to WEF I go...

Tomorrow I head back to Dar es Salaam for the Africa World Economic Forum (WEF).  While most of my participation will be limited to the outskirts of the Forum I am still quite excited to be going.  The 'actual' WEF participants are all heads of global organizations or countries!


The primary reason for my trip is to coordinate the RTP activities around WEF, our relationship with UAM and hopefully assist Johann (my old boss, RTP founder) in securing some new corporate connections.  I will be there for a week and it will be pretty packed week though much of it is still in the air as I am unsure what I will get access to.


The tricky thing about any event with this calibre of participants is that security is a HUGE concern and access to the venues is therefore limited.  The other issue, well in Dar, is that every hotel is booked and they are all price gouging!  Susan, our amazing travel coordinator in Toronto, tried to book me a room at the same hotel that Johann will be at.  She went through the event company and was told that they will only assist 'registered participants'.  I ended up getting lucky as Anna, the UAM coordinator in Dar, had booked a block of rooms....so I have somewhere to stay and won't be sleeping on the beach.


The downside to attending WEF is that I will have to wear proper shoes!  This may sound like whining....which it is...but for the past nine months I have lived in my birks.  I have only put heels on twice and my black flats once.  I am preparing myself for sore feet and a couple of blisters.


I will try to post an update mid-week to let you know how its all going.

Volcano Disruptions

Picture from Fox News

My dad left Kampala last Tuesday April 13 early in the morning in one of the worst rain storms I have seen in a while.  He made it to London with the plan to spend three nights with our family friends before heading home on Friday April 16.  Well....he is STILL in London.  I think he is one of the lucky stranded passengers as he has been staying with friends and has taken advantage of the opportunity to get to know London a bit better.  I think the person really suffering is my mom, who is home all by herself and currently engaged in a war against a tail-less raccoon that she encountered on the deck.  I think she should take the time to enjoy the peace and quiet as within the week she will have not only my dad but also two sisters back in the house.  It will be Chaos!!!

I will sidetrack for a moment to talk about the munchkins - maybe at 21 they are getting too old to be munchkins?  They are finishing university!!  Well Caroline is officially done - she wrote her last exam on Tuesday and then promptly headed to NSLC (the liquor store) to get some champers and celebrate.  Good for her!!  She completed her Commerce Degree at Dalhousie University (I think with a specialty in finance) and would be a great addition to any company.  If you know of anyone looking for a super talented finance guru, who happens to be a great chef on the side please let me know.  She will return to Toronto next week.  Emily is still in exams.  I think that in 8 exam periods at Queen's University she has ended up with the final one at least 6 times.  How unfair is that!  But she is on the final stretch, has completed and defended her thesis and she too will be back in Toronto within the week.  She will start work at Toronto General Hospital (I think as a researcher in the ICU) in mid-May.  It will definitely be nice to have them both back in Toronto when I get there:)

E & C on somewhere on the California Coast

E, C and big bro (well my little bro) Oliver in Santa Monica

Back to volcano disruptions!  Last weekend I attended two welcome back dinners for people that had been out of Kampala for a while.  Well - the returnees did not make it back - they were stranded!!  We toasted them an enjoyed great food (on Friday at my fave Tuhendes and on Sunday a great Middle East themed potluck at Peter's).  The volcano has also caused some work related issues - one of my colleagues was supposed to arrive in Kampala last Friday to assist the team with some reports but her trip has now been cancelled:(  

In other news - last week I went to a Pilates class, a yoga class and had a squash lesson!!  All were fun and I planned to keep it up this week but have been sick with a head cold so played it smart and have been catching up on rest.  This weekend we will have a welcome back dinner as hopefully Trude will have made it out of Europe and back to Africa:)

photos from dad's visit

4 days in Paradise

It's official - of all the places I have visited Zanzibar is one of my favourites.  It is a tropical paradise with striking contrasts between the beauty and the apparent poverty.  There is a good balance of history/ sight seeing and prefect places to relax.


My dad and I were picked up from my apartment at 3am on Thursday morning and we headed to the airport.  We quickly progressed through check in and immigration and settled in on some seats to wait for our gate to be announced.  We left on time and were in Nairobi by shortly after 6am.  I did some quick duty-free shopping and we settled in at the gate to wait for our flight.  Also departing from our gate was a flight to Somalia and it was quite interesting to see all the women in full black hijabs with henna designs on their hands speaking on their cell phones.  The exciting thing about this flight was the amazing views of Kilimanjaro.

