Africa....
Africa...
I have been meaning to write this blog for the past few days but honestly have been trying to come to terms with what I want to write and how I want to write it. I have been avoiding it because honestly it is simply to hard to put down on the iPad my thoughts feelings and emotions so far and that's when the simplicity of the word I was looking for hit me - hard. Very very hard.
I want to be fair. Kate and I have only had a very small sample to work with as this is only our 6th day. While we brought apparently the first rains to Kenya since June 2016, to date there hasn't been much else joy we have been a party too.
First off hard is the realisation that despite what you may think, Kenya and Tanzania are not cheap. In fact they are quite expensive. You will read about the mutatus and the tuk tuks in traveler books, but you need a taxi to get to them, you need a taxi from where they will indiscriminately drop you off and they are not for people with backpacks or who want to live. You are white (well, 98% of people I know are white sorry Dirty) so you are assumed to be American - with American dollars - and you are gouged for every cent you have. Food is just but received with an American bill. Beer is cheap but we have sworn it off for the 10 weeks we are here. And then there are the tour costs which I will get too.
Hard is making the macho mistake of day 1 assuming that "we'll be fine to wash our teeth using the tap water" and getting that oh so very wrong. After night 1 in Nairobi we were off to Lake Naivasha to explore the hippo reserve and Hell's Gate national park. Justice for my bravery was swift with myself bed-ridden for 24 hours and Kate copping it much worse and not keeping a thing down for 48. On the lighter side the ride from Nairobi to Naivasha - which we got an Uber to, people use Uber in Kenya! - was when we both started getting sick. I needed a plug at both ends for the 2 hour drive which became a 2hr and 30min drive due to a road being closed just because, and Kate needed to vomit - it was truly a race to see who would break first. Luckily for me it was Kate who grabbed a left over plastic bag from her backpack and to her brief relief omitted the contents of breakfast. Unfortunately said bag had a number of holes. If I wasn't about to die I'd have found it hilarious. I was repaid for being mean by needing to use the bathroom at checkin next to a full contingent of staff. Welcome.
Hard is booking the tours. You have the dream of seeing the wide open landscapes and the big 5 animals. So you hit up the tour desk with full of ideas and enthusiasm. You leave as flat as a shit-caters hat when you see the prices and receive advice worse than the advice than xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. You are left with no idea when your bus leaves or what you will even get for your obscene amount of money. There is hidden fee after hidden fee and you can't argue or barter because you have no other option. It's amazing how isolated you feel without proper access to wifi and a very clever system that makes you book direct from tour desks. Hard is also doing a tour to Hell's Gate which we got some amazing pictures from, but was just a less than fun experience because poor Kate was still so unwell. I couldn't have been prouder than how much she fought on that day as we did a one hour trek through the gorge which would have been hard if we both felt well. As I write this we are in our hotel room in Arusha feeling pretty down as we have booked a two day tour starting tomorrow which takes us to (we hope) what is an amazing place but cost more for one night than an all expenses paid 2 weeks in Bali would cost. You so desperately want to do these things but when you are travelling for 12 months, not visiting for 4 weeks it's so hard to watch your money disappear.
Hard is catching a bus across borders. I have only ever flown across borders and driven twice (England - Scotland and America - Canada) which doesn't really count. Your bus leaves at 7.30 or 8 - you don't actually know. A 90min taxi travels 15kms because traffic conditions are the worst - never complain about what we have back home! You arrive and the bus is over sold. You are chased from Kenyan soil to Tanzanian soil because the exchange officer got her calculations wrong and wants you to come back, even tho it is legally impossible. You think you have paid for your visa in Kenya but oh no here's another $100USD that no one thought to tell you about despite your asking. You watch as the driver pays off one police officer with a laugh, get fined for speeding (there isn't even traffic lights let alone speed cameras) at the next police stop and the hand over a very suspect package for cash 10min down the road.
Hard is reading the Lonely Planet guide and as a result feeling a prisoner in your own cell. Every country guide starts with "a vibrant progressive nation" yet the next page warns you to not go outside and don't talk to anyone. You are as a result so conscious of your surroundings that your brain plays tricks on you. You don't understand the taxi fees as they are desperate to rip you off so you stay at your accommodation. Not every day can be a travel day as discussed so sometimes you just need a quiet one. But being scared to and for good reason not being able to go for something as simple as a walk is a rude culture shock.
Hard is sounding like and feeling like a privileged westerner who feels nothing is good enough for him. You feel so terrible feeling sorry for yourself when you look around you and see the appalling poverty and conditions people live in. Driving through the Tanzanian countryside you can't help being amazed at the opportunity you have, then stopping at the car check point 5min later and being viciously verbally attacked by a 6yo girl on her way home from primary school. Kenya is so deep in their belief in Jesus when it is obvious God left that place a long time ago. Its is so sad the tonnes of pollution and and rubbish dumped by a people who no longer care and left by a government who seems to care less. You are treated like you are the bad guy - even if we probably are its still hard to know that's what people think of you. The emotions and feelings you get from these places hopefully build character without breaking it, but also make you miss home. I feel weak that I am not strong enough for a place like this, and questioning am I really that soft. You feel bad for yourself for having a better life. Hard is your heart breaking for the plight of nations that just survive.
While I admit there is a negative tone to this blog the facts are that our early experience has been one of such emotion that it's hard to write this any other way. Using my poor English the other day I told Kate "whatever may come will be" and this is the motto we are taking forward for the next two week. The payment for the Ngorongoro Crater is now in the past, and I am so excited to wrestle a buffalo and pat a lion. We are camping somewhere that has been called the 8th wonder of the world which is one better than Chyna! We are then down to Zanzibar which is very exciting to me (beaches) and following that our two week safari begins. I am excited and we are going to try. There is no denying the past few days have been hard, but this is why we came - we wanted to learn about the world. We are learning, I'm just have many learning disabilities :) might be a few days before we hit some wifi again.
Until next time, Mighty out.
