Rwanda Day 7: Final Day

It's our final full day here. In the morning, we drove around the city, viewing the different neighborhoods, including where the very rich live. We also visited the Kigali Memorial Center. This is the main genocide memorial of the city, where several mass graves hold the remains of a quarter of a million people.

The memorial holds a museum outlining the recent history of Rwanda, a floor discussing other historical genocides (in other countries), several well designed gardens, and the mass graves. It took over an hour to go through the entire thing, and it was pretty overwhelming. Several of us agreed that the most emotional part was the "Hall of Children," remembering young people who were killed, and some who survived. One of the quotes from a survivor was a girl who was 10 in 1994. The quote read, "Now when I'm in a large market, I continue to believe that I might find my brothers." This was particularly touching to me, because I have three brothers myself.

For our last lunch, we went back to Chez John (the place from last night) so that Stan could have Rwandan food. He was ill last night and couldn't join us. Then Andrew dropped us at the hotel, where we got a couple of hours' rest and re-packed in preparation for tomorrow.

We spent the evening with one of the BVU students from here, Valery, and his family. They own a new hotel here in Kigali (the Luxury Hotel), and we got a full tour. It's really nice, with beautiful suites. Valery's father treated us to dinner there, and we met his adorable youngest brother and sister as well.

We have all been touched in various ways due to this trip. It's hard to put it into words, and I think the full impact will be easier for me to view when I've had some time to process everything I've seen. After the Holocaust in WWII, many countries vowed "Never again," but the genocide here was less than 20 years ago, and the entire world turned their backs. It's hard for me to believe that it won't happen again -- not necessarily here, but anywhere.

That said, there is so much more here to see than death. The people are hospitable, thoughtful, friendly. The scenic views are gorgeous. The new generation is hopeful. I would like to come back, perhaps with students next time. Everyone should visit this place. Thank you to those who made my visit possible.

Rwanda Day 6: Youth Programs & Parliament

This morning we visited Issa's youth center, where we got a tour and were told more about the various programs they have there. They help about 4000 kids at any given time just here in Kigali, and their focus is on (1) health, (2) education, and (3) sports. They combine all three foci in the various programs, as I mentioned before, in things like using soccer to teach conflict resolution. They also use soccer for HIV education, etc. They have a small library, various places for the kids to interact, a place to practice driving a bike or motorcycle, etc. It was a fun visit. We got absolutely mobbed by kids who were on recess from school and who wanted to both practice their English and touch White people. Our guide told us that even though they see a lot of White people, they still enjoy the novelty of touching White skin to make sure it feels the same as their own.

It was nice to spend the morning talking with people who are really working toward positive change and solutions, as an alternative to simply visiting the genocide memorials. I think it's absolutely important to visit the memorials, as a reminder of what happened and that it should never happen again, but simply remembering is passive. For positive change, we need to be active.

After the visit, we stopped by an African buffet restaurant called Karibu (Swahili for "welcome") for a quick lunch, then walked around a neighborhood with grocery stores, a bookstore, etc.

In the afternoon, we were treated to a guided tour of Parliament, which is just across the street from our hotel. You can still see bullet and grenade holes from when the RPF took over the government to end the genocide.

The Rwandan parliament has two houses, similar to the U.S. parliament, and we were able to watch a few minutes of the current session of the Chamber of Deputies (the other house is called Senate). They were discussing and voting on a new law about banking. After they voted, the speaker announced that five professors from BVU were visiting, and they projected our picture on the big TV, asked us to stand, and they all clapped. It was very exciting for us! Thanks to BVU student Sonia and her mother for arranging the tour.

Tonight, the BVU students met us for dinner again, this time at a place called Chez John. It had authentic, local Rwandan food, which is exactly what we wanted. Afterward, we were invited to Cassandra's house for a little after-party. There, I was finally able to try banana beer! We've been reading several books about Rwanda, and all the books said that banana beer is what everyone drinks here. But, whenever I asked about it in restaurants, people just laughed at me and said, "Try asking in someone's home." Apparently it's like moonshine or something, and people just make it in their back yards (there was actually an exhibit about this at the National Museum in Butare). While I wouldn't drink it all the time because it's very strong, it tasted pretty good -- kind of like peanut butter, surprisingly.

It was so nice to spend time with the students again, and their families, and to hear their perspectives about Rwanda and Kigali. We have felt very welcome, and we have many offers of things to do the next time we are here!

Below are photos from the party tonight, Parliament, and the youth program from this morning (again, Blogger won't let me put them in order).

Rwanda Day 5.5: Dinner with BVU students!

