Just some pictures taken before I left

Photographed by F.

7 countries later...

It almost feels like I just woke up from a dream as I'm writing this. I feel weird using a computer...I've lived like a cave woman in the past month, but I've met some amazing people, thought through some stuff and had the time of my life. It was hard at times, but I feel accomplished in retrospect.

My hair is dusty, my nails are broken, my skin is brown, bruises and scars here and there and I stink. I came home and scrubbed myself from head to toe, and regained some personal hygiene after a month of camping. Can you believe that I've only done my laundry once in this whole month? My mom said she has to wash my clothes twice because the water is brown, and she found an African ant in my clothes.

I actually can't think right now, too many things have happened...I feel more free now and I can see my life changing in a different direction. But I still need some more time to completely wake up from this dream...

Zurich

I arrived in Zurich before the sun rose and took a train to the main station. I walked along famous Bahnhofstrasse that led to old town. I discovered a tranquil square that offered a nice view across river Limmat where the oldest section of the town was situated. I also walked passed St. Peter church with the largest clock face of Europe. I continued walking further south along the river and reached a lake where the mountain range can usually be seen from there...but it happened to be a bad day, so I couldn't see anything.

Here's Zurich in pictures...

Ngorongoro crater and Serengeti

This is the Ngorongoro Crater; it is one of the seven natural wonders of Africa. I did several game drives here; it was really amazing. I saw a lake of pink flamingos, a zebra fight, the ugly fives, impalas, hippos, lions, leopards, etc...It was good to see all these animals interactions.

Again, I did not take many pictures of animals...I also didn't really write about it due to some things that happened that week. After that, I departed the crater to go to the Serengeti to camp in the wild...and did some more game drives.

Some highlights:
-Apparently, 3 hyenas came into the camp site...but I was asleep so I didn't see them.
-I saw a hyena eating another hyenas...I saw the long intestines on the grass and vultures around that were waiting for their turn to eat.
-I saw a 2 lions ripping apart a zebra and 3 little cubs climbing around rocks.
-I saw a lion that found some shades behind a jeep.

I think most know what happened in Nairobi, so I did not visit it unfortunately.

The beach in northern Zanzibar - Indian Ocean

I went snorkeling today...and seeing all the corals and colorful fish just freaks me out. Yes, I just realized that I hate snorkeling...the sound of the water in my ears, that suffocating feeling...At least, I tried.

Nonetheless, the beach is Zanzibar is the most beautiful I've seen so far, the water is clear and the sand is white and clean. Some things happened here and it gave me some inspirations...but I'll talk about this later.

Also, I'm taking a break from camping :)

Stone town

Yesterday, I took a ferry known as the "vommit commit" from Dar Es Salaam to Zanzibar. It was very rough; couldn't even stand on the boat. The staff gave everyone sick bags just in case. Everyone was grumpy and dizzy. I did make use of the sick bag on the way back to Dar es Salaam by the way. I puked 3 times.. How embarrassing!

Zanzibar is quite humid and there are many palm trees. It is a Muslim country, which is why I like it. There is something about the smell, and all the spices that I love. The buildings are generally white...I feel like this could be Morocco, even though I've never been...

I spent the day getting lost in the alleys with another girl.

"Do you dare?" Chloe would ask at the entrance of every suspicious alley.

"Let's do it!" I reply, every time.

We went to all the creepiest alleys. We had a map but we didn't bother using it. We tried to stay away from the tourists streets where people try to sell you soccer jerseys...even though I bought one, ha. People are friendly here, everyone greets you with "Jambo!", which means hello. We saw kids playing soccer on the streets, we met a man who seemed scary at first, but he told us a story about a slave who wanted to marry a non-slave. People wanted to kill them, but instead, they were sent to Australia. He seemed like someone with lots of history and battle scars. Maybe he once was somebody...

Oh, by the way, Zanzibar is the birth place of the man of my life, Freddie Mercury! We had lunch at Mercury's restaurant, which was situated by the beach.

The drinks all had a special name, such as "Fat bottomed girl" or "Bohemian Rhapsody".

...and this used to be Freddie Mercury's house.

I had so much fun exploring stone town. We also went to a market and a butchery...it was so smelly, but we tried to be adventurous, hehe.

Hakuna Matata!

Last day in Malawi

I'm on the north shore of Malawi now. I took a walk on the beach, and there were so many kids. They wave at you, they are curious about you, they follow you around and many wanted to have their pictures taken. Some even tried to scare me by putting mud on their face and pretending to be monsters.

Just a random thought...I realize that lots of foreigners like to come to Africa to volunteer...but they go to suburbs of richer African countries. I think what most people don't realize is that the countries that need volunteers the most, such as Malawi, actually don't have the money to advertise. It is quite sad...

A local market

My favorite part when I travel are people; seeing how they live, talking to them and being part of them even for a short while.  How you remember a place really depends on the people; what you will miss the most are people as well...

Here are some pictures taken at a market...

Horse riding

I went for horse riding near the beach. I love horses because I think they can sense our personality...but I never thought that I would fall off a horse! The saddle was not properly attached, and when the horse started galloping, the saddle started sliding off...and I fell. The horse was very nervous and for a second, I seriously thought that I could be trampled to death. Fortunately, it just ran away...and someone stopped it a few meters away.

When it calmed down, I got back on the horse again. It went fine after that. I love my horse. We went through bushes and went in the water at the beach. I had so much fun!

Tonga village

I visited the village near Kande Beach. My favorite part are the kids; they are full of joy and love. They wanted to hold my hands, to be picked up and to have their pictures taken.

The village in pictures...