Finished!

I finally finished uploading all the pictures to the blog and trying to put some pictures on the various posts that we have.

Liz and I had a wonderful time in Africa.  It was the best honeymoon we could have hoped for.  Thank you all for reading this blog and supporting us on our journey.

Back to London

The flight from Nairobi was really really long it seemed, and completely uncomfortable. It was terrific that we were actually able to settle in a little bit in London, take showers (the first fresh water shower I have taken in about 4 days), and get some internet blogging time.

They were showing a lot of movies on the plane but I didn't really make it through more than 1. I added Fair Game to the movie list and then fell asleep.

Just right

Apparently 3 weeks is the perfect amount of time to travel. As we left Zanzibar I felt great satisfaction at having had a fantastic honeymoon, but also felt ready like it was time to go home. I am looking forward to returning to East Africa as I have yet to climb Kilimanjaro, and it would also be pretty cool to watch the wildebeest river crossings on their migration norths. I wouldn't mind doing a bit more exploring of Stonetown either.

Reverse commute in Zanzibar

This afternoon Erik and I decided to take the bikes provided by our beach resort for a spin to the local village. We set out around 4 pm in order to avoid the afternoon heat and noted as we left that this would be the beginning of the evening commute if we were back at home. I think the 4 to 4:30 time slot must also be the peak commute time in Zanzibar too because we encountered over half a dozen automobiles and a cow drawn cart on our way. Clearly we were taking the reverse commute because only one of those vehicles was going our way. On the way back about an hour later we encountered only one car.

Pongwe

We are now spending our second evening in Pongwe at the Pongwe Beaceh Hotel which from what I can tell is the only place around here that has guests. It is a pretty decent hotel with rooms overlooking the Indian Ocean and a private beach and pool. There is even some free wifi that you can use of you have your own computer.

Pongwe is on the East side of Zanzibar and is really hot compared to the west side so you know that the heat sucks. There are fans in our room and today brought a slight breeze even. Our adventures today beside getting some Kindle time were kayaking around the area and also biking to a neighboring town where they have a bar called Obama's. We grab ourselves some passion fruit Fanta and sat down at the bar to watch an African soap opera. It was a really low budget show that looked like a high school film class project.

Tomorrow, I am looking forward to scuba diving. The coral on Chumbe island was some of the best under water scenery I have ever seen so I think that the scuba diving will be great if it doesn't rain. So far, we have been doing pretty well for rain. It has rained at some point during about half the days of our trip but really has only inconvenienced us 2 or 3 times.

US = Obama

One of the first questions that is usually asked of us by the locals is where we are from.  This is probably due to the fact that they have trouble understanding our strange Californian accent (they much prefer British accents), or perhaps they are trying to gage their expected tip.  Either way, when we say the US, they say Obama, since apparently the two are synonymous.  Then we have to launch into a political discussion about him.  Sometimes when we note that we are from Califoria they will mention 2pac and California Love.

I want to ask where they are from and follow up with something like "Oh! Shakira", or "Oh! Mandela," or something like that.

Romantic dinner fail

It probably goes without saying that we have sat down to our share of romantic dinners on our honeymoon. Of course the most memorable (also our favorites) have been punctuated by what could have been ruinous flaws were we not accustomed to things not always going according to plan when traveling (especially in the developing world).

Our first dinner of note was the last night of our walking safari in Kenya. Our guides put together a beautiful archway of local greenery over our table and wrote congratulations in stones on the ground next to it. The dinner itself was lovely and we really wanted to savor it but the weather was not being very cooperative. Ominous clouds hung over us and thunder rolled in the distance but getting closer and closer with each flash of lightning. We ended rushing to finish our meal and got ready for bed and into our tent just moments before the rain started falling.



