Sharks, Scorpions and Turtles

"Behold the turtle. It only makes progress when it sticks its neck out."

-James Bryant Conant (1893 - 1978)

We arrived back on the dusty Oman soil 6 weeks ago. The first few weeks were spent coordinating the new staff arrivals and getting ourselves reaquainted with "working" again. Fortunately soon after, we had time to take off and venture out into the various regions of the Sultanate. We really missed this place over the summer.

The first free weekend we had we headed down to see the giant turtles nesting again. We had heard of a secluded beach up the coast that a friend of ours had found. With the directions in hand we headed out with our friends (Lucas and Tenielle) to hang out with these pre-historic, shelled marvels. Leaving the roads behind we headed up and over a small cliff and then walked to the edge overlooking the lapping sea. Just before sunset we found the beach and it was filled with hundreds of giant craters (nesting sights). Between 10pm and midnight we wandered around in the darkness and saw 40-50 giant Turtles struggling onshore, laying eggs and then heading back into the ocean. Truly mind blowing to have this all to ourselves in the middle of nowhere. Facinating.

The following weekend we took some kayaks out along the Muscat coastline. Paddling past the Sultan's Palace, the sailor burial sites, and through secluded inlets was a wonderful way to spend the early morning. As we beached in an inlet we saw several sharks darting around the shallow water. I stepped out (not seeing the sharks) of the Kayak to push it ashore. A shark half the size of our double Kayak zipped behind my leg. In our ignorance we were sure that they were reef sharks and nothing to worry about. A day later we found out that they are Bull sharks and very aggressive. There were four full sized ones (3/4's the length of the kayaks) and the smaller one that was behind me. Ignorance certainly is not bliss.

Last weekend to decided to head up to the cool mountains in the interior. Ourselves and four of our friends hiked along the inner ridge of Omans highest peak (Jebel Shams) until we hit an old abandoned village. We camped here for the night on the terraced fields of the former inhabitants and enjoyed a view into Arabia's "grand canyon". One of the best "campsites" I've ever been in. Just the six of us and the scorpion that scurried around us at dinner.

In the next few weeks we have a 5 day holiday that will see us head south to the area where the desert meets the ocean. Additionally our good friends are getting married and we are excited about this and all the festivities surrounding that event.

We are glad to be back in Oman and looking forward to sharing it with friends soon. We have lots of visits this year starting in early Oct. and continuing through Feb. We couldn't be more pleased to show our friends this wonderful country.

Zanzibar....

“Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths.”

-Etty Hillesum


After the jaw-dropping wildlife, wonderful people, bumpy roads and rolling hills in the interior of East Africa we made a push for the coastline and the intoxicating island of Zanzibar for our final week of our adventure.

Arriving on a fast ferry we docked in the port at Zanzibar town (the largest town on the island). Coming into shore the electric blue water, white beaches and stone forts come into view and it is exactly as you picture a place called "Zanzibar".

Zanzibar has had a turbulent past and has been touched by African, Portugese, British, Persian, Indian and Arab traders. It is this mix of cultures that makes the island such a facinating place to laze around. Part of the draw of Zanzibar for us is it's intertwinned history with Oman.

For much of the previous centuries Oman was the most powerful sea-faring nation in the region. Muscat gained tremendous wealth through the goods traded through Zanzibar, including the infamous slave trade. The nations are so connected that for a brief period Zanzibar was the capital of Oman and home of the Sultan. Seeing the clothes and customs of Oman in such a far off island was comforting in some strange way.

We started in Stonetown and spent a day wandering the streets and admiring the Arabic influenced arcitecture. This is by far the most tourists we saw during the entire trip. There are all ranges of people, families, and nationalities wandering the winding streets. It is little wonder why people flock in such numbers. After a day here we headed to the East coast and an area called Bweju.

Bweju is a quiet, less busy area of the island and we stayed at a place called "Mustafa's Nest". Our days were filled with lying in the white sand, swimming in the crystal blue waters, reading in hammocks and getting Henna tatoos (Tina). Life was hard. We met several interesting people ending thier summers on the same beaches as us and enjoyed sharing our final few days of holiday together.

