Tanzania

"The less I seek my source for some definitive 
The closer I am to fine" - Indigo Girls

Before Mr. Deep took off for Geneva leaving me in Joburg to manage the mother of all Ops assignments, our departure, we went to Tanzania. I will get to Tanzania in a minute. I promise. I'm as tired of talking about our move from Joburg as you are of reading about it. But I do have an important update to share. The situation that I was cranky about, the job that I thought was taking us to America, St. Louis to be exact, isn't happening. Instead, the plan is for us to spend the remainder of 2017 in Geneva, Switzerland where Mr. Deep is overseeing a project. 

When I talk about our future, I sound like a journalist. I say, "the plan for us" the way a reporter might say "the alleged attacker. " I do this because I think we might end up moving to St. Louis one day. So I'm not going to go on and on about how relieved I am not to be going. Doing so would be like telling your best friend you don't like her boyfriend only to find later they are getting married. It's better to say very little and to secretly celebrate if they break up.

And now, Tanzania. 

As you read the word do you pronounce it Tan Zan Knee Uh? Or Tan Zany Uh? Mr. Deep and I always pronounced it Tan Zan Knee Uh and then we noticed that many people here say Tan Zany Uh, a pronunciation which annoyed Mr. Deep greatly. Turns out both are wrong as the locals pronounce it Tan Zon Ya the last part almost rhyming with lasagna. 

Africa is huge.  It's 30.3 million square kilometres. In comparison the USA is 9.8. Globes are fictitious representations of scale. I know how big Africa is because when we fly to Joburg from New York we reach the coast of Africa in eight hours but it takes another eight of flying time to cross almost the entire length of the continent.  Although Mr. Deep and I have done an amazing job of visiting Southern Africa, having been to seven out of ten Southern African countries, this was our first visit to East Africa and let me tell you it's another world. 

I remember when Mr. Deep and I flew to South Africa for the very first time. I was sitting in coach and he was in business class. No, that's not the point of the story but it bares repeating that it occurred. Anyway, the man I was sitting next to told me that South Africa isn't really Africa. Funny enough today in Joburg I spoke with a Spanish lady and she  informed me that Geneva isn't really Europe. Anyway, it is true that South Africa is different from other parts of Africa and so if it's real Africa that you seek, I think Tanzania fits the bill. 

We started off with a midnight flight to Nairobi, Kenya, a four hour flight from Joburg, and then flew to Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania. As luck would have it we were seated on the wrong side of the plane when we flew over Kili so I don't have a photo to share with you of the mountain from the air. We were picked up at the airport and driven 1.5 hours to Arusha where we stayed at Arusha Coffee Lodge for one night before going to the Serengeti.

My first impressions of Tanzania are that people drive very slowly on long two lane roads, similar to Lesotho. Also, so many men drive motorcycles. It was almost like being in Asia (not that I've been but I imagine lots of Japanese made bikes.)  Our driver told us there are so many scooter accidents that the hospital had to build a wing dedicated to treating scooter injuries. 

Not the best photo quality but you can see the bikes and I love how every man in this pic is looking at the woman. 

Coffee beans. 

The next morning, we flew back to Kilimanjaro on a small plane. This time it was too cloudy to see the mountain. We then flew to Lake Manyara and then finally to the Serengeti. It was similar to our trip to Botswana where the plane stopped multiple times and different passengers came and went. 

As we walked down the steps of the plane, we met Justice our Serengeti guide. He took us out to the parking lot and advised us he had to file our park permit paperwork and that we should wait for him. Everyone else appeared to be in the same situation as it seems the park doesn't allow the guides file until the guests arrive. Justice had set up a lovely table for us with lunch and he showed us where the cold drinks were. 

When he returned he told us that we'd spend the rest of the afternoon doing a game drive and then we'd return to camp. It was only about noon and we'd never been given the opportunity to do such a long game drive before. We were thrilled at the prospect. He also showed us a map of the park and a paper showing us the type of birds we might see. I told him that Mr. Deep loves birds and Justice said he also loves birds so I knew we were in for some birding excitement (oxymoron.) Our pilot, Gareth, also joined us for a portion of the game drive. He wasn't scheduled to fly back until the next day and was spending the night at our camp. He rode with us for a bit until another guy from the camp came and collected him.

