A month of wandering....

Little trips to different places. That's what the last month has had in store for us. An eventful trip up Mt. Slesse near Chilliwack, B.C.--a grand and giant buttress of granite rock of less than perfect quality but without a doubt providing a big adventure for the summer thus far. A week of climbing in Squamish, B.C., made all the more fun with visits from Chris & Trista and Zac & Brit. Nothing better than heckling on the rock. Unless it's heckling on the ultimate frisbee field. Kelly got some of that in too, with a three day tournament at ECC in Burlington, WA with D'oh. With a pleasant surprise, she realized she still remembered how to play, and how to have great fun doing so. As Kelly played ultimate and then headed up for a fantastic and relaxing four days with her close girlfriends in the San Juan Islands, Michiel kept at the climbing, and got in some great routes at Washington Pass with Zac and the Bugaboos with Dave. We made the best of some unplanned rain and spent a little more time in Seattle preparing for our Cali/Utah/Red Rocks trip coming up.

Now, the truck is being packed up once again--and this time the gear includes such luxuries as pillows. You would think we would have figured that one out a long time ago. Pillows, high density foam mattresses, a wok, a sponge for dishes....we are going to be set this time. No curtains though. The next segment includes "the Valley", Tuolemne Meadows, high sierras, Utah desert towers and Red Rocks Nevada. Mostly climbing, sprinkled with a little ultimate. Mid-august through mid-November. Then we are back in Seattle, Michiel excited for work back at Puget Sound Solar, Kelly for the unknown. That'll be a shocker.

Below are some photos from the last month.....

Slesse, viewed from the descent. We climbed the long buttress on the left edge of the mountain.

Kelly on the summit ridge of Slesse.

Kelly on a traversing pitch on Squamish, on a day we climbed in three parties of two and laughed all day long.

The approach to the Bugaboos.

Dave Burdick climbing up towards the white headwall South Howser.

Bugs.

East Creek bivy in the Bugs.

Zac on a money pitch of Chianti Spire in the North Cascades.

a week in the North Cascades

We couldn't plan a long climbing trip and not spend some of that time in our own backyard. So after returning from Colorado, we packed up the car yet again for a 5 day jaunt in the North Cascades. The first and main objective was Liberty Crack on Liberty Bell up at Washington Pass. This is a climb that has been on Michiel's mind for the last 3 years. This is the rightmost spire in the photo below, viewed from highway 20, and we climbed the 1200 foot East face. This is considered a North American 50 Classic, and they weren't lying. Oh man what a climb.


Liberty Crack is a 11 pitch 5.10 C2 climb, but most people climb it as 5.9 C2. This climb contains 3 pitchs of solid aid, Michiel's second time aiding, 3 pitches of solid 5.10 climbing, 2 pitches of 5.9 and then easier going on a long crack system climbing the main face of Liberty Bell. This climb has gone free once in the past, and we were able to see the second free ascent.


Since this was our first real aid climb, and unsure about our speed we decided to fix the first two pitches the afternoon before, and came back to finish the climb on the second day. Below, on the first day, Michiel is nearing the top of the pitch C1, while Kate Rutherford is heading up over the roof to meet up with Mikey Schaeffer while they were working on freeing the roof. The next day we witnessed Mikey freeing the roof, which goes at 5.13b, making him the second person to have freed it.

Michiel working his way over the Lithuanian Lip on the second pitch. This was one of the best parts of the climb. It was even fun for Kelly to jug up, who swung out across the face every time she cleaned a piece of gear.

After fixing the first two pitches and rapping off. Kelly and I went to our campsite, made dinner and went to sleep. We had stashed our gear at the base of the climb so that the next days hike in would be easier. We had an easy morning hike in to the base and began jugging our fixed lines to the top of the second pitch.

The third pitch also goes at C2 with an apparent hook move that Michiel never found, leading to the base of a sweet 5.10 hand crack.
After a long 165 foot 5.8, 2 5.10 pitches and a long 5.7 we came to Kelly's starring pitch. A long 180 foot 5.9+ pitch that took us to the top, and Kelly to the edge. After climbing and jugging up 1000 feet of rock of hard climbing, Kelly got to finish it off with a long lead at the top end of her abilities. Way to go!

Kelly starting her way up Pitch 9 of Liberty Crack--quite steep but lots of fixed pins.

