Just Another Night....

So I'm chilling off to the side of the makeshift "stage" situated under the aluminum metal roof of an outdoor car-wash in deep Soweto where once a month an impromptu free hip hop party is held and hundreds of local heads and hooligans represent their lyrical skills and rowdy energy, respectively, when Jake's friend Osmick, the owner and operator of a local graffiti and hip hop culture store, takes the opportunity at some point in-between DJ sets, MC battles, and group and solo performances to grab the mike and quiet the crowd to announce an open invitation to his store at the end of the month for a party with the intention to destroy the place two days before he is forced to close down by real estate developers who have purchased the property out from under him.

In other words, I'm back in Jozi hanging out with Foster.

Zanzibar Beach Time

I'm sitting in the airport in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, waiting for my flight to Johannesburg where I will meet up with a hopefully-recuperated Jake Foster, to spend a couple of nights before I fly back to Washington, D.C. The last three days I have been at the beach, on the north shore of Zanzibar, in an area called Kendwa. Similarly off the beaten path to previously blogged-about spots Railey Beach, which required wading into the water to a rickety water taxi to access, and Thong Nai Pan Noi, Koh Phangan, which required an hour-long minivan ride over hilly, ridged dirt roads, Kendwa is easily one of the most remote beach locations I've traveled to. To get there you have to take a car from Zanzibar Town about an hour over a thin and potholed road as bicycles, motorbikes, trucks, and other cars fight for position, and then over a rocky, unpaved road that seemed impassible in the minivan in which we were riding. Luckily, Kendwa has the same strange island atmosphere, remote feel, and abundant fresh fruit and seafood present at both the aforementioned spots.

Only Alex and I made this trip up north, because, as previously mentioned, Jake went home early and has been diagnosed with tonsillitis, and Liz and Koushik decided to head their own way, to a different beach area of Zanzibar. It's hard to blame them, considering they have been traveling with some combination of Jake, Alex, and myself the whole time they have been in Africa, which is not very romantic, I guess.

I've done basically nothing for the last three days, save for sitting and sleeping on the beach, lounging in hammocks, playing a little sand soccer, watching sunsets, eating seafood, and walking from budget resort to budget resort to talk to the different international friends Alex and I made while there. For lack of any news, here's some photos from the beach:

Sambusa Two Tables Restaurant

A few nights ago, Liz, Koushik, Alex, and I, sans Jake, who shortened his trip by skipping Zanzibar entirely and heading back to Johannesburg due to illness (another story for another day), were in Stone Town. Stone Town is a historical district in Zanzibar Town, the main city in Zanzibar, an large island off the east coast of Tanzania. Stone Town is similar in feel, in many ways, to Pelourinho, the historic district of Salvador, Brazil (which, in turn, had reminded me of Cusco, Peru), from the short stop I made there in November of last year. It's a section of town that is right along the water, and it has many many four-story white buildings jammed into winding narrow alleyways. Throughout locals push their scarves, boxes, wooden carvings, t-shirts, jewelry, rugs, and other random wares mostly targeted toward the tourist element. Our time there, only one night, was a bit stressful considering that we had just finished our safari, the town is confusing and difficult to navigate, and there were people everywhere trying to extract as many shillings from us as possible as we ambled aimlessly through the maze. Our one respite, and a surprise at that, was our dinner.

Liz had noticed a description in our guidebook that looked intriguing, so we decided, for lack of anything better to do, to walk to the spot and look at a menu and maybe ask for a reservation for later that evening. We were glad that we did, because when we arrived at the restaurant it appeared to be somebody's house, with signs pointing us around to the back where laundry was hanging, and where we found a doorbell to ring. Ring we did, and about three minutes later an older man who had clearly been napping came to the front door. He told us to come back at 7:30 p.m.