Kili from the plane

One of the perks of traveling with my dad is staying at nice hotels!  We stayed at the Zanzibar Serena and it was incredible.  (I should note that we booked our rooms on a Spice Tour package so it became quite reasonable.)  Upon arrival our rooms were not quite ready (well they were, but we didn't want to be on the ground floor so waited for other rooms!) so we had a bite to eat and enjoyed the views!

View through hotel lobby

Dad checking out the ocean view

We decided to do our city tour in the early afternoon so that we could get our bearings.  I had spent two days in Stonetown in 2007 but never did a proper tour so it was a great experience.  I should mention that we traveled to Zanzibar at the beginning of the Long Rain season - this means it was incredibly hot (+33) and humid (my estimate is 90%).  I am unsure when I have been quite as sweaty as I was there when not actually working out!

Old Fort

In 2007 I attended a 'Best of Tanzanian Hip Hop Concert here but did not recall it looking this way!!

View from the top of the "House of Wonders"

me in front of giant carved doors in the "House of Wonders"

building beyond repair

it cannot be town down as Stonetown is a UNESCO World heritage site but the city does not have the money to repair it...

Alley in town - the flags are from a recent Agha Khan celebration

narrow alleys that are easy to get lost in

Bright coloured building

After a snack on the way to the hotel we settled in by the pool to watch the sunset - the hotel had louge chairs set up facing the ocean....it was a perfect end to a long, hot day!

Dhow sailing across the sunset

Sunset

Friday morning we woke to grey skies and rain.  Over breakfast we decided that it would be a good day to do our spice tour and that we would hope for good weather on Saturday for a beach day.  I had been on a spice tour before and remembered it being humid but was prepared...or so I thought!  I was ready to call it quits well before my dad as I was too hot and getting eaten alive by the bugs (my fault for wearing flip flops!!).

me in one of the tubs at the Sultan's ruin's

it is a bath structure where his 99 concubines would visit him

spice used as makeup for women

don't recall what spice it is - but it's pretty:)

Dad as King of the Spice's

me as Princess of the spices

goofing around with the spice glasses!

The day turned out to be hot and sunny.  After lunch at the Archipelago Cafe we returned to the hotel for a couple hours by the pool.  I wore tons of suntan lotion and managed to avoid burning!  Late in the day we left the oasis of the hotel and went to buy some gifts for my family.....I found a skirt and dress for myself!  We watched the sunset while having some pre-dinner snacks at the Fordhani Gardens (outdoor foodcourt of seafood delights...and falafel for me).

sunset

Zanzibar dessert pizza

Saturday was beach day but the weather did not want to cooperate.  We drove around 45 minutes to the somewhat secluded Serena Magwapani Beach - near the slave caves.  The setting was perfect.  There were some traditional fishing boats and a group of boys swimming in the perfect blue water!  I settled in on my chair ready for a day of relaxation.  Shortly thereafter the rain started and by lunchtime it was a full downpour BUT it was beautiful.  It looked like there was a silver shimmer above the water.

Trying to wait out the rain

Post Lunch the sun came out!!!

sunset cocktail back at the pool

Saturday night we headed to Mercury's for dinner - I had Zanzibar Fajitas and was reminded of my love for mango salsa!  We sat on the covered balcony at the water's edge and watched the brief thunderstorms....which brought some much needed cool air!

We wanted to make the most of our last day - in the morning we headed to Prison Island to see the giant tortoises.  They are the second biggest ones - just behind the ones in the Galapagos which we had seen in 2007.  They were incredible - we got to feed them and I even picked up a couple of the babies!  

Starfish at Prison Island

Turtles mating

(yes - I do have video!)

me...speaking to a baby giant turtle

me at the Prison Boutique - it was closed though

After the Island we spent some time at the pool before wandering around town to finish gift shopping.  I went on a mission to find a store that I had seen on our tour - I was unsuccessful and got lost in the winding alleys!  Sadly, after lunch we had to gather our things and head to the airport!  The computers were down so we receive handwritten boarding passes and had to pick up our onward passes at the transfer desk in Nairobi.  We were home in Kla by just after midnight.

It was a wonderful four days in paradise and really felt like a vacation!  Thanks Dad!!

Safari Weekend

My dad arrived in Uganda on Friday morning.  We met him at the airport and we drove directly to Fort Portal to kick off our long weekend.  We hit  some traffic on our way through Kampala and my dad got his first taste of the pot-holed dirt roads that exist in town!  I think his biggest laugh was that even with all the holes there are still speed bumps!  


