Doug Olson & John Clark -- Africa Adventures

Engagement!!! On July 10th, 1996 John and Erica were engaged to be married! It was a beach/sunset engagement. They plan to get married on July 12th next summer in Minnesota!

• John is in Frankfurt Germany visiting friends.
• Doug is finishing up work in Minneapolis.

• Doug is staying with Rob Spahr in Rippon WI on his way to Chicago IL.
• John is still in Europe?

• Doug is in Chicago. He will be flying to Paris Thurs. night (with Joel, Erica's brother) After a couple hours layover, they will be flying to Bamako, Africa.
• John is meeting Doug and Joel in Bamako.

• Doug and Eric are flying to Bamako via Paris.

  We watched Mister Hollands Opus on the flight from Chicago to Paris. At Paris, we got off the plane onto this big bus thing which then drove us to the terminal. On the way to the terminal we drove right behind a Concord, probably within 50 yards or so; unfortunately, I didn't have my camera set up. We waited for about four hours in Charles De Gaulle airport for our flight to Bamako.

• John is already in Bamako.
• Doug and Joel arrived in Bamako (N 12,39'43.8" W007,58'11") at about 5:15pm GMT, right on schedule.

  Joel Vanderaa and I arrived in Bamako. We left Chicago 6:00pm on May 30th and had a 4 hour layover in Paris. When we got to the Bamako airport, there was no one there to pick us up. John thought we were coming in June 1st. So, I stood around outside and guarded our stuff while Joel went back to find a phone. Joel's parents came to pick us up about a half hour later.

• Doug, Joel, John, Eric, and everybody are all safely in Bamako.

  I went into the market with Joel, Erica, and John. I had to learn how to say "no thank you" in French. We picked up a couple of guys who followed us the whole time trying to sell us some stuff. We also went to have a little picnic up on some cliffs outside of town, right along the Niger river. Thats about it for now.

• We hung out at the pool at the Hotel Sofitel. It's been in the mid to high 90s with a bit of humidity, so the pool felt good.

• (N12-22.748', W008-21.710')

  We went for a hike and rock climb up to a natural bridge; A large span of rock between two points which was created naturally, by erosion, etc... We drove about 60km west of Bamako on the road to Guinea. It was a dirt road, like most of the roads here, so it took us about an hour and a half to get there. The Natural bridge was probably 75-100 meters high or so, but it was another 100 meters above the valley floor. We were told there was an easy way to get up to it, but the person who told us this wasn't able to give us specific directions, so when we got there, we just went straight up. About half way on a large flat area at the base of the natural bridge we watched a couple rain storms approach and rain. Several rainbows developed as the storms came in. After it stopped raining, we started looking for a way to get up on top of the natural bridge. From where we were it looked like sheer cliffs all the way up, but we kept walking around and eventually came to some places where we could go up. The view was incredible from the top; we could see all directions for miles. We had to hurry down because the sun was setting. If it had gotten too dark we would have had to spend the night, because there were only a few ways down, the rest was sheer cliffs. We decided not to go down the way we came up because the rain had made most of the moss covered rocks very slippery. By the time we got back to the truck it was very dark. We probably came within 10 or 15 minutes of spending the night up there, but we made it without any problems. We estimated that we climbed about 150- 200 meters, using my GPS. On the way back home we had an incredible view of the stars, it's been a long time since I've seen them that clearly.

• Stubs, one of Vanderaas cats is sick, they think it might be rabies (though they aren't sure). It's a good thing we had our rabies shots before we left. :)

• Driving in Bamako is pretty amazing. It's a lot like a busy day at the mall, except instead of people, there are cars bicycles, mopeds, donkey carts, and people weaving in and out of each other, all going different speeds. It gets even crazier, because every one kind of does their own thing and pretends that no one else is around. Its even worse than driving in Texas, only quite a bit slower... Though I still haven't seen an accident. A couple of times when we've stopped at stop lights a bunch of kids will run up to the car and clean the windshield, then stand by the windows hoping for some money. They'll do this even if the windshield is totally clean.

• Our electricity gets turned off from 6:00am to 9:00am in the morning and 2:00pm to 6:00pm in the evening, except when soccer games are televised. I guess they are running out of water in their reservoir, and are trying to conserve. Occasionally the water gets turned off too. When there is heavy usage, all the lights get dimmer because the voltage drops from 220 down to as low as 190.

