Safari Adventures

Aloha ~

This will be my final entry about Africa...

After the emotional goodbye from our build site, we took off on a 4 ½ hour bus ride to Mvuu Camp in the Liwonde National Park. We arrived at about 5:00pm, got checked in and headed out for an after-dark safari. Our vehicle reminded me of the Indian Jones ride at Disneyland. We were able to see warthogs, baboons, antelope, bush babies, mongoose and most importantly elephants. At one point we stopped to get a close up look at 3 elephants. They were on my side of the car and were about 15 feet away from me. It was awesome! I opted not to take pictures for two reasons. First, they wouldn’t turn out very well being that it was nighttime. Second, let’s not startle the really big elephant that is within charging distance of the car. Just sayin’!

Our accommodations at Mvuu Camp were wonderful. Everything you would picture on your safari vacation --- including animals walking through the camp. During the daytime and early evening there were warthogs wandering throughout.

 Warthog by the lake

After the sun went down the fun really started. We had both elephants and hippos go through camp during the middle of the night. In fact, the next morning the staff of the camp were repairing fencing that was destroyed by one of the elephants. And just on the edge of camp was a hippo sleeping under some bush. I only remember the saying “Let sleeping dogs lie” but I think that also applies to Hippos.

Shhhhh....The Hippo is sleeping

We ate breakfast and then headed out on a boat safari.

Our 3 hour tour ended much better than Gilligan's 

(Photo by Clay Henderson) 

Our tour guide, Jimmy, went over the rules of the boat cruise reminding us to keep our hands and arms inside the boat at all times as the water does tend to have crocodiles. Well you didn’t have to tell me twice and seeing them laying on the banks of the river were a great reminder.

Crocodile on the Banks

  
Jimmy then took us up river and I was able to get a closer look at the crocodiles. They are such fascinating looking animals. Their prehistoric look is a reminder of how long they have been on this earth.

 Smile for the Camera...

...Or not 

There were plenty of hippos in the water as well. Not everyone is aware that the hippo is considered the most deadly animal of the Africa Big 5. They don’t look like they could do that much damage but looks can be deceiving. I did make a comment about watching for wiggling ears as that was a sign they were about to attack. My group looked at me with puzzled expressions on their faces. Apparently many of them had not been on the jungle cruise at Disneyland and they were unaware of that warning.

Just hanging out on a beautiful Saturday Morning 

Most of the time the hippos just stand in the shallow waters of the river. Apparently, hippos do not swim very well as they are not very buoyant. In deeper water they sink to the bottom and walk on the floor of the river. They can hold their breath up to 8 minutes before coming back up for air. That can be very tiring for such a large animal.

Is he yawning or just showing his teeth...I prefer to think yawning
(Photo by Clay Henderson)

Both sides of the river had packs of elephants. The adult elephants all help take care of the younger ones. A baby elephant does not get it’s tusks until after the age of 3 years old. We saw lots of youngsters both on our evening safari and during our boat safari.

Elephants taking a bath 

We were able to get relatively close to the elephants but they did not seem to want to be on display. They turned around and walked away. It was interesting the way they lined up to leave.

I guess they don't like bath time interuptions

Fortunately, there was a pack right behind us as well so we just turned the boat around.

 I am ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille

 I just kept humming "Baby Elephant Walk" by Henry Mancini

Some elephants are more shy than others. I know it is hard to see but can you find the elephant in the picture?

Can you see me...cuz I think I'm hiding?

Our next adventure was back into the land vehicle in search of the great black rhino.

Laura sitting in the jump seat and ready to go

The black rhino is on the verge of extinction and the Liwonde National Park is trying to help increase the population. Currently they have 35 black rhino living in the park’s sanctuary. Unfortunately, the only black rhino we were able to see was on the sign for the sanctuary.

Black Rhino Sanctuary

We did see lots of Sable, Antelope, Baboons and more warthogs.

