GOLFING IN AFRICA

(This post was originally scheduled for publication on Monday December 27th)

We had a nice easy day for once on our non-vacation.  After sleeping in until 8am we had another nice breakfast with a few special guests.  Check out the plumage on this guy who was just wandering around the omlette station when we came to breakfast.  Beats a pigeon any day.

After breakfast we headed out for a tour of the local woman's organization called "Spinners and Weavers".  This is a local outfit which was started in 1977 to try to provide divorced and widowed women a chance to make a living for themselves by spinning wool and weaving shawls, sweaters, rugs and the like.  Everything used on the premises was created by hand, from the spinning wheels to all of the plants and bugs used to dye the wool.  If you would like more info check out their website at www.spinnersandweavers.org

After the tour we headed back to the safari club for an afternoon of leisure.  Joe (a fellow Tauck tour member) and I decided to check out the 9 hole par 3 golf course on the property.  Because, how many times can you say that you golfed in Kenya, Africa?  The course, to put it bluntly, needed to be bulldozed over and used for additional rooms.  But besides the poor tees, fairways, rough and greens it was very playable.  We each rented clubs and we were given caddies.  On the first tee the caddies asked us if we needed golf balls and then proceeded to sell them to us for $1 a piece.  The most exciting part of the course was the troop of baboons who were hanging around the green on one hole.

After the round of golf it was cold beer, dinner and off to the room where a nice roaring fire awaited us.  I was able to watch some CNN about all the snow which NJ and NY got, but it really didn't interest me that much.  Sorry, but I'm on vacation!!!!!

Until next time.

PLAYING BRANGELINA IN AFRICA

(This post was originally scheduled for release on Sunday December 26th.)

After our wonderful first night at the Mt Kenya Safari Club we had breakfast and headed out for our morning of game driving in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy which includes the Sweetwaters Preserve and the Jane Goodall Chimp Sanctuary.  There are currently 41 chimpanzees housed at the sanctuary in two separate groups (27 in one group and 14 in the other group).  All of the chimps here have been rescued from lives as pets or tourist attractions, and sadly they will never be released into the wild because they could never adapt to life there.  They have just spent too much time in cages or chained to trees to survive if left on their own.  They are also suffering from a lot of “mental” issues and are not the most stable animals.  When we got to the end of our little tour of the grounds there was of course a place to make donations.  It took Clara only about 2 seconds to get to the head of the line, and we are now the proud foster parents of a chimp named Poco.  We actually got to see him, and he makes anyone with ADD seem like a cloistered monk.  He ran up and down the fence line with a stick making as much noise as he could.  He knows the fence is electric, and that is why he uses the stick---so he won’t get shocked.  He was kept in a small cage for 9 years as a roadside attraction, but still loves the attention of humans.

When we left the sanctuary we headed out in search of animals.  There were lots of antelope and gazelle around, and at one point we spied a lioness in the distance walking through a herd of zebra.  Every animal stopped and just watched.  We were too far for pictures, but the driver tried to parallel her path hoping we would see her again, but to no avail.  Then I got this great picture of a zebra rolling in the road I assume scratching his or her back.

Right when we were about to head back to the hotel we came across 5 giraffe munching on trees right beside the road.  We snapped a few photos and then just watched them through the binoculars.  It was amazing to see them eat the thorny bushes with their huge tongues working around all the hazards in the trees.  Again, these are just truly magnificent creatures.

We got back to the hotel, had a quick bite to eat, and I headed out with a few other folks on a horseback ride through Mt Kenya National Park.  It was very relaxing but I think my back will pay for it tomorrow.  The one amazing animal we did spot on our ride was an albino zebra.  (Again you’ll have to zoom to get a good look because I didn’t bring the “big” lens on the horseback ride.)

Then it was back to the hotel to relax and have a few cold Tuskers.  And, as you might have guessed, Clara is back in the room snoring away.  This vacationing is tough work!!!!

Until next time.

IF WE COULD TALK TO THE ANIMALS

(This post was originally written to be posted on Christmas Day, so apologies for the lateness.)

I know what you’re thinking; how do you top kissing giraffes?  It’s not easy but we had to press on with our trip.  After wiping the giraffe slobber off our faces we headed out for the Karen Blixen Museum.  For those of you who don’t remember, she is the author of the book “Out Of Africa” which was made into a movie in 1985 starring Meryl Streep and Robert Redford.  For Clara this was one of the highlights of the trip; for me I have to admit I did not even know who Karen Blixen was because she wrote the book under another name.  But either way it was a little bit of education for both of us.

