Today is our last day on this wonderful trip, and appropriately we are going on an all day safari - we're driving out to the mara river to see crocodiles and hippos. The day started out beautiful and we saw so much in just a short time! Elephants, ostriches, cheetahs (with very young cubs, and also a pair of males)...
Read MoreQuestion which I would really rather stay unanswered, as I prefer the mysterious ponderings of my mind to real life: WHAT IS INSIDE THE SAUSAGES ON A SAUSAGE TREE? If you know the answer, please do not share.
Read MoreWe woke up early this morning to pack and get ready to leave. The last couple of nights it has rained and as comfortable as the camp is, I am pretty excited at the prospect of a bed that has space for two people and where I have room to simultaneously open my suitcase and get dressed at the same time without defenestrating Jed.
Read MoreSo earlier I commented on how well behaved the kids are here. It makes sense - they have a very strong structure for different roles amongst the age groups. But even more effective - and some people might disagree - is straight up hitting people with sticks.
I am a HUGE proponent of hitting people with sticks.
Read MoreLast night seemed very long. I kept waking up hearing lots of different noises - birds? hyenas? dogs? random growling? Check check check...
Read MoreI slept badly last night. Despite having our room sprayed and having a mosquito net I still think that I'm going to wake up with a giant poisonous insect crawling on me, or worse, multiple insects. I dreamt of 'rock scorpions' and you know what? I don't even know if they exist.
Read MoreThis morning we got up early for our volcano climbing excursion. While we were waiting for David to pick us up we saw a group of 7 or 8 Colobus monkeys eating breakfast just in front of the lodge. THEY ARE SO FUNNY! And their tails... look like those macrame plant hangers that seemingly everyone in my childhood had gracing the corners of their living rooms. There were also Vervet monkeys jumping around stealing little bits of breakfast for themselves and generally acting like monkeys.
Read MoreWe left after breakfast on our 5.5 - 6 hour drive to the next stop: SOPA Ecolodge on Lake Naivasha. The ride started out beautifully - bright sunny skies, passing over the Aberdare range and going through intensely colorful roadside villages. The road is horribly bumpy though, and no way to avoid it.
Read MoreTea Masala. I am telling you. I love coffee but tea masala is a close second. It is a spicy tea brewed with milk and drunk with sugar - like an African Chai.
Baboons crossed the field in front of the camp around 10am. The free time we had between safaris today was spent lazing, reading, taking pictures around camp, and getting a pedicure care of Bubbie (Thanks!) It was hard to imagine ever being hungry again after breakfast, but somehow if you put yourself in the vicinity of available, ready made food, you find a space to pack it in.
Read MoreLast night I listened to the sounds of the wild all around me. Birds, wild dogs, hyenas, insects, and hyrax calls filled the air. Around a quarter to 5, loud chanting and singing started which sounded like someone yelling through a megaphone, and I thought something bad was going to happen but it turns out it was a religious ceremony at the nearby village.
Read MoreI've been awake off and on since 4:30 because of all the birds! Our alarm clock at home comes on with birds chirping so now everytime I hear birds I wake up. The sun is just coming up and I am hearing the opening sequence of the Lion King in my head from seeing the African trees silhouetted against the sky outside the window. The night was cool but I feel like today will be hot and sunny. We leave at 7:30am.
Good morning Nairobi :)
Read MoreThere is a large Dutch-speaking group behind me. It is around 7:30pm, cabin lights are dimmed, but for some reason on an elsewise silent flight this group feels the need to speak over the engines. Which is to say, loudly. My theory is that the same people who lack indoor voices also hang about territorially in front of the gates even though we all have assigned seating. There are some things that will forever remain unexplained.
Read MoreAmsterdam: rediscovering my love for pancakes, stroopwafels and snoepgoed and my hatred for Albert Heijn, white people in blackface, and spoken Dutch.
Read MoreWhen you're looking for new things to discover in Amsterdam, you don't have to go that far.
Read MoreOne of the coolest parts of Hamburg is the old warehouse district. Huge brick warehouses sit right in the canal system near the harbour. Spanned by iron bridges, spiral staircases, and circular balconies... the old Speicherstadt is something you have to see.
Read MorePlanten un Blomen is probably the most epic park in Hamburg.
Read MoreYou know when people say things like 'I am no expert in blah-blah-blah' and then continue to give their opinions anyways? Well, I am no expert in architecture, but in my opinion, these are the contemporary architectural highlights that are not to be missed.
Read MorePhotographic evidence of a deeply rooted obsession with harbours. The rest of Hamburg ain't bad either.
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