Swahili, Massai, Muzungu

So where did I leave this African story off? I think we were just leaving Zanzibar, which was right about when the first and only case of malaria on our trip came about. From what I've heard from other people's stories, it seems most trips end up with a case of malaria on them (one of the guy's on our trip was recommended on the tour by a friend who went to Africa twice, and ended up with malaria both times). On our trip, it was our bus driver, Sean, who got ill. We all assumed it was just a bad hangover, or maybe alcohol withdrawl (aren't those the same thing?), cause he was acting squirrely as a rabid bat the day we left Zanzibar. He was sweating, trying to collect garbage from people for the rubbish bin, talking about fishing with strangers, basically being a lunatic for no good reason. Two days later he finally went to a clinic and found he did indeed have malaria. 2nd time for the guy too.

But what about Shannon's woes? I mentioned already she had something wrong, but it took a while to figure out what it was. After leaving lake Malawi, she had what she thought were mosquito bites on her feet. But the bites didn't go away, and soon they spread to take the shape of worms. She even marked where they were with pen, and found they were getting longer each day. We diagnosed her as having "geography worms" from a little "Diseases of Africa" book we found - worms that live in your skin for a few days to a week, traveling a bit, then die. But they were in no hurry to die, and by the time we got to Tanzania, they were driving her nuts. And so, outside of Arusha, we found a little medical clinic in a small village that checked them out. The doctor there was not really a doctor, more of a medical enthusiast with a doctor friend. And the nurse, well, she was really nice and had a sharp looking nurses outfit on, but she was lacking - confidence? training? expertise? I dunno what it was, but she started taking medical advice from an engineer in our group with zero doctoring skills. And so, they mis-diagnosed Shannon twice - at first they thought it was "jiggers" then they decided it was a "guinea worm" and took to cutting the worms out of her foot. This was unfortunately unsuccessful.

They then decided to dip her feet in potassium permanganate, thinking that would kill the worms and any bacteria that got in her now open wounds. This also didn't do the trick, though it's brightened Shannon's toe nails to a rich brown colour. And so, her feet kept getting itchier, until finally we made it to Nairobi and went to the rich Muzungu (foreigner) hospital. Even then, it took two nurses, a doctor, and finally the tropical disease specialist to properly diagnose her with hookworm - cutaneous larval migrans - and get her the proper medication. And now, a week later, she's almost 100%, though she likes talking about the "dead worms" still residing in her feet a little too much I think.

Other than the medical troubles, the last while in Africa was awesome. We went to the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater for our last big adventure, which was absolutely mind-blowing. It was quite a drive to get in there, through miles of Massai land (the local nomad people who herd animals and live on a diet mostly of meat and animal blood), before coming to the widest flattest plain I've ever seen. From the hill driving down, it looked like the earth extended out almost infinitely, before suddenly cascading out of sight in a perfect line across the horizon. Driving down, we spent the next day and a half seeing every large animal you could hope to see, though wow, do most animals spend far too much time being lazy for my liking.

At night, we camped in the Serengeti, surrounded by the animals in their natural habitat. During the day they might have been to lazy for my liking, but at night they seemed a little too active - once dusk came, we could hear buffalo rummaging through the bushes only 100 metres away. Hyenas were wondering all around our camp through the night as well, and we found large footprints from some kind of predator animal all along the campground.

The second night we camped on the rim of the Ngorongoro crater, a massive caldera from a volcano that collapsed in on itself several thousand years ago. There wasn't such a wide array of animals up here, and though I slept soundly though the night there were plenty of stories of more buffalo and wild pigs tearing through the campsite at night.

The crater itself is probably the most awe-inspiring place I could imagine seeing. The animals are so dense inside it, it's hard not to feeled swamped and surrounded by them. After only an hour or two, I was rather tired of it all - There's a herd of zebra. There's some more wildebeast. Buffalo. Zebra. Warthog. Ostrich. Hippo. Buffalo. Wildebeast. And more, and more, and on and on. By the end I was so tired, I shut my eyes and refused to move for anything that wasn't killing, being killed or making babies.

Oh, and we learned a song in Swahili, the local language in Kenya and Tanzania. In case anyone from the truck comes on here, here's the lyrics:

Jambo, Jambo Bwana
Habari Ghani
Mizouri Sana
Muzungu Karibu Tanzania
Hakuna Mattata

Basically it says, Hi there, how are you? I'm good. Welcome to Tanzania foreigner, no worries.

And so, Africa came to an end. I'm hoping to make it back someday though. I'd like to see Nairobi (Cheetah park, sand dunes, "click" tribes), Uganda (gorillas) and climb Kilimanjaro. Next time right? I'm thinking another round the world trip might be in order in a few years.