Thursday, May 29, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
I'm back in London after a week in Yorkshire, where the sun continued to shine, but it was much cooler than in the south. Now we have typical cold weather again: around 15C with grey skies and rain yesterday. Fortunately I'm leaving for Crete on Tuesday. Once I'm settled again I'll get my Yorkshire photos sorted and post up some of the most interesting ones.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
London in May
Lancaster Walk, Kensington Gardens
London is glorious in May! During the whole of April I was checking the weather reports for London: it was cold and rainy day after day after day, and I left Melbourne drowning under sweater, fleece jacket, and rain jacket all piled on to avoid excess baggage charges. I arrived on the 1st of May clearly bringing the down under climate with me - we've had nothing but wonderful warmth and blue skies since I set foot again on British soil.
Notting Hill window ledge
For my first week in London I stayed with an old school friend, Helen, in Notting Hill. If you've seen the Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts film, yes, that's where I was staying! The book store from the film does actually exist, just a couple of streets away - and when I walked past on Saturday morning tourists were busy taking photos of each other outside the entrance.
Enjoying the sun in Kensington Gardens - Kensington Palace, former home of Princess Diana, is in the background.
I met up with a friend from Bukavu, Natalie, who has also finished up her contract, and is visiting Britain before returning to the USA. We picked up a salad lunch at the Whole Food Supermarket in Kensington High Street and ate on the grass in Kensington Gardens, enjoying the fabulous weather along with many others. I spotted some people on the palace roof and quickly snapped them; I had no idea why they were up there, but the photo shows some interesting gold ornaments on the roof:
Kensington Palace - roof detail
Later we walked through Kensington Gardens and found it quite appropriate to come upon the Speke memorial, having followed in his footsteps, more or less!
Speke Memorial, Kensington Gardens
The wisteria is in bloom, along with many other flowering trees and plants, and looks divinely extravagant!
Wisteria-covered house, Kensington
Churchill Arms (a pub, flying the Irish flag!), Kensington
Lancaster Walk, Kensington Gardens
London is glorious in May! During the whole of April I was checking the weather reports for London: it was cold and rainy day after day after day, and I left Melbourne drowning under sweater, fleece jacket, and rain jacket all piled on to avoid excess baggage charges. I arrived on the 1st of May clearly bringing the down under climate with me - we've had nothing but wonderful warmth and blue skies since I set foot again on British soil.
Notting Hill window ledge
For my first week in London I stayed with an old school friend, Helen, in Notting Hill. If you've seen the Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts film, yes, that's where I was staying! The book store from the film does actually exist, just a couple of streets away - and when I walked past on Saturday morning tourists were busy taking photos of each other outside the entrance.
Enjoying the sun in Kensington Gardens - Kensington Palace, former home of Princess Diana, is in the background.
I met up with a friend from Bukavu, Natalie, who has also finished up her contract, and is visiting Britain before returning to the USA. We picked up a salad lunch at the Whole Food Supermarket in Kensington High Street and ate on the grass in Kensington Gardens, enjoying the fabulous weather along with many others. I spotted some people on the palace roof and quickly snapped them; I had no idea why they were up there, but the photo shows some interesting gold ornaments on the roof:
Kensington Palace - roof detail
Later we walked through Kensington Gardens and found it quite appropriate to come upon the Speke memorial, having followed in his footsteps, more or less!
Speke Memorial, Kensington Gardens
The wisteria is in bloom, along with many other flowering trees and plants, and looks divinely extravagant!
Wisteria-covered house, Kensington
Churchill Arms (a pub, flying the Irish flag!), Kensington
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Australia
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!
Dorothea Mackellar 1908
It's taken me a long time to get this blog page up - for my first two months in Australia I didn't touch the blog, and once I was in the mood I began having problems with Blogger; it's taken literally days to upload all the photos. Since I have a good internet connection and I've ruled out computer problems, there must be something going on at the Blogger end of things. Very frustrating indeed!
A quick review of March and April: arriving in Melbourne I found that the stopover in Hong Kong did nothing to alleviate jetlag. For over a week I was asleep and awake at all the wrong times and hungry whenever it was mealtime in both Melbourne and Amsterdam, i.e. most of the time! For several weeks I was kept busy with visits to doctors, a knee operation for a torn cartilage (still not fully recovered), spending time with family, and meeting up with old friends. My travels around Australia on this visit included Geelong and Torquay to the south of Melbourne, Sydney, and northern Queensland (Cairns, Port Douglas, Cape Tribulation) - my first time up there.
Torquay, a surfer’s paradise south of Melbourne, near Geelong, where I spent several days over Easter with old friends from East Timor.
Ayries Inlet lighthouse near Geelong, on the Great Ocean Road
Melbourne is burning up under a seven-year drought. Front lawns have been replaced by sandy areas with a few tufts of yellowing scrub. On hot days (temperatures getting close to 40 degrees Celsius) curtains are drawn, shutters and blinds closed, and occupants stay indoors in the dark sheltering from the oven heat. And then, from one day to the next, cold air swoops up from the Antarctic and the temperature drops 20 degrees and I’m once again complaining about how cold it is in Melbourne.
Last year when I was in Melbourne I visited Healesville Sanctuary, home to koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, and many other animals unique to Australia. Here are a few photos – after all, no blog entry on Australia would be complete without them!
Large grey kangaroo
Pygmy Wallaby: kangaroos and wallabies come in a wide range of sizes and type; some of the wallabies are so small they look like large rats; there’s also one that lives up in trees, the tree wallaby.
Some of the kangaroos and wallabies in the parks become quite accustomed to people…
This kangaroo has a “joey” (baby kanga) in her pouch
Wombat: much loved animal, though less well-known outside of Australia.
