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Journal
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Saturday, December 29, 2007 We, and all of our luggage, made it to Zanzibar, Tanzania! I forgot to mention that the 27th was election day in Kenya, and the 28th, when we flew through Nairobi, was the day when the results were to be announced. This was apparently keeping lots of Americans away from Kenya, according to most of the hotel workers that we met. Marco, our guide from Sweetwaters and Samburu, picked us up at the domestic airport, took us for an absolutely amazing lunch at the Karen Blixen Garden, and then dropped us at the International airport where we watched the results come in over the television but nothing had been announced by the time we left. We landed in Zanzibar last night around 9pm and boy oh boy is it hot and humid. The airport had elements of Cairo chaos with people wanting to carry your luggage, just on a much smaller scale. Our handler whisked us away to the Serena is an AIR CONDITIONED vehicle. The Serena is beautiful - Arabic/Indian architecture, mosquito net covered beds, and a pool right by the sea. We walked around Stone Town a bit but quickly retreated to the hotel and spent the day under an umbrella by the pool. Tomorrow we're going to the private beach club which is 25 kilometers away, and then we head home on the 31st (and in case you are following election news, we don't leave the airport on the 31st, just a 2 hour layover). Wednesday, December 26, 2007 Lion-palooza Update from our afternoon game drive yesterday, we first encountered four lions lazing about, and then hit the motherload: three lionesses with NINE 4-week old cubs! It started to rain so all the other vehicles took off but we stayed and watched them for about an hour. They didn't seem to mind the rain at all and it seems that mom's tail makes the perfect kitten toy.  We eventually left and found the two males nearby just as the sun came out.  And then we rescued a landrover that was stuck in the mud near some elephants that were bathing in a stream. Always good to be in the vehicle that is doing the rescuing rather than the one that is stuck! Tuesday, December 25, 2007 Tried a different computer and having a bit more luck - some pictures from yesterday.   This morning's game drive included many many lions - most of whom were just laying on their backs with full bellies or on the road because the grass was wet. More later... Greetings from the Masai Mara. Unfortunately, the internet here is slower than an overland caravan tour of Africa. Few of you will understand what that means, and for those of you who are bored google Guerba or Gametrackers. The flight from Samburu stopped in Nairobi, and twice in the Mara before arriving at the lodge's airstrip. It's been raining for a week which made for some muddy landings and takeoffs, but the sun is shining and the animals are out. On our afternoon game drive we encountered 12 lions feasting on their Christmas wildebeest dinner. The lodge has a hippo pool, and of course the resident monkeys, which of course comes with a traditionally clothed monkey chaser. By far the absolute biggest score of the trip thus far has to be the gift shop at this lodge. They have every type of East African tsotchke that you can imagine - including - you guessed it - the 15 piece traditional Masai village diorama that I've been coveting since last year but have not seen anywhere (even though it seems like our drivers stop at every curio shoppe). We have some great photos and video from today, but unfortunately this computer refuses to let me upload them so they will have to wait for another time. La la salama :) Sunday, December 23, 2007 If these blog posts seem abrupt, but the connection is horribly slow and it takes about 30 minutes to upload an image so excuse the lack of spell check and random train of thought :) Our lodge is actually in Buffalo Springs which is just across the river from the actual park. The entrance to the park features a painting of a lion and a baby oryx, and you National Geographic junkies will know the story of the lioness who adopted the baby oryx (who was killed by lions when the lioness when to get a drink and the lions came and the oryx did not run away). This place is crawling with elephants and giraffes - and all sorts of antelope: impala, gazelles, gerenuk, and dik dik, which are small skittish little ones.   On our afternoon game drive yesterday we went deep into Samburu in search of the elusive leopard - who continues to elude us although we continue to see countless giraffes and elephants. We encountered several lone male elephants, several whom were quite truculent and would not let us pass. Not good to be in a van doing a three point turn while a particularly perturbed pachyderm shakes his dusty ears and wildly waves his trunk! On our morning game drive the van was chased by a cape buffalo - of course we were in no real danger but it was exhilarating none the less. And the swahili word of the day is: umbu, which means mosquito. Saturday, December 22, 2007 Greetings from Samburu! On our drive out of Sweetwaters, we passed 3 white rhino. Interesting point of trivia - their name "white rhino" has nothing to do with color but rather the South Africans who named them were referring to the shape of their mouths - wide - and it sounded instead like "white". After a bumpy and dusty ride, we arrived at the Samburu Serena around noon. On our afternoon game drive we saw an absolutely amazing number of elephants - hundreds and hundreds. We also saw dozens of giraffe, a cheetah (accompanied by the obligatory |cheetah jam of safari vehicles), a lion, and dozens of horned antelope-ish things such as gazelles, impala, dik dik, etc.  We've already seen the "Samburu Five", species unique to the area and Samuburu's equivelant of the infamous Big Five: the gerenuk, grevy's zebra, reticulated giraffe, ostritch, and the oryx. We spent the morning looking for the elusive leopard, who continues to elude us. We did wander into a herd of over 30 giraffes - simply amazing - and continue to see elephants at every turn. Friday, December 21, 2007 Awoke to a beautiful view of Mt. Kenya yesterday.  