Tanzania Safari

After the Kili climb P&C and I hit up three different game parks in three days: Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire. We saw…

Ostriches (some of them mating)
Lions (including a cub)
Hippos
Wildebeest
Impala
Waterbuck
Buffalo
Zebra
Giraffes (including one that was trying to give birth)
Pink Flamingoes
Vultures (taking a bath)
Elephants
Hippos
Hyenas (an entire pack of them)
Baboons
Vervet Monkeys
Blue Monkeys
Sykes Monkeys
And once again lots of birds, lots of big ones this time too.

Sadly no Cheetahs and no Leopards despite the fact that Patrick checked every tree in Tanzania.

Our favorite park was Tarangire where we witnessed a discovery channel type scene…

Two (unintelligent) Egyptian Geese were swimming around in a little river side pool with their goslings, which a Marshall Eagle kept trying to swoop in and steal. As we were watching this, our guide said uh-oh, the Elephants want to take a bath. The Geese flapped and squawked their way out of the pool as the herd of elephants entered it. We think one of their goslings didn’t make it out in time. Then while we were watching the Elephants bathe, the Marshall Eagle made a successful attack and swooped off with one of the goslings.

Kilimanjaro

After spending one night in Arusha, Tanzania, we started our Kili climb on a Tuesday morning. We had a small group. Just Pat, Cathleen, myself, our guide, assistant guide, cook, and 12 porters!! The porters were perhaps the only thing more amazing than the mountain scenery. The loads they carry are simply incredible. For example: one porter put on my large camping backpack, strapped his backpack on the back of it, and then put a box on his head. My brother asked our guide will they leave before us? How will they keep up? Our guide laughed and said they go up much faster than we will. Sure enough all the tourists constantly have to stand aside as the porters practically run up the mountain with duffle bags on their heads.

Our hike up the Macheme route took 5 days to reach base camp, all the while going pole pole (Kiswahili for slowly slowly) because of the altitude. Everyday we hiked through different scenery, all of it amazing: rainforests, scrub land, lava fields, etc. Most of the time we could see the snow covered summit looming in front of us. We also enjoyed looking back down below and seeing nothing but clouds; you’re above a thick layer from the second day on. The hikes were tiring but not incredibly challenging.

We woke up at 11:30PM on the fifth night to begin our assault on the summit. We dressed in our warmest gear, snow pants and all, and with head lamps on started pole pole towards the top. It was quite cold, but nothing us Buffalo born Bradys hadn’t put up with before. (Actually, for me, it wasn’t much worse than being in the tent; my sleeping bag left something to be desired). Cathleen, the Californian, braved it admirably. The hike took a long 7 hours, and made the sunrise at the top all the more rewarding. The glaciers definitely aren’t all melted yet, and Patrick and I enjoyed running out into the ice fields. We also enjoyed seeing the shadow of the mountain on the clouds below, seeing Mt. Meru (a large mountain) far below us, and congratulating each other on reaching 19,384 ft, Africa’s highest point. (That’s right; I’m bragging a little. Did I mention it’s the world’s highest free standing mountain?)

After a brief celebration, and a lot of pictures at the top, we climbed back down to base camp, slept for a few hours, and then hiked down on a new route back to the rainforest. We camped one more night on the mountain and then hiked out the following day. Our legs definitely thought it was a lot of altitude to lose in two days. Luckily for us all we had to do the next three days was sit in safari vehicles and hang out in resorts.

I let my brother take all the pics for our Kili climb and safari; you can see more of them on his picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/mr.patrick.brady/AfricaTrip

Nairobi (Chapter 1)

After our Zambia safari my parents flew back to the States and I flew up to Nairobi. The city blew me away. Not only are there sky scrapers, there are even movie theaters! (It probably has more in common with the states than with Malawi). I got in a day before my bro and S-I-L, and had time to do a few touristy things. Topping the list was definitely hand feeding Rothschild Giraffes. I also saw Karen Blixen’s house (now a museum), it is indeed located at the foot of the ngong hills. It was overpriced but neat to see. I met up with Pat and Cathleen at the hotel that night, and the next morning it was off to Tanzania.