Sydney Harbour Bridge
There’s a thrill to crossing Sydney Harbour that never fails to catch my attention. The iconic sight of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House across the water, seen in so many photographs around the world, always make coming to Sydney an event to appreciate and savour.
Sydney city skyline seen from the Greenwich ferry
This time I stayed a week, house-sitting for my brother and sister-in-law who took off to Tasmania to celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary. I was left in charge of two young internet-addicted teenagers, a friendly labradoodle called Cody needing an awful lot of exercise and a thick furry cat who never responded to the name of Coco. And a fabulous view of an area of the upper harbour called Lane Cove, at Greenwich. Walks with Cody took me on wooded paths by the water’s edge and to small parks from where I watched boats and ships of all sizes, from tiny row-boats to luxury yachts to Liberian-registered oil-tankers, coming and going around the harbour. From the house, too, I could sit happily on the terrace and watch all the water-borne activity below my perch.
Kookaburas abound in the trees around the harbour, and the early morning chorus is filled with the sound of their distinctive laughter. Quite a change from the birdsong elsewhere!
From Sydney I took a flight up to Cairns in tropical northern Queensland, and from Cairns a bus took me one hour further north to Port Douglas. This is a holiday that I’ve been thinking of taking for several years, and it’s one of those “once in a life time” activities – because it’s so expensive up here! Which is why I ended up staying in a rather noisy “backpackers” lodge rather than getting a small self-catering studio, which, for a single person, would be considerably more expensive. Although Port Douglas is more expensive, I would advise just about anyone to avoid Cairns at all cost – it must be the tackiest seaside resort anywhere on earth.
Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas
Port Douglas is known for its wonderful long beach, which at low tide is wide and welcoming for beach walkers. In the late afternoon individuals, couples, friends, and families walk along the beach, some with their dogs, some walking the entire length of the beach, and some taking a gentle stroll. At the furthest end of the beach, near where mangroves begin and a creek works its way towards the sea, there are crocodile warning signs. The other main danger during the months of November to May are the stinging jellyfish, known here as “stingers”, which can leave you hospitalized or worse.
Four Mile Beach from the hill
This still being “stinger” season, even though few are about, meant that when going snorkeling we had to don nasty bright blue nylon stinger suits from head to toe, making each and every one of us look quite ridiculous. Northern Queensland bears many resemblances to Hawaii, but when you throw crocodiles and stingers into the mix Hawaii comes up looking a little more inviting!
Estuarine crocodile (the more dangerous type) at Rainforest Habitat, Port Douglas
7-year old freshwater crocodile at Rainforest Habitat (note the mouth firmly taped, even though this type is not particularly dangerous)
Croc tail
The Rainforest Habitat at Port Douglas is a small zoo with three different habitat areas featuring creatures specific to this region, especially a large variety of birds. The most famous and most endangered bird in the area is the Cassowary.
Cassowary at Rainforest Habitat
The Cassowary is a large, flightless bird that can also be found in Papua New Guinea. Driving up to Cape Tribulation early one morning with friends, we came across an adult cassowary with a chick at the side of the road and excitedly took as many snaps as we could before they disappeared again. Such sightings are rare, so we felt quite pleased with ourselves!
Cassowary near Cape Tribulation, the chick is the brown blur in the foreground. Apparently it’s difficult to tell the males and females apart, though the females are slightly larger, and although the female lays the eggs, it’s the male who then has the job of caring for the young.
Cape Tribulation and Daintree Rainforest
This is a stunningly beautiful part of Australia. Forest-covered mountains form an impressive backdrop to the Coral Sea, where the Great Barrier Reef awaits divers and snorkelers from around the world. The Daintree Rainforest is the oldest rainforest in the world (older than the Amazon, and much more accessible!) and along with the Reef has been designated as a World Heritage site. It’s the only place in the world where two World Heritage sites exist side by side. Once the logging stopped (thanks to a bunch of hard-working hippy activists in the 70s) people became much more environmentally conscious, and forest activities today are done with an eco-friendly attitude.
"Danger Mouse" (aka yours truly) jungle surfing!!
I got talked into “jungle surfing” (it didn’t take much!) – which involved getting strapped into a harness and hooked up to fox lines, then swinging from tree platform to tree platform, Tarzan style. I had to take a few deep breaths before sliding off the platform and allowing myself to glide an awful lot of meters above the forest floor. I couldn’t decide if it was scarier to be on the high platform fastened around a slender tree-trunk or swinging down the fox lines held on by a metal hook. Not for those with a fear of heights!
Jungle Surfing
One of the platforms
With my jungle surfing buddies, Gordon and Brett from Sydney
This all takes place high up in the forest canopy. It’s worth taking a walk around the forest at ground level first to gain an appreciation of height and what’s happening on the forest floor.
Daintree Rainforest
Aside from the more spectacular activities, it’s also possible to enjoy well-designed boardwalks through the forest, either with or without a guide.
Here’s a large sunbathing lizard (there must be a fancy name for it…) we spotted while taking a walk.
Roy, a leading member of the local Kuku Yalanji tribe whose home is the rainforest, giving a guided tour at Mossman Gorge.
Local kid taking a dip in one of the many creeks in the Daintree. Places like this are croc free because the water is too cold for the crocs.
The larger Daintree River, on the other hand, is home to plenty of crocs:
Ferry over the Daintree River, with croc warning sign
Young turtles sunbathing at Mossman Gorge
A 1,000 year-old strangler fig at Mossman Gorge
The most common bird around here is probably the lorikeet, a small, colourful parrot often found in pairs and in large flocks of up to 60 birds. At dawn and dusk they gather in trees around town and make a screeching racket so loud you cannot hear anything else. The pairs always seem to be squabbling, and when they fly they swoop and dive amazingly fast.
Lorikeet at the Rainforest Habitat
Another less-commonly seen bird is the Eclectus Parrot. The male is green, and the female is red. They look so different that they were originally thought to be two distinct species.