After a summer spent on the slopes of Kilimanjaro, in the lushness of the Ugandan country side and in the mist of the Rwandan hills, the warm waters of Zanzibar was a perfect conclusion to an unbelievable summer.




Since Oman is filled with beautiful beaches of its own we were not regretful to be leaving that aspect of our summer behind. Instead it is the colours, smells, singing, drumming, laughter, and smiles of East Africa that we are the most sad to leave behind. A co-worker, who has lived in East Africa for three decades, told us that the earth in that land is "alive".

She couldn't have desribed it more perfectly.

We have already been back in Muscat now for 6 weeks and in our next post we will highlight some of the things we have done since returning.

Rwanda

"I feel more comfortable with gorillas than people. I can anticipate what a gorilla's going to do, and they're purely motivated".

- Dian Fossey

"In their greatest hour of need, the world failed the people of Rwanda".

- Kofi Annan

* To support the Gorillas check out: http://www.gorillafund.org/support/donate.php

* To learn more about the 1994 Genocide check out: http://www.kigalimemorialcentre.org/old/index-2.html

Arriving at the packed border we waved goodbye to the 9 Ugandans we had shared the tiny car with (including 2 wily men that jumped on bikes to ride around a police check and re-enter the car) and walked into Rwanda.

Growing up in Canada the Rwandan crises was a news story that filled our teenage years. Since then we've read several books and had a keen interest in the country. The excitement of walking into a country that had been so "far off" and "exotic" as a youngster was humbling. We are very fortunate to have these opportunities.

As we packed into the nearest minibus we weaved through the towering, terraced hills that characterise this immensly populated country. Not an inch seemed spared as the fields were being worked with hoes and machetes the entire 3 hour journey from the border to Kigali.

We must mention the inevitable unease that accompanies being in a country so soon after a tragedy as occured here 14 years ago. Although we both knew it was foolish, you could not help but look around at anyone over the age of 25 and think they either did something terrible, saw something terrible or were forced to live through something terrible. Of course, these thoughts soon passed but the reality of those events still filled everyday. From the accused genocidaires in the pink prison uniforms working the streets to the horrific injuries people were walking around with, you couldn't help but be affected.

That being said, the county's current slogan is "WE are Rwanda" and they seem to be living by it. Presently citizens are picking up ID cards that do not distinguish between "Hutu" and "Tutsi" but merely "Rwandan". The aid dollars are pouring in and from the outside looking in the progress is stunning. Above all there seems hope despite the tragedy.

Arriving in Kigali we walked the streets reliving the stories we have heard. The city is remarkably French, extremely organized and almost European in its atmosphere. A world away from its neighbours it is an entirely different "Africa". A long afternoon of struggling up the hills of the city we ended with a beer at the pool of the Hotel Mille-Collines (Hotel Rwanda). Being little more than a decent hotel, with a garden and tall hedge its hard to picture this as a scene of such heroism.

The following day was spent at the Genocide Museum in Kigali. It is very well done and presents the tragedy as respectfully as posisble. During our visit a group of visiting Rwandans around our age walked with us. As we all walked on many became overwhelmed with the awful images and stories on display. The screams and tears of these young people was heart wrenching. Living through the death of their nation and now reliving it through this museum is a feeling very few can ever empathize with.

A few days spent in the surrounding towns later we had both a better perspective on daily Rwandan life and a bad haricut (at least I did). While waiting for a bus that was coming "soon" I thought it a good idea to get my haircut in the street. Sure enough there was a willing participant and he assured me through hand signals that he knew what he was doing. I walked out with a shaved head and only the bottom half of my beard intact. The crowd approved but I wasn't setting Tina's heart ablaze with my new look. Fairly ugly fella.

Eventually we made our way to the North East of Rwanda and the hills made famous by Dian Fossey's "Gorillas in the Mist". After getting to the staging post we set out with 8 others, our guide, two soldiers and a "trail blazer" (dude with a machete). We tracked the gorillas for 3 hours through the thisk mist until we came to a clearing and saw the magnificent animals. We were surrounded by the 39 members of the Suza family. We spent the most speechless, unreal hour of our lives watching the movements of our hairy cousins. They are truly without peer.








