December 2008 » Page 6 of 12

What $60 gets you

December 24, 2008 • By Kelly Glynn

Hi everyone:

Before I report on today’s trip, let me answer a few questions about the safari many of you asked me. I was indeed in the wilderness but I stayed at two beautiful “camps” which consisted of screened in huts with mosquito netted beds. They did have running water, toilets, showers and a couple of lights but more or less they had a ton of amazing fresh food and even more bugs. It was not camping by any means but it was roughing it for me. Being greeted by impalas(type of antelope) and baboons and monkeys is not typically what I wake up to every morning.

It was also the most clean part of the world I will probably ever experience seeing. It made for the most colorful sunrises and sunsets and it was refreshing to be in a place not touched by pollution. The last few weeks have been the fancy part of my trip and I would like to refer to them as vacation. I am now on a budget which is where my story begins.

I decided to head to Tanzania straight away to make sure I got all my favorites in first. Now my budget excludes flights and I have a splurge fund set aside if I want to do something crazy like climb Mt. Kili or take another safari. But I am trying to keep it under $100 a day and the goal is to come in around $60 a day.

I last left you in Jo-burg at my beautiful fancy $47 a day airport hotel. I hopped a plane to Dar es Salaam and here is where we will begin. My flight was at 2:55 pm. After 6 yahoos decided not to get on the plane, we had to wait an hour for security to take their bags off the plane. I was frantically emailing hotels in Dar es Salaam to get a room for the night and I finally got a response right before take off that the Palm Beach Hotel could accommodate me at $60 USD. My lonely planet said it was clean and nice so I went for it.

Upon arrival in Tanzania(Tan-Zain-ee-a to the locals), I had to purchase a VISA. All you folks from the States keep in mind what we do on to others they do back to us. The visa cost $100 ($50 for everyone else) and they wanted cash not older than 2006. Well what do you think I had on me….of course $50 new dollars and $200 old dollars. In a line with about 10 other frantic Americans, we headed to the ATM which did not give out any money and the nice man at the currency exchange refused to exchange our traveler’s cheques. What did I do? Improvised. I had been talking to some 23 year old South African boy about the visa process for Americans so I went back to him and offered to give him Rand (SA currency) for his US dollars. It worked and I was on my way. Crisis averted. Next I had the opportunity to be singled out by the customs man for being weak. Does he really know me? I was just trying to smile and be friendly since it was now 8 pm pitch black in Dar es Salaam and I was sweating my ass off. He wanted a bribe because he said I was weak. What the hell does that mean? As I stared at this other American girl in bewilderment, the man finally left me alone took my $100 and my passport and then disappeared. I was fairly convinced I would be sleeping on the floor but after another 45 minutes he produced my passport with the needed visa.

I finally get in a cab. Let me reiterate. It’s pitch black. I am in a strange city and one the books specifically say not to go out at night. Therefore, I’m convinced I will now die in this cab. Jill liked to make fun of the fact that I always had an exit plan whether any would actually save me it didn’t matter I always had that plan. As the cab started moving and I demanded he lock the doors, I realized I was probably safer in the cab than jumping out of it moving onto the streets of Dar es Salaam. Alas, we arrive at the Palm Beach Hotel which is anything but visions of grandeur. Mr. Cabbie takes my bags out of the car and is now demanding 25USD when we had agreed upon 15USD. I give up quietly and just say take it.

Once in the hotel, I am greeted by a completely rude woman who literally just takes my name and shoves a key at me. I enter my room. I’m beat and in need of a good shower (again). Imagine this….cell block six with a TV. One twin bed with likely used sheets, a pillow which smelled of musk and smoke and I don’t know which I preferred, an overall smell of septic throughout the room. I had given Jill my sleeping bag so I had no choice to suck it up and pray the bed did not have fleas or bugs. I tried to go to bed but the “warden” walked the halls with heels every hour and I was in the cheap room so I heard various trucks and noises every minute. I was so convinced there were cockroaches and other “mites” that I kept turning my flashlight on and shining it under the bed.

I made it through the night and figured I needed to get the heck out of Dar es Salaam. After being ripped off by the ferry guy and an entire scheme of “ticket” brokers I met a very sweet girl from Holland and we chatted the two hours before the ferry and the 2 1/2 hours on the ferry. I finally made it to ZANZIBAR.

Zanzibar is beautiful. It’s an island off the coast of Tanzania and it’s slam duck in the middle of the Indian Ocean. My first impressions are that there is a very large Islamic population on the island. It sort of reminds me of Casablanca in a way. Open fruit and meat markets, the zesty smell of stale fish and of course the rundown Medina with reminders of history’s greatness. In its heyday, it was famous for spices now it’s summer tourist spot for Africa’s elite.

I am here for 3 nights celebrating Christmas. Not to worry this hotel is $100 a day and while there is still an abundance of flies it has AC and a pool. I bargained with the GM this morning so I got a room down from $235 to $100. I was like buddy listen I will book 3 nights and you are clearly not going to fill it on Christmas but $235 does not work for me. I’m off to the pool. I need some relaxation before I stuff myself with their fancy Christmas dinner. I’m hoping to meet some fellow travelers but it seems there are many honeymooners on my proposed itinerary. I mean seriously are they trying to kill me.

Now you are wondering just what 60USD gets you. Here is my thought. It doesn’t get you much…maybe a bed, a shower a sheet and definitely not purified water. What that does not kill you makes you stronger. I guess I’m not that strong if after 2 nights I was bargaining with a GM at a fancy hotel.

