Monday, November 12, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
Flying high over the Maasai
Update: uploaded some photos to flickr.
Well, back in Nairobi after 3 days out in the Maasai Mara on safari. We left Nigeria last Saturday, flew into Nairobi and stayed the night at the Safari Park Hotel which, as you might have guessed, is safari themed. Rose early on Sunday and caught a light plane out to the Maasai Mara where we were greeted by a tribesman in traditional dress and with the very traditional Maasai name of Jackson. On safari, there are the ‘big 5? which people hope to spot - the lion, elephant, leopard, water buffalo and the rhino. Niall thought that if Jackson could achieve this, we’d have made a Jackson 5. We visited a Maasai village where our guide, Moses, explained various aspects of the Maasai life, including that the jumping was used by the males to impress the women in the village. After seeing the village, none of us was in a hurry to jump particularly high. He also introduced us to the chief of the village, James (?!), who had the distinction of having killed a lion, something which was formerly a rite of passage to manhood for Maasai warriors. We saw inside a traditional hut, formed mainly from cow dung and sticks, and watched some of the young guys start a fire from two pieces of wood. We also learned about various natural remedies, including a tea-like drink made by boiling and straining elephant dung.. uh, that makes it sound really awful, but it didn’t look so bad.The safari camp was at an ‘eco lodge’ which was great. All power is solar and much of the water is recylced. The rooms are basically permanent tents but they include running water and a flushable toilet. The food was ridiculously good and I had some great afternoon naps between games drives and other activities. One morning we went on a balloon safari which was a pretty amazing, incredible peaceful experience. Our pilot was experienced and did an outstanding job; she took the balloon incredibly low so that we actually dipped below the level of the bank when going over some of the rivers. Over the couple of days we saw heaps of different animals but highlights were probably seeing some male lions at very close proximity, the elephants, a hippo out of the water and maybe the giraffes. I hadn’t realised that all the animals dwelt in such close proximity but they were all very close to each other.
Nigeria
I've been offline for the last 10 days or so, so I haven't been able to update this blog much, but I was writing 'offline' so here's what I've been up to...
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Well we’re on the plane from Nairobi to Lagos. We got up at 4am, had a coffee in the hotel café and hit the road at 5am to the airport. A somewhat faster trip back to the airport from the hotel than the trip to the hotel yesterday. We’ve managed to get all our luggage on ok without any excess to pay. Again it’s slowlies & suddenlies – wait in queue’s then go like crazy to get through the crowds, get your luggage on the plane. There’s generally more cabin baggage than there is space for the baggage so it’s a bit of a scramble to ensure you get it on.
We were met in Lagos by Apostle Zilly’s Personal Assistant, Joshua [he likes to be called Prince Joshua, but most people just call him Joshua!] Melinda was incredibly more relaxed once she saw that he was meeting us at the airport. All flight she’d prepared us for this incredibly difficult and stressful journey through Lagos airport to somehow then get on a domestic flight to Port Harcourt. But in fact, it was the easiest trip through any airport so far! It was not busy, we got through customs fine, and we met Joshua on the other side. AND OUR BAGGAGE GOT THERE TOO!
Joshua then negotiated to have us on an Arik Air flight to Port Harcourt, which flew out of the international terminal, so we didn’t have to go to the apparently chaotic domestic terminal. We had a 4 hour wait, basically sitting in a café at Lagos airport. Joshua had been given the assignment to make sure we were well looked after. His assistant Martin looked after our bags when we went to the café, and they looked after getting our baggage checked in. The biggest drama occurred when I tried to pay for the food and drinks we had at the restaurant. Joshua had left instructions with the café staff that we were not to pay, and that he would pay when he came back from checking our baggage in. I insisted with the staff that I should pay, and they accepted their money. Well! When Joshua came back, he was mortified and spent at least 15 minutes ripping through the staff for taking my money. He got my money back from them so he could pay. He was incredibly upset by the whole thing, and we felt very bad for upsetting him. Lesson learnt – don’t upset the host!!
Our arrival at Port Harcourt was met with a huge welcoming team bearing Australian and South African flags. A smiling “Protocol Team” who would spend the week showing us incredibly hospitality and assistance, welcomed us along with the Apostle himself, and his wife Gladys. They were overjoyed to see us, as we were them, and it obviously meant a lot to them that we would come to their country.
