All posts by Katana

Katana (Katya) is an artist. She’s lived in four countries but after five years in America to study and work, she had to come back to Europe and ended up living in London for the second time in her life. As much as living at home with parents can be lovely and enjoyable, it was time to move on and find a job/continue studying/recognize real life coming at her. Instead, she decided to join Jon for a six months adventure.

The First Adventure

The Tale of Two Hospitals

October 31, 2014 Katana Leave a comment

It has been quite an eventful few days since we last updated. It starts with a hospital in Lusaka and ends in a hospital in Victoria Falls. Both times it has been me, the unlucky vegan warrior stumbling across the African plains.. no, not quite so dramatic.

One of the main reasons we remained in Lusaka for a few nights was actually because I was sick and we needed to see a doctor. I won’t go into details, because they are not very pleasant. But in Lusaka we found a nice private clinic, I saw a doctor, then did a bunch of lab tests, after that we waited for a very long time, but finally the results came in: no scary parasites, no weird diseases, but nasty fungal and bacterial infection of the stomach, intestines and who knows what else. I was instructed to take 8 pills every day, and that is not counting Doxycycline for malaria! My body was feeling rough, having been ill for a few weeks and having to pollute it with more medication. On the bright side however, we got to stay for Zambia’s 50th anniversary of independence celebrations, in the capital city!

There was a parade I believe, but we missed it. We walked around the city, the streets were quiet without traffic on some of the major roads, and people wearing clothes made out of Zambian flags, the country’s national colors, and some men wore national football jerseys, some specifically made for the 50th anniversary. Lusaka’s center is small compared to other capital cities, but it is lusciously green and didn’t seem too dirty. On our first night in the city, we went out for a beer (that was before the clinic visit and 8 pills) and on the way back encountered an entourage of scantily-clad women hanging out on the corner of a posh street with embassies. We read about the Zambian night-walkers in this part of town, so we didn’t really want to hang around and hurried home. On the way back I stumbled upon uneven ground and fell on my knees and palms, with deep scrapes on the latter. I am unlucky! What I also noticed in Lusaka was the amount of foreigners, or expats, hanging out in the center and the shopping mall. Probably comparable to Nairobi, or even more. We also managed to find the Indian corner, as we have done before in African capitals, and bought Indian snacks: some were bland, some were good, and some just downright addictive and greasy.

Zambia has very strange ideas... — Zambia has very strange ideas…

After a few days in the capital we headed for Lake Kariba. We decided to stay one night somewhere on the beach, and the next day continue to the Zimbabwe border. The place we found on the lake had a campsite right on the beach and was completely overrun with people! We haven’t seen so many people, especially not foreigners, anywhere in Africa to be honest. There were a lot of Zambian families, either on the lake as a day trip, or staying in cottages for a few nights, and even a few camping in tents. The camping spot was beautiful, with the full view of the manmade lake, the islands, the red soil underneath the water (colored my hair a bit after a swim), but the facilities were unpleasant, and herds of goats came foraging in the trash in the morning.

The Lake Kariba dam on the Zimbabwe side

Crossing into Zimbabwe we had to drive on the dam from one side of the lake onto the other. This border post was very strange, it was merely a big tent with a long table and three or four guys sweating inside in the semi-darkness. The strangest thing perhaps was a little short stout man who was half-murmuring to himself (or to us) as we passed him on our way to the tent, but we just thought he was one of those money changers or whoever else hangs out around borders in these parts. The immigration officer sent us first outside behind the tent – and who do we meet, but the same stout man disapprovingly shaking his head at us. It turned out he was the health check person (they have those at some borders too, mostly checking yellow fever certificates or temperature for ebola). He was so upset we didn’t follow what he said to us as we passed – apparently he told us to go with him! He accepted no apologies, but made us stand there reciting everything we know about ebola, like two dirty schoolchildren who have just misbehaved and are now made to stand in front of the class and recite the rules. What a peculiar man, and even more peculiar was that he made us ink our thumbs and only then sent us on our way. The inky thumbs stayed with us all day.

Nice lunch spot after passing the Zimbabwe border

We knew we weren’t going all the way to Harare in one day, so we tried to stop at Karoi, but the only accommodation they had was a run-down $80 hotel. We pressed on to Chinhoyi, but just outside the city we saw a Chinhoyi Caves National Park with a pretty decent cheap campsite. In the morning we set out to Harare, got there pretty quickly and checked in at the newly built N1 hotel – we needed wifi for several things and it was nice to relax in a real room for the night.

After getting settled in, we walked around the city for a few hours. It was really quite magnificent: long wide straight roads, the center divided into squares, sidewalks, mostly cleanliness, and the park was lovely as well. The buildings were glistening in the sharp afternoon sun, clean and tall, and some with very unique architecture as well. Definitely unlike any African city we’ve come across so far!

The next day in Harare was somewhat of a let-downer, and then a steep slope up. We had set up a meeting with the people behind Vegan Friendly Products and V Delights. We were very early, so we drove by one of the campsites in the city, thinking we might stay the extra night and camp there instead of the expensive hotel. As we rolled up to the campsite, and parked just outside the gates, we got approached by three guys, two in nondescript uniforms, and one in normal clothes, claiming that we ran a red light and would have to go to the police, have our car confiscated, and so on and so forth. Looking at it now, they were just regular con artists, but quite intimidating, and we were almost running late for our meeting, so what could we do but give them some money and drive away?

Afterwards we met the lovely vegans, Louisa and her family, but that is going to be in yet another interview post later on. For now let me just say we now have baobab powder, and the most amazing local herbal tea, which I am drinking as I write this.

