Happy Thanksgiving to our family and friends in the US…Gratefulness for so much…

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Upon arrival in Mombasa, we took this photo from the ferry, as another ferry was taking off.  Notice the crowds. Shortly, we’ll be on this ferry again in Alfred’s vehicle.

This is our second Thanksgiving in a row where we haven’t had a “real” Thanksgiving celebration. Last year, we spent Thanksgiving in Scottsdale, Arizona, and Christmas in Nevada with family only weeks from leaving the US on January 3, 2013. Gratefulness

Last year, we dined in a quaint restaurant in Old Town in Scottsdale at an outdoor table, the first time either of us had Thanksgiving dinner outdoors. Of course, these past three months we’ve lived outdoors 16 hours a day. Now, it’s not such an oddity to us.

Thanksgiving for us today? Nope. It’s not a holiday in Kenya. In our attempt to blend into the culture of the countries in which we live, we find ourselves, for now, leaving US traditions behind. Also, they don’t sell whole turkeys or pumpkins in Kenya.

Do we miss it?  We miss our family, not the food, not shopping, not cooking, not dishes. We miss the family, loud and playful with lots of laughter, the grandkids playing, running joyfully through the house. Sure, we miss that. 

But, when one makes a decision such as ours, one must do so with the peace and the knowledge that the love will travel with us and in time, we’ll all be together again. We have no sorrow, no angst, and no mournful regret. 

We are grateful this Thanksgiving and every day for the health and well being of our family and friends. Plus, we are grateful every day; for our health, for our safety, and for our seemingly endless sense of adventure and desire to continue on.

We are grateful for each other; the way we hold each other up when we falter for a moment; the way that we accept each other’s foibles and annoyances; the way that we remember that a gentle brush across the lips or a squeeze of a hand, goes a long way. 

We are grateful for the simple traditions and routines that we’ve created giving us a much-needed respite from the difficult times; playing cards; a walk to the produce stand; a movie night; a meal planned, prepared, and always enjoyed together. We are grateful.

Tomorrow will be our last full day in Kenya. On Saturday, Alfred will pick us up at 7:30 am to make the 90-minute drive and ferry ride to the airport in Mombasa, the second-largest city in Kenya which is an island in the Indian Ocean. Often there are delays at the ferry requiring that we leave early. 

It will be a long full day of travel arriving in Johannesburg in the evening for an overnight stay in a hotel. The following morning, we’ll have another 45-minute flight with an hour-long drive from the airport in Mpumalanga, South Africa to get to our awaiting house in Marloth Park. 

As always, we’ll be grateful when the traveling is over, our luggage has joined us and we begin the pleasant experience in getting situated in our new home.

Now, we’re going to “suck some air” out of the space bags and get as much of the packing done as possible.  Back tomorrow for a short update and a few of our favorite photos from Kenya!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the US! And, a happy day to those in other countries

Here’s the shocker, folks!!!…Physically, emotionally, financially….

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The four cardboard boxes we’d packed, were ready to get shipped at the local post office.

OK. The power is out and will continue to be out for the entire day today as it was last night beginning at 9:30 pm. The generator is a hit and miss, going off and on intermittently. It’s not on now. My computer indicated that I have 45 minutes of battery left so I must write quickly to get this posted.

I hope that our “shocker” didn’t appear as if it was a life-threatening situation. But, for us, it truly is a life-changing situation; physically, emotionally, and financially.

Here it is:  

I had looked far and wide for this pair of 3″ heels a few years ago, loving the neutral color.
This is my last pair of high heels.  Bye, bye, shoes.

This decision didn’t come easily. We’d already packed the four cardboard boxes with clothing, shoes, accessories with the intent of shipping them to our house in South Africa after I’d verified that we could receive packages and confirmed the address. 

Our intent was to have Alfred take us to the Ukunda post office, not to DHL, where we recently had spent KES $38,953, US $458 to have one box shipped from our mailing service in Nevada to the DHL store in Diani Beach, Kenya that weighed only 13 pounds (5.9 kg)! 

Instead, our plan this time was to box everything up that we wanted to ship and use the Ukunda post office, a 45 minute round trip drive from here. It was already set up with Alfred to take us on Friday morning at 10:00 am. 

Unaware of the potential mailing costs at the post office, we knew that we’d have to get a ton of shillings from the ATM with the post office only accepting cash. That in itself presented a dilemma.  f we got too much cash, how would we get it converted to Rand (ZAR), the money used in South Africa, without incurring exchange fees? 

Surprisingly, these long casual cotton dresses are heavy, especially when I purchased them to accommodate my height, 4″ taller than the average woman.  Look at those vitamins! Many of them are also already gone, tossed in the past week. These few bottles were unopened. We only kept those that are an absolute necessity, such as Probiotics for intestinal health, B6 vitamins to prevent kidney stones (has been working for Tom after three surgeries back in the US), and a few for me.

If we discovered that we were short of cash at the post office and didn’t have enough shillings on-hand, we’d have to find another bank or drive back to the original ATM. Talk about stress-inducing! Hot weather, no AC in the taxi, sweat pouring down our necks!  (There are five minutes left on my battery!)

Of course, we weighed the boxes and looked online fruitlessly attempting to find out the postal rates from Kenya to anywhere (to get an idea), let alone to South Africa. No such luck. Nor was there a phone number to call for information. Nor was there a website for the Ukunda post office. Nada. (The generator just came on)! Yippee!

