Exotic Christmas

Post 12 in Connie Ragens 30 Days Blog Challenge.

Today is December 20, and Christmas Evening is just four days ahead. (In Denmark we celebrate Christmas the 24th in the evening). I have been thinking which Christmas has been my most special and exotic one.

And I have a clear winner!

Exactly ten years ago in December 1999 I was in Tanzania, Africa. As some of you might know I’m a passionate birdwatcher, and I have been to many places in the World to watch birds. This time I was in Africa as a volunteer working for Birdlife International.

Our “mission” was to estimate the population of one of the rarest birds in the World: The Uluguru Bushshrike. It only lives one single place on Earth: The rainforest of The Uluguru Mountains. This rainforest is seriously endangered because the local people are cutting it down to make space for agriculture. The small amount of forest left is protected.

If the forest dissappears, so does animals and birds like the Uluguru Bushshrike.

At first we stayed in the rainforest for three weeks. It was pretty tough, and very wet! And the stay included Christmas Evening.

We had some local African people to join and help us. December 24 in the morning one of them was heading for the nearest village to buy supplies. It was a long walk, and it wasn’t until we sat around the fire in the evening that we heard the sound of feet against the forest floor, and he was back.

He was bringing some sodas and a chocolate bar! We shared the chocolate and had our sodas while listening to a Danish Christmas Carol (Sweet World/Dejlig er Jorden) played from a walkman with loudspeakers. Around us were all the sounds from the rainforest, and the smell from the fire. We all had tears in our eyes, and sad for a moment without speaking each one of us thinking about our families back home in Denmark.

Do I need to say that the chocolate and the soda tasted REALLY good?

What is your most “exotic” Christmas?

I would be honored to have you share it here.

Christmas in the Jungle!

Our “Christmas Camp”