Lovely spread put on for us at Vegan Friendly Products/V Delights in Harare

After the “police” incident in Harare we decided to drive away instead of staying the night. We got as far as Lake Chivero, and found a nice place called Kuimba Shiri which is also a bird sanctuary as well as a lodge and campsite. Unfortunately, they were experiencing a dramatic power cut, but the scenery was magnificent and we got to fly some owls! Barn owls are the cutest, I swear.

We were told the road from the lake to Victoria Falls, our way – was going to be bumpy and unpleasant. On the first day’s drive all was well – we passed some decrepit national parks, dry forests, dry rivers, small villages. It was clear that no foreigners pass through these parts – and even not so many Zimbabweans. We couldn’t find a single place to stay – no campsites, no lodges, no guesthouses, so we decided to try our luck at bush camping once more. We followed a small dirt track through the dry wiry forest for few kilometers, then turned onto another, even less used path, and finally came upon a little clearing overlooking a small valley, and decided to stop. We were spooked immensely – people say Zimbabwe is dangerous, not just the people but the wild animals – lions, wild dogs, snakes, elephants, who knows what else. We heard human activity down in the valley and tried to stay as quiet as possible, but had no trouble whatsoever. We rose with the sunrise and packed up, passing only one man on our way out to the main road. Soon after we encountered the bumpy dirt road, and it was really quite awful: potholes, corrugation, big inconspicuous holes, rough gravel, and so on. But eventually we found tarmac again, and proceeded to drive all the way to Victoria Falls. On the way there we encountered a few police road blocks, but the one that got us was because we apparently needed reflective white tape on our car – and had to pay a fine. It was infuriating that literally every road block was catching out the tourists for money. Thankfully we only had one thing wrong according to their rules, and rolled into Vic Falls annoyed but satisfied to have made it here.

We booked a few activities right off the bat, rafting for the following morning and bungy jump and zipline for the next day after that. Later, we walked down to the tapas restaurant, where the food was quite delicious (enough vegan options too!) but at the end of the night the mood turned sour. To understand Vic Falls you have to view it as a complete African package holiday for many people who come here: you have your waterfalls and all the activities to do in the gorge and on the river, you have the national park with all the famous African animals, and you have other more uncomfortable things, such as the “African dances” being on offer every night everywhere. If we were in the bush and encountered a tribe, where a dance was going on, then that would be magnificent. But these were probably college kids, or just locals working a more “exotic” job than selling tourist souvenirs, clad in freshly laundered outfits, and the authenticity is quite spoiled by the women wearing obvious bras and coming up to the stage with backpacks. It was just a bit of a cheap touristy show and we didn’t care much for it. The worst though was an old man (“a fat old git” as Jonathan put it) who was clearly trying to secure one of the dancing girls for his table, and later perhaps for his bedroom as well. It was sickening the way he went about it, and it was sickening that the owner of the restaurant allowed this to go on, and even encouraged it, at least from where we were sitting it seemed that way. Profoundly disgusted, we went to bed.

Jonathan and Leo having tea before going rafting at Victoria Falls

Now onto what happened today. We got up bright and early to go rafting – I’d never been, wasn’t scared, and was really looking forward to it. Our path lay through 18 (I think?) rapids, some of them rapid V’s (aka very scary and forceful). We had a long meeting with all the other rafters and the guides, they explained the safety, the proper way to paddle, and so on. Finally we got on a truck-bus to the bridge, and from there descended for quite a long time into the gorge to the water. We had seven rafters in our group plus the guide. I sat in the back, Jonathan in the front, with someone in between us. Getting wet, paddling, shouting instructions, it was all great fun, until we came upon a very tricky twisty rapid, where the current either forces you into the narrow rocks, or hits you in the face with full power. What happened next I am not quite sure: I got thrown off the raft immediately as we met the first current, then I spent a fair amount underwater trying to get out but failing, swallowing a lot of the river in the process, and finally clearing the rapid and coming up to the surface, having difficulties breathing. I found my paddle, quickly grabbed it, and was rescued by another raft, with the main guide whose business name is Colgate. It was only after I climbed into the boat I realized my left leg was in a lot of pain. In fact, there was a bleeding gash on the knee with white stuff sticking out, and the ankle down to the toes was a shooting pain that made me think my foot was broken.

They covered my wound as best they could using a first aid kit, but then the problem arose of how to get me back. The gorge is massive, and getting back up is only possible by walking – which I seemed unable to do at this point. Eventually everyone agreed that I should go through the next rapid with my original raft, and then I would be rescued by two guys, who would somehow miraculously take me up the cliffs to the car, and we would drive to a hospital. By the time we cleared the next rapid and I was stationed on the rocks, I lost it a little bit. I had a little sob and a few tears, I was in so much pain and didn’t understand how the hell I was going to climb up this gigantic cliff with a non-working leg. But I told myself to pull it together, and with the help of a few able-bodied men I was able to get to the car – most of the journey I was on the back of Brian, the poor young man had to sweat and struggle through a dangerous path of hot rocks and slippery soil with me hanging on for dear life. Not the easiest thing to do in the blazing 40 degree weather going uphill! I have the utmost respect for the guys who do these rescue missions. Out of everyone who helped me this day, I think to these guys I owe the most.

Katana being carried by one of the rescuers

When we got to the hospital, I was introduced to the funniest doctor I’ve ever met. He seemed so interested in the whole ordeal, like an overly eager intern at the hospital or something of that nature. He explained in detail, and (showed us the gory details inside the knee!) what was wrong with the knee – ruptured patella tendon, gaping hole through which you could see the inside of the knee completely, and a scraped kneecap. He stitched the tendon together, which was quite painful as he had to go digging inside the knee to find the loose end. Then he stitched the tissue, and finally the skin. I am going to have a lovely scar to remember this trip by!