This was going nowhere. Angst was setting in. Then, by chance, I stumbled upon restrictions for sending packages to South Africa. It was the “no shoes” restriction that put me over the edge. To verify this I called the local DHL store (which incidentally is inside a pharmacy, owned by the pharmacist) to discover if this was true. 

The store manager confirmed that only one (1) shoe may be sent in any package to South Africa. One shoe? When would one shoe ever be appropriate? I couldn’t imagine a scenario unless, God forbid, one had only one foot. The list of restrictions continued from there.

Tom has always been prepared to unload as much as possible of his belongings to avoid paying any more outrageous excess baggage fees. We’d already paid over KES $173,500, US $2000 in fees between the Dubai and Venice airports, our only flights thus far.  

The nights of me wearing these dresses are over.  They are all in this pile.

I, on the other hand, wondered what I’d do if I eliminated all my “go out to dinner clothing, shoes, and accessories” some of which I’ve worn in every country we’ve lived in and on every night on the cruises. 

This decision came on Monday night. I tossed and turned all night. This was the final straw in me letting go, narrowing everything in the world, I personally owned down to the maximum that airlines allow to avoid excess baggage fees, a hard reality. Who are they to dictate what I can and can’t take around the world with me?  Anger welled up inside of me. 

Many of you may think, so what? It’s just clothing and shoes. But, as a woman that always delighted in dressing nicely, it had become part of who I am. 

We all, in our own way, are a package. And at some point in our young lives, we develop into the person we choose to become; our demeanor, our persona, our style (or lack of style, if one so chooses), our integrity, our honor, our values, our intellectual pursuits, our business acumen or skill set, and our relationships. For me, it was a package, all pieces included.

Tom understood my angst.  He knows me well accepting all the pieces. He hasn’t pressed the issue. Never. Not after spending the US $2000 for excess baggage. Not recently as we tried to figure out this dilemma. He knew I had to come to this decision on my own.  He was right.

Yesterday morning I gave him the news. I was ready to let go. He hauled out the four packed cardboard boxes from the second bedroom to the glass table in the outdoor living room and I began going through them, keeping only a few items, adding many more. The more I went through the process, the more detached I became, knowing full well this was the right thing to do.

This doesn’t look like much, but it weighs over 40 pounds (18 kg).  In addition, we’ve tossed another 10 pounds in old and worn items (4.5 kg).  On our last flight, our overage was 44 pounds (20 kg).

Tom jumped in with both feet, pulling out newer “casual dressy” clothing, placing them in the boxes along with my items. We’ve literally eliminated 40% of our combined clothing, more mine than Tom’s since he’d already cut back as we’ve traveled, to allow room for my things.

Of course, not all of our belongings consist of clothing and shoes. Perhaps 25% is supplies, electronics, required paper records, cosmetics, and toiletries (of which we have the minimum). We don’t even have a bottle of body lotion using only coconut oil in its place. No perfume. No bubble bath. No soaps. 

Friday, we’ll seal the “space bags,” weigh everything, including the suitcases. Based on the allowed weight for the upcoming airlines, we expect to be within the limits subsequently avoiding excess baggage fees.

Hesborn and Jeremiah will be given the boxes of discarded men’s items to share among themselves with the women’s clothing and shoes to be shared among their wives and sisters.

Nothing we have left in our possession will be appropriate to wear to dinner on our next upcoming cruise in nine months.  We have no doubt that we’ll figure it out as the time approaches.

Physically, it will be easier to haul the bags. Emotionally, we’ll spend no time worrying about the luggage.  Financially, we’ll save US $1000’s each year on excess baggage fees. 

The angst is gone. Acceptance has been found in its place and finally, after 13 months, we’re truly free. 

Our minds play tricks on us…Learning to avoid disappointment…

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Thank you, loyal readers, for taking the time to read the relatively mundane storytelling of the process of preparing to leave yet another country. At this point, if we didn’t share this process, our alternative would be to avoid posting for many days with little else to tell.

Nothing pleases us more than sharing photos and accompanying stories that seem to pique the interest of most of our readers. What’s to show or tell when the packing in itself is repetitious and boring?

But, wait! A week from today we’ll be lounging on our new veranda with a tower (see chart below) of giraffes only feet away nipping at the tree tops or a sounder (see chart below) of warthogs getting comfortable for an afternoon nap in the yard or a crossing (see chart below) of zebras staring at us in wonder as they contemplate a drink from the swimming pool.

Animal
A group is called a –
Cobras Quiver
Crocodiles Float
Elephants Herd
Giraffe Tower
Gorillas Band
Leopards Leap
Lions Pride
Rhino Crash
Warthogs Sounder
Zebra Crossing or Herd

Click! Click! Click! Will the camera be smoking’ then or what? 

With much to do to prepare, to hopefully arrive safely in Marloth Park, South Africa next Sunday by late afternoon, as soon as we have an Internet connection, we’ll be posting photos and the story of our arrival. 

If, for some reason you don’t hear from us by then, please be patient. Our flight may have been delayed. We may be delayed at immigration or customs. Who knows what delays may present themselves? We don’t worry about possible delays as long as we arrive safely, hopefully with our luggage.

Of all the places we’ve visited thus far, I can honestly say, I’ve anticipated South Africa the most, mainly based on the opportunity to live in a wildlife reserve, bugs, heat, and all. 

