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Now it is Sunday morning, October 12th (Sri Lankan time). Somehow our time here is a half-hour off from halfway around the world—half an hour earlier for California, half an hour later in New Mexico. Or the other way around? Two weeks since our very fine, life-renewing, unexpectedly wonderful journey in the Okavango Delta. Seems a long time ago already but forever will remain one of my favorite life adventures of all… Read More
Day Three: Mokoros and Wine. Up early again for our two-day mokoro trip. Mokoros are dugout canoes poled through the ever-present marshlands, each by a single experienced poler from a group that focuses on that trade alone. By van to a motorboat drop-off, by motorboat to the mokoro polers’ village. Then just over two hours in a literal flotilla of mokoros, three for the five of us, three more for our tents… Read More
The Grand Finale of Day Two Timber (our smart and thoughtful guide on the Moreni Game Reserve) searched for, observed and made some directional changes during the day in hopes of finding LIONS before we left. Success! The second day in the Okavango Delta draws to a close with the King and the road home. Way home to Old Bridge from Game Reserve. In Botswana, animals always have the right-of-way. END… Read More
Taken before the lion ate Teresa. Forgive me. This obsession with my animal photos. Would be different if I were a serious photographer with a serious camera. Son Steven brought along a top of the line point & shoot and his photos are studio-quality probably. But he’s back in Albuquerque, I’m here at the Renuka City Hotel in Colombo… so you just get MY PHOTOS. On with Day Two. And the glamour… Read More
What is it about being out in the bush? In Africa. In a clunky four-wheel drive 4-by-4 truck converted to viewing vehicle. The tiniest bit of danger from a charging elephant or really hungry lion—but so slight as to be fun without being life-threatening. The hippo tipping the boat fear seems a little more real to me—just because I can’t really swim and would drown even before he could chomp or stomp… Read More
In the Bush: Up at 5am, off at 5:45 for 14-hours in the Moremi Game Reserve with plenty of Okavanga animal life and many miles of very rough roads. And what a day. Dry dry bush: wide open spaces, clumps of trees—mostly acacias (the toothpick trees of an earlier Botswana visit) but other taller and shorter species as well and then small crackly goldy-tan dry trees/bushes/shrubs. The brown and dusty look of the place… Read More
This is the first of a series of posts about our most wonderful adventure on safari in the Okavango Delta in Botswana, written a week or so after the fact. I choose to call our safari Delta Dawn because…well, just because…and what is that flower you have on… Safaris are silly. That is what I thought. We have an excellent zoo in Albuquerque where I can see animals native to other lands… Read More
I LOVED CAPE TOWN…BACK IN 2010 AND IN 2014. Made it safely out of Hippo and Elephant land. And what an adventure it was. Well, actually the hippos didn’t charge and the elephants didn’t try to stomp on our heads and the chef (a cook from Old Bridge Backpackers—but it made us feel more like the big safari dudes to call him a chef) did produce a tasty tuna salad and some… Read More
IT IS 2014 AND A VERY GOOD YEAR IS UNDERWAY. ROAD SONGS One of the BEST things about road trips is that you can PACK AS MUCH AS YOU WANT. I need road songs. I didn’t take care of my DVDs and now they are scratched and melted and all used up. But I need road songs because Friday I AM ON MY WAY TO CALIFORNIA. Not so many travels this year… Read More