The Sheikh is coming! The Sheikh is coming!

And now for another Darfur flashback...

In December 2008, CHF International, an American NGO with a large operation in Darfur, held a basket sale. Among CHF's many projects in Darfur was a livelihoods project for displaced women living in some of Darfur's IDP camps (in South Darfur, the project focused on Kalma Camp outside of Nyala). Through this project, CHF provided materials to women in the camps so they could make traditional baskets. CHF would then sell these baskets in Nyala, Khartoum, and the US and pay the women who made them. (CHF was one of the 13 international NGOs expelled from northern Sudan in March 2009.)

CHF had a permanent basket shop at their office in Nyala. But in December, they hosted a large holiday sale at the shop. So, I decided that I should take advantage of it and maybe buy some Christmas gifts for friends and family back in the US. I was also looking for one thing for me: a decent-sized basket that I could use as a trash can.

I settled on the basket above. Well, when I returned to the IOM office in Nyala with my hands full of new baskets and wall-hangings, I was stopped at the gate by several of guards and drivers who wished to examine my purchases. One of our drivers noticed this basket in particular.

He took hold of the basket and looked at it admiringly. He then explained that, traditionally, people in Darfur keep these baskets around in case the sheikh, a traditional community leader in Darfur society, comes to visit. When the sheikh comes to visit, you are supposed to fill the basket with food and serve it to the sheikh.

Well, after hearing this, there was no way I could tell him how I planned to use the basket!

I entered the office carrying the basket and feeling extremely guilty. I relayed the story to my Canadian colleague. I was feeling really bad, but she reassured me, saying that if the sheikh came to visit, I could always empty the trash and fill the basket with food! :-) So practical...

And in the end, I did use the basket as a trash can. So, shhhhh, don't tell any Darfuris!

Serengeti Safari

The last weekend in June was by far the most exciting since my arrival in Tanzania. I joined a group of my coworkers and one of their friends for a luxury safari in the Serengeti. Although I was feeling very broke at the time, I was persuaded by the fact that the migration of wildebeast and other mammals from Tanzania to Kenya was in full swing. Unfortunately, we didn't see much of the migration, but the rest of the trip was so great that it didn't matter.

We flew out to the Serengeti in this little plane. Our pilot was a 27-year-old American guy named Sean. Because the plane was so small, one of my companions, Jacinta, got to sit in the co-pilot's seat. This by itself was pretty cool and generated several photos. But after Jacinta struck up a conversation with the pilot, he actually let her fly the plane! Cool for her but a little nerve-racking for the rest of us, particularly considering that she doesn't even drive a car.

We landed at the Seronera airstrip next to a large herd of zebra. For the first time in my nearly 3 years in Africa, I felt like I had arrived at the Africa of my childhood dreams.

We took advantage of the last hour of so of sunlight to go for our first game drive of the weekend, and within the hour that we were out there, I saw more wildlife than I saw duing an entire year in Alaska. The numbers were astonishing, but the highlight was surely this adult male lion. According to our guide, he and his female companion were off for a post-coital nap.

The next morning, we awoke before sunrise for an early morning game drive. Many of us were complaining about the hour, but when we encountered two female lions out for a morning stroll, we quickly forgot about the time. These two lions decided that they were going to go for a walk down the middle of the dirt road, so we decided to go with them. Our driver/guide drove slowly along next to them as we tried to snap a few good photos. And in the end, I had the best experience of all. While the others were standing up and taking photos out the top, I sat down and leaned out my window. This meant not only that I was about eye-level with the lions, but it also meant that, on one or two occasions, one of lion walked close enough to me that I could have reached out and pet her. As a life long cat-person, I have to tell you, I was very tempted to do just that. But I ultimately decided that I like my hands more than I like cats!

After a thrilling first couple of hours to the morning, we headed back to the Wildlife Lodge, where we had stayed, for breakfast. From there, it was off to the brand new, super luxurious Kempinski Bilila Lodge. That being said, we were still on the look out for wildlife, so it was a slow drive over. We arrived at the Kempinski around noon and decided that we were done with the animals for the day. Instead, we spent the latter half of the day enjoying the pool, gym, food, and general environment at the Kempinski. It was amazing. I must say, however, that this luxury hotel felt really out of place in the middle of the Serengeti.

The next morning, we set off again. This time, we were preparing for an 8 to 9 hour drive back to Arusha. But that didn't stop us from spending an extra hour or so on safari. The highlight of the morning was either the two cheetahs that we spent 20 minutes watching or a baby elephant the size of an aardvark.

During the course of the weekend, we saw all of the following and undoubtedly more:

-Lions

-Cheetahs

-Leopards

-Hyenas

-Jackals

-Elephants

-Zebras

-Giraffes

-Wildebeast

-Buffalo

-Hippos

-Warthogs

-Thompsons and Grants gazelles

-Dik diks

-Ostriches

-Baboons

-Monkeys

-Guinea fowl

-Crocadiles

The drive back to Arusha was also interesting. It was long time-wise but not so much distance-wise. Nevertheless, we passed through savannah, desert, rainforest, mountains, farmland, and lakes, not to mention a few small towns and Ngorongoro Crater.

All told, we were away for a weekend and felt like we had been gone for a week...