Thoughts on a Safari - Part 1

A few months back, we went on a safari, and its high time I blog about it.  For this trip, we went to Kenya with a recovery trip to Zanzibar, Tanzania.  

It feels like there is a lot to cover, so I am going to break this into a couple posts.  Today’s post will deal with the basics – where to go, where to stay and thoughts on Zanzibar.  Future posts will cover the animals, and the experience.

The Parks

We went to 3 parks - Nairobi National Park, Amboseli, and Maasai Mara.  

First we went to Nairobi National Park.  It is just outside of the city.  In fact, you can see the city sky line from much of the park.  We saw regular people driving their ordinary cars through the park.  The biggest plus of this park is it was the only place we saw Rhinos.

Next up was Amboseli.  This park is south of Nairobi on the border with Tanzania and has a fantastic view of Mount Kilimanjaro.  Aside from the view, the big advantage of this park is the Elephants.  This park has many, many elephants, and lots of opportunities to see them close up. 

Finally we went to the Maasai Mara.  Often when people think of safaris, they think of the Serengeti in Tanzania.  It turns out that the Serengeti and the Maasai Mara are one ecosystem.  The only difference is it is called Maasai Mara in Kenya, and Serengeti in Tanzania. 

Each park had its charms, and I am glad we did all three.  I think the order mattered because each one got successively better.  I am not sure I would have had such a good feeling about Nairobi park if we did it last. 

The Lodgings

At each park, we stayed at some great lodgings.  At Nairobi Park we stayed at the Ololo Lodge.  In fact, the lodge is inside the park and you have to pay a park entrance fee every day you are there in addition to the price of the lodge.  The lodge is old and had fallen into disrepair and closed.  A couple from Australia bought it, spent several years renovating it and recently reopened it. 

Their efforts have really paid off.  The resort itself was very nice.  Our room was a renovated horse stable.  The common areas were inviting.  The staff was great and attentive.  It was a very friendly atmosphere.  Also a big plus is the fact that all alcohol was included.  That is unusual for these types of places.

Not bad for a former horse stable.

At Amboseli we stayed at the Ol Tukai Lodge.  The day we traveled from Ololo to here, we had to get up early, take a bumpy road out of Nairobi park, get to the airport, fly to Amboseli, and take another drive to the lodge.  We have had much longer and harder travel days, but this was just hard enough to set the stage for a great first impression.  We arrived at the lodge just before breakfast was going to end, so we went into the dining room, attacked the buffet and sat.  And while sitting there, I looked out and there from the breakfast table, we can clearly see a heard of elephants walking past the lodge. WOW!

I had seen elephants before.  I had even ridden on one in Laos.  But this was the first time I had seen then in the wild.  And I did it from the dining table.

Ol Tukai is larger than Ololo.  It has a great bar, a fire pit, and spacious common rooms.  The guest rooms were nice – they were in small buildings of 4 rooms, each with its own porch and a couple chairs.  It is definitely a great place to stay.

But what made it really special was the view.  It looked out onto a plain that is part of the park, and the animals were always in site.  Elephants, hippos, zebras, cape buffalo, birds, monkeys and more.  Sit on your porch and watch.  How cool.

The view from our porch

In the Masai Mara we stayed at the Mara Intrepids.  To get to this lodge, we took a flight from Nairobi.  It was a smaller plane – a twin engine turbo prop like you take for smaller airports back in the US.  Before getting on the plain, they told us we would be the 3^rd stop.  Wait, what?  That’s right – you will be the 3^rd stop.  In this part of Kenya, each lodge has its own dirt runway.  At each stop a few people get off, and a few get on. Take off.  Fly 10 more minutes, land. 

At our stop, we got off, claimed our bags right on the runway and loaded up in trucks to drive to our lodge which was only a few hundred yards away. Nice.

At this lodge you stay in tents, but it is definitely “Glamping.”  The beds are comfortable.  There is electricity, indoor plumbing and fresh towels.  Really nice.  One of the more unusual touches was every night after dinner, your bed had been turned down and a hot water bottle placed in.  I think some of the ladies on our trip like the nice warm bed better than I did.  For me, it made me too warm.