Trying to keep my spirits high in the hospital, with Leo for support

The worst is that I can’t really bend my knee, and I am not allowed physical activity for 6 weeks at least, which puts a few questions as to what we are going to do for the rest of the trip? Just drive everywhere, no walking or climbing for me? No swimming for sure… It’s all up in the air right now. I guess I was lucky to escape without further injury! Rafting is fun but I am never doing it again.

Jonathan and Leo about to go rafting together

The First Adventure, Vegan Food

Vegan Meals: Part III: Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi

October 19, 2014 Katana 1 Comment

Left to right: UK sunscreen, German insect repellent, Turkish red pepper, Egyptian medicine for parasites, Kenyan herbs, Malawian gin, Zambian beer, South African beans, Swaziland jam

Today I realized, looking at our supplies, that everything we use every day in the car has become an interesting array of international products, some even from countries we haven’t visited! (yet)

Since we left Ethiopia, we haven’t had much luck finding local delicious vegan cuisine, unless you count Indian food. Especially in Kenya and Tanzania we found many Indian restaurants and fast-food places, some specifically listed as “vegetarian”. Starting with Kenya, the first disappointment for us came when we stayed in a hotel and for breakfast, without being asked, were served eggs, liver, and other non-vegan products. This was very upsetting, mostly because we were not even asked what we wanted: the hotel had a breakfast menu, but they just assumed we wanted the Kenyan-style full breakfast. In the end we settled for stale pieces of bread with tiny sprinkles of jam.

When we stayed in Nairobi for a week, we checked out one of the vegetarian restaurants in the city, which was an Indian place. The food really was remarkable, and because the hike to the restaurant was a long, hot and exhausting one, we stuffed ourselves silly. Unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the restaurant now, and I can’t seem to be too sure which of the vegetarian ones listed on HappyCow this one actually was.

We were in Nairobi for a long time, so we had to cook for ourselves for the majority of our stay at JJ’s. Luckily, there was a little market nearby, where we could count on the lovely ladies to sell us the best tomatoes, potatoes, oranges, bananas, and other various vegetables and fruits. One of the first days we were there, Jonathan made a soup out of squash, and a cucumber and tomato salad. It was delicious, considering I don’t even like squash.

No conversation about Kenya is complete without mentioning the banana chips. Dried crunchy banana strips with savory rather than sweet flavoring. We even got the other campers addicted to the stuff!

In Tanzania we had more Indian food – twice in Dar es Salaam, and a few times eating in the campsites’ restaurants. HappyCow has several listings for vegetarian restaurants in Dar, and as it turned out, we tried pretty much the main ones. We had lunch in a small lunch place Purnima Restaurant where the “no animal products” idea was understood correctly and immediately, and we were given a plate of various fried finger-foods, which we devoured mostly before I even remembered to take a picture!

Purnima Restaurant - the end of our meal! — Purnima Restaurant – the end of our meal!

For a pre-dinner snack we headed to yet another fast-food vegetarian Indian place, 56 Bhoq, where we had more fried finger-food, and for dinner we went next door to Retreat Royal, where foolishly I decided to order something that sounded completely alien and not ask in advance what it was – it came with a splash of cheese on top, so I had to swap it for our Rui’s (our dinner guest) meal, which was a basic vegetable curry.

Jonathan's meal at Retreat Royal in Dar es Salaam — Jonathan’s meal at Retreat Royal in Dar es Salaam

Jonathan’s meal was much more enticing, as it came in pancake-type wrappings. Again, very solid meals with interesting flavors, although sadly not as spicy as we would have liked. The only problem I had was with the starter, some fried vegetable balls which had a minty flavor, and I hate mint.

Minty fried balls at Retreat Royal in Dar es Salaam

We had a mishap in Tanzania as well in terms of being vegan: while we were staying in Peponi, on the northern Tanzanian coast, and our vegan needs were clearly understood, one night they were not met. We ordered a couple of vegetable samosas, and one of them turned out to be a crab one. Understandably, it is impossible to tell the difference in pre-cooked samosas, but still it was a nasty shock for me to bite into one. Thankfully I don’t have an allergy to crab meat, but that does not in any way negate my disgust, my sadness, and the stomach cramps I got afterwards. However, we believe this sort of mistake will never happen again at Peponi, as the cook, the servers, and the manager, all took the time to get to the bottom of this situation and apologized many times over.

Giant okra on sale in Tanzania and yummy Indian snack in the background that we bought in Dar es Salaam

At another beach lodge, further south down the coast, at Kilwa Beach Resort, we were given a custom meal of carrot and coriander soup, vegetable stew and vegetable curry (which looked exactly the same and had exactly the same ingredients except the flavor and the spices were different), and a fried banana dessert. The food was filling, but not in any way was it spectacular cuisine. Still, we were happy to be catered for and understood exactly what we eat and don’t eat.

Nothing special can be said about our meal in Masasi, as we just had potato fries and beer. However, it was in Masasi that we bought our biggest, stalest, most bizarre bread loaf yet! It was filling bread, but it had to be toasted in order to be eaten, otherwise it was a strange combination of chewy, dense, dry and mostly inedible.

Driving to Malawi, we stayed one night near the Matema village, in the Blue Canoe Safari Lodge, which had few veggie options on the menu, but they made an amazing Indian vegetable curry there, and had authentic German sauerkraut to go with it. Strange combination, but delicious nonetheless.

