The Trip

Asante sana is the Kiswahili phrase for "thank you very much".  It was probably the first of the very little Swahili I have ever known, thanks to featuring prominently in the chant of Rafiki in The Lion King ("Asante sana, squash banana...").

I went to Africa to visit my friend Neil, a Peace Corps volunteer working on public health projects in rural Kenya.  In addition to getting a window on what life is like in Kenyan cities, towns, and rural villages, I also enjoyed breathtaking scenery and wildlife on safari, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, and relaxed on the white sand beaches of Zanzibar.


Map credit: PBS

My photos, anecdotes, and observations on people, places, history, and culture are below.

Aug 31	In Which I Fly in Unexpected Style and Then Get "High" in Amsterdam
Sep 1	In Which I Rub a Purring Cheetah's Belly
Sep 2	In Which I Get To First Base With a Giraffe
Sep 3	In Which I Chase After Zebras and Warthogs on a Bicycle
Sep 4	In Which I Dance On Stage With Swahili Reggaeton Rappers
Sep 5	In Which "I'm From Maryland, and No One Can Beat Me!"
Sep 6	In Which I Inform Neil That He Has Something On His Neck
Sep 7	In Which Villagers Have No Need for Bottle Openers
Sep 8	In Which I May Nearly Have Been Nairob'd
Sep 9	In Which We Discover The Extremely Rare "Ground Pangolin"
Sep 10	In Which A Cheetah Takes Down an Impala Right in Front of Us!
Sep 11	In Which I Recover from a Rough Night... and Have a Close Call
Sep 12	In Which the Tanzanian Half of this Trip Begins
Sep 13	In Which It's Too Bad E.T. Didn't Use Gmail To Phone Home
Sep 14	In Which We Don't Feel the Need for "Pole Pole" (Kili Day 1)
Sep 15	In Which Rick Ross and La Liga Make the World Go Round (Kili Day 2)
Sep 16	In Which the Going Gets Tough (Kili Day 3)
Sep 17	In Which I Have Post-Diarrheal Swagger (Kili Day 4)
Sep 18	In Which We Stand On the Roof of Africa (Kili Day 5)
Sep 19	In Which We Come Back Down to Earth (Kili Day 6)
Sep 20	In Which We Travel by Land and Sea
Sep 21	In Which We Go Places (Almost) No One Else Has Been
Sep 22	In Which I Act Like James Bond... Or Maybe a USS Cole Terrorist
Sep 23	In Which It Isn't Too Hard to Believe I'm In Heaven
Sep 24	In Which My 33-Hour Return Starts with 3 Twin-Propeller Plane Flights