Yes, this is a tent

Overall, my impression is that all of these types of lodges in Kenya cater to travelers who expect luxury, and they all deliver.  The rooms, the staff, the food – all top notch.  If you are going to go to Africa for a safari – live a little.  Pay for a great place and take full advantage of its amenities. 

Zanzibar.

I am rarely negative about the places we go, but I am not a fan of Zanzibar.  It simply was not a great experience.

When we arrived at the airport it was already late at night.  A van met us to take us to our lodge – 1 van for 9 adults.  It was tight.  The drive was long – an hour – and we were not expecting that.  What we could see from the van was pretty run down and poor.  The driver made a personal stop in a sketchy neighborhood while 9 people waited in the van.  So by the time we got to our lodge, I already had a poor first impression.

The part that bothered me most was the beach.  The lodge did not own or control the beach, so as soon as you left the resort, people were trying to sell you things.  You would try to take a walk on the beach, and people would come up to you acting all friendly.  If you were friendly back they would start to try to sell you something.  But if you tried to stop them, they would act offended and say they are just trying to be friendly.

The lodge itself was very nice.  By this point in the trip we had already done our safari, so this was already a bonus.  We spent most of our time lounging around, although we did go out to a spice farm one day and looked around Stone Town on our last day on the way to the airport.

Overall, I give Zanzibar a rating of Skip-able.

Freddie Mercury was born on Zanzibar.  Maybe it was not all bad.

I am a little behind

We just got back from a great trip, which reminds me I am way behind in my posts.  So I am going to give a brief summary to be followed with more expansive posts soon.

Since the last time I blogged, we went on the following trips:

• A safari in Kenya and a beach vacation in Zanzibar with family.
• A weekend in Dubai
• A two week trip to Cape Town and Victoria Falls

I will write about all of these in the near future, but until that happens, here is my quick take:

A safari in Kenya is absolutely awesome!  If you have a chance, go!  The animals are incredible, and it will change your life.

Dubai is nice and if you live in Africa, its a great getaway.  But if you have to choose, go on a safari.

Going to Cape Town is like going to California.  The weather is great.  The wines and food are great.  The people are great.  It is just great.  Victoria Falls is one of the Natural wonders of the world.  It is almost beyond imagination.  If you have a chance GO!  It is also a life changing destination.

I will post on each of these as well as any upcoming trips soon.  

3 Countries

Its been a while since I blogged, so allow me to catch up.  Since my last post, I have been to 3 countries, and I don't really have a lot of pictures to show for it.

First, I went for training to Johannesburg, South Africa.  I arrived on a Sunday, was in training all day from Monday to Friday, and then left on Saturday.  So I don't think I can fairly create my usual list of top thoughts.  But I can tell you a few things.  Here are some random thoughts:

• Johannesburg is clean, and the roads are great.
• Food and drink are cheap.  Both in Restaurants and at the supermarket.  Two guys in my class and I went out for dinner every night, and never paid more that $20 per person, and we did not hold back.  Full entrees, wine, beer, etc.  
• The weather was so great - 70's and sunny.  No Haboobs.
• I went to a wild animal park, but I cant say I really liked it.  These are captive animals, even if I am in a caged vehicle, and they "appear" to be free to roam, they re not.

The highlight of the trip was the supermarket.  I stocked up on high quality, inexpensive beef, pork and cheese.  I brought it all back to my hotel and asked them to hold it for me in their freezer.  On my last day, I bought a cooler, filled it with the frozen food, went to the airport, and I checked it as luggage.

I once heard that you are not a real Foreign Service Officer until you have lugged a cooler full of food through an airport.  I can now check off that box.

Next, Carole and I went to Oman for a long weekend.  We spent the most of our time at a very nice resort called the Shangra La.  Again, my visit was too short and limited to give a list of my thoughts. I will tell you that Oman has a very stark beauty to it,  The kind you only get in the desert.