A quick update to our day today. We met up with several current/former BVU students for dinner tonight, at a wonderful restaurant called Zen. It was so nice to chat with them about our experiences so far, and get their advice on things still to do. We'll be able to meet most of them again for dinner tomorrow, and they've promised to try to find a good restaurant for true Rwandan food. It was a really wonderful way to end the day.

Rwanda Day 5: Memorials, Market, & Reconciliation

First, an update on last night. We wandered along a new path and eventually found an Ethiopian restaurant. We were all excited to try it, because even if it's not Rwandan, at least it's African. It was quite good, with several blobs of different foods placed on top of a huge piece of flatbread. After that we came back to the hotel, where we had discovered that they have 10 flavors of home-made fruit sorbet. I tried the passion fruit, which was amazing (even though it took about an hour to get the order right).

So, this morning we started the day by visiting two genocide memorials. They were both a bit out of town, and on the way we passed a large swamp where many Tutsis tried to hide from the killers. Most were not successful.

Both of the memorials we visited were in Catholic churches. A very typical story in Rwanda in 1994 was that the local Tutsis ran to the churches, hoping for mercy. In one of the churches today, the guide said that the priest basically traded his own life for the lives of the congregation, and the Tutsis being gathered in one place simply made it more efficient to kill them. In the other church, a nun is remembered for standing up to the killers, holding them off for some time, but eventually they shot her, then killed the 2000 people hiding inside.

Both memorials were moving and depressing. In one, they had gathered school books into a pile, showing how teenage Tutsis continued to study until they were killed, hoping to go back to school after being saved. In another, they showed us the stained brick wall where Hutu killers smashed babies to kill them, in order to save time and bullets.

On the drive back, our driver/guide Andrew told us the story of his own family. His parents were both Tutsis who left Rwanda to escape the earlier genocide in the 1960s, and they became refugees in Uganda. They had known each other as childhood neighbors, and eventually they married. He was born and raised in Uganda, and in 1995 returned to Rwanda to begin his life here. He's now married with four children.

He told us that we had time to visit two markets, for some souvenir shopping. The first one we visited was a market that is used mostly by local Kigali people, and it had food, used clothes, fabric, and a few shops with hand-made crafts. One of Rwanda's historical industries is basket weaving, and most of us purchased some wicker bowls made by Tutsi survivors to earn money. We then went to an "artist market" where they had all the same stuff for five times the price, because that market is where most of the tourists shop. We all thanked Andrew for taking us to the authentic local market first!

In the afternoon, we met with a great man named Issa. He's lived here for several years and has worked on or developed several programs relevant to reconciliation, peace, and human rights. He described many of the programs to us, including things like using soccer as a "theatre of the oppressed," staging skits on the street where players get into an argument, then ask the audience for ideas on how to resolve the problems.

My favorite program he described was called "The Rescuers," and it seeks out stories from Hutu people who acted to save Tutsis from the genocide in various ways. These are people who protested the genocide by risking their own lives to save others. He described that the purpose of this program is really twofold. First, when Hutu killers claim that they had no other choice, presenting them with stories from the Rescuers prevents their argument from holding weight. Second, when Tutsi survivors claim that all Hutus are evil, presenting them with stories from the Rescuers prevents them from being prejudiced against an entire group of people (which was the cause of the problems in the first place).

Tomorrow morning, we decided to visit one of the programs Issa oversees, to learn more about the details of what is happening. It seems like he has many ideas for ways to reach the next generation as a prevention methodology. We're looking forward to it.

Tonight, we're also looking forward to dinner with several current and former BVU students who are living in Kigali with their families.

Below are some photos from today (the blog program won't let me put them in order). The first one is the blood stain on the church at the first memorial. The second is a fabric stall at the local market. Third is the swamp where many Tutsis hid during the genocide. Finally, the school books found at the first memorial, where children hoped to be spared and return to their normal lives.

Rwanda Day 4: Independence Day!

July 1 is the national Independence Day for Rwanda, and today is the 50th anniversary of the holiday! What a great day to be here. On this day 50 years ago, Rwanda officially declared their independence from Belgium, which had been occupying them for many years, and was the government which originally made the official distinction between the Hutu & Tutsi ethnicities, driving racism between the two groups.

The celebration was held in the stadium of Kigali, which was also important in 1994 as a base camp for U.N. soldiers first, then the RPF (the freedom fighters who ended the genocide, led by Paul Kagame, who is now the President). The stadium holds 35,000 people, and it was packed! But we got there early enough to get good seats.

