Uganda today, Tanzania tomorrow!

Hello virtual world!  It’s been so long!  Have you missed me much?

I’ve been having a grand ol’ time here in Uganda for the past three weeks!  (I figured I could break my tradition of Swahili titles since Swahili isn't really spoken in Uganda...totally not because I'm all out of vocab words or anything like that...)

After the last time I wrote, we traveled to Kibale National Park, where we stayed for ten whole days!  It was nice to finally settle down somewhere for a bit.  We stayed at Makerere Field Station which is a research station just outside the forest, and let me tell you -- I have nooo complaints!  The bed: amazing. The showers:  hot.  The food: delicious.  I’m talkin’ pizza, pasta, mac 'n cheese, cinnamon rolls, chocolate-frosted marble birthday cake (what a great surprise that was!)…basically all the things we’ve been dreaming of for the past several weeks.

The forest itself is only 200mm/year of rain away from a rainforest.  Technically that makes it a mid-tropical altitude forest, but the rains are changing every year, so maybe someday soon it’ll be a rainforest!

Kibale is known for having the world’s largest biomass of primate species.  You know what that means -- monkeys galore!!  The species that I saw most often was the black and white colobus.  They look a lot like skunks (though a certain relative of mine might argue that they look a lot like my mother).

Oh, and of course the baboons.  Baboons everywhere.

On our final Sunday at Kibale, we went to church!  It was remarkably different than my church experience in Kenya.  Actually, I’d say it was more similar to church at home than church in Kenya, except that the singing was much better than at home, and a child accidentally brought a chicken inside during the service.

After Kibale, we traveled to Lake Nabugabo.  Man oh man.  Paradise.  I stayed in a lakehouse with 20 other girls, in a very tightly packed bedroom.  The lakehouse was only 20 feet from the water.  Apparently there were beautiful sunrises, although sleepy Maria didn’t get to experience any.  I did manage to catch the end of one though.

It felt so luxurious doing homework right next to the water, and taking naps to the sweet sound of waves. These were some of my views from my homework hideouts: 

And that brings me to the present!  I’m back in Jinja!  I was here a couple years ago for whitewater rafting, but this time it's all about workworkwork!  Yep, that's right folks...  This trip is not all about monkeying around (hardy har har...get it?); there actually is quite a bit of learning going on!  We've been working day and night on various assignments for my Environmental Management class, and today we finished up with a final exam...phew!  Luckily we had time for one fabulously relaxing boat ride on the Nile yesterday, during which we collected a bunch of little-bitty fish species.  Unfortunately some of the fishies died in the nets, but that meant we got to see a fish disection! Brains and gills, mmm!

Oh, and before I forget, let me introduce you to my good friend Larry:

I cant decide if the past three weeks have felt long or super quick.  Either way, it’s been a blast!  Off to Tanzania in the morning!

Twiga [giraffe]

We're leaving for Mbita tomorrow morning on a ferry towards Kisumu!  Warning:  this might be the last time I have internet for the next two weeks.  You guys will go through Maria-withdrawal, or blog-withdrawal, or probably nobody will notice anyways!

We'll be camping for two nights at an impala sanctuary in Kisumu, and then we head to Kibale Forest in Uganda for ten whole days!  You know what that means.... more monkeys!

How about some safari pictures to tide you over for the next few weeks?

Let's start with some cute little buffaloes! (buffalo? buffali? buffaloni?)

And then there's these weird stripey horse things. I forget what they're called...

MUFASAAAA!

And all his itty bitty Simbas cuddling in the grass!

We didn't get to see the real pride rock, but this cloud pretty much did the trick:

We went on game drives almost every day while in the Maasai Mara area.  One day, we were driving through the reserve just to get to a conservancy on the other side.  It had been raining the night before, so the roads were a bit too much for our trucks to handle... One of them got stuck on the side of the road!  The staff spent nearly an hour and a half trying to dig the bus out of of the mud.  Here's a picture of half of my classmates walking through the Mara to get to the other truck.  (This brings back memories of that time Kevin drove into a ditch).

What they didn't know is that there were lions lurking not too far off in the distance!

Menyatta [a traditional Maasai home]

Yippeee!  Just finished my first final exam of the semester!  That means I'm a third of the way done with this semester, and one class closer to graduating...yikes!  I'm celebrating with a nice cold I-don't-even-know-what-flavor soda, but its red and delicious (but definitely not Red Delicious flavor)... mmmmm.  ANYWAYS, enough of that rambling!

Once upon a time, waaaaay long ago (back in mid/late January) in a faraway land called Elangata Wuas, we did a homestay with a traditional Maasai family.  Wanna hear all about it?

On our first day at Elangata Wuas, we went to the market.  This actually wasn't part of the homestay, but it was my first introduction to Maasai culture.  Lots of stuff for sale -- fabric, jewelry, food, secondhand clothes, household items, lions, tigers, and bears!  I bought a nice piece of fabric and a beaded bracelet.  I'm not a pro at bargaining in Swahili yet, but it was fun to try!  Below is a picture of me wearing my goodies and pretending to be Maasai.

