Grief

I try not to write about work on this blog, but I just can't write about happy things (like last week's trip) without acknowledging the heartbreak that is the loss of a colleague.  FSO Anne Smedinghoff, 25, died yesterday in an IED attack in Afghanistan.  She was on her way to deliver books to schoolchildren.  She was killed alongside U.S. service members, a U.S. DOD civilian, and Afghan civilians.  Four other State Department colleagues were wounded in the attack. 

My heart goes out to their families and friends and colleagues.  I am once again only one degree of separation from this young woman, and my heart breaks as I read friends' tributes to her on Facebook.  And Secretary of State Kerry's tribute to her, particularly poignant as she was his control officer just last week.  And, most of all, her parents' tribute to her. 

I don't believe I ever met Anne, but she was my contemporary in the FS.  We're only a few A-100s apart.  This piece expresses much of what I've been thinking today very well.

Anne, thank you for your service.  Your memory will live on - we'll make sure of it - and your legacy will be about so much more than your tragic death.  It will be about service and optimism and peace and change.  It will be about you. 

Amboseli Recap

I probably should have used the last week without decent internet to write a few blog posts and have them queued up to go, but that was an afterthought, sadly.

It has been almost a month since my fabulous journey to Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya, so this post is long overdue.  Plus I'm going on safari again this weekend, so I only want to have one trip to write about!

I flew from Entebbe to Nairobi on a Thursday night after work, getting to my hotel about 10pm.  I noticed on the drive from the airport how much more developed Nairobi seems than Kampala.  It reminded me of South Africa - and not just because we passed a Steers and Spur on the way!  I stayed at the Crowne Plaza, one of my favorite brands.  The hotel was very nice.  The room service, however, was horrific.  I honestly don't think I've ever had a more inedible meal.  Oh well.

At 7:30 the next morning I was picked up by my tour operator, G Adventures.  I did a G tour in Jordan and am a big fan of their packages.  This was an independent type tour, but I was expecting at least a couple of other people.  Nope, just me!  I settled into a comfy seat in the 7 seater 4x4 safari van, and my cook and driver/guide (two people!) explained the trip as we drove through Nairobi morning traffic.

We stopped at Uchumi to stock up on provisions.  I bought an insane amount of water, which turned out to be a good thing.  The drive to Amboseli is about 200km, but most of it is on a two-lane road with lots of truck traffic on the Mombasa-Nairobi-Kampala-Juba route.  This is the same trip my car took on its way from the port.  We stopped once in the bustling market town of Emali, which was abuzz with Friday afternoon activity.  As we filled up at the petrol station, I started to realize that many of the people walking by had elaborate beaded jewelry and gorgeous, brightly-colored clothing.  Welcome to Maasai country! 

Leaving Emali we started on a 90km road to Amboseli's Kimana Gate.  Not 10 minutes on this road, and the guide pointed out a gorgeous Masai giraffe on the side of the road.  I spent the remainder of the ride glued to the windows, spotting ostrich, zebra, elephants, giraffe, and dozens of herds of cattle, goats, and sheep tended by young Maasai.  Amboseli is not fenced, so the animals often migrate between parks or venture farther afield for food.

Our camp was a very basic one a few km from Kimana Gate.  It had permanent tents and bandas, but my tour called for a dome tent.  After settling into my tent and eating a late lunch, I wandered around until 3:45.  I knew we were close to Mt. Kilimanjaro, but all I could see was the outlines of its sides.  The summit was shrouded in clouds.

My guide popped the top on the van so I could stand and have amazing 360 degree views from the vehicle.  We passed a few elephants on the access road as well as a herd of giraffe.  And lots of herds of cattle.  After doing a bit of paperwork at the gate, we entered the park!  Amboseli is crisscrossed by a series of defined roads, much like Kruger and other parks, so there's only so close you can get to the animals.  Almost as soon as we entered the park the clouds around Kili opened up, and we could see the rain in the distance.  It was gorgeous.  We passed lots of herds of zebra, wildebeest, Grant's gazelles, Thompson gazelles, and several giant herds of elephant (but the latter from a distance).  This is the end of the dry season, so the animals are more concentrated around water sources, but the herds were pretty far back from the road most of the time.  A crowned crane did a wonderful job of posing for photos - they're so gorgeous in real life!  (Not so much on the Ugandan flag, in my opinion.)

