This flock of ostriches is often found in a particular area near the river we often visit when on daily drives. Note the chick on the far left.

Our goal is to stay free of the virus and to be able to stay in a country where we can resume somewhat of everyday life, in a house with a view, with a kitchen, cooking our meals, doing laundry, going out sightseeing, and sitting outdoors on a veranda. 

 

We may not be able to visit crowded venues, but we’d always avoided typically crowded tourist hotspots. However, we’ve loved the opportunity to take a drive to find fascinating scenery, wildlife, and nature, all the while taking photos to share with all of you here. 

Tom was feeding kudu girls and boys from the veranda.

I can’t wait to be taking photos again, even imagining that first trip to a grocery store to stock up, with a camera in hand. Most likely, our first photos will be of a new holiday home, its view and immediate surroundings, and a trip to the market to revel over the food options…hmm…even some beef will be a treat.

At this point, we haven’t been inside a grocery store in six months! We haven’t cooked a meal in six months! We haven’t had a chunk of quality cheddar cheese or a handful of nuts when we’ve been hankering for a midday or evening snack! 

Wildebeest Willie ate a few pellets, looked at us, and was on his way, the other following close behind.

And, at this point, we haven’t had a glass of wine or a cocktail in 100 days! Wow! I’ll certainly take a photo of that first glass of wine, that first homemade meal, and that little plate of imported cheese to savor as a treat. 
We’d love a side salad, an olive, a pickle, natural cream in French press coffee. Yesterday, while we watched an Irish cop series, Red Rock, Tom had to wipe the drool off his chin when he saw a plate of donuts.

A group of kudus is a “forkl” with females and males are together in a family unit, also referred to as a “harem.”

It’s all different now, one year later, the knowing and the not knowing, and most of all, the profound uncertainty of the future. May we all stay safe.

Photo from one year ago today, July 2, 2019:

Whenever the sky is mostly clear, we look forward to the sunsets. For more details, please click here.

These are “large cooked bugs” similar to crab, but according to the salesperson, they taste identical to prawns. The next time we visited, we tried a few and loved them.

Had we been able to fly to islands in the Caribbean, the South Pacific, and the Indian Ocean, no doubt, we would have chosen another path during this long haul rather than staying stuck in Mumbai. 

As more time passes, more and more countries refuse to allow travelers with the US or Indian passports/visas to enter their borders. It seems this fact is escalating by the day when this morning on the news, a growing list of countries now forbidding entry into their walls where COVID-19 is on the rise, as is the case in the US and India.

If and when India’s international flights resume, we may have to stay in Mumbai when few countries welcome us with this double whammy (US and India) in our passports.

We selected a barramundi filet from this batch, caught that morning. Keep in mind, for those of you reading from countries not using the metric system…AUD $32.50 per kilo translates to 2.2 pounds which would be USD $14.77 per pound, not too bad for fresh (never frozen) wild-caught fish. We purchased about one pound, of which Tom had 9 ounces, and I had approximately 7 ounces.

The few countries, such as Tanzania, which we previously considered, accept anyone from anywhere, which may indicate their lack of interest and caution in providing safe entry into their country. But, according to this news story (and others), it may be foolhardy to travel to Tanzania based on their lack of statistics and precautions.

The reality isn’t as simple as, “When and where international airports will open to US citizens having spent many months in equally high-risk India.” It’s much more complex.

Again, some of our US readers write, “Come back home!” But, as we continue to reiterate, ad nauseam, there’s no point in us doing that when cases of the virus continue to escalate, we have no insurance in the US (only outside the US), and we have no home, no stuff to fill it.

At AUD 64, USD $49.26, all of these items, which includes a vast Barramundi filet, two pieces of made-without-sugar smoked fish, and two containers of crab meat which we’ll use to make low carb crab cakes this weekend (lasting for two meals) will result in four meals for the two of us.  As a result, the cost per entre results in a cost per day of AUD 16, USD $12.31, not bad for such delicious fish and seafood. We struggle to be motivated to go out to dine when we do so well at home and have just as good a time.

This fact doesn’t make us despondent. Still, we consider ourselves world travelers. We have no intention of changing that scenario one day sooner than is necessary, which most likely would be due to health considerations.

Sure, on numerous occasions, we’ve discussed the reality that travel will be different going forward to include; vaccination requirements; long queues at airports and cruise terminals; required quarantine in some countries; face masks being worn in public areas; social distancing, and more restrictions we’ve yet to discover.


We had to get about 18 vaccinations when we began traveling in 2012, which we updated in 2018 while in South Africa. Although we’d both prefer not to be vaccinated if a proven-to-be-safe COVID-19 vaccination becomes available, we will accept this requirement, when most likely, having such a certification may be required to enter most countries. 

There were a few types of fish that had been frozen, but it was marked. We prefer not to purchase defrosted fish, choosing to buy only fresh when available.

We didn’t flinch when we had to be inoculated for Yellow Fever and other diseases to visit certain parts of Africa and other countries. And, we won’t flinch again when this becomes a requirement to travel. We have no doubt this will become necessary in the future. Want to travel? Be vaccinated or stay home, which will be the standard travel motto in the future.

We appreciate and accept the risks of vaccination that have created a movement of sorts, opposed to vaccinations. We understand and accept there are certain risks. 

But, traveling the world may require a degree of putting aside some of our personal beliefs, preferences, customs, and normal modes of living to accept that of the country we’re about to visit.

There were a few types of fish that had been frozen, but it was marked. We don’t purchase defrosted fish, preferring to buy only fresh when available.

Here is our link from which we’ve taken this year-ago itinerary, as shown below.

Life is filled with trade-offs. Only each of us as individuals, couples, or families can decide what works best for their desires and choices. We pray that each of our readers can choose what is best for their needs as opposed to being driven by the choices and opinions of others.

Photo from one year ago today, July 1, 2019:

A year ago, we posted more information on the then-upcoming tour on the Maharajas Express. One of the many excursions on the Maharajas Express train includes a visit to the Taj Mahal. (not our photo). For details, please click here.