After a stiff climb, we knew we'd be tired, but wanted to get out and explore a little more of the North Cascades, so we picked out a new area to head into. Michiel has been near this area a couple times, but for Kelly it was a first. From Marblemount, we headed up Cascade River Road for 19 miles, then hiked our way 5,600 feet up through big cedars, large boulderfields, heather meadows, and then gained the Eldorado Glacier before setting up camp on Wednesday night at the base of Eldorado. We thought it was a little early in the season to try for Early Morning Spire, which seems like a fun climb, so we aimed for the mellower Southwest Buttress on Dorado Needle. However, Thursday morning we woke up and some clouds had rolled in. It still looked okay, so we set out across the glacier. Only to find that 30 minutes later, at the col at the edge of the large Inspiration glacier, much more menacing clouds had rolled in, and stormfronts coming in from the south and the north seemed to be converging above us. We could hear the crackling of electricity in the rock beside us, and lightening was striking just over a mile away. Rather than get stuck on a long rock route should the storm hit, we turned around and headed back to camp.

After waiting it out for a little while, we decided the window was at least big enough for us to run up Eldorado Peak looming above us. So we booked it up the East Ridge and gained the crazy summit--which is a snow knife edge, though easy because many climbers before us have kicked out solid footsteps. A group of four other climbers had converged on the same mountain, having also backed off their rock objective. Rather than get rained on when we had brought up only one bivy sack between the two of us, we headed back down the long approach that afternoon, conspiring to crag at Index on Friday before heading back into Seattle for a couple days, which has stretched into a week with Michiel putting in a little time at work. It's all good, and now we are off to British Columbia for a couple weeks. What do you think of that, eh?

Evening sun on Forbidden (the peak at right) and Moraine Lake below it, all just east of our campsite.

About to set out from camp, on the rock, on Thursday morning, headed for Dorado Needle. Viewed from the north. Our approach was from the south.

Some of the menacing clouds over us on Thursday as we changed objectives. Definately a change in the weather forecast from when we'd seen it last....

Colorado: Eldorado Canyon, the Rockies, and more...

Two great weeks in Colorado hanging out with Michiel's brother Sebastiaan and his girlfriend Jamie really kick-started our climbing trip. We drove down after a fun wedding weekend in Bozeman (thanks and congrats to Hannes and Laura!) over the 4th of July. After a full day's drive we arrived at the doorstep of their little house that sits next to the creek in Eldorado Canyon, a world class climbing site. Being in Colorado, we had to get used to how dicey it can be to climb with the possibility of storms in the afternoons. Being halfway up a tall spire with a lot of metal dangling from your body during a lightening storm is not such a good idea. So that made early morning alpine starts a must.

Thankfully, with Sebastiaan and Jamie's doorstep only 10 minutes by foot from the sandstone climbing of Eldorado Canyon, we were still able to, some days, enjoy both a lazy coffee-filled morning and quality climbing. Eldorado Canyon has sandbagged ratings, fairly polished though solid sandstone, and some finnicky gear. Large towers in the colors of warm sunsets rise up on either side of the creek, and are covered with florescent yellow lichens. Quality multipitch cragging routes are bomber here.


We hit some great routes in Eldo, the favorite being the 7-pitch Yellow Spur a Grade III 5.10b (Michiel's second time on the route, Sebastiaans's 5th), where we forgot to take a camera and document Kelly's onsight on the highly exposed crux pitch 800 feet up. And the 5-pitch 5.10a Handcracker Direct.



We also got into Rocky Mountain National Park for a few alpine climbs. Started with the Petit Grepon, heading in with two parties of two--Michiel and Kelly on the South Face, one of the most popular alpine climbs in the country and immortalized in the 50 Classics of North America, and Sebastiaan and his buddy Chris beside us on the Southwest Corner. Amazingly, the four of us had the mountain to ourselves that day, and did not have to leapfrog around other parties. That's when climbing in the alpine is at its best. The South Face was a fun route, pretty low-key and enjoyable.


The boys gearing up on the Petit Grepon at dawn.


The crazy profile of the Petit Grepon from the base. The face steadily narrows into a tiny blade of a summit.




Climbing up easy chimney sections.

Kelly attaining the summit.




Our next main alpine climb was on Hallett Peak. We headed up there with Chris Taylor to tackle this imposing 1100 foot face via the Culp-Bousier route, Grade IV 5.9.

Leaving Boulder at 2 in the morning and the car at 3:45 we got an early alpine start and were greeted with a beautiful sunrise before hopping on the climb. Although not much higher by grade than the Petit Grepon, it is a much more committing climb. Fun, but mostly full length (200 foot), pitches combined with two ropes added up to a lot of rope drag. We enjoyed the quality of climbing on this one for sure though. Luckily, we narrowly missed a thunderstorm complete with hail and driving rain which came in as we were descending down the gullies and boulder field.




Michiel leading the crux pitch of the route.