I'm glad we went, but it did make for a long, hot day of sitting in the sun on concrete slabs that made the stadium chairs. Here's a basic order of events for the day:
- Sit in the stadium for one hour, waiting for the festivities to begin
- On a small stage near the middle of the field, various small military bands sing and dance
- Various famous Rwandan pop singers perform
- Traditional Rwandan drummers & dancers perform
- All branches of the military march around the track, then stand in formation for a while
- We all take about an hour break of doing nothing, while everyone waits for the President of Tanzania to show up. Boring, soft music is played in the background.
- Several motorcades of cars finally drive in, from which various important political guests pop out, including the Tanzania president and President Kagame.
- The military marches around the track some more, and Kagame makes a show of "inspecting" each unit.
- The military marches out.
- Some speeches are made in Kinyarwanda (the local language).
- More traditional drumming & dancing.
- Special military unit marches to the center of the field, does a pretty awesome martial arts demonstration.
- Stand up comedian performs but it's in Kinyarwanda, so we don't get any of what he's saying.
- Awesome skit commences. Twelve young "hooligans" horse around on the field, clearly up to no good. Three teenage girls walk onto the field, trying to get safely to school. The hooligans try to rob them and push them down. The three girls commence in kicking their asses using super-sweet martial arts moves. The crowd goes wild as some guy gives a speech about how this skit is teaching the country a lesson about female strength and how you shouldn't mess with girls and women.
- Some important political guy introduces, by name, every other important political guy there. Crowd politely applauds for each person.
- Military units march back in.
- About 10 helicopters fly by the stadium, some trailing Rwandan flags.
- Kagame gives speech, in English (which we all thought was weird). He talks about how the future of the country is one of reflection, not celebration, and that it must value fairness. He states this will only happen when people take responsibility for their actions and stop saying they were the victims of outside forces.
- Individual motorcades pick up individual political guests while the entire crowd patiently waits.
- Crowd leaves, ushered by secret service.

So all in all I'm glad we went. By far the best part was the skit where the three girls kicked butt -- they were doing all sorts of awesome martial arts moves. The speech by Kagame was very interesting as well. But, we were definitely ready for it to be over.

Now we're taking a break in our hotel rooms, before meeting up for dinner. We're hoping to find some local, authentic food.

Below are a couple of shots from the stadium today. One of the guys walking around checking out the military is Kagame.

Rwanda Day 3: Monkeys & A Memorial

We started the day fairly early, so we could go on the Colobus monkey trek promised to us to make up for yesterday. We were all a bit wary, and wore our dirty, torn, sweaty clothes from yesterday just to make sure we didn't ruin any more clothes. The morning trek turned out to be easy and beautiful, and we saw a family of monkeys waking up, eating breakfast, and getting ready for the day. It was quite a relief!

We then stopped at the tracker office to change clothes, and we just left our clothes from yesterday behind where some local people grabbed them up. Then we started back on the journey to Kigali. On the way we stopped at a little grocery store, where we all bought little fresh pastries. I got a bottle of Coke and a cheese pie, which were delicious, for a total of $1.50.

Our other stop on the way back was the Murambi Genocide Memorial. This was our first destination that wasn't animal-based. We've all been reading books and watching films about the history of Rwanda and the events of the genocide. The main purpose of the trip is actually for us all to study the Rwandan genocide of 1994 from different perspectives. During only three months, about one million Tutsis were murdered by their friends, priests, and neighbors during a graphic ethnic cleansing. The Murambi Memorial is one location where this happened.

The site was originally a technical school. When the genocide first started, Tutsis in the area were told to go to the school for protection. Really what happened is that the local authorities waited several days without providing food or water, then slaughtered them all with guns, machetes, and grenades. They then dumped the bodies into several mass graves, while the French soldiers played volleyball about ten feet away.

The memorial has a museum showing photos of the people involved, recordings of speeches, etc. It also allows visitors to see the mass graves. Finally, it has hundreds of bodies on display. When the people were buried, the heat from the mass graves partially mummified the remains, and when they were later dug up, many of the bodies were treated with chemicals to preserve them. The bodies are now laid out on multiple tables across multiple rooms.

It was a stark and depressing way to remember why we are really here. At the same time, it was very moving. We were all touched by the stories of survivors. It was a quiet four hour ride back home to Kigali, while we all thought about what we had seen.

Once we arrived back in the capital city, we decided to visit the Hotel des Mille Collines, which is known now as "Hotel Rwanda" to people who have seen the famous film. This location was where many Tutsis survived the genocide, although how exactly that happened is somewhat controversial. Still, it was a good way to end the day, and we ate our dinner there. Over dinner we all shared our thoughts about the memorial and what we had processed through the day.

We're ready to go to sleep now.

Rwanda Day 2: I'm Seriously Right Now

The fact that you are reading this means that I have survived our ordeal today. Let me explain what happened, so you can realize why that fact is somewhat surprising to me.