We drove on and looked for animals, and I re-trained my safari eyes.  The rain started coming closer, and we had a wonderful rainbow for quite a while.  Finally it started raining over us, so we closed the roof and headed back to camp, by which time the rain had stopped.

After a hearty dinner and a good helping of Mockingjay, I settled in to sleep.  The next day we had a relaxed start, foregoing the early morning game drive for a day in the park.  I got up, got dressed, walked to the dining pavilion, and sat down.  Then I looked up and almost gasped.  There was Mt. Kilimanjaro, in all its glory, perfectly visible.  The lyrics from 'Africa' in my head (and perpetually thereafter), I snapped some photos and sat back down to gaze.

On the way down the access road we stopped and gave a lift to two women.  As we drove farther down, it made sense.  There was a large bull elephant on the side of the road, and he apparently isn't fond of pedestrians.  He's only slightly more fond of vehicles.  We waited until he wandered away, drove on to the gate, bid our passengers goodbye, and carried on.

We spent a good seven hours traversing the park today, under a gorgeous blue sky, with Kili as a phenomenal backdrop.  We had many more close encounters with animals today, seeing more gazelles, zebra, and wildebeest than I thought possible.  Near a swampy area we spotted two hyenas lying down in the grass, but they had no interest in hunting, despite a plethora of meal choices. 

I should stop here and say that the one thing I've never seen on safari is a kill.  And for some, perhaps morbid reason, I really want to.  I love animals, I hate seeing them hurt, but I just really, really want to see a predator attack prey.

Anyway, after deciding the hyenas were too lazy to hunt, we continued on.  About 11 am we drove through a grove of trees, one of the few forested areas in the very savannah-dominated park, which is where several of the lodges are located.  We drove past a lodge that shut down a decade ago, all its buildings abandoned.  Just when I thought there was no activity, I noticed that dozens of baboons were lurking around the property, on every available surface and in all the surrounding trees.  Talk about eerie!  We stopped at one of the lodges to use the restroom - it was truly gorgeous there.  Made me all the more excited for an upcoming lodge safari.

The rest of the day was more gorgeous scenery and unreal photo opportunities.  Pretty much any animal posed in front of Mt. Kilimanjaro is awesome.  We crossed paths with a researcher from the Elephant Research Camp in Amboseli, one of the most indepth population studies over time that's ever been done.  My favorite part?  The 4x4 had an 'Obama 2012' bumper sticker.  Gotta love Kenyan pride for one of their own!

Lunch was a picnic at an observation site with some cheeky starlings.  One jumped right into the vehicle to try and scrounge a few crumbs.  We headed back to camp as the clouds started surrounding the mountain again, and I had a nice late afternoon rest while reading more Mockingjay. 

One thing I want to note is that I was amazed and excited by the number of baby animals I saw.  Be they elephants, warthogs, zebra, wildebeest, gazelle, baboon, hippo, or really anything else, there were TONS of babies.  I loved seeing the baby elephants try desperately to nurse as their mothers plodded along in search of water and greenery.  Baby wildebeest are squee-dorable.  As are baby zebra, with their fuzziness and just-like-mama mimics.  That was pretty awesome to see.

After dinner and a shower (in the exceedingly rustic facilities, though there was some solar-heated hot water), it was early to bed for an early start.

We got to the park just as it opened, and we were treated to some phenomenal hyena and jackal sightings.  I was starting to think I wouldn't see any cats, which made me a little sad.  But the hyenas were pretty awesome.  Not to mention all the herd animals, which were out in force yet again. 