Male (green) and female (red) Eclectus parrot, Rainforest Habitat (with thanks to "Anonymous" for the correction!)
Other sights around Port Douglas:
The Port Douglas marina is the starting off point for many boat trips to the outer Great Barrier Reef – a 2-hour trip by motor-boat – and to closer places such as the Low Isles (inner reef) and near-by creeks.
One of the boats headed out to the Great Barrier Reef in the morning
There isn’t much of note around Port Douglas with regards to architecture – it’s mostly modern resort developments and a few older “Queenslander” houses built on stilts (and remarkably similar to houses in Hilo, Hawaii); however there’s an attractive small church that has been relocated to a delightful spot near the shore:
St Mary’s church, Port Douglas
and one old hotel:
Court House Hotel, Port Douglas
Last but not least, I strongly suspect that there are some contentious issues in local politics (probably related to development):
Marker at Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas
Clearly this is no longer a Congo blog. I’m looking for a new name. Since I’m probably going to be traveling for a while I thought “Nicky’s Itchy Feet Blog” might do. Any other suggestions? I could just begin a totally new blog, as some people have done, but I like continuity, and would prefer to keep this site. Apologies for giving you so much to look at all in one go! I’ll see if I can do better at keeping up on a more regular basis.
I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!
Dorothea Mackellar 1908
It's taken me a long time to get this blog page up - for my first two months in Australia I didn't touch the blog, and once I was in the mood I began having problems with Blogger; it's taken literally days to upload all the photos. Since I have a good internet connection and I've ruled out computer problems, there must be something going on at the Blogger end of things. Very frustrating indeed!
A quick review of March and April: arriving in Melbourne I found that the stopover in Hong Kong did nothing to alleviate jetlag. For over a week I was asleep and awake at all the wrong times and hungry whenever it was mealtime in both Melbourne and Amsterdam, i.e. most of the time! For several weeks I was kept busy with visits to doctors, a knee operation for a torn cartilage (still not fully recovered), spending time with family, and meeting up with old friends. My travels around Australia on this visit included Geelong and Torquay to the south of Melbourne, Sydney, and northern Queensland (Cairns, Port Douglas, Cape Tribulation) - my first time up there.
Torquay, a surfer’s paradise south of Melbourne, near Geelong, where I spent several days over Easter with old friends from East Timor.
Ayries Inlet lighthouse near Geelong, on the Great Ocean Road
Melbourne is burning up under a seven-year drought. Front lawns have been replaced by sandy areas with a few tufts of yellowing scrub. On hot days (temperatures getting close to 40 degrees Celsius) curtains are drawn, shutters and blinds closed, and occupants stay indoors in the dark sheltering from the oven heat. And then, from one day to the next, cold air swoops up from the Antarctic and the temperature drops 20 degrees and I’m once again complaining about how cold it is in Melbourne.
Last year when I was in Melbourne I visited Healesville Sanctuary, home to koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, and many other animals unique to Australia. Here are a few photos – after all, no blog entry on Australia would be complete without them!
Large grey kangaroo
Pygmy Wallaby: kangaroos and wallabies come in a wide range of sizes and type; some of the wallabies are so small they look like large rats; there’s also one that lives up in trees, the tree wallaby.
Some of the kangaroos and wallabies in the parks become quite accustomed to people…
This kangaroo has a “joey” (baby kanga) in her pouch
Wombat: much loved animal, though less well-known outside of Australia.
Sydney Harbour Bridge
There’s a thrill to crossing Sydney Harbour that never fails to catch my attention. The iconic sight of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House across the water, seen in so many photographs around the world, always make coming to Sydney an event to appreciate and savour.
Sydney city skyline seen from the Greenwich ferry
This time I stayed a week, house-sitting for my brother and sister-in-law who took off to Tasmania to celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary. I was left in charge of two young internet-addicted teenagers, a friendly labradoodle called Cody needing an awful lot of exercise and a thick furry cat who never responded to the name of Coco. And a fabulous view of an area of the upper harbour called Lane Cove, at Greenwich. Walks with Cody took me on wooded paths by the water’s edge and to small parks from where I watched boats and ships of all sizes, from tiny row-boats to luxury yachts to Liberian-registered oil-tankers, coming and going around the harbour. From the house, too, I could sit happily on the terrace and watch all the water-borne activity below my perch.
Kookaburas abound in the trees around the harbour, and the early morning chorus is filled with the sound of their distinctive laughter. Quite a change from the birdsong elsewhere!
From Sydney I took a flight up to Cairns in tropical northern Queensland, and from Cairns a bus took me one hour further north to Port Douglas. This is a holiday that I’ve been thinking of taking for several years, and it’s one of those “once in a life time” activities – because it’s so expensive up here! Which is why I ended up staying in a rather noisy “backpackers” lodge rather than getting a small self-catering studio, which, for a single person, would be considerably more expensive. Although Port Douglas is more expensive, I would advise just about anyone to avoid Cairns at all cost – it must be the tackiest seaside resort anywhere on earth.
Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas
Port Douglas is known for its wonderful long beach, which at low tide is wide and welcoming for beach walkers. In the late afternoon individuals, couples, friends, and families walk along the beach, some with their dogs, some walking the entire length of the beach, and some taking a gentle stroll. At the furthest end of the beach, near where mangroves begin and a creek works its way towards the sea, there are crocodile warning signs. The other main danger during the months of November to May are the stinging jellyfish, known here as “stingers”, which can leave you hospitalized or worse.
Four Mile Beach from the hill
This still being “stinger” season, even though few are about, meant that when going snorkeling we had to don nasty bright blue nylon stinger suits from head to toe, making each and every one of us look quite ridiculous. Northern Queensland bears many resemblances to Hawaii, but when you throw crocodiles and stingers into the mix Hawaii comes up looking a little more inviting!
