I am a woman with an agenda and a raggedy "to do" list. I mean this list is torn, stained, creased. This little piece of crummy paper has helped guide me through the pre-trip breakdown period.
I leave for Africa in a week, y'all. And my brain is complete mush. I have everything from travel toilet paper to anti-malarials to krazy glue to duct tape to a frst-aid kit that would put Macgyver to shame. And i was doing pretty good with this home stretch of packing and tying all the loose ends.
Then, I got home yesterday and turned on my tv to HBO. And do you know that there was this movie on called Duma. A movie filmed in Southern Africa. A movie about a boy returning his pet cheetah to the wild. This was such a divine thing catching this movie. It was so random, and on HBO at that! and it showed me all the landscape i will see when i get there. (I also learned that the only thing that scares lions is fire). There were so many growls and real animal sounds when night fell. I couldn't believe it! i was freaking out a bit. in one week, I'll be there sleeping in the desert beneath the stars. riding on the river in a log canoe. taking pictures of hippos and the like.
i can't wait to write all about my trip. i'll be 30 upon my return. can't hardly believe it.
i'm looking forward to my time away from my surroundings. time to reflect on my life and put things in perspective. i plan on posting tons of photos on this site, so get ready!
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6 comments:
Have a fanstastic trip, April. I will check back with you.
Hey there! I can't believe it's already trip time for you. I was on vacation (again) with my husband from March 1-17th and did not check email or my blog on a regular basis. Don't panic about buying a whole bunch of stuff, travel light because you can get everything you need there. Yes, always carry some toilet paper with you, better safe than sorry, but it is widely available at shops and you will be surprised at how "modern" most of Africa now has become, especially the southern countries.
I've been quite busy since my relocation to the Washington D.C. metro area, haven't really had time to tend to my blog, but I hope to get more active in the near future and I will be sure to stay in touch! You're gonna have a great time and I know you'll meet tons of fabulous people to have interesting conversations with, especially if you stay in smaller guesthouses and take public transportation. As an African-American, people will also be more interested in talking to you, to see what your "story" is.
One important tip, be very careful to keep your passport secure, i.e. do not take it with you when you go out for the day, leave it in the room. Do not take more cash than you can bare to loose either, hide it in your shoe buried deep in your luggage and leave that in the room. I met an Austrailian couple who were mugged, they had 2 digital cameras, cash, and their passports all in their backpack which was taken. It was a real nightmare for them, it cost $800 to replace the passports because they had to travel all the way from Arusha, Tanzania to Nairobi, Kenya for the nearest embassy, and of course they lost all their travel photos. Be sure to burn a CD every now and then just as a backup, and store it in a safe place or mail it home. Don't be paranoid, most of Africa is just as safe as Philly, though South Africa has chronic violent crime, just be cautious and go with your gut feelings about people.
Water treatment is not something I would worry about, you can buy bottled water everywhere, though while at the WorkCamp we did drink treated water because we were in an isolated village and it wasn't easy to transport water (too heavy).
Enjoy and stay in touch!!
**Crystal**
Welcome to Africa! hope you enjoy your trip. Are you visiting Nigeria by any chance? You can visit my cyber-corner at www.notesfromnaija.blogspot.com for links to some resource
Welcome to Africa! hope you enjoy your trip. Are you visiting Nigeria by any chance? You can visit my cyber-corner at www.notesfromnaija.blogspot.com for links to some resource
Woow, sounds like a really exciting trip. Hope all goes well for you so please keep us posted!
ok well now that you're back, i want to know EVERYTHING!!!
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