The purpose of visiting Tanzania in May was to witness the great migration, an annual natural phenomenon in which nearly two million antelope, wildebeest and zebras travel about 2000 miles in search of better grazing. The trip is dangerous and many animals are killed by predators such as lions and crocodiles (during river crossings) as they migrate.

Viewing the migration is challenging because the animals don't follow a strict schedule meaning you can't count on them to arrive in one area on a certain day or a certain week. This is understandable as they are animals searching for nice grass, not putting on a show for humans. In order to ensure that we maximized our one chance to see the migration we booked our trip with And Beyond safari company and stayed in a mobile camp, meaning the camp moves throughout the year to put itself close to the migration. More on this camp in a future post. 

From the moment we left the airstrip, the animal sightings were incredible. We have never seen such large herds of zebras and wildebeest at one time and we had never before seen lions in trees. 

These poor zebras were so nervous, they would go in the water, drink for a few seconds, get spooked and run and then repeat over and over. It's not easy to be the hunted. 

Photo credit to Mr. Deep for possibly the best picture taken during our entire time in Africa. Bravo! 

More to come on Tanzania....

Wild Life

I mentioned in my last blog post that I have been enjoying some quiet time over the holidays. Over the past two weeks I have been spending an endless amount of time at home waiting for various repairmen to arrive. Sometimes they do arrive and sometimes they don't. I think I've spent an inordinate amount of time over these past (almost) two years in South Africa waiting on repairmen. This begs the question is my house of substandard construction? or is it because I am in charge of Ops and in the past these tasks would have been more evenly split between Mr. Deep and me? I think it's a combination of both. 

Some crude math indicates that I've spent 4% of the time that we've lived in this house at home waiting for repairmen.  We've lived in this house for 646 days at the time of writing and I think I've spent at least 28 of those waiting at home for:

• repairs by contractor and electrician when we first moved in = 5
• numerous electrical problems = 6
• broken geyser, broken toilet and other plumbing problems including no water = 3
• tree felling = 2
• house paining = 6
• air con repair = 3
• refrigerator, freezer and dishwasher repair = 3

TOTAL = 28 = 4.3% of total days spent

This free time gave me a chance to go through some of our photos taken during two recent safari trips, the first in November at Madikwe and the other in a place called Nambiti Game Reserve over Christmas weekend. 

A few thoughts before I share the photos. First, some people might think that a blog post full of photos is a slightly lazy approach to blogging. This is partially true because writing the posts does take a good bit of time and thought (believe it or not.) However, going through hundreds of photos, choosing the best and then editing some of the chosen ones also takes time so a blog post with a lot of photos can be just as labor intensive as one with a lot of words. Second, some of you might be tired of safari photos. If that is the case, I'm sorry but here are some more. Originally my plan was to focus this post on photos of animals interacting but I found some other photos that I just couldn't leave out. Like this one below of a very unique cloudy sky at Madikwe. 

It is amazing how similarly lions and house cats behave.

A lion munching on the carcass of a baby elephant. The mother died during childbirth and the lions "extracted" the baby and ate it. 

A stunning double rainbow in Madikwe

Followed by an incredible sunset

Elephants greeting each other

Kudu roughhousing

The paradise flycatcher with a caught fly. Photo credit Birdman. 

All time cutest photo. This baby elephant is so young he can't even walk properly yet. 

Somehow our friend Jeff spotted this tortoise hiding under some brush.  

Wet giraffes waiting for it to stop pouring rain in Madikwe!

Wild dogs are hard to get photos of because they move quickly.

A de-horned rhino at Nambiti Hills Game Reserve located in KZN.

Elephants under a dramatic sky just before a cold front came through. It was then cold for the remainder of our time at Nambiti.

This waterbuck lost one of his horns. His nickname is unicorn. 

These black backed jackals are not easy to get photos of but Mr. Deep got a great shot here. 

Doctor Doctor

Before I moved here I wondered, what would going to the doctor in South Africa be like? What if I became seriously ill? Could doctors in Joburg successfully treat me? What if they couldn't properly diagnose me until it was too late? 

