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When we left Africa at the end of our trip two years ago, we experienced a sadness that was quite unexpected - a feeling
that we had barely scratched the surface of this great continent, and - there's no other way to put this - we were
leaving behind a part of ourselves. Our time in Uganda, Kenya, Botswana and South Africa had a wondrous, profound effect
on Bianca and me. But we also had unfinished business - our attempts to see the Mountain Gorillas in Uganda had ended in
disappointment, and that was a goal which had motivated us to plan that trip in the first place ...
So the question was never 'if', but 'when' we would return ... and "when" became August/September, 2004. This trip was different in a very elemental way. We returned to Africa with a pre-existing respect, a comfort level, a knowledge of at least the scope of what we were about to experience, so the absorption of new sights and new friendships and new experiences started at minute one each day -- and the trip was ultimately so much more rewarding as a result. We laughed a lot, with friends old and new ... and we cried a lot, with friends, with just each other, and alone ... Africa in 2004 for us was a series of contrasts, of conflicting juxtapositions ... Uganda was as warm and friendly and welcoming as we remembered, with an unfocused feeling of resentment that I haven't put my finger on yet ... Rwanda was the most beautiful of countries, exciting, vibrant, energetic, with a barely-concealed apprehension on every person's face, a society both afraid of itself and proud of its progress, terribly fearful of its past and hopefully fearful of its future ... Tanzania is the 'Canada of Africa', so beautiful, so rich in natural resources, so lacking in self-confidence, so unwilling to express an opinion or take a stand ... and Cape Town - it's the first city we have ever re-visited where reality was better than our memories, but it's in a country where the weight of Apartheid still hangs heavy on every shoulder, black and white, young and old ... 
When we got off the plane in Entebbe, Uganda, after customs and immigration, we stepped into the terminal expecting
to see our friend Deo ... but his smile was nowhere to be seen in the crowd. Then a young boy, with small steps
and great trepidation, approached Bianca to hand her a bouquet of flowers ... at first I thought, wow, Entebbe has a new
Tourism Board! Then I saw Deo peaking around a corner with that mischevous grin on his face - the boy was Michel, his
3 year old son. Welcome back to Africa ... we hugged, and we laughed ...
A short few days in Entebbe and Kampala, including the honor of being invited to Deo's home to meet his wife Cecille ... then a long drive over those very familiar Ugandan roads (!!!) to Murchison Falls National Park, where a 150-foot wide river is forced through a 20-foot wide chasm - the river level actually "rises" several feet before crashing down ... spectacular! Then back to Entebbe for the flight to Kigali ... into Rwanda ... looking for the Gorillas ... 
We non-Africans have no concept of what happened in Rwanda in 1994 ... we may remember something about a lot of killings, and
if you're a news junkie, the word 'genocide' may associate itself with your memories ... but we have no way to truly
understand what happened. The basic fact is that 1,000,000 people were systematically murdered by their neighbors,
friends, and in some cases family members during a period of just 4 months.
Within minutes of meeting a Rwandan, the conversation turns to the genocide ... everyone has a brother or wife or friend who was killed - or who killed. The spring of 1994 is still raw, never far from the surface, and never far from one's consciousness ... or conscience. Every village, it seems, has a Memorial to the victims; sometimes it's just a bouquet of flowers left by the side of the road, sometimes it's a cemetery with a monument in the middle of hundreds and thousands of grave markers ... sometimes it's a Church, left as it was "when it happened", human bones between the pews, a skull posed on the alter, a child's shoe in the corner, a student's notepad swollen by 10 years of rain ... or maybe a decade of tears ... we cried ... The democratically elected Government's position is 'never forget - try to forgive - do not retaliate" ... and it seems to be working. The Village Judicial system has assumed the legal burden of judging those who took part in the genocide, either directly or indirectly ... and the sounds of Rwanda today are those of a vital society, from the laughter of children to the loud negotiations between shoppers and vendors - the people are trying their best. And for most, for 23 hours of the day, memories recede, and life moves on ... 
We saw the Gorillas ... twice! Over 3 years ago now, we started talking about visiting them - and we finally did it.
For long periods of time we didn't even shoot pictures, it was so awesome and humbling just to be in their presence ...
10 feet from a 450 pound male silverback who shares 98% of our DNA, calmly munching on wild celery ... 20 feet in the
other direction, a female breast-feeding her baby ... we laughed ... and we cried ...
Tanzania was something else, far more than we expected ... we saw more of every kind of animal, more often, than we ever imagined possible! The Masai word 'serenget' means 'endless plain', and indeed the Serengetti stretches to the horizon in every direction. We saw lion and leopard and cheetah and elephant and giraffe and zebra and Wildebeest and 37 kinds of antelope, all in numbers that are staggering ... Daniel even tried to tell us that a fly at 10 yards was really a rhinoceros at 2 miles ... we laughed ... Cape Town with our friends from 2002, our Tree House was still there, and the Bottom of the World is as wild and stunning and physical as when we first saw it ... 3 days in Dubai on the way home were exciting and new, burkhas and micro-minis, wealth and beauty, all with the patina of so many wars on so many fronts just a few hundred miles away ... and then hours spent crawling all over the HMS Victory in Portsmouth, a dream come true for me, and along the way Bianca fell in love with her, too ... Leaving was even harder for us this trip, because we had begun to understand a bit of Africa, not a lot, more of a beginning, and it felt comfortable, and alive, and somehow -- just "right". And we cried. After 2002, we wanted to go back; this time, we need to go back ... so beware when you browse through the photos - the Africa bug is infectious! We truly hope you're bitten, as we were ... 
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