Hakuna Matata

Hello again!
Sarfari in Kruger National Park in South Africa was amazing. My group consisted of an English mom, her daughter, two aussie girls, one of which I might stay with when I get there in March, a Japanese man named Bob from Idaho... I know. Strange. Anyways, the guide was the toughest "woman" I have ever met. She fought in the South African army, was a body guard for Bush on a visit here, killed a guy, you name it- she did it. We saw about every animal except the leopard and lions we saw from far away. We camped two nights and stayed at a "cultural" village which catered to tourists and I didn't like it- other than playing soccer with the local kids and watching them perform their tribal dances- that was nice. I had two up-close and personal encounters with Africa's finest insects- Once, when I woke up in my tent in the middle of the night to the sound of scratching only to find a really large, hairy spider above me and then again in the car when a dung beetle flew in the front window, richocheted off my head and hit the back window. Good times:)

After the safari, I went back to Pretoria outside of Jo'burg and went on a small tour to the apartheid museum in Jo'burg. It was really interesting and to see what actually happened here- how much violence there was, explained a lot and I am really glad I went. After the museum, I went into Soweto, where everything happened and even into Kliptown. Won't get into where that is or my dad will have my head. I saw Winnie Mendela's house, Desmond Tutu's too. Winnie did some pretty atrocious things during the uprisings including supporting the "necklace". This is when you took a person, put a huge tire full of petrol inside it and light you on fire as an example to informers. There is also the largest hospital in the world in Jo'burg but you don't want to have your baby there for one good reason: people steal them for two reasons: using them for voodoo medical and raping a virgin is thought to cure AIDS by many people here...
A couple more fun facts about Johannesburg:
- You can get an AK47 for 200 Rand- that's under $30.
- You can ask a taxi driver for one and you will have one within 20 minutes.
- Locals stand on the side of the road using various hands signals to bus (they cram up to 15 people in these meant for 8) driver to tell them where they want to go. Pretending you're hand is a gun means you want to go to Jo'burg.
- A policeman in England only pulls his gun with the distinct intend on shooting someone once in 6 years, in NYC once in 6 months, in Jo'burg once in 6 days...
I could go on and on about stories and things that I've learned, but I would be here all day.

Ok, so now I am staring out at the whitest sand and the clearest green water I have ever seen in Zanzibar Island, Tanzania, in the north (Nungi and Kendwa). I'm met more Brits and loads of French that I have been spending time with. There are also tons of volunteers here on a weeks vacation from Kenya or Tanzania. Last night a group of us went night fishing. The rods we used were nothing bigger then a foot and it had string around it with the weight and hook at the end. Unfortunately, no once caught a damn thing, but being on that boat and looking at the stars, which btw are INCREDIBLE in Africa, was really nice.
The poverty in Zanzibar was a definitely culture shock and I am glad I was exposed to it before I leave for India in a couple days- ease my way in. If I had to guess, I would say the island is 90% Muslim and Ramadan started the day I got here. I was fascinating driving by these shacks and huts made of mud and thatch at dusk and seeing large family's sitting on the floor in front of their homes eating together. The people of Zanzibar are very friendly and are constantly saying "jambo" which means hello or "hakuna matata" which I think if you've seen the lion King, you know what that means.

If I ever want to get to the beach, I better go try to download pictures and stop writing.