Anna

**Morocco**
Dear Diary, I can’t believe this just happened! I decided to take the chance of entering a contest for a free trip to Africa, all expenses paid, and I won! Also I get to bring 3 friends,my best friend Elizabeth and my two other friends Sarah and Jennifer. We decided that we would all start out in Morocco, split up and then at the end meet in Zimbabwe. My trip starts only two days from now so I better start packing.

Dear Diary, I've just arrived at my hotel in Morocco. From the balcony I can see the beach El Jadida and the Atlantic Ocean. Morocco is only one-tenth larger than California. It's west and north-west border is on the Atlanic Ocean. Today I’m going to hike on the east side of the Atlas Mountains. This part is called the Todra Gorge.
 * Day 1:**

|| Dear Diary, The Atlas Mountains were amazing! They’re so tall, you have to really be there because the pictures don’t give them any credit. I went for a camel ride on the Sahara desert when the sun set this evening. I’m staying in a Berber tent all night then returning to my hotel in the morning. For dinner I was served a traditional Moroccan meal. It was delicious. Beef, date, honey and prune tagine and couscous. Tagine is the type of dish used to make the food giving the food it's name. There are two pieces the base is where the food goes, it can also be used as a serving dish. The tophalf is funnel-shaped with a hole at the top to let steam out. My host gave me a history lesson as well as food. Morocco was originally settled by the Phoenicians. Later the settlement was improved during Roman reign. When Rome fell, Barbarians from Europe settled there. It was last invaded by Arabs from the east, now it has a strong Arab-Islamic history.
 * [[image:http://www.stevemarksphotography.com/abode/619/images_619/citadelAtlasMountains-Morocco-LARGE.jpg width="135" height="95" align="right" caption="Town in the Atlas Mountains"]]
 * Day 2:**



Dear Diary, Today I went to the local souk. A souk is a market in an Arab city. They are very popular and the people who go there are very friendly. If you go to almost any city in Africa you will probably find a souk. Any one can set up a stand in the souk. That is very important for people because 40% of Moroccan workers are farmers. Tomorrow I will go to Congo.In a souk you can buy fabric,spices,meats,brass and ironwork,cthing and much more. I also visited the "pharmacy" wich is more like a witch doctors den. It was very creepy and tucked into an alley. They have cures for toothaches, arthritis, even broken hearts! Potions and powders line the walls, there are so many of them I don't know how they keep track! Oh and the worst thing was what was hanging from the ceiling, dried lizards!
 * Day 3:**



**Congo**
Dear Diary, My plane as just landed in Congo! It’s so hot here! That's because Congo is located right on the equator. Dear Diary, Today I went to Upemba National Park. This morning I was standing outside waiting for the other members of the group, when my guide asked me if I had ever ate a flying ant! I guess they are a normal snack of the people there. I quickly said no and changed the subject. We were in a boat going down the river when I spotted something swimming about 2 feet below the surface of the water. It was blurry, but I could tell it was round. I pointed it out to my guide. He asked if I wanted to see it up close. I said yes, then he pulled out some breadcrumbs and threw them on the water. The shape started to come up it was a turtle. After looking at it he told me it was just a mud turtle.
 * Day 1 **

Dear Diary, Today I’m going to the Congo Basin Forest it is the second largest tropical rainforest in the world. It covers 700,000 square miles in 6 countries. There are 10,000 species of plants, 1,000 species of birds, and 400 species of mammals. It is also the home of 24 million people. The forest is danger because of illegal or unregulated logging. The forest was beautiful! The trees are so tall and every thing is so green even the light had a hint of green as a result of being filtered through the canopy of trees that hung above.
 * Day 2: **

Dear Diary, I went to Kinshasa. BAD IDEA!!!!!!! It is very poor. Millions of people live in slums and the transportation system is horrible! The buses, which aren’t really buses, drop you off outside the city so then you have to try and find a taxi. When I was walking through the city, it is nothing like Morocco, there wasn’t any fresh vegetables or bread and I couldn’t even find a newspaper! The weirdest thing happened today it was around 6p.m. I was about to go home when everything stopped, traffic,people they all just stopped. I looked it up when I got back and at 6a.m. and 6p.m.the national flag is raised and lowered. It’s a good thing I decided to stop with them or I could have gotten in trouble with security personnel. I also found some other facts when researching Congo. It was first dominated by three kingdoms, Kongo, Loango, and Tio. In 1880 it was called French Congo, then in 1905 it was called Middle Congo, and in 1960 they finally stuck with Democratic Republic of the Congo. I'm glad we just stuck with America.
 * Day 3: **