After a couple of hours we were on our way out of the park when my guide got a call on the radio.  It was all in Swahili so I didn't understand what it was, but we turned around and headed back into the park.  And drove, at the speed limit - which was much faster than we'd gone most of the few days! - for several kilometers.  Then I saw the collection of safari vehicles. 

We were still pretty far away, and my heart was beating pretty fast by now wondering what was up there.  We maneuvered into a spot, and there, in the distance, I saw the distinctive head of a lioness lying in the tall grass and surveying.  There was another one nearby.  They were quite far off, so even my best zoom wasn't great, but they were lions.  After a while they got up and started moseying off, so we turned around and tried to head them off.  They stopped again and flopped back down.  Then we noticed another little yellow animal walking toward them - a cub!  It had been completely hidden in the grass earlier.  The next 30 minutes was a waiting game.  The lions stood up and moved a little.  The gazelles froze in place and watched them.  The wildebeest on the other side of the road didn't seem to notice them.  Would they hunt?  Would they move closer?  Lions are notoriously lazy in the daytime, so nothing of the sort happened, but it was still an exciting time.

Then it really was back to camp, packing up the tent, eating breakfast, and hitting the road.  We stopped at a Maasai village for a visit.  I knew it would be super tourist-oriented - and it was - but it also seemed to be a real village and not just one for show.  The men and women came out and danced and sang with Kili in the background, and then they took me for a tour of the compound.  I saw the process of making fire (quite unique, with friction and teamwork), some traditional medicines, and I was invited inside one home.  There was a primary school, a few livestock corrals, and then a huge market area where all the women sold their wares.  That part was super touristy, but it's a moneymaking opportunity.  But the Maasai are a fascinating, proud, and enduring culture, and I was privileged to get a closer glimpse in any setting.

Then it was back to Nairobi.  I saw animals all the way up to about 30km outside the city this time.  Giraffe, zebras, wildebeest, ostrich, gazelles, etc.  What an amazing country.  We arrived at my hotel mid-afternoon, I bid goodbye to my guide and cook, and then I set out for the spa.  I desperately needed a massage and a manicure after three days of bumpy roads!  I had an okay dinner in the hotel restaurant and had a great night's sleep.

The next day was election day, and everything was closed.  I arranged for a late checkout and airport transfer and stayed off the roads as much as possible.  Even most of the shops at the airport were closed!!  I had plenty of time to check in, meander, and read, and my flight was on time.  The drive from Entebbe to Kampala was long and slow, but it often is.  And with that, my first Kenyan adventure came to a close.  I'll be back, for sure.  There is so much more to see and do!

Day One Highlights

Day Two Highlights

Baby animals galore!

Day Three Highlights

Maasai Village Highlights

Pure Bliss

There's really nothing like having your alarm go off, realizing it's a holiday and you don't have to get up or, really, do anything today, and then falling blissfully back to sleep listening to the thunderstorm outside.

As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti

I spent a lovely long weekend at Amboseli National Park in Kenya last week, enjoying a private safari on gorgeous savannas with Mt. Kilimanjaro as my backdrop.

Internet speeds are pretty bad lately, so I'll do a longer post when I can actually upload some good photos, but, for now, here's a teaser.

Visitors!

Wow, three weeks since I last blogged?  No good reason, just busy with life.

First off, I got my car back on Friday!  It's good as new; the bodywork and new parts match perfectly, and you'd never know it was in an accident.  And the owner of the truck who hit me did in fact pay for all repairs.  That kind of thing really restores your faith in humanity.

I have several things to blog about, most of which need faster internet than I've had lately to upload photos, but I wanted to at least check in and say I'm still here.  Kampala is still wonderful, though I've had a few moments of grumbliness (yes it's a made-up word) when the smoke from burning trash, the smog of diesel emissions, and the blatantly bad and dangerous drivers gets to me.  I luckily have some fun escapes planned soon which will get me out of the city. 