Estuarine crocodile (the more dangerous type) at Rainforest Habitat, Port Douglas
7-year old freshwater crocodile at Rainforest Habitat (note the mouth firmly taped, even though this type is not particularly dangerous)
Croc tail
The Rainforest Habitat at Port Douglas is a small zoo with three different habitat areas featuring creatures specific to this region, especially a large variety of birds. The most famous and most endangered bird in the area is the Cassowary.
Cassowary at Rainforest Habitat
The Cassowary is a large, flightless bird that can also be found in Papua New Guinea. Driving up to Cape Tribulation early one morning with friends, we came across an adult cassowary with a chick at the side of the road and excitedly took as many snaps as we could before they disappeared again. Such sightings are rare, so we felt quite pleased with ourselves!
Cassowary near Cape Tribulation, the chick is the brown blur in the foreground. Apparently it’s difficult to tell the males and females apart, though the females are slightly larger, and although the female lays the eggs, it’s the male who then has the job of caring for the young.
Cape Tribulation and Daintree Rainforest
This is a stunningly beautiful part of Australia. Forest-covered mountains form an impressive backdrop to the Coral Sea, where the Great Barrier Reef awaits divers and snorkelers from around the world. The Daintree Rainforest is the oldest rainforest in the world (older than the Amazon, and much more accessible!) and along with the Reef has been designated as a World Heritage site. It’s the only place in the world where two World Heritage sites exist side by side. Once the logging stopped (thanks to a bunch of hard-working hippy activists in the 70s) people became much more environmentally conscious, and forest activities today are done with an eco-friendly attitude.
"Danger Mouse" (aka yours truly) jungle surfing!!
I got talked into “jungle surfing” (it didn’t take much!) – which involved getting strapped into a harness and hooked up to fox lines, then swinging from tree platform to tree platform, Tarzan style. I had to take a few deep breaths before sliding off the platform and allowing myself to glide an awful lot of meters above the forest floor. I couldn’t decide if it was scarier to be on the high platform fastened around a slender tree-trunk or swinging down the fox lines held on by a metal hook. Not for those with a fear of heights!
Jungle Surfing
One of the platforms
With my jungle surfing buddies, Gordon and Brett from Sydney
This all takes place high up in the forest canopy. It’s worth taking a walk around the forest at ground level first to gain an appreciation of height and what’s happening on the forest floor.
Daintree Rainforest
Aside from the more spectacular activities, it’s also possible to enjoy well-designed boardwalks through the forest, either with or without a guide.
Here’s a large sunbathing lizard (there must be a fancy name for it…) we spotted while taking a walk.
Roy, a leading member of the local Kuku Yalanji tribe whose home is the rainforest, giving a guided tour at Mossman Gorge.
Local kid taking a dip in one of the many creeks in the Daintree. Places like this are croc free because the water is too cold for the crocs.
The larger Daintree River, on the other hand, is home to plenty of crocs:
Ferry over the Daintree River, with croc warning sign
Young turtles sunbathing at Mossman Gorge
A 1,000 year-old strangler fig at Mossman Gorge
The most common bird around here is probably the lorikeet, a small, colourful parrot often found in pairs and in large flocks of up to 60 birds. At dawn and dusk they gather in trees around town and make a screeching racket so loud you cannot hear anything else. The pairs always seem to be squabbling, and when they fly they swoop and dive amazingly fast.
Lorikeet at the Rainforest Habitat
Another less-commonly seen bird is the Eclectus Parrot. The male is green, and the female is red. They look so different that they were originally thought to be two distinct species.
Male (green) and female (red) Eclectus parrot, Rainforest Habitat (with thanks to "Anonymous" for the correction!)
Other sights around Port Douglas:
The Port Douglas marina is the starting off point for many boat trips to the outer Great Barrier Reef – a 2-hour trip by motor-boat – and to closer places such as the Low Isles (inner reef) and near-by creeks.
One of the boats headed out to the Great Barrier Reef in the morning
There isn’t much of note around Port Douglas with regards to architecture – it’s mostly modern resort developments and a few older “Queenslander” houses built on stilts (and remarkably similar to houses in Hilo, Hawaii); however there’s an attractive small church that has been relocated to a delightful spot near the shore:
St Mary’s church, Port Douglas
and one old hotel:
Court House Hotel, Port Douglas
Last but not least, I strongly suspect that there are some contentious issues in local politics (probably related to development):
Marker at Four Mile Beach, Port Douglas
Clearly this is no longer a Congo blog. I’m looking for a new name. Since I’m probably going to be traveling for a while I thought “Nicky’s Itchy Feet Blog” might do. Any other suggestions? I could just begin a totally new blog, as some people have done, but I like continuity, and would prefer to keep this site. Apologies for giving you so much to look at all in one go! I’ll see if I can do better at keeping up on a more regular basis.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Now coming to you from Hong Kong!
This posting comes to you from the Regal Airport Hotel, Hong Kong, courtesy of Cathay Pacific. How did I get here? And what day is it, anyway?!
I was scheduled to leave Amsterdam at 10:40 am Wednesday on a flight to Melbourne via London and Hong Kong (briefly!). But I was thrown off the London flight because the baggage system at Heathrow Terminal Four was broken and they had no means to deal with bags for transfer flights. So anyone flying via Heathrow had to be re-routed. I was put onto a Cathay Pacific flight direct to HK, departing at 13:10 pm. Not bad - much better to fly direct, and it would give me plenty of time to browse the airport bookshops and find a good book for the flight.