• We went to Niono {N14,16.050',W005,57.921'} to work at the CRC mission guest house. We spent three days here doing a whole list of little jobs. Everything from installing hooks for mosquito nets, to painting the two main gates, to installing a switch in a little water tower to automatically turn the well pump on and off.

• We traveled to Guduru {N15,15.724';W005,31.950'} It is only about 100 miles from Niono to Guduru, but it took us about 4 hours because of the conditions of the road. If we continued on the road past Guduru for another 300 miles, we would reach Timbuctu.

• Guduru: (Doug speaks) Along with us in our huts, we have several hedge hogs, and a weasle family living with us. There are also some nasty huge white hairy spiders, with a three to four inch leg span, which like to run accross the mats while we're eating supper. They only come out after dark, so they are very difficult to see until they are running up your leg. They mover really fast, and they kind of wander all over the place. Usually we are visited by one or two a night. They Vanderaa's say, "We think they are harmless." Fortunately there is a kitten up here with us which likes to hunt and eat the spiders.

  For supper, we usually eat outside on mats, out of a big bowl with rice, kuu (sort of like patatoes), or Millet. Millet looks like bird seed, but normally they pound it into a powder, and cook it so it looks like some sort of green slimey stuff. It has a pretty bland taste. There is always some sort of chicken or goat with a semi-spicy sauce that goes on top. We have oatmeal for breakfast and macaroni and cheese or pancakes for lunch.

  Since we have come here we installed a new solar powered pump in the villages well. The well was about 150 feet deep, and the pump was submersible, so it had to be lowered all the way to the bottom as pipe was attached. It took about four or five hours. We are in the process of putting markers down the sides of the new airstrip. The airstrip is about 1.5km long, so there are quite a few to put in. We also had to pull the markers from the old airstrip. Joel Fixed his little go-cart, so we took that out to the airstrip where we got it up to 55kph.

• (Doug speaks) I had a mango worm today (June 17). I had this boil on my back that wasn't healing up very fast, and it seemed to be getting a little worse. I looked at it this morning and decided to see if I could pop it, so I pushed on it a bit and a little worm popped out. I guess these flies lay eggs on cloths after they have been hung out to dry. When you wear the clothes, the little larvae burrows under your skin and grows. The Vanderaas said they have never seen that in Mali before, so I guess it's not too common here. It's healing fine now.

• (Now John speaks) Right now (June 19), I'm up in a village where Erica's parents work for a good part of the year. We came up this time for two weeks only. The name of the village is Guduru, and it's about 300 miles southwest of Timbuctu, in the country of Mali. It's pretty amazing to be out here. The Vanderaa's live in straw huts with dirt floors just like everybody else, but we've been eating and sleeping outside on straw mats every night. On a clear night the stars are just beautiful! During the day we eat inside because it's too hot (especially around the noon hour) to be outside. There is no running water or electricity in the village, but Erica's dad has a solar panel hooked up to car batteries in the huts, which are hooked up to small fluorescent lights in the huts and in the outhouse. It is this power source which also allows me to type right now on this lap-top computer, here in the shade of the hut. It is about 3 p.m. right now, and it is 115 degrees in the shade (they have a thermometer outside here). Fortunately there is a nice breeze that blows most of the time. Conditions are desert-like out here, but it's not just a sand desert. There are quite a few scrubby shrubs and short trees everywhere you look. However, if one were to travel a little further north, one would come to the "real" desert, where the Sahara begins. Guduru, like most of the other villages in this area, is a "Fulani" village. The Fulani are one of the many people groups in West Africa. It has been incredibly interesting to be here and to interact with the people. Mr. and Mrs. Vanderaa (and Erica and her brother Joel to some extent) speak Fufulbe, the language of the Fulani. I have learned a few words and phrases and greetings, which I use when I'm around the people. They love it when visiting foreigners like myself make an effort to learn their language. It has been most fun.

  We head back to Bamako (the capital of Mali) a week from this Friday. Bamako is only 300 miles south of here, but it takes about ten hours to get there because of the road conditions. We'll be in Bamako for a few days before heading to the country of Gambia on the 4th of July. I can hardly believe I've been out here for almost two months! Things with Erica continue to go very well. I'll keep you all updated on that situation as well.

  Well, I hope everyone is enjoying a nice summer there in the U.S. or wherever else you happen to be. Please reply by sending email to Lvanderaa@maf.org Please keep it fairly short, and remember to put my name in the subject line.