Our second night to remember was when we were in Stonetown. A friend told us we had to have a romantic dinner at the Serena Inn and in fact gave us this dinner for a wedding gift. We were happy to give such a highly recomended restaurant a try. We arrived in time for sunset coctails on the patio while a local band played fusion taraab music. As darkness fell we moved to the indoor dining room which unfortunately was not air conditioned. On the bright side the restaurant was right on the water and we had reserved a table right next to the huge windows they threw open to let in the cool sea breeze. The windows also let in hundreds of flying ants that had come out of hiding becaue of the rain earlier that day. Initially our table was covered with them but where other guests left in disgust we thought, at least they aren't mosquitos or cockroaches. We perservered and it was well worth it. Sure we had to swat quite a few ants with our menus but by the time the soup course arrived they had gotten the message and left us alone. At one point an ant managed to fly down Erik's shirt and in a charming honeymoon moment he lifted his shirt bearing his manly chest to the entire restaurant to flick it out. at the end of the day the food was great the service fantastic and thanks to the ants we had almost the entire place to ourselves.



Our most recent romantic dinner antics came on Chumbe island where the staff set our table right on the beach, surrounded us with candle lanterns, and wrote "Liz and Erik forever in love" in the sand. As always the dinner was great but instead of the usual curries, they served us a half chicken, bones and all. The problem here was that in order to eat this dinner politely we needed to use our knife and fork to cut the meat off the bones. Sadly the romantic glow from the lanterns did not shed enough clarity on our dinner to distinguish meat from bone. The situation was not helped by the bottle of champagne that came with the meal. Finally after a few too many misses with our utensils we gave up and pulled out our head lamps so we could see our food. In the process we obliterated the candle lit ambiance and made ourselves look riddiculous to boot. At lease there were no bones in the pineapple upsidedown cake we had for dessert and with the head lamps off there wasn't even enough candle light to see that our hair was all messed up.

Chumbe Island

This place is terrific!  I think that thus far, this has been the most fun place to stay.  We took a small boat over to this island two nights ago and were given bungalow number 7 out of 7 bungalows.  However, we were the only two paying guests on the island for the first night.  There are day trippers that come to the island and there were three students slaving away (not) at their semester of studying abroad.  There was also the staff, who were pretty amazing too.  The goal of this not for profit operation is to protect the coral reef on the west side of the island.  The bungalows are supposed to operate with zero environmental impact... they have solar power, composting toilets, and are clam shell shaped for rain water collection.   They don't have much privacy as they are open on both sides of the shelter to the sea breeze, but our bungalow was mostly out of sight from the rest.

The activities included a forest walk where you can see these huge coconut crabs especially in the evening and you can view a pool in the rocks that fills with water during high tide.  The tidal fluctuations are fairly dramatic on this island because of the shallow terrane.  There is also Liz and my signature activity of light house hunting.  The lighthouse is hardly a challenge to spot though but it provides an amazing view of the sunset from the top.  We had free run of the island so we could go whenever we liked and have our Titanic moment at the top.

Lighthouse hunting part...who's countimg?

For those of you who follow our traveling adventures,you know that we LOVE lighthouses. If there is a lighthouse near by we will find it. Sometimes this involves considerable effort and possibly hiking through the bush (Kauai and Goa), but we always prevail. Other times we plan whole trips around getting to stay near a lighthouse (there is really not much to do in Point Arena CA). Needless to say we were thrilled when we learned that marine conservancy and ecotourism island we booked two nights on also had a still opperational centerian lighthouse. The best part is that it was only steps away from the main building of the lodge and we could climb the 132 steps to the top any time we wanted. We decided onCe per day was a reasonabnle amount. The first day we went at night because how many people get to go to the top of a light house at night? It was great to see the lights of Stonetown and Dar es Salam from the top azs well as the distant fickers from sea faring vessels, the view periodically back lit by the signal light from the tower. The second day we climbed to the top just before sunset. In the daylight we could see then entire island including our own private little bungalow and a birds eye view of the 100 year old mosque that we couldn't enter because it is still being used today. Oh, also the sunset was spectacular.

Hakuna Matata

It means no worries!  When I came to Africa, I was worried about saying this phrase too much because I figured that it was a stupid American thing to say because all we know of Africa, we learned from The Lion King.  After being here a while and hearing many people who haven't even heard of The Lion King tell me Hakuna Matata, I feel a lot more secure belting out the song after they say it.  My guess now is that The Lion King was inspired by a common phrase after someone visited Africa

How to feel like a princess

Step 1: Stay at 236 Hurumzi in Stonetown, Zanzibar.