Two good books stuffed into my carry-on bags later, I turned up at the gate, went through security, and waited to board. And waited, and waited, and waited.... eventually we were informed that a member of the cockpit crew hadn't turned up and they needed to find someone else. The flight was rescheduled for 19:00. Lunch vouchers were handed out. Fifteen euros sounds like a lot, but it doesn't go that far at Schiphol Airport: one salad, one fruit smoothie, a capuccino, and a small bottle of water. I read one of my new books and walked around a lot - at least Schiphol is a lot bigger than Nairobi airport! But I was feeling slightly homesick for the Java House Cafe with it's select atmosphere of aid workers and journalists heading off to dangerous places....
By the time dinner was served and we were well on our way to Hong Kong I was exhausted and slept unexpectedly well almost all night, arriving reasonably refreshed. Ground staff in HK are very efficient and we soon had new boarding passes, through immigration, and into the Regal Hotel all without stepping outside. Now for a good hot shower, rest, Chinese dinner, and on to the next flight. Arriving after midday in Melbourne, via Sydney a day late - not a problem! It makes adjusting to the jet lag a bit easier, and a 22 hour flight broken into two segments with a seven hour break in between much more bearable.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Back in Rwanda
I successfully arranged the shipping (or rather, air-freighting) of my baggage out of Kigali on Monday morning - something that I wouldn't dream of trying from Congo! That gives you a hint of the difference between the two countries. In Rwanda things generally function and they function without the need for any "palm greasing". There's a lot to be said for that. Rwanda is still Africa, so of course service can be slow, there's an occasional power outage, and people try to sell me phone cards and maps of Africa on the street. But the streets are amazingly clean, there's a new supermarket and coffee bar with wireless internet in Kigali, and a general air of purpose to the people moving around the streets.
Monday afternoon was spent horizontal, recovering from earthquake shock and the long drive. Monday evening enjoyed dinner out with former colleagues from Concern in a new Chinese restaurant - delicious food, and what a superb addition to the choice of restaurants in Kigali! On Wednesday morning I took the Volcano bus down to Butare, where I used to work. Even Butare has changed: buildings along the main street have a new coat of paint, new businesses are open, an old decrepit building in the centre of town has been totally renovated and now houses a training centre for the Rwanda Revenue Authority (no more cheating on taxes!). Other things remain the same: the street children are still there begging from passers-by, the Ibis Hotel still caters to a surprising number of foreign visitors on the covered terrace, the tall, carefully dressed arrogant young university students stroll along the main street.
This afternoon I'll take a mini-bus up to Gikongoro to stay the night with a Dutch friend first met here in 2003, and then tomorrow I'll head back to Kigali, via Butare, for a weekend seeing friends.
I successfully arranged the shipping (or rather, air-freighting) of my baggage out of Kigali on Monday morning - something that I wouldn't dream of trying from Congo! That gives you a hint of the difference between the two countries. In Rwanda things generally function and they function without the need for any "palm greasing". There's a lot to be said for that. Rwanda is still Africa, so of course service can be slow, there's an occasional power outage, and people try to sell me phone cards and maps of Africa on the street. But the streets are amazingly clean, there's a new supermarket and coffee bar with wireless internet in Kigali, and a general air of purpose to the people moving around the streets.
Monday afternoon was spent horizontal, recovering from earthquake shock and the long drive. Monday evening enjoyed dinner out with former colleagues from Concern in a new Chinese restaurant - delicious food, and what a superb addition to the choice of restaurants in Kigali! On Wednesday morning I took the Volcano bus down to Butare, where I used to work. Even Butare has changed: buildings along the main street have a new coat of paint, new businesses are open, an old decrepit building in the centre of town has been totally renovated and now houses a training centre for the Rwanda Revenue Authority (no more cheating on taxes!). Other things remain the same: the street children are still there begging from passers-by, the Ibis Hotel still caters to a surprising number of foreign visitors on the covered terrace, the tall, carefully dressed arrogant young university students stroll along the main street.
This afternoon I'll take a mini-bus up to Gikongoro to stay the night with a Dutch friend first met here in 2003, and then tomorrow I'll head back to Kigali, via Butare, for a weekend seeing friends.
From the Sydney Morning Herald
February 4, 2008 - 6:31AM
Earthquakes struck Rwanda and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday, killing at least 30 people and seriously injuring 350 more, officials said. The two quakes were in Africa's Great Lakes region along the western Great Rift Valley fault.
The first quake, with a magnitude of 6.0 and its epicentre in Democratic Republic of Congo, occurred at 10:30am (1830 AEDT) and was followed by another 5.0 quake in densely populated southern Rwanda at 1:56pm (2156 AEDT).
"The death toll has now increased to 25 from the earthquake. Two hundred have serious injuries," Deputy Rwandan Police Chief Mary Gahonzire said. "Rescue efforts are underway but the number of dead could rise, as so many people are trapped."
The acting governor of Congo's South Kivu province, Bernard Watunakanza, told Reuters by telephone from the eastern town of Bukavu that aftershocks were happening "every 20 or 30 minutes". "Up to now there are five dead and 149 seriously injured. Many people are traumatised," he said.
An official from Congo's UN peacekeeping mission, known as MONUC, said buildings had been destroyed in Bukavu. "There is lots of damage. Many buildings have been hit. Lots of houses have completely collapsed," said Jacqueline Chenard, MONUC spokeswoman in Bukavu.
Earthquakes are common in the western Great Rift Valley - a seismically active fault line straddling western Uganda, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and neighbouring Tanzania.
In 1994, a magnitude 6 tremor in the foothills of western Uganda's Rwenzori mountains killed at least six people. In 1966, a magnitude 7 earthquake killed 157 people and injured more than 1,300 in the Semliki Valley, also in western Uganda.
Reuters
February 4, 2008 - 6:31AM
Earthquakes struck Rwanda and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday, killing at least 30 people and seriously injuring 350 more, officials said. The two quakes were in Africa's Great Lakes region along the western Great Rift Valley fault.