We all got up ready to go for our 4:00 am trek through the African rainforest, to find wild chimpanzees. We did not know what to expect, but Andrew (our driver and Kigali guide, who has brought us here) told us, "There's no hiking -- just walking on a trail." Great, I thought! So we left the hotel, having no preconceptions other than that for what was in store for us on our "chimpanzee trek."

Our first surprise was a two and a half hour drive on a "road" that was just packed down dirt on the side of the mountains going into the rainforest. Andrew himself expressed that he had never taken this way before, and he was not expecting the rough road. It was about two inches wider than the car (which is sort of like a Jeep), and we were treated to another "African massage" on the way. We finally stopped outside of a very small mountain village, because the chimpanzee guide stopped the car and told Andrew that the road was too muddy to continue, due to the rain yesterday. So, we all hopped out.

We were given nice walking sticks, and told that we were lucky, because the chimps had been spotted only 20 minutes away, an easy walk. At this point, I kind of thought that the entire experience would be sort of like visiting Busch gardens or a fancy zoo with cars, and that the walking sticks were just to give tourists an "exotic" feel. So, we started the walk joking around, in high spirits.

Very soon, we were told that the chimps were moving away in the opposite direction, so we had to backtrack through the village and walk on a different way. OK, no problem. We get all the way back through the village, then start walking on the side of a hill where several women were busy planting sweet potatoes. The "path" was about three inches wide and EXTREMELY slippery. And the "hill" was at about a 45 degree angle, with nothing to stop you if you slipped and started to fall down it. At this point, I started to wonder what exactly we had gotten ourselves into.

After about 20 minutes of walking through the sweet potato field, we got to some banana plants, and the hill started to get even more slippery. Jamii fell and dropped her walking stick, then had to climb down about 10 feet to retrieve it. Note that she broke her hand just two weeks ago and was doing all of this with a still-broken hand. I slipped and was instantly covered in wet mud. Swasti slipped. Everyone started slipping. Then we started walking up the mountain, through the rainforest.

There was not a path. The mountain slope was about 70 degrees. There was a man in the front with a machete, attempting to clear the way. The guide pointed out that we should be aware of random, deep holes and stinging nettles everywhere. Also, don't bother the flesh-eating ants. So for the next hour, we climbed the mountain. For much of it, the slope was so steep and I was so afraid of falling that I was literally crawling up, covered in sweat and mud.

We got to the top of the mountain, and the guides told us to take a short rest while they radioed other people who were supposedly following the chimps, keeping track of where they were. Our "rest" was precariously sitting on the side of the mountain while the sun beat down on us. After a few minutes, the guide told us that the chimps had heard us coming and had gone down deeper into the valley, but that the trackers would scare them up the side so we could see them. OK, so at that point, the two hours of steep climbing felt worth it.

We sat there for about an hour. Then the guide told us that the chimps had moved, to the next mountain over. Seriously? OK, fine. So we climbed up the rest of the mountain, slipping, tripping, falling, crying. At one point, Jamii expressed this thought: "When you make the conscious choice that grabbing hold of the stinging nettles as the way to stop yourself from falling to death is a good choice, something's gone wrong."

We made it up to the top of that mountain, then down the other side, then half way up the next mountain. On the way I asked the guide if this was a typical day for him. He looked surprised and said, "Oh, no. This is the most difficult trek I have ever been on, in my entire life." I asked him if the way got any easier. He answered, "I don't know. I've never been this way before." Awesome.

So after five hours of this, I was about to die (again) about twenty feet directly vertical of Jamii, and we made eye contact. We instantly shared the common thought of, "We're done -- this is crazy." Immediately after that, we got to a spot where we could all sit and rest for a few moments while the guide used the radio to get an update from the trackers. He then announced, "Well, the chimps have moved...they are on the next mountain. It will take us a while to get there, and the way is much steeper. It will be more difficult."

Immediately, Swasti, Jamii, and I agreed that five hours of near death was plenty, and we told Matt and Stan that we wanted to quit. They offered to quit to stick together, but we told them not to quit if they wanted to keep going. We then told the guide that we needed to stop, and so he had a conversation with some of the trackers who were with the group (it was in the Rwandan language, so I'm not sure what they said). Finally, the guide told us that the road was about 30 minutes away, and that one of the trackers could go with us, then call the car to pick us up once we got to the road. Hallelujah! The three of us split off and made it to the road, then to the car.

We waited there with the car for about two or three more hours. Finally, the group walked back to where we were waiting. They reported that they walked about 30 more minutes, then the guide told them the chimps had turned around again. They walked back to where they left us, walked about another hour through very steep terrain, then sat there for 20 minutes while the guides and trackers just sat and stared around. Finally, the group kind of made the consensus decision that they were also done, and the guide admitted that the chances they would see a chimp today were "extremely low." So they walked the hour back to the car (again, on the extremely steep, wet slope, holding on for dear life).