• (Doug speaks) I am now up in Guduru aproximately 5368 miles away from your (Curt and Ruth's) house [ Blaine, MN ] in a straight line. This would be a great place to fly RC planes, when it's not windy. It's very flat and open. The climate reminds me a lot of Arizona, except it's a little more humid, and a lot more dusty. It's supposed to be the start of rainy season, but it hasn't really rained yet.

• (Doug speaks) I'm back from Guduru, in Bamako again. We had a good time, and did a lot of things. We had one big dust storm, where you could only see about 30-40 yards. The temperature got up to 117 one day with about 30% humidity which gives a heat index of about 135. The temperature would usually drop into the 80's at night, so we slept outside where we could feel the breeze better. If it blew too much, we would wake up with a lot of sand in our bed.

  Tomorrow, John, Erica, Joel and I are leaving for Gambia by train. The trip is supposed to take about 30 hours, because the train stops at every town along the way. We'll be in Gambia for about two weeks. One of the weeks is the CRC (Christian Reform Church) mission spiritual retreat which we are going to with Vanderaas. After that, we'll come back through Bamako on our way to Abidjan to catch our flight to Nairobi.

  The next two weeks I won't have access to e-mail, but you can still send email to me at Bamako until about July 22; I'll be through there one more time. If there is any email which has accumulated in my mail box on calvin, feel free to forward it here. After July 22, I'm not sure how easy it will be for me to receive email, but I should still be able to send it occasionally.

• Trip to The Gambia

  Erica, Doug, Joel and I left Bamako on July 3rd by train. The train runs all the way to Dakar (Senegal), but we got off in Kaolack. {N14,07.5' W16,3.75'} The trip took about 36 hours. Very tiring, but we had a "couchette" with four "beds", so it wasn't too bad. We spent the night in Kaolack in a 3 star hotel (air-con and all!), then woke up the next morning and caught a mini-van bus to the border of The Gambia. There we bought our visas and then caught a taxi to a ferry, which took us across the bay to Banjul, the capital of The Gambia.

• The Gambia

  Once in Banjul {N13,20.957' W16,39.968'} we took another taxi across town to the Bungalow Beach Hotel, where we would stay for the next two weeks with the Vanderaa family. The mission with which the Vanderaas work (Christian Reformed) was having their conference at the hotel, but the Vanderaa's were there a week early for vacation. We had a wonderful time hanging out on the beach, surfing on homemade body boards, swimming in the pool, etc. We also did alot of singing in the evening after supper... Most importantly, Erica and I (John) got engaged on the beach on July 10th!

• Trip Back to Bamako

  After the conference, on July 18th, we caught a ride to Dakar {N14,40' W17,24'}, and stayed in a New Tribes Mission guest house for two nights before catching a train all the way back to Bamako on the 20th. My birthday (John), July 19th, was spent in Dakar. The trip to Bamako was uneventful, though very looong. We did not have a "couchette" (berth) on the way back, so it made it seem longer.

• (John speaks)

  Hello friends and family!

  Sorry this is going to be yet another impersonal form e-mail, but it just makes things much simpler this way. I'm back in Bamako for the time being, but we leave this Thursday for Abidjan, then fly out on Saturday to Kenya. We have a little over a month left in Africa, and then it's on to South America (for Doug and me) for another 3 1/2 months.

  The biggest news I have for you all is that I got engaged last July 10! Erica and I were in The Gambia, on the West Coast, with her whole family, at their mission's conference. I asked her to marry me while we were on the beach one late afternoon, at sunset. It was truly quite romantic! It's weird to think that I'm now engaged, but it's also alot of fun to talk about wedding plans with Erica and her parents. We do plan to get married next July 12th in Monticello, which is about 45 minutes from the Twin Cities.

  After the conference we got a ride up to Dakar, in Senegal, then took the 36 hour train ride back to Bamako, arriving here two nights ago.

  It has been so interesting to be here in Africa and I feel fortunate to have the experience of traveling like this! Once we get to Kenya on July 28th we'll have one month to get down to Johannesburg (overland), and we'll hopefully be swinging by the Serenghetti, Mt. Kilimanjaro, and Victoria Falls... On September 1st, Erica and her brother will be flying back to Bamako, Mali, and Doug and I continue on to Buenos Aires. You can read more about our trip by accessing our trip web page. To do so, access my personal web page first. There you will find a link to the trip page. My personal web address is: http://www.infoplane.com/~john

  I celebrated my birthday on the 19th, and am now a ripe, mature 26 years of age! Erica is 22 (she'll be 23 in January)... in case any of you wanted to know. After she flies back to Bamako, she'll have a few days with her family before flying back to the U.S. with her brother around September 12th. We'll be together again in mid-December, when I fly home from Peru. Then it's six months of wedding planning!

