Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater, Tarangire NP, and Lake Manyara NP

6/11/19

The group loaded into 3 Land Cruisers, and we met our drivers (ours is named Ramadan aka Rama). From Arusha we headed to Tarangire National Park. The park has lots of giant baobab trees, which are just awesome in their size and shape. It was very green at Tarangire compared to the other time that Elisha and I visited. We saw several families of elephants, and some big bulls. We also saw a HUGE flock of ostriches: 50+. The best sighting was seeing a mama cheetah with a tiny cub. They were hiding in the grass, but we could see the occasional glimpses of them. We also saw a pride of lions moving through the grass.

After lunch we visited Lake Manyara National Park where we did a treetop walk. We walked amongst the treetops on suspension bridges and platforms. We camped at Mto was Mbu. We went out to a delicious dinner feast in a banana plantation.

6/12/19
We drove to Ngorongoro Conservation area, and then through it, stopping at a view point looking down at the crater. We then descended down to Serengeti NP. We had lunch at the entrance and did a short viewpoint walk.

After lunch we started a game trive. We saw a little klipspringer on one of the many kopjes (rock outcrops). We saw SO many lions, all seemingly very fat. The best was a big male on top of a rock in a kopje that was very "Lion King" like. (pride rock). We also spotted a leopard up on a rock in a kopje. We couldn't see her very well, but we stayed to wait and before long a little cub came out that was so cute! It too fells asleep and hid. Eventually, however, it woke up and was crawling around on mama, and so she got up, and we got really nice views of them on the rock. So amazing! So cute! We were so lucky! We also witnessed a great sunset amongst the acacias.

We're camping at a spot in the middle of the Serengeti park with no fences at all. A hyena went through camp, and we saw a buffalo near the tent. At night we heard lions chuffing and hyenas whooooping.

6/13/19
Early morning game drive through the Serengeti. We saw lots more lions. We also saw quite a few hyenas, including a group eating a wildebeest. We saw a total of 5 cheetahs! A solitary cheetah in the very far distance. We then saw a solitary cheetah, with a red face, eating a wildebeest with vultures around. On our way out of the park, we saw a mom with 2 older cubs in the distance sitting on a termite mound, in classic cheetah fashion.

We also saw a cute little jackal resting in a hole, and a very large family of mongoose running around. The highlight was 3 lions on a rocky kopje. As we sat looking at them, they walked right by our vehicle (1 foot away). They were so close I could have pet them through the window. One rested right behind our vehicle.

We finished the day by driving to our campsite at the Ngrongoro Crater rim. After a delicious dinner, our German friend Norbert told us more about his crazy life, including being married for just 1 month, being in a coma for 6 months after a motorbike accident, being jailed twice for guns and drugs (cocaine, meth, heroine), and his rehab. But he has put all that behind him now and is living a totally different life. He lives in Dresden, near to al his family and is very close to them. For his job, he is a drink warehouse manager and in charge of ordering the beer for a grocery store.

6/14/19
Early morning game drive into the Ngorongoro Crater. Right as we entered, we saw a pride of lions with hyenas and a jackal following them. They weren't, however, going to hunt, just going to drink. Throughout the day we saw lots of lions, including a couple being chased by a buffalo. We also saw a pride with a big male and some cubs. In the crater we saw big herds of wildebeest and zebra, hippos, buffalo, and gazelles. We saw many hyenas and a couple of black-backed and golden jackals. There were also flamingos and elephants. In addition, we saw a baby grant's gazelle that had probably been born 30 minutes before as it was just learning to stand. We also saw a black rhino, completing the big 5 of Tanzania.

After the game drive, we drove up the steep road out of the crater, stopping at a viewpoint before heading back to the snake park near Arusha. This time we took a guided tour of the snake park and got to hold a grass snake. Additionally, we took a guided tour of a Maasai village museum near to the snake park.

At a tourist stop on the way back to Arusha, I bought Elisha a Tanzanite wedding ring, since she only had the little rubber wedding rings that we had for our elopement. Tanzanite is a very rare gem, recently discovered and only found in one area of Tanzania. Africa is special to us and our relationship, so we thought it would be fitting to get a wedding ring from just outside the Serengeti.

New Zeland Flight delays!

10/3/19-10/11/19

Had the week to spend in Estes Park with my family. Highlights included spending a night in Denver after going to Howl at the Moon a SUPER fun piano bar in Denver. Zach and his gf Mary came down to spend the night too. The whole family had fun dancing, singing, and drinking buckets. Mom had secured us a special VIP thing too, so we got $1 drinks and free buffet before 9. Oh and Dave Pfieffer came too. Mom and Dad danced until almost 11 and the rest of us stayed out til 1am. The next day we went tailgating and to the CU vs AZ game. It was a good and close game, but CU lost. We then went out to pearl street to watch some street performers and eat Indian food.