In total, the adventure lasted around seven hours of hiking/walking/almost dying, not counting the driving portions. Our guide/driver Andrew (the one from Kigali) was extremely surprised and said that he had never heard of this difficult a hike, and that this was the very first time people had failed to see chimps in this park. Too bad for us, I guess. Still, he felt bad for us, so he's arranged for us to get free passes to see the portion of the park where the colobus monkeys live. We were hesitant to even accept that, but we told him it would be OK if it were (1) tomorrow instead of today and (2) an easy trek! He assured us that it was easy, so we have accepted.

We are now back at the hotel, trying to recover. This may not sound that adventurous to you, reader, but seriously -- I thought I was going to die about five times, and I am thankful that I can make the choice that I never have to do that again.

Here are a couple of pictures showing where we were. One is of far off -- beautiful, right? And the other is of close up -- that's what we were walking through.

Rwanda Day 1: Travel to the Rainforest

Our first full day in Rwanda was today. We spent most of the day traveling South, from Kigali to the rainforest at Nyungwe National Park. It was a six hour drive, so we got to see quite a bit of the Rwandan countryside. It's a small country (about the size of Maryland, I think -- one of the states up there), but it's known as the "Land of 1000 Hills." The scenery did not disappoint, as we drove through hill after hill of gorgeous green trees and plantations. The plantations were mostly tea, pineapple, rice, and banana. They eat lots of bananas, but many of them are also fermented to make banana beer.

About half way there, we were able to stop in Butare for lunch. Butare is known as the education center of the country, due to the four universities there. We first visited the National Museum of history, where we learned about both ancient and modern history and culture. It was very interesting; I particularly liked the section on "pre-historic divination." They explained that early Rwandans were pretty superstitious and believed in psychics, and one common way of telling the future was by melting two balls of butter together. How they melted would tell you your future (watch out for the butter Grim!!).

After the museum, we were finally able to try African food! So far our cooks have made us delicious meals, but they were always "Western" things. So we tried an African food buffet today. It was surprisingly familiar, mostly, with stuff like beef chunks and fried chicken, but there were also relatively new things, such as plantain and banana chips, along with a huge bowl of sliced avocados. It was pretty yummy. I had noticed lots of avocado trees lining the streets in Kigali, and our new guide (Andrew) said that they are free for anyone to pick and eat.

We drove through Butare, so I have posted a picture below, in case you're curious to see what a typical African city looks like. It was pretty representative, from what I've seen. Of course, I'm sure smaller villages are quite different.

After Butare we started to get to higher hills, and eventually we drove through part of the rainforest. It was so beautiful! We found out that this ridge of hills/mountains is the African continental divide.

We then got to our hotel, which is a magnificent lodge on the top of a mountain, with individual villas for our rooms. The hotel balconies look out at Lake Kivu. As I'm writing this, there's a man setting up a fire in the fireplace of my private living room. He said that after dinner he'll bring me two hot water bottles, for my neck and back. I have to admit that between sleeping in a rain-soaked tent versus sleeping in a swanky private villa with my own fireplace, I'll pick Option B.

Tomorrow we get up at 4:00 am to find some rainforest chimpanzees!

In Rwanda!

Today was mostly a travel day. We had a five hour drive back to the Nairobi airport, coming from the Maasai Mara. The remote dirt road was extremely bad in some places; we were told we were getting an "African massage" from all the bumps. Still, it was great to see the Kenyan countryside for the last time.

We had a good flight on Kenya airways (a 75 minute flight served us a hot meal!), and landed in Rwanda. Our first impression is that it's absolutely gorgeous here. There's no litter (due to heavy fines) and almost no crime (due to severe "security"). The famous "1000 hills" are beautiful -- although hopefully they won't cause me problems with motion sickness.

After checking into the hotel, we all immediately took long, hot showers, as it's been three days since we last bathed. We then took a walk around the neighborhood and had dinner. We all toasted the McCorkles for making this trip possible.

Tomorrow we have another long drive. We'll stop by the city of Butare for lunch, then drive to the rainforest for a day trekking chimpanzees.

Safari Day 4: Maasai Mara and Tanzania!

After a great breakfast cooked by our new Maasai friends, we headed out for a full day safari. New animals today were mongooses, two cheetahs, and crocodiles! We also saw several more lions, for a total of eight lions spotted on this trip (2 male, 6 female). Two of the females we saw today were hunting together, so we saw them stalking a pair of wildebeests. We saw many more zebra, elephants, giraffes, buffalo, etc.

