airport. The lineups were huge and there was anxiety about making our flight. Turns out all was good as the planes were all somewhat delayed. Kevin waited until we were checked in to head out for the rest of his week in Africa - Tadeo made plans to meet him in Mulanje to climb the mountain with him. We were at our gate in sufficient time and boarded the first of many planes home.
Boarded the plane was the key statement here as we sat on the tarmac for 2 hours as there were concerns about some tar on the runway. Barb, Vera and I played 2 games of crib and Barb won both to kill some time and reduce anxiety - we now have 3 hours rather than 5 to make our connecting flight to Nairobi.
Once in the air all was good. Flight to Nairobi was short and sweet ( about 2 hours). Did some last chance souvenir shopping, bought a 26 of African rum (made from sugar cane) for Derricks' 40th bday and awaited the next flight. Barb started to feel ill and we are hoping the flight will go well.
Nairobi to Heathrow - 9 looooong hours, I am clearly not meant to sleep on a plane. Cannot complain about the Kenya airlines service or planes at all. The staff are wonderful, food is fine and the planes all have individual TV's with a bout a dozen recent Hollywood movies, TV shows, Children's' movies music and more. Our only issues with Kenya airlines was in the bookings or should I say lack of bookings department - our trip down was great on the plane but was a nightmare for checking in and getting connections and boarding passes.
Wednesday July 21, 2010
Arrived at Heathrow international airport and made our way to gate 3 - Air Canada here we come! Was very sad when they took away my bottle of rum for Derrick they did not seem compassionate for the fact that we could not check it in in Nairobi as our bags were already checked through to Toronto or that the Nairobi Duty free sealed the already sealed bottle in a plastic wrap - shucks!
Although we had a 5 hour layover, we immediately made our way to the check in counter as a few members of the group had been given boarding passes in Lilongwe for the flight to Toronto but most of us did not have one. Turns out air Kenya did it to us again. Five of the 10 of us planning to fly home to Toronto were checked in.
Marleen Jonker, Vera Rumley, Meagan and Sue Luckay and Sue Krakolovich were good to go. The rest of us were to report back in 4 hours to see if we could go standby. The airline reported that summer break had just begun in Europe and the Air Canada flights were all overbooked, we knew not to hold our breath.
An hour later we were once again trying our charm.
We maintained some optimism that there would be some no shows for the flight to Toronto but unfortunately that was not the case. We told the staff that we would be happy to get to Wpg through Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal or Toronto if that would help, and that we would be willing to split up the group. She was appreciative of that and tried to do magic but told us to return again in an hour to see if there would be standby seats on the Calgary flight. She said every flight out for the day was overbooked.
An hour later, she called us off to the side and handed 4 boarding passes over for Lisa Ferguson, Barb Birch, Ken and Karyn Fanstone and one with the hand written message 'if possible please let her on last minute pass' for me. We were off to the gate and I was fine with the situation until Barb hugged me and the tears started.When boarding time came I was told - sorry we can't do it. Was OK until Ken's big bear hug and again the tears erupted.
Back to the lovely Air Canada desk once more. This time the check in staff were expecting me as the boarding staff had already radioed to them I was given the now expected 'please come back in an hour' message but also a 'we will try really hard to get you onto the Edmonton flight' to go with it, they were very all nice to me.
Off for a bag of chips and chocolate bar for both comfort and distraction!
It was very sweet when the lady from check in (that had worked her magic earlier with he boarding passes) came over to my usual seat on the floor near the window to say she was going off shift but that she had made sure to tell the other check in staff to take care of my pass. A half hour later, I was once again in line and given a standby pass for Edmonton and off to another gate. There were about 20 of us with standby passes and so I was not certain that I should feel so optimistic about my flight.
At one point an boarding staff member came out to call names but mine was not on the list - darn - she returned a while later and said if you are on a standby ticket please back away as they want the other passengers to not be confused about the line up - I ventured over to say - that I was on standby but did have a boarding pass for a connecting flight from Edmonton to Winnipeg but unfortunately was snubbed).
About 10 long minutes later another lady came out and said is there a Dawn Birch here?
Music to my ears!
I went in and the original lady actually apologized and told me a window seat was awaiting me and enjoy my trip home! 36 hours of no sleep and tension took its toll as I could only mumble a quiet thank-you through my third set of tears for the day!
off to Canada I go!