When we came back, it was, indeed, to a home. We found another group of four in the sitting area just inside the front door. We complied with the request that we remove our shoes and were ushered upstairs. The "restaurant" was more of a supper-club, really, with accommodation for one sitting of approximately sixteen. The two tables, true to the name of the location, were on a porch just off the living room where the teenage son of the cook and server, a wife and husband, respectively, sat watching television. We settled in for what looked to be an authentic Swahili food experience.

Although Koushik claimed that all the food, except for the plantain dessert, delivered to our table was actually Indian food, it was unlike any Indian food I had ever had. I'll take his word for it, considering his upbringing and the historical fact that Zanzibar was featured prominently in trade routes to and from south Asia. I'm fairly certain this does not discount the authentic-ness of the experience. The experience was overwhelming. It seemed at one point that the dinner would keep coming at us, as dish after delicious dish was brought out as quickly as they were prepared. The highlight of the meal was a lentil curry served with a freshly fried biscuit-like breadstuff. It was sublime. The other interesting morsels were vegetarian fritters served with a spicy coconut chutney, and a uniquely flavorful beef curry. All the food had strong flavors from the fresh ingredients and spices of the island, including curry, coriander, cinnamon, clove, cardomon, and chilis.

The service was just as gracious as you would expect, considering that we were eating in somebody's home, and we all left, full, satisfied, and happy that we had found such a special place. I left surprised that a restaurant I had not scouted out, nor that had been directly recommended to me, had easily provided one of the greatest food experiences of the entire trip. Big ups to Liz for hatching the idea!

Safari, yo!

We just finished our seven-day safari, which explains the dearth of posts for the last week or so. During the safari, we stayed at four different lodges in and around the Ngorongoro crater and the Serengeti, in North Tanzania. The nicest place we stayed was definitely the Mbalageti Serengeti Safari Lodge, which is in the western Serengeti. The Serengeti is a national park of both Tanzania and Kenya encompassing well over 60,000 square kilometres and is considered, along with the Ngorongoro Crater, to be one of the best locations in the world to see wildlife. Our safari spent time in both these national parks, as well as Lake Manyara, another Tanzanian national park.

It is somewhat of a cliche to say that neither words nor pictures can capture the sheer vastness and beauty of the Serengeti, so I'll do my best. Although it is a strange comparison, the broad expanses and picturesquely untouched landscaped have the same calming effect on me as do bodies of water of which I cannot see the other side. Everything feels so calm,so stable, in such perfect synchronicity, like a perfect system. Still, there is the overwhelming sense that nothing is under control. for lack of a better descriptor, it is wild. And there are animals everywhere. We've become desensitized to wildebeest, zebra, and all sorts of antelope-like creatures, of which we have seen literally thousands; now only a new antic by the animals we see everywhere or the spotting of a rare find such as a lion or leopard will make the five of us jump from our seats.

The highlight of the trip, in my opinion, was when we were watching a group of seven lions in the Serengeti. Five of them came all the way across the field right in front of us, and climbed into a tree. Our truck was about forty feet away. We got to watch the big cats climb through the branches and choose spots to lounge.

A typical day on safari starts early, at seven or so, depending on that day's specific plan. After driving around for a few hours, we typically stop for a picnic meal that invariably includes fruit, nuts, chocolate, and some sort of sandwich. After the picnic, we drive around for a few more hours. After lunch, I spend the first thirty minutes or so taking a cat nap while Peter, our guide, bumps along the dusty dirt roads. After the quick nap, though, I stand straight up. This is possible because our vehicle, a refurbished Toyota Land Cruiser, has been outfitted with a top that raises up on stilts to accommodate my height (plus a few inches). Standing up gives quite a rush; from there there are 360-degree virtually unobstructed views, more sun, and 60-kilometer per-hour wind in your face. I usually stand like this for 45 minutes or so, until the end of the drive. This last segment of the day is, by far, my favorite. Standing up, holding on to support bars, the car bounds along over the bumpy ridged dirt road, and the air softens just so much that it feels like an embrace. The sun beats down on my face, neck, and arms, but it's afternoon angle mitigates its harmful rays and starts to cast some longer shadows and softer hues. It's quiet, as my companions sit and take in the afternoon. Meanwhile, dust hits my face, my cheap aviators acting to shield my eyes from most of it, and the Serengeti, truly living up to the name "endless plains," stretches out before us.