What can be said for Malawi, other than the all-vegetarian meals provided in the Mushroom Farm, where we stayed two nights. Both nights we had the communal dinner (with special modifications made for us, and we didn’t even have to explain veganism, the word alone worked its magic) and also on our last morning there we ordered breakfast off the menu, again with small modifications (no fried eggs for Jonathan). I tried a typical Malawian porridge with mashed banana, potato, onion, groundnut and who knows what else! It was very filling and very tasty.

Other than that, any place I haven’t mentioned, we probably cooked in the car or had potato fries, which is the no-fail options for vegans traveling anywhere, at least in Africa. We had them in a market where the lady who fried them spoke no English at all, we had them in an empty campsite where the restaurant and bar area were shut most of the time, we had them in a busy campsite where the bartender did not understand what “vegetable samosa” meant so we ordered fries, again and again and again. My problem with it is the repetition: usually I eat them so rarely that they become a nice little treat, but having to succumb to the oily fried potatoes day-in and day-out, I am getting a little sick of the taste. The only thing that makes it bearable is the variety of hot sauces we have encountered in all the countries so far.

The other amazing thing we found in Malawi, a bit too late I am afraid, is the local corn-puff treat, salty and tasting slightly of instant noodles, we only bought one bag on our way to the Zambian border, and ate it within five minutes.

Another thing to be mentioned here is the lack of variety in most villages’ markets: apart from the usual tomato, onion and whatever local fruit, the markets provide little food even to us, so cooking for ourselves sometimes becomes redundant as well. We’ve encountered cabbage, potatoes, but most of the produce on sale is either over-ripe bananas, unripe or overripe papaya or mango, and buckets of tomatoes, sometimes nice and red, sometimes pale yellow and green. We started buying baked beans in tomato sauce and eating them on toast for breakfast. A little slice of home is sometimes the most welcome.

Me cooking in Troopy in the evening a few days ago

The First Adventure

Tanzania to Tanzania

October 9, 2014 Katana Leave a comment

Originally the idea of going to Dar es Salaam started with Rui – the girl we met on the Danakil Depression tour back in Ethiopia. She is currently interning in Dar es Salaam, so we figured we would go as we needed to visit some embassies in the city as well.

Getting into Dar is a very un-amusing story of horrible traffic and after-dark driving. When we finally got to Mikadi Beach Resort, we were so exhausted that all we could do was drink beer and eat dinner before retiring for the night. The next morning we took the 10-minute ferry from Kigamboni to the center of town, a completely overloaded, extremely cheap, and seemingly efficient piece of transportation. We walked around the center of Dar, visited the Mozambique embassy (which was very unhelpful in telling us which borders are open, or whether we can get visas on the border – but very quick to point out that for a ridiculous amount of money we can get the visas in one day; we left empty-handed), then we took a somewhat expensive taxi to the north of Coco beach to visit the South African embassy. While staying at JJ’s in Nairobi, we met a Russian/Ukrainian/British traveller who informed me that I need a South African visa, and unlike most visas people get traveling overland in Africa, this visa is very hard to obtain with my Russian passport. The lady at the SA embassy in Dar informed me that the rules are very strict – I will need a whole stack of documents, and who knows how long the process will take, considering they apparently would have to send my info to Russia (or the closest Russian embassy I am guessing) to check that I am who I say I am. Well, we also left empty-handed.

Resting after a hard day's work in the Botanical Gardens in Dar es Salaam — Resting after a hard day’s work in the Botanical Gardens in Dar es Salaam

Later we walked around Dar some more, had lunch at a small vegetarian Indian diner, where we also bought magical spicy-salty snacks, checked out the Botanical Gardens, and finally in the evening met Rui for a nice Indian meal at another vegetarian Indian restaurant Retreat Royal.

We got on the ferry again, and as it was already dark at this point, and they say Dar is very dangerous at night, took a tuk-tuk back to Mikadi, where we went for a swim in the outdoor pool (salty just like the ocean) and for some reason danced and did imitations of crabs under water. The next morning, after the obligatory swim in the ocean, we headed south. The road was actually pleasant, and it took us around the more relaxed southern coast of Tanzania, where palm trees and tiny villages were all scattered between heavy bushes and general greenery. We came to Kilwa Masoko and from there travelled a bit north and east to find the Kilwa Beach Lodge, a short journey through a labyrinth of tiny roads.

Kilwa Beach Lodge, view from the restaurant/bar

Kilwa Beach Resort was deserted when we got there, but the next day filled up with a few Japanese swimmers and the owner’s family. It is a very nice spot – clear water, relatively young palms, white sand, cute houses, and an interesting overall design. We camped with a morning view of the ocean!

As per usual when we find a nice place to chill, we decided to stay two nights. The good thing about this resort is the constant wind, which keeps you cool even in the most relentless sunny days. We had a long excursion into the water with our snorkeling gear and my underwater camera, but the biggest life underneath was green-orange seaweed which was a little icky to step on, but actually seemed to contain no life other than tiny burrowing fish.

All good things must end at some point, so on our second morning in Kilwa we said our goodbyes and headed to the ferry border with Mozambique. We didn’t know for sure that we would get our visas on the border, or that this border crossing even existed. One of our maps showed no border crossing at all, google maps was unclear, the paper Tanzania map said “dugout canoe crossing” and only the Mozambique paper map said “ferry”. The drive was similar to most of southern coastal Tanzania. Before hitting the border, we decided to camp for the night in the town of Mtwara, in a place called “Drive-In Garden and Cliff Bar”. A charming little beer garden and restaurant with a space or two for camping, and a couple of rooms as well. The owner seems to be an old Polish lady, who told us she married a Tanzanian man and came here in 1971. We might or might not have had one too many “Safari” beers, which are 5.5% each.