One exciting surprise was that because we were out all day, we were able to actually cross the Kenya-Tanzania border! We ate our picnic lunch in Tanzania just into the Serengeti, where we were entertained by velvet monkeys and mongooses who were trying to steal food from us. We took a photo of all of us standing on the border between the two countries. I guess that means I get to add another country to my list, making it around 14 other countries I've visited so far. Most of those trips have been paid for by BVU, and I am so grateful.

A fun part of today's safari was that we got to see the Mara River, which was home to several dozen hippos who were staying cool by submerging themselves in the water. We also saw three baby crocodiles sunning themselves on the banks of the river. Our Maasai guide for the day explained that the crocodiles generally leave the hippos alone. He also showed us the spot where the wildebeests cross the river during the Great Migration each year (it was a huge, muddy mess!). During the drive, our guides actually pointed out a huge herd of wildebeests heading that way, and they said that it might be the very first herd, starting this year's migration. It was amazing to see.

While all of the animals were fascinating and beautiful, my favorite part of today's adventure was the early evening, when we were able to visit an authentic Maasai village. They've started to allow visitors to stop by for a tour in exchange for a small fee, which they told us goes toward school supplies and uniforms for all of the villagers (there are about 300 villagers in this particular community).

They demonstrated their traditional dance for us, as well as how they make fire by rubbing a stick of hard wood onto a stick of soft wood, all on top of the blade of a sword, then they take the hot shavings and put them into dried grass to start the fire. I'd never seen that actually done before! We were able to get a tour of a house as well. They make the houses out of cow dung, which is completely biodegradable, sturdy for about 10 years, and extremely comfortable in either cold or hot weather.

They also told us about several traditions, such as taking rotations in watching the herds in the savannah, their practices of multiple wives (which only rich men can afford, as he must give the wife's family a gift of 10 cows), and how they drink raw blood. Finally, we went to their marketplace, where each family has a stall to sell their handmade merchandise. I wasn't planning to buy anything, but the local Maasai man who had given us the tour said he really liked my watch and was willing to trade for it. While I kind of wanted my watch for the trip, it was just a simple thing from Wal-Mart, so I decided to go for it. What a great opportunity to try something I had never done before! So he told me I could have anything in his stall. I asked him how much the hand-carved and hand-painted masks went for, and he said, "I ask $30, but I'm willing to negotiate." I told him I would trade the watch for two masks, and he said yes if I were willing to throw in another $1000 shillings (which is around $12.00). I said that was too much, but I'd give him my watch and $500. He tried to talk me up to $1000, but I stayed firm. I don't really care about $6.00, but it was fun and we were both happy. Actually, he was so happy at the end that he said I could pick out any necklace as well, so I took one of an African mask that's made out of hoof.

We were allowed to take as many pictures as we wanted, and he asked me if he could have copies, so I gave him my business card. He said he would use the local school's computer to send me an email with their post office box address for the town nearby, and I'll send him some printed copies and a couple over email as well. He told me that next year, he's going to sell several goats to pay the tuition to attend school for two years to become an official tour guide, then he'll come back to his village. It was a really fun and educational day.

We then came back to the camp, had dinner, and sat by the campfire for a couple of hours, talking about our impressions of the people, the safari, and everything we've experienced so far.

Kenya was beautiful, exciting, and exotic. But, I'm very much looking forward to seeing Rwanda tomorrow, after our flight. I'm also looking forward to being able to post all of these entries, and to a hot shower (none of us have taken a shower for three days!).

Safari Day 3: Maasai Mara

Last night it rained pretty badly on our campsite, and Jamii and I were sharing a tent. Most of the stuff in our tent got pretty wet, including us. But, that's OK -- it was an interesting experience.

After breakfast, we did the five hour drive to our new location, which is Maasai Mara. This is a huge area owned by the tribe of Maasai people, who are traditional herders. They still live in this way, and their land is apparently protected from the government. They are one of the tribes in Africa who alter their appearance to be more beautiful. For this tribe, they stretch their earlobes to be as long as possible.

On the drive through their territory, we saw some of the same animals as before, just hanging out on the savannah. We saw herds of zebras and gazelles, along with two new animals: ostriches and wildebeests.

Our new campsite is in "permanent tents," which means concrete slabs, large tents, and actual beds. But still no electricity, and the camp is hidden among trees and bushes in the middle of this valley. After we unpacked the van and had afternoon tea, we headed out to find some animals.

This time we saw an elephant crossing the road almost right in front of us! That means that we've hit four of the "Big 5" so far. We also saw more zebras and gazelles, a serval cat, and three more lions! It was one male lion with two females. Some other people told us they could see three females, but either way it was great. We were fairly close, but it was hard to see them through the very tall grass. Julius said that next month is the "great migration" of wildebeests through this area, and while they move through they'll eat all the grass.