Arrived in Edmonton with an hour to my connecting flight, texted Barb to say I was in Canada and could she let me know if my luggage made it to Winnipeg, also send it with Vera and I would cab it over there when I landed.
Flight form Edmonton to Winnipeg was great. Sat with a structural engineer and that provided some very interesting conversation to both keep me awake and pass time quickly.
Arrived in Winnipeg!!
Text from Barb saying glad to hear I was in Edmonton. Let her know when I get to Winnipeg. Called Vera's house and found out they were not home yet, texted Barb and turns out that she was still in the parking lot. Vera also responded from minutes away she and Wayne turned around and came back for me.
As it turned out the flight from Toronto was delayed so the Calgary travellers arrived an hour earlier that everyone else as well as an hour before the luggage that was on the Toronto plane. My flight arrived only a half hour later and since I had no luggage to pick up I had just barely missed everyone.
What an incredible end to an incredible journey!
Monday, July 19, 2010
off to Lilongwe and then onward to Zambia
Friday - July 16th
Our new bus and driver Gideon arrived bright and early and we loaded up our luggage and bags - not much lighter considering all that we left behind but filled with souvenirs in their place.
Nancy caught a ride with us as far as Blantyre, she was signing the final papers for the loan for her restaurant and was so excited. I hunted for a lithium battery in Blantyre but they are not common and was a bit sad that my camera would be out of commission for the Safari in Zambia. We reached the community of Dezda about 5 hours into our journey and stopped to purchase hand crafted pottery and indulge in their coffee and dessert shop.
Arrived in Lilongwe at 6 pm - 9 hours on the road was certainly enough! Unfortunately our hotel reservations had been cancelled and the habitat coordinator for Lilongwe - Danny came to our rescue. We dined on burgers and pizza and then headed to a guest lodge. Lilongwe has a very diverse make up, their city hall resembles the white house - the city itself resembles Winnipeg one minute and Juma the next. One block has a mini mall with American name brands on display and the next has brick and mud shacks displaying curio wares and weaved art. Still no internet at this location but there was luke warm water! As per our usual schedule we were in bed by 9.
Saturday July 16th
Had a wonderful breakfast and were picked up by another driver named Jimmy (Gideon did not have papers to travel across the border to Zambia). As we were awaiting departure the lodge's little son (about 2) came outside and took my hand and said "come" I said "where to?" and he led me over to the door and said "to watch George", I said "George who?" and his Mom answered from the doorway "that would be George in the Jungle his favorite show" so cute!
On the drive out I saw what I presume to be a funeral service at one of the cemeteries - the headstones range from piles of rock to concrete slabs to very elaborate and ornate markers.
Made one last stop at BP for gas and a bathroom break prior to the border crossing. Kevin bought some cookies to serve as a lunch - he predicts we will be at the lodge around 3 pm.
The border crossings both went very well, we merely presented our passports and filled out exit cards/entrance cards and handed them in. Jimmy took a bit longer than expected to get into Zambia as he had never done a crossing before and was unsure of the procedures but all worked out.
Onward to Zambia - we are all very excited to be out of the bus soon - or so we thought! Turns out the road was under construction and unfortunately that was the good part (they had beautiful CAT graders and Ford tractors for road construction) after the construction the road turned into washboard that made Gunn Road after a rain look good. The washboard lasted for about 2 hours as we were unable to travel much more than 50 or 60 km's an hour for most of this distance. Within minutes of entering the South Luanga national park we saw baboons everywhere, some Hippos hanging out in a river and a pile of elephants munching on the trees - who remembered the bus ride?
At 5 pm we arrived at the lodge and I am proud to report that I did not toss my cookies along the way! I picked a very bad day to leave my gravol in my suitcase.
Within minutes of seeing the lodge and touring the past 8 hours were erased. The park is not fenced in but is protected by natural boundaries of rivers and bush. The lodge is also not fenced and so every person requires an escort to and from their chalets. This may seem a bit too much until you see the baboons hanging out on your deck, the impala walking over the sidewalk or the hippo crossover from Barb's chalet to the river!
The staff encouraged us to quickly drop off our belongings grab a quick tea and set out for the last 2 hours of a game ride (they usually start at 4 pm).
Our guide Charles managed to find in those short 2 hours the following: a bush hare, impalas, a family of lionesses, zebra, hyenas, hippos, white tailed mongoose and baboons by the hundreds.
