Nov 3, 2011

Greece has big troubles. The country is on the brink of bankruptcy that will probably take it out of  the eurozone and back to the old, cheap dracma. Greeks are angry this period, they get on the streets, protesting almost in daily basis, often in a violent way. Greeks feel not acceptable in our own country. Austerity measures, lack of jobs, extra taxes and a sense of hopelessness make almost everybody thinking: “maybe should I move somewhere else?”

Aug 21, 2011

We are almost 9 months in the Tanzanian bush. If Vula was pregnant on December, when we arrived here from Greece, we would now expect a baby. We don’t, for bad or for good…

Jul 30, 2011

It was 19th of July when we got aboard the aluminium boat for a short safari on Wami river. It was not a boat safari actually but a simple transfer to the Tanzania National Parks jetty, about 3 kms from Saadani River Lodge.

We were accompanying our new friend from Greece Chryssa Botou, the new Marketing Manager of the company that runs the lodge, who had been with us for a while. During the transfer downstream the river we saw many happy hippos, enough crocodiles next to them and many birds as ever. Coming back to the lodge, though, it was the real big moment.

Not far from the lodge, Simba, the boat driver turned left to a small channel where he had seen something before. I directed the boat driver to the river bank. It was a crocodile, pretty big, lying on the thick mud showing his tail to us.

I took out my Sony camera with the white 70-200 mm lens and started shooting. I could see something around the croc’s neck but couldn’t say what it was. At one moment the crocodile turned to me and – guess what – there was a huge monitor lizard into his mouth, still alive and with her body around his neck. In the next few seconds, the green monster, intimidated by our presence, started running towards us.

I kept shooting till he splashed into the river right next to the boat. It was a unique and a bit frightening moment for me because the crocodile seemed enormous into my lens. Vula kept her eyes closed till the serpent disapperared into the river.

Moment later, when we downloaded the pictures we realized that we had been in front of a rare wildlife show. A crocodile with an alive lizard in his mouth? I googled for pictures like this but I didn’t find anything similar.

When I sent the pictures to our friend Costas Coucoulis he replied enthusiastically; “I’ ve been here for 12 years and I have never seen something like this”. He asked me to give him the picture to use it in the book “Saadani, a celebration” which is going to be published soon by well known photographer Paul Joynson Hicks.

May 19, 2011

Yesterday we entered Paraguay for one reason; to add one more stamp on our passports. I may seem cynic but this was our intention.

The same night we were confident we did good. Paraguay is a different country than Uruguay and Argentina. It lacks personality and turistic attractions but is worth a visit. Encarnacion was the first town we visited. We had read about the “pearl of the south” that is the most important one after Asuncion.

May 19, 2011

This morning I woke up excited and left Costas and Vula in our rooms to go for diving with Spanish Dancer Divers at Nungwi. It was great to dive again in two coral reefs not far from the beach despite it was very bumpy on the surface and despite the limited visibility (5-8 mts.) underwater.

May 14, 2011

You need an example? Yesterday we were waiting for our pickup from Dar with the monthly food supplies and 7 people on board, among them Mzee Octavian, our human resources manager. 2pm they departed from town. 5 pm they were 10 km from the lodge at Gama village but with one flat tyre and unable to go on as the road was completely flooded by Wami river.

We lost them for three hours and found them on their cell phones after 9pm still at Gamma, with 3 flat tyres, into the bush with no hope to arrive to the lodge. The youngsters wanted to walk 10 km. into the dark African night carrying meat and chicken for not letting the stuff get rotten.

Incredible Africans! We advised them to stay united there, eat some meat, sleep and this morning we would pick them up with our safari boat. This is what we did. We travelled 15 kms. into the twisting river with limited fuel (we ran out on the way to Gamma actually) and found everybody tired next to a hut.

The road is like a river as you can see. After three hours, the guys carried all the stuff into the boat, left the car with local Simba watching it and we got back to the lodge safe and sound after 6 hours! Vula was biting her nails, she was so worried. Now the situation is still tricky as we can’t get supplied by car from Dar.

We already ran out of petrol and during the week we will run out of diesel as well. No diesel means no electricity. Plus, we are running out of bottled water and river water (for washing) as we can’t run the water, petrol pump. But we are in Africa. We will find a way to survive. There is always a way, even if a funny one, to survive in this country…_A.Temperidis