Okay, so now let's get to the actual homestay experience...  Boy oh boy, I did not truly realize how comfortable home is until I stayed a night in a traditional Maasai menyatta.

As you can see from the photo below, the typical Maasai house is slightly shorter than the average Maasai woman.  Luckly I am also slightly shorter than the average Maasai woman.  It's made of sticks and mud and cow dung, and has no windows save for a couple 3-inch squares on each side.

Inside there were two rooms -- the main bedroom consisting of bed made of stretched cow hide (featured below), and the kitchen room which had enough space another bed and for a couple people to sit around a mini charcoal stove.

I was with two other students from my program, Kate and Amelie, and we were accompanied by a youth guide named Hellen.  The house we were staying at happened to be Hellen's aunt's house, so she was really familiar with the area.  We spent much of the day chatting with Hellen about life in general, and asking questions about each others lifestyles. We talked about everything from dating to development, and had lots and lots of chai in between.

The Maasai are a pastoralist culture, so when the livestock returned for the night, I got to milk one of the goats!  I was surprised at how hard I had to squeeze, and every time the milk came out, my first instinct was to pull the cup away...oops.  But after a squirt or two, I got the hang of it.  Later that night, I drank chai made with this milk, so that was pretty neat!

We helped prepare dinner (cabbage and ugali), and then went to bed.  The four of us slept in the main bedroom, shoulder to shoulder.  It may not have been the best sleep of my life, but it was absolutely one of the most memorable parts of the trip so far, and something that I am so thankful to have experienced!

Picha! [picture]

Greetings from the shores of Lake Victoria!  We're currently staying in Mbita, at another ICIPE station (the same insect research institution that we stayed with in Nairobi).  This place is absolutely amazing...I feel like I'm in a resort!  I'm currently living in a nice single dorm room; hot showers and real toilets right in the very same building!  We had class this morning and yesterday while sitting in lounge chairs, overlooking the lake, with mountains on the horizon.  Could life get any better?

Anyways, I have free wifi here, so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to upload a bunch of random photos from the past few weeks!  Yippeeee! 

First up is a horned cucumber that we got to eat in Ethnobotany class!  It tastes a bit like a mix of cucumber and lemon...nomnomnom!  It's not super common yet, but is becoming  more and more available in local supermarkets.

Here's our campsite at Lake Naivasha.  That tent on the left with the laundry lines attached is mine.  I don't think those are my clothes...but maybe they are!  Hmmm...

This is a monkey that got onto one of our trucks.  Pesky little guy!   I was sitting on the other truck writing a paper (it was raining outside), but I made sure to take plenty of photos before chasing him away!  He might be the same monkey that tried to steal my breakfast once... 

Here's me and Arielle doing a power pose at the top of Mount Longonot.  Behind us is the crater of a dormant volcano, which hasn't erupted since 1812 (I think), and thus has been filled in with forest.  It was a really fun/quick/dusty/butt-hurting climb!

A performance of a traditional Kikuyu dance.  This was right before members of our group were pulled in to join them!  On top of their heads are hats made of monkey fur.  Pretty, but poor monkeys! 

The men all had these metal things attached to their legs, filled with stones of different sizes  to act as shakers, keeping the beat of their dance.  It sounded pretty neat!  Fortunately for them, they only wear these during ceremonies...not every day life (I think).  That would be tiring!

These are candelabra trees at our campsite in Maasai Mara.  They're all over the place!  More importantly, check out those ominous clouds...  Rain's a-comin'! 

Last but definitely not least, baby goats! 

BONUS ROUND: Baby goats cuddling in a tire!  

Alright folks...it's getting late and I have some work to finish up before I can hit the hay!  I hope these photos give you at least a tiny taste of what I've been up to here in Kenya... Clearly the baby goats are super significant.  Actually, people thought we were really weird for being so obsessed with them.  

Things to look forward to this week while I still have decent internet access: an entry about the homestay with a traditional Maasai family, and photos from our game drive on the Maasai Mara!  

Simba [lion]

Jambo!  Checking in from Maasai Mara, and procrastinating working on my ethnobotany essay...

It's quite chilly here!  I'm so glad that I brought warm leggings, and a rain jacket!  This time of year is usually dry-season, but because of climate change, the rains are becoming more frequent and less predictable... Basically we're all cold, wet, and soggy.

Today we went into the nearby community to learn about land ownership, traditional knowledge, and medicinal plants.  I got to taste a few strange plants (one of them was a different species of basil), and brushed my teeth with a twig!  Squeaky clean!

We've been going on game drives every day.  So far, we've seen zebras, giraffes, elephants, hyenas, buffalo, all sorts of antelope, ostriches, a cheetah, a leopard, and LIONS GALORE!  Seriously, so many lions!  Maasai Mara has one of the world's highest lion densities.  On our first drive, we saw two mothers with about nine little baby Simbas all cuddling together, and yesterday we saw a bunch of lions and cubs (probably the same ones) chowing down on a nice big buffalo carcass!  (Pictures to come next week when I have free wifi in Mbita!)