I know some expats who have their annual physicals when they make visits back home. But live away from home long enough and eventually you will need to see a doctor. And, if like me, you actually look forward to getting your teeth cleaned every six months then you will certainly need to see a dentist or a hygienist while you are living away. 

Fortunately throughout our stay in South Africa, Mr. Deep and I have remained healthy. However, I counted the number of receipts that we have for doctor visits and combined Mr. Deep and I (although mostly Mr. Deep) have visited doctors and dentists 35 times in less than 22 months! I know what you're thinking, that it's amazing that we were able to squeeze in any travel or safaris given the significant amount of time we are spending receiving medical attention. Mr. Deep asked that I clarify and tell you that most of these visits are for physical therapy or as it's called here biokinetics.

The first time I visited a doctor in Joburg I completely over complicated the situation. It was April of 2015, two months after we arrived. I had been feeling sick with a stomach bug and despite my best efforts to treat the illness with ginger ale and tums, I wasn't getting any better. 

Upon arrival I checked in with the receptionist. She told me the name of the doctor I'd be seeing and said I could "go through." Coming through or going through is South African terminology for "go on in." What I wasn't sure of was did she mean go and wait in the waiting room or go right in and see the doctor? Maybe I was delirious from sickness but I decided that she must mean that I should go directly in to see the doctor. 

I walked down the corridor and found the door with the doctor's name on it. It was slightly ajar so I entered the office. The doctor seemed a little surprised to see me. I explained that I wasn't sure if the receptionist meant that I should go right to his office or not (although it was becoming clear not.) He said that usually, and by usually I think he meant always, patients wait in the waiting room until they are called. I am sure he was wondering where in the world I was from where it's normal for patients to barge in to see the doctor. He was really nice about it though and proceeded with my appointment rather than sending me back to the waiting room. 

Overall I have found the medical system here to be quite good. While I don't know if the care I am getting is any better or worse than what I would be receiving back in the U.S., there are certain aspects here that are definitely better.

First, the wait times are very short. In South Africa I don't think I've waited to see a doctor for longer than 15 minutes. In the past I have waited over two hours even with a scheduled appointment.

Second, it's easy to get an appointment. If I were to call my doctor's office right now, they would ask me if I wanted an appointment today. I would not have to beg or cough dramatically into the phone in order to be seen. In the U.S. if I were to call a doctor today and ask for an appointment, I would be given the earliest available appointment which would be in March, 2017.  

Third, the doctors here are not afraid to prescribe drugs. Some people think this is a bad thing, but if I am feeling poorly enough to visit the doctor then I am looking for fast relief in the form of tablets. 

Fourth, results are given quickly. When I had annual blood work, I was called with the results the next day. When I needed a chest x-ray for my visa I got the films right away. When I had a mammogram the results were provided to me before I left the hospital.

For a year Mr. Deep and I paid for all of our medical expenses in cash. While visiting private doctors is sadly cost prohibitive for a majority of people in this country, to us the visits often cost less than our co-pay would back home. Although we were aware that we had some type of insurance for expats neither of us researched the matter. I am sure that this task was supposed to be handled by the Ops team, but it wasn't and eventually Mr. Deep got tired of seeing money fly out the window and requested that I submit the paid invoices to insurance to see if we might be reimbursed for any of our expenses.  

He handed me a stack of invoices and gave me the Cigna Global Health Benefits log in information. Of course I procrastinated the project for a while as I was busy with other things. Finally, I sat down to complete my assignment. The whole process was quite simple and straightforward. In fact, the only challenge I had was that in order to successfully submit photos of the paid invoices I had to install a "photo shrinker" app on my phone. Once that was done, I was able to quickly submit each claim.

The process for submitting claims via Cigna Global Health Benefits is as follows. First, register on the website (have your Cigna ID card handy for this.) Next, enter banking details for what is called ePayment Plus to allow reimbursement to be deposited directly into your bank account. After selecting which family member you are filing on behalf of, type a few sentences explaining the diagnosis/symptoms. For example, "visit to doctor for stomach illness" or "biokinetics for knee pain." Next, from a drop down menu choose the country where the expense was incurred. Upload a photo of the invoice you paid (remember you may need to shrink the size of the photo first as it must be less than 6mb.) Finally, agree to the terms and submit the claim. The whole process takes about 15 seconds.

