Travels With Maria

Travel

There is so much to see…

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
More

Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

More

Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

More

To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

More

Chobe Riverfront

The Chobe River forms part of the border between Namibia and Botswana as it meanders in twists and turns until it flows into the Zambezi. Our lodge is on the Namibian waterfront across from Botswana's renowned Chobe National Park. There is no road on the Namibian side (well, there is, but it's a very rough dirt track, two ruts, for more than 30 miles at max 12 mph), so to get here, we exited Namibia, crossed into Botswana, drove 20 miles on good road through the national park to another border crossing to go back into Namibia. Fortunately, our driver, Travis, does this often, so he walked us through the…
More

Nkasa Rupala

To see photo updates, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 While driving through a Namibian town, I saw a young boy, maybe 9 years old, with a little homemade car attached to a long stick so he could push it along while walking upright. I remember seeing the exact same thing in Morocco in 2019 at the opposite end of this huge continent, thousands of miles and hundreds of cultures away. Game drives in safari parks are a rough affair. Everywhere the bumpy ride is referred to as an "African massage". An ad hoc network of tracks generally consisting of two ruts through the bush, never maintained, made worse by traffic during the…
More

Along the Kavango River

The Kavango River starts in Angola then becomes the border between Angola and Namibia until it turns south, crosses Namibia's Caprivi Strip and flows into Botswana where, unlike most rivers, that flow to the sea, it ends up dribbling out in the desert forming the Okavango Delta, one of the planet's most fantastic wildlife habitats.  This morning, Abel took us across the bridge to the other, eastern, side of the river for a game drive. Near the entrance of the park are ruins of buildings, an old South African military base from the war of independence when South West Africa was liberated from apartheid South Africa and became the independent…
More

Khwe San

Today, we visited one of the many "living museums" of Namibia, model villages set up by the cultural ministry to preserve traditional knowledge and practices. Not unlike Colonial Williamsburg here in the US. The one we visited is for the Khwe tribe of the San people.  The San are the original inhabitants of this region and have been here at least 100,000 years. Geneticists have traced their DNA that far back (go ask ChatGPT, I'm not going to attempt to explain that, especially since it's over my head), farther than any other people on earth. For that time they have lived in balance with nature, very egalitarian, no permanent settlements,…
More

Elephants!

To see Maria's photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 After we recovered from our night in the Dream Cruiser, Abel took us on our last game drive in the eastern end of Etosha National Park. We saw giraffes and various deer at different water holes and then came upon one that had a fairly large (we thought....more later) family of elephants that were absolutely trashing the waterhole, stirring up mud from the bottom, until, when they got out, they were all a very elegant dark grey. Yesterday, we (Abel) drove for seven hours through flat, mostly boring countryside. We passed through a small industrial city, stopped for gas in a small commercial…
More

Onguma Dream Cruiser

To see photos, click here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/znAZZNkwfxyEn3fz6 Last night we had a unique experience. We spent the night on a high platform next to a waterhole out in the bush. The Dream Cruiser is a Toyota Land Cruiser fitted out with a large platform 8 feet in the air. You go through a door into the truck bed where you find a full bathroom with shower. Then a climb up a very step stairway to the open air platform that's about 8 feet wide and 12 feet long. Half is an open deck with a small table, a set of shelves and a couple of beanbag chairs. The other half is…
More

Sunday Morning Hiding at the Waterhole

We spent this morning in a hide right next to a waterhole. It's a permanent structure with seven seats looking out open windows at ground level. To get to the hide we walked down a narrow hallway from the parking lot, fences made of sticks on either side so the animals can't see us approaching. We were the only two people, plus a guide who gave us high powered binoculars and who explained things, though mostly we were quietly watching.  Throughout the morning various animals arrived for a drink. It was slow in the beginning, just a few birds. There was a mixed flock of waxwings and finches, small birds…
More

Back in Namibia!

After two overnight flights in a row (Boston to London, then to Johannesburg) we meet Berv, our guide for our Southern Africa tour in 2022. He happened to be in the airport at the same time so we contacted him and arranged to meet him for the few minutes our paths crossed. We like Berv a lot and it was a special treat to see him in person again 3 years (almost to the day) later. After a last 2 hour local flight, we landed in Namibia where we stood in line for over an hour to get through immigration. Borders are bad enough, serving only to separate people from…
More

Viking: Missing the World in Comfort

We just completed Viking's Romantic Danube river cruise. Viking's tag line is "​E​xploring the ​World in ​Comfort". Comfort? Absolutely! The ship was spotless, well-appointed, with top quality amenities, delicious food selections and unparalleled service. ​E​xploring the world? Not so much.  Climate change is making Europe's rivers impassable. Our two days in Budapest became three hours of bus ride for two hours of a hasty bus tour of the city that included 45 minutes with feet on the ground. This was because the river level was so low the boat had to park 60 miles away, upriver. The same thing happened at the end of the trip, when we had to get…
More

Driving Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way

Ireland's west coast was the end of the world to Europeans for thousands of years. Hundreds of millions of years ago, before continental drift created the Atlantic Ocean, the land was part of what is now the Appalachian mountain range. Layers of sedimentary rock pounded by North Atlantic waves for millions of years formed sheer cliffs that dominate the coastline. These cliffs, along with the numerous bays and the mountainous terrain give this area its nickname: The Wild Atlantic Way. Ireland has been inhabited for 10,000 years or more. There are stone age tombs all over the place as well as fortifications from the time of the Giza pyramids. One…
More

Northern Ireland

One cannot talk about Northern Ireland without talking about The Troubles. Tuesday, we picked up a rental car. Fortunately, the rental place is a half mile from the motorway, so I didn't have to drive on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road with a manual transmission through Dublin's heavy traffic. We headed north to Belfast, known, as they say, for the two Ts: Troubles and Titanic. After a night's sleep, we were picked up in the morning by Brian, driving a black English-style cab. When Ireland finally gained independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the 1920s, the UK…
More

Chobe

Safari jargon: A.L.T. - Animal-Like Thing. Refers to a false alarm sighting African massage - bouncing in the safari vehicle African Salute - animal turns its back to show you its butt Loo with a view - Where we pee Bushy bushy - Where we pee Water the flowers - Woman pees Check the tire pressure - Man pees Early start today. On our way out of camp just after sunrise, we saw lion footprints from last night, one reason we are not allowed out at night and need escorts to return to our tents after dinner. We drove around the park for three hours or so this morning. We…
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Four Corners

There is only one point where four nations come together in one place. We crossed this X today. We drove across the beautiful new, one-year-old Kazungula bridge across the Zambezi River between Zambia and Botswana. From the bridge we could see Zimbabwe on our left and Namibia on our right. The point where all four meet is in the middle of the river, slightly to the east of the bridge. 

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Up the River

African rivers are lifelines for the plants and animals that rely on water in this arid climate. The rivers are full of fish, the trees lining the rivers host fish-eating birds, the mammals come warily down to the bank for a drink. Hippos lounge around in the water. Crocodiles sun themselves on the bank. It was a quiet, smooth, cool, dust and insect free way to watch the wildlife.

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To Zambia

We exited Zimbabwe, then walked across the Zambezi bridge, an engineering marvel for its time (1905). This is was pretty spectacular, 420 feet below us was the Zambezi, one of the great rivers of Africa, flowing through its vertical gorge. From the center of the bridge, we could almost see Victoria Falls around a sharp bend in the river.

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