Invariably, when entering the new locations, we’ve discovered some disappointments that the house isn’t exactly as we’d imagine. Human nature. You know how we get a picture in our mind, even with accompanying photos of what something will look and feel like, only to find something different upon arrival. 

This isn’t to imply that the property description was inaccurate or dishonest in any manner. It’s just the fact that our brains play tricks on us, helping us paint of picture of “what we’d like it to be” as opposed to “what it is.”  Moving as often as we have in the past 13 months, we’ve come to accept this fact as simply a part of the process. In a few days, we’ll be settled in, accepting the differences, but oddly never forgetting the image we’d conjured in our minds. I guess this is true in life in every area.

So now, I imagine the plastic “vacuum sealed bags” containing all of our clothing, securely closed in our luggage with zippers working and walking out the door of the house in Diani Beach, Kenya five days from today. 

Carrying with us will be the memories of safari which in this case, were more breathtaking than any vision we may have had in our brains long ago.

Part 1, Departure plan in place..Step by step process..Do we always have to be entertained? Yep!

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Printing a boarding pass and tossing our stuff into our luggage to head out the door for the necessary three hours before takeoff, would be the norm in a perfect world. Traveling the world with everything we own is not perfect and, it isn’t quite that easy.

Others may say, “Oh, just do it! Throw it into the bags and just go already!” 

We get that mentality. We do. It’s not simply that both of us are organizers and planners to the point of obsession. It’s purely stress-avoidance, plain and simple.

One could quickly tire of this lifestyle if the stress was caused by one’s lack of desire or interest in planning ahead. Failure to plan ahead leaves too much to chance. Let’s face it, there are plenty of incidents that transpire that we couldn’t have predicted. We save our resources for those, as opposed to the prospect of dealing with issues we could easily have prevented. 

Luckily, we don’t experience stress in the planning process. We both thrive on it finding peace of mind and comfort as we fine-tune each step of the way.

Thus, we won’t be throwing stuff in our suitcases and hitting the road. And, although we’ve yet to pack, a lot of this preparatory work has already been started or is completed. 

Question for today:  How do we entertain ourselves during the long flights?  (More questions follow tomorrow in Part 2)

For us, a big part of the travel time is spent utilizing our technology to keep us entertained resulting in the time passing more quickly while traveling.

With a three and a half hour layover in Nairobi, Kenya after a short flight from Mombasa, Kenya, we knew we needed to plan Internet access and the battery life of our equipment carefully. 

With no space or desire to carry heavy books, we’ve used the Kindle app on our smartphones for reading (for which we don’t need Internet access once the ebook is downloaded at purchase). 

However, with many hours on the various planes on the trip to South Africa, with no power plugins for passengers in economy (we checked), we needed to plan which devices we’ll be using to occupy us during the many hours in the air and during the layovers. 

My newer (cracked screen) Android phone lasts for 7 hours of reading time. My old Android (on which I have the same books) is easier to read without the broken screen. The points where I left off on each book will sync when I go online on both phones simultaneously and select “sync”. But the old phone only lasts for 5 hours of reading time with less for Tom’s Android. 

The end result will be that Tom will run out of reading time during the layover, leaving no remaining power for reading on the plane while I’ll be able to switch to my other phone. 

As always, we have a backup plan in place. During the long layover in Nairobi, we’ll hopefully find a comfy spot to park ourselves, preferably away from the crowds, and use the MiFi’s (we each have one) and our laptops in order to be online. The MiFi charge, usually lasts for 4 hours.

Our computer batteries will last from three to four hours on each of our identical units. Plus, in checking details for the Nairobi airport, it appears that they have various digital equipment stations where one can plug into recharge. Of course, we’ll have our converters and adapters in our computer bags in case we’re able to recharge.

Hopefully, as we wait at the airport in Nairobi, I’ll be online and writing here describing the renovated state from the recent fire on August 7, 2013, and the activity around us. 

Assuming that all goes well and the flights all depart on time, we’ll have another four and a half hours in the air until we arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa. During this period, we’ll read the ebooks with, hopefully, neither of us running out of battery life. 

At the end of the four and a half hour flight, there is a 16-hour layover in Johannesburg. With no desire to wait for that extended period at the airport, we booked a nearby hotel offering a free shuttle back to the airport for one more flight the next morning to Kruger/Mpumalanga. At this point, all of our equipment will be charged which will be less of an issue on the remaining 45-minute flight.

Whew! Once we arrive at the airport in Mpumalanga, a pre-arranged driver will greet us to take us on the 97 km, 60 miles, 75-minute drive to our awaiting house in Marloth Park. At that point, to heck with our equipment.  We’ll be so busy looking out the window, taking photos when possible, and excited to get to our new home for the next three months, we’ll never give battery life a thought.

That is, not until we arrive

Finally! Itinerary gaps filled…Flying to Africa, challenging…Honolulu/Waikiki, here we come…

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Flying from country to country in Africa is no simple task.  Check out this map illustrating the size of the African continent compared to the US and other countries.

Once we’re situated in South Africa, we’ll continue to search for flights as needed, especially the difficult process of finding our way to Morocco three months later. There’s no such thing as a direct flight from South Africa to Marrakesh, Morocco. Most likely we’ll have to stay in a hotel overnight along the way in order to maneuver in that direction. 