This family is the largest in the region and includes four 400lb silverbacks, two twin babies and "Poppy" from Dian Fossey's research. No words I can write can approach describing them so instead we will fill these pages with their images. It was an honor to visit them.

Having spent several days in Rwanda we met many interesting aid workers, researchers, an old friend and people trying to "make a difference". These people are doing wonderful things but it is the Rwandans themselves that have made the biggest difference. They are Rwanda.

From here we made a mad dash towards our final destination of the summer - the white sands of Zanzibar.

Uganda - The Pearl of Africa

"The person who has not traveled widely thinks his or her mother is the best cook".

-Ugandan Proverb (does not apply to our mothers)

Leaving Tanzania we had both been very ill for several days. When we felt ready to board our 16 hour bus (when are you ever ready?) and off we went. One breakdown, a bus change, two border crossings, several problems later we arrived in Uganda 35 hours after departure and at midnight. Emerging from the garbage filled, cramped, sweaty bus we stepped out into the dark streets of Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

Uganda is a country filled with a tumultuous post-independence history. Much of the remnence of Idi Amin’s rule is still visible today and glamourized in the book and movie “The Last King of Scotland”. The country is poor, the people are very kind and the land is lushly beautiful. When John Speke first arrive he declared it the “pearl of Africa” and one would be hard to argue today.

A few days spent in the busy streets of Kampala and we hitched on to a budget safari heading to Murchison Falls National park in the North West of Uganda, along the Congolese border. Having not planned or budgeted for a safari we were thrilled to jump in our little vans with pop off roofs for a few days of camping in the national park.

Driving into the park monkeys, baboons, warthogs, and buffaloes scurried around our vehicle. Spending dusk at the Falls we watched the sunset over the source of the Nile and listened to the animals in the distance.

At dawn the next morning we grabbed a ferry across the river and drove into the densest part of the area. Seeing the array of animals in this savannah setting was utterly surreal. It was not as packed with animals as areas like Kruger, the Serengetti and Ngorogoro crater but it was stunning for us.

As our van drove through the tall brush all the animals in the area had stopped and looked our way. Suddenly out from our left sprung a pride of seven Lions almost into the side of our truck. We had accidently arrived in the path of their hunt. Seven lions circled our truck looking beyond us to the animals in the distance that they had been stalking. We stared in awe.

We floated in a tiny boat down the Nile to the base of Murchison Falls. The fiver was filled with hundreds of Hippos, crocodiles, etc. From our small boat we could appreciate the sheer size of the hippos and grace of the elephants on the shore. Very cool three days.

From here we grabbed a bus and headed to the south-west corner of Uganda and an area called Lake Bunyoni. It’s a giant lake sprinkled with several islands and a great place to escape the hectic environment of the mainland. Being awoken by dawn drums and singing from the distant islands, using lanterns as your only source of light and enjoying food that requires 5 hours of warning to prepare you can’t help but relax. We met many interesting people in this area both local and aid workers. Its cross section of populations as you can look into both the Congo and Rwanda from the surrounding hills.

After a few days here we piled into a local shared taxi (10 people in a tiny car with the driver sitting on someone’s lap) and headed to the Rwandan border. We have both been interested in Rwanda for many years due to its recent history and the presence of gorillas. We were about to learn much more about both in the coming days.

We will post these stories in the next two weeks.

Hope your summer is winding down well where you are in the world.

The roof of Africa

"Where there is a will there's a way"

-some idiot that obviously never hiked at altitude before.






We arrived in the Tanzanian unofficial capital of Dar es Salaam in the early afternoon on a bright June day. Immediatley the bright colors of the orange dirt, clothes that people wore and the lush vegetation was welcomed after a year living near the desert. Even as our plane prepared to land on the shores of East Africa the colours of the earth and vegetation were vibrant.


After a day in Dar we arranged an 8 hour bus to the Northern region at the foot of Kilimanjaro. The trip was filled with tiny villages boasting all types of tribes with their colourful clothing, spears and piercings. All attempts to pierce my lips and hunt with a spear proved pathetically futile. We based ourselves for a few days in the larger, friendly town of Moshi.