I spent a lot of the week working. I had A LOT to do. I had a skype meeting regarding my paper with Todd; I had a post Borneo wrap-up skype meeting with Wayne as well as other Oceanic Society paperwork to do post trip; I had to put in 30 hours of work for my Antarctic job; do random other life chores before going to McM; and then of course pack. But within that time, I managed to take a hike with mom and Elisha (the glacier gorge to alberta falls to loch vale lake to lake haihaya, to dream lake to bear lake loop). Also took a couple drives to look at fall colors. And went a couple of times to town and into the park with Elisha and mom to walk and watch the elk rut and bugle. We also managed to get ice cream downtown! So definitely kept busy. Way too short of a time, especially with all the work I had to do, but we did a lot! Oh, and mom made lots of yummy meals including skirt steak and fondue and cookie dough! It snowed on the day that Mom took Elisha to the airport, which made the fall colors extra beautiful in the white.


10/12/19

Mom dropped me off at the airport and flew to Houston. Then it was from Houston on the 15 hour flight to Auckland

10/13/19
Day lost crossing the International Date Line

10/14/19

I arrived in the morning to Auckland, and then had a connecting flight to Christchurch. I arrived to Christchurch just hours after Elisha had left, just narrowly missing her! (Just like last year) After dropping off my camping gear and such at the Antarctic center, I went to check in at my hotel. I'm staying at the Rendezvous, which is quite nice. After doing some computer work and trying to get my laptop up to snuff, I went for a hike around the botanic garden. It was chilly out, but the botanic gardens were beautiful. There were SO many ducklings out, and I even caught 1. Right before my walk, I had gotten a text from Marci saying that her boyfriend Dan, who works on the flight line at McM said Elisha's flight had boomeranged (turned around)! I was so excited. I called the Antarctic Centre to find out when the flight would be coming back and then arranged for them to put her in my room at my hotel. Geez, I was excited! I waited for her, and eventually she made it to the hotel around 8 or so. I was waiting for her with a cold beer, and then we went out to the Little High where we split Japanese ramen and Thai curry. Her flight had boomeranged because a crack in the windshield. They were descending down to McM when they realized it. They didn't want to have to deal with the repair in McM, so they turned around. This mean we knew that Elisha would be delayed until at least Thursday, the 17th, and me likely until the 18th. Woohooo!

10/15/19

I had training most of the day, and Elisha hung out and did her own thing around Christchurch. She hiked out to Taylor's Mistake coastal walk, which she really loves. Marci and I had burritos for lunch. After my training, Elisha and Marci and I went out for appetizers of dumplings at a famous dumpling place here. Then for dinner, Elisha and I went on a date to my favorite Thai restaurant in Christchurch--Mama Ree's.

10/16/19

It was to be a beautiful day, so we rented a car. We drove up to Arthur's Pass into the beautiful and snowcapped mountains. We ended up getting a recommendation to hike to Bealey Top Mountain via the Bealey Top Hut track. It was a beautiful hike with stunning views of all the snow-capped peaks (including Avalanche peak, which we had climbed before) and the braided glacial river valleys below. We were the only ones up on the mountain and it was just so quiet, peaceful, still, and beautiful. 360 degree views of beauty. The cabin below the mountain was a little bunked cabin, smelling strongly of fire, nestled in the woods. The hike was just under 11 miles roundtrip. We had a packed lunch of salami and cream cheese sandwiches. The drive to and from Arthurs pass is also quite beautiful being the valleys of the peaks and driving past fields of sheep. We stopped for ice cream along the way at McDonald's, but only had some snacks for dinner.

10/17/19
Slept in a bit! Elisha and I went out for breakfast at the Little High. She had an eggs benedict sandwich, and I had a pork belly bao. yum. We then took the bus to Sumner on the coast. From there we walked a bit along the beach, full of surfers, and then took the Taylor's Mistake hike up on the steep cliffs above. It was a beautiful day. The flowers were gleaming in the sun, with so many busy bees stealing nectar from the flowers. The ocean below glowed a beautiful aqua color. We eventually made it down to a beach on the other side. All in all it was about a 5 mile hike. Very scenic with so many beautiful flowers, the dramatic cliff drops to the ocean, and the sparkling aqua sea. We had lunch at a yummy fish and chips place in Sumner.

After the hike, we took the bus back to Christchurch and then another bus out past Merivale where some of my favorite cheap Asian eats are. We had delicious curry at one of my favorite thai places. We then walked to the big mall out there. I had lost my thermos mug in the rental car (I had called, but they couldn't find it), so I bought a Macpac thermos that was on sale 40% off! A mug for tea is ESSENTIAL in McMurdo.

In the evening, Elisha was getting packed and ready for her flight the next day, but then we heard her flight was delayed again! Woohoo! So we had some icecream and sat in bed catching up on youtubes from some of our favorite late night shows and I showed her some of mom's favorite AGT performances.



10/18/19
Slept in! I had tried to upgrade to the new MacOS and had some trouble, so today I spent a lot of time working on that in our room and at the library. The new Christchurch Library is really beautiful and amazing! I would have liked to be doing other things for sure, but it was a blustery and rainy day in Chirstchurch, so that's okay. I did get to talk to my mom on the phone and watch some James Corden youtubes. For breakfast I had noodles from Asian noodle company. For lunch we went out to my favorite Indian place, Himalaya. We saw in the guestbook my entries from the previous 2 years! For dinner we went to Little High. Elisha had Ramen and I had Thai curry.