Africa is not comparable to the US where you can fly just about anywhere in less than a day with few layovers if any. These maps illustrate the vast distances.

Booking flights is our least favorite form of research. Overall, we’ve found the research for vacation homes most enjoyable and hotels, second, a necessary reality when a vacation home isn’t practical for short stays.

To have finally filled every gap between now and May 15, 2015, we feel a sense of relief.  One may ask, “Is this when it all ends?” Nope. This is as far out as one can get a commitment for a booking for most vacation homes, most cruises, all flights (330 days or less for bookings), and many hotels.

Over the past few days, in the hopes of freeing our time to begin packing to leave two weeks from today, we wanted the peace of mind knowing that we’d filled the remaining gaps: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, October 5 to October 16, 2014, a mere 11 months away and, Boston, Massachusetts, USA from September 14 to September 17, 2014, only 10 months from now.

Today, we’ll share the details of our find in Honolulu and tomorrow, Boston, which in itself presented a few challenges based on our needs at that time.

Here is the link to our 11 night rental in Waikiki.  Need I say, we’re thrilled and relieved to have found exactly what we were seeking, at the best possible price, in an ideal location convenient to everything. (These vacation home websites don’t allow photos to be copied making it necessary to follow the link to see the photos).

Researching Honolulu/Waikiki was brutal. Prices are through the roof, especially when including the 13.5% rental tax, resort fees, and in some cases, fees paid to the company listing the property. What started at US $185 a night (it was higher than listed on their site, due to time of the year), the price we paid for our selection, ended up at almost US $200 a night.

The owner of this ocean-view condo has been fabulous to work with so far and based on the reviews we’ve read, that will continue to be the case throughout the rental period. 

With our rigid criteria of having an ocean view, laundry facilities, free WiFi, a lanai, close to buses for sightseeing and dining, the search was frustrating. Most properties with a view were much more expensive. As we were just about ready to bite the bullet and pay more, we stumbled across this property by leaving HomeAway to search this other well-known listing site, AirBNB that we’d casually perused in the past.

Minus a few glitches we experienced in the booking process late last night, we were able to work it out. The time difference between Hawaii and Kenya is 13 hours. Waiting until after we returned after dinner last night made it possible for us to communicate directly with the owner, as he was waking up (on the same day) to assist us in fine-tuning the details. 

The rental is paid in full and we don’t have to give it another thought until the time nears, and we’ll need access information.  Most likely we’ll make those arrangements during our cruise to Hawaii from Vancouver, BC arrives in Honolulu on October 5, 2014. Ah, relief.

Tonight, we’re trying a new-to-us restaurant for dinner at the upscale Swahili Beach Resort.  They’re having their usual Saturday night buffet of local favorites. If the food isn’t great, as it wasn’t last night at another popular resort, the company will be extraordinary as usual.

Flight from Maasai Mara to Diani Beach…Also, Tom’s photos…New safari photos…Please scroll to the end…

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As our final safari came to an end, a sudden burst of rain surprised us on our return drive to camp. During the entire time we’d been in the Masai Mara, we’d seen only beautiful billowy clouds.  After raining for less than 10 minutes, this rainbow appeared, quickly disappearing. Tom captured this photo. It was goodbye for us, a final indication of a perfect adventure that we’ll carry in our hearts forever.

Moments before the rain, Tom captured the clouds rolling in at precisely the right moment. This was shot with an extra camera we carry with us, a US $100 Samsung.  Wow, Tom!

Flying in yet a smaller plane on the return flight to Diani Beach, we find ourselves seated behind Edwin, our sole pilot. With no wall or divider between us and Edwin, this single-engine 12 seater plane feels like the “real deal.” At this point, a 4 or 5 seater won’t be much different.
 
I won’t go as far as saying that I’ve conquered my fear of flying in small aircraft but at least this time my heart isn’t racing, my mouth isn’t dry and I’m not watching the clock agonizing over how much longer until we’d land.
 
Instead, I’m writing with exuberant anticipation of sharing more details in writing of these past exhilarating days, the writing in itself a divine blessing in its ability to divert my attention away from the 2-hour flight.
 

Today at 1:00 pm, Anderson drove us to the tiny landing strip from Olonana making a stop along the way to pick up our pilot Edwin who was having lunch at a nearby lodge.  Chatting with Edwin on the remainder of the 20-minute drive provided me with a modicum of comfort. Why?  Was it due to the fact he was breathing, coherent with his wits about him? Perhaps.

After 15 minutes in the air, we landed at another landing strip to pick up seven more passengers. As their multiple bags per person were being loaded into the equally tiny luggage compartment, I began to wonder not only about the weight of those bags but also of the people carrying them. Only I would think of this.

The plane leaned to and fro as they positioned themselves on board. Tom moved up to sit next to me. A friendly young man sat across from us, cheerily making conversation. All we ever heard before the engine started up again was, “We never got to see The Big Five.” Tom and I smiled at each other, knowing our experience may have far surpassed that of others without Anderson at the wheel.

Once we were airborne again, fast and furiously I started making notes on the notepad app on my smartphone to aid my memory in the multitude of amazing experienced we’d have in a short 3 days. Three days we’ll never forget.  Three days ingrained into the essence of who we really are, who we’ve really become, somehow to be changed forever.