Adult Male Black Sable

 Young Sable running - they get darker as they age

We also so the elusive Zebra. There is something to be said for camouflage. The zebra were very hard to spot and we actually almost missed them all together. Thank you to my buddy Clay and his camera lens. He was able to get a great shot of them.

 Zebra in the trees

(Photo by Clay Henderson)

After our safari, we loaded on to the bus and headed out on a 3 hour drive for our final night accommodations on Lake Malawi.

 Lake Malawi - The mountains on the other side are Mozambique

Anne and I even got to stay in a tree house. It was so cool. We had screens on all the windows and curtains. It was so nice to sleep with a fresh breeze at night. 

Probably the best tree house ever

What a beautiful way to spend out last evening.

This is my postcard moment --- "Wish you were here"

It was truly and amazing trip and a vacation that I will always remember. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read my blog. I appreciate your interest in my adventures.

Zikomo Kwambiri  (Thank you very much)

What Will We Build?

Aloha ~

Now it is time to share with you the whole reason that we traveled to Africa…to build houses for Habitat Malawi.

(Day 1)
Our build began on Monday October 29th. We left the Kara O’Mula Country Lodge about 8:15am for the 30 minute ride to our build site. Upon arrival to the build site we were greeted by song and dance from the women of the village.

 Village Women Greeting Us With Song 

The ladies then led us to the back of the village to the build site of one of the houses we would be working on. There we met the Chief of the Village. He welcomed us in his native language of Chichewa and introduced us to the village elders.

Village Chief Greeting our Team

We then had a quick lesson from Babi who is the Construction Manager for the Mulanje Field Office of Habitat Malawi. We will be constructing walls with red brick and matobe (mortar).

Babi Instructing TheTeam on Proper Brick & Matobe Technique

We then split off into our two build teams and tackled the houses. It was an incredible day. The weather was wonderful in the morning with a cloud cover and breeze. However, by lunch time the sun was out and the breeze was occasional. It was a little toasty but we kept laying brick.

Our house team broke out into 3 groups of 2 and tackled the outside walls. We had a very productive and fun day. The house was small so we were able to interact with the entire team. Habitat Malawi had team members as well who were so incredibly nice and patient. Bless their hearts, they even tried to teach me Chichewa. I do not do very well at grasping foreign language so I think they found it a bit of a challenge.

Russell & Lise working on the back wall

The Interrogation of Karen --- Clay had a lot of questions for her while they worked

Around 2:30pm the village children returned from school. All construction stopped while we took photos and the children sang to us. They were so excited to see their photos on the digital camera --- gigglling, pointing and making fun of each other in the photos. It was very cute!

Russell with the Kids

 Clay and the Kids --- they loved him!

 The Children singing to us during our break

We also were introduced to 3 of the children who will be living in the home we built. Earlier in the morning we were introduced their sister, who is 15 years old. She is the caregiver as both parents have passed away. A classic example of how the HIV/AIDS epidemic is effecting the children of Malawi and the benefits of the OVC (Orphan and Vulnerable Children) Program that Habitat Malawi is a part of.

Children who will live in the home our team built

Our build day completed about 4:30pm and we headed back to the lodge. First stop, a shower to get all the red clay and dust off. Even with limited hot water, a shower after a day on the build site is heavenly. The team met for team reflections, dinner and just general socializing. Not bad for our first day's work. 

(Day 2)
We headed out to the build site on Tuesday and upon arrival noticed that the nice cooling breeze we had on Monday was nowhere to be found---although I was a bit hopeful that maybe it had just slept in and would arrive a little later. (No such luck). For the second day in a row I worked with David. David is from West Virginia but is currently teaching elementary school in Saudi Arabia. I enjoyed getting to know him and hearing about is life in Saudi. Such a different world than that of the one I live.   

 My wall building partner, David --- we rocked it!