Seriously,that is all you need to do. This place is a historic mansion converted into a botique hotel, where every step you take on the premises takes you further back in tome and each room has its own unique charm. Our particular room was on the top floor, up 3 steep stairways and across a picturesque patio and a landing furnished with local antiques (actually the place is furnished with local antiques). Our room consisted of a bed chamber with a king size canopy bed built right into the wall, an outdoor bathroom (with cleverly placed screens and curtains for total privacy) including a luxurious and huge heart shaped bathtub, and patio sitting area including a desk, bench and porch swing, and best of all, a staircase to our own private tower top lounge with low tables and cusioned benches for total seculsion and luxury and one of the best views in the city. Needless to say, we didn't mind much when is rained zebras and wildebeest the first morning we were there because we could spend the time enjoying our fantastic room as the outdoor areas were protected from the rain.

As an asside, if you are ever in Zanzibar ignore what most guide books say about only spending one day if that in Stonetown. We spent 2.5 days and it was barely enough. In adition to being able to book any ocean related activity such a SCUBA diving and sunset sailing from Stonetown, I could spend days wandering their narrow, labrinthine streets shopping and people watching. So their beaches arent so great for swimming? Who cares? They are great for sunset coctails and you can stay in a hotel with a pool or do what we are doing and follow your time in stonetown with time at a beach resort.

Stonetown

We spent the last two nights in Stonetown at a very interesting hotel. This place is definitely not wheel chair accessible as we had to climb about 4 long flights of very steep steps. Tall and narrow, the hotel sits in the middle of the town, but our room was on the absolute top of it. The architecture was very unique because it was a converted palace of a very wealthy family. Each room is unique. Ours had an outdoor yet sheltered patio where there was a sitting area and bathroom. The indoor side room was the bedroom with air-conditioning and a huge bed. Then there was an upstairs wooden deck for sitting and overlooking the city. It was a pretty cool place to stay and we definitely made the most out of it since our first full morning in Stonetown was very rainy.

In the afternoon, we ventured out to see some or the sites like the spice market, the meat and fish market, and the House of Wonders, which is a historical museum about Stonetown. The highlight was the Catholic Cathedral built on top of the old slave market. The guided tour was very interesting and provided a good sense of what conditions were like before abolishment of the slave trade there. The church was built on top of the place as a contradiction to the cruelty that occurred there in the past.

Why is it called a gnu when it looks recycled?

Wildebeest (also called gnu, pronounced new) are the strangest looking creatures ever. They look like they were cobbled together with the spare parts of other animals. They have a cow head (including the moo), a zebra neck (though the stripes aren't so distinct), a goats beard, a horses tail and mane, a camels hump, and an asses ass.

The other cool thing about the wildebeest is that there are just so many of them. I can't tell you how many times I exclaimed "holy chickens batman, that's all wildebeest." Sometimes you can see a line of them walking stretching to the horizon (which on the Serengeti is a long long way), other times they were just peppered across the savanna as far as they eye could see.

Ndutu Lodge and the Serengeti

Our last 3 nights have been at the Ndutu Lodge near Ndutu lake which borders the Serengeti reserve.  This lodge is terrific and definitely a place to stay for as many nights as you can.  It's not luxurious, but it is comfortable, in a great location, and really a pleasant place to be.  The staff is nice, the food was good, and the stars are incredible at night.  There were a lot of travelers to meet at the nightly campfires, and we met a guy (Owen Newsome) who filmed the lions for the next Disney nature movie (which I haven't head about, but apparently is being released on April 22nd). One weird thing about this lodge is that the tap water is not potable lake water which has a lot of minerals in it and is vary basic, so the second you step into the shower, you feel like you are all soaped up already.  It's really a weird feeling to be slippery whenever you are wet and not really knowing how much to rinse the soap off.