Came back to a buffet dinner, glass of red wine and live drama performance from a local drama group. Then off to a hot shower and bed - the game drive starts at 6:30 am.
Sunday July 17th
Up at 5:45 - dressed and ready to get on the road. Today our guide Paxon was behind the wheel of the land rover. He had been a guide for 19 years and was trained by the legendary Norman Carr - a famous ranger for the Mfuwe park. His voice and laugh are a dead ringer for James Earl Jones and so it was a phenomenal morning. Today we saw: Impala (hundreds of them - are in the antelope family), their cousins the Puku, elephants, zebra, lionesses, water buffalo, hippos, wart hogs, pelicans, stork, an eagle - their national bird. Paxon had descriptions and history and commentary for everything we saw. He also took us to the grave marker of Norman Carr. ON the way to our brunch in the park we discovered an impala hanging in a tree that a leopard had recently caught and would dine on later. The lunch in the park was incredible - we dined amongst the trees with a river in the backdrop - and hippos lazing in it.
back at the lodge shortly afternoon for siesta time - next game drive is at 4 pm. Had a chance to swim in the pool and enjoy a beer as the baboons, impala and water buck wandered just below. Was very, very surreal. Also a bit disturbing in the stark contrast to Juma village. But it needs to be pointed out that although the Mfuwe lodge is 5 star luxury they are very aware of the needs of Africa. They employ 80 people, their gift shop sells items made from the local textile shop (hand made and hand painted fabrics), they use solar power to heat the water, they give thousands of dollars to the conservation district and sponsor the local school much as Unicef would (provide supplies etc). Paxon said most of the guides all live 5 minutes away in the village of Mfuwe and that it is a great lodge to work for (his last 8 years), he had also worked for the mushroom lodge and directly for the park prior to this. Again - I could listen to him talk and laugh all day long! He took us out at 4 pm and said he do his best to show us the elusive giraffe. We saw so much! He drove us to a sandy beach like spot along a river to watch the sunset and have a beer (and listen to the hippos snort). The giraffe where not meant to be spotted but we saw the most incredible thing ever after dark. Paxon could hear something and killed the engine - listened - looked in his binoculars and then announced that a leopard had just killed an impala and a nearby hyena was taking his kill. We raced over and saw the leopard stalking off (licking her lips) and then saw two hyenas feast on the impala - we were about 10 feet away - it was disgusting and fascinating all the same.
Paxon explained later that hyenas will always be able to out power a leopard, lion, hog and so if they are in the area of a kill the leopard has to concede his food to them. It was so crazy to hear them bark and howl as they fed - I swear I thought that I should hear 'Whoopi or Cheech's' voice come out of them (Lion King).
Then, we were off to see if the implala in the tree was still there. Much to Barb's joy, the leopard was sitting in the tree guarding it. We were able to stay and watch and photo for about 10 minutes. Paxon said that the animals are very accustomed to the sounds of the vehicles and as long as there is not a lot of movement or talking the animals will stick around for us to observe.
Incredible evening! We returned to the buffet, hot showers and very comfortable beds. I was very upset with myself as I lost Barb's camera case somewhere on the drive - one minute it was on the seat with my room key and the next only the room key was on the seat. She was so amazing about letting me 'share' her camera, when we came to something awesome she would hand it over and let me pop in my memory stick so I could take photos too - how great is that?
Monday July 19
Final morning and once again Paxon is determined to show us a giraffe. We spotted their hoof prints (took a photo actually) and tried to track them. Saw the usual (can you believe that we now are considering zebras, hippos, elephants,water buffalo, baboons and impala the usual?) We stumbled across an elderly female elephant paying respects to the bones of a bull elephant that had passed away a couple of years ago and she had a pregnant female and 6-7 year old male with her. Then along cam another female and a baby! So tiny compared to the grandma. It was totally incredible to see their interactions - the mom's instincts were very strong as the Grandma came right up to the land rover (we are talking about 6 feet away) and flashed her ears out and pawed the ground) as the mom and baby passed by us) I was in absolute awe as elephants have been my favorite animals since I saw a National documentary about them about 15 years ago- ironically it was narrated by James Earl Jones), I did not realize that the rest of my group were near loss of kidney function and and hearts racing!
The most iron thing then happened - Paxon's radio went off and another guide said that the giraffes were out, they were at the spot we saw their prints. The elephants were now far enough away that we could speed off but by the time we got to the spot the giraffes were once again gone. Paxon laughed so hard it made the rest of us giggle too. He said that the giraffes are usually out and cannot believe that we still have not seen them.