All this is accompanied by the intermittent chatter of Peter, our patient, humorous, and attentive guide. Traveling with him feels like touring an obscenely large private ranch with the owner, as he points out all the nooks, crannies, and secret spots. We feel lucky that we blindly drew him from the guide pool, as he is fun to hang out with and has a seemingly unrivalled knowledge of the areas we are exploring, the country, the native people, the plants, and oh, the animals.

For a more in-depth description of some of the animals, take a gander at Koushik's post on Alex's blog. It is very informative.

Rwanda

Rwanda has indeed been a crazy experience. The first episode here was but a precursor for all that was to come. When we landed, the Kigali airport was small, seemingly too small, about the same capacity as my quintessential comparison Key West but with way less airplanes, and it seemed not to have been renovated for thirty years. Welcome to a country that tore its own heart out just over thirteen years ago. The first test, mentioned before, was that Kigali was hosting an HIV/AIDS conference that was stretching the undermaintained facilities and infrastructure of the city to their brink. Jake and I were seen as a release valve by the Hotel des Milles Collins, our upscale accommodation for a single night, and they tried to send us to their spill-over facility. My undaunted companion, after quickly using our pick-up man's cell phone to talk to the manager, convinced them otherwise.

And so we were in Rwanda, and the feel of the "developing world" (for fear of using a misnomer term or upsetting the language police, or both) was all around us. Part diesel fumes and the "crazy" (ditto) drivers spewing them, part run-down houses and shops and the apparent bifurcated economy, both authentic but one tailored more for me and the other the one I yearned to see and know, part the looks on peoples' faces while we speed past, this was a place that did not know Americans with the same familiarity as most other places I had been.

When we checked into the Milles Collins, the stressed-out manager gave Jake an incredulous, I-can't-believe-this-punk-kid-convinced-me-not-to-drop-his-reservation look, and mentioned under his breath that our room would be ready shortly; he had already checked people into our room, and they were being moved out. We waited patiently, although it was 10 p.m. While we waited, I ran to the bar to place a last-minute food order because we had been traveling all day and the RwandAir Express dinner was insufficient. While I was at the bar I noticed two things. The first was that the bar and adjoining pool area were the only parts of the hotel that were truly well done. Other than these well-kept and recently renovated areas, the rest of the hotel looked much like what you would expect a genocide that wipes out over an eighth of a country's population would do to tourism dollars at a top hotel. It bears mentioning, here, that Hotel des Milles Collins is Hotel Rwanda. The second thing I noticed was the irony of ironies: There were tons, and by tons I mean about a dozen, of prostitutes working the bar because of the huge conference, an AIDS conference. Now, don't get me wrong, I may be misperceiving cultural differences here, and I surely don't want to sound like an expert on this, but I feel like I know it when I see it.

We weren't in Kigali long enough for me to feel like I completely got it. It was busy. Vehicles traversed every which way and no stoplights were working. There was a bit of dust everywhere. Not many people spoke English, half of the few that did sold, and the other half just wanted to practice.


Jake and I went to the Kigali Genocide Memorial Museum. It was an artfully done piece on recent tragic history. I learned much. My stomach hurt.

The ride from Kigali to Kenigi, the small village outside Ruhengeri, a small town in the Western Province of the country, was in turns beautiful and rough. It was beautiful because Rwanda is truly the "Land of a Thousand Hills" and the views were outstanding. It was rough because winding on those hills and the ultimate altitude change completely disoriented me. I focused my energy on making sure Jake, who had been feeling ill for two days or so and was taking the worst of it then, felt better and was eating something.