As I submit claims Mr. Deep receives three emails from Cigna. The first, when a claim is submitted, the second when we are reimbursed for an expense, and the third when a new explanation of benefits has been posted to the website for our viewing. There is also an app called the Cigna Envoy App that can be downloaded to track claims but I have yet to try it.

A few days after I completed my claim submissions a miraculous thing happened and we started receiving payments from Cigna into our bank account. Nothing (not even birds) makes Mr. Deep happier than money appearing into his bank account.  

This post was sponsored by Cigna Global Health Benefits. All opinions expressed and experiences shared are my own.

The Birdman of Botswana (and Zambia)

A funny thing happened in the middle of Botswana. Mr. Deep got really into birds. Over the course of the trip he became more and more excited about photographing birds, talking to the guides about birds and even borrowing and reading the guide's books about birds. At Jacana Camp, I was supportive of this new found interest as birds were a large part of what we were seeing given all of the water. And there were many colorful and beautiful birds to be seen. But when we got to Zambia the obsession continued.  So much so that on our last boat cruise on the Zambezi, when I found out that other guests would be joining us for the first time, I had to gently remind Mr. Deep that not everyone wants to sit and photograph each bird spotted for 20 minutes. But, it turns out my speech was unnecessary as the other guests were just as into birds as Mr. Deep. 

The bird man in action

Fish Eagle

Wattled Crane

Reed Cormorant

African Spoonbills

Spur-Winged Goose

Male and female Fish Eagle

African Black Crake

Saddle Billed Stork

Little Egret

Rosy-Throated Longclaw

Lilac Breasted Roller

Swallow Tailed Bee-Eater

I haven't met many birders in my life but I am positive that Mr. Deep is not typical. I imagine birders to be gentle people who go out at sunrise after doing a bit of light yoga. They lie on the ground or sit in a tree for hours drinking herbal tea from a thermos. They wear Birkenstock sandals. They patiently wait for birds to appear. I also imagine that birders have other friends who are birders and they probably talk for hours about birds, "remember when we saw those blue footed boobies in Galapagos?" And real birders are not saying this because they just think it's funny to say the word boobie. They are truly interested in birds. Mr. Deep is nothing like this except for that his interest in birds is genuine. Yes, he would get up early to photograph wildlife but he would drink coffee and not tea. And although he's seen over fifty Grateful Dead concerts he would never wear Birkenstocks. But perhaps the most notable difference is that Mr. Deep has a very unique way of speaking to the birds he is photographing. Saying things like "f-ing fly you f-er" or "turn around you f-ing bastard" or "stay still f-er!"  

Even though I've known Mr. Deep for over twenty years he continues to amaze. I found myself thinking "who is this man?" when he jumped up from the bar (at least that part remains consistent) and screamed "there he is! The Pied Kingfisher." 

Giant Kingfisher eating a fish

The creation of this blog post was not easy as Mr. Deep wanted to be very involved. I appreciate his help in identifying the birds for the photos BUT, he spent most of Saturday afternoon second guessing my photo selection and I was summoned upstairs to his computer room no less than eight times so he could "make an appeal" for additional photos to be added to the post. He did get some great photos though and many (but much to his dismay not all) are included in this post. 

Goliath Heron

Malachite Kingfisher

Copper Tailed Coucal

African Darter

Egyptian Goose

African Skimmer

Egyptian Geese

Egyptian Goose

Black-Winged Stilt

White-Fronted Bee-Eater

Grey Loerie

Juvenile African Finfoot

Marabou Stork

African Open-Billed Stork

Pied Kingfishers (one happy as he has a fish)

Pied Kingfishers

Water Thick-Knee

Bee-Eaters

Bee-Eater

Half-Collared Kingfisher

Baby Brown-Hooded Kingfisher

Mangrove Kingfisher (could be a Brown-headed as well) with insect

Red Hornbill