Lions, and Yellow Fever and Malaria, Oh My……🦁

And Typhoid shots and don’t drink the water, or eat fresh fruits or vegetables.  And spray mosquito repellent on your skin, clothes, shoes, backpack, hats, everything. Pack lots of diarrhea medicine too…Oh my….   

Going to Africa this September will be a trip of a lifetime.  Every time someone asks me what my plans are, since I just retired, I say, ‘lots of traveling.’  And, no one ever reacts casually when I say that our first big trip will be to Africa. 

Honestly, I can’t say Africa was ever on my ‘bucket list,’ but when an opportunity like this presents itself, how can we say no?   And, I have to admit, even though I am a retired teacher, I had to look up where Rwanda is on the map.  My African geography is pretty weak.  Rwanda is a tiny country in central eastern Africa, just below the equator.   To get there, we have to fly 10 hours to Amsterdam and then another 10 hours from there, to Kigali, Rwanda. 

So why are we going?

Rob’s son Chris earned a master’s degree in international development and was given advice by his business school mentor that he would be more marketable if he had some actual field experience.  His master’s thesis was about the developing markets in the country of Rwanda.  So, low and behold, he got a yearlong fellowship working for a business consultancy in Kigali- the major city in Rwanda.

We’re going because it boils down to, well, why not? Chris can play tour guide in Rwanda, and the three of us plan to go on a safari on the Serengeti in Tanzania,(which is east of Rwanda.)  Then, Rob and I will continue on to the exotic and romantic, Zanzibar, (a small island off the coast of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean.)

Well, there is still much planning to do, and paying to do... Oh my..... (But I can't wait!)