STAY WARM I hear it’s chilly in the US.

Africa, Destinations

Out of the bush…

December 23, 2008 • By Kelly Glynn

First things first….Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah to everyone.

Well I survived 8 days in the BUSH and let’s just say it was not so easy. We arrived in Zambia to see Victoria Falls. What a spectacular moment. The Zambezi River comes roaring down from the mountains to create a blast of thunder and mist that extends well into the clouds. After 24 hours and seeing one of the 7 wonders of the world, we headed out of Zambia to Botswana for our safari.

Getting to Botswana was a story in itself. At the border in Zambia, our group lined up to exit customs with about 1,000 other locals. They saw us from afar. We filled out our names and had our passports stamped and we were on to Botswana no questions asked. The speedboat across the Zambezi River border was quick and we went through customs in a place called Kisane. Not that I want to offend any locals but officials had us walk through a “cleansing process” which consisted of mud and sand and that apparently purified our shoes to prevent foot and mouth disease. Let’s just say it was interesting and I’m fairly convinced it does nothing but it’s the thought that counts I guess.

We arrived at our first stop camp SAVUTI and I would like to point out that I have new found meaning for the phrase middle of nowhere. We took the buddy holly special about an hour and a half to get to the bush. This is truly the bush of yesteryear. No signs of civilization except for our small camp. We were on the animal’s turf.

Each morning we would wake up at 5 am have breakfast and head out on a game drive. Imagine an unshowered me packed into a 4X4 heading into the bush at 6 am every morning bumpity bump through terrain and rivers. It was all in the name of finding Big Game as they call it. Our guides were incredible and I cannot do them justice. They would look into the bush or the sky and see a specific bird or plant or animal from miles away. It was the craziest thing ever. I could barely see the red eyed dove and they would point and say 2 O’clock red eyed dove which incidentally is the one bird I hate. It woke me up at 3 am every morning with a whistle that went like this, “I am the Red Eyed Dove.” I am happy to sing it to all of you so you can experience the annoyance.

At camp Savuti, we had Noku(Nick) in charge….Spike our guide and tourists hungry to see lions and cheetahs. Should you worry that I was roughing it, I certainly was living with the bugs but I am fairly certain they do not serve 8 meals a day when you are rough and tumble. The fresh baked bread was to die for and the homemade muffins and meals were incredible. I have to note that in between drives you can either sleep or eat and I think I did a fair amount of each activity.

There are several couples on their honeymoon and I will add now that if I was on my honeymoon I am certain my husband would have divorced me and left me in the bush. I was a bit stir crazy in between game drives. I mean really you could not walk anywhere unless accompanied and I was about to jump out of my skin.

I digress……

We encountered birds of all kinds, monkeys, baboons, giraffes (my favorite), zebras, wart hogs, elephants, lions – female and male, cheetahs and last but not least the HIPPPPPOS. It was an incredible feeling to know you are seeing these animals in their natural habitat and to realize you are in their world and they are king of the wilderness. For miles and miles and more miles, I saw nothing but bush. It was insane. One day we did have an opportunity to take a walk with a “walking guide” who carried a gun and is specialized in these walks. We didn’t really walk as much as we learned about certain trees and plants and followed “tracks.” Apparently, all one needs to stay fit in the wild is the sausage tree. The fruit on the tree is sometimes bigger than a 20 lb weight. It’s actually a fruit tree but the objects are so large they resemble sausage. After walking about an hour, our guide got a bit unsettled when he saw a fresh Buffalo print and we immediately rushed back to the car. Did you know the Buffalo is the most dangerous animal out there. Who knew?

The tourists were from all over….of course the token New Yorker, Edinburgh, Quebec, the wonderful mother son team we were partnered with on our game drives, Dylan and Hazel. Thank goodness for Dylan who dealt with our Americanisms and pointed out every animal in the distance. Dylan and his mother were dears to explain and answer every question we had and being from the city we had many.

Off to Xidra (pronounced Kidra) where we met Ka-bee-so (Kgbso or something like that), Anton, Marlene, and last but not least our infamous guide ACE. We had a lovely time here. This is known as a water camp and we were slam dunk in the middle of the Oktavanga Delta and home to many hippos. We met a fabulous family from Luxembourg, a hysterical couple from Namibia, a beautiful family from the Italian part of Switzerland 3 girls–the twins are musicians and Amber gave us a violin performance one night, a lovely dovey couple from UK/Jo-burg and then of course Jill and I filled out the group as the annoying Americans who talk way way too much.

We had deep conversations at our group dinners discussing my favorite topic the 22 year-olds today but also HIV, American politics, African culture, the economy, different travel adventures and so much more. Yes safari is all about the animals but sometimes the memories that last the longest are the people you meet. We swam in the Delta with the crocs, took a mokoro ride amongst the reeds, saw the hippos just a few yards away in our boat (at water level I might add), laughed about all the bug spray chemicals we had consumed and ate more meals. It was a true African adventure and Wilderness Safari’s does it right.

I’m back in Jo-Burg figuring out my next move. Jill is on a plane back to the US. We had an incredible time and shared so much that I cannot imagine what I will even do next. I guess relax and get some exercise.

Wanted to also mention that a childhood friend of mine Dennis Berkibile passed away last week so please keep his family in your prayers.

Thank you for the birthday wishes. Much love and I’m thinking of all of you.

Kelly