Not to sound too romantic or melodramatic, visiting Africa, with all of its hardships, has made me feel as if I’ve come “home.” I doubt that I’ll ever understand the “why” of this profound awakening. But, the “why” doesn’t matter.

This bewildering sensation encompasses me, leaving my knees weak and my heart filled with an indescribable familiarity that I’ve chosen not to question.

Tom although less poetic than I, in these past days has exuded a peaceful resonance in his voice and a loftiness in his step, that I have witnessed on occasion. And that smile on our faces, not intended for a photo op, seems to have a mind of its own, making our faces hurt after a long day.  (And today, October 18, 2013, I can’t stop smiling as I transpose that which  I wrote on the plane now, a full 10 days ago).

All I know is that bouncing around in an open-sided Land Cruiser over the bumpiest roads I’ve ever traveled, driving through creeks and riverbed for almost 8 hours a day, occasionally stopping to “check the tire pressure,” fearless in the tall grass, I never questioned for one moment why we were doing this. For this short period in time, I belonged to the bush, to the wild, and to nature more than I’d ever felt before.

As my fear continued to diminish over the occasionally turbulent return flight, I realized that if God forbid something unforeseen occurred, I’ve lived a full life at 65 years old. I’ve loved, I’ve been loved, I’ve failed and I’ve succeeded but most of all, I’ve learned more about myself in this past year of travel than I’d ever learned before.

Life is fragile but we are strong…and with my strong and brave partner at my side, I’ve pushed myself to reach for my dream, some of which I only recently allowed myself to realize.

To realize a lifelong dream of Africa, in the bush, on safari, enmeshed in its culture and its people;  I feel free, I feel grateful, I feel fulfilled.

Thank you, Maasai Mara.  hank you to the most amazing guide on the planet, Anderson. Thank you Camp Olonana.  Thank you, Kenya. And, thank you, Africa.”

Most of all, thank you to my husband, for not only “stepping outside the box” but “leaping outside the box,” and for your courage, love, and compassion to make this dream come true.

The cloud darkening the sky moments before the rain fell.


Also, thank you, Tom, for killing that disgusting poisonous thing I spotted on the wall in the bathroom at 6:00 am this morning with nary a complaint and for eating tuna out of the can mixed with mayo, a few slices of cheese, and a sliced tomato (which you hate) for dinner last night when our propane fuel ran out when we were only halfway through cooking a pork roast, again without complaint. 

Tom was excited to see this plane and get a shot. It’s an 80-year-old, DC3 with obviously, new engines and props, commonly used in World War II. I said, “Thank goodness we don’t have to fly on this oldster.”

And thank you for helping me with literally everything including putting on my shirt when my bad shoulder has been painful since we returned, after taking over 600 photos on safari. And, for lighting that problematic green coil thing 10 times a night to keep the mosquitoes from biting me as we spend each evening in our outdoor living room. Thank you, my husband, my partner, and my friend.   

 Arriving at the landing strip, this tiny plane was the only one in sight.  Then I knew this was Edwin’s plane and we’d be flying in it. 
Edwin prepared for takeoff while I was sitting behind the empty co-pilot’s seat. For the first leg of the flight, it was just Tom and me on the plane with Edwin. Tom sat behind me so he too could look out the window.
Approaching the landing strip to pick up seven more passengers.
 Control panel of the single-engine plane.
 A breathtaking view from the plane.
 This was a body of water.
 As we neared the body of water.
 As we flew over Diani Beach the smoke from burning clouds the view. In Kenya, there’s no ban on burning often resulting in noxious fumes filling the air.

More safaris photos below…

A termite hill we saw on the way to Tanzania, possibly 4 or 5 feet tall.
More of the Retired Generals hanging out together.
These cheetah shots were taken from afar after a group of 3 had a successful kill.  Notice the bloody face.

Hard to see from the far distance, these 3 cheetahs are devouring their kill which we witnessed from a distance, occurring so quickly, we couldn’t get a shot.

 On our way back to camp on the last night, for the first time, we spotted these mongooses which are known snake killers.
The King of Jungle never disappointed, continually offering an opportunity for close-ups and the opportunity to observe his/hee playful antics and instinctual behaviors. Thank you, lions.
 Thank you, dear readers, for sharing this journey with us.

Day one, safari…Beyond our wildest dreams….

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Anderson, our safari guide took us on an unplanned 90-minute safari rather than wait at the airstrip for another couple to arrive on a later flight. This was one of the first photos we took along the Mara River.  Our tent is located on the banks of the river where the hippos will awaken us with their hysterical morning calls. We couldn’t believe our eyes or our ears
Anderson referred to this ostracized male cape buffaloes (one of the Big Five) as Retired Generals. They lost the battle for dominance and are forced out of the herd to fen for themselves for the rest of their lives. Kind of sad.  He gave us a nice pose, hungry not only for vegetation but also for attention.
I love warthogs. They are funny, actually quite friendly. Vegetarians, they amble around for the tiniest morsels. They are delightful to watch.  Please pinch me! I can’t believe we are in the Masai Mara. We missed the Great Migration by one week. We’re not at all disappointed with what we’ve seen on the first day!

As we write and post photos, we make a valiant effort to take our readers through the step by step process of following our journey each step of the way.

After our experiences today, we are tempted to get right to the safari, as we know many of you’d prefer. Our arrival in itself was an adventure all of its own, not a story we could easily forgo.

