Hip Hop, Beaches, and Typhoid?

So I've been back in Malabo for a little while now, and I don't think I will ever get used to some aspects of this city. Like for instance every time our group goes out, we attract so much attention. We get called "blancos" and "chinos" because apparently every person who is not African is Chinese (there is a strangely large presence of Chinese people here).

Also, Gretchen got typhoid a little while ago, and was super sick for a few days. We took her to the clinic and she was throwing up all over. They never cleaned any of it up. She just sat in her own vomit the whole time. Healthcare is slightly different here.

There isn't really all that much to do in Malabo, and you're not allowed to go anywhere by yourself. We're also only taking three classes at UNGE. So pretty much we have to make our own things to do. We eat at local restaraunts all the time."Arroz con platanos" is my meal of choice. We also go to the French and Spanish cultural centers a lot. They have interesting events sometimes, like we have gone to a hip hop show and a two part play series.

On the weekends we have these little day field trips. Last weekend we went to Arena Blanca, which is the only "white" sand beach. It was kind of gross and trashy, but nice to get out of the city atleast. Then this past weekend we went hiking on this mountain by a little village called Richae. It was crazy because our guide was a hunter, and along the trail we kept seeing these duiker traps that he maintains. He said that he hunts to feed his family though, so atleast he doesn't contribute to the bushmeat trade. After the hike we went to a little black sand beach and it was so gorgeous and untouched! All pictures in this post are from there:

Best Beach Ever!

Not pictured: me and Liz

Some Moka Stuffs

There were so many awesome things to do and see in Moka. Here are just the highlights.

This is the Cascades:

It was probably my favorite spot in Moka, it was just so beautiful. I was lucky to have seen the waterfalls because usually it is too cloudy to see anything. My guide let me stop census for a while so I could just enjoy it.

Here is me with one of Elliot's Chameleons:
I helped Elliot with his project and went out on night census (the best time to catch chameleons). He caught over 100 in these two weeks!

A pond by the lake:
The lake was really pretty. All the students were supposed to camp up there, but we got rained out. So I was one of the only ones who got to see it. This pond was so beautiful (I think I liked it more than the lake). My guide and I had our lunch break here between censuses.

The two little houses at the bottom of the mountain make up the wildlife center:
It was amazing calling this place home for 2 weeks. I took this picture coming out of one of the trail entrances. Sometimes on the left a group of erythrotis hang out right by the road. Cars don't go by too often, but people are always walking along the road. They're not scared of anything, unlike the monkeys in the Caldera who were scared of everything.

This is the road built through my trail :(

The monkeys not only face the threat of bushmeat hunting, they also have to deal with logging and habitat loss. These kinds of roads make it even easier for hunters to come in. And since Moka is a little residential area hunting is already a big problem. There is nothing I can really do, and I hate feeling so helpless.

Stay at Moka Coming to a Close

I've been having a blast at Moka for the past couple of weeks. ^^This is an erythrotis; 96% of the primates I've seen here are these guys (it's very difficult to take pictures of monkeys by the way). For my project I censused 5 different trails about 3 times. One of those trails is called the cascades, and it was absolutely gorgeous! More pictures are to come. But yeah my project has turned out to be slightly depressing as the diversity of primates around Moka has decreased a lot in recent years. Also my guide and I were censusing this one trail, San Joaquin, and about 3/5 of the way through I hear this really loud construction noise. We had to stop census, but we walked to the end of the trail. They had cut down about 1/5 of the trail and were in the process of building a road through it! Also on another day we ran into a hunter mid census. And when we get back to Malabo we are going to the bushmeat market. So yeah, not looking forward to going back. Classes start on Wednesday. Yet again, I would rather not leave.

The Moka wildlife center is mostly for visitors. We sleep outside in tents and listen to tree hyrax's calling all night. There are trails that branch off from the center and up the road a bit. The town near by is really tiny, consisting of one store, one bar, and one church. The houses are all little shacks with tin roofs and dirt floors.

