In the next few months I will be traveling through much of southern and eastern Africa, and like any traveler, I have a wish list for my trip. Rather than listing every single tourist attraction I’d like to see, this is a list of personals feats - both mental and physical. After all, traveling isn’t about where you are…but how you change and what you learn, because of it.
1) Correctly identify at least one species of animal during my stay.
2) Learn how to play traditional music – doesn’t matter where, as long as it’s authentic and not a (total) tourist trap!
3) Witness the World Cup in South Africa…and actually learn something about football!
4) Learn how to cook local foods…and be able to *try* and do it again at home (in Florida!).
5) Travel by myself, successfully!
6) Stop at a random town, and just look around.
7) Resist the urge to do adventure sports…expect for scuba diving, that is!
8) Climb a big scary mountain. Preferably something that takes several days. The longer it takes, the harder it is….right?
9) Become more sure of myself!
10) Eat everything without asking what it is beforehand.
11) Volunteer through the WWOOF program at an orphanage…away from internet access and modern day convenience.
12) Camp…in the wild…and stay positive about it (Hello, Equatorial Guinea).
13) Pretend like I actually know what’s going on at border checkpoints, and therefore avoid unnecessary trouble.
14) Not be scared to talk to people and meet people.
15) Accept help from strangers, and (hopefully) not become too jaded by a few bad incidents.
16) Not calling family too much – nothing spurs homesickness like talking everyday to people at home.
17) Finish the ENTIRE trip…without ending early.
18) HAVE FUN!
I’m sure there will be moments when I wonder why the heck I’m traveling alone, with only four sets of clothing, and in a country seven or eight time zones away. This list will help remind me that life isn’t, in fact, as bad as it may seem.
Any of these strike a chord with you guys? I’d be interested to know what you think!
Arriving in Equatorial Guinea has been surreal; the idea that I’m in Africa hasn’t even sunk in yet. Flying over Africa was probably my coolest flying experience yet. I don’t know if it was the allure of the “dark continent”, the fact that it seemed to be all desert, or just my jet lag…either way, it was really fun to watch it roll away underneath us.
Mandatory travel picture: my first view of Africa.
Quite honestly, I’ve spent most of my time on the MEGI compound which is just like a micro-copy of an upper-class Floridian or Texas community; all the American comforts stuffed into a small, guarded community. Holding about thirty to fifty Exxon Mobile expats, the compound is surrounded mostly by a guarded, thick, cement wall and barbed wire. Although I won’t be able to walk around the outside of the compound, I have been told that locals do live in the surrounding area; I have certainly been hearing them usher in the New Year with all-night singing and (presumably) dancing. Unfortunately, drinking is a problem here, and many of the people seem to think that the locals will probably celebrate the New Year by being continuously intoxicated until the 3rd of the year. In fact, this was the cause behind a driving ban which started at 10pm last night (New Year’s Eve), for all people except those with applicable permits. While driving to an expat event today I realized that we were literally the only car on the road, and upon further questioning, I found out that the driving ban was also in effect for today.
It’s difficult to see what is around the compound. Near our tents (which are situated in the back corner of the community), there is a break in the cement wall, but other than apartment buildings and (one of) the President’s houses, there is not much to see. It’s also difficult for me to make any conclusions about the Malabo population since the road from the airport to our compound (and into the Malabo city center) has a lot of walls or vegetation, blocking the view.
The MEGI compound isn’t the only of its kind. Many of the larger hotels and embassies have guarded entrances, and today I got to visit the Marathon compound which is even more American than its MEGI counterpart. Visiting Marathon was like visiting a high-class American resort; the kind that I would never be able to afford, even in my wildest dreams. A clear, blue clubhouse pool overlooks the harbor and bay area of the island. Lush vegetation is managed within the compound and borders the outer edges, and wives and daughters of expats sunbathe by the pool. Despite working for differing oil corporations, many expats seem to know each other, and they even organize local events with each other. The expats are extremely friendly to us, and to each other; it’s truly a unique environment to experience.
