Lions and elephants and...warthogs?

Hello from Queen Elizabeth national park in western Uganda! I'm having a blast here in Uganda. It's a great country and I think the thing I find most surprising is that it is very different in so many ways than Ethiopia was. I think I was expecting it to be similar since they are so close together in Africa, but I suppose that is the same as the differences between European countries.

I started off my journey here with an invitation to an afternoon and dinner at a home of a mzunga (Caucasian) researcher on the edge of Kibale forest. He is there studying chimpanzees and has been in Uganda for many years. We were treated to a fantastic meal of local cuisine, a lesson in local culture and the kids in the neighborhood performing great song and dance for us. It was an incredible into to Uganda.

Next we moved to Queen Elizabeth national park, where I am now. I did a safari game drive this morning that was fantastic. We spotted herds of buffalo, kob and antelope. We were also lucky enough to spot 8 lions which was fantastic. The birds here are amazing also both in quantity and exotic appeal. On our drive back from our mornin safari we accidentally stopped in the middle of a herd of elephants crossing the road. Things got a little hairy when one of the babies approached the car and it's mom started growing a fit. We didn't know if we should reverse or drive forward. There will be a funny video o that when I get home to show!

A lioness relaxing with an old termite mound behind her



A view from the boat launch trip



This afternoon I did a boat trip down the Kazinga channel and saw, again, hundreds of animals. I've decided that hippos are really just as cute in real life, although I know better than to approach. It was amazing to see so many animals in such close proximity to each other with no trouble. We went past a small village where the children were swimming! They were less than 20 feet from a hippo and who knows how many crocodiles, but they didn't seem to care. I don't think I would be in the water. This village was here before the park was declared a national park and the villagers are permitted to stay and continue to fish to make a living. The park gives them 20% of park entry fees to make up for the fact that they cannot hunt anymore.

The funniest animal by far is the warthog. The character of Pumba is perfect! They are a little dense perhaps not the brighter of animals. They are everywhere here. They roam around the hotel grounds and are afraid of their own shadows but will be distracted from running by a nice looking patch of grass!

Locals call the warthog the most religious animal because they pray
for food. With legs too long to graze normally, they need to kneel
to reach the grass.

Tomorrow I am off to start work at Grace Childrens Village in Kabale. The project creator, David, is kindly hosting me at his house. It will be exciting to see how locals live there. Will keep you posted

6 Families in Debre Birhan now have a house of their own!

Our group of volunteers, paid labourers, homeowners
 and their children who all worked together for my 2 week trip

Our Global Village group. 10 Americans, 1 New Zealander and me

Well I'm happy to let you all know that I am alive and doing well. I have just arrived in Uganda after my 2 week build in Debre Birhan, Ethiopia. I did adopt a new motto in Ethiopia of 'Expect less and you will be pleasantly surprised if something works'. This applies especially to internet. I wanted to keep my blog up to date as the build progressed, however it was a 20minute walk to the nearest internet cafe that could not access the majority of the web anyway. I had to take a deep breath and accept that there was nothing I could do.

The Habitat for Humanity build was probably one of the most eye-opening and life-changing events of my life. I grew very close to many members of the community there as well as my team of 12 volunteers. I will be posting a step by step on our build when I get home and can add photos, but I will let you know that Debre Birhan boasts a total of over 300 completed Habitat homes with over 80 currently under construction and plans for 8 volunteer teams to visit in the upcoming year. I love the way that the recipients are chosen here also. There are over 100 people on the charity waiting list (for a free house) and over 400 on the regular waiting list for a home in this community. Once they have completed saving a down payment and sweat equity labour hours their name goes into a lottery. When a house if completed, the lucky lottery winner gets their house. This works well because all of the houses are constructed equally. If any house you build could be your own, you put time and effort into ensuring it is constructed properly

I dedicated a house to this woman and her 2 children

We got to work on almost all aspects of the construction and dedicated 6 houses while we were there! 6 families have safe, affordable and secure houses with their own latrine this week that were in over-crowded rentals or worse last week. It was a very overwhelming experience and I can understand why so many volunteers with Habitat for Humanity become almost addicted to going to  builds.

A new homeowner stands on her porch twirling
her keys in her hand and smiling

I have arrived today in Entebbe, Uganda. Tomorrow morning I start a long journey to the west side of the country to join a safari group. First stop is Queen Elizabeth National Park to see the endemic tree climbing lions among many other things.

Until next time...

In Transit

Well I survived the first flight and managed to stay awake all day! Leaving my mom and Jody outsdie security was definitely hard. I knew it would be though. A knot of nervousness had been steadily growing in my belly all week. I had the emergency exit aisle so lots of room to stretch out and sleep. That was awesome. When i got to Schipol airport I found my shuttle easily and the hotel had space for me to check in early which was also awesome. I settled in and then I took the bus to downtown Amsterdam and wandered around until it started to rain pretty hard and decided it would be a good time to get on one of the canal tour boats since they are covered. I thought it might be really memorable since I watched the guide roll himself a joint before we left but it wasnt too eventful. It was a good tour to do to see and learn lots in a short time. Of course it did start to rain while I was quite far from the bus stop so I got absolutely soaked and frozen solid by the time I got back to my hotel. Thank goodness for the hair dryer
Tomorrow is another long flight. I leave here at 11am and arrive in addis ababa after 11pm. My roommate is due to arrive even later than me. Although I wasn't too keen on having a roommate at first. I will be happy to see an American, English speaking female in the same situation as me!
Until next time...

Where are you going again?

So I added a map for everyone! This is close up view of northeast Africa. I have put three blue flags on the map to mark where I will be. My first stop is Debre Birhan, Ethiopia. That's where I will be building a house with Habitat for Humanity. I'll be there 2 weeks with my group of 12 volunteers staying at a hotel called the Blue hotel. (That's really all I know though) Habitat for Humanity is organizing all of this part of the trip.

Next, I fly to Uganda to do a bit of safari touring, combined with working at Grace Children's Village in Kabale, Uganda. I am very excited to check out this project especially. Several kind people have donated money for me to bring to this project and I am excited to see it personally. I am also really looking forward to potentially seeing a lowland mountain gorilla and the infamous tree-climbing lions in person.

My third stop on the map is Zanzibar, Tanzania. This is where my husband is meeting me and we will have some vacation time together. We hope to do lots of scuba diving and exploring and maybe even go to Pemba, the island just to the north of Zanzibar. This island was originally a place where Arabian sultans built their palaces and traded in spices. It is also the last point of Africa that many slaves were kept before being taken by boat to various places around the world.

Just 2 more sleeps and I'm off. I can hardly believe its here already! I think I'm getting nervous...

Ethiopia Updates

So I got an email today from our group leader that our build location had been changed. On the positive side...its only a 2 hour bus drive from Addis Abbaba instead of a 10 hour one. On the negative...its the coldest city in Ethiopia. Anyone who knows me knows that that is is big negative. The temperatures seem to be from 5 - 15 Celsius. I realize that is nothing compared to what it will be here, but there is no central heating anywhere in Ethiopia and I have no Jody to warm my feet at night. I'll just keep trying to stay positive on that one.

We are going to be in Ethiopia for their biggest religious celebration, Timkat on January 19. I am doing research now to find out about it. I know so far that it is a celebration of the Baptism of Christ. Will keep you in the loop...