So we spent a week in Port Harcourt, staying at the lovely Protea Hotel amidst excellent security. That is, armed guards at the gates and numerous security guards in the hotel itself. Again our arrival there was almost of rock-star proportions, with photographers, video cameras, and many people coming to greet us. It was a little overwhelming, to be honest. Our first night for us to just rest, which was great for two reasons – firstly because we’d had busy time in Congo, but most importantly because the rugby world cup final was on [South Africa won – yay!]
For the most part, we saw only the Protea Hotel and Royal House of Grace church. It was nigh on impossible for us to carry our own bags/guitars anywhere. There was almost always a team of RHG protocol people around to swiftly take them off us. They looked after us incredibly well all week, treating us like royalty.
Throughout the week, we developed a routine of meeting for breakfast at about 8am, then having a time of devotions and worship in the foyer of the hotel. They had a piano there – a cheap electric piano which we worked out was actually a fraction of a tone flat across the board! But it gave us something to work with – at least the tuning was consistent. The worship time became a feature of the week, not only for us, but for the staff who eagerly awaited it each morning, and even started making requests! Many of them attended the church and were at the night meetings.
There is a curfew imposed in the Port Harcourt area from 6am to 9pm, which limited the night church services. They would typically start around 4pm and go until about 8pm – sometimes stretching a fraction longer. We’d get there between 5 to 5.30pm by which time everyone was jumping and dancing! Often then we were straight on to play, which for us as musos was a little challenging. No such thing as soundchecks or rehearsals with the band – we’d just plug and play. Their sound system is in dire need of repair – multiple systems patched together with poor cabling and things like the bass crossovers set poorly so they really didn’t get the best of what they had.
None of us are of a mind to see something that needs doing and just leave it, so Trevor took the initative resulting in Niall, Trevor and myself, with a team of RHG guys working through the night to completely recable the system, shift the amplifiers, set the crossovers and get the foldback monitoring working properly. We finished about 7am, in time for the 8am meeting to start!
The Friday night meeting was an all night "variety night” with pretty much wall to wall music, and definitely wall to wall people. The place was packed! Easily 5000 people were in the auditorium and many more were outside viewing on screens. Because of the curfew, everyone had no choice but to stay there all night! This is where we saw the benefits of being on the stage – it got a little crazy on the floor during the night. The security guys were not there just for their good looks! The floor was absolutely packed and people were having a great time – don’t get me wrong, there were no fights or anything, but just that large number of people gets a bit crowded.
There were choirs, guest artists, dancing troupes, comedians, dramatic acts and incredibly enthusiastic worship. The sound was deafening when they shouted – I’ve not heard anything like it, particular not at church, and maybe even louder than any football crowd I’ve heard – even compared to Collingwood winning a grand final! They were still dancing energetically at 3am after having been there from 7pm. They can all dance, they all have rhythm, and they all laughed heartily at those of us who were somewhat deficient in those areas! I got picked on by two of the guest artists. The first, a lady by the name of Anne [looks like the African Tina Turner!], called me up to dance with her on a particular song, which had many in hysterics – particularly Abraham and Paul, the musicians. Then there was a group that was kind of like the African version of Human Nature, 5 of them dressed in matching yellow suit jackets, who got me out the front with them for a dance. Oh the humiliation – but I guess I can deal with it!
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Well we’re on the plane from Nairobi to Lagos. We got up at 4am, had a coffee in the hotel café and hit the road at 5am to the airport. A somewhat faster trip back to the airport from the hotel than the trip to the hotel yesterday. We’ve managed to get all our luggage on ok without any excess to pay. Again it’s slowlies & suddenlies – wait in queue’s then go like crazy to get through the crowds, get your luggage on the plane. There’s generally more cabin baggage than there is space for the baggage so it’s a bit of a scramble to ensure you get it on.
We were met in Lagos by Apostle Zilly’s Personal Assistant, Joshua [he likes to be called Prince Joshua, but most people just call him Joshua!] Melinda was incredibly more relaxed once she saw that he was meeting us at the airport. All flight she’d prepared us for this incredibly difficult and stressful journey through Lagos airport to somehow then get on a domestic flight to Port Harcourt. But in fact, it was the easiest trip through any airport so far! It was not busy, we got through customs fine, and we met Joshua on the other side. AND OUR BAGGAGE GOT THERE TOO!
