The Twilight Zone: Gross Barmen in Namibia

Leaving Zanzibar, we headed for our last, new country in Africa this trip - Namibia. As Namibia had a reputation for having good infrastructure and being relatively safe, we rented a small car and decided to drive ourselves around the country. First stop was for a night at a hot springs resort, hilariously named Gross Barmen, that came highly recommended by a friend who had lived in Namibia several years ago.

We followed the directions to Gross Barmen, and eventually found ourselves driving down a long dirt road in the middle of nowhere as twilight approached. When we reached the gates, Josh insisted that they were lost... after all, we seemed to have arrived at a water treatment plant. It was industrial looking and there was not a soul in sight. But we asked the guard, and he told us (to our confusion and sort of relief) that we had indeed reached Gross Barmen.



Pulling through the gates and walking around the property was an experience in urban archeology. The spa complex was large, including indoor and outdoor pools, tennis courts, dining rooms, and many individual bungalows. The entire compound was designed in the 1960s and the decor reflected that abundantly. Nothing in the compound had been updated, and only superficial repairs had been made. The place had fallen into an obvious level of decay. Pulling in, we saw that we were the only guests in the entire complex. The place looked like a cross between an old wild west ghost town and the mock 1950 towns the US government used to test the effects of nuclear weapons. To say this place was creeping us out was an understatement. Josh was convinced that zombies were going to emerge from some of the dilapidated huts nearby and eat our brains.




Talking with the staff, we were assured that people came all the time, but all evidence seemed to point to us being the first guests in a while. A telling note - the sad little convenience store at the spa had food artifacts all neatly stacked on the shelves, most with dates from years ago.

At dinner, one other guest arrived, an Afrikaner, who was just traveling through and needed a place to sleep the night. He said he had heard of Gross Barmen years ago as a very popular resort and decided to visit. But other than him, and a staff of about 6 that seemed to be milling around happily with no clients to wait on, we had the place to ourselves. Truly a unique experience--if in Namibia during Halloween, we recommend going here for the creepy effect.

Zanzibar!

As the finale to the East African portion of our trip, we spent 4 days on the tropical, Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar. We split our time between Stonetown, the hub of the old Arabic spice trading routes and the seat of power for the Omani sultan, and Mtemwe beach on the easternmost part of the island. Our impression of Zanzibar is that it has a great, laid back atmosphere (evidenced by a significant Rasta population), amazingly white, powder fine sand beaches, crystal clear, warm aquamarine waters and lots of good food.


Buh-bye beard!

After arriving in Stone Town, one of the first orders of business on Susan's agenda was getting Josh's beard sheared like a sheep. Someone was getting tired of the "Grizzly Adams Chic" look that Josh was going for. 30 minutes later, Josh was once again, a trim, dapper fellow.

A few of our favorite memories of Stonetown....
- The endless supply of good street food that popped up at night by the seaside. Eating inexpensive and delicious meat-on-a-stick is fun enough, but toss in moonlight shining off the water on a mild evening while sitting on the grass and you have a real winner.



- By dumb luck we were in Stonetown for Sauti Za Busara, an annual music festival. We heard musicians and dancers from all over Africa, and very much enjoyed experiencing this cornucopia of sights and sounds surrounded by locals.

-One hilarious moment at the music festival came after the mindblowing performance of this incredible group from Morocco, Oudaden. They were a group of about eight men wearing traditional clothing, all with beards. We went up to them after they performed in order to pay them some well deserved compliments. They thanked Susan, took one look at Josh, with his newly trimmed beard, and assumed he was a brother. They kissed him heartily, on both cheeks. It was awesome.

- One night we had dinner at a place (recommended in the ever-popular Lonely Planet) called Two Tables. It turned out to be a little restaurant with, you guessed it, two tables in the middle of an Indian family's home. While we were eating a sumptuous home-cooked meal, family members were watching TV and playing on a computer.




We also spent a couple of days on the beach. This was the long-awaited 'we are on our honeymoon so we must have at least a few days enjoying umbrella drinks' portion of the honeymoon.