As far as I can tell, Malabo is not unsafe, per se, as the main issue about walking off alone is robbery (instead of worse alternatives such as assault, etc.). I have yet to decide whether the individuals guarding compounds in this area are just for show, or if they are truly guarding against some menacing, unseen threat. As far as I can tell, they are unarmed – so I don’t really know what they would do if someone just didn’t abide by their request for ID, etc.
Anyway, my first impressions of Equatorial Guinea have been interesting. I am hesitant to elaborate further because: (1) I’ve only been in the country for less than two days and it would be foolish to make any conclusions, and (2) evaluation of the country and my political/human rights observations are better left until after I leave. For now, the blog will focus on my personal experiences camping and hiking through the southern end of the island.
My two nights in a tent have been surprisingly comfortable. For now, I have the luxury of having a four person tent all to myself, and my trusty sleeping bag and blow-up camping pillow have been excellent replacements for my American bedding comforts. Other than the heat, there are no discomforts – not even a single bug bite…yet. 
Anyway, for now I’m in Malabo until the 6th, when we are starting our expedition. Like I mentioned before, internet access will be limited or non-existent (most likely the former). I’ll keep posting when I can, and hopefully I’ll have lots of funny, interesting, and touching stories to share when I come back out of the jungle!
P.S. Loading pictures is ridiculously slow…I’ll try again later, but for now my beautiful words will have to suffice
Hey Guys!
A really, really quick note: I got into Equatorial Guinea just fine but internet will be super, super limited. So, if I don’t post much, I haven’t abandoned ship, I’m just trekking in the jungle!
Happy travels and hopefully I’ll be able to post again soon!
Kim
Hey Everyone!!!
Less than 48 hours until I’m on a plane to Equatorial Guinea, and I am definitely getting nervous (in a good way) in anticipation of the unknown. I’m a little miffed that I have to be at the airport at 4:30am for a timely security check…but it’s all in the name of good travel!
Last night I used google maps to look up pictures of the various areas I should be going; they didn’t really do anything to satisfy my curiosity. My image of the country is completely based on what I’ve been able to piece together from my Lonely Planet travel guide, an informative history novel, and online forums. For the first time in my life, I actually feel like I am truly traveling into the unknown. Having lived and traveled around Europe, there is not much that surprises me here. It’s not that Western Europe is boring – far from it – it’s that I can usually get along very well knowing English and German. Many locals come equipped with a Hilton, McDonalds, and Woolworths (or some similar alternative). Accommodation, a greasy burger, and cheap, synthetic wool tights are sometimes an adventure to find, but are nevertheless available. Perhaps my perception of Equatorial Guinea is completely off, but as far as I can tell, it will be the most different country/culture/place I will ever have visited up to this point.
For those of you who totally clueless as to where Equatorial Guinea is (and what I’m doing there), take a look at the google map: the cute little pointers/bubble-thingies indicate what city I will fly into and where (I believe) my “home base” is, when I work for an American researcher to complete a census of the island’s jungle/terrain. The job is organized through the BBPP, approximately 3 months long and will involve camping, trekking, and a fair amount of monkeys, turtles, and awesomeness. Internet access will be limited, but I plan on writing about my travels as I go and uploading them onto the blog when I can. If you want more information about the BBPP, and doing paid volunteerism with them, you can check out their website: www.bioko.org. For a really, really neat report on Equatorial Guinea and the BBPP, read the national geographic article or watch a short video, also put together by the National Geographic!
Finally, I want to say “thanks and cheers” to all of the people in Erfelden, Germany who kept me well fed, warm, and busy during my lovely twelve-day stay there. It was WONDERFUL to see/meet all of you! Special thanks to Mona for giving me music for my ipod; my ears are very thankful.
Alrighty – time to go grab some lunch/dinner. Spoiling myself by staying at a five-star hotel in Frankfurt for the last night of my stay…but am not too excited about the burger and steak dinner offerings.