One great thing about Kampala is that people can easily visit here.  And since both my undergrad and grad work focused on Sub-Saharan Africa in one way or another, a lot of my friends are working in sectors that bring them through the region on a fairly regular basis. 

Last month a friend from grad school came through on TDY, bringing her husband with her, and we had a great time while they were here.  I wasn't able to get out of town on safari with them, but it was a great excuse for a dinner party in their honor and try out new restaurants. 

And this weekend, a friend from college came through on the first leg of her TDY trip.  She and I were in South Africa at the same time eons ago and had a blast exploring Cape Town when she came to visit from Pretoria, so we're continuing the tradition of hanging out in Africa.  She stayed at my apartment part of the visit, to my cats' utter delight.  Callaghan, who is a bit hesitant around strangers, fell for her immediately and insisted on being on her lap all. the. time.  Luckily she loves cats. 

Anyway, I love having people come visit, and I have two guest rooms at the ready!  Kampala is a fairly quiet city, but it's a great base for exploring this amazing country (and region). 

I'm slowly making my apartment into a home; things are starting to go up on the wall.  It's a slow process as I deliberate and change my mind frequently about where to put things, but I'm putting my new power drill to good use!  There is still a big pile of boxes to go through, but I'm making progress.

One thing I'm enjoying is having a great kitchen to cook in.  I spend each weekend trying out new and time-tested recipes and experimenting with things like making cheese (I am a super beginner in this hobby!).  This weekend I made vichyssoise, one of my favorite childhood summer treats, and it's as wonderful as I remembered.  Tomorrow will be beef stroganoff (I found sour cream!) and fresh corn on the cob.  And, as always, fresh fruit on the side. 

C'mon, don't you want to visit?

Every Little Thing Gonna Be All Right

As I've said before, I really love driving.  A lot.  And I've not yet hired a driver.  Partly because I have yet to find the right person and partly because I actually really like driving.  Sure it's stressful here, but it's liberating and fun at the same time.

So today when I needed to meet a group going to Ngamba Island to see a chimpanzee conservation project at the Entebbe Wildlife Center, I was excited for my first real drive out of the city.  I was a little apprehensive about getting the right road out of town and left quite early to avoid traffic heading out of the city.

The drive was easy and pleasant, and the roads were clear.  I made it to Entebbe with plenty of time to spare.  I thought I drove by the turn off to the wildlife center, so I looked for a place to turn around.  There were about three cars behind me.  I spied a gas station up ahead on the right and proceeded to turn.  I put on my turn signal.  I know there was nobody coming in the opposite direction.  The cars behind me were all slowing for me to be able to turn.

I turned.  And as I was halfway into the gas station's entrance, I saw a blur of yellow on my right and - in slow motion - I watched a box truck plow into my side of the car and crumple my entire front fender.  Stunned, I just sort of stopped and watched in shock as the truck - just a few second ago so eager to continue towards the airport - hurriedly turn around and take off in the opposite direction.  I was still in "oh my god did that really just happen?" mode and turned off the car, got out, and asked the bystanders whether it was my fault.  They all shook their heads adamantly and said no.  Then they said I should have signaled, maybe that would have stopped him.  I am pretty positive I did.  I always do.  The truck had come out of nowhere and decided to pass four cars on a two-lane road.  By the time he realized I was turning it was too late.

As the crowd grew around me, I finally realized that I had been in a car accident and that I was unscathed.  No bruises, no scrapes, no cuts, no whiplash.  I called the Embassy and reported what had happened, still a little bit in shock.  Then I called a friend who could help put a chain in motion of help.  I started crying while on the phone with him and didn't stop for about an hour.  The phone calls kept coming, people checking in to see how I was, whether I was safe, ask what I needed.  I couldn't stop crying, out of anger and shock and embarrassment more than anything else.  The bystanders had written down the truck's number plate.  They helped me move the car farther onto the property in a safe place and pick up the scattered pieces that might be vital for repairs later on.  I entertained the thought of just loading all the parts into the car and driving to the wildlife center to catch the boat.  After all, the car seemed mechanically sound.  (That was my first impulse the only other time I've ever been in an accident too, when I hit a tree driving down our icy dirt road and totaled my beloved Saab.  I was fine then, too.)  