The first quake, with a magnitude of 6.0 and its epicentre in Democratic Republic of Congo, occurred at 10:30am (1830 AEDT) and was followed by another 5.0 quake in densely populated southern Rwanda at 1:56pm (2156 AEDT).
"The death toll has now increased to 25 from the earthquake. Two hundred have serious injuries," Deputy Rwandan Police Chief Mary Gahonzire said. "Rescue efforts are underway but the number of dead could rise, as so many people are trapped."
The acting governor of Congo's South Kivu province, Bernard Watunakanza, told Reuters by telephone from the eastern town of Bukavu that aftershocks were happening "every 20 or 30 minutes". "Up to now there are five dead and 149 seriously injured. Many people are traumatised," he said.
An official from Congo's UN peacekeeping mission, known as MONUC, said buildings had been destroyed in Bukavu. "There is lots of damage. Many buildings have been hit. Lots of houses have completely collapsed," said Jacqueline Chenard, MONUC spokeswoman in Bukavu.
Earthquakes are common in the western Great Rift Valley - a seismically active fault line straddling western Uganda, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and neighbouring Tanzania.
In 1994, a magnitude 6 tremor in the foothills of western Uganda's Rwenzori mountains killed at least six people. In 1966, a magnitude 7 earthquake killed 157 people and injured more than 1,300 in the Semliki Valley, also in western Uganda.
Reuters
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Goodbye Bukavu!
It was snowing in my room, tiny white and grey flakes tumbling from the ceiling. I needed to remove my mosquito net from the high ceiling and had just placed a tall bar stool onto a coffee table, ready for me to climb up onto, when the room began to shake, hard, much harder than anything else I'd ever experienced. I stumbled for the security of the door frame, not daring to think I could make it safely downstairs. I thought it wouldn't stop, but eventually it did, and I dashed down the stairs in a shaky daze, out onto our strangely sunny courtyard; a calm, bright Sunday morning suddenly transformed into fear and chaos. The guard's radio barked urgent messages relayed from house to house checking how we were, then the phones began ringing. My legs were wobbling so bad I could only sink onto the warm concrete laughing and happy that we were all OK. But every time I got up to go inside and recommence my work, taking down the mosquito net, carrying my suitcases and boxes downstairs, the ground rumbled and shook again, over and over, every five or ten minutes.
When I eventually forced myself inside, up the stairs, and faced the stool on the table, gazing up at the mosquito net hanging from the high hook, I wondered - am I being brave or just stupid? I had planned to leave at around 9 am and was already late. I wanted to take down the mosquito net to give to friends who could use it; I had to get the boxes down the stairs, and there was also a dresser to get down the stairs. Together with Laura, my colleague and housemate, we eventually got it all done. But every time we went back into the house it went against every instinct to stay out of a building, and it seemed like every time we went back in and headed up the stairs, the earth shook again sending us dashing for the front door laughing and shaking and wanting to cry all at the same time.
The cats hated it; very frightened, they took shelter in the generator shed and only reluctantly stuck their heads out the door when I called them, every after-shock sent them scuttling back into their bolt hole.
Our guard heard that his son had been injured, but couldn't get treated at the hospital because there were too many people already there. He left to be with his family. We waited for a new guard to arrive, taking and making phone calls to check with others. I went up to my room for a final check, flecks of plaster covered the tiled floor and tiny cracks ran along the edge of the ceiling. I was very glad I wouldn't need to sleep there again. The after shocks kept coming, and even when they didn't I imagined them anyway (and am still imagining them from time to time when a truck rumbles past or I hear an unfamiliar noise). Finally, all the bags and boxes and suitcases were loaded, and I left Bukavu for the long 6 hour drive up to Kigali.
Along the road in Kamembe and beyond on the Rwandan side of the border we saw collapsed buildings and walls, crowds of people standing around looking at the damage. In the final count it looks as though around 35 people were killed in Kamembe, many of them in a church that collapsed during the Sunday morning service, and maybe 6 people in Bukavu with many more injured. Although in Bukavu the damage to buildings was significant, it's possible that on the sunny Sunday morning many people were outside their homes and no children were in the schools that collapsed.
My expat colleagues in Bukavu spent Sunday night sleeping out in the open, as I probably would have done, had I not been in Kigali already, where they had felt the earthquake but not as strongly as Bukavu/Kamembe which had clearly been the epicenter.
Contract over, I'm spending a week in Rwanda seeing friends in Kigali and Butare (now called Huye, but to me the university town once known as Astrida will always be Butare). After that I'll be in Amsterdam for a week for debriefing at HQ and a few days to see friends and visit museums, and then a very long flight down to Australia where it is now summer. I had two excellent good-bye parties and will post photos of those when I'm in a place with much faster internet access. Goodbye Bukavu! Goodbye DR Congo!
It was snowing in my room, tiny white and grey flakes tumbling from the ceiling. I needed to remove my mosquito net from the high ceiling and had just placed a tall bar stool onto a coffee table, ready for me to climb up onto, when the room began to shake, hard, much harder than anything else I'd ever experienced. I stumbled for the security of the door frame, not daring to think I could make it safely downstairs. I thought it wouldn't stop, but eventually it did, and I dashed down the stairs in a shaky daze, out onto our strangely sunny courtyard; a calm, bright Sunday morning suddenly transformed into fear and chaos. The guard's radio barked urgent messages relayed from house to house checking how we were, then the phones began ringing. My legs were wobbling so bad I could only sink onto the warm concrete laughing and happy that we were all OK. But every time I got up to go inside and recommence my work, taking down the mosquito net, carrying my suitcases and boxes downstairs, the ground rumbled and shook again, over and over, every five or ten minutes.
