Burst of Adrenaline (a guest post by Heather Borden)

As I nervously climbed over the cracking dead log, Dad looked through the binoculars and stared death in the eye. Only twenty feet away was an enormous hippopotamus, staring right at us from the shallow pond. Because hippos kill more people annually than any other African animal, we were certainly frightened. Slowly and timidly, the six of us scrambled over the fallen tree, one by one, to catch a glimpse of those threatening pupils.



Crawling carefully back out of the hippo's view, I suddenly heard splashing water and crashing bushes behind me. Turning around I saw Colin, Dad and Trevor panicking to rush out of there. When realizing what was happening, I dashed through the trees, sprinting for my life! The bunch of us fled in seconds. My heart pounded and my lips spoke prayers that we would come out alive.

Finally, at a safe distance away, we came to a stop. With stunned, pale faces we looked into each other's eyes with astonishment to find that we weren't dead. The hippo hadn't trompled us! In fact, it hadn't even chased us. Instead, it was merely swimming away from us. Beginning to giggle at ourselves, the adrenalin in our bloodstreams faded back to normal.

Tremper's Big Night

(This event took place on Saturday, 30 October, and is hereby duly reported by Heather Borden, age 11, almost 12.)

One dark night, Lisa Borden was looking at her beautiful face in the mirror when she saw the black silhouette of a rat run past behind her. Nervously, she called Byron Borden to come find the rat and kill it immediately. Heather ran to get their young Jack Russell Terrier, the outrageous, one and only Tremper Shortman.

As soon as Tremper entered the room he could smell the disgusting yet juicy rat. Byron, Lisa and Heather all had their various weapons ready as Tremper sniffed under the trunk where the rat cowered. Byron lifted the trunk, making the dirty rat scamper for his life. Fortunately, Tremper had quicker reflexes than the rat and viciously killed it with his sharp teeth.

The drama was over.

An Anniversary of Sorts

We landed in Africa for the very first time together 25 years ago today. I have the stamp in these old passports to prove it :-) Of course, Byron had been here, but it was my first time ever.

Quite a lot of people who read this blog weren’t even born yet, but there I was, a couple days shy of my 22nd yesterday, with a suitcase and backpack and a cute young husband who was pretty sure I would love it here.

He was right, you know.

I was awake last night, thinking back to that October. It was 1984 and, Orwellian implications aside, it was an important year for us as it marked the beginning of our global meanderings together. We’d already been married 2 years as I finished my degree in Santa Barbara, but that was just a beginning. It was a lovely beginning, mind you, and one that we’ll always appreciate it. But, my, it seems a foreign life now. We've called so many places "home" since then.

Twenty-five years ago, we set out on this grand adventure.

I’m ever so glad that we did.

Beige--the Color of My Adventure

"Oh, Lisa, why so beige?"

I'm standing in the bathroom at the hotel in town where I'll catch my shuttle to Nairobi and OH MY GOODNESS, I'm totally beige! I'm wearing a light brown t-shirt and skirt, which both kind of weirdly match my hair and skin. I've never noticed before that i look all one color. I glance down and see my black sandals. Phew! I've broken up the beigeness with a bold and daring... black? Boring. I am one big blob of medium bland. But maybe that's not so bad. As my dear Mindy has famously said before, "Might as well start out with khaki in Africa because it will all be khaki soon enough."

Well, the bus ride unfolds into 6 hours of travel, alternating between a few scenarios. We have bumps and potholes. We have crazy lorries that we have to swerve away from. We have the counter-swerve to keep us on the road after we miss the lorry. We have the clouds of dust that are billowing through the bus, and the tourists who are yelling at people to close their windows. We have the stifling heat when the windows are closed too long and the tourists who are now instructing people to open their windows. Bossy tourists, I note. We have the shady characters who want to change my money at the border. We have the tired looking customs officials whom I don't want to cross.

We have quite a lot going on.

Besides all this, we have the growing panic in my chest that this might finally be the trip when I do actually miss my plane because the shuttle is taking longer and longer these days. We have my desperate repetitive and somewhat ridiculous prayers asking the Lord to get me there and to chill me out.

I would have liked to listen to music but ha ha! I can't see what's written on the tiny screen of my iPod when I can't hold the thing anywhere close to still. I opt to just observe my fellow travelers and fret a little.

Did I already mention it was 6 hours of this?

So, we get there... The lovely Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. In time, too. I pull off my dusty sandals and change into proper closed toe shoes for (cold) England. I stuff the Chacos into my case as I wait to check in.

Through security and upstairs, I make my way to the cafe. A large cup of hot Kenyan tea soothes and comforts and I feel better, even in the crowded and stuffy departure area. I'm here.