Started off the day with a morning game drive that included a sighting of 11 lions, 3 jackals, and a black rhino - all within sight of the camp!  Spent the day lounging around the pool, then went on a night game drive where we saw a spotted hyena, a giant male lion, a herd of elephants including one disgruntled male that charged our land cruiser, bush babies, giraffes, grevys zebras, gazelles, bushbuck, white bellied bustard, steinbock, jackson hartebeest, anlots of other antelope-looking animals. Nightly turn down service in the tent includes hot water bottles in our bed - much needed as it is a bit nippy! We are packed and headed for breakfast, and then have a 3 hour drive to Samburu. Thursday, December 20, 2007 Jambo from Kenya! Our room at the Stanley was ginormous. It has two bathrooms and was across the hall from the Karen Blixen suite. I joked to the porter that is was bigger than our home and he said, "you have a very small home." Our guide until we leave for the Mara is Marco. He speaks impeccable English, does not drive too fast, and does not do the pass on the right thing that I do not like :) After a 3 hours drive from Nairobi, we arrived at Sweetwaters, which is part of the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. Our tent is hardly a tent - it has a flush toilet and 24 hour electricity and hot water. We also have the newest tent here so hardly roughing it, but it does zip shut and does not have a key. This afternoon we visited a chimpanzee sanctuary and then went to meet Morani, a 33 year old tame-ish black rhino.  We also went on a game drive where we saw reticulated giraffes, warthogs, gazelles, a tawny eagle, sandbill stork, and, oh yeah, a pride of six lions. Tuesday, December 18, 2007 Our vacation is officially here. We've started our anti-malaria medication and I've taken the last good shower that I'll have for 14 days. And - it's official, we're overweight. No... not us, our luggage :) ) (click for larger version of the "Luggage Architecture") Grey duffel 1 - clothing, misc - 16 pounds Grey duffel 2 - clothing - 17 pounds Camera wheelie 1 - 22 pounds Camera wheelie 2 (which also has emergency stuff in case British Air misplaces our bags) - 30 pounds Canvas tote with partially deflated soccer balls for village children - 17 pounds Grand total: 102 I know, I know, if you add it up we're checking just over 50 pounds for both of us which is WAY under the limit, but the snag is these "light aircraft" flights within Kenya. BUT, our flight originates in Samburu (rather than in Nairobi) so 1) we're hoping that they don't have a weigh station or 2) we can always wear the cameras as accessories :) Sunday, December 16, 2007 We don't have a tree or a wreath, but we have a slew or ornaments after our ornament workshop at Chicago Hot Glass. Unlike our last ornament making encounter, this technique didn't involve the furnace, pipes, puntys, or the glory hole. We placed colored glass frit inside hollow glass tubes that were sealed at one end, and then heated the tubes over butane torches until they were ready to blow out. As usual, the instructors made it look much easier than it really is, but we still came away with a few decent creations.  And for reference, a much belated picture of our cane ornaments. 
Friday, December 14, 2007 Ice-owa 
Tuesday, December 11, 2007 The camera phone picture doesn't do it justice, but Des Moines is blanketed in shimmering ice. 
Sunday, December 09, 2007 If you're looking for a gift for the person that has everything, how about donating a mosquito net in their name? In the US, mosquitos are a nuisance and when we travel we have expensive drugs and bug repellent to protect us from Malaria. In other parts of the world Malaria infects 500 million people a year and approximately one person dies from Malaria every 30 seconds. In Africa, Malaria is the leading killer of children. (From the Nothing but Nets website) Despite the magnitude of the problem, there is a simple and cost-effective solution to prevent malaria deaths. For just $10, we can purchase a bed net, deliver it to a family, and explain its use. Bed nets work by creating a protective barrier against mosquitoes at night, when the vast majority of transmissions occur. A family of four can sleep under an insecticide-treated bed net, safe from malaria, for up to four years. The benefits of bed nets extend even further than the family. When enough nets are used, the insecticide used to deter mosquitoes makes entire communities safer—including even those individuals who do not have nets. Nothing but Nets is part of the United Nations Foundation, a four star charity according to the Charity Navigator. Buy one now! Saturday, December 08, 2007 One more Africa-related task checked off the list. Last Friday we made our annual trek to Northwestern Hospital's travel clinic. It was actually a pretty quick visit. We can practically recite the big book of bad African diseases, and we know all about the malaria meds and our antibiotic preferences so they didn't even charge us for a full visit :) There's a shortage of the yellow fever vaccine this year, but luckily we're covered with that until 2014. We were due for typhoid, which sucked since that is the one that really makes your arm hurt. There's a pill version available, but with both of us traveling for work it isn't that doable because the pills need to be refrigerated and taken over a period of several days. Then there's the spiral-bound printed travel advisory (which clearly doesn't come from the tourism board) and if you scan reads like this. Mom, don't mouse-over that :) Good thing we've been there twice or I would be completely freaking out. Saturday, December 01, 2007 Andy submitted a photo to JPG magazine - go give it a thumbs up !
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 A picture every few days or so... Well, there's also this, but more details on that to follow. 
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