10/19/19

Elisha and I went out to a cute little breakfast cafe and had delicious croissant and egg sandwiches. We then took a bus to the airport where we picked up a rental car and drove to the Banks Peninsula outside of Christchurch. It's an old volcanic caldera where the ocean has crept into the crater. We drove the summit road around the crater rim, which has beautiful views of the rugged and green crater and down to the turquoise water below. Throughout the day, we did 3 different hikes--at different locations around the crater--up to viewpoints and one little peak. The hikes were very beautiful! We had fish and chips lunch down by the bay in Akaroa village, an old french colony. After driving back to Christchurch, we ate at a nice Chinese restaurant in Riccarton.

10/20/19

Elisha left early in the morning to the Antarctic Centre for her flight. I watched the Gators in the morning, then I took a bus towards Lyttleton. Before the tunnel, I got out and hiked up the crater rim to the top, where the gondola goes. From the top are spectacular views. On one side you can look down on the turquoise waters of of Lyttleton harbor with its big cargo ships at port. On another side you can see out to the great blue ocean. On the other side you can look down on the CBD of Christchurch and farther afield are the snow-capped peaks of the Southern Alps. If you look along the coastline, you can even see the snowy peaks behind Kaikoura. Sweeping 360 degree views! After taking in the views, I hiked up to the top of a little peak, and then I descended down to Lyttleton port. I then took the bus back to Christchurch. I had lunch at a Hawaiian place that was delicious. In the afternoon I did some business stuff that needed to be done while I had fast internet and also watched the Buffs. Then it was dinner at a Thai place downtown.

10/21/19

Had a last NZ meal--breakfast--at McDonalds before the flight to McMurdo. It was a pretty full flight with Aussies, Italians, Kiwis, Brits, Canadians, and USAP. Also a helicopter on the flight. The C-17 doesn't have many windows, but I did sneak to the back to look at the beautiful landscape of ice and mountains as we reached the continent.

Right away we were thrown into the activities of McMurdo. Recently the first ever all female space walk occurred up at the international space station. The 2 women who did it are Antarctic alumni (Jessica Meir and Christina Koch). Jessica worked as a tech for a penguin researcher and Christina worked in operations of some sort at the South Pole. Anyways, Jessica, video called us in the galley from space and gave us a fascinating tour of the space station. She was a very good speaker, and it was funny to watch her try to drink floating water droplets and float around through the station.But such a cool experience!

Nairobi and Amboseli National Park. Chef gets Malaria

6/8/19
We have a new group starting now. José will be the driver, and the new tour leader is Thomas from Amsterdam. There are 12 new people joining our current group of 5, making 17. Denford is still the cook. We're also getting a new truck, so we said goodbye to Xara. Our new truck is Florence. She's basically brand new and the newest truck on the dragoman fleet. She's bigger than Xara and has reclining seats. Florence also comes with taller and roomier tents (also brand new, never been used), which is really nice.

We had a morning meeting and then Norbert, Elisha, and I went to Nairobi National Park to the David Sheldrick elephant orphanage that houses orphaned elephants and rhinos, mostly orphaned because of poaching. They keep the elephants until the age of 3, then they take them to Tsavo NP where caretakers stay with them in the wild until they are "adopted" by wild elephants. When we visited there were 17 orphans. We had the opportunity to watch from very close proximity the babies feeding from bottles given to them by their caretakers and playing around. We stood just a foot from them, and we could pet and touch them. They are so cute!

We then ubered (uber is the best and cheapest way to go by taxi in Nairobi) to one of the fancy malls where we had an Indian lunch. We hung around the wildebeest ecocamp for the afternoon. We were supposed to go to Nairobi National Park with my friend Debs (I met her during my college field course in Kenya), but she got tied up with work. Instead we met her and her husband, Rob, in Westlands for a most delicious Indian dinner. We had an interesting uber ride home as the driver got lost.

6/9/19

We Drove to Amboseli National Park. Amboseli is famous for being one of the best places to see the giant Mount Kilimanjaro rising above the wildlife and plains, but unfortunately it was cloudy and we couldn't see it. Nevertheless, we had an amazing game drive. We saw lots of animals (hippos, wildebeest, zebra, giraffe, reedbuck, gazelles, impala, and buffalo). We also saw SO many elephants: cute families wading in the swamp and a huge old bull with giant tusks. We also saw a pride of lions at a wildebeest kill that included several lionesses, 3 or 4 cubs, and a big male. They walked pretty close to our truck. A black jackal also showed up to try and steal some food. I think we stayed at the same campsite Elisha and I had stayed at this national park several years before.

6/10/19

We were up well before sunrise to drive into the park to watch the sunrise from a small hilltop view and have breakfast. Unfortunately, Kili was still hiding behind clouds. We then went on a morning game drive. Highlights were some hyenas, some huge elephants, pink flamingos, and more.

After our game drive, we drove to Namanga to cross the border and then to Arusha in Tanzania, We stayed at a "snake park" in Arusha which houses snakes and other reptiles that locals bring in instead of killing them. We toured around looking at the various cobras, mambas, puff adders, sand snakes, and pythons. There were also lots of big bats in the area. We had a delicious bbq feast made by the campsite. Our cook Denford had been feeling sick, and he went to the hospital. Turns out he has malaria.