Chris bringing us up to the summit in a rope-stretching pitch with some wet sections.

Our last Colorado climb was probably the best for both rock quality and challenge presented to all of us. Michiel, Sebastiaan and Kelly headed out to the park one last time to tackle the Barb on Spearhead, an 8-pitch 5.10c. The approach was gorgeous, especially once we got to Black Lake (below).

Spearhead sits in a beautiful cirque of peaks at the backside of the Diamond. It is the pyramid-shaped mountain behind Michiel and Kelly as we make sandwiches for the next day's climb. Soon after, we called it a day and crawled into our awesome little cave of a bivy spot protected from the strong winds of the day.






Mac started us out on the climb on a fun little section although fingers were still a little numb.

Kelly leading her first 5.9 alpine pitch, a fun traversing fingers crack.

Sebastiaan on the fun 5.9+ hand traverse before the roof on pitch 5. This long sustained rattly hands pitch that brings us up to the crux. The belay spot is about the size of a postage stamp and we are all hanging on gear as we shift climbers.

Then Michiel takes us on the 5.10c crux pitch with a fixed piton in it. Starting out with a 5.9 section of off-fingers to a hard section just barely large enough to fit fingertips in, the crux, and then easing off to a fun 5.9 crack that brings us around to the North Ridge. From here we belay to the summit.

The Colorado trip was a blast. We would spend our evenings eating meals at the house, having nice dinners in Boulder (hooray for happy hours) or seeing Jamie at work at the bar. Two weeks was not long enough, but the Cascades and a couple of engagements were calling....

Transitioning to North America

Apparently we've been neglecting the blog since embarking on the North American part of our trip. There is something about travelling overseas that makes blogging more enticing. Even if only to assure our families that we are alive and well. The novelty of travelling somewhere new does it too. You are presented with all sorts of cultural situations and exotic landscapes, as well as the conflicts of emotion presented by each of these situations. The greatest moments of cultural exchange prove to be some of the hardest bits, maybe even the ones that provoke you to keep moving on....

But all that is a memory now. (For more photos of Africa though, see Kelly's facebook page. Easier to post there.)

We've been back in the USA for a month and a half now. We talk about Obama a lot less here. Although the focus of our trip has shifted from travel to climbing, our identity as dirty bums has not seemed to change much. We are still mostly living out of our tent and going days between showers. But we are a lot more fit. Walking around loads while travelling, coupled with the occassional bike rental, is okay. But it just doesn't compare to spending all day climbing and hiking, almost every day of the week.

In order to jumpstart this change in fitness requirements, we knew we were going to have to get into shape. Our running shoes had been stolen in Madagascar, so it had been a long time since we'd hit the pavement. Michiel was getting really amped, pounding his fist in his hand when he talked about our upcoming workouts. But we do have different styles in this respect. A few days after getting home, we had already flown across the country to Vermont for our friends Marion and Ethan's wedding. We decided to hit the hills around the farm for a morning run. (One of the things I miss about college is the amazing running on Vermont farm roads.) We lace up and quickly realize that the only option from the farm is downhill to the left or downhill to the right, which of course means that the long haul uphill comes at the end, always a little daunting. We take the left route. We jog downhill at an even pace, but by the time that I'm ready to turn around, Michiel hasn't gotten enough out of it so far. So he decides he's going to sprint uphill all the way back to the barn, while I jog back up at my slow but steady pace. He started off strong, leaving me in a tiny cloud of dust. But guess who made it farther uphill before slowing to a walk?

So...by the time we get back to Washington he's of course so amped for some climbing that it's almost unbearable. I 'let' him go out with another buddy in order to get a little fix. That gives us a little more focus as we take a couple days to see families and friends and get all of our gear together to prep for the first roadtrip of the summer.

We're currently in Seattle for a couple of days, but since Vermont, we have spent a week warming up in Washington's mountains, then headed east for another fun wedding in Montana over the 4th of July, then down for two awesome weeks in Colorado to hang out with Michiel's brother Sebastiaan and his girlfriend Jamie, and get lots of climbing in. We came back for another week in the North Cascades of Washington. The next stop is British Columbia. Our plan is to continue posting onto the blog occassionally with some pictures and climbing trip reports. More details on Colorado and the North Cascades forthcoming.....

Back in the USA

Better late than never. We never finished up our posts for the Africa trip because we had to keep it under wraps for a while in order to deliver a surprise.

From southwestern Uganda we decided to make our way to the eastern African coast, to visit the island of Lamu. Getting to Lamu involved 4 long days in the bus from one stop to another. One particularly fun busride, overnight from Nairobi to Mombasa, featured a loud beep that sounded every second or two. It sounded like the alarm when a large truck goes in reverse. But it never stopped. We finally asked about it i15 minutes into the bus ride, and the guy told us to just forgive and forget about it. I'll tell you, by the time we rolled into Mombasa 8 hours later at 6am, we definately had not forgiven or forgotten.

Lamu is an carless island just a few miles from the mainland, shaped from 13 centuries of trading with Asia, Persia and countries up and down the African coast. It is predominately Swahili and Muslim, with palm trees and mangroves and sand dunes. The town of Lamu is ancient, with tight little alleyways winding a maze through buildings constructed of coral bricks and fine white cement and boasting intricately doorways.

We wanted to see a little of the coastal culture and soak up a little more sun before we departing for the States. We also headed there trying to find a woodcarver that a friend had studied under 9 years before, in order to bring her something back for her upcoming wedding. We spent about 6 days there, and succeeded on all accounts.

We spent a couple days out in the traditional dhow sailing vessels, all wooden construction and that keep sailing to the basics. These trips involved sailing, some fishing with line wrapped around small pieces of wood, beachside bbqs of the fish we had caught, and swimming. Kelly proudly caught the first fish out of the mzungus, to Michiel's chagrin.

The bulk of our time, however, we spent winding our way through the alleyways of Lamu town, and searching for this woodcarver. With the help of a local boy whose help we enlisted, who spoke Kiswahili and knew his way around town, we did manage to find him on day #3 of our search. We had only come with a couple clues, so were delighted to be successful. Finding this guy made our trip to Lamu special not only because we had a mission after months of relatively aimless traveling but also because he took us in to show us a side of Lamu that we would not have seen as standard tourists. Such as a 4-hour ride by donkey to a town on the other side of the island. In the pouring rain. And let me tell you that donkeys are not very comfortable. And they can tell when you don't know how to ride them. My donkey learned early on that I did not want to hit it hard with the switch, and took full advantage of me.

After departing Lamu by boat in another bout of pouring rain, we had another couple long bus rides and then a day and a half to wrap up things in Nairobi. Including a cool trip to a local baby elephant and rhino sanctuary, very well run by an organization taking in orphaned animals and returning them to the wild.
We touched down in Seattle, had one day to repack our bags, and then flew back the same direction to Vermont to join our friends Marion and Ethan at their wedding. After a beautiful, fun and personal wedding, we spent a few nights camping around Vermont with them and cooking hobo meals in the fire. And now, we're briefly back in the Seattle area, trying to see family and friends and whip ourselves back into shape for cardio and climbing.

Finally some photos.....

Well, our journey home starts tonight. Here's a few photos from the last couple months. We'll share more soon.....

the silverback mountain gorilla. michiel had a special spot for him.
michiel eating local ugandan grub.
kelly and white rhinos in kenya.
brothers. fully wild.
our tent within the masai village.


avenue d' baobobs in western madagascar

going down the tsiribina river in madagascar

Uganda

Believe it or not, I found a hairier being than Michiel. Yup, had to come to Uganda to find it. And, I fell in love at first sight too. Maybe there are some parallels there? Can't read into it too much.

We entered Uganda and set up camp in the first main town we came to, Jinja. Jinja bills itself as the adventure capital of East Africa, and there is plenty to do, but it is also a low-key place to hang out. We spent a day getting thrown out of a raft in class 3 to 5 rapids on the legendary Nile, and decided we wanted to keep nursing the adrenaline kick. So we jumped into kayaks for a few days to learn just how big that weany class 2 rapid looks when you are that much closer to the water. In the end, we ended up surfing a few. Nice warm water, and not even very many crocodiles. The campsite bar was perched high above the Nile so we could enjoy deserved late afternoon beers with an unrivaled view. A week later we were ready to hit the road again.

We've really enjoyed Uganda. It's lush and green, which pleases our Seattlite senses. And the people are friendly, open and candid. Conversations take unexpected turns, and people don't hold back in asking pointed questions. "Do you have cows in America?" is pretty easy to answer, but "Are you going to try to have kids as soon as you get home?" is a little tougher.

But we came to Uganda with one particular thing in mind above all else. It required us to travel to the eastern edge of the country, to the afromontane rainforest bordering the DR Congo. After an extremely long and dusty bus ride, where all we had to eat was skewers of liver which we promptly threw back out the window for the dogs, we arrived in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.

After a morning of very extreme birdwatching, we were able to mark off lots of new species. It was crazy. Kelly was holding the binos as Michiel would go through the bird book. Michiel recieved a papercut and Kelly got an elbow sprain. You have never seen such extreme birding before. This was a 4 day event.