Dinner was great again, but George (our cook) left us, and now our cook is a local Maasai man. Still, they make "Western" food for us to eat. I'd love to try some authentic African food, but I guess that will have to wait until Rwanda.

After dinner we all spent about an hour sitting around the campfire, and we ended up talking about Kenyan politics and law, and then comparing Kenyan and U.S. economics, such as real estate. It was great to hear Stan's perspective on economics. This kind of conversation is exactly why the McCorkle Fellowship is valuable; we all get to gain from the experience by having colleagues from different backgrounds here.

It was another exciting day. We've all been saying that it feels like we've been here at least a week, instead of only three full days.

Safari Day 2: Lake Nakuru & Hell's Gate

We woke at 6:00 am today in order to see the morning animals, in case they were different from the ones we saw yesterday. Matt says we were checking to see if the leopards changed their spots. But, we didn't see any leopards, so we'll never know.

We did see several new animals, including jackals, warthogs, and gazelles. Also, Matt spotted two hippos that were out snorkeling. It was exciting to see the hippos, even though we only saw the top of them out of the water. Our goal has been to see the "Big 5" safari animals, which are lion, rhino, buffalo, leopard, and elephant. We've seen the first three on the list, and we're lobbying to add giraffe, flamingo, and hippos. Actually I don't care about any birds, but Matt made me add it to the list.

Swasti says to include the maribou storks, because they look like creepy old men in trench coats, so they are interesting.

After our morning safari we had breakfast and packed up to drive to our next location, which is Hell's Gate Park. The guide explained that the park got its name because many years ago, the volcanic area looked like steam coming through the ground above Hell. The steam is still there, but now it's from the power plant they built to harness the steam. I was excited about this particular park, because it's one of the only ones (if not THE only one) that allows visitors to walk around outside of the vehicle. So, we did that in the part of the park with big animals. We tried to get close enough to a herd of zebras for some close-up shots, but there were three babies in the herd, and the adult zebras were very protective, constantly shooing them away. Still, it was a great experience to just walk freely in a valley full of zebras, impala, water buffalo, etc.

Next, we drove a short distance to see an amazing natural gorge that was created by the volcanic earthquakes. The gorge was truly beautiful (and deep!), and we were able to walk around inside with the help of a guide. There was a fairly heavy drizzle going on, and signs posted everywhere to beware of flash floods. We had to climb around, through hot springs and waterfalls. It seriously felt like a movie or a video game, and about two minutes after I mentioned that to Swasti and Jamii, the local guide explained that this is the gorge which (1) inspired the scenery for Lion King and (2) was the on-set location for the filming of "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider." We got to go inside the opening of the "tomb" from the movie.

Now we're hanging out in the campsite while George makes dinner. So far his food has been great, so we're looking forward to a good evening. Tonight we really are camping: we're sleeping in small tents, we have no electricity, etc. It was another fabulous day! Earlier today we all chatted about how fortunate we are to be here, and how grateful we are to Paul & Vivian McCorkle for making this trip possible.

Safari Day 1: Lake Nakuru

This morning, we ate a good hotel breakfast and met our safari guide, Julius, and our cook, George. We then drove for about four hours to our destination, the national park and wilderness preserve at Lake Nakuru.

The first thing we did was go to our "cabin" for lunch. The complex is actually 4-5 concrete buildings, including the main house, which consists of a kitchen, dining room/living room, two bedrooms, and a bathroom. Pretty nice "camping!" We were told that tomorrow we'll be in tents, though.

After lunch, we spent the entire afternoon driving around the park looking for animals. Our vehicle is a mini-bus with a roof that can be raised so we can stand up and take photos in the fresh air. It's a pretty sweet setup. We started the day just hoping to see some cool animals from a distance. We were not disappointed -- we ended up seeing tons and tons of animals, at very close range!

Here's a list of the animals we saw today, just off the top of my head (and I'm not listing birds -- we saw tons of birds, but they are boring): zebra, giraffe, water buffalo, impala, waterbuck, pelicans (ok, one bird), baboons, colobus monkey, velvet monkey, white rhino, and LIONS! We got so many amazing photos. Swasti and Matt were able to get the best ones due to their deluxe cameras, but I got some cool ones with my "regular" camera that I borrowed from the university TLTC office. Some of my favorites are below, so you can see how close we were to the animals (because my zoom is very weak).

The lions were of course the most exciting for us. We actually got to see a male/female pair lounging around, and our guide told us that twice a year for four days in a row, they mate every 15-20 minutes. So that's why they are so tired! But our timing was ideal, because after we waited around 15 minutes, sure enough, they both got up, sniffed around, did the deed, and went back to sleep. We felt very lucky to have invaded their privacy in such a way! I'm sure some day the female lion will be all embarrassed that there are compromising photos of her in circulation, like Kim Kardashian.