Headed back to the lodge early so we could be on the road by 10 am. Jimmy was already there and our suitcases were loaded when we got back.
Not gonnna lie, I was really not looking forward to our bus ride but I did take a Gravol this time.
The ride seemed to go by a bit faster this time - probably because we knew what to expect, our border crossings were very smooth again as well.
Back in Malawi and off to Lilongwe for our final night in Africa! Arrived at the Longonot Lodge about 8 hours after leaving Mfuwe. Amazing that 9 pm now constitutes a late night out.
Our new bus and driver Gideon arrived bright and early and we loaded up our luggage and bags - not much lighter considering all that we left behind but filled with souvenirs in their place.
Nancy caught a ride with us as far as Blantyre, she was signing the final papers for the loan for her restaurant and was so excited. I hunted for a lithium battery in Blantyre but they are not common and was a bit sad that my camera would be out of commission for the Safari in Zambia. We reached the community of Dezda about 5 hours into our journey and stopped to purchase hand crafted pottery and indulge in their coffee and dessert shop.
Arrived in Lilongwe at 6 pm - 9 hours on the road was certainly enough! Unfortunately our hotel reservations had been cancelled and the habitat coordinator for Lilongwe - Danny came to our rescue. We dined on burgers and pizza and then headed to a guest lodge. Lilongwe has a very diverse make up, their city hall resembles the white house - the city itself resembles Winnipeg one minute and Juma the next. One block has a mini mall with American name brands on display and the next has brick and mud shacks displaying curio wares and weaved art. Still no internet at this location but there was luke warm water! As per our usual schedule we were in bed by 9.
Saturday July 16th
Had a wonderful breakfast and were picked up by another driver named Jimmy (Gideon did not have papers to travel across the border to Zambia). As we were awaiting departure the lodge's little son (about 2) came outside and took my hand and said "come" I said "where to?" and he led me over to the door and said "to watch George", I said "George who?" and his Mom answered from the doorway "that would be George in the Jungle his favorite show" so cute!
On the drive out I saw what I presume to be a funeral service at one of the cemeteries - the headstones range from piles of rock to concrete slabs to very elaborate and ornate markers.
Made one last stop at BP for gas and a bathroom break prior to the border crossing. Kevin bought some cookies to serve as a lunch - he predicts we will be at the lodge around 3 pm.
The border crossings both went very well, we merely presented our passports and filled out exit cards/entrance cards and handed them in. Jimmy took a bit longer than expected to get into Zambia as he had never done a crossing before and was unsure of the procedures but all worked out.
Onward to Zambia - we are all very excited to be out of the bus soon - or so we thought! Turns out the road was under construction and unfortunately that was the good part (they had beautiful CAT graders and Ford tractors for road construction) after the construction the road turned into washboard that made Gunn Road after a rain look good. The washboard lasted for about 2 hours as we were unable to travel much more than 50 or 60 km's an hour for most of this distance. Within minutes of entering the South Luanga national park we saw baboons everywhere, some Hippos hanging out in a river and a pile of elephants munching on the trees - who remembered the bus ride?
At 5 pm we arrived at the lodge and I am proud to report that I did not toss my cookies along the way! I picked a very bad day to leave my gravol in my suitcase.
Within minutes of seeing the lodge and touring the past 8 hours were erased. The park is not fenced in but is protected by natural boundaries of rivers and bush. The lodge is also not fenced and so every person requires an escort to and from their chalets. This may seem a bit too much until you see the baboons hanging out on your deck, the impala walking over the sidewalk or the hippo crossover from Barb's chalet to the river!
The staff encouraged us to quickly drop off our belongings grab a quick tea and set out for the last 2 hours of a game ride (they usually start at 4 pm).
Our guide Charles managed to find in those short 2 hours the following: a bush hare, impalas, a family of lionesses, zebra, hyenas, hippos, white tailed mongoose and baboons by the hundreds.
Came back to a buffet dinner, glass of red wine and live drama performance from a local drama group. Then off to a hot shower and bed - the game drive starts at 6:30 am.