Later the first afternoon we visited the local traditional healer who taught us what ailments all the local plants, trees, and barks can treat. He was clothed in goat skin and came from the DRC. He had 2 posters and a button on his shirt of the American Healer, Obama Man!

The pygmies tried to show Michiel how to make fire by rubbing 2 sticks together, but as a white suburban kid, he had no luck. But we are real pros at buying lighters.

After the stop to the local banana gin distiller where we tried the local wine and gin we happily and merrily skipped over to the local resturant and at a nice meal with some locals of the village. The dinner comprised of matoke (mashed green plantains), posho (maize flour and water), and some meat. It was good. We laughed and joked with a local crafts woman and shared our banana gin with others in the 8'x8' room.

Then finally, it was time for the grand finale. It was our turn to see the gorillas. We woke up with a smile, and hopes to see the gigantic hairy human like creatures. We were going to trek through the impenetrable forest to see our cousins. After about 1.5 hours of an uphill hike through thick brush and shoulder high ferns, and bugs the sizes of golfballs, the guide pushed back some grass and revealed the silverback. A 440 pound, 200 kilo, giant. After admiring him for a while and his ability to pull down trees we watched an 8 year old male in a tree eating some leaves. He would stare at us as he ate his morning brunch. Eyes fixed on us, he then swung himself to the ground with a thump.

I could swear he was eyeing me. He was looking right at me. He was just beautiful. He ambled over and sat right next to me. Just inches away. It took all my will power not to reach out and touch him. It would be against the gorilla-tracking rules, for disease transmission among other reasons. But you could not wipe the smile off my face. This little guy was so curious, it was so evident in his eyes. And so close...

As I, Michiel, stood away by about 3 feet, I saw that he was eyeing my prize. But the experience to see an 8 year old gorilla, jump off a tree, to meander over to my wife, and sit right next to her as if he wanted to start a conversation, was spiritual. Can't really get much closer to feeling one with the earth than that.

In total it was a pretty small gorilla family--only about 8 individuals. We moved over to watch a mother with her baby for 30 minutes. The baby was born on November 4, 2008. The guide wants to name him Obama. We're crossing our fingers.

Overall, seeing the gorillas was so much more than we had expected.

It's Eat or Be Eaten...

After we arrived in Nairobi we managed to get into contact with a Masai warrior and arranged to see the wild animals of the African plains. It was to be a unique experience as no other Masai man has a similar tour operation and we were his first Mzungus (whities). The plan was to stay with him and his family in his compound which includes his brother's family and all his cattle, sheep, goats and dogs. We would eat with them, drink tea with them, chat and play with the children and go on a morning and afternoon game drive. He lives on the Masai Mara Conservancy which is larger than the Masai Mara National Park but has all the animals and none of the expensive lodges and Mzungus. He works for the conservancy so while the game drives would be in a private land cruiser the meals, teas and night time experience would be purely Masai.

So after a couple of long, dusty, and crowded Matatu rides (local transport) to the town of Aitong, we bought some supplies and headed off to set our tent next to his mud hut. He had a round compound that was fenced with branches and bushes with 3 inch thorns; inside that circle were all the huts and another fenced circle for the cattle and sheep. The week prior to our arrival, his neighbor and dear friend was trampled to death by three elephants, a leopard jumped both fences and stole a baby sheep at night, and one of his cattle was taken by a male lion while grazing just outside his compound. So, basically, we are in the thick of it.

Each morning, we would rise at 5:30, drink some Kenyan coffee and be on our way in the private land cruiser, fitted with a roof that opens so that we can stand and watch the animals. After spending a little bit of time getting aquanted with the zebras, giraffes, wildebeasts, Thompson's gazelles, topis, impalas, and good god all the other boring animals, Kelly spotted a cheetah basking in the morning sun. With no other jeeps around we were able to view this animal without him getting too disturbed. Later the first morning we watched a few families of elephants slowly making their way across the plains, trying to eat enough grass to compensate their gigantic mass and appetites. In the afternoon, after Kelly spent some time watching ostriches and the secretary bird, we spotted a large group of impalas and Thompson's gazelles with all their eyes fixed in one direction. With all of them looking to the west, near some bushes, not eating, we knew there was a predator lurking. As we slowly creeped over, we saw 3 male lion brothers wrestling and playing with one another. Growling, and pawing, stretching and yawning on the lazy spring late afternoon. Eventually they would break up and sit on a boulder or a mound of dirt and lay like the kings they are, over looking the plains and gazing without a worry in life. You think i am being poetic? Just wait for the pictures! But can't here, the internet is too slow.