Masai Mara: My Favorite Place in Africa! and Nakuru NP

6/3/19
Long drive to Lake Nakuru, crossing the border of Kenya/Uganda at Malaba. It rained most of the drive. We're camping in a nice campsite, but in the mist. We had a very nice dinner with homemade vanilla ice cream.

6/4/19
Today we had a nearly full day game drive in Nakuru National Park. We visited some nice viewpoints looking down upon the lake. Highlights of animals included: a black rhino, many white rhino (~10-11), flamingos, hippos, tons of buffalo, zebras, eland, baboons, vervets, waterbuck, thompson and grants gazelle, impala, and rothschild giraffes. The big highlight was Elisha spotted a leopard! It was having a nap in a tree. Leopards are always so beautiful and such a rare sighting that it's always so exciting to see them.

It poured rain once back at camp, but still I went out in the rain looking for chameleons in the hedges. In the end, after a long search, I found 5 tiny ones. At night, we hung out by the fire that was under the cover of the open-air bar.

6/5/19
We drove with Xara to Mai Mahiu where we left Will and Denford and loaded in an extended Land Cruiser 4x4 to drive to the Maasai Mara. Our driver's name is Johnson. He was a fast driver, and we really cruised on the rutted dirt road that leads to the Mara.

After setting up our tents and having lunch, we did an afternoon game drive. We saw SO many animals. Highlights were elephants, banded mongoose, spotted hyena, black-backed jackal, 2 bat-eared foxes, several lions, and 5 cheetah brothers! Also, the wildebeest and zebra migration is in full swing. There were grunting wildebeest as far as the eyes can see. Simply amazing! Seriously. Hard to capture on camera and also impossible to describe. As we drive around, it's like sailing through a choppy sea, where every wave is a wildebeest. And they're not just sitting around. They're grunting, fighting, galloping, and prancing around. It was wildebeest as far as the eye can see, in every direction. Absolutely unbelievable and hard to fathom, the sheer numbers. Driving around was fun, and we had to make full use of the 4WD. It had rained hard and the tracks were muddy. Black cotton soil is slippery like ice! We were fishtailing all around. We had to continually go back and forth between steep gullies and creek crossings in search of wildlife, and these were quite interesting, b/c sometimes it seemed like we wouldn't make it back up, and sometimes we had to try a few times before we were successful. But Johnson was quite a good driver. On the drive home, we had the most magical sunset, classic African savanna sunset with acacias silhouetted black behind a fiery orange sky, which turned to blood red.

The Masai Mara is obviously in Maasai land, so on the drive back to camp we saw lots of Maasai in their traditional garb, as was as some Maasai warriors.

6/6/19
Wow!! Amazing day in the Maasai Mara! We started out seeing a big male lion mating with a female. Then we saw 5 cheetah brothers lying down relaxing. Then we saw a pride of lions with 4 cute little cubs. We then found a solo cheetah that was very close to us and got up and walked a bit as we were watching. We then went back to the 5 cheetah brothers who had moved into some bushes and were looking up at us. We then saw a few more groups of lions. As we continued driving, we saw 3 hyenas mucking around in a ditch and mud.

Of course a good chunk of the driving was through huge herds of wildebeest. We had lunch in the shad of a solo acacia tree. We then drove down to the Mara river where we saw some banded mongoose. We drove along the river and saw quite a lot of hippos and nile crocodiles. We also got to witness, at several points, groups of zebra and wildebeest jumping into the river to cross as part of their migration. We also noticed a few crocs around. One of the crocs had a wildebeest in its grasps that it had killed before we were there. We saw one group swim across and watched as a croc took down a baby wildebeest.

We then drove to the sand river where we walked into the Serengeti National Park and into Tanzania. We heard on the radio that there was a leopard not too far away. We drove off quickly to it, but when we got there it had come down from the tree it was lounging in and disappeared into a ravine. We searched a bit, but couldn't find it. We were all kind of disappointed. We were driving back to the entrance to end the day, when another call came over the radio that there was a leopard near the road. It was a ways away and in the opposite direction of home, but Johnson decided to go for it. He said "hold on!" and off we went at high speed, on a rough roads, dodging wildebeest. We made it in time! We got a really good look at the leopard as it walked along. So beautiful!! It was the cherry on top of an amazing day. We then had to rush at high speed back to the gate to be back in time before they close the gate and issue fines.

The sky was beautiful with the sunset and rain showers in the distance. Johnson was really good: fast and good in the mud. He also seemed to chat and shake hands with every other driver we came upon. He also had 2 guys that he was always talking to on the radio (Mambo and Moi) who seemed to be mafia or something because they seemed to always know where potential leopards and other cats were. It was so fun (and funny) to be driving so much (and often at high speeds) through the giant herds of wildebeest. Sometimes the wildebeest would mock charge the vehicle, and all the time they are making these funny grunts. As we drove fast, it was fun to see them sprint at full speed away from, or alongside the land cruiser. Highly entertaining!

The rains came late this year, but the wildebeest came early. So very lucky for us! Part of the fun of game driving in the Mara is all of the back and forth on the radio. And when something is spotted, the fast, crazy driving to get there. Then there is the jockeying back and forth to get as close to the animals as possible. Then there is the ever present nervousness of the drivers that a ranger might be near ($100 fine for driving off road).

