Here is the view from our window. Everyone rides a bike! Great coffee and food. And you can drink tap water. A big change from Tanzania.
Chumbe
If this isn't paradise, I don't know what is! Chumbe Island with its coral reef and eco friendly environment has been a good place to really relax. We snorkeled, climbed to the top of the lighthouse, composted our toilet, and ate gourmet food cooked with propane. We head back to Zanzibar in a few minutes and then have a long travel day to Amsterdam.
Zanzibar
This is our view of the Indian Ocean from our hotel. Beautifully dressed Muslim women walk up and down the beach, often carrying things on their head.
Today we went to a spice farm, where Mr. Spice showed us 56 varieties of plants, like the annato above, which makes red curry red and serves as lipstick and nail polish.
These green things are cloves, growing in abundance on the island. You can see the shape of the whole cloves.
Cacao grows in big pods like this one. It needs sugar to taste like the wonderful dark chocolate we enjoy.
Cinnamon comes from the bark of a tree. The wounds from the bark being stripped away heal and produce more bark.
It was so exciting to see the spices we live to use in cooking in their natural habitat.
On to Zanzibar
We spent the morning riding around the Ngorogoro Crater. Most of the scenes were as idyllic as the birds above. Then we came upon two lions who had just taken down a wildebeest and were dismantling the kicking thing while 6 hyenas barked and looked on hungrily. It was pretty disgusting to watch the lions pulling out the intestines of the poor dying wildebeest.
We saw a rhino mother and her very young baby, completing our sighting of the big 5: lion, elephant, leopard, Cape buffalo, and rhino.
One of my big fears in coming on this trip was that of needing a bathroom while out among the wild animals. It was reassuring to see structures like that above. Our guide Isaac always checked before we went in, relating how a visitor once opened the door to the men's room to find a male lion inside.
All too soon we were back on pavement, leaving the animals behind and heading back to the Arusha airport. We sort of finessed the fact that we were over the allowable weight limit for our Precision Air flight to Zanzibar. It wasn't actually the tiny plane we had expected. We were probably the only Americans among the 100 passengers, who were mostly Chinese with a few other random countries represented.
It was about an hour by car to get to the Zanzibar Retreat Hotel, but what a gem when we finally arrived. It is run by a guy from Finland and overlooks the Indian Ocean. This is our bed!
Here is the bar/restaurant, where we are hungrily awaiting dinner.
On to Zanzibar
We spent the morning riding around the Ngorogoro Crater. Most of the scenes were as idyllic as the birds above. Then we came upon two lions who had just taken down a wildebeest and were dismantling the kicking thing while 6 hyenas barked and looked on hungrily. It was pretty disgusting to watch the lions pulling out the intestines of the poor dying wildebeest.
We saw a rhino mother and her very young baby, completing our sighting of the big 5: lion, elephant, leopard, Cape buffalo, and rhino.
One of my big fears in coming on this trip was that of needing a bathroom while out among the wild animals. It was reassuring to see structures like that above. Our guide Isaac always checked before we went in, relating how a visitor once opened the door to the men's room to find a male lion inside.
All too soon we were back on pavement, leaving the animals behind and heading back to the Arusha airport. We sort of finessed the fact that we were over the allowable weight limit for our Precision Air flight to Zanzibar. It wasn't actually the tiny plane we had expected. We were probably the only Americans among the 100 passengers, who were mostly Chinese with a few other random countries represented.
It was about an hour by car to get to the Zanzibar Retreat Hotel, but what a gem when we finally arrived. It is run by a guy from Finland and overlooks the Indian Ocean. This is our bed!
Here is the bar/restaurant, where we are hungrily awaiting dinner.
On the Road
Tires take a real beating in this country. We spent some time getting a tire repaired. The cost was $3. Most drivers carry two spares.
This beautiful female lion sauntered down the road, passing about 5 feet from our car and paying us absolutely no attention.
We encountered a small herd of elephants, including some very young babies who preferred to hide underneath the big ones.
I can never see too many zebras. They are playful and seem to coexist peacefully with a lot of animals. And their stripes are so unique.
The same is true of giraffes. They exist mostly in small towers of 4 or 5. They chomp on the vegetation and don't cause any trouble.
There are two juvenile female lions up in this tree with elephants hanging around underneath. At one point the elephant on the right wandered over to stand below the rightmost lion. The lion reached down and started stroking the elephant's ear in a really playful way. Such a lesson in peaceful coexistence!
Serena
We discovered the beautiful pool at the Serena tent camp today. What a nice way to cool off after a day of bouncing around in the Land Cruiser. We made friends with some SA pilots and with two couples from CA.
Isaac
Isaac is largely responsible for the success of our trip so far. He is an old-fashioned guide who refuses to use the radio to find out where the game are. Instead he watches for poop and tracks and will say things like "I can see that 4 lions recently crossed here" and then proceed to find them. Today he perfectly timed our visit to see the wildebeest migration, a vast sea of animals of all ages who are moving north instead of south as I said yesterday.