So, in light of this, today, we’ll tell the story of our arrival at Camp Olonana of Sanctuary Retreats, an over a two-hour flight on a tiny rickety old plane including notes and photos from the flight and to whet your appetite for the treasures of safari a few of our photos from our over first four hours on safari on the first day.

Without a doubt, we’ll be posting photos every day, perhaps twice a day. There’s no Internet connection in our tent. In order to post, we have to sit in the lobby of the main building of the camp.  With six hours a day on safari, the slow connection at the camp (not surprising), we’ll have no choice but to continue to post photos after we return to Diani Beach with a better connection.

In the first 90 minutes, we took almost 100 great photos. This afternoon we took hundreds more.  Bear with us, you’ll see most of them over the next week. As a matter of fact, we can’t wait to share them.

For now, we’re pooped and at 8:02 pm have yet to eat dinner. Soon, we’ll stop for dinner which ends at 9:30 pm. We’ll be going out on safari for a breakfast picnic at 6:30 am. We’ll be back with more photos tomorrow afternoon.

______________________________________________
Traveling to the Masai Mara by plane

Our tiny 19 seat plane. Yes, I know, it could have been smaller.
The plane was fueled by using a hand crank typically used in WW2, according to Tom’s recollection of history.
View from the plane after leveling off.
Yes, that’s Mount Kilimanjaro, as viewed from the tiny single engine plane.
The inside of the plane was so small, it was difficult to get a good shot maneuvering around the other passengers, since we were on the opposite side.
This pristine lake was like a mirror.
Muddy rivers.

I’d never flown on a small plane. Oh, yes, opportunities were presented from time to time. But, I always dismissed them without a moment’s consideration.

Only recently, I’d begun to feel more at ease flying in commercial jumbo jets after the long flights we’ve tackled in this past year. I’ve had no desire to tackle the puddle jumper concept.

This appeared to be some type of horse farm.  Look at the reflection of our plane on the ground! What a sight!  I couldn’t believe we were inside that tiny thing!

When we’d decided to travel the world almost two years ago, I anticipated that it was time to let go of some of my irrational fears. As we planned our itinerary, I contemplating a few of the rational fears realizing it was time to let some of the fears waft away.

More muddy rivers.

With a torn shoulder injury escalating during the planning stages with no desire to have surgery to remedy it, I decided to forgo more physically challenging events and settle for combatting some other fears which included flying in small planes.

After three takes off and three landings, we finally arrived to meet our guide, Anderson who’s lived in the Masai Mara region all of his life. What a guy!  We loved him the moment we met him!

This morning as I sat in my confining worn-out seat which included a number of tears and lumps in the rickety 19 seat plane, I found that I needed a diversion more distracting than reading mindless drivel on my phone.

My knees still a little wobbly from the flights.  I was thrilled to be on the ground, meeting our guide Anderson for our time in Onolana.  At that point, I knew I’d have be less fearful on the return flight.

Instead, I began to write on the “legal pad” app on my smartphone hoping to divert my attention from my usual overthinking, worrying, and speculation.

Tom was engrossed in a book on his phone, oblivious to any concerns, mine or his, occasionally looking my way, thrilled that my nails weren’t digging into his hand.

A person could spend a lifetime trying to analyze why one has such fears and others do not. Never having to combat small plane fear in the past leaves me with little interest or inclination to pursue answers at this point in life. Thinking I could bypass the necessity of facing it, I now knew the time had come in our travels to face a simple fact: either we get there in one piece or we don’t.

This is one situation I cannot control. There’s no going online and researching an answer, resulting in a bullet point list of myriad possibilities to consider, ultimately sharing those in a post.

All I could do is fly on the little plane with a determined attitude, saying a few prayers, while hoping this old beat up prop plane will make it safely to the Maasai Mara and the necessary two additional stops along the way resulting in three “ups and downs” until we arrived.

A half-hour into the two-hour flight, Tom alerted me to stand up to walk to the front of the plane to take a photo of Mount Kilimanjaro. I did. He did.

This, dear readers, is why we do this. The excitement of that which we had an opportunity to behold allayed my fears and I felt at peace. 

We’ll be back with many more amazing photos of our safari, the fabulous resort, the outstanding food, the flawless service, and smemorable experience that fulfills a lifelong dream.

Power outage for over six hours yesterday…Thank goodness its back on…One day until safari…

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Our soft sided bags for the tiny plane.  They said no shaped hard bags.

Yesterday, we were imagining what it would be like getting ready to leave for safari with no power after it went out at 9:45 am, not returning until 4:15 pm. We also wondered how we’d shower and get ready to go out to dinner last night if the power remained off. There would be no hot water.

Our laptop batteries were dead. Our smartphones were charging when the power went out and wouldn’t last through the night enabling us to read our books.

We couldn’t watch movies on the laptop. All the food in the freezer and refrigerator would go bad and we’d have no ice. Plus, the danger of home invasions greatly increases when there’s no power.

There’s always monkey families along this stretch of road.