Sunday July 17th
Up at 5:45 - dressed and ready to get on the road. Today our guide Paxon was behind the wheel of the land rover. He had been a guide for 19 years and was trained by the legendary Norman Carr - a famous ranger for the Mfuwe park. His voice and laugh are a dead ringer for James Earl Jones and so it was a phenomenal morning. Today we saw: Impala (hundreds of them - are in the antelope family), their cousins the Puku, elephants, zebra, lionesses, water buffalo, hippos, wart hogs, pelicans, stork, an eagle - their national bird. Paxon had descriptions and history and commentary for everything we saw. He also took us to the grave marker of Norman Carr. ON the way to our brunch in the park we discovered an impala hanging in a tree that a leopard had recently caught and would dine on later. The lunch in the park was incredible - we dined amongst the trees with a river in the backdrop - and hippos lazing in it.
back at the lodge shortly afternoon for siesta time - next game drive is at 4 pm. Had a chance to swim in the pool and enjoy a beer as the baboons, impala and water buck wandered just below. Was very, very surreal. Also a bit disturbing in the stark contrast to Juma village. But it needs to be pointed out that although the Mfuwe lodge is 5 star luxury they are very aware of the needs of Africa. They employ 80 people, their gift shop sells items made from the local textile shop (hand made and hand painted fabrics), they use solar power to heat the water, they give thousands of dollars to the conservation district and sponsor the local school much as Unicef would (provide supplies etc). Paxon said most of the guides all live 5 minutes away in the village of Mfuwe and that it is a great lodge to work for (his last 8 years), he had also worked for the mushroom lodge and directly for the park prior to this. Again - I could listen to him talk and laugh all day long! He took us out at 4 pm and said he do his best to show us the elusive giraffe. We saw so much! He drove us to a sandy beach like spot along a river to watch the sunset and have a beer (and listen to the hippos snort). The giraffe where not meant to be spotted but we saw the most incredible thing ever after dark. Paxon could hear something and killed the engine - listened - looked in his binoculars and then announced that a leopard had just killed an impala and a nearby hyena was taking his kill. We raced over and saw the leopard stalking off (licking her lips) and then saw two hyenas feast on the impala - we were about 10 feet away - it was disgusting and fascinating all the same.
Paxon explained later that hyenas will always be able to out power a leopard, lion, hog and so if they are in the area of a kill the leopard has to concede his food to them. It was so crazy to hear them bark and howl as they fed - I swear I thought that I should hear 'Whoopi or Cheech's' voice come out of them (Lion King).
Then, we were off to see if the implala in the tree was still there. Much to Barb's joy, the leopard was sitting in the tree guarding it. We were able to stay and watch and photo for about 10 minutes. Paxon said that the animals are very accustomed to the sounds of the vehicles and as long as there is not a lot of movement or talking the animals will stick around for us to observe.
Incredible evening! We returned to the buffet, hot showers and very comfortable beds. I was very upset with myself as I lost Barb's camera case somewhere on the drive - one minute it was on the seat with my room key and the next only the room key was on the seat. She was so amazing about letting me 'share' her camera, when we came to something awesome she would hand it over and let me pop in my memory stick so I could take photos too - how great is that?
Monday July 19
Final morning and once again Paxon is determined to show us a giraffe. We spotted their hoof prints (took a photo actually) and tried to track them. Saw the usual (can you believe that we now are considering zebras, hippos, elephants,water buffalo, baboons and impala the usual?) We stumbled across an elderly female elephant paying respects to the bones of a bull elephant that had passed away a couple of years ago and she had a pregnant female and 6-7 year old male with her. Then along cam another female and a baby! So tiny compared to the grandma. It was totally incredible to see their interactions - the mom's instincts were very strong as the Grandma came right up to the land rover (we are talking about 6 feet away) and flashed her ears out and pawed the ground) as the mom and baby passed by us) I was in absolute awe as elephants have been my favorite animals since I saw a National documentary about them about 15 years ago- ironically it was narrated by James Earl Jones), I did not realize that the rest of my group were near loss of kidney function and and hearts racing!
The most iron thing then happened - Paxon's radio went off and another guide said that the giraffes were out, they were at the spot we saw their prints. The elephants were now far enough away that we could speed off but by the time we got to the spot the giraffes were once again gone. Paxon laughed so hard it made the rest of us giggle too. He said that the giraffes are usually out and cannot believe that we still have not seen them.
Headed back to the lodge early so we could be on the road by 10 am. Jimmy was already there and our suitcases were loaded when we got back.
Not gonnna lie, I was really not looking forward to our bus ride but I did take a Gravol this time.