From this northern city we started our climb of Kilimanjaro. Along with our support staff we also had a Spanish couple join us. They had just gotten married and he was a true, slightly out of his mind, mountain man. But she didn't really seem to know what she was getting into. (this made for rather entertaining exchanges of Spanish passion on the hill - translation: "what the hell have you gotten me into you...".) He planned this part of their trip and glossed over many of the challenges with "no problem, no problem". Loco.






For 4 days we slowly hiked for 7 hours a day towards our final climb. These days were very easy, very slow, very tame walking days. They say the key is to go "Pole, pole" (slowly, slowly in Swahili) and we certainly did that. The final summit day starts at 11pm when we are awoken and prepared to go up. On this final day we cover a 2000m climb (combined day and night) in about 12 hours. We start that day at 3800m and end at 5800m. Victoria (the Spanish girl) fell very ill that night so we went on without her.





In the freezing cold dark we climbed and climbed using our headlamps to find the way. Our lead guide was awesome and sang through what has to be a challenging physical experience for anyone. I just followed behind Tina. She climbed and climbed. I puked. Then she climbed and climbed some more. I puked again. What a tough guy eh? The altitude really played with my stomach and head on this final climb. The walk was steep but the illness would simply come out of nowhere. We continued up at a steady clip.




After 5 hours of climbing we reached the craters edge. Tina jumped for joy. I puked. As we continued along the edge high above the clouds, the sun rose over Africa. It was a stunning. We reached the highest point in Africa just before 7 am. It was a massive moment.





We had to descend all the way down to 3800m right away. I was feeling ill and the drop in altitude was helping. As a side note the Spanish guy climbed later that day when his wife was resting and climbed in near record time. Loco.


After a day of recovery in Moshi we boarded a 16 hour bus for Kampala. At least that was the plan. After some breakdowns, pot holes, dirt roads, no lights, bus changes, etc the journey took an epic 35 hours by bus. We have both been on long, dirty buses in various parts of the world but this was at the bottom. The fun was just beginning. We had entered the "pearl of Africa" - Uganda.


We will post those stories and pictures in a few days.


Hope you are enjoying the summer where you are.

Road Rules

" When you come to a fork in the road, take it."

-Yogi Berra (1925-)

- Oman's interior region is painfully lacking in towns. This sign gives all the info needed.

Apologies for our lack of “blogging” of late. Our school year has just come to a close, good friends have moved on and we are currently preparing for the summer. As well, we went to a Proclaimers concert (which we treated as if they were U2), attended Oman's World Cup qualifying games vs Japan (very sweaty) and made another trip to Dubai (for winter clothes!).

Amidst all of this movement, the temperatures have continued to reach mercury levels we are both unfamiliar with and our heads have begun to spin. Before everyone journeys out on the road for your summer vacation we wanted to explain the road here in Oman.

Oman’s roads are a new addition to the country. As recently as 1970 the country had one paved road running from the Palace to the airport (at least those are the rumours). With relatively inexpensive gas and a population that appears to enjoy owning vehicles new roads are being built by the minute.

This blog is mainly dedicated to an aspect of roads that few in North America are familiar with – the Roundabout. Functionally speaking, they are designed to slow traffic at converging points and allow vehicles to flow in and out of these points with little inconvenience. Realistically, they are the points where traffic races into and out of playing multiple games of chicken and expressing our undying love for our fellow travellers in several hand gestures.

Here in Oman the Roundabout is also used as an avenue for civic pride. The middle of the Roundabouts are decorated with giant books, fountains, etc. Some of the best are included in this blog. Enjoy and be safe on the road this summer.

-Nothing like a giant, glowing lump of Frankincense to say "turn left". Ruwi.

- Anyone got the time? Salalah.

- Sadly, no Mad magazines in the pile at the Book Roundabout. Nizwa.

- Coolest Roundabout. Fort,clock,cultural painting combination. Bravo Nizwa exit. Seeb.

Golden Jugs. Very popular photo op. Muttrah.

- Re-creation of Sinbads boat. High points for creativity. Near Al Bustan Palace, Old Muscat.

We are off to Africa next week and will try to blog while travelling. If not, have a great summer where you are and we'll be back in August.