The next morning, when we got to the last town (more like village) before the river, the Tanzanian immigration informed us that there is no way they are going to issue us a visa on the other side, and it made no sense for us to even get on the expensive ferry. Apparently, there are no visas to be issued on the border with Tanzania at all. Crestfallen, we decided to try the next crossing anyway, the Unity Bridge.

We took small roads to get up to Masasi, first following the river Rovuma west, then going diagonally north to join the main road. In some ways, this was an amazing discovery – most of the area was completely wild, with thick bushes or sudden openings onto the river. We saw almost no traffic, only people walking or riding bicycles. Everybody stared at us as if we were aliens, as I am sure very few foreigners pass these parts on a regular basis. Children were laughing, pointing, some waving, older women smiled and waved, and men usually just stared, some literally with their jaws open. We got to Masasi around 4pm, and decided to stay before trying the Unity Bridge the next day. We stayed at a lodge in a nice enough room, and cooked dinner and breakfast in Troopy.

Giant okra, tomatoes and lovely Indian snacks

At the immigration post on the Tanzanian side just before the bridge, the same story happened: they told us that the Mozambique side does not issue visas at all. Still, they let us go on the bridge to ask the Mozambique immigration ourselves. It was kind of exhilarating crossing over into the country we have been so excited to see on our travels, but mostly knowing that we won’t be allowed in. The Rovuma river is quite magnificent, if somewhat dry at the moment, and the bridge is new and shiny. The Mozambique immigration were very gracious, but there was nothing they could do: as it turns out, no border crossing along the Rovuma river issues Mozambique visas. It was all a big great waste of time, thanks to a couple of embassy representatives that have led us on to believe false information. By this point we already had a new plan formed, it was only the feeling of not getting to travel to Mozambique that was depressing us. We crossed back into Tanzania, said goodbye to the lovely immigration office, and headed west.

Jonathan driving and our new friend Leo hanging out the window

Our new plan is to go to Malawi and Zambia instead of Mozambique. Time is ticking and unfortunately we just don’t have enough to either go back to Dar and wait for visas and then come back south again and go through Mozambique, and we also can’t afford to go through Malawi into Mozambique, to the coast, and then back inland again to Zimbabwe. It is a great shame, but at least we got to see the Indian ocean, and there is always future trips to take care of the Mozambique coast!

From Masasi to the border, then back to the main road and west until Tunduru, all of it on dirt roads, took us most of the day. We stayed in a pleasant guesthouse in Tunduru, ate chips, drank a beer or two, and watched movies. The next morning, bright and early, having spent most of our last Tanzanian cash on diesel, we headed west to Songea, which is the “big” city around these parts. This was the worst road for me so far on the whole trip. It wasn’t just a dirt road, it wasn’t just corrugated, and it wasn’t just potholed: it was every possible horrendous torture that a road could bring, and more. 275 km took us about 7 hours to complete, including a lunch stop in the forest. If the road was better, maybe I could have paid more attention to the lovely surrounding forest, which was mostly wild, with little to no human activity in most parts. We didn’t see wildlife either, but I wouldn’t be surprised that any elephants lurking in the bushes would have been hidden from view by the dust, the thick trees, and their amazing ability to camouflage. In Songea we found a hotel with real internet, so it was about time to update! In two days or so we should be able to reach Malawi.

We found a giant loaf of stale bread, making olive oil toast out of it for breakfast

The First Adventure

Vegan Ethiopia: Interview with Mesfin Hailemariam

September 20, 2014 Katana Leave a comment

Vegan Ethiopia. When traveling through Ethiopia, we stopped in Addis Ababa, the capital city, to meet Mesfin Hailemariam, whom I discovered by doing google searches, and found a Facebook group called Ethiopian Vegan Association. After messaging back and forth for a little while, we were finally able to meet on one rainy day and discuss the state of things for veganism in Ethiopia, and how Mesfin came to be vegan in the first place.

Mesfin: I’ve been vegan for five years. I’m on my sixth year as a vegan, and I am one of the very first vegans here in Ethiopia. I co-founded the Ethiopian Vegan Association. At the moment I am not as involved as I used to be with Ethiopian Vegan Association because it is not functioning as it should be, but I am starting my own small company, Vegan Ethiopia. We try to do anything that we can to spread the word of veganism and compassion for animals. We do a lot of leaflets, we try to promote books, partly with our foreign friends, especially from Australia, as we have a very good generous friend called Faye Leister. She kindly donated her books, she has a book called “Animals And Us” that teach children on animal rights in a very smart way. She gave us the “patent” so we can print it here locally and distribute it amongst kids in schools in Addis. And that’s what we try to do, we have distributed more than 300 books and we are planning to do more this upcoming academic year. The other thing is, we are starting a weekly video campaign at Taitu hotel. They have a vegan buffet every day so most vegans who come to Ethiopia want to go there. It is a good place to try the diversity of Ethiopian vegan food, you can see everything on one table there, and they have foreign choices as well. They are not vegans, but they are trying to spread the word. We can put leaflets there next to the tables, so people can pick them up and read. And lately I have been talking to them about running weekly video shows, so we can give lectures to people on what veganism is. Perhaps the people who come to this hotel for the vegan meals would be the easiest people to be attracted to the vegan advocacy, so we thought it would be a good idea to start the public advocacy on a bigger scale. We get all of our t-shirts, leaflets and brochures from our foreign friends, and we got a little bit of support from the Vegan Society in the UK, they contributed a small amount to print our books. Also some donation from FARM – Farm Animal Rights Movement, USA, they helped us with money to print those books, so we could distribute them in schools to kids. We are planning to do a lot more, but the problem is, there are not a lot of vegans, you are my first vegans in the last two years! There are not so many vegans that could help me do the activism. I hope I can convince more people to go vegan!