We ended up in a little town on the eastern coast of Zanzibar called Mtemwe, with incredibly fine sand like baking flour and ocean water about the temperature of a recently run bath. Our first night we stayed in a quaint little bungalow on the beach right next to the local fish market, where we watched fisherman bringing seafood in from the boats, young teenagers pulverizing octopus (apparently to tenderize it, we learned) and locals hawking fish to other locals. It was mesmerizing.



The second night we treated ourselves to our only night of luxury on the entire honeymoon. We stayed at an INCREDIBLE place called Azanzi, with superb food (the chef made a chocolate cake specially for Josh), airy, relaxing rooms, impeccably polite (but still friendly) staff and absolutely incredible views. After several weeks with no hot water and bug-infested tents, Azanzi was a welcome and amazing change. It was like a little mini-vacation from our honeymoon! If planning a trip to Zanzibar, think about staying at Azanzi - azanzibeachhotel.com

A few of our favorite memories from Mtemwe beach...
- Doing yoga for an hour together on the beach with about 50 local boys arranged around us in a semi-circle transfixed by the site of us twisting ourselves into human pretzels. We must have been greatly amusing, as we held their attention for about 45 minutes. Actually, while we did not get a good look at the kids, Josh is sure that Susan was the real object of the attention, given she was doing yoga in a bathing suit and the local kids were boys. Boys will be boys, regardless of the culture...



- Going for an afternoon snorkeling trip. We saw amazing things during this underwater safari: lovely colorful fish, sea cucumbers, a stingray, sea turtles, and even a pod of dolphins!!



- Hanging out and falling asleep in a hammock built for two on the beach under the moonlight. Susan has always been a sucker for hammocks, and Josh turns out to be one too.

Susan and Josh vs the Volcano

Our final destination on the Tanzanian mainland was Lake Natron, which is one of the 'soda lakes.' These are lakes near volcanoes that have a high acid level, are often dry and basically have a 'lunar landscape' appearance. Also, these lakes seem to be big draws for flamingos - thousands of them.



While at the lake we saw the flamingos (but could not get too close due to the very muddy conditions) and also took a long hike down a deserted path to find a beautiful waterfall hidden deep in the canyon. No one else was anywhere nearby (except for, of course, a couple of Masai women trying to sell us beaded bracelets - see the previous Masai posting). Being waterfall chasers, we shucked off the clothes and went for a swim in the waterfall and the little pool behind it. Absolutely amazing!




Lest readers think that we had nothing but smiles for one another for the entire duration of the honeymoon, we got into a little 'tiff' at Lake Natron. A local offered to guide us to the top of the nearby volcano on a midnight hike. Hiking conditions you ask? Hiking up a 3000 meter mountain in the middle of the night, contending with high winds in the area, walking through deep ash all the way to the top, and last but certainty not least - the volcano was active!! At night you could see it glowing red and sputting out loads of sulphur gas. The guide said new volcanic vents were opening up each night and pouring lava out.

Three guesses which of us wanted to hike the bloody volcano to the top and which of us thought that we should just get a good night's rest.

Our would-be volcano guide. Honestly, does he look like someone you would follow up an active volcano in the middle of the night. On the plus side, his hat is aesthetically pleasing and makes Josh's hat look downright manly.



(For the record, we didn't end up doing the hike, due to the insistence from ONE of us. It was a perfect, cloudless night, and would have been an exhausting but romantic hike. But we'll never know about that because we didn't even try. Three guesses who added this last line.)

Tanzania: Where the Wild Things Are

We spent 5 days in northern Tanzania on safari, in search of the "big 5" and great photo opportunities of all the cute, fuzzy animals. We visited Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti. The experience was amazing and we saw myriad animals and birds, big and small.

The scenery was astounding and changed dramatically as we travelled.

Because these parks have no fences, it's absolutely essential that you stay in your car the entire time. Our safari vehicle (hilariously named 'Tellulah' by our local guide) was this amazing 4 x 4 land rover with a pop-up roof, so we could stand on our seats and view animals from a good height.

Because we travelled with our own personal guide, we specifically asked him to seek out areas of the park that were more remote so that we would be away from other tourists. So we drove for hours without seeing another 4x4, and when the engine was turned off, all that we could hear was the sound of the wind.



Middle picture: yes those lions are mating. It lasted about 7 seconds. Not kidding.