  Anyway - I hope you all are well . . . please pass on my love, my greetings, and this most recent development in my life to anyone you know who knows me. Thank you much. Take care -

  Love, JOHN CLARK

• Trip to Abidjan

  After three days in Bamako, we caught a bus to Bouake (July 25th), the second largest city in the Ivory Coast. The trip took fifteen hours, so we only arrived at 3 a.m. We spent what was left of that night in another mission guest house (SIL). The next morning we visited ICA (International Christian Academy), where Joel and Erica had gone to school. That afternoon, we caught another bus and made the short trip to Abidjan {N5,14.915' W3,55.987'} where we spent the night in another SIL guest house.

• Trip to Kenya

  On Saturday, July 27th, we caught an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Nairobi, with stops in Lagos, Nigeria; Brazzaville, Congo; and finally Nairobi. The flight was about 12 hours long, including those stops and a three hour time change. A friend of mine from Bethel College, who now teaches near Nairobi {S1,19.119' E36,55.953'} at a school for missionary kids, was at the airport to pick us up.

  (Doug speaks) I just thought I'd send a quick note to say hi. I'm in Abidjan right now, We're leaving tonight at about 7:30 for Nairobe, Kenya. The e-mail address for Bamako is no longer usefull for me since I'm probably not going to be back through Bamako for quite a while (years). I'll let you know the next time I get to an address where you can send me e-mail. I'll be in Nairobe for several days, so that may be a possibility.

  Take care.

  Doug

• Kenya

  From the airport, we were taken to Mayfield Guest House to drop off our bags, then we went to church. We were exhausted, but managed to stay awake anyway. We spent the afternoon with the Cook family, who work in Nairobi with AIM Air. Mr. Cook took us on a tour of the hangar where the mission planes are kept, and we got to tour inside the DC-3 that he flies. After spending Sunday night at the guest house, we headed for RVA (Rift Valley Academy) on the 29th of July. My friend (Karen Lundgren) teaches at this school, and it sits on a mountain side at 2100 meters. [Click here to see a picture of Karen and her family. Karen is the second from the left.] RVA {S0,56.768' E36,35.721'} has a beautiful campus with a view of the Rift Valley and different mountains on the other side of the valley. The climate up here is cool, but nothing like Minnesota in the winter! We spent two nights here, and had a wonderful time with our hostess (Karen). We're leaving RVA in a couple of minutes, and will be spending one more night at Mayfield Guest House before heading to Arusha, Tanzania, tomorrow (August 1st). Arusha and its twin city, Moshi, are home to Mt. Kilimanjaro, which we will be seeing!

• Left Nairobi for Arusha. Arived in Arusha about 6:30 p.m. Stayed in Midway hotel, which was very noisy, for the night.

• Found a new place to stay in Arusha - the Hanang Deluxe guest house ("deluxe" does not indicate expensive... it was only $5.00 per person per night : ) ). It is a very quiet and clean place. We arranged a safari through Sunny Safaris starting tomorrow for 3 days and 2 nights.

• Day 1 of our safari. It began at Tarangire National Park. Our guide/driver was "Zebraman," and our cook was Raymond. We saw elephants, zebra, wildebeest, giraffes, baboons, lions, impala, deer, waterbuck, another type of monkey, buzards, and various other birds. Raymond set up our tents for us at our campsite and cooked us a delicious supper.

• Day 2 of our safari. We spent the day at Ngorongoro Crater National Park. The sight from the crater rim is incredible! Down inside, at the crater floor, it is also very beautiful and varied. It reminded us of Jurassic Park. It is almost a self contained ecosystem. It was approximately 22km in diameter, and 2000ft deep. We saw a lot of the same animals. We also saw one hunting lioness, but she seemed to be limping, so we didn't actually see her chasing anything, sorry to say. Another delicious meal that night... and our last night in the tents.

• Day 3 of our safari. We ended our safari at Lake Manyara National Park. There were thousands of pink flamingoes here, but they were way out in the lake, so they were difficult to see, they made part of the lake look pink. We saw a good number of giraffes and elephants in this park. After another good meal by Raymond, we left in our Land Rover to go back to Arusha.