Jonathan: How did you become vegan?

Mesfin: It’s a long story, I guess. From my childhood, from the earliest times, I was inclined to be vegan, I think. But because there are no vegans here, because eating animals, even killing them at home, is part of the tradition here, I was brainwashed into the tradition that I couldn’t go vegan. I felt that I should be vegan, but it was overshadowed by the tradition here. I thought I would be the weirdest person to oppose these traditions, and I kept it to myself. I was also very passionate about wild animals, anybody could come and ask me about any animal, whether domestic or wild, I could always find an answer for them. That’s the background for me being vegan, but the moment that I could change into veganism came later. I studied animal agriculture in college, still because I loved animals. To love animals in Ethiopia is to give attention to farm animals. I didn’t know it was as abusive, I was brainwashed into the whole cultural process. I studied animal agriculture. I saw the abuse there, but after college my biggest ambition in life is to be a conservationist, to be a zoologist and to be working in the conservation field, in the forest or more natural places. I found a scholarship in Australia, but they told me they couldn’t afford to finance my scholarship for conservation, but that I could try finding from other sources, so I started finding a lot of organizations that work with animals. I didn’t know there were people working for domestic animals’ rights. So when I was trying to find these organizations working on animals, I found the people working on animal rights, especially PETA – they are all over the internet. It was something new to me, people who love animals and wouldn’t eat them! So I asked them to send me leaflets and books, and then there was also Supreme Master Television. They did a lot of things to spread the word of veganism. I also got attracted to them, because all you see is that lady, surrounded by domestic animals. They also sent me books and everything. I read a little bit about their spiritual side but I dropped that, I am no longer interested in spirituality, only interested in the vegan side now, still they also had an influence on me and they tried to supply me with everything they could find in terms of reading and videos. And a lot of PETA people helped me to find out about veganism. After I found out more, it was not difficult for me to make the switch. I started resenting meat!

Jonathan: How did that go down with your family and friends?

Mesfin: Oh, the first two years were the worst. Now people around me are getting influenced, rather than influencing me. They are eating less and less meat.

Jonathan: You can’t argue with logic.

Mesfin: That’s right. The first two years at home were difficult. I still live with my parents, because it is difficult to afford accommodation in Addis, so my parents have a home here and I am staying with them, but I am planning to move out this year. Living with your parents was the most difficult part. They think that you are leaving them, leaving the whole family. They see it from cultural and religious points of view, sometimes they would think that you are dying. They don’t know that I am the one who will be living longer! And I am the one who is letting others live. I am not just living by myself, I am also helping other animals to live. I am an ethical vegan, that is my basic principle in being vegan: letting others to live. That’s my story.

Katana: Can you talk more about the Vegan Association?

Mesfin: There was a vegan man, doctor Antony? and there were a few others, from the spiritual movement from the Supreme Master, and two more from the US who were not involved in the spiritual movement, who were all vegans at the time. I think one of us saw an interview with Dr Anteneh Roba, who is a medical doctor, on the same TV, and we all thought: “We have an Ethiopian vegan in the USA!”, we googled him and found his email address, so we emailed him and he was so happy to meet us, he comes here every year I think. We talked about a group, so I led the company to found Ethiopian Vegan Association. We called it this way, but the government wouldn’t allow us to get the name Ethiopian Vegan Association for some small reasons. I was not able to continue, at the time I was very involved in rural activities, I was working in a rural part of Ethiopia. Without me I think the organization couldn’t function. When I came back they had something to re-apply, maybe registration obligation for the government, as did all NGO’s, they had to re-register, but I think they couldn’t find the person to help them. I think it didn’t re-register. I was saying that we don’t have to be a legal registered company to do animal rights, so after that I started my own company. Most of those people were no longer here in Addis, I couldn’t get to meet them, the guy with his sister moved back to the US, so there was no one here. Ethiopian Vegan can’t be Ethiopian Vegan when most people are not here. I have a few more friends that are very much interested that are almost vegan, but not completely, but still they are interested in helping me spread the word of veganism, so I try to do that. Vegan Ethiopia is just a campaign, it’s not a legal organization. We have a lot of vegetarians here, I have foreign friends who moved out, unfortunately, about two months before you came here.

When we just started, people didn’t even know the word “vegan”. They didn’t understand why people would stop eating meat. They literally wouldn’t understand, they would just label you as “trying to be different”. They won’t find your explanation good enough. But these days, I like to believe that as part of my work, people know the word “vegan” now. I think we are coming to that point where people are knowing more about the word “vegan”.

Katana:You said that eating meat here is very traditional.

Mesfin: Yes, it’s not just eating meat, but if you see, the day after tomorrow is the New Year here. And on New Year, Easter and Christmas [in Ethiopia they have their own calendar, so the dates for these celebrations are different to the rest of the world] is the worst time to be here, in Ethiopia. If you look around, there are a lot of sheep around town, a lot of chickens. Part of the tradition is not just eating meat, but you have to keep those animals in your home. And it is the guys who do that. If you are not part of the tradition, you would be seen as… what do you call those people… anticonformist?

Katana: Anarchists! (laughs)

Mesfin: Yeah, maybe anarchists. It would be difficult to not be part of that tradition. The women, I think they feel horrible to see the animals being killed, so they don’t want to see that, they hide themselves. As a guy, if you don’t want to at least see and help in the process of butchering the animal, you would be seen as not a “guy”.