We kept track of everything we saw and could identify (well, we could not identify much, but our guide could identify almost everything we saw) and our final count put us at 45 types of birds and 39 types of animals. We won't subject people to the complete list but we saw all the 'greats' multiple times (lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, leopards, warthogs, hippos, vultures - it was like a reunion of the cast of the Lion King).

The animals also cooperated, for the most part, and did Discovery Channel types of things. We saw lions mating, leopards dragging a kill up a tree, cheetahs jogging, vultures circling, elephants trumpeting, and serval cats stalking. Alas, we never actually saw a "kill" in real time. We did, however, learn a valuable lesson about Susan-- she can get pretty blood thirsty and alternated her tactics between goading/encouraging/scolding the big cats in her efforts to see them make a kill. Takeaway - stay on Susan's good side.

One of our favorite experiences while in the Serengeti...

We camped out in tents every night in the middle of the Serengeti. Because there are no fences around the camps, visitors are instructed to be pretty careful going to the toilets in the middle of the night. Susan was never able to heed this warning, because she NEVER makes it through the night without a bathroom break. But on our last night in the Serengeti, when Susan needed the bathroom most of all (see 'Master of Disaster' entry), she did NOT venture to the bathroom.

The reason? Our campsite was where the wild things were! We woke up in the middle of the night to elephants trumpeting, just feet away. A couple of lion prides had entered the campsite to duke it out for bragging rights, but were no match for a hungry herd of elephants, who, after chasing the lions away, spent the entire night munching on trees just behind our tent. Hearing them breathe, snack, and call to each other was just miraculous. We also poked our heads out of the tent and watched the elephants eating in the moonlight. A highlight of the entire trip.

The next morning, the elephant herd was still near the campsite, and Josh took about seven thousand photographs in ten minutes.

Masai - the traveling sales people of E. Africa

Our first couple of days in Tanzania were spent with a local Masai guide who took us to his home village in a small place called Monduli. The Masai are well known for their traditional lifestyle, which includes customs such as polygamy (however, see below) and drinking cow's blood to stay strong (and they are! -- very strong and healthy). The scenery was beautiful and we had some memorable experiences. Highlights include:

- Susan going to a disco party held at our guesthouse at 2am to dance with the locals. Susan's comparative advantage was aptly put to work--making first contact with another culture through the universal language of booty shaking. This is what you learn with a PhD in international relations.

- Learning about the Masai economy, where 'cow is king.' FYI for our guy friends planning on marrying into a Masai tribe: you'll need at least 10 cows in payment for each wife you want.

- Learning about Masai sexual practices. We heard from several sources (although we don't know if this is just one of those things they tell foreigners to get them interested) that married men and women sleep around quite freely. If a man puts his spear outside a woman's hut (even if they are not married to one another), that means that no one is to disturb them all night.

- Being ambushed by Masai traveling saleswomen. This warrior culture seems to have abandoned fighting for bead work. Every female, regardless of age, has some homemade beaded bracelets to sell. You can walk for hours without seeing another living soul and sure enough, around the next bend in the middle of nowhere a Masai woman is waiting to sell her bracelets.

- Susan is "picked" by the local Masai men during a mating ritual dance. The picture below is from the dance, with high jumping a symbol of potency. Thank goodness the west doesn't measure male potency in this manner, since, as the saying goes, white men can't jump.

Kenya: Camptown races all day long, oh do dah day!

We have arrived in Nairobi, Kenya. Our first stop? Wild-life safaris? Exotic bird watching? Exploring old Arabic trading towns? Nah. Instead we pretended to be colonials and went straight for the Nairobi horsetrack.

Susan enjoying a mint julep as the horses go by

Alas, while we were not successful in our goal of having the horses pay for the honeymoon, Susan was able to make us a bit of money, from some excellent betting. We won BIG with a horse called 'Riptide.' Love that name. We should qualify: when we say we won big, we mean that we were able to pay for lunch.

Besides her talent at picking winning horses, Susan also further showed her superhuman ability to shmooze by somehow finding and befriending the owner of the winning horse and getting us both invited to spend the afternoon up in the owners' boxes. Once there, we had drinks and some good conversation and basically pretended we were British colonials to fit in with all the other owners.

All in all, a thoroughly good afternoon. I dare say, well done old chap!