Our last couple of days have consisted of getting up super early, and heading out into the Serengeti or the Ngorogoro Conservation Area and driving around to look for animals.  Then we head back to the lodge for breakfast and head out again.  Sometimes, we'll do lunch on the road and head back for showers and dinner, or take an easy afternoon and go out in the evening.  So far, this has been a successful strategy for finding animals.  I think that we have been pretty lucky with the animals that we spotted.  We even saw a couple of fresh kills:  one with a cheetah eating a baby wildebeest, and one with a leopard having stashed a baby gazelle up in a tree.  We have seen hyenas chomping away at some other wildebeest carcase and fighting off vultures, and we have seen many lions, and some cubs.

I found that the plains of the Serengeti were a little bit sparse of animals, and that the Ngorogoro Conservation Area actually seemed to have more.  There, we found a sea of migrating wildebeest for miles and miles.  All these animals attracted most of the predators as well.  Still, the Serengeti area was good to visit and we needed to go through it to get to Serenera where we visited the visitor's center and saw hippos and a couple of other leopards sitting in trees (I am thinking that they were in their normal hangouts).

There ain't nothing like a dame?

I suppose most people don't take notice, so just go with it when I say that nine times out of ten, guys looke better dressed up in show girls garb than ladies (think back to the last time you saw Cabaret or La Cage aux Falles). Either way, who doesn't love a leggy lady in a riddiculously puffy short skirt and feathers going in every direction? This, I think, is why ostriches have more or less universal appeal. They are the ultimate show girl. Long thin legs run seamlessly into eqally long thin necks with dainty little heads perched on top. Punctuating the verticality is the ultimate tutu of feathers. But in bird world, as in the human world apparently, the ladies can't hold their own against the guys. While the ladies wear a drab tawny color, the gentlemen show off in contrasting black and white, and oh how high their legs go, while the ladies' stop abruptly right below her wings.

A hike to the bottom of the crater

Instead of heading back into the Ngorogoro crater again today, we decided to head to the far reaches of the Ngorogoro Conservation Area and hike down to the bottom of a smaller crater that I can't quite remember the name of  at the very end of the park.  The names of things are really hard to remember and even harder to spell.

We had a park ranger with us, as required by regulations, and he was actually quite good.  Somebody has to always accompany tourists with their rifle in hand.  Our ranger was a little bit plump so he did most of his talking on the decent but he did a good job pointing out various kinds of interesting poops for us.  The view from the rim was pretty cool and the bottom of the crater was really pretty.  There weren't very many animals today except for some ducks in the salt water lake at the bottom of the crater and 4 flamingos that we chased down to get some pictures.  They don't really let people get less than a hundred yards from them though.

Lunch was in a perfect spot too.  We had a clear view of the newest volcano that was formed and the only still active one in the park.

Ngorogoro crater

Today started out with fog and rain, at least until we started descending into the crater. But once we did, we were treated to another long day of amazing wildlife viewing and scenery.

The highlights were the cheetah that we saw just hanging out with 2 zebras who were a little upset with his presence, as they indicated verbally with grunts and other noises. Also, we saw 2 separate groups of lions. The second group had some cute little  cubs playing with each other and there were 3 lionesses that we thought were going to stalk and kill a group of 4 buffalo that were hanging out and relaxing very close to them.  We waited for about an hour but didn't have any luck seeing a hunt.

Tonight, we are staying at the Serena Hotel on the crater rim. This hotel is amazing and a ton better than all the other places that we have stayed. From our room, we have an incredible view of the crater and this is the first place we have been that actually has a completely working restroom and adequate lighting for a change. There is a fricking huge spider sitting on the wall above our bed though, so that's the only part that sucks, otherwise I give this place 5 stars.  I was considering calling someone about getting rid of the spider and concealing the truth about my spider feelings by saying my wife is afraid and I am not tall enough to reach the thing, and even though Liz was game, I decided to go to bed in slight apprehension.

Doing what comes naturally

We have had a handful of opportunities to see hippos on our trip thus far. The first time felt utterly anticlimactic. A mother and baby hippo briefly appeared coming out from behind some bushes and quickly slipped into the water. Erik got a hippo booty shot, but it was to far away for my little camera. Since then we have seen hippos in the form of an ear or a backside poking out of the water with and occasional nostril or roll, never close enough or above water enough to get a good view let alone a good picture. I have finally come to accept that our first glimpse is as good as the hippo spotting gets.

