Picture This...

What a beautiful place!!! It is pure paradise here in Zanzibar. Since being in Kendwa we have done tons of relaxing, maybe getting up to get a drink from the bar or take a swim in the ocean. It has been a real tough life here. The sad is pure white and the water is so clear and blue, it is breath taking.

Shruti and I went down to the south of the Island and went swimming with Dolphins! It was so incredible. I have had swimming with dolphins on my "bucket list" for years now and to have actually done it was incredible. We got a boat to take us out into the Indian Ocean just off the coast of Zanzibar. When we spotted the dolphins the captin would drive up next to them and we jumped in and started swimming! I was so scared the first time diving into the deep blue sea, but once a opened my eyes and saw a momma and baby dolphin swimming under me I just couldn't stop smiling. It was such an unreal feeling, a real rush. Such a cool excperience, again, one I will never forget.

We then had lunch back on the Island and headed to the Jozani Forest to check out the Red Colobus Monkey's which can only be found in Zanzibar. They were so cute and so close to us. We walked around the forest for a bit with a guide and got the load down on all the plants and animals in the area.

The rest of the time we spent in Kendwa we really did nothing but relax. I got an hour massage on the beach that was incredible. We also got some henna on our hands which was really beautiful. I loved the henna so much it has inspired me to take a class when I get home!

Our last day in Zanzibar we headed back to Stonetown for our last night. We did our last African shopping, enjoyed the last sunset, and our last beach cocktail.

I loved Stonetown the best out of Zanzibar because it is a lot like Venice where there is just a bunch of alley ways and it is ineviable that you will get lost. But it is also such a safe place and everyone is very friendly. I really enjoyed my stay in Zanzibar and will definently be back.

I then made my 24 hour journey to London and just arrived yesterday. It is freezing here but I couldn't be more excited to spend time with my friends that I haven't seen in 4 years! (We miss you Blaire, and wish you were here!)

Hope everyone is getting ready for Christmas! Miss and love you all!

Cheers,
Chan

Hi There!

Hope all is well with everyone. I have been having an incredible time in Africa. Me and 6 others went on a Safari to Terengire National Park, Serengheti National Park, and the Ngorongoro Crater. It was an adventure I will never forget. We started off in Terengire where we saw so many Elephants we lost count, a Cheetah that walked so close to our truck it was amazing, Baboons, Lions, and the list goes on. It was a great first day of the safari. The next day was my Birthday and my friends were so sweet, we had a great Mimosa breakfast followed by cupcakes with my name on them. It was so special. Then we took off for the Serengheti but had to drive through the Ngorongoro Crater to get there which was amazing. The land here is so green due to it being the short wet season. The drive was so nice, at one point we would see fields of Wildebeeste and Zebra along side a Masai Village. It was so crazy, and so beautiful. As we were approaching the Serengheti we drove in the middle of the Migration!! Wow, I have never seen so many animals in my life. Wildebeeste, Zebra, and Impala for as far as the eye could see. There must have been millions of them. It was so cool! Then we entered the Serengeti and saw some Leopards, Cheetahs on a chase, Giraffe, Zebra, Hippos, amazing birds and so much more. It was such an amazing feeling just being there. We camped out in the Serengheti which was so cool. We woke up the next morning for a 6am game drive. Saw 8 Lions that were so close to us we could have touched them! (don't worry, we didn't). Then we made our way back to the Ngorongoro Crater to camp for the night. While our cook was making us dinner, our guide decided to take us to the local bar where all the Safari guides go for a drink. We get there and we are the only white people there. Everyone was very nice and welcoming. We get our drinks and head outside. I was trying to gather some chairs together for our group and wasn't looking where I was going and stepped in the ONLY fresh cow pie. This was the biggest shit I have ever seen and probably 5 inches deep and I stepped right in the middle of it. The locals and my friend were in tears laughing at me. I was quite embarrassed but couldn't stop laughing. As I tried to get the shit off of my flip flop ( yes, I was wearing flip flops and now have shit on my foot). I saw this plant with big leaves that would help me clean my shoe. So I go to grab this plant while everyone in the bar is laughing at me and it turns out it is a Stinging Nettle plant!!! I screamed as my hand felt like a thousand needles had just stabbed me. The locals must have thought I was the most pathetic person they had ever seen. Everyone was still in tears. Our guide came over laughing so had with a plastic tea pot with hot water to help me clean myself off. I could barely speak I was laughing so hard! Pretty epic. We finally settled down and people started talking about other things...and then we saw a local chase a Hyena out of the bar! It was really crazy, haha still makes me laugh thinking about it! The next day we started our way down into the Crater which was so incredible. We saw 15 lions, a cheetah, hippos, wildebeeste, buffalo, zebra, elephants, and 4 rinos! There are only 22 rinos left in the Crater and we saw 4 of them! It was really special.