In this beautiful bend of the river are at least 8 crocodiles and an equal number of hippos, any one of which could prove deadly to a human. As other cruisers arrived and the clients jumped out, Isaac told us that it is illegal to get out of your car, punishable by a huge fine for the driver. He also told of saving a foolish couple from a charging hippo after they had ventured out of the safety of their vehicle.
Isaac told us that on some safaris the guides guarantee success of seeing animals right by the road by planting meat in trees or nearby. We talked about how this seems almost like a zoo where the animals are fed by their keepers. His approach means that sometimes you must look through binoculars, but we were never disturbing or manipulating the animals.
The above photo is a grim reminder that death is part of life's cycle. The crocodile skeleton was not far from the living croc below.
Some people choose to come to the western Serengeti by plane. This is the airport with its dirt runway. Isaac said that sometimes the wildebeest migration makes it difficult to land the small planes.
Serengeti 2
I neglected to tell you how we are getting around. We are riding around in this rugged Toyota Land Cruiser, which has a pop top to allow us to stand up and get a good view without worrying about nearby animals. Our driver and guide is Isaac, who sees animals with his naked eye long before either of us does with binoculars. He works for Duma (which means cheetah in Swahili) Explorer, a company which conducts tours and runs its own tent camps, like Kiota Camp where we stayed for 2 nights.
Much of our day was in search of cats. We found this male lion hanging out in a tree. He stretched a few times but showed little interest in coming down.
We saw a whole pride of lions, including males and females of various ages. The little ones were playing on a big rock, while the adults waited for a zebra to stray into their enclave. Nobody seemed to be starving as they enjoyed the beautifully sunlit plain.
We found a young male cheetah playing hide and seek with a plastic bag, an unfortunate remnant of society. When he tired of the game, he streaked across the road in front of our car, running at the speed of lightning. Isaac's favorite animal is the cheetah, so he was most excited to be able to produce one for us to see. We actually saw 2 more on our wad back to camp, a somewhat rarity here.
I have decided the zebra is my favorite animal, even though they are so common. We saw many of them in groups of 2 and 3 like those in the above photo. Isaac says they do this so as to be able to see in multiple directions while they sleep with their eyes open standing up. Their black and white strikes make me smile every time.
We spent the best part of the afternoon traveling west on the bumpiest road I have ever seen. But it was worth it when we arrived at Serena Camp, an upscale tent camp. It has good WiFi and all the comforts of home. The plan tomorrow is to see the wildebeest migration, as they travel south in huge numbers. But first we eat and sleep!
Serengeti
Today was mostly a travel day as we made our way to the Serengeti. It is hard to imagine that a car -- even a Toyota Land Cruiser -- or one's body could take so many bumps on the rough unpaved road! We encountered this troop of baboons at the entrance to the national park, where we also left behind our last pavement.
Trees like this acacia dot the landscape. This one is fortunate to have been spared the ravages of the elephants.
This is home sweet home while at Camp Kiota, a group of 10 luxury tents and gourmet food. After dark we had to be escorted to our tent because animals like zebra and cape buffalo wander through.
Here are our his and hers sinks inside our tent. If it hadn't been for the relatively uneven floor, I would never have known my room was a tent!
One of my favorite meals so far was that his lunch of stir-fried beef, rice, and avocado-tomato salad.
We encountered this herd of water buffalo, that included a couple of babies probably only hours old. Births and deaths are a given in this environment where one animal is always another animal's favorite dinner. New babies must be carefully protected from the lion or hyena who is just waiting to pick them off.
Every one of those "lumps" is a hippo. They were collectively enjoying the cool water and mud.
On our way back to our tent, our escort pointed out about 15 feet from our front zipper a huge cow-pie, which had come from a cape buffalo. I shuddered at the thought of crossing his path.
On Safari
Our guide and driver Isaac picked us up promptly at 9 am and we headed off on our adventure. Today we explored the huge game park around Lake Manyara.
The animals paid us no attention whatsoever. We were feet away from a family of 7 elephants who calmly chewed their grass and then moved on. My new binoculars allowed me to see their long eyelashes. Today we saw giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, warthogs, impalas, monkeys, hippos, and so many birds.
We are staying at the Escarpment Lodge, which is far more luxurious than any hotel I have recently inhabited. Note the everpresent mosquito netting. I feel as though someone is hovering wherever I go here!
Tomorrow we drive to the Serengeti with stops along the way for souvenirs and hopefully for bathrooms. This is quite an adventure!
Welcome to Paradise
It was a long, long journey to get to Arusha in Tanzania. After going west to Minneapolis, we flew to Amsterdam and then on to Africa. As we bumped down the final dirt road to Tumaini Cottage, the blackness of the night obscured the palm trees and the brightly colored flowers. The birds were asleep.
