Serengeti and beyond

Well in true africa fashion and the pace of my trip, I have had not had real good internet access until now. Just entered Malawi today, my fifth country in Africa, and no, I will not be adopting any children like Madonna. Need to backtrack a little to talk about the Serengeti since I did not have time last post. Well in a word . . . it's amazing!!!!! It lives up to all the hype. We entered the park in our range rovers, because our big ol' truck is not allowed in the park. We were almost instantly met with 20 or so giraffe in the distance and then as we headed down onto the plains there were hundreds and thousands of zebra, wildebeast, gazelles, birds, water buffalos, impalas, etc. Later on we were able to check out a leopard in a tree which is a real find, because it is quite rare. That was impressive. Saw even more hippos strewn out in the waters and one even got so close to one of my cohorts that it crapped in the water and sprayed it around with it's tail. Luckily most of it missed her, but it was hilarious. At night, we were kept up by some hyenas that had come into our camp looking for some free food. They did end up chewing on some of the water containers, but supposedly they are quite chicken and wouldn't hurt a thing because they are frightened by their own shadows. The next day we headed into he Nguroguro crater which is this immensely old crater that's now filled with grass and jungles and hosts a bunch of wildlife. We witnessed about 5 lions hanging out on the side of the road including two cubs. Two of the lions actually crawled underneath the range rover in front of us for a little shade. It was incredible to see them up close. Earlier we had a herd of elephants walk in front of us. You just can't believe what it's like to see them up close. There are not words for it. Later on in the day we also witnesed in the distance a cheetah which was carrying some kind of a kill, and then 4 black rhinos which are incredibly endangered. Oh, I almost forgot, I also did a sunrise balloon ride across the serengeti in a 16 passenger hot air balloon. Another amazing experience. There's nothing like floating over the serengeti plains. We then pressed on across Tanzania stopping along the way to do a few cultural walks through tanzanian communities learning about farming and the many artistic endeavours such as woodcarving and oil painting. Our next big stops were Dar es Salaam and then onto Zanzibar. Let me say, up to now, I wasn't quite sure about the "so called" African heat. That all changed when we got to these places. Heat and humidity like nobody's business. Let's just say that I sweated for a full 4 days when we were there. That includes at night time when I attempted to sleep. Only really got a few hours of sleep at night. Luckily, at least in Zanzibar this was counteracted by beautiful scenery and blue water. Zanzibar is the former slave holding area for most of the European/mideast slave trade. It was ruled by omans up til the 20th century and did not really get rid of the slaves until then. It has a huge muslim population, about 97% or so, which is evident by the many of the woman wearing gowns from head to toe, and with a lot of those wearing veils. It was an impressive sight to see and strange, being from America, but also feel so comfortable and safe. Zanzibar was also the center of the spice trade and was at one time calle the Spice Island. We took a spice tour and learned a lot of interesting tidbits, for instance, I did not know pepper came from a vine. Beyond sweating and swimming in the beautiful blue ocean (lots of body surfing also), I did actually go scuba diving for the first time. As I have mentionned before, water is not my strength, so this was another boundary that i was pushing passed. I actually was quite happy with the results. After the initial "oh shit", I am breathing under the water and if this things breaks I will drown, I was able to relax and take it all in. Saw a ton of different sea creatures and really felt like I was inside an aquarium, constantly looking around to make sure I didn't run into the glass. Oh, to add to the excitement/hardship of Zanzibar and a big reason I haven't posted for over a week, Zanzibar has been without power for over a month. Some kind of dispute with the mainland of Tanzania. They have an interesting relationship. We only had power from about 8pm til 7am, which meant the fan, abruptly shut off at that time. Not that it was a big deal, because the fan was so slow, that it was like when you are changing the speed of a normal ceiling fan and you are wondering whether it is actually slowing down to a stop or just going incredibly slowly. Well I was wondering a lot of the time. Throw in the fact that you are under a mosquito net, and the breeze was equivalent to a strong fart, excuse my french. Well, now after a couple of really long driving days, we have entered our 5 country, Malawi. And to immediately dispel any rumors, I will not, unlike Madonna, be adopting a child. From a distance we could see the incredibly large lake, and tomorrow we will drive further down the lake's edge to settle down for a couple of days. My hope is that I will be able to do some much needed laundry and some new adventure. And hopefully, not be eaten by a crocodile, which actually happened to one of the boss of one of the fellows at UCSF, while he was working at John Hopkins. More to come. Hope I am not boring you guys. My days are full of stimuli and eager to continue.