Only a few days until I touch down on my third continent!!!
The Felsenmeer is a graveyard of enormous boulders, some entering the realm of small-house sized. Local legend has it that two giants were quarreling and decided to end the fight by flinging rocks at each other, leaving behind a massive battlefield of stone. A more plausible explanation of the giant sea of granite is the most recent ice age
Either way, you can venture down to the bottom of the mountain and visit the stream where Siegfried, the dragen slayer, is said to have been murdered by his rival, Hagen. If that´s not your fancy, goggle at others trying to scale slippery rock faces.
Situated in the UNESCO Odenwald (a larger area in South-Central Germany), the Felsenmeer is surrounded by hundreds of kilometers of trails, castles, and superb wildlife. Climbing up and over the boulders is a thrill, regardless of the season. Make sure to look out for evidence of Roman occupation; evidence of quarrying marks many boulders. Most interestingly, an abandoned Roman piller (HUGE by the way) lies forgotten on the side of the main trail. Apparently, the pillar managed to stay in one piece for almost a thousand years. However, in 1938, a bonfire (intelligently placed directly next to the pillar) heated the stone to the point where the lower portion broke off.
Visiting on a day trip, from Frankfurt is super easy. The two hour drive takes you through pristine German countryside, with many good restaurants and photo-ops on the way. A lot of the information (online) is in German, however, a central tourist office (ready to help with reservations and trip planning for the entire Odenwald) is open year-round Monday-Friday (10am-4pm) and weekends (11am-2pm). The tourist office is located in Erbach (address: Marktplatz 1, 6477 Erbach), and can be reached by telephone (06062 9433-0), email (odenwald@oreg.de), or online (www.oreg.de – site in German). Longer trips can be arranged – many excellent hotels, of all budget levels, are operating in the area.
One establishment which I can recommend is the Kuraple Kreuzhof (Lautertal, Germany, website: www.kuraple.de). A restaurant and guesthouse, it´s located in the middle of the Odenwald, a perfect home-base for your exploration, or at the very least, a place to get a hot schnitzel and good beer at the end of a long hike.
While walking through the Odenwald (Germany) today, I tried to take a snapshot of a cool looking branch on the ground. As I was bending down to take a closer look, I realized a small mouse was literally frozen to the side of the wood.Because of the below-zero temperatures, I quickly snapped a picture and moved on, without thinking any more about it. Tonight when I was sorting my pictures, this one stood out to me most. It´s funny how no matter how many good pictures I try to take on purpose, the one which (to me) is the most moving, is the image that was pure accident.
Two days ago, I was fortunate enough to have my grandfather take me on a short walking tour of his birth city, Worms (Germany). With more than a third of the city destroyed during the war, much of the city was rebuilt, including my grandfather´s childhood house. Just as we got to the city, I decided I would try (as best as I could) to re-create some of his favorite memories through-out the city . Here are four of my favorite locations (black and white photographs courtesy of my grandfather):
The Martin Luther Memorial: 2009, 1940´s, and 1928.
The Siegfried Stone: 1944 (my grandfather is on the right) and 2009.
Standing on the side steps of the Worms Cathedral: 1938-1939 and 2009
The Siegfried fountain: 1940´s and 2009
A few pictures from my walking tour of Frankfurt, Germany. First we meandered through the Christmas Market (where we enjoyed some really, really good curry wurst), then we checked out the Frankfurt Dom Cathedral, and rounded out the day with some shopping and hot chocolate.
The Christmas Market was surprisingly empty – likely because we visited during the middle of a work day. After work hours, the area teems with off-the-clock business people stopping by to enjoy a wide range of savory foods ranging from curry sausages to potatoes and meat, hot soups and beverages, and just generally enjoying the Christmas spirit.
“Sand in My Bra” and “A Woman Alone”: a kick in the butt for those of you still waiting to get out into the world.
“For all the women who sit at home or behind their desks bitching that they never get to go anywhere.”