We're all tired out from the amazing day. It's hard for all of us to believe that as I'm writing this, we've only been in Africa for 22 hours.

Nairobi!

We've safely arrived in Nairobi, Kenya. We're only here in the capital city for one night, as we leave for the safari tomorrow morning. We'll be staying in a different place each night, I think, and we're supposed to be "camping," but it remains to be seen how rugged this situation will be. Are we sleeping in tents? Will there be showers? We have not received these answers yet. But that's OK! Part of travel is being able to be flexible, something I have become increasingly able to do due to the excellent travel opportunities BVU has provided.

We were met at the airport by a man who drove us to the hotel. We checked in, then immediately decided to walk around the local area, as this will be our only chance to see Nairobi. Our hotel is sort of out of the way, so there were only two options for us to check out. The first option we encountered was the Fairmont Hotel, which (according to the sign) is Kenya's oldest hotel, and which (according to our eyeballs) was super swanky. Actually, this is the hotel our agent first recommended, until I told her it was way too expensive. Still, it was beautiful, with security guards, a gorgeous courtyard and porch bar, etc. But, when we checked the menu and saw that a single beer was about $10, we moved on.

That choice was lucky, as we then followed the sound of music to the "Kenya Cultural Center," which looked to be some kind of theatre by day and a sports bar by night. We're near several universities, and this place had about 3 dozen local people watching soccer and dancing. We stayed to chat with them -- they were extremely friendly and happy to meet us. An entire round of drinks at this place was only $7, and seeing the local experience was so much more valuable than staying in a swanky, touristy place.

Here's a photo of the group, having our first African drinks. The beers are brewed here in Nairobi. I got a juice blend of several local fruits. The second photo is from when some of the locals decided to get in our pictures, and the man here is trying to teach us how to say their version of "cheese" for the camera, which was lots and lots of syllables.

It was a great night! I probably won't be able to post for a few days -- but check back!

In Amsterdam for layovers

We're in Amsterdam for our layover. It was supposed to be five hours, but our plane waited quite a long time for 20 people who had a late layover in Minneapolis, so now we only have about three hours. Still, it's quite nice because Swasti and I are both "elite" members on Delta. That means we get to use the Sky Lounge for free. We each get to bring one guest as well, so Jamii and Stan are here with us (Matt's on different flights, so we're not leaving him out). The lounge is great -- free internet, free food, open bar. An easy way to spend three hours.

Our flight here was also quite smooth. I gave up my "economy plus" seat for a man who had been separated from his wife and young child. Swasti told me I would get good karma points, and I'll take them! It was an eight hour flight. I watched three movies, but the only good one was "Iron Lady," about Margaret Thatcher.

Our flight to Nairobi is also eight hours. We're all hoping to stay awake, so that when we arrive there this evening we'll be ready for a good night's sleep, to help us adjust to the time difference.

The next time I post, I should be in Africa! I don't know if I'll be able to post during the first four days, as we'll be on safari, but stay tuned for the first time I can post an update. And, hopefully, some photos!

Map of Rwanda

Here's a map of Rwanda. We'll be mainly sticking around Kigali, the capital, but we will also have the chance to visit Butare and a rainforest area, in which we'll try to find some wild chimpanzees!

Preparing for Africa!

As much as I have traveled in the past, I have never been to Africa before. One week from today, I leave for two weeks in Kenya and Rwanda. This trip was made possible by a generous donation to the university from Paul and Vivian McCorkle. The McCorkle Fellowship is a program that allows 4-6 faculty members to travel to a different country every summer.

This year, the five faculty members are: Jamii Claiborne, Swasti Bhattacharyya, Stan Ullerich, Matt Packer, and myself. I'm extremely excited about this trip for many reasons.

First, I love to travel with other faculty members. They offer such interesting insights into everything we experience, from other academic disciplines. It makes the entire trip very educational. Beyond that, it's enriching to foster friendships among the faculty, building a wonderful sense of teamwork and camraderie.

Second, I'm a Social Psychologist. One of my areas of expertise is stereotypes and prejudice. While Rwanda is famous for several things (such as the beautiful countryside), perhaps it is most famous for the 1994 genocide. All of the Fellows on the trip plan to study the genocide from a different perspective. I look forward to further insights into how such events happened, and why, and how we can prevent prejudice in the future.

For this trip, we'll spend the first four days on safari in Kenya, then eight days in Rwanda. BVU has about 30 Rwandan students, so we are all looking forward to learning more about this beautiful country.