6/7/19
We had an early morning game drive. We saw a nice family of elephants, some hyenas, ostriches,  and millions of wildebeest. And of course the usual other herbivores. We also saw a pride of lions where the little cubs were crawling up on mom. We also watched a male lion walking amongst the wildebeest, but not too interested in them.

After the game drive, we drove back to Nairobi. We did our laundry at camp. As this segment of the trip is ending, we went out for a delicious Indian dinner. Will is the only one leaving the trip, however. I gave a little speech, Reg Guy style, when we gave Will and José their tips.

Mountain Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest

5/30/19

A well before sunrise departure that encapsulated a gorgeous sunrise as we were driving and nice view of Mount Stanley, Africa's 3rd highest peak. We drove past nice hilly view of tea plantations and banana farms on the way to Kabale. In Kabale we switched to a minivan to take a windy dirt raod through the mountains to Rubuguli at the entrance of Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest National Park. The mountains were steep, yet terraced. There were very nice view of the many hues of green. There were also views of the tall volcanoes on the Rwanda and Congo Border, part of the Virungu Mountains, which happen to feature in Michael Crighton's book (and movie) "Congo".

We arrived and checked into our nice ecolodge. Elisha and I have our own little hut. They welcomed us with juice and hot towels. We took a walk up above the village for awhile, and the locals seemed quite curious about us, like most of the tourists that come must not walk far from the lodge. We had a nice dinner by the fireplace that evening.

5/31/19

We drove to the briefing area of Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest where we had an introduction and met our guide Flo and 2 security guides, carrying automatic rifles. We were also given the gorilla group that we would be tracking: The Nshongi group with 4 females, 4 babies, 1 juvenile, and 1 silverback male. We loaded back in the van and drove steeply up to another entrance.

We tracked for a bit on a trail, which elephants had recently used, until we came upon 3 trackers (local rangers who stay with the gorillas during the day). From there we bushwhacked steeply up on a ridge where we came upon the very adorable family. We were allowed to hang out with them for 1 hour and 5 minutes. They moved around a bit so we also moved with them through the dense thicket, the guards and trackers often leading with machetes to clear the way on the steep hillside. The babies were cute, rolling around together on the ground or trying to climb trees, often with the branches breaking and them falling. The adults were pretty chill, mainly sitting and eating. We got as close as 8ish feet from them, including the big silverback male. They have habituated to human presence for many years now. At one point, a golden duiker (small antelope) was walking in the stream far below. This somehow scared/interested the silverback. He kept watching it, making sounds, and he started leading the family down the mountain to the creek, until the duiker disappeared. The male aslo put out a pungent odor while this happened.

After our time was up, we hiked back to the van where we were given certificates of "graduation" haha.  It poured rain while we were at our nice ecolodge enjoying post-lunch tea and popcorn. After the rain ended, Elisha and I went out looking for chameleons, and in the end 1/2 the village seemed to be looking because they new they'd probably get a $1 tip if they found one. We did find a cute, small green one, and it was fun to have it crawl all over us. We then visited the little artisan shop in the village where they were carving gorilla figurines and sticks (some of which we had bought). After that we walked through the Friday market. It was full of women in super colorful attire. The women in Uganda wear such bright and colorful clothes. They also tend to carry most things on their heads. In the afternoon we read outside our "honeymoon" cabana, and then after a nice dinner, we read by the fire.

During the last in-depth census in early 2000, the world population of mountain gorillas was 700. They are currently in the process of conducting the next census. They have finished Rwanda and the Congo, but not Uganda, but they believe the population is now about 1000. So a success story!

6/1/19

It was a beautiful drive back to Kabale. It was much more misty this time, which added to the aura of the rainforest. We drove to Lake Mburu National Park and camped at a cool ecocamp, but didn't really go much into the park. We took a walk on the ecocamp's property and adjoining property up to the top of a little hill. On the way, we walked amongst Zebras, elands, impala, and warthogs. We sat by the fire at night.

6/2/19
Today was a long drive to Jinja via Kampala. We stopped at the equator for photos. We also stopped at the outskirts of Kampala to pick up custom designed shirts for the trip. We stayed at the adrift campsite along the Nile River (near to Jinja) I took a walk around a bit to check out the Nile and one of the famous "falls": Kalagala Falls.

2 Wildlife Gems of Uganda for my birthday: Murchison Falls National Park and Queen Elizabeth II National Park

5/25/19

Drove through the dense rainforest of Murchison National Park, then into more grassy and less dense forest. We arrived to the short hike to the Murchison Falls viewpoint. Murchison Falls is where the big, rapidy Nile River is forced into a tiny gorge. The water is so incredibly powerful! It takes your breath away and scares you. The mist coming up from the thundering falls creates rainbows. There are various viewpoints from whence you can see it tumbling through the gorge and the tamer and wider river below.

After the falls we arrived to our nice campsite, near to the Nile. It has some cute, huge, and relatively tame warthogs. We also saw a bright green chameleon.

We took a boat ride up the Nile to see the Murchison Falls from below. Impressive from that angle as well. On the boat ride we saw tons of hippos and lots of crocs. Also bushbucks, hartebeest, buffalo, waterbuck, warthog, and quite a few elephants. A very nice river cruise.

