|
This is me with Jessica, a darling hippo now 7 years old. Found abandoned as a baby just hours old during the floods of 2000. During the day she lives with her ~human~ family; at night she joins the wild hippos down the river. She loves her velvety soft ears being tickled & adores human contact. Not many people have lived to tell the tale after having been so close to a hippo's mouth!! My darling Jess with her trusting eyes..
|
Leaving SA for Zanzibar in a double heatwave, it was scorching hot!! We had cyclone warnings a few days before, had it hit, we wouldn't have flown. Arrived in Zanzibar during a lightning storm, & then my luggage didn't come off the plane..at 11pm and tired, not funny! It made its way to Dar Es Salaam instead. Paperwork in triplicate with Mohammed who assured me (yeah right!) that my luggage and I would be reunited the following day.. As it happened it was, without anything missing. Apparently this happens a lot.. A case of the 'I-can't-be-bothered-attitude' |
Paul and I at Matemwe Beach Village club, on the East side of the island, we had a nice hut not a million miles away from the beach. Lovely white & talcum-powder soft sands, but the aqua sea had plenty of seaweed and coral to cut your feet on. This is what they failed to tell in the brochure! I had visions of turquoise waters without seaweed and nice soft sands without nasties and coral; therefore great for snorkelling and playing....In my dreams :O( But the break did us good, we managed to get a good tan (burn to be precise!) and when we did go snorkelling with the dive boat, we ended up having a faberoonie time, and swam with dolphins! |
This is the view from our balcony, scaffolding "Zanzibar" style..We were right in the midst of the hustle & bustle, the dust and the heat of old Zanzibar town. Paul and I went on a city tour with the help of a local guide who took us places we would never have gone to had we been by ourselves. The market being one of them.. this was a true 'experience'. the smells of dead and live fish & chickens together with the blood & gore! Lets just say that since that day I no longer had chicken for dinner whilst in Zanzibar - not after what we saw on that market. A donkey appeared out of nowhere and clip clopped through the cobbled streets, shop keepers enticing us into their shops. There were so many sights to behold, I didn't know where to look first! |
I came across these 3 Maasai boys on the market as they were in the process of buying a knife (a crocodile Dundee "this is a knife" knife!) from the guy on the right. He was an albino, black with mottled pink bits on his face and pink hands.. sad to see, and the poor boy must be living a difficult life! But this didn't deter him from have more than excellent selling skills! The Maasai in blue on the left is now a guard at a local Zanzibar hotel,not only does this earn him a wage, but he is now also a 'tourist attraction'. I think they are fascinating people, very friendly, all of them tall, and most of them good looking. |
We flew past Mount Kilimanjaro on our way back to Nairobi |
We came across this old lady on our way to Lake Magadi (one way in/out via a few villages along the way) and where the flamingos are. Out of nowhere from behind a bush at a cross roads, appeared this old lady. She had a wealth of beaded gifts for sale with prices picked out of thin air.. We eventually ended up buying a Rungu Club (a short stick that Maasai men carry around with them) I can't recall exactly what we paid for it now, but I do remember her walking away with a huge smile on her face! This Rungu thing now has price of place with our other African momentos..and yet another story |
Finally! after a good many years did I manage to get myself over to the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage in Nairobi..and here I am with Dame Daphne - a darling lady!! |
We met up with Cake at Kanchanabury train station waiting for the 'Over the River Kwai' train. I think 'she' adopted us, only 20 years old, clip clopping away in her heels, false eyelashes, beautifully made up - a real poser! Cake took a whole load of pictures,I hope she sends them to me as we had our camera stolen on our last day in Koh Lanta! All our 2000+ pictures and memories gone.. we are devastated. If you are reading this Cake, please email me! you have my card. |
|