Joshua then negotiated to have us on an Arik Air flight to Port Harcourt, which flew out of the international terminal, so we didn’t have to go to the apparently chaotic domestic terminal. We had a 4 hour wait, basically sitting in a café at Lagos airport. Joshua had been given the assignment to make sure we were well looked after. His assistant Martin looked after our bags when we went to the café, and they looked after getting our baggage checked in. The biggest drama occurred when I tried to pay for the food and drinks we had at the restaurant. Joshua had left instructions with the café staff that we were not to pay, and that he would pay when he came back from checking our baggage in. I insisted with the staff that I should pay, and they accepted their money. Well! When Joshua came back, he was mortified and spent at least 15 minutes ripping through the staff for taking my money. He got my money back from them so he could pay. He was incredibly upset by the whole thing, and we felt very bad for upsetting him. Lesson learnt – don’t upset the host!!
Our arrival at Port Harcourt was met with a huge welcoming team bearing Australian and South African flags. A smiling “Protocol Team” who would spend the week showing us incredibly hospitality and assistance, welcomed us along with the Apostle himself, and his wife Gladys. They were overjoyed to see us, as we were them, and it obviously meant a lot to them that we would come to their country.
So we spent a week in Port Harcourt, staying at the lovely Protea Hotel amidst excellent security. That is, armed guards at the gates and numerous security guards in the hotel itself. Again our arrival there was almost of rock-star proportions, with photographers, video cameras, and many people coming to greet us. It was a little overwhelming, to be honest. Our first night for us to just rest, which was great for two reasons – firstly because we’d had busy time in Congo, but most importantly because the rugby world cup final was on [South Africa won – yay!]
For the most part, we saw only the Protea Hotel and Royal House of Grace church. It was nigh on impossible for us to carry our own bags/guitars anywhere. There was almost always a team of RHG protocol people around to swiftly take them off us. They looked after us incredibly well all week, treating us like royalty.
Throughout the week, we developed a routine of meeting for breakfast at about 8am, then having a time of devotions and worship in the foyer of the hotel. They had a piano there – a cheap electric piano which we worked out was actually a fraction of a tone flat across the board! But it gave us something to work with – at least the tuning was consistent. The worship time became a feature of the week, not only for us, but for the staff who eagerly awaited it each morning, and even started making requests! Many of them attended the church and were at the night meetings.
There is a curfew imposed in the Port Harcourt area from 6am to 9pm, which limited the night church services. They would typically start around 4pm and go until about 8pm – sometimes stretching a fraction longer. We’d get there between 5 to 5.30pm by which time everyone was jumping and dancing! Often then we were straight on to play, which for us as musos was a little challenging. No such thing as soundchecks or rehearsals with the band – we’d just plug and play. Their sound system is in dire need of repair – multiple systems patched together with poor cabling and things like the bass crossovers set poorly so they really didn’t get the best of what they had.
None of us are of a mind to see something that needs doing and just leave it, so Trevor took the initative resulting in Niall, Trevor and myself, with a team of RHG guys working through the night to completely recable the system, shift the amplifiers, set the crossovers and get the foldback monitoring working properly. We finished about 7am, in time for the 8am meeting to start!
The Friday night meeting was an all night "variety night” with pretty much wall to wall music, and definitely wall to wall people. The place was packed! Easily 5000 people were in the auditorium and many more were outside viewing on screens. Because of the curfew, everyone had no choice but to stay there all night! This is where we saw the benefits of being on the stage – it got a little crazy on the floor during the night. The security guys were not there just for their good looks! The floor was absolutely packed and people were having a great time – don’t get me wrong, there were no fights or anything, but just that large number of people gets a bit crowded.
There were choirs, guest artists, dancing troupes, comedians, dramatic acts and incredibly enthusiastic worship. The sound was deafening when they shouted – I’ve not heard anything like it, particular not at church, and maybe even louder than any football crowd I’ve heard – even compared to Collingwood winning a grand final! They were still dancing energetically at 3am after having been there from 7pm. They can all dance, they all have rhythm, and they all laughed heartily at those of us who were somewhat deficient in those areas! I got picked on by two of the guest artists. The first, a lady by the name of Anne [looks like the African Tina Turner!], called me up to dance with her on a particular song, which had many in hysterics – particularly Abraham and Paul, the musicians. Then there was a group that was kind of like the African version of Human Nature, 5 of them dressed in matching yellow suit jackets, who got me out the front with them for a dance. Oh the humiliation – but I guess I can deal with it!
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