At night we sat by the fire and played tricks on the other guests and owners by hiding a bluetooth speaker in the bush and playing lion sounds. It was pretty funny because we scared everybody and had the owners thinking that the next day they needed to call in a vet or wildlife officer. And we kept it our little secret and never told anyone.

5/26/19
Birthday Game Drive Day!

Today we crossed the Nile on a ferry since there is no bridge and hopped in a van for a game drive. On the North side of the river it's more open: beautiful landscape. Very green rolling hills, dotted with palms and acacia trees. We drove down to Lake Albert, on the border with Congo, at one point. We saw lots of wildlife including huge herds of buffalo, more Uganda Kob than you can count, lots and lots of elephants and giraffes, tons of oribi, and lots of Jackson's hartebeest. We also some some hippos, Ugandan crown cranes, patas monkeys, grey duiker, bushbuck, waterbuck, baboons, and warthogs. We also saw 3 cute side-striped jackals.

In the afternoon, after our game drives, we read in the shade. We watched some crazy (safari?) ants move their nest, carrying their eggs. It was such a mess of ants, swarming. They even made a sound. When you got close, they'd send out soldiers towards you. I accidentally got bit by one, and it hurt so bad! Tons of insects all around, and so huge in this area: giant moths, giant beetles, preying mantis, etc. Also lots of geckos and lizards. And there is a family of bats hanging, literally, around the bathrooms. At night, hippos were grazing around the tents. We grilled chicken over real charcoal for dinner and had grilled nutella bananas as we watched the little mermaid on our portable projector.

5/27/19  My Birthday

We had a very early start leaving Murchison Falls heading to Fort Portal. On the road we had a breakfast of Rolex (rolled eggs in chapati). Fort Portal is in a lush, hilly, tea plantation areas with view of the Rwenzori Mountains (and a volcano). Our campsite is really nice, like a New Zealand campsite. There were 2 cute and friendly kitties at the campsite. The group got me ice cream with strawberries and a firecracker on top for my birthday. Then Elisha and I teamed up to beat Norbert and Lewis 2 games to 1 in Beer Pong.

5/28/19

We shopped in Fort Portal in the morning. I bought some mosquito socks and also a mosquito zapper. We drove through hills full of bananas and tea. We could the the bottom of the mist-shrouded Rwenzori mountains. Mount Stantly, the highest, is 5100m (16,763 ft) high and covered in glaciers.

We arrived to Queen Elizabeth II National Park (QEII). Right away we saw a huge python and some elephants. We took a boat ride in a small boat in the channel between Lake Albert and Lake Edward. We got really close to buffaloes sitting in the water keeping cool. Also really close to crocodiles and hippos. Sometimes it almost felt too close. We also saw lots of birds and got really close to the Congo. A very nice boat trip! Had some beers over-looking the channel, watching buffalo, elephants, and hippos. On our way back to camp, we had to veer around some elephants that were browsing near our campsite. Also tons of warthogs around our camp. At night we had a fire, and in our tents heard hyenas and hippos around

5/29/19

Another birthday game drive. We saw lots of Kob and buffaloes. Also some warthogs, waterbuck, and a pod of wallowing hippos in the mud. We saw lots of elephants, and got really close to some old males. We got to watch one of the bulls give himself a mud bath. It was a very special encounter. We also saw a pride of about 7 lions (2 or 3 little cubs). On the way back to camp from the game drive, we took the scenic crater route, which was stunning with it's green hills, lots of craters, nice views over the acacia studded plain, and a couple of gorgeous crater lakes perfectly reflecting the sky and clouds. There was a map that showed where Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh had visited. We also saw a couple of families of elephant, and I distinctly remember a gorgeous and memorable encounter with elephants on our family trip here to QEII in 1997 when we came across a family of elephants in a line on a ridge silhouetted by the rising sun, so it was cool to visit again that place and see the elephants there.

During lunch, we played some mini ping pong (that was part of our truck's game box) under the little cooking shelter.

The rest of the group relaxed in the evening, but Elisha and I took a birthday game drive in a little Rav4 SUV. We came upon a couple of lions early and then returned to them after some other driving. Eventually a couple of other lions emerged from the bush, and also a cute little cub. We sat with them for a long time as the sun descended and then set. Some buffaloes came in and seemed unaware of the lions. We thought they were going to walk right into the lions! When they were about 20m from the lions, 4 or 5 of the buffalo got into formation and walked with a purpose towards the lions. They charged and chased the lions away from the bushes and across the road. On the drive back, in the dark, we saw a fat puff adder on the road.

At night we hung around the campfire and the stars were absolutely amazing as it was clear and dark. The milky way was so bright.

*A note on eating since we left Nairobi. We have a chef with us, Denford, from Zimbabwe. He makes delicious food! Typically for breakfast there is cereal, hot drinks, and he quite often makes toast and eggs to order. Sometimes there are pancakes and fruit. Lunch is usually sandwiches and fruit, but occasionally a veg and pasta salad. Dinners is always amazingly delicious. Usually some sort of meat stew with a carb (potatoes of all kinds, rice, pasta, ugali) and then often a fresh vegetable dish. Sometimes he grills meat over charcoal. And lastly he makes hot drinks to be taken by the fire.

