More October Vacation: Zongo Falls

We got up the next morning, ate breakfast at the garden's restaurant where we witnessed a LONG staff meeting for the garden's workers, and then proceeded to head out of Kisantu and onto the LONG gravel road that would take us to Zongo Falls. This was a very well maintained and pleasant road, with views of awesome African villages, goats on tombs, and interesting trees. However, our trusty car, my personal sentimental favorite in the TASOK fleet, does not really have a strong suspension.

Yes, I did indeed eat an entire jar of peanut butter (with a spoon) in a week. I was on vacation!

So let's just say the drive was a bit sensory-overloading with all the bumps we felt... but we arrived in one piece (and only one spare tire used!) at midday in Zongo. We met the Zongo goat

and headed right out onto the rocks while the 'grown-ups' talked to the hotel staff at the reception desk. 

Once that was finished we walked immediately to the falls. It was a short but challenging walk in the humidity -

We did not have to walk over this, just next to it...

and we were rewarded with this view!

I am sure there is a picture with my tongue IN my mouth, but I am not sure where it would be HAHA We sat by the falls for a long time, playing in the spray, watching the birds, and waiting for a rainbow that never materialized.

After that adventure, we decided to take another drive (another jarring drive for those of us in the Jimmy) to Seli Beach, on the Congo River and not the Inkisi River where Zongo is. It was the perfect time of afternoon

for a swim in the Congo

and adventure to Massage Falls, another short but challenging walk away.

This is not exactly an attractive picture of me, I was trying to avoid the rocks on the bottom because the water was not clear enough to see them, but it does prove that I was indeed there! 

After our 'massage', we headed back to the beach to change our SECOND tire of the day...

and drive back to Zongo as a giant storm brewed.

We were supposed to stay in the tents you can see above, behind the goat, but after multiple rounds of "Our tents are all good, only some of them leak" with the man at the reception desk, we decided to upgrade to a cute chalet. Worth the extra money!

As the rain poured down, we ate yummy pasta at the restaurant and zonked out!

The next morning we had enough time for a photo shoot of the awesome plants at the resort (below) before we headed to Etaka Springs and home. Returned at about 5:30pm after a hammock negotiation at the Furniture Market (not for me!) and I passed out for the whole day on Wednesday to recover. What a beautiful (and much-needed) vacation! Thanks to all!

PS I deserve a medal for waiting for this many pictures to load! You should all consider yourselves lucky. Happy (and Safe) Halloween to all. Much love. 

More October Vacation: Kisantu Botanical Gardens, Continued

This was one of my favorite parts of the garden! (Aside from the quiet) My (fake) face upon seeing the 'Crocodile Pond' sign, which I thought was super old and totally a hoax:

And then we got to the 'Crocodile Pond' and had a LONG debate about whether he was real or fake... until he BLINKED! He was REAL! And can sit extremely still for long periods of time. For some reason his mouth open made him seem more fake to me... but he was apparently just trying to be as cool as possible (it was very humid).

Also on our walk, we found this interesting fruit which I immediately christened "Butt Fruit" and then could not stop laughing at my own ridiculousness. Perhaps I am actually a 1st grader?

After regrouping at our rooms, we went for a walk toward the river and found a Doughnut tree!!! (Clearly making up our own names for the plants was more fun than trying to remember the real ones, although it was fun to read the scientific names on the signs.) We are going to be rich! Not sure they taste as good as they look though, unfortunately.

Our walk past the doughnut tree led us to this gorgeous view of the Inkisi River. So pretty.

We ate an early dinner and walked a bit more before playing games and turning in for the night.

October Vacation: Kisantu Botanical Gardens

Greetings to all - Sorry for my prolonged absence. School is, as usual, insane, and I am feeling like all the pictures I could take and comments I could make would just be the same as last year at this time... so no overly inspired. Please ask and I will try to work on posts more regularly.

This past weekend, the beginning of our October break, I traveled with two fellow teachers on a road trip south west of Kinshasa. Originally we had intended to go to the beach, but that started to seem far so we decided on some more nearby destinations. On Sunday morning, we headed out in a 2 car convoy to the Kisantu Botanical Gardens. Aside from one joker trying to scare our pants off by pulling out in front of us, we had a pleasant and lovely drive to Kisantu, about 2 hours away, maybe a little less. (It's a ways out past where you turn to go to the Bonobo Sanctuary that I wrote about last year)

We arrived, figured out our accommodations (part of the dormitories for students of the horticulture school located inside the gardens) and started walking. I was flabbergasted by the QUIET and incredibly beautiful sights. First, the lily pond at the entrance. Oh how lovely.

Then, the monkey arm branch trees with their super-cool long pine cones.

As was pointed out - we had now spent 10 minutes and been approximately 20 yards. Everything was so cool.

There were these really cool covered areas with roofs made from vines... and in them, some hanging gardens including this cool orange flower.

I loved these super spiky plants - you would think in a garden where everything was labeled, I would know their names... but it got a bit overwhelming... and I was still just completely blown away by the quiet!

We saw just GORGEOUS Eucalyptus trees - like impressionist-painted trees!

And these trees with roots that looked like sleeping dinosaurs to me!

We came to an Impatiens looking tree, as well as a pretty banana tree!

We also got transfixed for several minutes playing with the touch-me-not plants... it's addictive (though probably not nice to scare the plants like that!)

That's all the internet will upload for now (or all I have the patience for the internet to upload for right now) but I will post more. These pictures are only from like the first two hours!