We had such an amazing safari and the group we had couldn't have been better, everyone was very chill and fun. Turning 25 in the Serengheti was something I will never forget, so special.

Me and two friends left Arusha and took an epic 12 1/2 hour bus to Dar es Salam. It was cool seeing the land of Tanzania it was so beautiful. The bus wasn't that bad actually, I have been on much worse. We stayed the nigh in Dar then got the first Fairy to Zanzibar. We have been in Stonetown for 2 days now and it is such a beautiful place. Very safe and nice. The water is so warm and blue. We took a private boat to 2 islands and 1 sand bar yesterday. It was so much fun! We went to Prison Island first and saw where they used to keep Slaves before shipping them off to other countries, then went snorkeling off Bawe which was so beautiful and so fun! We ended the day at the Sand Bar which was just in the middle of the ocean and the guys that we are staying with came and made us a BBQ chicken, fish, chipate, and loads of fruit. We sat there just the 4 of us and watched the sunset and ate this incredible food. It was so amazing and so fun. What a great day!

We are now heading to Kendwa to stay there for 5 days and just relax on the beach. I am so excited! More to come about Zanzibar....

Hope all is well with everyone! Sending you all my love!

Peace & Love,
Chan

Hi All,

I have to tell you all about my amazing weekend that I had last weekend. Me and 3 friends from the hostel when to Lake Chala. It was so beautiful and peaceful. We had to take the bus to Moshi again(no goats this time though, haha) then take a Dala Dala for about 40 min. and then about a 45 min taxi ride on a dirt road. Oh and it was my friend Shruti's Birthday so along with all the food and baggage we brought for the weekend we were also bringing her a Birthday Cake! All of us including the cake made it unharmed to Lake Chala. It was in the middle of no where and it was just what I pictured Africa to be like, stunning. We camped for two nights above the lake with the most amazing views. On the first night the stars came out and I have never seen the sky sparkle so much. The amount of stars we saw was incredible. The next morning we woke up for sunrise and it was again, incredible. The colors of the sky were pink, orange, and some yellow and they reflected onto the lake. I got some really amazing photos. Then we had some breakfast and got ready for a hike. Now, i forgot to mention that Lake Chala is on the boarder of Tanzania and Kenya so when our guide took us on our hike we walked to the boarder and i got to stand in both countries at the same time, very cool. Then we hiked up to the lake and went for a swim. It was so beautiful and relaxing. That night we had some drinks and saw the most amazing rainbow over the lake. It was so unreal, the photos I got look fake. We rally lucked out with weather and the amazing views we had. It was my favorite thing that I have done here so far. If you ever come to Tanzania, you must visit Lake Chala!

I had my last week of volunteering last week and it went really well. The small babies in the nursery are putting on weight and getting stronger, which was great to see. The older kids are so cute as always and I really am going to miss them so much. I feel so lucky to have come her and spend time with these amazing children.

Tomorrow, I am off on Safari!!! I am so excited, I can not wait!

Hope everyone is doing well!

Love,
Chan

Hi All,

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving! I was so lucky to have mashers and veggies for my Thanksgiving feast in Africa! It was great. Being the only American in the hostel, we didn't do much celebrating but I thought of all my friends and family and how thankful I am to have you all in my life! Cheers!

Well, I have been in Africa over a month now and I can honestly say I am starting to feel like a local. Kind of funny to say, but it's true. When I walk on the streets the locals say, " Hey, how are you? How was the orphanage today?" It is a nice feeling knowing that they know I am living here and not just passing through for Safari, which most tourists come here to do. I feel almost totally safe when walking around, which is good.

Last Sunday I went to our guards Masai village. It was so amazing to see how the Masai live. They live in little huts made out of clay and and live such simple lives. The children swarmed us as we entered the children and good thing we came prepared with cookies and treats for them! They were so excited, so cute, and so beautiful. Our guards name is Isac, and he has one wife and one child. Such a beautiful family. His father is the head of the village and has 7 wives and 16 children. Each wife has their own hut and his father can decide where he wants to sleep every night. And apparently having 7 wives not even that many in the Masai culture, some have 27 wives and 60 some children! Unreal! I got to meet everyone in the village and take some incredible photos. It was such an amazing experience.