Oh yeah, and then we saw the cheetah prowling and another male lion.

Anyway, we also made it out to a sanctuary to see some white rhinos. Gorgeous 2 ton beasts that look like a minivan made of fat. The land cruiser stopped and the ranger from the sanctuary stopped next to us and told us to get out. Wait? Get out of the car? Yep, we jumped out and ended up walking with the rhinos. But don't worry moms, we never got closer than 4 feet. So we walked for about an hour just in awe. They are getting reintroduced and are thriving. There was a baby rhino, 4 females (one was pregnant) and the male.

After the game drives we would go to the village, or 3-family compound, for lunch and tea or dinner. Lunch was comprised of fruit and veggie sandwiches and dinner, well. . . that was another story. There might have been a little bit of miscommunication, misunderstanding or a clash of cultures, but what was supposed to be a "bring your own food and my wife will cook for you for a buck," turned into "bring enough food to feed my family, wife and 5 kids, my brother, his wife and 4 kids and my cattle herder and goat herder and buy meat and you cook for us." Yeah that's right. We thought that we had to supply our own food, but though what might have been us being exploited for our wallets, we ended up feeding the compound. Not a big deal, because the cash value was trivial and it is hard to eat a meal with meat and veggies when the kids are eating flour and water. So we went along with it.

The confusion came after the first night, when we realized our rice and meat would be split amongst the elders. Well, when Michiel wants a meal, he wants to eat. So if that was going to happen again, I wanted to make sure that I got a belly full. But on the second night, it turned out that he wanted us to cook. So after the hard day, sitting in a car looking at animals, and staining our fingers on the camera buttons, we came back to the compound that had a campfire and hot coals of charcoal in a small stove and started cooking dinner. First night, the menu at Chez Mac and Kell was cabbage and carrots with carmelized onions and seasoned tomatoes accompanied with seasoned lentils and rice. This menu item will feed a family of 15 plus 2 whities and will be cooked on a single stove of charcoal by campfire light. As we prepared the items you could hear the male lions whoofing and hyenas laughing in the background.

The house special for the third night at Chez Mac and Kell was carmelized onions, seasoned tomates and about 3 pounds of goat that was browned to perfection. This will lay on a large plate of spaghetti. Of course, after they ran us around town trying to find spaghetti, it turns out Masai don't really like spaghetti, they just know that Mzungus eat it. Needless to say, while the work and extra $7 of food was unexpected, the kids were licking their plates and the elders were making sure they got seconds before I did. We got a good story and they got a meal (or three). And our favorite thing.... after buying all the food, and preparing all the food, and then cooking all the food, the brother of our Masai guide says to us "You are welcome!" HA! We love traveling.

By the way, we didn't stay longer in Madagascar, choosing to start our adventures in East Africa instead.

Rafted the Nile today. Sick!

surprise!

hmmm, where did we last leave off?

i think we were in the central highlands, where it was a huge relief to wear warm clothes and not feel stupid for bringing them (even the hat). we used the highlands as a place to arrange a trip down the Tsiribina River. It is supposedly a typical Madagascar trip, but no less cool because of it. especially at a time when there are so few vazaha (tourists) in the country that you have the river to yourself. we took a taxi-brousse to Miandrivazo, the actual jumping off place, which of course took us an entire day. the next morning, after a candlelit dinner (because the electricity was cut, but dont think that it was romantic, the candles attracted lots of bugs and this soon added some flavor to the meal) we headed out on a pirogue, or dugout canoe, with two boatmen. one spoke french and a fair bit of english and the other only malagasy. over the course of the next three days, we navigated down over 120 km of river, spotting lemurs and sifakas, passing cliffs with hanging bats, cruising down a small gorge, and seeing many small villages without access to roads, electricity or other services. the boatmen sang the entire day as they paddled and we thoroughly enjoyed our evenings drinking rum and local moonshine and chatting the night away. local rum loosens the tongue and after a few sips we would be telling jokes and stories in french, english, malagasy, and a little spanish under the southern hemisphere stars. since he's always got to do something different and manly, of course michiel killed the chicken that became our dinner, along the banks of the river.

at our pull-out point, what waited for us? a zebu cart. the ride was rocky, the water at some points along the "road" was so high that we stood up in the cart and put our backpacks on to keep everything dry as the zebu swam and grunted. but after the novelty, it was more fun to hike barefoot behind the cart through the mud and water.