• After a night at the Hanang Deluxe, we left at 6:30 a.m. today by bus to Dar Es Salaam, on the coast of Tanzania. It was supposed to get there around 2:00 p.m. but ended up arriving at about 5:00. There was a traffic jam outside of Moshi (at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro) for no apparent reason. It was on this bus trip that we experienced our first and only theft so far ... John's Swiss Army Knife was stolen. In "Dar" we stayed at a Southern Baptist mission guest house, and watched our safari video that evening.

• After a night at the Hanang Deluxe, we left at 6:30 a.m. today by bus to Dar Es Salaam, on the coast of Tanzania. It was supposed to get there around 2:00 p.m. but ended up arriving at about 5:00. There was a traffic jam outside of Moshi (at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro) for no apparent reason. It was on this bus trip that we experienced our first and only theft so far ... John's Swiss Army Knife was stolen. In "Dar" we stayed at a Southern Baptist mission guest house, and watched our safari video that evening.

• We sat around the guest house, and didn't do a whole lot (wrote post cards). We did do several loads of laundry, which we needed to do badly! After the safari we had lots of dusty, dirty clothes to wash.

• We ran a few errands around Dar Es Salaam, had some really bad lasagna and spaghetti at a cheap restaurant, picked up our stuff from the guest house, and was at the train station by 3:15. The train left at 5:30. It was a very nice train, especially in comparison with the one from Bamako to Dakar in West Africa.

• This was a day of sitting on the train. watching the scenery pass by. We spent all morning traveling through the Rift Valley for the last time.

• We arrived in Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia at 7:00 a.m. Shortly thereafter we caught a bus to Lusaka. On this bus we sat in the isle, which was the only room left on the bus. We then got a bus from Lusaka to Livingstone which left a little after noon. About 140 kilometers from Livingstone, the bus started making an odd noise, coming from the left rear wheel. The driver and a couple other guys got off to inspect it. I heard one of the saying to another, "I told you this morning to take your time and do it right". One of the bolts holding on the wheel had been sheered off. In the process of trying to fix the problem they managed to sheer off 3 more bolts. So we were stranded. Two hours later another bus arrived to carry us the rest of the way to Livingstone. That night we stayed at Jolly Boys backpackers hostel, which is run by a guy from New Zealand.

• We crossed the border to Zimbabwe... twice. John and I went over once first to find a place to stay in Victoria Falls. On the way across the bridge we watched a few people bungi jump. It's a long way down... 364 feet. We booked a place to stay, then went back across the border to Zambia to get Erica and Joel. At this time only Doug was going to bungi jump for sure.

• All four of us scheduled to go bungi jumping at 2:00 p.m. the next day. We visited the falls in the afternoon. They were very impressive/beautiful. We sat and watched the sun set behind the mist rising from the falls. Doug made spaghetti for supper on his little kerosene stove. It took a while to get it going.

• We did a bit of shopping, then headed back to the falls for the rest of the morning. At 1:00 we headed to the bridge to jump. Erica ended up going first, then John, then Doug, then Joel. Doug held his small camera in his hand on the way down, and took a few pictures, but he's not sure if they'll turn out too well.

• We spent the morning packing up, getting our official pictures of the bungi jumping picked up, having our video converted from PAL to NTSC, then headed off to catch our bus to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. After arriving in Bulawayo, we had a bit of time to kill, so we went to see "Toy Story", the Disney movie. Shortly after midnight we caught the "TransLux" bus to Pretoria, South Africa. It was the nicest bus we've been on so far. The border crossing into South Africa was interesting. We all had to get off the bus and literally run to the immigration building to be the first ones in line, so that we could get back on the bus and be on our way.

• As we were standing around the bus station after arriving in Pretoria, we were picked up by a guy from Mazuri Backpackers Hostel, where we ended up spending the night.

• We caught a train from Pretoria to Port Elizabeth. We went 3rd class, for it was quite a bit cheaper. We had almost a whole train car to ourselves for most of the trip.

• We arrived in Port Elizabeth, rented a car at the airport, and started driving to Cape Town via the Garden Routes. We spent our first night in Plettenberg Bay.

• We spent the whole day in Tsitsikamma Coastal National Park. We all spent the day hiking around some trails along the coast. It was truly beautiful!! At 4:15 Joel and Doug went on a vigorous 6km hike along the coast to a waterfall, that fell into a pool just above the waves crashing on rocks below. We spent the night in Plettenberg Bay again.

• We drove from Plettenberg Bay to Oudtshoorn, in the Little Karoo. We took as many side roads as we could, driving through many mountain passes and valleys. In the afternoon, we stopped and took a hike on a forest trail which led down a canyon to a small stream. We spent the night in Oudtshoorn.