I woke up easily at 5:45 a.m., having gone to bed very early the night before. Gorillas were on my mind. They were the impetus for our trip to Rwanda in the first place, but now whatever adventure this morning brings will be a bonus, maybe an afterthought. I was only slightly wrong; the gorillas demand more than just an afterthought.

While we climbed the hill farms, through the mist, alongside our guide, two uniformed men with machine guns, and the three other young Americans who, with us, had subtly gamed the system, I couldn't help but think that this experience was going to be real. Real it was; gorillas are powerful and beautiful, with comic antics and fascinating family structures. They also look cool. These nine gorillas were the most interesting animals I had ever seen, probably mostly because of their striking similarities, and thus their more strikingly identifiable differences, from us, and because they were in their natural environment.


We took a proverbial leap of faith back in Ruhengeri, opting for public minibus travel. Towards the end of the three-hour drive, the seventeen and their baggage inside a vehicle approximately the same size as a Ford Aerostar from soccer practice carpooling days seemed luxurious compared to the twenty, baggage, and about four hundred pounds of potatoes we had had in the vehicle previously. The minibus stopped over twenty times in a sixty-two kilometer drive. I questioned my decision to jump in more than once.

But now, after it all, we are in Gisinyi. Jake had secured a reservation at the Serena Hotel on Lake Kivu. In typical EKOWorldTour style, we shifted within the time of a day from cutting corners on gorilla trekking and the cheapest feasible transport to posting up in a four-star resort. I would drop knowledge and criticism, throwing back to Peruvian rants, on the rediculousity of the traditional Rwandan dance ceremony performed during the dinner of the western tour group that is taking helicopters around the country touching down only for the safest experiences (I saw the helicopters parked on the beach of the resort) but I've probably burned enough bandwidth for one night.

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe

So I'm out of time, so I'm just going to give a quick rundown and post some pictures. Jake and I have been staying at the Matetsi Game Reserve, along the banks of the Zambesi river, because he got a killer last-minute rate due to his South African connections. This resort is an upscale place about 40 kilometres upstream from Victoria Falls. Staying there has been at once very luxurious, quite isolated, and extremely quirky. Our time has been taken up with an unbelievable amount of food and being driven around the 50 hectare reserve, where we have seen many animals I had never seen before (elephant, sable, zebra, wildabeast, giraffe, etc.). Also, the sunsets have been intense, as the African sky was truly putting on a show both nights we were there. Seeing Victoria Falls was an event that rivaled anything I have seen thus far, and it truly earns the title it holds as one of the natural wonders of the world. I'll have to fill you in, in person, because there is no way to write on it. There was a lot of water there.

Cape Town, South Africa

In what seems to be somewhat of a trend, I have very limited time to use the internet, and the connection is sporadic at best, so my posts are going to be a little short and limited to a couple of interesting parts of the two places I have been since last posting.

I was in Cape Town for only 2 and a half days, which is not nearly enough time for that city, one of the prettiest places I have been. On the first full day there, Alex, Liz, Koushik, and I set off early in our rental car for Cape Point. Jake told us that if we were to head down the east coast of of the country we could check out Boulder Beach, where there are hundreds of African Penguins hanging out in a reserve. This was a good call. The reserve is set up such that you can pay a small amount of money and get onto the beach, where the penguins are running around, jumping from boulder to boulder, swimming, etc. It was a good time, and we were there for almost two hours I expect.



Afterwards we drove down to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. Cape Point is a very scenic landform that runs north-south for about thirty kilometres at the extreme southwestern tip of the continent. Standing at the lighthouse there made me feel like I was literally at the end of the world, and made me consider all the places I've been in my travels. It was pretty intense. There is a ton of history here with regards to the explorers who first came to South Africa, but I won't get all pedagogical on you with that. Instead, here are some pics:



After the Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope, Jake had another stellar suggestion: drive back up to Cape Town on the mountainous highway on the west coast of the country. It was another great idea, as this road has some incredible views, winding its way along a mountain pass on a narrow road that passes multiple bays. We were all pretty freaked out, as Alex tried to navigate such a treacherous pass in a rental car, driving on the "wrong" (read: left) side of the road, but we made it through just fine, and with some memorable sights seen.