another full day of taxi-brousse travel later, and we arrived in morondava, on the west coast. we had originally planned to use this as a jumping off point to visit a world-renowed site nearby (the Tsingy de Bemehara), but found ourselves with too little time to make the trip. true to form, we rented a motorcycle and headed out to see the avenue de baobobs, a line of these wild but stately trees along a rough dirt road; all of the trees are nearly 1000 years old. We made the 1 hour, 20 kilometer, excursion through rough roads, pot holes, deep sand, and passed zebu to the site where we waited for the red sunset sky that Africa and Madagascar are famous for. As the red took over the sky, trees, flowers, and clouds, we snapped pictures of the millenium old giants scattered among feilds of rice, casava, mud huts, and zebu. The ride back was delicious as Michiel had to navigate sandy terrain at dusk, when all the bugs come out, looking tasty and just happening to enjoy funneling themselves into his mouth as Michiel drove his lady back to town.

after a lazy day in town and at the beach, we boarded a taxi-brousse for the long 18 hour ride back into the capital to get ready for our flight to nairobi. we arrived at 4:30 this morning and they graciously let us sleep another 1.5 hours on the bus before unleashing the taxi drivers on us. this afternoon, we mozied over to the airport to confirm our flight. the lady at the desk had a perplexed look on her face. eventually after 10 phone calls and 2 air madagascar desks, we found out that our flight had been cancelled and they had rescheduled us on another flight...a week later. would have been nice if they had told us this beforehand. we have some ideas up our sleeves, and can surely take advantage of more time here in madagascar. at the same time, we would have done it a little differently had we known, and we'd already switched gears a bit to thinking about east africa.

Number of times . . .

Number of lemure speices seen: 6
Number of times we have been sick: 1/2 (kelly)
Hours spent on taxi brousse: too many
Number of kids we have made cry because mother tells them that if they dont go to sleep the Vazaha, white guy, will get them: 8
Number of new food items tried without knowing what it is: 7
Arguments on trip: 0
Motorcycle rides: 2
Bugs eaten on motorycle ride: 2,534 ( enough for a meal)
Cost for a meal at streat vendor: 40 cents to 1 dollar per person, depending on meat. So i saved a dollar on the motorcycle trip.
Our average cost of a hotel with shared bathroom: 8 bucks a night
Fund raising Carnivals visited: 1
Did I win money on my first bet at the roullete table? yes
Making of music videos seen being filmed next to our campsite: 1
Crocodiles: 2
Number of gold chained, tanned French men on Quad bikes: 14
Number of chickens killed: 1 by Michiel, on river bank
Pounds of Zebu eaten by Michiel: 1 Zebu
Pounds of "hot", stolen, zebu meat consumed: 1
Number of times the political instability has affected us: 0
Number of times we have been cheated: 26, well not that bad
Number of emails an hour at the internet cafe because of speed of internet: 1, sometimes 0
Number of containers of sunscreen: 5
Number of times kelly has freaked out when a jelly fish brushed up against her: 7
Number of times stung by Jelly fish: 0
Number of days left in Madagascar: 2

Transport through Madagascar

Well, that poem acutally sounded better to me after a few beers.

Soon after the last post we flew back to Tana to head to Western Madagascar. From airport we took the local transport, a minibus or minivan that is generally packed to capacity with people, rice, corn or fish spilling out, to the southern taxi brousse (minibus) station. This was a hectic station with lots of transports going in all directions, food vendors, taxis, taxi brousse organizers, cheaters, and robbers. Got to be careful, especially as a tourist that sticks out. We hopped on the bus and headed South to Antsirabe. Let me explain a little about the transport here . . .

No matter what we think, it takes a day to travel 4 hours or 100 kilometers. From out little local hotel near the airport we thought that we would get into Antsirabe in a matter of hours, our book did say it was a 4 hour ride. So after breakfast we, got onto a local transport to the center of Tana 30 min., then got onto a "direct" bus to Antsirabe, of course they don't leave unless they are full so we wait for 2.5 hours. okay finally, we have enough people, enough as in we are all crammed. but we are off, alright. 2 minutes later we stop because the driver wants some smokes. Alright, no matter, whatever he needs to stay attentive. Then we are off, 5 minutes later we stop at a police check point. Then another, and another, then we stop qnd pick up some more people. No problem, get everyone on. But what is the hold up? Oh, we are also putting on 3 50kilo sacks of rice and a basket of chickens. 30 minutes from the station we have gone 5 Klicks.