After checking into the Serena Nairobi (another magnificent property), we had a beautiful 7 course meal out on a patio area for Christmas Eve.  There was a group of carolers in the lobby who added to the magic.  The next morning (Merry Christmas!) we hit the road again at 8am.  We had a little stop at a local coffee plantation, and then we arrived at our next hotel destination, The Fairmont Mt Kenya Safari Club.  Magnificent doesn’t even begin to describe the room.  It is like the whole place is still how it looked back in the ‘50s and ‘60s when William Holden and all his Hollywood buds used to hang out here.  The floors are parquet hardwood (for you hoops fans imagine the floor of the old Boston Garden only with a darker wood) and there is a fireplace in the room with a mahogany mantle piece.  We just got back from dinner and the room steward had lit the fire!!!  I think it is way beyond cool.  Now we can just leave the door to our balcony open all night while the fire keeps us toasty.  We are up at around 7,000 feet in elevation so the nights are a little bit cool.  And there are peacocks roaming the grounds that will just stroll into the bar or the dining room and no one will even blink an eye.  Like last year when Clara & I celebrated Christmas in Fajardo, PR with the Ohana Crew, this year we celebrated in another exotic location with new friends and had a truly wonderful day.  We both are blessed in many ways to be able to experience these types of holidays away from home.  We did miss all of our family and friends, but Christmas in Kenya, Africa was a pretty good substitute for us. 

But enough about the accommodations and the Christmas spirit---we need to talk again about the animals.  After we checked in and had a bit of lunch we headed out for the Mt Kenya Animal Orphanage, a non-profit group that rescues the wild beasts, rehabilitates them, and then releases them back into the wild.  There were all types of monkeys, antelope, buffalo, birds, dwarf hippos, llamas, cheetah, and even the zebroid (which is a cross between a horse and a zebra).  They even had an ostrich named Patricia wandering around that ate corn out of your hand.  They had a couple different types of monkeys running around the grounds that would sit on your shoulder and eat fruit out of your hand.  Of course that gave Clara her Christmas wish of petting, holding and kissing the animals.  They even had a 100+ year old tortoise you could ride.  Even though a lot of the animals were in cages it never had the feeling of a zoo, especially with all the animals that were roaming free on the grounds---and knowing that all of the caged animals would be eventually sent back into the wild.  Enjoy the pictures!

Until next time.    

I BLESS THE RAINS DOWN IN AFRICA

I just wanted to take the time to mention some very nice things that happen on a daily basis that we don’t bother reporting about, & some experiences that have dazzled me on this trip:

-          First of all, to my favorite niece Josie:  Today, we visited the Jane Goodall Chimp Sanctuary. I remember when you were reading about Diane Fosse’s work with chimps over the summer & kept texting me words in Swahili.  I wish I would have paid more attention because everyone speaks Swahili here & I could have a great conversation with one & all if only I could remember the word for “grandmother living in a forest”.

-          Every person we’ve run into is so incredibly friendly.  All you hear are calls of “Jambo” (“Hello”) as you walk around.  And once they learn your name, they never let it go.  Every corner I turn, it’s either “Clara, Clara, Clara”, or “Mr. Matthew”.  It never fails to make us smile.

-          Every time we go on a game drive, we drive through the dusty roads of the bush where red dirt flies all around us.  We never think we’re covered in it, even though the roof of our jeeps are removed & we’re standing up the whole time to better see the animals & take pictures.  But we’re always proved wrong upon our arrival back at the hotel.  There are staff members who wait for us to pull up, armed with trays of orange juice or champagne, & these wonderful damp, hot towels scented with either green tea, citrus, eucalyptus, or lavender.  We all wipe our hands & faces with the towels, & then discard them in a big silver tray or woven basket.  When we look down, we all have a good laugh at  the bunch of dirty red towels that have been heaped together.

-    I'm sure you've all heard of the "Big Five" in Africa (elephant, black rhino, leopard, cape buffalo, & lion).  It's a real coup to spot these animals.  Within 3 days of our safari, we saw all of them.  And I'm just now realizing how very rare this is.  I've been hearing stories about how people come to Africa several times (one lady came 27 times!!!) & never saw the Big Five.  I marvel at our wondrous good luck.

-          When we arrived at our hotel at the Ngorongoro Crater, we were greeted by a bunch of Masaai warriors who did some traditional singing & dancing for us.  My God, what a beautiful sight & sounds as they jumped around in their colorful tribal outfits, masks, spears, etc.  See for yourself: 

-          We’ve been lucky enough to catch the beginning of the migration.  During our drives through the Serengeti, if you look in the distance, all you see are never-ending black lines that swarm across the plains.  This swarm is made up of 1.8 million wildebeests & 1 million zebras making their way across Africa.  You would be in awe to see this & there’s no way pictures do it justice.