The second full day in Cape Town was spent in the wine country, at a couple of wine farms and a couple of great restaurants. The second restaurant, which we visited for dinner, was one of the best restaurants I have ever been to. That story will have to come another day, though.

Introduction to Liz and Koushik

So step one is to introduce you to the two EKOWorldTourers who joined us in Cape Town, South Africa for a couple of days. Liz and Koushik are friends of Alex from college. The entire crew of the these two, plus Alex, Jake, and myself, were together for a short period in Cape Town. Currently, Jake and I have just left Zimbabwe for Rwanda, where I am now. More on all that stuff later.

Liz and Koushik were with us for the Cape Town adventures, on which a post will be coming up shortly, and they and Alex will rejoin Jake and me when we get to Arusha, Tanzania in a few days to start our 7 day safari.

I didn't know these two very well before the trip, but what I did know of them from meeting them a couple of times, and what Alex intimated about them, convinced me that we would have no trouble traveling with them. My instincts turned out true, as indicated by the days that I got to hang out with them in Cape Town. Pictures of them are below:

Liz (please note penguin chilling behind her):


Koushik:

Quick Update

Hey all. I'm in Zimbabwe, and the experiences are piling up faster than the bandwidth and internet access will bear, so I'll just give you a quick preview of details to be fleshed out later. Recent activities:

Cape Town, including an introduction to Liz and Koushik, new traveling partners, a visit to the penguins, a visit to Cape Point, and a day in the wine country capped by an incredible dinner.

Viewing elephants on safari here in Zimbabwe, including being charged by an elephant.

Visiting Victoria Falls.

Joburg

Joburg is cool. I mean, if you are into going out on Thursday nights to a club where a top-notch DJ spins reggae and a rasta MC chants and sings and freestyles over top and the people dance all night and into the morning, then it's cool. Once again I have my trusty underground tour guide, Foster, to thank for knowing of and taking us to the spot. For lack of a better description, and because I could never do it justice, and with apologies to all who read this who have never lived in ATL, and with larger apologies to those that have lived in ATL and don't know, we had followed him this time to Joburg's version of MJQ. Set in an artsy neighborhood just off of downtown, with tall buildings towering overhead, seemingly abandoned buildings surrounding, and the ever-so-slight feeling that we were in a neighborhood that lonely planet would tell us was a little too lonely to visit in our first couple of days in town, this club blared dance music. It was off the hook.

In any event, the night was a great one. The rest of my time in Johannesburg has been great, as well. Jake, Alex, and I are starting to hit our groove in terms of hanging out. All of us are pretty laid-back, and Jake developed a full itinerary for us, so the other two of us have been going with the flow. The focus thus far in the trip has been amazing food, and the fish curry I described in my first post was just the beginning. Apart from eating and partying, we've also kept it pretty cultural. We spent time checking out the different neighborhoods and historical sights. Jake recently completed a clerkship for the Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, and he gave us the full tour of the new courthouse designed to accommodate that body. It is, by far, the best-designed courthouse I have ever seen. We've also toured a couple of museums, checked out an art gallery and an exhibit, took a quick look at the Mandela house in Soweto, talked quite a bit about the history of South Africa and of Johannesburg, etc.

My parting thoughts on Johannesburg are that it is gritty and fast-paced, and what it lacks in natural beauty it more than makes up for with a palpable sense that history is unfolding before your very eyes and a vibrance and vitality that is the match of any city. As always, I haven't had the time here to satisfy myself that I truly have a feel for the place, so take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

I fly south to Cape Town tomorrow.