Blasting Malagasy music, chewing on some leaves, the driver weaves around pot holes, zebu carts and everyone else using the main highway, one lane dirt road. We stare out the window and let the air hit our face, it is about 95 in the shade. but the scenery passes the time away quickly. After constant stopping to drop people off and pick people up, we make a stop in a small town to eat some food and run to the toilet. I immediatly run out of the taxi brousse and find myself some street vendors. Fried chicken, avacadoes, fruit, somosas, coffee, eggs, and a few items to go. Eventually the 4 hour direct bus gets to Antsirabe in 5 hours, just before dusk. The taxi brousse station is about 4 miles from the camping area so we start to walk, arriving at our new spot just in time for dinner, having started just after breakfast.

Travel in Madagascar is slow, but is part of the experience.

lemurs, street food, and carelessness

The streets are covered in food vendors
His looks good but I'll try hers
We sit down, in the center of town,
And start our meal with cucumbers.

Three pieces of fish, ten of shrimp,
Rice, eggs, hot sauce, don't be a wimp.
Scarf it down in the center of town,
Walk to the next stall with my gangsta limp.

Bonjour ca va? What is that?
I get five skewers with some meat and fat.
Can't scarf it down, inthe center of town
So I feed it to the feral cat.

How much you say just two twenty?
Somosas, soup, I've had plenty.
I rub my bell in the center of town,
I walk to the hotel contently.


We spent a couple days in a national park called L'Ankarana, nice tropical dry forest with some good examples of tsingy, which is sharp limestone formations with forests of succulents growing on them. Visited a giant bat cave with thousands of bats and giant stalactites and stalagmites. And best of all, saw lots of leaping lemurs. Three different species: crowned, Sandords, and northern sportive lemurs. The latter are nocturnal, and we only saw the little guys with their heads peeping out of tree cavities where they rest during the day--always sleeping with one eye open. We got much closer to the lemurs than we would have thought. As close as 5 or 6 feet. Also saw lots of birds, chameleons, geckos, and got in some good exercise--one day hiking 14 miles.

Today we went climbing at a local spot near Diego. We were a bit careless and ended up with a bag of stuff and our lunch stolen. Nothing absolutely essential, but a big bummer regardless. And we had just been starting to think that we were warming up to this town. On our moderate 3 pitch climb we had beautiful views of the bay--supposedly the second largest bay in the world after Rio de Janiero. This town in the north that has been our home base for the frist half of the trip in Madagascar--Diego Suarez--is an interesting one. It is full of old lecherous French men with beautiful young Malagasy women on their arms. Tough to stomach really. Tomorrow we head back to the capital and from there we will make our way to the west.

Lobster, limestone, and baby turtles

Trying to have a conversation here in french is like talking to Kelly. I look with a blank face, it goes in one ear and out the other, and I smile and nod. But after a little bit of work, we were able to get ourselves to the Nosy Hara Archipelago in the north of Madagascar. This is a group of tiny islands covered with white sand and tall limestone cliffs. A national park with no free standing buildings and a sacred burial site for the Malagasy. It is considered taboo to point your finger, which makes it difficult when you see animals or giving beta on climbs.

After 4x4ing for 2 hours we took a small boat across a portion of the Mozambique channel.

The idea of coming out to these islands was the first step in convincing Michiel to come to Madagascar. But it really didn't take much. ("Our" island, Nosy Andantsara, is to the left in the picture below--the cliffs are on the opposite side.)

We spent 7 days on this tiny 4 hectare island (about 10 acres), a true paradise spot. Our mornings entailed snorkeling over the reefs in the clear water observing the local marine life. In the afternoons, once it had cooled down a little, we spent a few hours sport-climbing on the limestone cliffs next to the water, taking swims to cool down. While we were out playing on the rocks, clipping bolts, the locals were out in the sea, armed with a spear catching our dinner. each night was a feast of fish, lobster, octopus, squid, rice and vegetables. We washed it down with rhum punch and beer. Man, life was tough.On about our fourth night, the clouds gathered and rain began dumping down. From the thatched hut gazebo (where we ate our meals), I (kelly) saw something crawling out from the bushes into the sand. At first I thought it was a frog....and then I realized they were turtles! Baby sea turtles making their way to the ocean. Then the other nights as we sat on the beach watching the sunset, reading our books or drinking beer, we kept seeing more turtles.The climbing was a great deal similar to Thailand. Overhanging limestone sport routes next to the ocean. It took a day or two to get used to it again. The routes were solid grades, 7-9 foot bolt spacings and generally 25-30 meters long. Kelly was a little rope gun, acing herself up some upper 10's and lower 11's. Teaching me how to climb.It took a day or two to feel better from the pnemonia but it was harder to stay energetic from the drugs. not a good time to get sick, but feeling just fine now. That and the suffocating heat of the tent which made sleep a little difficult were the only potential drawbacks thus far.