But early this morning we awoke to birdsong and sunny skies. We opened our front door to find breakfast awaiting us. The first course was pineapple, avocado, and little bananas, grown right here on the property.
Our proprietor, Andy, is 72 years old. He built this place from nothing. He refers to his second wife as "the boss". He wants his guests to be happy with their stay. We are here until tomorrow when we head off on our safari. For now we are entertained by the birds, a rooster or two, neighboring children, and the beauty of this place.
Going West to Go East
We are on our way to Tanzania. Our flight to NYC was cancelled so Delta sent us to Minneapolis. Finally made it to Amsterdam.
Test on May 29
Hope this still works.
Back from the End of the World
We saw it all -- hundreds of penguins, whales diving 15 feet from our zodiac, seals basking in the Antarctic sun, and dolphins playing next to our boat. We managed to cross the ferocious Drake Passage going and coming back without getting seasick. We made lots of new friends from around the world. It was an experience of a lifetime!
Communication Blackout
Today we spent the morning hiking in the Tierra del Fuego National Park. Tomorrow we will get on the boat and say goodbye to what little Internet there has been in Ushuaia. See you on the flip side of Antarctica!
The End of the World
We spent most of yesterday getting from the north to the far south of Argentina. After a very sketchy landing (so bad that everyone on the plane clapped in thanks that we hadn't crashed), we got our first glimpse of Ushuaia, which was still in daylight at 8 pm. It definitely feels like a small town sitting on the end of the world.
On the plane we had struck up a conversation with an Argentine lawyer who comes down here frequently for criminal cases. At his suggestion we went to Volver for dinner, where I had the best crabs ever. They call it "centolla" and in English it's spider crab.
We walked downtown today specifically to check on the cold-weather gear we rented for the boat trip to Antarctica. We couldn't resist this little penguino.
I also realized I had forgotten to pack a hat, so I bought this fleece headband, opting for the tourist version instead of the one by North Face at 3 times the price.
After hearing tales of 10-foot waves in Drake's Passage, I decided to by some Dramamine just in case I needed it. I initially asked for the patch you wear behind your ear, but apparently Argentina has banned the patch because of some questionable ingredient, so I will just be put to sleep with pills instead.
We had a wonderful lunch of roast lamb to celebrate David's 69th birthday. Dessert comes later at a tea-house recommended by our new Argentine lawyer friend.
The Internet is so bad here that I can't seem to post any pictures.
Local Transortation
We needed to go from Cafayate to Salta today and opted to travel as the locals do. The one-way ticket cost $12.50. I am sure we were the only non-locals on the bus, which was completely full.
We had a somewhat rocky start when the bus stopped for about 15 minutes on the way out of town and then we were told to get off and get on another bus. No one ever explained why.
Otherwise it was a pretty uneventful 4-hour bus ride to go about 115 miles, much of the trip with persistent rain.
Luckily the bus station was within walking distance of out hostal.
We decided to go "downtown" one last time before leaving Salta tomorrow to head to the far south.
We have been seeing these amazing desserts since arriving in Argentina and resisting. Today after sitting on a bus all day and having the equivalent of fast food for lunch, we splurged. (I forgot to take the picture before digging in!)
Exploring Cafayate
Martín's friend Danian and a very pretty translator named Joanna took us up to the Cafayate Gorge today. We did several short hikes where my walking sticks really came in handy.
One of our objectives was to see the bridge where one of the segments of the Argentine movie "Wild Tales" was filmed. It turns out that it is no longer being used because a better road has been built.
If you saw the movie, you probably remember this is where it all began.
After our tour Damian dropped us off at the Piattelli Winery for lunch. A very upscale place with upscale food and higher but still very affordable prices.
After chicken salad and osso buco, we had chocolate mousse and Malbec sorbet.
I was starting to be afraid we were going to have to walk the several miles back to town when all attempts to call a taxi failed. I approached a nice-looking German-Italian couple and asked for a ride. They were happy to give us a lift.
Tomorrow we will catch a bus back to Salta and get ready to go south.
On to Cafeyate
It didn't just rain last night in Molinos -- it poured with lightning, thunder, and hail. While all this was going on in the middle of the night, I kept wondering if the road to Cafayate would be passable today. As it turned out, there was a lot of flooding. Anything less than a 4x4 would have gotten stuck, as we witnessed. After the first few huge mud puddles, I became less worried that we too would get stuck.
Our route took us by some amazing rock formations. I thought the one above looked like Petra.
This sign reminds us that the area was the site of an ancient lake. And that only a whisper remains.
Just a few kilometers before reaching Cafayate, the dirt road turned into a paved road. But by then Martin's truck was covered in mud.
We had lunch and visited a local winery before saying goodbye to Martin. We are staying in the lovely Killa Hotel, with beautiful gardens and a much welcomed pool.
Which all sounds like the Garden of Eden until you hear the sounds of what promises to be a huge rock festival just across the street. We may need the earplugs we brought for the plane in order to get some sleep.