 I have to say that this is one of the greatest groups of volunteers that I have ever been a part of. We had 12 members on our team - 9 members from the States, 1 from Singapore, 1 from Canada and 1 from Norway. We ranged in age from 30 to 57 with 7 ladies and 5 gentlemen. While some of the members were first time volunteers with Habitat, all of us were well traveled. The best part is that it was a laid back group that got along. Anne did an awesome job of putting this team together.

Tuesday also saw the installation of the door and window frames. This required us to "cut" the bricks to fit around the frames. In my Habitat world this would have been done with some sort of powerful saw. However, in Malawi this is done by "chopping" at the brick with my trowel. I am happy to saw that I was able to master this skill without chopping off any of my fingers. Being the accident-proned individual that I am it was a great concern to me at times.

Back door frame installed --- CHECK 

The cool thing about being on the build site with the children is their excitement at seeing us each day. The build site had caution tape around it to keep the kids a safe distance from the work being done. We always knew when school was out because the children would come back to the village and line up around the perimeter of the caution tape to watch us work. At the end of the day, they would line up for "high-fives" as we walked back to our bus. As we drove off they would chase the bus waving.

Chasing our bus as we leave for the day

(Day 3)
On Wednesday morning we left a little early and went on a morning hike before heading to the build site. Most of the group hiked to the top of the trail for a closer view of the waterfall.

Waterfall at Mt Mulanje National Park

A couple of us opted to save our energy for the build site and hiked down the trail to the Likhubula Pools. It was such a nice relaxing hour of sitting near the pools, listening to the wind blow in the trees. I think I found my happy place.

Kelvin, one of our Global Village Hosts for the week

My Happy Place --- I could have sat there for hours

We then headed over to a neighboring village to talk to them about their CBCC (Community Built Children’s Center). I think the saying “It takes a village to raise a child” was never demonstrated better than in Africa. This village, which has more than 75 orphans, built a community center for the younger children to go to during the day. However, the center had 4 walls and no roof. They are still trying to raise the funds to purchase the roofing materials. “Chief Over The Moon”, as Clay become known, spoke to the village on behalf of our group.

Chief "Over The Moon" thanking the village for meeting with us

We finally got to the build site around lunch time. While we only had 4 hours on site, we made them count. Some of us finished putting in the brickwork around the windows and door frames. The rest of the team started working on the scaffolding to extend the exterior walls.

 David & Lise on the scaffolding

Some of the villagers even chipped in to help us out by keeping our Matobe supply plentiful.

McGee always working with a smile

Everyone helps out in the village

The first 3 days of building were very warm. For those of us in the states, it was in the mid to high 80’s but with the hot Africa sun it felt much warmer. By late afternoon Wednesday the Chiparoni winds picked up. Funny, they say their rainy season starts the first of November...the rain came in right on time.

This beautiful sky gave way to a downpour later

Wednesday evening was also the last evening that our team member David was in country with us. As I mentioned before he is currently teaching in Saudi. This week was his fall break and he had to be back to school by Saturday for classes. Needless to say, Wednesday was a very late evening of sharing stories before David left early Thursday morning. We are all grateful that David was able to join us for the first half of the build.

David --- I think he put in 5 days work in his 3 days on site

(Day 4)
We awoke Thursday morning to more winds and light rain. But rain will not stop Habitat volunteers. While it was definitely not ideal, it was workable. We only had to stop once for the down pour.

Taking a break from the rain

Rainy Day Clay

Once the rain cleared, we noticed that the kids in the village had gathered up some of the bricks that we had discarded from the build site. They brought them over to the opposite edge of the village and appear to have constructed a home as well. This has to be the cutest thing ever!

Notice the nice location next to the tree

(Day 5)
Friday morning the team packed up our gear, checked out of Kara O’Mula Country Lodge, and loaded on to the bus for our last build day. We were scheduled for a shortened build day and then closing celebration with the villagers. First, a couple of us went with Kelvin from Habitat Malawi to speak with the District Welfare Officer for Mulanje regarding future support for Habitat Malawi Builds in the district. Needless to say it did not go as well as expect but I am not surprised.