Zambia Safari

After our brief Malawi tour, my parents and I headed to South Luangwa Park in Zambia for safari. We were very pleased with our company, Kiboko Safaris, and our guide Martin was awesome. (no “flying eagles” were identified this time). We went on morning and night game drives, spending the hottest hours of the day lounging at the camp pool, and listening to the hippos in the river.

We spotted…

Elephants
Giraffes
Impala
Waterbuck
Zebra
Hyena
Warthogs
Hippos
Crocodiles
Buffalo
Baboons (including an albino baboon)
Vervet Monkeys
Lions
Countless varieties of birds

And probably many other animals that I can’t remember at the moment.

While the game drives were fun, our favorite part of safari was when the animals came and found us…

I woke up in the middle of our first night when I heard a twig break outside. My tent-mate, an Irish guy named Jamie, and I listened closely. It sounded like a person was walking quietly around outside. There’s no way that could be a big animal we whispered; it’s too quiet. I put on my glasses and walked to the front of the tent. Definitely, a big animal. A herd of elephants had come to the trees in our campsite for a midnight snack. The matriarch wound up with her head (with huge tusks) about 5 feet from Jamie’s bed! Jamie, understandably, had a little difficulty falling back to sleep that night.

When my dad heard about our close encounter with the elephant he went about gathering “elephant food” and placed it outside my parents’ tent. (Interestingly, the pile was placed outside the window on my mom’s side.) The elephants did indeed come again, though I believe my dad’s food pile was left untouched.

My dad, being the hip young guy that he is, shared his photos from their trip over here on picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/brady.bc/Africa

The Bradys take Malawi

Before all these entries I have to apologize for their lateness. I do recognize that the idea of a blog is it is updated as things happen. In my defense I will simply point out that my blog is titled Conor In Malawi; and well, I haven’t been in Malawi. Anyways, before I left on my travels, my parents visited Malawi…

I went to pick my parents up at the Lilongwe airport on a Sunday. Unfortunately for me, they showed up on a Monday. (Their flight was overbooked and they lost their seat). Luckily a day spent at the airport waiting for them to get off, did no permanent damage to me, and it made it all the more exciting when they got off the plane on Monday. Amazingly my parents made it with only one lost bag, (one with cleats for the football team), and so we drove straight to Mangochi. The next day we spent the morning at MCV, and then drove to Cape Maclear for a couple days of walking on the beach, snorkeling, kayaking, etc. Then it was back to Mangochi.

My mom spent Friday at the MCV nursery, while my dad and I drove to Blantyre to retrieve the lost bag, since the airline told us that it had been sent there. The bag was of course not in Blantyre, but in Lilongwe. We asked them to please leave it in Lilongwe since we would be heading up there again in a couple of days.

Saturday was MCV’s long awaited 10th anniversary celebration. It was awesome! Many people came for the gathering: 100+ members of staff, 72 village volunteers, 130 students, 37 village headmen, 2 members of Malawi’s Parliament, various other government dignitaries, and many many more. It involved a lot of singing, dancing, and speeches. (Kind of like education day, but much better organized; it only started about an hour late). The dancing groups were really amazing; you’ll all have to see the DVD that the studio made when I get home. Some of the speeches were also great (though most were in Chichewa). Jonathan (a former MCV sponsored student who is now an employee) made a really touching speech about how MCV has made a difference in his life. After day long ceremony, there was a party at a nearby resort with much more singing and dancing. My parents and I left at 11:00, but we were told that the party lasted until 6 the next morning.

The morning after the anniversary we headed back to Lilongwe where we made a last attempt at claiming the lost bag before heading to Zambia for safari. Sure enough, it was in Blantyre.

traveling

I know I haven't posted to the blog in awhile, so I wanted to give a quick update. My parents have been here for the last 12 days, and are leaving today. Their visit has been filled with truly African experiences; both the good and the bad. We had a great time. MCV's 10th anniversary was celebrated while they were here. It was a truly spectacular event.

Tomorrow I fly out to Nairobi, where I will meet Pat and Cathleen (my brother and sister-in-law). We will be climbing Kilimanjaro (hopefully to the top!) and going on safari in Ngorongoro Crater. After that I will be spending a week in Kenya before heading back to MCV for the third term of school.

I'll update my blog with lots of stories and photos on all this stuff when I return August 26th.

tsalini bwino! (stay well)