OK, we're going to have to clean up a little. In the ladies room, I find that my comb can't actually get through my (beige) hair. It's crusted over... Become crunchy with the sweat and frequent powderings of dust. I kind of scrape the comb around a little and clip my hair up again. Crunch, crunch. I pull on jeans and shove my skirt in my carry-on.

I'll wash my face--even though the signs tell me to only wash my hands. The attendant is there, annoyed with some women in long burkhas who don't know how to flush the loos. It's not their fault. It's not her fault. And we don't need to be annoyed. I wash my face anyway, figuring it's pretty obvious I'm not preparing for prayers and I'm not going to splash everywhere.

I also wash my sunglasses which are black, but are covered in a thick coat of beige. However did that happen?

I'm finally on-board and we're taking off around midnight. I usually like the chance to watch some films I haven't seen. I like to clean out my in-box and maybe read. But no, not tonight.

I'm out. I wake up for a few mins to eat dinner and then again for my breakfast. The nice steward is serving me tea and it's not as good or as hot as my Kenyan brew last night, but that's ok. I've got Houston's Three Feet From Gold on my headphones and I'm soon going to land in London. I'll have time to shower and pop round to the shops before making some final notes for my teaching time that night.

I come to a pleasant little realization. I really love my friends in 24-7. Why else would I put myself through this? :-)

"Leggy Blondes"

Here they are--the six trekkers as they left yesterday for their 16 day walk across the dessert and into the hills of northern Tanzania and southern Kenya.

From left to right we have: Colin Borden, Chase Russell, Skyler Russell, Trevor Borden, Jonny Pollard and Jesse Borden.

(For those of you who don't know Jonny, he also grew up in Kenya with this group of boys.)

OK, am I nervous that they are off on their own in not-exactly-domesticated country? Yes.
Am I happy for them? Yes.
Will I be relieved when they get home? Yes.
Would I appreciate your prayers for their safety? Yes.
When do we expect them? Around July 5th.

For now, we miss them--our "leggy, leggy, leggy, leggy, leggy, leggy, leggy, leggy blondes."

PS They buzzed their hair for the trek; an initiation ritual that they allowed Jesse to opt out of :-)
PSS The rest of us Bordens and Russells will be away now till next Friday, 27th. Signing off till then...

Foto4Friday

The boys are back in town.

Colin, (on the left and aged 14) and Chase (of the Russell fam, on right and aged 15) went off on a safari of their own. They have been planning and plotting and preparing for a long time. They took 2 forms of public transport out to a tiny town and then hiked in 5 hours to the home of a Maasai friend. They set up camp near Ole Kukan's house and did day hikes up into the hills to spy on wild life, enjoy the views and generally have great adventures like getting caught in thunder storms and the like.

My camera is on the blink so they just held up my little Mac and smiled into it right after they arrived home.

They were tired, hungry, happy and very pleased with themselves. We were extremely pleased to see them again. At one point the Land Rover they were in was briefly chased by an elephant, but they had no other terribly dramatic incidents.

Round Here: A Photo Journal from Recent Days

Just to give you a few visuals from our Christmas break here in Tanzania... Remember that you can click on any image you would like to see larger.


Is there anything like the African sky? Correct Answer: No. (Photo by Jesse)


Some Borden and some Russell Boys. This band of brothers (Jesse, Skyler, Trevor, Colin and Chase) have all known each other since they were babies. This was during their motorcycle safari day out, aka Colin's birthday. (Photo by... I'm not sure... My Dad or Byron.)


An early breakfast of chai and chapati on the road to Tarangire. (Photo by Lisa)


Colin rules... And the rest of us get ready for our family photo. (Photo by Jesse)


While attempting to teach me how to use the white balance on my camera, Trevor takes this sweet photo of my Mum :-)


Still in "Instuctor Mode," he snaps this nice one of Jesse-the-Camera-Boy.


Trevor and Byron prepare to leave for an overnight motorcyle safari together. Happy boys, eh? (Photo by Lisa)


Now it's Jesse's turn for an overnight motorcyle safari with his Dad... (Photo by Lisa)


Byron and the boys made their saddle bags. Pretty neato. (Photo by Lisa)


"Girl's Got Curls" or "The Wonder of Sponge Rollers." (Photo by Jesse)


Our new puppy, Tesha. Her full name is Nalotuesha, which is a Maasai name meaning "She came with the rains." It was pouring the day we picked her up. And yes, she's a love. (Photo by Jesse)

We had some great days together. Yep, we did :-)

Video Log

Trevor has been making little video documentaries of our escapades.

Here's the first one he made and it's called "Jesse's Adventure."

Enjoy :-) PS 6,000 Tanzanian shillings is about $5.

Jesse's Adventure

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