Saturday, July 5, 2008

Parking on Graves

I would just like to say that I woke up this morning to one of the guys staying on my site saying "Dude, we parked on somebody's grave last night." After the initial obvious reaction of being slightly taken aback at the disrespect, my response was, "And then afterwards did you take a piss on it? Because that would be appropriate." At which point I remembered that that graveyard is also the garbage dump and the public toilet. There aren't actually any toilets, people just squat down and do their business wherever they fancy. So, in fact, all things considered, adding "parking lot" to the list of services offered at that site really isn't that far out of the question.

By the way, did anyone in DC (besides Cedric) see the Male Circumcision protest near the Capitol at the Cherry Blossom festival a couple months ago? Seriously. Out of all the issues to protest and the millions of things that are wrong with this world, that's what these people picked? Who on a lovely spring day would rather spend their time waving life sized placards that say "My foreskin is not a WMD" instead of enjoying the cherry blossoms? Insane.

Since this post is turning out to be about strange things, here is another: my family came to Africa! We went on a 2 week vacation to Tanzania: Dar es Salaam, Klein's Camp (a private concession sitting between the Serengeti and Masai Mara), a tented camp in the Serengeti that moves around to follow the wildebeest migration, Ngorongoro Crater, and Zanzibar. It was an AMAZING trip. Highlights include:

1. The most incredible bath I have ever taken in my life with a view to die for
2. The wildebeest migration going literally right next to our camp (as seen from a sunrise hot air balloon ride!)
3. Seeing lions, cheetahs, elephants, giraffes, buffaloes and serval cats up close and identifying 113 species of birds (no I'm not joking)
4. Going scuba diving twice in Zanzibar and seeing truly spectacular coral and marine life

5. Sundowners with Simba's aunt and cousins after randomly staying in the same hotel in Zanzibar
6. Talking to the organizer of the Obama Campaign in Zanzibar (weird, right???) - he gets signatures, raises awareness, etc, for Obama. In Zanzibar. "I pray every day for Obama to win. I love Obama. If you open up my heart you will see a picture of Obama."

7. Seeing my family!

Here are some more pictures:

Women selling fish at the market in Dar es Salaam

Stereotypical (but beautiful!) safari sunset
The next 2 photos are taken from Cesna flying between camps. looking at the Grumeti river North towards Kenya. Klein's Camp is in the bottom left-hand corner of the first pic.
Bush walk in the hills between the Serengeti and Masai Mara
Bar at the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge