Visiting the Philippines

The Philippines was the last country in South East Asia I visited before leaving the region last year. My sister joined me and we both needed that holiday. We spent the first 3 days in Manila and I am glad we did as my sister could barely function for the first two days, she slept, a lot, because adulting 😂I was not very different either, hahaha.

The Philippines is a country of islands. It has approximately 7,641 islands so you'll be spoilt for choice. The country thrives on tourism so we were looking forward to exploring. Popular slogans we saw around were "Love the Philippines" and "It's more fun in the Philippines". We visited only Manila, Boracay and Palawan.

Travelling in Rural Africa

One of the many adventures of living in a remote place is travelling. Since I've been in this line of work, I have appreciated the ease with which I could travel in normal times. Getting from point A to B now takes a lot of planning and consideration. To get out of Uvira, the town I am currently in, I have to travel for 3 hours to another town called Kamanyola, then cross the border to Rwanda to a town called Kamembe.    

Kamembe is a small town that has a national forest of 1020km2. There are two exit/entry points from the Democratic Republic of Congo into South Kivu : 1) Kamanyola, which is around 46km and around 1hour and 15 minutes from Kamembe airport and 2) Bukavu which is 20km from the Kamembe airport and about a 40 minute drive. Typically, I would spend the night in Kamembe then fly to Kigali the following morning. It is a 40 minute flight, but a 5 hour drive to Kigali where I can fly from. This option is more practical for me than going to the capital (Kinshasa) to access the international airport. It is equally a two day trip.

See my previous post about some of my first impressions of the DRC.

Meeting the Democratic Republic of Congo

I got to the airport early to avoid the rush. As I finally settled at the gate that was displayed on the screen, I got busy, killing time. At some point, it didn't seem right. The people at this gate all seemed too calm and quiet. I had 30 minutes before boarding time and decided to check again. I decided not to rely on the information on the screen and asked an airport staff. I was told that I was indeed at the wrong gate.

I rushed to find the right gate and as I approached, I knew these were the people I was looking for! Congolese people are vibrant, kind of like my fellow Nigerians. There were people speaking loudly, some overly dressed, which the Congolese are known for and of course they were disorderly. People had started lining up to make their way to the plane. The flight was smooth, then when the plane touched down, on cue, people started clapping. I did not understand how I felt, but I was actually shocked that so many people were clapping in sync. 

Unpleasant Travel Experiences

I was asked recently if I have had any bad travel experiences! I laughed at this question as I would be lying if I said all my trips always go smoothly. 

I will give two instances of some of my travel woes.

     In April 2015, my friend and I went to Thailand. I wrote about it here and here. We travelled with Turkish Airlines and the trip going was fine, but I can’t say the same about the return leg.

We sat in front of the noisiest set of passengers who seemed to be having a conversation with the whole plane. It made the 11 hour flight uncomfortable. At some point, they gathered around and I had a guy standing over me and adjusting and doing God knows what with his belt and zipper, Ugh! We asked them if they could keep their voices down at some point, but they quickly resumed their noisy chat. We hardly got any sleep.

Bumpiness all the way with this trip continued...

If you missed the first part, please read it here 

This was what the room looked like. I find the best in every situation, so here, there was clean water. It wasn’t brown but clear and that was amazing to me, given the circumstances. There was no phone network in the two villages where we would be working, but there was constant light. I hardly used it but it was comforting to know. 

The room consisted of a bed, a table and a chair

Bumpiness all the way with this trip

If you missed this post From One Place to Another, please follow the link as that will help to put things in context :-)

 We set out as early as 7am, we were going for a week. It was a rainy day and as we drove out of Bertoua, I was told that we would be driving on dirt/untarred roads for the rest of the trip. We finally took the turn that led onto the dirt road and gosh, nothing could have prepared me for that level of bumpiness. We drove through mud and deep pot holes, I gained a lot more respect for people who have jobs as drivers. The dexterity with which the car was handled, I would have come nothing close to it. I counted the hours, I tried to get my mind to wander but it just wouldn’t, every part of me was involved in the bumpy ride. My insides were turned over and over again, my body rocked back and forth violently as the road determined. We had a loo break in between and I jumped out of the car just not to feel constricted by it because I didn’t like the car very much at that point. See some photos which I managed to get when it wasn't so bumpy of the road below:

All about my Sky Diving Experience

I always knew that I wanted to go sky diving but I was unsure of when I would do it and where. Sometime in July 2012, I had a trip planned to Tampa, Florida and as the time drew closer I called my friend who was going to host me to let her know my plan. She immediately got on it and sure enough there were places, but she found a super amazing deal with Jump Florida Skydiving. Skydives were going for half the price! Payments were made and my dive was booked, but we were notified that it would be dependent on the weather.

On the appointed day, while we were on our way, the weather seemed slightly off and we were called to let us know that the weather was not so great, so there could be a delay or the worst (cancellation) might happen. I didn’t like the sound of the latter. It was about an hour’s drive from where my friend lived. It was far out as there had to be enough space for an air strip. We went on anyway.

When we got there, the first thing I had to do was paper work. One of the things I had to sign was a disclaimer stating that if anything went wrong, they would not be held liable. It made me think really hard so I proceeded to ask a few questions about safety, their equipment and how to use the parachute. I was given a mini tutorial and told certain things I would need to do and how my instructor would communicate with me in the air, then I signed the papers. I had come that far and would not allow fear to stop me. I got strapped with my kit and off we went.

Mount Cameroon

For those of you who have asked in recent times about my next adventure, I did the most daring thing I have done in a very long time.

Away from stress, sorrow and everything I did a climb of 4,090m (about ten times the height of Aso rock). It was brutal!

"The mountain is part of the area of volcanic activity known as the Cameroon Volcanic Line, it is said to be the highest mountain in West and Central Africa". Every year, the race of hope takes place with people running up and down this mountain as a challenge. It is amazing how people are motivated to do different things.

A group of 13 of us decided to brave the odds and climb Mount Cameroon. This group was a variation from different walks of life and ages. There were two in their sixties who happened to be more fit than I am by the way.