Besides primates I have seen a ton of awesome birds, frogs, duikers, and butterflies. For a couple of nights I went out bushbaby and chameleon hunting with the 2 kids doing those projects. My heart lies with the monkeys and I don't feel content, like I saw enough. Supposedly we will be going on "field trips" when we get back to Malabo, so hopefully we can come back. They are turning the generator off so I will talk to you all soon.

Caldera Report

I just got back from the Gran Caldera Expedition. It was definitely the most incredible thing I have ever done! I saw so many monkeys! Erythrotis, Pogonias, Red Colobus, and I even saw one Drill! I didn't want to leave, I loved it so much. The 2 day hike in was pretty intense, at first we hiked down this really rocky disheveled "road" from Belebu to Ureca. Belebu:

Then we hiked from Ureca to Moraka Playa, which was a lot of up and down in the forest and it was mixed with a lot of hiking on the beach.

We stayed at Moraka Playa (the beach camp for 4 days). I did primate census there, and got my first good looks at erythrois and pogonias. Pogonias:

Then the first group of us students hiked up to the Caldera. It was definitely the hardest thing I have ever done! There were so many steep up and down inclines. At one point I didn't think I was going to make it, but I did. It was sooo worth it! Hormigas Camp was so beautiful, I loved it! It was like camping in the rainforest. I got a really good look at a group of Red Colobus, one of my best experiences to date.

A couple days later we hiked up to North Camp, which is the highest point in the Caldera. We only stayed there one night and didn't get to do census, but we did do census on the hike back down and that was awesome. I saw a red colobus jump across the trail and the tail of a preuss's guenon. We stayed one more night at Hormigas, and then hiked back down the Caldera. Then we stayed at the beach camp for the remaining nights. On the last full day there, I requested to do this one trail called Etepo, and it turned out to be incredible. I saw a drill! And the lunch checkpoint was so amazing!!!

We got to take Cayuco boats out, so we could see the island from a pretty awesome perspective. I'm back in Malabo now, but I leave for Moka soon. I don't know what my internet situation will be like there, so get in touch now :)

Caldera is Saturday!!!

So basically we have been hanging around the city and learning our way around. Having so much fun! In two days we leave for the Caldera expedition, and I'm a little scared because it's going to be intense. We have to hike 30 km and swim across 4 rivers with our packs just to get there! I won't have internet for 3 weeks starting then, so get in touch now if you need to :)

This is the National University of Equatorial Guinea, where our classes will be when we get back.

This is as close as I could get for taking a picture of the kids playing soccer at the playground.

Mass packing taking place. Apparently 60 people are going to be on the expedition.

Liz cutting my hair off before we start packing our bags...

I'm in Africa!!!!

Here are a few pictures from the first few days. Explainations will come later...

I'm kind of bummed because the government restricts taking pictures...

I met up with these guys in the Madrid airport. L to R: Kadeem, Liz, me, and Ryan.

This is our whole study abroad group. L to R: Ryan, Liz, Kadeem, me, Elliot, Gretchen, Evan, and Nabil. We have a really great group! 2 other vegetarians and 2 other people who don't drink!

This was taken before we learned that it's dangerous to take pictures in the city. One of the many disheveled streets.

We celebrated New Years at this huge concert with a bunch of different acts. There was some really awesome music and dancing!

This is the walkway to our house! The little area in front of our house is so neat! And we have a monkey grave yard in our backyard.

The next couple of pictures were taken on the "Hash run," we participated in. Basically it was a little hike on the oil compound near all the oilers houses. There are so many different kinds of awesome lizards!

I loooove the trees here!

Two Days until I Leave!!!

This is what it looks like currently in South Jersey. I can't wait to leave this weather!
Don't know how all of this is supposed to fit in my bag...
This is my day pack for census.
This is my big pack for all my gear (it's smooshed in this picture- it's actually really big).