• We went to the Cango Caves. Near the caves is Swartberg Pass, which we drove through. John found an email address etched on a rock up there... it turns out that the address was of a Brazilian guy. John will try contacting him sometime to let him know that his email address was found by another Brazilian (!). We then went to the Cango Wildlife Ranch where we saw crockadiles, snakes, cheetas, pumas, leopards, lions, and jaguars. In the afternoon we went to see the whales at Mossel Bay, but there were none there to see. Finally we arrived in Swellendam and spent the night there in a hostel.

• We arrived in Cape Town and found a place to stay at Bob's Backpack. We ran some errands, then went to Table Mountain and watched the sun set. We caught the last cable car down. Later that evening we went to see "The Rock" at a nearby movie theater.

• We spent the day in Cape Town. In the morning we returned the car we rented, changed some money, and bought tickets back to Pretoria on an "InterCape" bus. That afternnon Doug played on the Internet for a while at the Internet Cafe, while John and Erica went to look at wedding stuff, and Joel wrote a post card to some girl named Katrina... and it took him all afternoon too. : )

• Click here to see the first internet conversation with Doug.

• Early in the afternoon, we went to a lecture at a nearby planetarium. The lecture was on the stars and constellations visible from Cape Town at this time of year. Quite interesting. Then we wandered around for a bit, and finally caught our bus at 5:30 p.m. for Pretoria.

• We woke up in the town of Kimberly at about 6:00 a.m. During the night we had had a flat, and now they had broken the wrench attempting to loosen the lugnuts (dejavu). We arrived in Pretoria about 2:45, which was about 3 hours late. All the backpacker places were full of New Zealanders because of a Rugby match between New Zealand and South Africa. We found a place at Word of Mouth backpackers which turned out to be pretty nice. Being John and Erica's last evening together, they went out on a date to a steak house (Erica even paid for John (!)). Doug and Joel ended up doing the bachelor thing... they also went out to eat and had monkey-gland burgers.

• We (Doug and John) went with Joel and Erica to see them off at the Johannesburg International Airport (Jan Smuts). The plane left at around 11:40 a.m. or so. After they left we visited the Malaysian Airlines office and arranged to have our flight moved up from September 1st to August 28th, which is great because it will give us more time in Argentina to work on getting Doug's visa for Brazil. We are back at Mazuri for this night, where we are, as we type, updating this itinerary. Tomorrow night (Aug. 27th), we will sleep at the airport, as our flight leaves at 7:00 a.m. on the 28th. Within the next few weeks we'll be in Buenos Aires, the Iguassu Falls, and various parts of southern Brazil (Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, etc.). We will update this page at our earliest convenience. Thanks for tuning in!! :-)

• Click here to see the second internet conversation with Doug and John.

• Letter from John:

  Hello everyone! I am in Pretoria, South Africa, and just finished a week-long trip to Port Elizabeth on the southern coast of the continent, along the garden route to Cape Town, and back here to Pretoria... In two days I leave for Argentina, from where I'll be going into Brazil and eventually Peru. Our trip has gone very well so far. One month ago we were flying into Nairobi, Kenya, where we spent a few days before making our way south through Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and finally here. The trip in east and south Africa has included alot of exciting experiences, like a 3-day 2-night safari in Tanzania (Lake Manyara, Ngorogoro Crater, and Tarangire national parks), a crazy bus ride (crazy meaning fast and furious) from Arusha (near Mt. Kilimanjaro) to Dar Es Salaam, a long train ride from Dar to Lusaka, in Zambia, then a wonderful three days in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Erica, Joel, Doug, and I all bungi-jumped off the Victoria Falls bridge, which was a crazy experience in itself! And the falls were amazing and a beautiful sight to behold!!! South Africa has been a totally different experience in itself... the countryside is so varied, and it is much like Europe here. In short, it's very nice! : ) I hope you all are well. Most, if not all of you have heard that Erica and I are engaged and plan to get married on July 12th next summer in Minnesota! : ) Erica and I are quite excited and are already making big plans for the big day. She and Joel left this morning for West Africa and they eventually head back to the U.S. in early September. We will be apart for 3 1/2 months or so, but we've been through a 5 month separation before, so this shouldn't be tooooo bad. : | Please continue to check out my homepage and my "trip" home page for more detailed updates on our trip. Take care everyone - and send messages to john@infoplane.com and I will continue checking my messages from here or South America as I get the chance...

  JOHN CLARK