One good thing about this is that while most animals we have seen are much more active than when we have seen them in zoos, hippos are pretty much the exact same. I am glad captivity doesn't stop the hippos from doing what comes naturally.

(Can you spot the hippo?)

Lake Manyara

Today, we took a tour of Lake Manyara park. As soon as we got into the park we were able to see tons of animals.  The drive started out in the lush forested area of the park with hundreds of baboons playing in the trees, a few hornbills jumping around, and some blue monkeys.

Later, we headed into a more open space where we saw a terrific view of the lake and the plains below. We saw our first wildebeest here and also got some amazing shots of elephants. One area had a stream bed with about 40 elephants trampling through.  There were even a few baby elephants that we caught playing in the mud.

Lake Manyara park was a great place to start our wildlife viewing in Tanzania.  The animals here seem a lot more accessible than in Kenya. They are right out in the open most of the time. The one bad thing is the parks are definitely more crowded and everyone has the same itinerary.

Elephant flash flood

Partyway through our afternoon by Lake Manyara, we came to a place where the road reached a dry river bed. The mud looked like it had recently washed down from higher ground as it flowed over the road and on to the lake. We paused to take in the view and caught a glimpse of an elephant walking down the rover bed toward us. Soon it became apparent that this wasn't a single elephant, but rather a whole family including babies to young to have cut their first tusks yet. Excited, we grabbed our cameras and started snapping photos. As this family passed, another group of pachyderms approached from a different angle. The flood of elephants just let coming. In total, five elephant families of about 10 elephants each passed us in that spot over the course of about 30 minutes. Take that bog five, we are barely halfway through our safari and we have seen you all.

Wild dogs

Over the last week in Kenya, we had some rare opportunities to see wild dogs, or African Hunting Dogs as I knew them from the zoo.  Apparently, not many people get to see them since they spend a lot of the time hiding and when they aren't hiding, they are on the move.

The first siting of them was pretty exciting.  We were sitting in the middle of a plain in the jeep with Patrick at Ol Pejeta and suddening off in the distance a bunch of zebras and gazelles started running away from a central location in all directions.  The cloud of dust that arose was the first signal.  Immediately,Patrick put the jeep in gear and started racing toward the commotion.  I thought it was a cheetah at first since I have been indoctrinated by nature shows that show cheetahs far more often then dogs.  We spotted 3 hunting dogs jogging along not really after the herd.  We followed them as they traversed the area only stopping to do some marking,and then moving on.  Luckily,they were mostly moving right down the road so we had a long chance to see them.

The next lucky siting happened when we climbing a small mountain during the walking safari.  From the top of the mountain, we viewed a whole family of wild dogs on a rocky area below.  There was even a mother who came out of her den to feed about 14 little puppies, all wagging their white tipped tails.

Safar-hairy

Shane,this post is for you.  I haven't shaved for about a week because we have been camping and there has been no running water.  I am going to attach a picture of the beardie for you when I get to an actual computer.

The 6 seater

We just got to Arusha in Tanzania and checked into oue lodge for the night where we have wifi access and can finally update the blog from our kindles.  Most of today was spent traveling and we took two short flights on really small planes.  The large flights here seem to be on planes that carry about 15 people but the flight from Nanyuki to Nairobi was on a plane that I could fly, or at least on the order of the size of planes that I was flying when I was trying to get my pilot's license.  It had room for 6 people.  Liz has only been up in 2 of these small planes (the other time was when I took her up myself).  Just for consistency' sake,Liz lost her breakfast in this plane too.  The pilot found out after the flight was over and said he was sorry but Liz just shrugged it off and said that it was 2 for 2.

And you thought playing chicken with a rhino was a thrill

Our guides are pretty much amazing. Durring a routine morning walk, they got suddely very excited and started running through the bush. Confused about what was going on we started after them. "Leopard," they hissed at us as we caught up to them. I hadn't seen a thing, let alone been able to identify it as a preditory cat. After covering a bit more distance we suddenly stopped. Our guides pointed to a shrub about 25 yards away. The leopard leaped out and ran across our field of view and into the bush on the other side.