When I eventually forced myself inside, up the stairs, and faced the stool on the table, gazing up at the mosquito net hanging from the high hook, I wondered - am I being brave or just stupid? I had planned to leave at around 9 am and was already late. I wanted to take down the mosquito net to give to friends who could use it; I had to get the boxes down the stairs, and there was also a dresser to get down the stairs. Together with Laura, my colleague and housemate, we eventually got it all done. But every time we went back into the house it went against every instinct to stay out of a building, and it seemed like every time we went back in and headed up the stairs, the earth shook again sending us dashing for the front door laughing and shaking and wanting to cry all at the same time.
The cats hated it; very frightened, they took shelter in the generator shed and only reluctantly stuck their heads out the door when I called them, every after-shock sent them scuttling back into their bolt hole.
Our guard heard that his son had been injured, but couldn't get treated at the hospital because there were too many people already there. He left to be with his family. We waited for a new guard to arrive, taking and making phone calls to check with others. I went up to my room for a final check, flecks of plaster covered the tiled floor and tiny cracks ran along the edge of the ceiling. I was very glad I wouldn't need to sleep there again. The after shocks kept coming, and even when they didn't I imagined them anyway (and am still imagining them from time to time when a truck rumbles past or I hear an unfamiliar noise). Finally, all the bags and boxes and suitcases were loaded, and I left Bukavu for the long 6 hour drive up to Kigali.
Along the road in Kamembe and beyond on the Rwandan side of the border we saw collapsed buildings and walls, crowds of people standing around looking at the damage. In the final count it looks as though around 35 people were killed in Kamembe, many of them in a church that collapsed during the Sunday morning service, and maybe 6 people in Bukavu with many more injured. Although in Bukavu the damage to buildings was significant, it's possible that on the sunny Sunday morning many people were outside their homes and no children were in the schools that collapsed.
My expat colleagues in Bukavu spent Sunday night sleeping out in the open, as I probably would have done, had I not been in Kigali already, where they had felt the earthquake but not as strongly as Bukavu/Kamembe which had clearly been the epicenter.
Contract over, I'm spending a week in Rwanda seeing friends in Kigali and Butare (now called Huye, but to me the university town once known as Astrida will always be Butare). After that I'll be in Amsterdam for a week for debriefing at HQ and a few days to see friends and visit museums, and then a very long flight down to Australia where it is now summer. I had two excellent good-bye parties and will post photos of those when I'm in a place with much faster internet access. Goodbye Bukavu! Goodbye DR Congo!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Shaanti Holistic Health Retreat
I’m back in Bukavu for the moment, but I left wisps of my soul sitting under the palms at Shaanti gazing out over the Indian Ocean. I’m writing this piece enthusiastically recommending Shaanti, and the Kenyan coast in general, firstly because Shaanti is truly a haven for burnt-out workers (those of us working in the non-profit as well as the for-profit sectors) like myself, but also because I want to do whatever I can to rebuild the image of Kenya that is taking such a battering at the moment.
Beach-side entrance to Shaanti
What has stayed with me is the utter peace and tranquility that one finds at Shaanti. Resting on a quiet area of a long white-sand beach fringed with palms (from the ocean you barely see the outline of low, creamy thatched-roof buildings tucked behind the trees), you are far from any road and during my entire stay I never heard or saw a car. The only sound is the wind rustling the palms or rushing through the ironwoods by the shore and the gentle roar of the ocean as it crashes over the reef many meters from the beach.
View of Shaanti from the beach
Heaven for me is freedom from mobile phones, other peoples’ radios, the sound of generators, piped music… you will find none of this at Shaanti. Friendly staff greet you quietly in the morning with your tea or fresh squeezed juice arriving on your private terrace at just the hour you requested; guests murmur while savouring every bite of the delicious food; Dayananda the yoga instructor gently encourages you to “breathe deeply, exhale completely” while you fall into a meditative trance cradled in the softly buffeting ocean air. Wild life in the Shaanti gardens includes monkeys, the occasional baboon, ibis, and the remarkable silvery-cheeked hornbill (which I identified using my Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa!)
Room with a terrace (at 6 am!)
Male Silvery-cheeked Hornbill
Small, and family owned, the management of Shaanti treats visitors like friends. Tasreen, the general manager, finds time for a quick word with each guest during the day to see how they are and if anything is needed. The day I was due to leave turned out to be the day that demonstrations erupted in Nairobi and Mombasa. Tasreen came to my table where I was enjoying the divine breakfast of fresh fruits and light pancakes made with coconut milk, to let me know that she could not let me leave when the situation was so uncertain. She arranged for my Mombasa to Nairobi flight to be re-booked, and when there was no flight available for two more days, she said that I would not be charged for the extra nights. I had tears in my eyes when thanking her – the feeling of being taken care of and cared about touched me deeply.
Early morning yoga class
Dayananda, patient and friendly yoga instructor with over ten years teaching experience
Shaanti is especially popular with women traveling alone and needing a place where they can retreat from all the usual discomforts and annoyances of being a single woman in a (still) male-dominated world. We spend so much of our time being concerned for others, taking care of others, paying attention to the details of our work and our working and home environments that we forget what it is like to have others take care of us. At Shaanti I felt relaxed and cared for under the all-female management team; there is no bar, although you’re welcome to order a glass of wine with your meal, and this also ensures a quiet and relaxed atmosphere. There are massage therapists offering a variety of treatments, including reflexology, aromatherapy, and even facials using fresh fruits!
Secluded treatment rooms
The ocean is refreshing and protected by the reef, and there is also a good-sized pool under shady trees where I swam laps and watched the monkeys scampering across overhead branches. I always had the pool to myself, and indeed often had the “tree-house” to myself where I lounged with a book on the comfy sofa, every few minutes resting my eyes on the delicious blue-green ocean hues and wondering how I could possibly bring myself to leave.