Such was my first impression of “Sand in my bra and other misadventures” (edited by Jennifer L. Leo). Gifted to me by my well intentioned father (who clearly isn’t able to relate fully to the idea of solo female traveler), this book is a collection of stories written from the view point of various female travelers. Like-minded women are sure to laugh at Kathleen Walker’s bathroom predicaments (a common theme, it seems, in travel) as excerpted from her appropriately titled How to Shit in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art. If that’s not your cup of tea, maybe Sandra Tsing Loh’s Tahitian holiday strikes a chord, where bonding with the French to avoid the Australians still beats dealing with young, perfectionist interns at home.
Overall, this 187 page book is a quick read, ironically best suited (in my opinion) for airplane travel or long train rides. Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with the writing styles – many tales could have been much wittier, and my feeling was that the majority of the contributing authors were not experienced in humorous writing. Additionally, this book seems to be targeted primarily to older women (although I should mention that a one or two chapters were written by younger writers). That being said, at $15 a pop, it’s not a bad deal. A few good laughs, some nice stories, and the feeling of not being alone in one’s urge to travel.
A book which struck a better chord with me was “A Woman Alone – Travel Tales Around the Globe”. This book ventures into the inspirational, rather than humorous, area of travelogging and is (as the title would suggest) targeted towards women who are planning to travel alone. Written to assuage the many fears which arise during the trip planning stage (safety and loneliness being the primary two, in my case), this book is excellently written and a wonderful, wonderful vote of confidence for a solo trip. Robyn Davidson writes about her solo trip across Australia with four camels, Ginny NiCarthy finds her way through South America with Spanish capabilities “at the level of a cocker spaniel”, and Jamie Zeppa is taught how to cook rice by some nosy students in Bhutan. Coming in at $16, this book is definitely worth the money – especially for women looking for final encouragement before a big adventure.
Living the dream. How other people´s concerns were fuel for my journey.
What does your boyfriend think about this?
Are you going ALONE?
What happens if you miss your family?
These were usually the first words out of people’s mouths upon hearing about my trip. Sometimes, I was lucky to get a whole sentence; occasionally, the disapproval was made known through some guttural, disapproving groan accompanied by a shifted glance and awkward silence. Despite well-intentioned, these statements were opined before congratulations, good-lucks, or even simple inquiries about my proposed travel path. Gross assumptions were made not only about my ability to take care of myself, but also about the places I would be visiting. Movie storylines from Hostel and Taken were offered as evidence against my trip.
Why was it so difficult for educated individuals (male, female, old and young) to fathom a woman traveling alone? Was it the unknown? A safety factor? A gender or age issue?
Whatever the reason, I used it as a driving force to educate myself. I learned to anticipate surprise or even rejection and I prepared myself by reading (a lot) as well as trolling various internet sites in search of up-to-date, first-hand advice from people not unlike myself. I memorized the various geographic regions and researched where and if there had been any rebel or crime surges. I read travel and history books, and decided where a guided tour was absolutely necessary and where not. I bought a fake wedding ring, incredibly modest clothing, and two different head scarves. I plan on memorizing how to say “leave me alone” in the native language, and will stay in areas where many local women clearly feel safe.
Despite all of this preparation, I realize that at the end of the day something unfortunate could happen and it might have nothing to do with the fact that I am alone or a woman. I could be bitten by a snake during the tenure of my biology-related work, get malaria, or be rejected at a border for not having the right papers. I also realize that it is completely illogical to make sweeping generalizations about a country simply because one or two highly publicized incidents. I have learned to follow my gut feeling about trusting people.
I have never regretted things I have done; rather, I have regretted what I didn’t do. I am not the kind of person to sit at home and wait for opportunities to come to me. I don’t believe in foolish mistakes, I believe in well-planned decisions.
For all of you women (and men…let’s be fair now J) who have been afraid to do something because someone else told you not to, now is your chance. Relish it.