It was a long day in the car and after a late lunch in Fort Portal Town we arrived at our accommodation for the evening - Kitojo Tourist Lodge (where I stayed on my last visit to Fort Portal).  I must mention that the place is incredibly basic and there is NO power.  We set out for a short walk which ended at the Ndali Lodge bar (a much more expensive hotel that was fully booked.)  We returned to Kitojo had a great dinner and then early to bed to prepare for Chimp Trekking.

Crater Lake near Ndali Lodge

The drive to Kibale NP was beautiful and by 745 we had reached the ranger station and were off to see the chimps!  We drove to our starting location (where they had last seen the chimps) and set off down the road in search of them.  It was a very different experience than the Gorillas.  The terrain was much easier to navigate but most of the time we were just walking through the forest - not on any path.  We were also only accompanied by one Ranger and there had been no spotters in advance.  When I went to see the Gorillas we had a guide, two armed rangers and spotters had already identified where we would find them!  The Chimps visit was great though.  We walked through a great forest and just listened to all of the sounds.  The frustrating part is that the chimps we found were mostly in trees (I almost got peed on at one point) and those on the ground were hard to photograph (well with my camera with no flash!).

Giant Snail we encountered along the way

walking along the path

Chimp on the ground

We had completed the trek by around 1230 and had lunch at a lodge nearby.  Then it was off to Queen Elizabeth National Park and an afternoon game drive.

me & my dad crossing into the Southern Hemisphere

Buffalo, birds and antelope in the distance

Buffalo taking a mud bath on the side of the park road

Elephants on the side of the main road!

Amazing dinner at Jacanda Lodge

Over dinner we discussed our plan for the following day.  We had an early morning game drive followed by an afternoon boat cruise booked.  This would mean a boxed lunch and very little time to spend at the lodge so we made the decision to forgo the cruise.  We were back in the park by 7am and had an exciting day of animal viewing ahead of us.

abundance of elephants

note the tiny one in the front and the ones about to fight in the background!

tourists out of their cars to get a better view of the LIONS!!!

(they were far enough away that I they can barely be seen in my photo....but still they are LIONS!)

Leopard!!

Great spot by our guide Robert

we had a private viewing of the leopard

(I have some good video of it wandering)

Lions mating

(I also have video of this!)

After all of the game drive excitement we returned to the Lodge for a huge lunch and some relaxing time.

well maybe not so relaxing - Thomas brought his slakk line and I attempted to walk on it

I have a very scraped elbow thanks to a tumble but did manage to balance on it

View at the pool

waiting for the sunset

view of the lake in the morning

crossing back into the Northern Hemisphere 

Most of Monday was spent in the car as we went back to Kampala.  There was one section of the road, just prior to the Equator, that was verging on unbearable (dust and bumps) but we made it home in one piece.

Tuesday morning I sent my dad off to Jinja and went to the office.  He will return sometime this afternoon (Wednesday) and very early tomorrow morning we will head to Zanzibar!!

In non-dad visit related news....I found COKE ZERO today at a store near the office!!!  This is the first time I have found it in Uganda since October when I found it in a village in Eastern Uganda!

Meetings in Dar

The meetings in Dar were all very interesting - I think the World Economic Forum Young Global Leaders are going to have a great experience.  There are so many interesting organizations that they will get to visit - including Right To Play:)


Dar is much more humid than Kampala - and much more colourful.  The colour is due to the wonderful Kangas that the women wear.  Kangas are just pieces of material - some have them sewn into skirts, shirts or dresses while others just wrap themselves in one.  


As I promised in my last post - this one contains some pictures!

Right To Play Partner that we visited

The entire clinic was colourful - even the patients

Children playing "Infection Protection"

The 'infections' trying to break through the immune system

Children singing & laughing

Children watching the Mzungus outside

Children listening to us speak

Ethiopian Coffee ceremony - roasting the beans

grinding the beans

Boiling the coffee

I must admit I had vanilla ice cream with my coffee poured on it!

My flights back to Kla were better than the way to Dar - it always helps to read a cheesy book (Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella).  I have spent the past two days at the office working on various malaria initiatives and am ready for the weekend!!

With any luck my dad will arrive tomorrow morning and we will head to Fort Portal in Western Uganda for the night.  Saturday morning we will go to Kibale NP to track Chimps and then to Queen Elizabeth NP for safari!

I hear it will be sunny and 28 in Toronto tomorrow - enjoy those patios:)  Its not quite that nice here.