My day: by Manali- Woken up by roaring lions, hand-fed giraffes, leopard staring from one foot away, looking at eyelashes of two rhinos and a baby chimpanzee sticks out his tongue at me!

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My day: by Manali- 

Woken up by roaring lions, hand-fed giraffes, leopard staring from one foot away, looking at eyelashes of two rhinos and had a baby chimpanzee stick out his tongue at me!

That was my day. Actually, it was one of the best days of my life. Manav, Mummy and I volunteered at UWEC - Uganda Wildlife Conservation and Education Center. 

These are some of the highlights..hope you enjoy!

1. Hand feeding a giraffe -I had it kiss me on the lips! (I put the food in my mouth and it ate it from there!).
2. We were going to clean the lion’s “den” but before that we put an empty bucket in front of a (locked-whew!) door with bars. The leopard that was on the other side of door thought that there was food in the bucket and jumped up, clinging to the bars!
3. Next, about 7 zoo keepers including g us jumped into the back of a small pickup truck which was mounted high with grass and beaches, to make our rounds to ‘throw’ food (feed) the animals. 
4. We threw food at the zebras, ostriches, bulls and antelopes. We made a trail of food so then they would start following us.
5. Also threw food at the adult chimpanzees. They were racing to get to the food first. They were also using tools to get the food from the water! Like a long stick it found, that it would use to extend its arm. They are so smart..obviously since they are our ancestors. 
6. The white rhinos started charging towards us!!!!! (Because they smelled the food). Two of them..white rhinos are not as aggressive as the black ones but these are completely extinct in the wild, only found in zoos. Black rhinos are critically endangered.
7. Prepared food for the animals. We cut up carrots. Manav and I used a pretty large knife (under Mummy’s watchful eyes)..we chopped a whole bucket of them.
8. Met the only recorded hermophodite chimpanzee, recorded in history named Kiri who was 50 years old and they had tried to integrate her with her family twice but the rejected her both times because she was neither boy nor girl. When she was born, they thought she was a girl because she had more girl parts but when she was a little older they found out that she was a hermophodite and threw her out of the group. She was still young so the zoo keepers took her to the zoo wher she lives alone. She was found near a place in Uganda where they were building a big dam. Mummy explained the impacts of big dams and how people and animals can be displaced, when they lose their natural habitats. 
9. Some of the very helpful keepers and friends we made at UWEC were Huntington, Leon, Sarah, Isaac and Kent. They did a lot to make our experience very memorable. 
10. We then slept at the beautiful little huts that were in the jungle that were called Bandas. Nothing fancy, just a bunk bed abd sine candjes. Mummy and we went to the market and bought some yoghurt, fruit and of course chocolate a d we ate that for dinner in our seeet Banda. Next morning...woken up by hadada ibis and lions roaring AGAIN!

(From: Manav...we were going to bury my tooth there!) but ended up burying it in Entebbe. I hope to go visit by 8th tooth some day..byeeeee tooth!!)

I did not want to leave, neither does Manav. Neither does Mummy. But...our next destination- Morocco awaits us!! Bye for now! 

My hair-raising experience in Zanzibar- by Manav

My mummy nagged and nagged about how my hair has gotten all long and shaggy. She was right. Oh ok..I’ll get a haircut. She said it would be fun and cheap. 

So we were in this very small village near the beach in northern Zanzibar. I was happily playing with my newest friends, Haroun and Sami. They didn’t speak English and I didn’t know Swahili or Arabic, so we mostly drew in the sand and used sign language. We had so much fun jumping on the hammock. Haroun’s dad works at the hotel we stayed in and his mother brought him and his friend Sami there every evening. 

Oh well,

 back to my hair story...so my highly annoying sister, mummy and me walked outside and asked someone where a haircut place was. We met someone called Charles who had a Tuk Tuk and he said he could take us to the Saloon and back for 2 dollars. We looked around for his tuk tuk, which we all thought was another name for an auto rickshaw but could not see one..Mr. Charles was referring to his two wheeler scooter as a tuk tuk!!! So there we were all four of us on one tiny scooter, riding through the dirt roads that were bit flooded by some rain that morning in search of a barber....the one we found was called Chaddi Hair Saloon!!! Only if you all knew what chaddi meant.hehehe. 

The barber, Salawat was very nice. He kept his saloon really clean. No shoes were allowed inside. He got cutting and my mummy started chatting, as always. Next thing I know, mummy looks at me a d says to Sarawak...enough, enough.”! No more short!!!! He had almost taken off all my hair!! My bangs were gone!! Oh well, it’s just hair. Mummy says my hair grows back soon. The haircut costed us 5,000 bucks!!! 5,000!!! Ok ok..that was in Tanzanian shillings. It costed us about 2 dollars. We had a nice ride back on the scooter. Byeeeeeeee for now!