It was all to fast to even think about grabbing a camera to snap a picture, but the image in my mind is unforgetable. We now have four of the big five (rhinos, cape buffalo, lions, leopards, and elephants) solidly under our belts. If only those pesky elephants weren't so hard to spot. Sure we have seen the odd pachyderm ear or backside, but we are still waiting anxiously for a full frontal view.

I'm on a mother f#$%ing camel

The second part of our stay in Kenya was a Samburu lead walking safari. On foot you get to take in more plants, landscapes, and scat than while driving, but it also means fewer close encounters with big game. That said, we had plenty of opportumities to get up close and personal with a whole bunch of camels.

On our morning hike from one camp to the other we actually had a camel to ride in case we got tired. While I quite enjoyed the exercize I couln't say no to the novelty of a camel ride. Erik also indulged. If only T-Pain were there to sing about the journey.

On one of our evening walks we came across a small group of nomadic dairy men with their herd of 80 camels (including 20 babies, one of which was five days old). We arrived just as the mothers were coming in to be milked. The camel herders showed us how they are milked and even offered fo us the try the milk. It took all the will of the smart traveler in me to resist (raw milk with flies landing in it from an uncleaned udder with no running water for kilometers just seems like a travelers recipe for disaster). I now have it in my head that I should try camel milk some time (or even better, camel milk cheese). Is anyone out there aware of a camel dairy in California?

Captain Erik is climbing a mountain, why is he climbing a mountain?

On our second full day of walking safari our guide informed us we would climb a mountain before descending down to the river where we would make camp for the night. Much to my surprise the mountain turned out to be little more than a large pile of boulders with some grasses and shrubs growing in the cracks. If I called it a hill I would be generous (we south bay natives call the road to Santa Cruz a hill after all). All the same, I love walking up so I kept my mouth shut and followed the guides as they scrambled up their mountain.

When we got to the top I realized why they call it a mountain. It is pretty much the highest peak around and the views were fantastic. Best of all, from the top we could see clearly on the next peak over, a family of wild dogs (a very rare sight and our second on this trip). The adults were just home from the morning hunt and were sharing their spoils with the pack. Two litters of puppies (14 total) came out to feed. I can't even begin to describe how cute it is when 14 puppies all try to nurse from one mom (the other was still out apparently) . One of the little puppies kept getting pushed out of the way and ended up rolling down the hill a little before catching his footing and going back for more.

Captain Erik is climbing a mountain to watch wild dogs have breakfast. Also, to pose with a spear like a samburu warrior.

Our friendly nighttime visitor

We spent 3 terrific nights at Ol Pejeta bush camp outside of Nanyuki. It was a wonderful experience of luxury camping imparted tents with a king sized bed and end suite restrooms tents which were partitioned from the main section of the tent. There was no running water though so it wasn't exactly hotel like.

During the nighttime, you get a great opportunity to hear the sounds of all the animals in the park. The owners of the camp surround it with an electrified fence but the clever buffalos manage to get through when the gate is open and stick around for their nighttime snacks. The bushes are much nicer to eat inside the camp because they actually have a chance to grow a little bit before being trampled by elephants.

During the first night of our stay, at about 2 on the morning, I heard a noise outside and could not figure out what it was. There was a knocking sound and the limbs of trees shaking like something huge was just outside the tent. After 30 of listening, I finally saw the huge buffalo move past. I was pretty petrified but did get back to sleep. Liz and I did lose some sleep over the ordeal.

The next night he visited again, this time at about 4 am. I was much more relaxed because I knew that the knocking sound was just him ripping grass out of the ground and that I knew he was not going to come into our tent.  Liz and I woke up, saw the huge thing outside the mesh screen about 6 feet away, and went back to sleep.

On the third night, our buddy came to visit us close to dawn and even was there after we got up.  Liz didn't even wake up for him and I barely looked outside.  The staff chased the buffalos away after breakfast.  They told us that you have to watch out for the buffalos during the day but that at nighttime they are completely friendly.