-          At night in the Serengeti, when the day is done & Matt & I return to our room, we open the doors to our balcony & just sit, look, & listen.  All you can hear through the night are the throaty roar of the lions & the shrill laughing of the hyenas (or, as my 6 year old niece Elsie says, “hy-henas”).  It’s wondrous.  The last night we were there, there was an electrical storm.  What an amazing sight to see lightning streaking across the sky, followed by animal sounds.  This is the one thing I hope I never forget about this journey.

-          At this same resort, since the hotel is situated right in the middle of the Serengeti plains, you must call the front desk & ask for an armed guard to walk you from your room to the dining area.  There’s animals all around & it’s not unusual to find lions taking a dip in the pool.  It’s quite different from any Motel 6 we’ve ever been to.

-          During our drive from Nairobi to Kenya, we stopped for a bathroom break & visited a place that sells African masks, hand-carved animals, African art, handmade African jewelry, etc.  One of the boys who works there was wearing a cowboy hat.  He saw Matt’s ball cap & asked if he’d be interested in trading.  Matt said his head was too big for the cowboy hat, & he didn’t have another hat to wear that day in the blazing sun.  The boy said that was all right, but you could tell he was disappointed.  I told him if he gave me his address, I PROMISE to send him a ball cap upon our return to Pittsburgh.  I wish you could see how his face lit up.  He couldn’t grab a piece of paper & pen fast enough to give me his information.  Then another guy came along …… “Can I have one too?”.  I said yes, of course.  Then a third one popped up …… then a fourth.  Pretty soon we were up to 8 people, & I said I had to get out of there before anyone else came up asking for a hat.  Everyone out there who knows me well knows I will certainly follow through with this.  Matt & I will send a dozen hats to these sweet guys.  And I just love this example of how our lives touch others.

-          On Christmas day in Kenya, we visited an animal orphanage.  This is for animals whose parents have been killed, or they’ve been too badly injured to live on their own, etc.  What a wonderful place.  Matt & I made a large enough donation to have our names on a plaque there.  When we wrote down what we wanted engraved on it, I put “In honor of Charm & Mitch”.  I really love knowing that our names will forever be imprinted on a little piece of Africa.  Besides the time we spent Christmas with Matt’s sister Liza, her husband Peter, & their 4 kids in Puerto Rico during their year-long sailing adventure, this was the most magical Christmas of my life.

-          The hotels we’ve been staying at --- OH MY GOD.  I’ve never known such luxury or opulence in the middle of a desert or the middle of an African bush.  The one we’re at now, the Fairmont Mt. Kenya Safari Club, is so unique.  They’ve got peacocks that roam freely.  And I mean inside the building too.  They’ll just wander through the bar or the dining room.  When we left our room this morning, there were 4 of them standing there as our own little welcoming committee.  However, with the good comes the bad.  When we eat dinner here in the evenings, they have a cheesy little duo who sing for our “entertainment” pleasure.  These 2 look & sound like they should be on a Saturday Night Live skit.  See if you agree with me:

-          One other thing about this hotel:  it bisects the northern & southern  hemispheres.  One man put on a demonstration for us.  On one side of the equator, he poured water into a funnel & we watched it go down --- clockwise.  We all moved 50 ft. to the other side --- same demonstration --- the water moved counter-clockwise.  Pretty neat.  Our tour director, whom I’m madly in love with to put up with all of our different personality quirks (but honestly, we’re in with a grand group of people & we’ve all made fast friends with one another), arranged for a ceremony for us which included Masaai warriors.  We all danced with the warriors down “Equator Row” & were simultaneously on both sides of the equator.  We were handed certificates proving we stood on both sides.  Incredibly corny, I know, but I loved every minute of it:

-  Are you sick of me talking about these hotels yet?  Too bad.  One more thing.  I think Matt mentioned that because of the elevation at the Ngorongoro Crater, the nights are a bit chilly.  While we’re at dinner, the good folks who do the turn-down service put hot water bottles in your bed so the sheets are toasty warm when you turn in for the night.  At the Fairmount Mt. Kenya Safari Club, not only do they do the same thing, but we also return from dinner to a roaring wood-burning fire in the fireplace in our room.  All through the night, there’s a soft glow in the room & you hear the gentle crackling of the wood.  A very nice touch.

-          Our days are exhausting & we rarely have free time, but again, those of you who know me best know I wouldn’t have it any other way.  No beach bum am I!

Before I take my leave, here’s a couple shout outs:

SUE WRAY:  I got your nice email, & I am furiously stealing hotel pens for you left & right to add to your collection.