Instead I waited in the car, reading a travel book, until help arrived.  A quick assessment of the damage and it was decided the car could be driven back to the garage in Kampala, 40 km away.  I felt calm enough to drive again.  My colleague removed the crumpled fender and jerry-rigged the broken parts enough to drive the car.  We waited for the police to come, but they never did.  Instead, amazing me beyond belief, the owner of the truck came.  He had heard about the accident - whether from the driver or a bystander who knew him, I don't know - and he came to make sure I was okay, apologize for his driver, and to offer to pay for repairs.  This floored me.  He didn't have to do this.  Many people wouldn't.  But he did, and he was sincere.  And I am grateful for that.  It's not about the money, though that's helpful.  It's about the compassion and responsibility and business ethics. 

The drive back was slow but only slightly nerve-wracking.  I put in Bob Marley's Legend, one of my favorite albums, and sang along.  The steering alignment was off, the car was a bit shaky, and there was quite a bit of screeching noises.  But I made it, thanks to my wonderful colleague escorting me.  Traffic was awful by then, but we still made it.  A friend met me at the garage, where we took pictures of the car and I finally breathed a sigh of relief and laughed about it.  We ran errands and had a normal Saturday.  I came home and cuddled my cats and started to decompress.  I tried to nap but my mind kept running through things.  Why hadn't the airbag deployed?  What if I had realized that I hadn't actually missed the turn, that it was still ahead?  Will my car look as good once it's fixed?  I finally got up and invited friends over for a movie fest.  They brought dinner and snacks and we had a great evening of normality.  A great end to an eventful day.

When I looked at the calendar late this evening I realized that one year ago today I walked into my mom's hospital room, hours before she had surgery for a brain aneurysm.  There's something about late January, apparently.  But both these misfortunes ended well, which is as much as anyone could ask for.  And as for the chimpanzees, I'll see them another day. 

My poor car.

The door didn't sustain too much damage, but the door handle is gone.

Salvaged fender and headlight.

I got some odd looks as I drove back like this.

Eeeeeeh.

Other than a crack in the bumper, this side is unscathed.

Get well soon!

4th Foreign Service Swap

Ack, I meant to do this last week, but the internet company kept shutting off my connection, and I got frustrated.  They assure me this has been fixed.  Which they also assured me of the first 15 times, but oh well.

The awesome Amy, a fellow FS-blogger and Basketville-aholic, is hosting the 4th annual FS Swap.  I have only participated once before - before realizing that it was difficult to compile a KSA care package - but it was a lot of fun!  And now that I'm in a country with awesome and available/affordable/abundant handicrafts and am excited to play again!  And you should too!

So meander on over to Amy's blog and leave a comment by January 19th.  And if you happen to be in Moscow, Amy also has a labrador puppy that might interest you.  She's a cutie!

Lake Victoria Cruise

Last month I joined a group of colleagues for a sunset cruise on Lake Victoria.  Aside from distant glimpses of the lake from my apartment complex and the occasional drive to/from the airport in Entebbe, I hadn't really spent time on/near the lake.  The cruise was fairly sedate - far from a booze cruise, which suited me just fine - and we had a lovely time spotting birds and admiring the lush greenery along the shoreline. 

This country is truly blessed in its weather and ecology and environment - I am thankful every day to serve in such a gorgeous and weather-pleasant country.

I have plans to go on a different sort of lake cruise in a couple of weeks so will hopefully have more pictures from a different area.

Speke Munyonyo Resort - our launch, and site of dozens of weddings on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

To me, acacias are a quintessential sign of being in Africa. I love them. And if I am mistaken and this is not actually an acacia, just let me revel in my misconception :-).

A number of people in canoes were on the water - some fishing, some commuting.

We saw tons of birds, including this pretty flock.