Johannesburg, SA

As promised, here are the boys I'm hanging out with.



Jake AKA Foster has been living here for a year, has a car, a place for us to crash, and the knowledge of the local scene that has been pretty awesome so far. He's been on-point with logisitics thus far, for which I am extremely grateful. He and I go back to when we met, my junior year at Northwestern when he was just a freshman pup. He is wise beyond his years.


Alex AKA AB AKA AlB was one of the coolest kids I met in law school, and I was excited that he was interested in joining our trips as we are both in-between jobs. Through him we will also meet up with Liz and Koushik, two of his friends who will be in Capetown when we arrive there.


Today Jake took us on a tour of the Constitutional Courthouse, which is right next to one of the most important and historic prison complexes in Johannesburg. We had a pretty incredible tour of both those sites; Foster had substantial knowledge of his former workplace. Then we went down to Newtown, which is somewhat of a cultural center of the city. Here's some random pictures of graffiti I took down there:

Africa

Lots has happened since last I blogged, but I'm back in action. For lack of time, and the need to get out in Johannesburg, my current location, and see what is going on, I'll give you a point-by-point breakdown for what is going on as a frame for my current travels:

I've left O'Melveny, the law firm I worked at for the last 19 months, and I've also left the District of Columbia, where I lived during that time. This is all because I interviewed for, was offered, and accepted a clerkship with Judge Davis, of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Lafayette, Louisiana. I'm super excited about this new opportunity, in terms of not only the type of important work I will be doing, but also because of the chance to live in a completely different place for a full year and to experience a different culture. The far-looking benefit of the new opportunity is that the post may very well open me to other and interesting opportunities subsequent. The short-term benefit is that I can go on another international trip, which brings us back to the blog post.

I'm in Johannesburg, South Africa. Just got here at 5PM yesterday, and it is now 10:30AM. I'll be in Africa for a month, staying in South Africa until the 8th, to Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe side) for a couple of days, to Rwanda to track gorillas for a couple of days, to Tanzania to go on a seven day safari, to Zanzibar to go to the beach for about five days, and then back here to Joburg to fly back to the states. It is going to be a whirlwind trip, with possibly too much packed into it, but I will do my best to send out a blog entry from each of the stages or right after, to try to capture my thoughts or a funny story here and there.

After talking to Michael, my traveling companion for much of the previous world tour and a man with tried and true logistical skills, I executed a killer anti-jetlag program. It entailed sleeping as much as possible during the day and up until 8AM Joburg time, forcing myself awake with coffee(s) and watching movies for the last 7 hours of the plane trip down here, and then staying up once I got here until bedtime. It seems to have worked, since I slept from 11PM until 7:15AM, and feel strong and good. We'll see if we'll be able to keep that up.

I'm traveling with Jake Foster and Alex Brounstein, two good friends. We're lucky that Foster has been here in South Africa for about a year, clerking for judges on the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Appeals, and thus has a knowledge of South Africa and local resources for planning the other parts of our trip. We're doubly lucky that Foster's father has just started a one-year research sabbatical, and has rented a reasonably sized house where we can stay during our time in Joburg. The house is beautiful and comfortable, with a pool in the yard outside and an innovation I've never seen but am interested in incorporating into whatever yard I get whenever that happens: a trampoline placed in a hole much like a swimming pool, such that you can step directly onto it from the rest of the yard.

Last night we went to an upscale African restaurant, where I crushed a fish curry that had strong peanut flavor. It was awesome, and like nothing I'd had before. I have a feeling this will be a recurring trend here in Africa.

My to-do list for the day is to grab some breakfast, find my bag (sorry Wade - the backpack was lost in the hand-off between Delta and South African Air - they've found it and will deliver it to us today), and have a pretty low-key day. I'll post pictures of Jake and Alex soon, so you can see who the characters are for the current leg of the trip.