Uganda
Dear Diary, I’m in Uganda!!! It’s the first landlocked country that I’ve been to. I just landed in Kampala then I’m headed straight over to Entebbe. I’ll put my stuff in the hotel and catch my ferry to the Ssese Islands! Dear Diary, Lake Victoria is beautiful! I really shouldn’t say I went to the Ssese Islands because I only went to one. It’s called Bugala. There’s an international foundation on it called H.U.G. It stands for Help Uganda Grow. It was started in 2004, to help the orphan children of Uganda with no home. Here’s a picture of a little boy I saw there. He looked so cute when he gave me a piece of fruit! I asked if I could donate to this little boy and they said yes!
 * Day 1: **

**Day 2:** Dear Diary, Today I went to Mt. Elgon, an extinct volcano located on the border of Uganda and Kenya. There was so much to do there, caves, climbing, and warm springs. The caves were amazing there were drawings and “writing” on the walls and some were on the ceiling. Oh yeah when I went climbing it wasn’t as hard as it looked. It was actually really fun! I saw an amazing waterfall it was beautiful. Then I soaked in one of the hot springs….heaven! I wish I could have one in my backyard.

**Day 3:** Dear Diary, Today I went to the largest area of protected land in Uganda, Murchison Falls National Park. It’s 3840 sq. miles. I went on a safari and saw lots of hippos and some of Africa’s biggest crocodiles due to the large fish they eat. I also had a once-in-a-lifetime experience I saw a Shoebill Stork. Murchison Falls is one of the very few places you can see them in the world.

Dear Diary, I’m going to Mali! I have decided to go to the Niger River for the three days I’m going to be in Mali. The first day I’m going on a boat to help fish. The second day I’m going to stay ashore and help with chores. The third day I’m going to try making a pot. In the evening we’ll build a bonfire to dry them. **Day 1:** Dear Diary, I had a wonderful time fishing. I went with a father and his two sons. They were very nice and I will be staying in their house for the three days I’m here. It was amazing what the father could do! Once he saw a fish swimming by, he moved so fast I hardly knew what was happening and he caught it! We caught two net fulls of fish. It looked like a lot to me. He said it was less than normal but enough for lunch and dinner.
 * Mali**

**Day 2:** Dear Diary, I helped the women with the housework. It’s not really house work because they have dirt floors (no cleaning) and hardly anything inside. We ground corn, mashed berries into a "jelly" and mashed fish into a thick sauce. Before I could do any work they made me watch. There were also some little girls watching so that they could learn. For lunch we baked some bread (with the corn flour) with their clay ovens. We ate some fish I caught yesterday and the berries we mashed. We also dug up some clay for tomorrow so it would be ready. Once we had it, we let it dry when doing the other chores. Then we broke it up and picked out all the pieces of rock or any thing else that might be in it. Lastly we put all the clay into pots and and mixed it with water. Tomorrow I have to try and make somthing out of it.



Dear Diary, Today we made pottery. I have to say mine isn't the best but it's o.k. there are so many ways of shaping and decorating it's hard to remember them all. Here's a few Coil Technique, Coil Rim, Pull Technique, Pull/Coil Rim, and Pre-Fireing Decoration. I worked the most on the rim because it is the most judged part of the whole pot. I guess I did a ok job because when the men came back they were proud. They told me because I had never made a pot before it was good. I think they were just being polite. To me it didn't look like more than a lump.
 * Day 3:**

Dear Diary, I'm with everyone in Zimbabwe. It's just a little smaller than California. We just got here so tomorrow we're going to Victoria Falls.

Dear Diary, Victoria Falls is 5,603 ft. wide making it the widest waterfall in the world. The local people call it "Mosi-oa-Tunya" it means the smoke that thunders. The people are talking about the steam that rises of the rocks. I went for a 30-minute helicopter ride that gave an amazing aerial view of the falls.
 * Day 1:**



Dear Diary, I just got back from from Mana Pools National Park. It is far away from any major towns or settlement. It is about 6,524 square miles and there are no boundaries so the animals can roam where ever they want. They can even go north, cross the Zambezi River into Zambia where there are other wildlife conservations. On the safari we saw lots of animals, but the elephant that we saw was the best. She came so close to us I could feel the air move acrossed my face when her ears moved.
 * Day 2:**



Went south to Matobo National Park. It 31 miles from the nearest town, Bulawayo, where I'll be staying until I leave. When you enter the park there are huge "mountains" of granite. There are lots of animals like leopards, black and white rhinoes, and rare types of antelopes. It was kind of like Mana Pools though without the granite. I've had such a good time here in Africa but I think it's time to go home.
 * Day 3:**