The shady pool
Cozy sofas in the tree house
But leave I did, and for anyone concerned about traveling in Kenya I would like to assure you that everyone you come into contact with is also concerned for your comfort and safety. My taxi driver took care to ensure that we left the hotel in plenty of time before dark, and that we drove through a quiet part of Mombasa to reach the airport. Kenya Airways provided us with a free drink and snack at the airport when our flight was delayed a couple of hours, and arriving late in Nairobi with no connecting flight until morning, the airline also provided me with free hotel accommodation at a five-star hotel near the airport, including breakfast and transport to and from the hotel. Can I say anything more about what a wonderful holiday destination Kenya is? There is still so much that I haven’t seen and that I plan to see in the future: a safari to one of the famous parks (the Masai Mara, Tsavo East & West, Aberdare, Shimba Hills, Marsabit, to name a few!) and most certainly a vacation on the car-free historic Swahili island of Lamu.
Here are a few more photos from Shaanti. I'm sure you'll understand why several guests return regularly and why I also intend to return!
View from my room
Watching the traffic…
View from the yoga mat…
View from the tree house…
Local architecture (Buddha on the Beach seafood restaurant at Shaanti)
My favourite windows…
The tree house
Oyster bar!
For more information about Shaanti take a look at their web site: http://www.shaantihhr.com/
I’m back in Bukavu for the moment, but I left wisps of my soul sitting under the palms at Shaanti gazing out over the Indian Ocean. I’m writing this piece enthusiastically recommending Shaanti, and the Kenyan coast in general, firstly because Shaanti is truly a haven for burnt-out workers (those of us working in the non-profit as well as the for-profit sectors) like myself, but also because I want to do whatever I can to rebuild the image of Kenya that is taking such a battering at the moment.
Beach-side entrance to Shaanti
What has stayed with me is the utter peace and tranquility that one finds at Shaanti. Resting on a quiet area of a long white-sand beach fringed with palms (from the ocean you barely see the outline of low, creamy thatched-roof buildings tucked behind the trees), you are far from any road and during my entire stay I never heard or saw a car. The only sound is the wind rustling the palms or rushing through the ironwoods by the shore and the gentle roar of the ocean as it crashes over the reef many meters from the beach.
View of Shaanti from the beach
Heaven for me is freedom from mobile phones, other peoples’ radios, the sound of generators, piped music… you will find none of this at Shaanti. Friendly staff greet you quietly in the morning with your tea or fresh squeezed juice arriving on your private terrace at just the hour you requested; guests murmur while savouring every bite of the delicious food; Dayananda the yoga instructor gently encourages you to “breathe deeply, exhale completely” while you fall into a meditative trance cradled in the softly buffeting ocean air. Wild life in the Shaanti gardens includes monkeys, the occasional baboon, ibis, and the remarkable silvery-cheeked hornbill (which I identified using my Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa!)
Room with a terrace (at 6 am!)
Male Silvery-cheeked Hornbill
Small, and family owned, the management of Shaanti treats visitors like friends. Tasreen, the general manager, finds time for a quick word with each guest during the day to see how they are and if anything is needed. The day I was due to leave turned out to be the day that demonstrations erupted in Nairobi and Mombasa. Tasreen came to my table where I was enjoying the divine breakfast of fresh fruits and light pancakes made with coconut milk, to let me know that she could not let me leave when the situation was so uncertain. She arranged for my Mombasa to Nairobi flight to be re-booked, and when there was no flight available for two more days, she said that I would not be charged for the extra nights. I had tears in my eyes when thanking her – the feeling of being taken care of and cared about touched me deeply.
Early morning yoga class
Dayananda, patient and friendly yoga instructor with over ten years teaching experience
Shaanti is especially popular with women traveling alone and needing a place where they can retreat from all the usual discomforts and annoyances of being a single woman in a (still) male-dominated world. We spend so much of our time being concerned for others, taking care of others, paying attention to the details of our work and our working and home environments that we forget what it is like to have others take care of us. At Shaanti I felt relaxed and cared for under the all-female management team; there is no bar, although you’re welcome to order a glass of wine with your meal, and this also ensures a quiet and relaxed atmosphere. There are massage therapists offering a variety of treatments, including reflexology, aromatherapy, and even facials using fresh fruits!
Secluded treatment rooms
The ocean is refreshing and protected by the reef, and there is also a good-sized pool under shady trees where I swam laps and watched the monkeys scampering across overhead branches. I always had the pool to myself, and indeed often had the “tree-house” to myself where I lounged with a book on the comfy sofa, every few minutes resting my eyes on the delicious blue-green ocean hues and wondering how I could possibly bring myself to leave.
The shady pool
Cozy sofas in the tree house
But leave I did, and for anyone concerned about traveling in Kenya I would like to assure you that everyone you come into contact with is also concerned for your comfort and safety. My taxi driver took care to ensure that we left the hotel in plenty of time before dark, and that we drove through a quiet part of Mombasa to reach the airport. Kenya Airways provided us with a free drink and snack at the airport when our flight was delayed a couple of hours, and arriving late in Nairobi with no connecting flight until morning, the airline also provided me with free hotel accommodation at a five-star hotel near the airport, including breakfast and transport to and from the hotel. Can I say anything more about what a wonderful holiday destination Kenya is? There is still so much that I haven’t seen and that I plan to see in the future: a safari to one of the famous parks (the Masai Mara, Tsavo East & West, Aberdare, Shimba Hills, Marsabit, to name a few!) and most certainly a vacation on the car-free historic Swahili island of Lamu.
Here are a few more photos from Shaanti. I'm sure you'll understand why several guests return regularly and why I also intend to return!
View from my room
Watching the traffic…
View from the yoga mat…
View from the tree house…
Local architecture (Buddha on the Beach seafood restaurant at Shaanti)
My favourite windows…
The tree house
Oyster bar!
For more information about Shaanti take a look at their web site: http://www.shaantihhr.com/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)