Welcome to Uganda: Nile River, Walking with Rhinos, and Chimpanzee Tracking

5/21/19

Drove to the Uganda border at Malaba. The internet server was down at the capital in Kampala, so all of us that had prepared ahead with evisas had to wait nearly 2 hours (compared to 15 minutes for everyone else) for our visas. Once in Uganda, at a roadside spot selling meat and chicken on a stick, we had a confrontation with some sellers. The sellers had thought they had been slighted somehow, so they held onto the truck through the window and refused to let go, even when we started driving. Will was trying to forcibly remove them, but they didn't get pushed off until angry Norbert joined in. We camped at a nice resort area in Jinja. Rained most of the night.

5/22/19
Had a chill morning, we hung out at the resort in the shade by the pool. Elisha and I walked into Jinja town for a lunch of beef stew and fresh tilapia stew. While in town we went to the post office. We then walked to a viewpoint of the source of the Nile River, where it flows out of Lake Victoria. A local student named Isaac joined us on our walk around. We then took a boda boda (motor taxi), all 3 of us and a driver on one! We went over an old bridge over the Nile where we saw 3 river otters playing! We then walked back over to the other side where we hired a fishing boat (paddle powered) to take us along the river and up to the source. We stopped and got out on the land at the point where John Speke, the first European to find the source of the Nile, first spotted it. On the river we saw lots of birds, including 2 cool species of kingfishers and fish eagle. We also saw a large swimming lizard. After the trip we bought a huge tilapia from the fishermen and brought it to Denford to cook for the night. Super delicious fish feast.

It was funny b/c in my book "Dark Star Safari, from Cairo to Cape Town", the author mentions seeing a lot of prostitutes. I told Elisha, "Let me know if you see one because they aren't very obvious to me" We met a woman by the water who was friendly. She said she had lived in China for 7 years, and I asked her what she did there and she said "I was a bitch" (prostitute)

5/23/19

We drove to Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary, and on the way had a much calmer beef on a stick encounter. The camp at Ziwa was very nice. We went on a walking rhino trek through the bush in search of rhinos. We came across three groups: 1. Mom, dad, and baby  2. mom, baby, and young female  3. mom and very young baby. We also saw bushbuck, waterbuck, vervets, and warthogs. Rhinos were extirpated from Uganda during the Idi Amin reign of terror. They introduced 4 rhinos from ranches in Laikipia (Mpala research centre is in Laikipia) and 2 from Disney's Wild Animal Park. The 1st rhino baby born was named Obama because it had an African dad (Laikipian dad) and American mum (from Disney). The rhinos are guarded 24/7 by guards. They now have 27 rhinos and are looking to move some of them to other reserves in Uganda. We had a delicious sweet and sour chicken for dinner and watched the Disney move Tarzan on a projector sheet by a big bonfire while roasting marshmellows. There were lots of fireflies about and some huge beetles.

5/24/19
We saw 2 more rhinos in the morning near our campsite and 1 huge male on the drive out. Also lots of bushbucks, some warthogs, and red duiker. We had bacon and eggs for brekkie.

We drove on to Budongo Forest, a beautiful rainforest. So green! And some pretty big trees. We had lunch in the mist (mzungus in the mist). We went chimpanzee trekking through the forest, which was amazing. At first the chimps where high up in the trees, but then we saw some much closer. They were eating 2 kinds of fruits and dropping the rinds and non-ripe fruits like bombs, from way up high. We had to be careful not to get hit! We also had to avoid being peed on. Eventually some chimps came down to the ground. It was fun to watch them swinging in the trees. At the end of our time hanging out with the chimps, they all came down to the ground and we were walking almost with them, like part of them. They were making so much noise. It was a group of about 30. We also saw a blue duiker, running for its life as the chimps moved through the forest, and a huge millipede. We hung out a bit by the fire at night, then slept in the jungle dormitory.

Climbing to the Summit of 17,057ft Mt. Kenya (twice!)

5/16/19

I met my guide, Sammy, and the cook, Joseph in the morning. We drove into Nanyukiand shopped for the trip at the new cedar mall (replacing Nakumat as the popular place for expats now). We then drove to the Mt. Kenya National Park gate and began hiking. It was a pretty straightforward and easy hike through the rainforest, bamboo, then heather, and finally above tree line to reach Old Moses Hut (11,064 ft) where I journaled and read. I took an acclimatization hike up to a global atmospheric watch weather station.

Dinner was amazing: butternut squash soup, chicken curry with vegetables and noodles, cooked salad, and tomatoes, and avocado with lime. For dessert there was banana and oranges. The cook said "Please try to eat it all, we have a very long day tomorrow." No problem for me! We watched a gorgeous sunset over the plains with 3 grey duikers browsing in the bushes below the hut. After sunset, the clouds lifted from the pointy high peaks. I am the only one at the hut, well...me and a cute mouse.