Need I say that we discussed our options if the power didn’t come back on by 5:00 pm:

1.  Go out to dinner, staying out at late as possible.
2.  Return to the house which may possibly still in the dark.
3.  Go to bed, no reading, a habit that hard to break, one we’ve acquired without having a TV.
Or…
1.  Get a cab, stay in a hotel overnight with AC for a night, free WiFi, dinner, and breakfast the next day (All the resorts have generators), returning on Friday, hopefully with power or,
2.  Pack up all of our safari luggage, get a cab to stay overnight both Thursday and Friday nights, leaving for the airport at 7:00 am Saturday morning.
Or…
1.  Tough it out, stay in for dinner making something easy while its still light, tuna salad on a bed of lettuce with a side of coleslaw. Nuts for dessert.
2.  Play Gin by candlelight until bedtime

This one was more interested in picking at the grass than noticing us stop to take a photo.

What did we actually do?  We played Gin for 6 1/2 hours.  Tom slaughtered me!

At 4:15 pm the power returned. We made the tuna salad anyway. And, when the power came back on, we began charging all of our equipment, had dinner in the outdoor living room, watched a few shows we’d saved on the hard drive, headed to bed at 11:00 pm with no bugs in the mosquito netting. Once again, we were content.

Tomorrow morning, we’ll be heading out. You’ll hear from us by the end of the day on Saturday (depending on where you are in the world) when hopefully, we’ll have arrived in one piece and early enough to take a few photos to post, provided we have the promised good Internet connection in the Masai Mara. 

Last night while getting ready for bed in the bathroom, there was a huge lizard sitting atop the light fixture above the mirror. Tom tried to move him along with a too-small dustpan to no avail.  He took off to return a short while later but finally was gone this morning. It was the biggest lizard we’d seen in Kenya thus far. 

Talk about an “outdoor living room.”

We’ve packed everything except our drying laundry. It was on the clothesline overnight and it rained in buckets. Most likely, Hesborn washed it again this morning and again, hung it to dry. With today’s good breeze with slightly less humidity, we might get lucky. 

We printed our e-tickets for the tiny plane on our portable printer. We’re charging all of our equipment and bringing all required cables, chargers, and adapters. Everything on our list is included.

Again, we reminded ourselves that these roadside shops/homes don’t ever have electricity. 

Tonight, we’ll eat in having leftover tuna salad, fillet mignon, and coleslaw; easy, quick, and delicious. I’ll set the alarm on my phone leaving it under my pillow and by 7:00 am tomorrow morning, we’ll be on our way to the tiny airport down the road. 

If we don’t get to see the Great Migration since it moved on, we are totally accepting of this fact and won’t allow ourselves a moment of disappointment. Once we start taking photos, we’ll be on cloud 9.

They say the drive from the tiny airport in Masai Mara in itself is an adventure!

See you soon from “the bush.”   

Noisy night…Packing for a safari…Two days until safari…

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The noises at night are rather entertaining, sounds we’ve never heard in our lives, hard to pinpoint, persistent, and seemingly unwieldy. They’re not gentle sounds. 

One sound is eerie that I mentioned in a past post. It sounds like the music from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Click here for the scene from the movie with the five-note sound.

We don’t hear it every night, only two or three times a week. No one knows what it is nor do they question it. When I first heard it the second night here, I couldn’t help but wonder what it was. It continued until dawn. 

It began last night it began at dusk, finally stopping when I awoke at 6:00 am. Oddly, at this point, I almost welcome the peculiar familiarity of this sound among the many other sounds of the night.  

Perhaps, these sounds are in preparation for the new (to us) sounds that we’ll be hearing outside our tent beginning on Saturday night.  How exciting!

The packing has begun for our safari. Most would think, throw some khaki pants, shirts and boots in a duffel bag and we’ve got it covered. Not so quick!

There’s more to it for us.  Here’s our list:

  • Epipens for possible bee sting
  • Tylenol PM (just in case)
  • Malaria pills
  • Business cards
  • BugsAway pants, shirt, hats
  • Underwear & tee shirts
  • Pills cases for everyday pills
  • Bug lotion
  • Boots
  • Socks
  • Shoes to wear when not on safari (boots too heavy)
  • Sunglasses
  • 2 cameras + cords
  • 2 laptops
  • Chargers: laptops, cameras, phone, MiFi, Hotspot
  • MiFi and Hotspot
  • Smartphones (for books to read)
  • Toiletries (bare minimum)
  • Clothes to change into at night if dining in the dining room during bad weather.  If dining in the bush, we’ll wear BugsAway clothing
  • Plugs and adapters for 220 (which we use everyday)
  • Binoculars
  • Waterproof parkas
  • Passports, Kenya visa, ID

There isn’t one item on the above list that we can exclude. Plus, it won’t be as if we’re at a hotel where we can buy supplies in the gift shop. We’ll be in a tent with a nearby lodge.

All the above does not fit in our one duffel bag. We’ve added two cloth bags for overflow We were instructed not to bring any suitcase-shaped bags, even if soft sided. In the small plane there’s no overhead compartments and everything needs to be neatly tucked away.

Tomorrow, we’ll take a photo of our packed bags to share here. Hesborn will return our dry laundry tomorrow with a few items to top off the bags. 

At this point, we haven’t decided if we’re going out today or even out to dinner tonight. We have produce to use before we go (waste not, want not) and plenty of steaks on hand if we decide to dine in. I have accounting work to update today and will be content to sit in our outdoor living room, ice tea in hand, my guy only steps away and something exciting to anticipate.

The power just went out again. I’d better hurry and post this or my laptop will run out of juice. That’s life in Kenya.