I am very proud of our GV team and the work that we accomplished during our week working for Habitat Malawi. On the house that I was working on, we completed three of the exterior walls. We also completed ¾ of the front exterior wall and about ¾ of the three interior walls. All I can say is that is a lot of bricks and Matobe.

Finishing up the last day

Late morning we stopped working and started celebrating with the villagers. They performed numerous dances for us. It was wonderful to watch their excitement. Our group even got up and performed for the villagers. We were not nearly as good, or organized, but they did enjoy watching us make a spectacle of ourselves. We then had lunch prepared by the villagers before leaving for our weekend activities.

Villagers Dance during the Closing Celebration

It was hard to leave the village on Friday knowing that most of us will never be back there again. It was an incredible week and I am truly grateful for the experience. What an incredible reminder of how lucky I am. The villagers that we worked with have so little and yet they are so happy. They were very gracious and welcoming to all of us. It was a truly humbling experience.

Thank you to all of you who supported me in my decision to take on this adventure and to those of you who shared it with me. I am changed forever by this experience.

Mt Mulanje Arrival

Aloha ~

I know it has been a while since my last blog. I had really hoped that I would be able to keep up the blog while in Malawi. However, internet access was sketchy once we got out of the capital city of Linlongwe. While it was available, they were not setup for so many of us to be online at once. Hence, keeping my blog updated was a challenge.Therefore, I will try to catch you all up on what happened... 
  
(Malawi - Day 3)  Our group now assembled, it was time to head out to where we would be building. Our first stop was the National Office of Habitat for Humanity, Malawi. There we picked up our two hosts for the week, Kelvin and Consolata.

Official Group Shot - Good looking group if I do say so...

Once we were all loaded on the bus we set out on an 8+ hour bus ride out to Mulanje. We passed some beautiful scenery along the way.

Road to Malunje - Typical Village Housing

We arrived at our accommodations for the week, Kara O’Mula Country Lodge at the base of Mt. Mulanje. Wow! What a beautiful setting. From our veranda we looked out over a valley and on to Mozambique. Behind us the majestic mountains.

View from our veranda at Kara O’Mula Country Lodge 

Our Room - Complete with Mosquito Nets

The rooms were nice and the beds comfortable. It was interesting sleeping with a mosquito net over the bed. The first night I woke up during the night and had a moment of panic. When I fell back asleep I dreamt I was being buried in a netted coffin. (I may have some issues to work out but that is a discussion for another time). The rest of the week I was so tired from building everyday that I didn't even notice the net. Progress...right?

Half of the group stayed in this building.

This was their Sunset View. I just love sunsets --- Dont' You?

Once we got settled, we had a meeting with our hosts and went over specifics for the build. Our team divided in half for week to build 2 homes. Both homes were built as a part of Habitat Malawi’s OVC Program (Orphans & Vulnerable Children). Unfortunately, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is a huge problem in Malawi as well as many other African countries. The Welfare Department for the District we were building in is currently trying to update their population records. While they have not completed their data collection, to date they have determined that there are over 35,000 Orphans & Vulnerable Children in the District. I find that number completely overwhelming.

Oh, I almost forgot the essential element in a successful Global Village Trip...

The Bar at Kara O’Mula Country Lodge  

Our group may or may not have drank them out of beer. After a long day on the build site in the hot sun, it is a great way to relax and relive the day's events. I had to laugh though. When we arrived in Malawi we asked if they had a local beer. You know, When in Rome and all that. We were told yes there have a local beer. When we asked what it was they told us to just ask for the green beer. I thought that funny because St Patty's Day is still months away. Anyway, when we went to the bar to order green beer we were presented with Carlsberg. Apparently, Carlsberg has a distillery in Malawi so it is made in country (local beer). Their slogan is Carlsberg...Probably the Best Beer In The World. Not so sure about that but our group did enjoy a couple (or more bottles).

I leave you know and go back to organizing my build site photos. Next blog will be an account of the weeks building activities.

Until then...