On Monday me and some girlfriends went to visit on of Africa's top schools. St. Jude was started by an Australian women and it is the most amazing school I have seen here. There are 3 different campuses and 1,500 students total with 500 staff. All the staff are local and then they also have volunteers. Children have to pass standard tests to get in and they also have to be below a certain poverty level. Once admitted they are able to attend St. Jude's for 12 years for free. The school runs on donations only. It was so amazing visiting this school and seeing a project here that has actually worked and help make a difference. We got to watch an assembly where the children sang and danced. It was so cute! Seeing this school run so well gave me hope that more things like this can happen here, and hopefully St. Jude will set a standard for other schools in the area.

At Cradle of Love we now have 11 babies in the nursery. It is a bit crazy when I am in there because It is me and one other person taking care of these babies. It is good though because it keeps us busy. Next week will be my last week of volunteering which I am very sad about. I am really going to miss these kids but I am so happy that I came here and was able to meet them.

Tomorrow me and three friends from the hostel are off to Lake Chala which is near the boarder of Tanzania and Kenya. We are going to camp for two nights near the lake and celebrate my friend's 24th birthday! Should be tons of fun, good hiking, swimming, and will be eating loads of Nutella ( my new favorite treat!).

I hope everyone is doing well, I am thinking of you all! Keep smiling!

Love,
Chan

Hi Everyone,

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have been attempting to get here to write my adventures and encounters but the internet will be down or the power will be out. T.I.A. But everything has been going smoothly. Let see....Well I went on my first walking safari in the Arusha National Park. It was incredible! I went with 5 other people from my hostel, a great group, very chill and fun. We saw Giraffe, Zebra, Baboons, Buffalo, Flamingos, Water Bucks, Warthogs, and a tiny Dik Dik. It was so amazing how close we were able to get to the animals. I got some great photos too, which again, sorry you will have to wait til end of Dec. or early Jan to view.

Volunteering is going good. I am still at the orphanage called Cradle of Love. My first 2 weeks I was going there by myself but then 3 people showed up at the hostel that wanted to go there so now I have company there which is great. Especially for the hour commute to the orphanage there and back each day. I have been working in the Nursery where there are 1 day old babies up to 6month olds. The other day we had a 7 day old baby who was abandoned by a dumpster. Someone found her and brought her to a local hospital. The hospital called the orphanage and they picked her up right away. They named her Jessica, she is so beautiful. She probably weighs somewhere around 2lbs, she is the smallest human I have ever held. She is doing well and surprisingly she has not been sick yet and is doing great. We have 3 abandoned babies currently at the orphanage and it makes me so sad. I really hope these babies get adopted because knowing that they have most of their childhood in an orphanage is so depressing. The older children are so cute and happy. It really makes me realize what an amazing life I have had with such an amazing family who has loved and supported me from day one. I also feel so lucky to have all the loving and supporting friends in my life that I do because I have met some really rude and mean people here which makes me so happy to have such amazing people in my life. I miss you all so much!

Okay so I have a funny uplifting story for you all...So me and three girls from the hostel wanted to get away for a night and decided to go to Moshi for a night. To get to Moshi we had to take bus, which probably sat 28 people. We get dropped off at the bus station and instantly get surrounded by 10 African men yelling in our face about which bus to get on. After going from bus to bus we finally found the one. We get on and there doesn't seem to be a seat for us. So the conductor makes the locals move out of the way to make room, it was kinda awkward. Anyways we get settled and we take off. I counted 40 people on this 28 passenger bus. We were told it would be a 55 minute ride to Moshi and we were told we were on the "EXPRESS" line. I really don't think that exists here. It took us 2 hours to get to Moshi and we were stopping and picking up people along the way. About 30min into the drive we stopped and picked up some Masaai men who had goats with them. We looked at each other confused because there was barely room for the men, let alone their goats. But no apparently there was room! So they open the back of the bus which is probably 12inches wide and stack the goats on each other and the Masaai men pile in. The four of us were laughing so hard that we had tears running down our face. You would hear the goats every minute go "Maaaaaa, Baaaaa" and then it got quite for a few minutes and I honestly thought they died. But turns out all 4 goats made it out alive! Not sure how they managed but this is Africa, so anything is possible!

We had a good night in Moshi filled with food and drinks. We decided to head back to Arusha the next day because our hostel was less than par and it really made us miss our "home" hostel. We did some great shopping and lots of eating before heading back to the bus station. We had a much less active bus ride on our way back. It was a good trip all in all, just to get away for a night made a big difference.

I have many amazing things to look forward to in December. I will be going on a 4 day Safari for my 25th Birthday!!! So excited! Then I go to Zanzibar for 10 days with 3 girls from the hostel. Then from Zanzibar I make my way to London to visit my favorite Brits for Christmas and more Birthday celebrations! Then ending the month with Cody and my friends in San Diego! So much to look forward to, I am such a lucky girl!

I hope you are all doing great, send me some messages with updates! Miss and love you all so much!

Cheers,
Chan