Sadly, our tourist time in Kenya was cut short by several ailments (see Master of Disaster entry), but we did have several wonderful meals with several amazing friends: Fletcherites Lisa Karanja, Martin Masumbuko, and Manal Stulgaitis were all gracious hosts and gave us a taste of local Kenyan fare.

the people of Uganda...

A word (two, actually) on the people of Uganda:

Absolutely amazing.

For one, there's the ability of 90% of the population to carry 20 kilos of bananas on their heads without using their hands.

Even more wonderful is the incredible genuine-ness we have encountered, and the refreshing and sincere smiles of children wherever we go. They do not seem to tire of waving at us as we drive by, and we have loved the gentle greetings of everyone we pass on the streets - young, old, teenagers, whomever.


Here is Susan, ready to bust a move with the Ugandans, anytime, any where.










Here is Susan bonding with a Ugandan woman over, naturally, her hair: 'So what do YOU use to get out the knots?'

Kyangwali Refugee settlement: We are amazed and humbled.

Susan and Josh working with the refugees at tilling the soil









Josh walking with a group of refugees through the market











Just back from a week in Kyangwali refugee settlement, on the Uganda-Congolese border. Kyangwali is one of several sites in Uganda where refugees live on land that has been specially appropriated for them. (Unlike camps that Susan has visited before, where refugees are kept in camps and need to depend upon international aid for food, refugees in Uganda get their own piece of land to farm and live off the food they harvest).

It was an unforgettable week. Despite no electricity, incredibly basic meals, and absolutely no amenities, we had a very, very special time.

The refugees with whom we spent time had been through very tough times, as you might imagine - some were orphans, some had been raped, or injured with bullets. (We worked primarily with Congolese refugees from the North Kivu region of the DRC, although Kyangwali also hosts several thousand Sudanese refugees.)

In addition to hardships too numerous to mention, the refugees face current challenges that blew us away: they produce their own food (digging, clearing the land, planting, harvesting, all year long), build their own mud huts, make their own shoes and clothes.

We two, with our advanced degrees - we can't do any of that. What can we do? Write a paper? Big deal.

The students we met were inspiring. While there is primary school in the camp, it still costs money to get books, supplies, and fuel for studying at night (remember, no electricity - and the sky is pitch black with spectacular stars), so students do extra work (digging mostly) to earn money.

There is no secondary school in the camps, which means there is only one way for students to learn past grade 8: somehow raise the money to study in Hoima, the closest town, two hours away. There, they have to pay tuition and board. There is simply no way to make this kind of money on the settlement; the refugees are dependent upon the generosity of outsiders if they want to study.

Despite their histories and, literally, having almost nothing, the community welcomed us in. We were amazed at the perseverance, optimistic attitudes, generosity of spirit and resources, strong sense of community, and constant level of friendliness we were shown. These kids (we dealt mainly with 16-24 year-olds) were truly remarkable and inspiring to us.

Here are some of our favorite moments:

-When telling one refugee that Susan grew up in an apartment building (like a very tall house) that was big enough for more than 120 families, he asked, "Did all 120 families build the apartment together?"

-One refugee knew about carbon dating but had never heard of dinosaurs or the Big Bang.



-Susan taught several refugees a song in Hebrew -- they picked it up in about fifteen minutes. They REALLY know how to sing. Then she learned a song about Jesus in Swahili. (Ask her to sing it. It's a catchy melody and she still hasn't forgotten it.)

-Susan and Josh were asked to speak in church. Susan explained that they were Jewish, after which she had a very entertaining conversation with a recently arrived refugee in which she tried to explain, in French, that Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah (reaction to this: incredulous laughter from all sides).

-We were in Kyangwali on US Inauguration Day (and we were able to watch the Inauguration thanks to the one solar powered TV nearby) and Susan gave a little talk to the students about Obama's presidency and why this didn't necessarily mean that all of Africa's problems would be immediately solved. Josh's favorite part was when Susan got herself all worked up and tried to explain that blue states are mostly coastal. The children's eyes sort of glazed over at this point but Susan just kept right on talking.



-We also did a drama workshop in which the students got to act out small scenes cut out from magazine ads and use their voices and faces to display emotion, without using words.

This is a wonderful and special community to which we felt quite close when we left. For more information or if you'd like to be involved, financially or time-wise, contact us directly.