Reunited and it feels so good!

I finished off my stay in Cape Town with great white shark cage diving amd then a day at the wineries. We had to drive about 3 hours away for the sharks but itwas so worth it. The whole experience was amazing. We saw one male that was about 15 feet long. The visibilty in the water was pretty bad but it just made itmorintense when all of the sudden there was a shark 2  feet from the cage. The next day we took a tour of 4 wineries in the mountains surrounding Cape Town. We tried over 20 wines and tasted olive oils, cheese and olives also grown or made on the farms. It was an awesome day and ended with us falling asleep at 7 once we got home. The day I left Africa me and val went to the waterfront for a nice breakfast before heading to signal hill for some nice views of table mountain and the world cup stadium. Then it was time to get on a flight for a full day of traveling to london. After a tip with flight delays and the underground having canceled stops I finally made it to the hotel to meet matt. It was so wonderful to be back with him and I am so excited to start our european adventure. No pictures for now because we cant figure out how to get them onto the new tablet. I will update as soon as we can figure it out!

Simon says.....

Today we went to Simons town and Cape Point. We rented a car and drove there with our roommate in the hostel Cedric from Belgium- who so very nicely agreed to drive the car since me and Val were both afraid to drive on the other side of the road. In Simons town we wandered around and had a very nice breakfast in a local coffee shop before heading down to see... PENGUINS! It was a.maz.ing. We could have reached out and touched most of them. They are currently on the endangered species list and there were signs all around boulder beach to warn you to check under your car for penguins before you drive off. We sent a few hours walking a small trail and looking for penguins before heading out to cape of good hope national park. We drove out the the base of the historical lighthouse before walking up. It was suuuuuper windy but the views were incredible. We got a good view of cape of good hope which is where is the Flying Dutchman was made famous after sinking on the reefs just off the cape. Cape point is very nearly the most southern point of Africa. It was a wonderful day of exploring and we are currently getting ready for shark cage diving tomorrow morning- I am so nervous/ excited! Can't wait to tell you guys all about it!

PS: I also got to see my niece today on Skype and hear all about her through my two year old nephew and nothing could have made the day any sweeter.

Who needs a stair master?

I have arrived in South Africa! we are staying at a hostel in green point which is right by the world cup stadium. Its all very cozy and our hostel roommates are friendly and welcoming. Today was our first full day in cape town and we decided we should start with a little hike up table mountain. Well table mountain isn't little and the hike was hard. It took us about 1 hour and 45 mins to make it up the Platteklip Gorge trail starting at an elevation of 400m and ending at around 1100m over 2 km. It was all stairs and not normal stairs but knee high boulder stairs. But in the end we made it. We went pole pole(slowly) and after sweating and then getting high enough that the wind froze us we made it to the top. The view from the top was amazing. We decided to go down on the cable car instead of back down the stairs as a reward. All in all a great start to our time n Cape Town :D

Between The Rock and a hard place

Yesterday was our final full day in Zanzibar and for that matter in Tanzania. We spent the day getting massages, spending time in the sun, and swimming in the ocean. For our final night we went to a restaurant called The Rock. It was a two hour drive to get to is restaurant and completely worth it. Om the way we also got to see the red colobus monkeys which are not found anywhere else in the world. We had heard about The Rock restaurant before we left through CNNs 10 coolest restaurants in the world and it definitely lived up to the hype. Depending on the tide you either can walk or have to take a boat to the stairs. It is a small house situated very precariously on a bit of coral reef out cropping. Because it was a Monday and because it was low season we had the whole place to ourselves. We went all out and had wine, fish carpaccio, battered prawns, octopus salad and I had the gnocchi with vanilla and prawns for the main course. The food was delicious and the company even better. The stars were the best we saw the whole trip and we were even able to see the Milky Way. I am so torn to be leaving Tanzania. I can't believe how fast my time here has gone and there are so many things I love about this country but also so many this I am ready to be done with. I am so sad to be leaving new friends but I know we will see each other again.

This ain't sea world, this as real as it gets!

I have arrived in Zanzibar! We left Arusha the night we returned from safari and flew to Dar es Salam. The next morning we took the ferry from dar to zanzibar. We stayed in stone town for the day and did a spice tour,went out for sunset rooftop drinks, and then headed to the street market for some fresh sea food after that. The spice tour was really neat we got to see: pepper, vanilla, cinnamon(and menthol which comes from the root of the cinnamon tree), zanizibar apples, gonger, nutmeg and a ton more. The next morning we were on our way to a beach at the north tip of the island called Nungwi. The sand on the beach is white and the softest sand I have ever been on. The water is crystal clear and some of the most beautiful shades of blue and teal. We spent most of our day on the beach. Today we woke up to go scuba diving. On the way to the dive site we ran into a pod of dolphins and were able to get into the water to snorkel with them. There were hundreds of dolphins all around us. It was one of the coolest things I think I have ever done. After that we continued on to our dive site a Mneba atoll. We did two dives each about 50mins. The coral here is beautiful and super brightly colored along with the fish. We also saw a bunch of eels, a blue spotted sting ray, a octopus, lobster, leaf fish and tons of trumpet fish. The water here is very warm and the day was just completely lovely. Zanzibar is so beautiful and I am so thankful to be here right now. Enjoy some pictures from sunset, the market, spice tour and Nungwi!