Men carrying live chickens upside down to be sold and/or butchered (Ethiopia)

Katana: It’s everywhere like that in the world, a manly man must eat meat.

Mesfin: That’s the problem. And the other thing is, most of our biggest traditional meals and recipes are non-vegan. People here eat raw meat! I tried it twice or three times before I became vegan, I didn’t like it, but most people here in Ethiopia can’t live without raw meat. The food that they adore the most is raw meat.

Live sheep being transported to be sold in markets and/or slaughtered. We saw a lot of these trucks in Ethiopia

Katana: What about environmental damage in Ethiopia?

Jonathan: One of the reasons for being vegan in the Western world is looking at the amount of land and resources it takes to produce a meat-based diet compared to a vegan diet. Seeing all the animals and the crops all over Ethiopia we were wondering what the impact is here.

Mesfin: There could be justification that the animals can feed on roughage from the other crops or maybe they would be using marginal land to rear domestic animals. At the same time we are one of the biggest, the worst case of farming animals, because we have a lot of animals in Ethiopia, one of the largest numbers in the world, number one in Africa for the number of domestic farm animals. The problem this causes to our environment is that we have a lot of overgrazing, we cultivate especially in the densely populated areas, and when we continue to cultivate in the rest of the land, it leads to overgrazing, and together adds up to erosion. When the animals don’t have enough to feed on, they start uprooting the grass, the weeds and everything they can find. So the land would be barren, and in the summer time, during the rainy season, when there is a relentless amount of rain, the whole top soil would be washed out. The other problem is we don’t have enough space reserved for nature, for biodiversity to function, and without biodiversity we wouldn’t function as we should, right? In the long run we would be finding it difficult to survive. When it comes to biodiversity, we are one of the richest, because we have all types of weather, all types of landscape, so we have different animals in all the regions, different plants and so on. But it is not maintained well, we are one of the worst in the world for conservation. We are losing our wild animals at a rate not seen before.

Mesfin: How did you become vegan?

Here Mesfin switches the interview onto us, and it is time to wrap up. Many things that we saw as we drove through Ethiopia, about the treatment of animals and the deep tradition of meat, turned out to be exactly true, and the problem of overgrazing and soil erosion is a very real threat in Ethiopia. During holiday celebrations, an enormous amount of animals are slaughtered for food, for the traditional meals. Mesfin was right: being in Ethiopia around New Year celebrations was heart-breaking, we would see hoards of sheep, goats and cows, knowing that for a lot of them it is the last few days. We saw chickens being sold alive, thrust in front of our car upside-down, like inanimate objects. We saw trucks packed with live sheep on the roof, tied down so tight that the animals actually looked already dead, being driven to the market or to slaughter.

The positive message to take away from this is that even in such a deep-rooted tradition of meat-eating, there are vegans, and they come onto the path of veganism through their own channels, through compassion and education. We might come from different countries and backgrounds, but being vegan unites us in our pursuits and missions, so we carry onwards.

The First Adventure

Addis to Nairobi

September 16, 2014 Katana 1 Comment

We are sitting in the swanky customer lounge of the Toyota dealers in Nairobi, with superb internet and such clean toilets. What is it with Kenya and spotless toilets? Maybe we just got so used to disgusting squats with no running water… with various insects and amphibians jumping out of the hole… but really, these are probably the cleanest toilets since we left our homes in June!

After Jonathan got better from his giardia and typhoid infection, we made our way down south slowly to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Mainly we were excited to meet Mesfin, our vegan friend in Addis (to find out more, check out the interview we did with him which will be posted shortly).

The drive to Addis was somewhat ruined by a horrible night stay in Weldiya (some maps have it as Woldia), in a place that doubled up as a brothel, surrounded by pimps, where weirdness, violence, shouting, and other unpleasantness could be heard all night. To top it off, we were promised hot water, but our room simply didn’t have running water at all – there was a gross bucket with some stale liquid in it.

Addis was a difficult city to like, sporadic, with busy streets and mud roads intertwined between tall buildings, slums, and new construction all going on in literally every block. We didn’t get to see all the delights of the city, because we needed to press on south, but one day we dedicated to just walking around and seeing most things in the center. The last two nights we stayed in the famed Wim’s Holland House, and really enjoyed the service and the food.

Beautiful stoic birds on the lakes of Southern Ethiopia

After leaving Addis the first stop for the night was Dilla, and after driving around the town a few times, stopping to look at the various similar looking “hotels” which mostly consisted of gross mosquito-covered rooms with no running water in toilets but a lovely mouldy container with stale water for showering. We promised ourselves we were not ever going to stay in such a place again, so instead we headed to the nicest looking hotel in town, called Hotel Delight. It was actually quite miraculous! Considering this was the night before New Year celebrations, the town was full of drinking, eating and the general celebrating noise. I was not feeling too good, so we had an early night instead.

Termite houses in the south of Ethiopia, there were so many!

The next day we really wanted to cross the border into Kenya, so we sped up towards Moyale. Unfortunately, seeing as how this was the New Year, the customs guy just decided not to show up for work. We were really annoyed by this, because the immigration officer was at work and stamped our passports, all we needed was five minutes in customs, and we could have pressed on. Sometimes things don’t work out as we like them to, so we were forced to stay yet another night in yet another hotel, this time a big open beer garden and restaurant with rooms in the building. The room was alright, the food was edible, the beer was plentiful, but the mosquitoes were hungry and fat and would not die even through three forms of protection! We woke up covered in bites, even though we used the mosquito net for the first time on this trip.