So now we've seen four out of the "Big Five" (lion, rhino, elephant, buffalo, leopard).  We have one final game drive tomorrow, so hopefully we'll see a rhino.  Gotta catch'em all!

On a final note, one of my classmates pooped in the Mara with elephants on the horizon.  Pretty cool, eh?

Shule [school]

Hello everyone!  I don't have much time at the moment, but I wanted to check in and let you all know what's going on!  We're camping lakeside at Lake Naivasha right now, and I am neighbors with a hippo.  A real live hippo!  Don't worry, he seems kind of nice.  Not too hungry-hungry.  There are also monkeys EVERYWHERE on the campsite.  It's quite distracting when we have lectures.

So basically, our "risk management" warnings for this week were:
1. Don't shine your flashlight directly in the eye of the hippo.
2. Don't leave food in your tents, or else monkeys will rob you.

Pretty awesome, right?  This is school.

This campsite is much different from our last one.  We were staying at Elangata Wuas before, where was incredibly hot and dusty.  38 degrees Celsius!  How do you feel about that, Montreal folks?  Enjoying your -40 weather?

While in Elangata Wuas, we each spent a night at a traditional Maasai homestead.  We stayed in little tiny mud huts, and I slept on a cowhide bed with three other people (pictures to come soon!).  We were shoulder to shoulder the entire night...It was a bit more than a tight squeeze.  Our youth guide, Hellen, was so sweet and taught us so much about Maasai culture.  All in all, it was an amazing experience, and so interesting to see the different lifestyles that people live!

(And I got to milk a goat.)

My class for this session is Ethnobotany, Health, and Nutrition.  We're learning about all sorts of local plants, and the traditional uses for them (like as traditional medicine, food, or even for household uses).  We've been visiting various types of farm.  First we went to a commercial vegetable farm.  Then we went to a flower farm where they breed roses to ship off to other countries.  Today, we visited a local farmer in Naivasha, who is in between subsistence farming and commercial farming... He had really impressive fish ponds.  And adorable sheep!

Tomorrow we're hiking Mount Longonot, and in a few days from now, we'll be packing up our tents and heading to Maasai Mara!

Ufanisi [development]

Hello world!  Tonight is my last night in Nairobi, so I figured I'd squeeze in one last blog entry before I travel out into the land of no internet/phone service.  (Most of the places on my trip, I will have service, but apparently at our next stop, Elangata Wuas, the connection is really poor.)

It's been an insanely busy week, and it didn't hit me until just last night that yes, this is actually school.  Every spare moment is spent journaling, reading, or researching.

ANYWAYS,  here's a brief summary of everything I've been up to in the past few days:

On Wednesday, we went to the UN and learned about all sorts of nifty things, like energy efficiency and Kenya Slum Upgrading Program (KENSUP).  We got to wander around the the compound, which was absolutely beautiful.  It basically looked like a resort... Forget about working for the UN -- I just want to live there!  A few of us wandered up to the roof to check out the solar panels...it was a pretty neat adventure, and we managed to not get in trouble with the security guard!

From there, we walked down the road to Canada High Commission, where we were welcomed with tea and cookies.  We got to hear various politicians talking about all the things that Canada does in Kenya.  I fell asleep during the security briefing, during which they apparently told us how to stay safe while travelling in Kenya.  Ooops!  Silly jet lag!

We took a break to do some speedy grocery shopping, then headed back to the High Commission for a reception.  Here we mingled with the students we had met from the University of Nairobi, as well as students from the United States International University.  Oh, and there was an open bar.

Thursday we visited Nairobi National Museum, and I had my first real class!  Ethnobotany, Health and Nutrition!  I never thought I had an interest in plants, but it was really cool!  We got to go into the herbarium, where they have a massive collection of dried plant species organized in huge cabinets.  Then we went into a garden, where I touched a plant that stung like crazy and ate another plant that tasted horrible, all under the instruction of my professor.

The herbarium was a really behind-the-scenes thing that is not open to the general public, but the actual museum had a lot of cool things about Kenyan culture and wildlife.  AND THERE WAS A SNAKE FARM.  Black Mambas.  Yep.

Today we were supposed to go to Kibera, East Africa's largest slum.  However, there's a lot of political activity going on right now, and due to anticipated violence, it was unsafe to actually visit the slum.  Instead we met a couple of NGOs that work within the slum.  Maji na Ufanisi (Water and Development) focuses on improving the water and sanitation in the slum.  Vision Sisters is a group of women who are focusing on empowering women in the slum and providing resources for women who who face violence/abuse.  Both of these organizations were incredibly inspirational.

Unfortunately I have no pictures for you this time!  Wednesday, we were not allowed to bring our cameras to the UN or High Commission.  Thursday, my camera was out of battery.  Today, well, today I just didn't take any photos.

Welp, that pretty much sums up my week!  I will have even awesomeR stories next time I blog, because we're about to travel to a Maasai community where we'll get to do a home stay, and from there we go to a lake where there is a threat of hippos charging through our campsite.  YAY SCHOOL!

Later gators!