Playing chicken with a charging rhino

On our last morning drive at Ol Pejeta we found ourselves heading back to camp with some urgency. We needed time to finish packing and have breakfast before meeting our guide for our next adventure. Inconviently, a black rhino happened to be standing in the road between us and camp. Our driver slowed down to give the beast a chance to move, but he just stood there staring at us, as if to say "wanna do something about it?" Our driver took on the challenege, revving the engine and throwing the land cruiser into gear. At the same time the rhino snorted and barreled right at us. I felt momentary terror as I assessed that we were going to collide head on with a multi-ton mammel. Then as if it were as lithe and agile as a bird in flight, the rhino changed course and high tailed it away from the road. We had a lovely breakfast and made it to our meeting on time.

Out and about with the lions

Tonight, we went for a game drive where we saw the same bunch of lions from earlier in the day who had caught buffalo for breakfast.  At night, they were so much more active than during the day.  They were roaming around the kill and our spotter had the spot light on them the whole time.

All of the sudden, the group of young lions and their moms grouped together and booked it out of the area.  We heard a loud grunt off in the distance and our driver Patrick told us that the male lion was coming to feed and that the lioness was driving her cubs away to protect them from the male, who would kill them.  the other lionesses were out trying to prevent the male from coming over.  So we headed over to that action.

We found the male and drove out to see him with our spotlight on full beam.  Patrick shut off the car to observe the active in quiet.  It was terrific, and i tried to get some pictures.  the spotlight died suddenly though.  When Patrick tried to start the car again, we quickly realized that the battery was dead.  There we were, stuck in an open air jeep, surrounded by lions, not able to move, and without any light but our headlamps that we could shine into the grass only to see many eyes reflecting back at us.

After a while of fussing around, it became apparent that we would need to get out of the jeep and push it so that Patrick could kick start it.  It was definitely an apprehensive moment but all turned out well.  The lions kept about 30 feet away and we all quickly jumped back in the jeep never to turn off the engine again.

Pop goes the warthog

Warthogs are officially the cutest animal you will see on safari (even if Erik tries to tell you camels are cuter). The best thing about them is the way they lay low in the grass or wallow in a mud hole where they can't be seen from the road, only to pop up all of a sudden (or because they are freaked out by the approaching land cruiser) and run across the savannah. If you can't see their legs it seems like their bodies are gliding on wheels or by hovercraft across the grass.

1, 2, 3, 4, I declare a neck war

On our first afternoon out on safari at Ol Pejeta nature conservancy in Kenya, we got to view two giraffes locked in an intense battle for dominance. If you ever have the opportumity to whitness such a duel, I hightly recomend it. These lumbering creatures fight so slowly it is more like watching a choreographed waltz than an epic struggle. They fight by twisting their necks around each other, which frankly looks like the giraffe version of a thumb war.

Made it to London

We made it to London and are hanging out in the BA lounge sipping white wine and munching on kettle chips.  It's 9 am in the morning here, but my body feels like I should be going to bed right about now so I am really tired.  I got through 3 movies on the airplane though:  Burlesque, Waiting for Superman, and the Chronicles of Narnia 3. 

Up up and away

We have successfully made it through the first half of our journey to Kenya. My clever hubby managed to get us platinum status on the airline, so I write this from the computing station in the fancy lounge at Heathrow, while sipping the complimentary wine. Amusingly, one of the wines they feature is a Ravenswood Zin from Lodi California. :)

The other amusing moment of our travels thus far was when we decided that the international terminal in Dallas was the last place to get a good burrito for 3 weeks. We were so excited about it, and then the burritos ended up being pretty awful (rice in a burrito should not be al dente). I guess the international terminal of any airport is going to have watered down cuisine failures for inflated prices (at least inflated prices in Texas are about normal for California).

Taking off

I am late to start this blog bit I might as well start while waiting for our flight to take off.  We are really excited about going on the honeymoon, relaxing a bit, and having a lot of adventures. 

The wedding was terrific. For all of you followers who came, thanks for helping to make the day so great. We had a lot of fun and hope you did too.