COUSIN PATTY:  No matter what your stinking brother says, I loved your heartwarming post.  Thanks so much for reading our blog & letting us know you’re out there thinking of us.  It really means a lot!

JACOB-DOLAN CLAN:  I know how much you loved receiving Matt’s comments on your blog during your sailing adventure, & we just adore you for returning the favor.

RIEDEL FAMILY:  I got your email.  Thanks for giving me good news about Cindy’s dad.  I don’t know why you’re suddenly unable to post comments.  Matt says to just set up a Google account.  If anyone has advice for Dawn, please leave a comment.

LOUISE & LEO:  So glad you're enjoying our blog!
ANDY CANOVALI:  You kept your promise!  XOXOXOXO

I love you all & miss you!  How I wish you were here with me!

-  Clara

BEAR WITH US AGAIN

As you can tell it has been a few days since we last posted.  The whole time we were at the Mt Kenya Safari Lodge we had zero internet.  They claimed that their main communication line had been cut during some nearby road work.  I find that hard to believe since the roads here are just goat paths, but that's the story we were told.  We are now at our next location, and the internet connection is adequate.  We promise to try to get caught up in the next few days.  Clara is working on a post right now, but it is time consuming trying to get the pictures and videos uploaded onto the blog.  Also, we have a 4:30am wake up call tomorrow morning for our balloon ride over the Masai Mara, so I'm not sure how much we are going to get accomplished this evening.  It has been one amazing day after another and I hope we can get you caught up before we come home on the 1st!!!

Until next time.

WHAT I DID ON MY CHRISTMAS VACATION IN KENYA

What else would we do---we kissed giraffes!!!!  Here are a couple of videos of Matt and Clara "kissing" the giraffe.  Clara had just a quick kiss with the giraffe, but of course the tour director told me to hold the food in my teeth and make the giraffe work for it.  I had a line here about how giraffe saliva is one of the healthiest in nature and that's why I wanted the giraffe to lick my entire face, but Clara told me it was boring and stupid and made me take it out.  Enjoy.

Can't get that back in the states!!!!!!!

Until next time.

Day 2 on the Serengeti Plains

(Here is the last of the posts from this evening, and this should get us caught up almost all the way.  Who knows what awaits us internet-wise at the next stop.  BTW---Merry Christmas from Nairobi!!!!)

Thursday December 23^rd, and it was another early morning with a 6am wakeup call, but as the tour director says, we’re not on vacation are we---we’re on a Tauck Tour.  We left the hotel around 7:30am for an extended game drive through the Serengeti Plains.  By the time we got back at 1:30pm we had seen another great collection of animals and birds.

First off we noticed some little dik-dik lying by the roadside.  While this looks like a baby it is actually a full grown animal.  They are one of the many in the antelope/deer/impala family which are around these parts.

Next we came across a “herd” of giraffe making their way down the treeline.  Such gracious animals for something I always thought to be so tall and lanky. 

 

We spotted some hippos soaking themselves in a pool, but none of them was eager to stick their head out of the water and give us a big smile so we moved on our way.  Our next treat was another leopard hiding itself pretty good in a tree.  I could see him pretty well with our binoculars, but the pictures didn’t turn out too well.  Again, if you zoom in you might be able to see him, but not too well.  But it’s one of the Big 5, and it is one of the rarest to see. 

Just down from the leopard we spotted a pride of lions sleeping under a tree on the hillside.  There were also a few others nearby; one of them happened to get up from its nap and slumber over to the bigger pile of bodies and plop down next to them.  We waited around to see if they would do anything, but sleep was all they had on the agenda.

Our next treat was an animal we hadn’t seen yet; the cheetah.  One of the drivers spied a lone cheetah sitting in the middle of the field, probably about 125 yards from the road.  We could get a good look through the binoculars, but again the pictures weren’t too great. 

Here in the Serengeti Plain you are not permitted to drive off-road to get closer to the animals.  You have to stay on the designated “roads” which are really just mud paths.  But our guide told us that once we get to the Masai Mara Park in Kenya next week we will be able to drive off-road to get closer to the animals.  We are scheduled to have at least three (3) game drives in the Masai Mara, so I hope to have even better pictures of these magnificent animals then.  That is if I can find a reliable connection to post on the blog.

On our way back to the hotel we came across a very lively group of baboons on both sides of the road, including many pregnant females.

And that was it for the day.  We actually have the whole afternoon off to just relax and unwind and get prepared for our flights from the Serengeti to Kilamanjaro to Nairobi which we took today, Friday December 24th.  The next post won't be too long, but it will inculde video of Clara and me getting a little bit of tongue from a giraffe.  Stay tuned.

Until next time (Merry Christmas again).

 

Until next time.