The ride seemed to go by a bit faster this time - probably because we knew what to expect, our border crossings were very smooth again as well.
Back in Malawi and off to Lilongwe for our final night in Africa! Arrived at the Longonot Lodge about 8 hours after leaving Mfuwe. Amazing that 9 pm now constitutes a late night out.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
School visit Thursday morning and final Celebration
link to photos for July 15th
We were once again up early and loaded the van with the garbage bags of clothing, school supplies and sports equipment that we wished to leave behind with Tadeo at the Habitat office. Nancy wore a "I heart Canada" t-shirt to serve us breakfast in.
Kevin mentioned that we will stop at Chitikale on the way home for the people that wished to buy some of the cloth wraps that the women wear as skirts. This worked out great as a number of us had planned 'operation monkey' for Thursday evening. (Operation monkey - buy some local beer and have one after our official last day of work).
We were off to the village and our school village at our usual time and made the stop to buy eggs and actually met George the brick supplier at the store.
We headed to the Nsanjam F.P. School in Thuchila on the way to our celebration.
Driving up it was incredible to see so many children, again they fought to get close enough to wave and touch our hands. The headmaster came out and he asked us to join his staff for a welcome.
He informed us that it is a co-ed elementary school (Tadeo told us it has a great reputation) with 1475 students registered and 15 teachers (you can do the math on that one!!). The teachers all dress in suit and tie and females in dresses as it is government protocol to do so. When asked what concerns they have and older teacher (Moses Mangwaya - 30 years teaching experience) that they have 3 main concerns:
school supplies - the government is to provide one notebook and one pen to every student but the shipments rarely arrive on time, or at all (a neigbhouring school gets theirs from Unicef).
sports supplies - they have 2 soccer balls (we brought them 2 more and 2 skipping ropes)
infrastructure - the 15 buildings housing these 100 students have dirt floors and no desks, the facility has 10 portable latrines for the students. They have one map of Malawi that the entire school shares.
The schools services several communities and students walk from 0.5 to 4 km to get there and so during rainy season they also have attendance concerns above the regular absences due to illness and orphan status.
The students were happy to show us their notebooks and most have a dry erase tablet that they carry with them. On the drive off I noticed that they had a water supply system that I had recently heard about. It looks like a merry go round that the students play on but is actually a water pump (sort of a horizontal water wheel) as the students push it around it fills a holding tank with water.
on to the celebration!
As we drove up a group of drummers started playing and the ladies and kids began dancing. The music was excellent and our thoughts of performing the bird dance paled in comparison. We were amazed at the hip and butt action that the dancers of all ages exhibited. We joined in and after about 4 songs we even managed to drag Robin off of his scaffold to join in. Two young boys dressed up in corn skirts and performed a traditional type of dance. The drummers then had to leave to perform at a wedding and loaded up their equipment onto a bicycle and off they went. We were not sure what to expect next and were awaiting a few more dignitaries before the official start. We ended up doing the hokey pokey with some of the kids and it was a huge hit so we also did if you are happy and you know it.
Then it was time to officially begin the celebration and a group of teenagers brought out some home made instruments (drums, a slide bass, banjo) and proceeded to blow me away with their talents. They were so good!
There were speeches from several sources (habitat, OVC, the chief) and all blessed God for our presence and help with the house and Juma. They told us to please return again and to encourage others to do the same and they blessed our safe journey home.
We presented Grandma with a Canada polar fleece blanket, courtesy of Sue L, that we all signed and pressented a soccer ball to one of the boys - Shorai had the photo of Grandma and her grandchildren with her and did not make it, so she will have it delivered to them this week, Deb bought a pretty hand carved frame to place it in.
It was very joyous and it made leaving the site much easier than I expected.
We drove away on last time and were quite quiet on the drive to Chitikale. (Limbani had a rough trip - hit a dog and a prairie chicken on the way home - weird that it should happen on our last day)
In Chitikale we made our purchase of some Kuche Kuche beer (500 ml bottle costs 61 cents US) and headed to the lodge.
We had a final meeting with Shorai, Tadeo and Limbani prior to their heading back to Blantyre. Tadeo and Shorai both spoke so well and again thanked us for coming, hope we return and thanked God for bringing us to Juma and asked that he watch over our journey home. (Habitat expects to be done their builds in the Mulanje district by next July)
Back to the dorm for a beer and an opportunity to socialize and then to supper. Nancy made pizza for our farewell dinner and a cake for dessert!
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