5/17/19

Hiked in the alpine all day to Shipton's Hut. It was a super beautiful trail through SO many giant lobelias (3 species: giant, ostrich plume, and water-filled). It was a lobelia garden wonderland, like a Dr. Seuss world. And there were FANTASTIC views of Mt. Kenya. Along the way we saw elephant, buffalo, and hyena scat, as well as leopard footprints. These animals will live all the way up to 14,000 feet. Shipton's hut is in a beautiful amphitheater location surrounded by the many sharp peaks of Mt. Kenya. There are a few tiny glaciers visible. The camp sits at 13,880 feet and has tons of fat rock hyraxes running around. I did an acclimatization hike up to a pass at 15,020 feet that had nice views of 2 lakes. During the hike, the mist was going in and out of the jagged peaks, making them look all the more enchanting and dramatic.

In Swahili, Mount Kenya is Mlima Kenya. In Kikuyu it is Kirinyaga, which means ostrich as Mt. Kenya looks like a male ostrich with the black rock and white snow. I'm all alone in the hut again.

5/18/19
I woke up at 3am for an alpine start. It was a full moon, so everything was lit up. The guide led us "pole pole" (slowly) up the mountain. As we were hiking up, the mist came in. I reached the summit at 6am (2hrs and 40 mins up) for the sunrise, but there was no sunrise because of he clouds. There were a few snow flurries (on the equator!) and plenty of frost up on top. We waited for nearly 2 hours, but it stayed mostly cloudy, with the views obscured. Sammy started getting cold (even after I had given him one of my jackets), so we headed down. When we reached the bottom, it cleared to bluebird. I had a discussion with the guide about going back up. He was too tired and worried about time, but he was already impressed with my mountain skills, so he said, although it was a risk to his job (he would get in trouble if I got hurt and it was found out he was not with me), that I could climb back up. The rainforest mist from below was starting to rise, so I was trying to beat it. I hustled up and at 10:20am the mist came in, and I reached the summit at 10:37. I was so bummed because I had pushed so hard, but luckily, it cleared again for a bis, so I spent 20 minutes on top enjoying the views of the other peaks. From the top you could also see the biggest glacier (though rather small) and also lots of lakes.

The peak I climbed is called Lenana Peak and is the 3rd highest peak on Mt. Kenya. The other 2 peaks are technical and require ropes, they aren't often climbed. Point Lenana is 4985m (16,355 ft) and the highest, Battion Peak is 5199m (17,057ft). Near to the summit of Battion is a tiny hut a German guy constructed using a helicopter. After enjoying the views, I hustled back down for brunch. I finished brunch a bit before 1230, and then we began the long march back to the park gate. It was mostly raining the whole walk down. We stopped at Old Moses camp to warm up with tea and ramen noodles, then we did the last 5.5 miles down. It was just a light rain as we hiked below Old Moses and the sun was shining on us from the horizon, so the light was beautiful and there were some very vivid rainbows. On the way down we saw some mountain zebras and baboons.

On the matatu ride back to Nanyuki from the gate, there was just an incredible number of flying termites. It was basically a mist of them! The driver had to turn his lights off, just to be able to see since they are attracted to light. When we arrived to the first village, locals were out catching them as they make high protein snacks.

All in all, I was hiking/on my feet from basically 3am until 6pm (16hrs) and walked ~25 miles. I gained ~7000 feet of elevation and descended about ~12,000. The 2nd time I went up the summit, I did it in 1 hr and 4 minutes, which according to Strava is the fastest it's ever been done by someone with a gps watch.

5/19/19

I took a before sunrise matatu (local van transport) to Nairobi. Mount Kenya was clear and had a lot of snow on it as we drove by in the morning. From the matatu stand in Nairobi, I walked through part of downtown to catch another Matatu to the suburb of Karen. I then took a boda boda (motorcycle taxi) to our eco camp, Wildebeest Eco Camp. Wildebeest was a nice camp with really nice grounds, a pool, pond, guava trees, and vervet monkeys. Elisha and I took an Uber (the first Uber we've ever taken!) to Nairobi National Park to go to the animal orphanage, but it was too expensive, so we ubered to a fancy mall where we had ice cream, and Elisha got some Indian food. Then we just hung out at Wildebeest and enjoyed the grounds, and steaming hot solar showers. For dinner we shared some amazing cheese dish with Will and had a burger.

While I was climbing Mt. Kenya, the group had another day in Nanyuki. Elisha went to the new fancy shopping complex there and to the giant "thrift shop" known as Motumbo. The next day, they went to Lake Naivasha, where they stayed at a nice campsite and visited the Born Free Foundation and home of Joy and George Adamson--who raised orphaned lion cubs and were conservationists. Then they had British high tea and pastries, which Elisha loved

5/20/19
We said goodbye to Eric today and welcomed Lewis (UK). We also now have a chef, Denford, from Zimbabwe. He made a super delicious chicken stew.

Today we drove to Eldoret with a viewpoint stop over the Great Rift Valley. We camped at this really cool and unique lodge. It was empty, but some rich guy built it and upkeeps it. The grounds are really cool with swimming pool, forest, covered picnic areas, cool tunnels, cave hang out areas, huge hangout areas under thatched roofs, swings, and more. The bar area was really cool with creeks running through, statues, fireplace, cool heating stoves, and this weird atrium thing. It POURED rain all evening and after dinner we hung out around the fire.