Desperately annoyed with customs on the Ethiopian side, we managed to get through early in the morning, did all the paperwork on the Kenyan side, and we were off! New country!

There is something to be said about the horrible rough road between Moyale and Archer’s Post. I think only the seasoned travelers and their steel stomachs and bones can survive the insane amount of shaking, jumping, vibrating, dust clouds, potholes, rock avoidance, invisible speed humps, and every imaginable nightmare. The good thing is that there was barely any other traffic at all. This side of Kenya is quite deserted and wild. The dry red earth seeps into every crevice in the car, in your clothes, and sits on your skin for days to come. There are trees and bushes, but most are thorny, dry, or dead. The few people we met were either walking their flocks of goats and cows, or working on the new road. The tiny towns and villages we passed were mostly steel square boxes or hut covered in skins and blankets. I bought a bottle of water from a woman who didn’t speak a word of English, not even the word “water”, which is very rare in Kenya, seeing as how both Swahili and English are the main languages here.

On our first night we stopped at Marsabit National Park, and camped just outside the gates in a public campsite. Those things are expensive! As a reward, I guess, we got a bunch of olive baboons hanging around the campsite, climbing on the toilet blocks and the water tanks, and providing a lot of entertainment for a few hours. In the morning we headed into the dense forest of the park, and were amazed by some of the oldest trees, covered in hanging branches and shrubbery. Tarzan would have loved it here! We saw a little bit of wildlife, but we mostly saw signs of wildlife: big cat paws in the sand and massive piles of elephant dung.

Next we drove to the Samburu National Park, and entered it an hour before sundown. We managed to catch zebras, many kinds of deer, gazelle, other wild horned mammals, and we saw our first elephant! I spotted a large grey-brown “rock” which suddenly started moving, then I saw the ears, and as he turned, I saw the white tusks. The elephant was not too far from the road, but seemed very shy and slowly walked off into the bushes. It was one of those moments that actually made me tear up!

Shy elephant - our first elephant! — Shy elephant – our first elephant!

We camped in one of the park’s public campsites, but we were completely alone there, except the security guards. Jonathan was sick again… we weren’t sure if giardia was coming back, or if he caught something new, or whether it was dehydration. The evening and night was mostly spent rushing outside and me being on edge and having to sleep in the front of the car… with the handbrake sticking into my back.

The first thing that woke me up in the morning was a very curious baboon going through our things outside the car. He got a hold of the orange juice carton, and in a millisecond managed to tear it apart! Then he realized the juice was very tasty, and tried to scoop it up from the sandy floor. Next he got a hold of our big water bottle, by which point Jonathan shooed him away and the baboon reluctantly left.

Puke bucket.. cleaned by Katana. So proud to be helpful!

After a small breakfast of coffee and peanut butter, Jonathan puked on the ground again. In a few minutes we were surrounded by another type of monkey, little mischievous ones up to no good! They weren’t scared of us, instead they started eating the orange-soaked sand, and then… yes, it’s true… they started eating the puke-soaked sand as well. They were particularly interested in the tiny pieces of peanut. One of the monkeys got so territorial over the puke that he became aggressive towards me! Sort of shouted and jumped around me for a few seconds until I moved out of the way. They tried climbing all over the car as well, but we soon packed up and got ready to go.

Monkey eating sand... — Monkey eating sand…

Jonathan was a brave soldier – still feeling ill, he managed to drive us around the park for a few hours, where we spotted warthogs, more types of deer and horned-hoofed mammals, and our first giraffes! Reticulated giraffes to be specific, which are extremely rare and are declining in numbers at an astonishing rate; we ran into the Reticulated Giraffe Project guys right there on the spot, even pointed them in the direction of the animals. The giraffes are astonishing animals, and seeing them in the wild eating the tops of trees, moving gracefully between bushes, staring at the human intruders – there is a huge amount of awe that comes from seeing these amazing animals in their own surroundings. Sadly we didn’t see any more elephants, but I am sure we will soon enough!

After Samburu we drove to Isiolo to give ourselves a rest and regroup. We spotted a nice enough hotel, with alright food, except in the morning, without even asking us, they served us lots of dairy, meat and other disgusting food. It was a total blow to us, because this food was already cooked, so not eating it at this point is basically the same as eating it – the meat, the eggs and the dairy were used. Still, we picked up our spirits and drove to Nairobi – or rather to Thika. We decided that Troopy needs a real service, as he has been leaking and sounding strange after all the rough roads. The drive to Nairobi is so different to anything we have seen in many many weeks! Real highways, big Western-style farms, signposts, malls, supermarkets and many many cars. We stayed in Thika in a strange place that was only half-built, but the service was still impeccable and their toilets! So clean!

I have very conflicted opinions about Ethiopia. I didn’t really have an image of the country before we came to visit, but in the end it turned out to be nothing like I could have ever imagined. It is extremely diverse, loud and busy, full of human and domestic animal life, the people are curious about strangers, most of them very friendly and interested (too interested when it comes to kids herding cows!), but we encountered a few crooks as well. The meat traditions are very off-putting to us vegans, but on the other hand veganism is slowly on the rise. The landscapes are so diverse, from freezing cold mountains to dry deserts. And most importantly, it is the birthplace of coffee!

Vegan Without Frontiers

All posts by Katana

The Tale of Two Hospitals

Vegan Meals: Part III: Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi

Tanzania to Tanzania

Vegan Ethiopia: Interview with Mesfin Hailemariam

Addis to Nairobi

Vegan Adventure Travel – Holidays, Expeditions – Overland Africa