Gorgeous egret hanging out in his little island of plants

Sunset over Lake Victoria

Sights, Sounds, and Smells

How's that for a hodgepodge of topics?

Let's take them in turns.

Sounds:  I have been puttering around today with my iTunes playing in the background.  And I know it's a playlist of my favorite songs, but, man, is it really hitting the spot!  Every song brings great memories and associations.  Don't you love that?

Smells:  I came home the other day to a terrible smell in my apartment.  It smelled like something burning.  I assessed every outlet and appliance with no success.  I thought I had isolated the smell to the living room and opened windows to try and flush it out.  When I went to bed it was still not gone, so I let the cats into my room so they wouldn't spend all night with the awful smell.  They are not easy to sleep with.  So that meant I didn't sleep and was almost late for the shuttle for the next morning.  (I was almost late not so much because of the lack of sleep but because my hot water was nonexistent, and I spent the morning trying out each of three showers trying to get hot water to no avail.)  Before I left I hastily scribbled a note to my housekeeper to try and find the smell and eliminate it.  When I came home she told me it was from cleaning the oven.  Which made perfect sense!  I felt stupid for not thinking of it earlier.  She apologized for worrying me; it was not a huge deal so we laughed it off. 

In the good smells department, I have been getting fresh bouquets of flowers at the farmers' market on Fridays.  I pick out a weird assortment of flowers and have the vendor put them together prettily, and I am always amazed at how inexpensive the total is.  For such gorgeous flowers that would cost tens of dollars in the U.S. I pay a fraction of the cost because they're locally sourced.  This week I have an odd combination of fuchsia anthurium, gerbera daisies, lilies, and some purple baby's-breath-like thing.  It is making my house smell so amazing, particularly the lilies.  I love it!

As for sights, this is the really exciting one!  Way to bury the lede, I know.

I came home from work the other day and walked inside and starting putting things away.  My doorbell rang; it was a neighbor who had been a few steps behind me coming up the stairs.  She asked whether I'd seen the monkeys.  Umm, no!

Sure enough, I went back outside and found a whole troop of vervet monkeys in our backyard!!  I had only previously seen one monkey at a time, so this was super exciting.  The troop had one alpha male, several mature females, numerous juveniles, and two little babies.  There were about 15 in total.  They were inside the fence around our pool and on the stairs up to another neighbor's house and were having a grand old time!  They had absolutely no concern for us being there.  The juveniles jumped and played and fought and just were absolutely adorable.  The alpha male did some exploring, played a little hide-and-seek with us around a lamp post, and climbed up our building to get a better view.  The babies alternated between trying to play with the juveniles and cuddling with their moms.  At one point I ran inside to grab my camera and probably spent 30 minutes out there watching them until they finally moved on down the hill.  My favorite pics and videos were of the moms cuddling and grooming their babies.  The juveniles also provided some great comic relief by jumping into and promptly falling out of a very small tree.  A couple came close to us but never frighteningly close. 

My experiences in southern Africa with vervet monkeys was always overwhelmingly negative because they associated humans with food and made general pests out of themselves, knocking over garbage cans and literally stealing food out of people's hands at safari camps.  This troop in particular does not have that same association, thankfully, and none of our neighbors have any intention of doing anything to change this.  Our guards say they've never even tried to get into our garbage cans, thankfully. 

Anyway, I love these neighbors.  They only come around every now and then and are very self-sufficient and non-threatening.  People have come to find a monkey sitting on their porch furniture before, but that's about as invasive as they've been.  It's a nice little neighborhood :-).

Enjoy some of the pics below.  The videos won't upload with my slow internet, so these will have to do.  (Note: I reduced the files sizes to get them to upload, so the quality is not great.)

Juveniles playing in the yard

One of the more curious monkeys

Chilling

The tree they liked to jump into.  And fall out of.

Trying to coax the juveniles to get a move on.

Momma and baby.

Contemplating a swim.  They did not swim, thankfully.

Foraging :-)