Booked our flight to Mpumalanga, South Africa for November 30th plus required one night hotel stay…

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OK, we get it. Pronouncing Mpumalanga is challenging. Here’s a link to a site that will pronounce it using a computer-generated voice. Tom and I practiced using this app several times and I believe we now have it down.

How annoying when travelers are unable (or unwilling to take the time to figure out) as to how to pronounce where they are or where they’re intending to go. As we’ve traveled, we’ve made an effort to familiarize ourselves with the names of local cities, establishments, and basic greetings.

Here in Kenya, “jambo,” a Swahili word, is the standard greeting with many meanings as indicated in this link. It’s so easy to go overboard using a certain local word, hoping to endear ourselves to the locals.  From our humble perspective, moderation is the key, as is the case in many aspects of life, not always easy to accomplish.

(At the moment, as I’m writing in our outdoor living room, there is a peculiar sound in the ceiling above my head. It sounds as if a creature is biting into the wood beams, but we’re unable to see it. This has been occurring over the past 30 minutes. Hmm…).

Today will be a busy day for us. Soon, our driver Alfred will appear to take us to a local G4S/DHL store to inquire in person as to their willingness to accept a package of supplies we’re shipping from our mailing service in Nevada.  

Hans kindly offered to have us ship the box of supplies to his PO Box. But, with the high risk of theft throughout the local postal system, we’d prefer having the package sent to an actual package shipping service, where more security will be in place. 

Once we meet with the staff at the nearby G4S/DHL location, our minds will be at ease. It will be interesting to see how much we’ll be charged for them to hold the box for less than one day. When we’re notified by email that it has arrived, we’ll immediately contact Alfred to take us to pick it up. 

In order to arrive in Mpumalanga, Kruger National Park, South Africa, the route was tricky. Here’s what we settled on which was the least amount of waiting and flying time at the best possible price.

11/30/2013 – Departure   1 stop
Total travel time: 8 h 55 m
custom air icon
Mombasa
Nairobi
1 h 0 m 
MBA  11:25am
Terminal 1
NBO  12:25pm
 
Kenya
Airways 
Economy/Coach
Layover: 3 h 35 m
custom air icon
Nairobi
Johannesburg
4 h 20 m 
NBO  4:00pm
JNB  7:20pm
Terminal A
 
South African
Airways
Economy/Coach (W)
| 
12/01/2013 – Return   Nonstop
Total travel time: 0 h 45 m
custom air icon
Johannesburg
Kruger National
Park
0 h 45 m 
JNB  11:10am
Terminal B
MQP  11:55am
 
South African
Airways  Operated by 4Z/SOUTH AFRICAN AIRLINK
Economy/Coach (L)

With the 7:20 pm arrival in Johannesburg, South Africa at 7:20 pm, and the next day departure to Mpumalanga, Kruger National Park, we could either hang around the airport for almost 16 hours or stay overnight in a nearby hotel.  We opted for the hotel, taking the complimentary airport shuttle in the morning. 

The one-way fare for both of us on all 3 flights is a total as follows:

Traveler
1: Adult
 
$613.67
Flight
 
$375.00
Taxes & Fees
 
$238.67
Traveler
2: Senior
 
$613.67
Flight
 
$375.00
Taxes & Fees
 
$238.67
Expedia Booking
Fee
 
$14.00
Total: $1,241.34

(By the way, I am the above referenced “Senior” being 5 years older than Tom. Obviously, I wasn’t awarded any benefit by disclosing this fact.)

Our seat assignments, not stated here, were established when we were directed to the airline’s website.  Luckily, we’re able to sit together. This trip will be considerably shorter than the long flight from Venice, Italy to Mombasa a mere two weeks ago today. How the time flies (no pun intended)!

The cost for the one night’s stay in a highly rated hotel was US $117.66 after a 50% discount provided to us from Expedia.com. Add another US $125 for meals and tips for a grand total US $1484.00.

Considering the distance is over 2300 miles from Diani Beach, Kenya to our destination, this fare is not unreasonable. We’d actually budgeted US $1500 for this leg of our journey.

Soon, we’ll make further arrangements for a driver to pick us up at the Kruger Park/Mpumalanga airport to be on our way to our new home in Marloth Park, located on the edge of Kruger Park. 

At times, we’ve been asked, how we can begin planning the next leg of our travels when we recently arrived at a particular location?  It’s actually quite easy for several reasons:
1.  It takes our minds off of it, freeing us up to fully enjoy our current location.
2.  It ultimately saves us money, when the lowest fares usually sell out first.
3.  It allows us to sit together.
4.  It enables us to select flights in time frames that are most appealing to us.  Some of the options for these flights required a 5:30 am departure.  With the International requirement for arriving at the airport no less than 2 hours before the flight, choosing such a flight would result in our losing an entire night’s sleep.  Also, we consider the check-in time for the upcoming location to avoid waiting for hours to get into the property.

Overall, advance planning translates into “stress reduction.”  With the situations that occur for which we have no advance warning, we’ve avoided creating chaos, of which Tom and I are adamantly opposed.  Chaos avoidance is the crux of making our worldwide travels as seamless and stress-free as possible.

And still, regardless of our best efforts and intentions, stuff happens.

Off we go on our stop at the package store after which we’ll grocery shop. We’re having Hans and his lovely wife Jeri over for dinner tonight. Gee, I wish I had some linen napkins!