Mtoto

Mtoto means baby or child in Swahili and I am so happy to say that I get to be an auntie to a beautiful Mtoto Lucy- a big congrats to Shaina, Mario and Noah! I am sending all sorts of love from Africa and in honor of my new niece here are some babies we got to see on safari!

Crouching lion hidden leopard

I just got back from a 5 day safari in Africa. We went to Tarangire, Serengeti, Ngorogoro, and Lake Manyara. It was honestly one of the coolest things I have ever done. We saw: elephants, giraffe, waterbuck, thompsons gazelles, grants gazelles, warthogs, zebras, hippos, rhinos, hyenas, ostrich, wildabeasts, water buffalo, tons of birds and some of the most amazing scenery I have ever seen in my life. We almost had the big five (elephant, water buffalo, rhino, lion and leopard) but ran into some bad weather on the Serengeti and didn't get to see any leopards. We did however have hyenas sniffing at our tent in the Serengeti and then cap buffaloes eating around our tent the next night at Ngorogoro. What an adventure!! Enjoy a sampling of the pictures- but don't worry I have a ton more ;)

Meet Ezekieli

When I was in Engaruka I saw many children and families in desperate need of help. One child in particular really stuck out to me. He was the smallest of the children that would come asking for candy and also the most shy. It took him three days before he would come all the way up to me to get his candy. On the fourth day however he was leading the pack to come and get some candy from me. His name is Ezekieli. He lives in a boma with five other children and his grandmother. His mother had him while she was still in primary school and he is being raised by his grandmother since his mother passed exams and is continuing with her schooling. They invited me into their boma to show me around and were so welcoming and kind to me.

Ezekieli's family is very poor and does not have enough money to send him to school next year. When I heard this I decided that I would help fund this sweet little boys schooling. With our contact in the village he will take little Ezekieli to the nearest town, Mosquito river, where he will buy his uniform and supplies. Then he will be taken to the village council where the rest of the money will go to fund his education. I have seen a lot of families and children that need help the last month and this is my way of making a difference. Education opens so many doors for these children and I feel so lucky to be able to help him open so many new doors for himself.

If you would like to help Ezekieli as well please let me or Matt know.

With love from Africa,

Sarah and Ezekieli

'Ello!!!! PiPi!!!!

PiPi=candy. Muzungu= non african= must have pipi.

African children are adorable even when they are chasing you down for candy. Here are some pictures of the cuties who came running every day :)

He kinda looked like Bambi

Friday was G day aka goat day. We started off the day with a hike up a "small hill" which would be a medium mountain in Illinois. Once at the top we had a beautiful view of Engaruka. After that we continued on to the sacrifice area. It was a beautiful spot covered by trees and has been used for sacrifice and as a retreat from daily life for a very long time. Our goat had already arrived earlier in the day along with several warriors. To kill the goat the Masai suffocate the goat so they do not waste any blood. After that the goat is skinned. The first thing to be eaten is the raw kidney- no I personally did not partake but one one of the girls i was with did. After that came a sort of blood soup. They stab the heart and let the blood collect in the abdominal cavity before adding some colon crisps and spleen seasoning-yummm. Again i was to chicken to try the blood but both of the girls i was with tried it and said it wasn't as bad as they expected. After that the meat was and liver was set up by the fire to cook. I did try a little but of liver- i ate it but probably wont be adding goat liver to my favorite food list. The meat was actually very yummy i found i liked the leg meat the most. After lunch the warriors sang and jumped for us again and i still cant believe how high they get. Here are some pictures from sacrifice day!

You probably have malaria

In the village we worked in the local dispensary. It was a half hour walk every day to the clinic. At the clinic there were two nurses and one doctor. The clinic consisted of one building with four separate rooms- medication room, delivery room, vaccination room and the doctors office. On monday it was a general patient day and we saw one Masai man who had been hit with a Masai knife on the back of his heel, a child who had frank pus coming out of both ears and a abscess on his right jaw. On tuesday it was antenatal day so we saw a lot of expecting mothers ranging from newly pregnant to 9months pregnant. We did a lot of HIV testes and had many positive results. It was hear breaking to see how many of these women had no idea that they were infected. In Masai culture it is common to have more than one wife so the spread of the diseases can be very rapid since one man may be sleeping with as many as 10 women. And since there is still such a stigma about HIV often the women do not even want to be tested for fear that someone outside of the clinic would find out. On wednesday we had vaccination day. We were vaccination against polio, rotavirus, TB, and pneumonia. Thursday was another general day and i saw the largest hernia I have ever seen in my life. Clinic was truly a wonderful experience and helped add to my time at the village.