I can also tell you that in the past, Carole and I have never thought of ourselves as the kinds of people to do the "lounge around the pool" type of vacation.  Evidently, that's changing.

The final country we visited recently was...The United States of America!  We went back for a sad reason, the passing of Carole's mother.  We ended up back for a little over two weeks, and so now I can give you my thoughts after having spent almost a year out of the country.  So here they are in no particular order:

• Its green!  Trees and grass everywhere!
• Its clean.  You have no idea how clean America is until you have lived in a place like Sudan.
• Food and drink,  Going back to our favorite places and trying new beers is an unbelievable luxury.
• Being homeless is weird.  Having sold our house, from now on when we visit, it will be a combination of staying in hotels, and with friends and family.  Over the course of our visit, we stayed in 2 hotels, and 3 different homes.
• Family and Friends:  Meeting up and catching up is another unbelievable luxury.
• Poker!  I managed to get a game is with my old poker buddies. (thanks again, Gus!)  I have not been able to get a regular game going over here.
• Bagels.  OMG!  They are soooo  goood back home.
• Its a small world - Two Canadian friends from Khartoum were going to the east coast for a wedding and we gave them some advice on where to go.  With our unexpected trip, it turns out I ended up meeting up with them in Connecticut!
• It was relaxing.  Living abroad has all kinds of stress.  On a day to day basis, you might not even notice it.  But once we were home, you can feel it lift.  

Bhutan

Carole and I just got back from Bhutan and it was a spectacular place.  So without any further adu, here are my top ten thoughts on Bhutan:

10 - Traffic Lights.  

There are not any.  Not one in the whole country.  But they do have traffic police:

9 - Altitude,  

Bhutan is in the Himalayas, so its high.  The places we went were only considered to be the foot hills to the Himalayas, which does not sound very high, but it was.  Most places we went were about 7,000 feet, and the highest we got was about 10,500 feet.  But we did see a peaks that are over 24,000

These bags of chips are fully inflated because Science! 

8 - Penises. 

I have to be very careful with this one.  The last time I blogged something that was even slightly off color (Travel Goals)  I received an e-mail from a reader telling me it was an embarrassment (Thanks, Mom!).  But if you want to know about what it is like to visit Bhutan, you need to talk about Penises.  Mom, if you are reading this, you might want to jump down to number 7.

In the 15th century, Lama Drukpa Kunley, known as the divine madman, was said to have defeated a demon using his penis.  As as a tribute, there are paintings and carvings of penises everywhere.  They are on buildings, signs, postcards, gift shops, etc.

In the gift shops, they have them on key chains, and stand alone.  They have them regular and larger than life.  They have them painted and or natural.  They have them with wings.  They have books of the "Phalluses of Bhutan."   And the penises are displayed right next to statues of Buddha and other religious items.

7 The Royal Family

Bhutan LOVES their royal family.  Their monarchy was founded on 1907, and in 2006, the fourth king abdicated and let his 26 year old son take over.  In 2011 he married and earlier this year, his wife gave birth to their first child.  There are pictures of the happy family everywhere, and many people where buttons dipicting the royal family.  Everyone we asked spoke of the poyals with real affection.

6 Bridges 

There were three bridges in Bhutan that are worth mentioning.


Thangtong Gyalpo lived in the 14th century and he loved to build bridges.  His bridges we made of chain links, and we crossed one of them.  It was like trying to walk on a chain link fence.  It was awkward, and you could see to the river below.

Just to put this in perspective, this was the first thing we stopped at in Bhutan.  We had been traveling for 2 days - Flight delays, missed connections, lack of sleep, etc.  Then they have us walk across this see-through bridge,  And right in the middle of the crossing, I noticed that the chain going down the center of the bridge is missing a couple links and is wired together.  Still, I thought it was pretty cool.

The second bridge is right next to the first.  After we crossed hard to walk on bridge, our guide told us we would walk back on the "modern bridge."  Low and behold, there is anther bridge I had not even noticed.  However, instead of Modern Bridge, I would describe it as pretty good bridge except for the missing and rotten planks.

The third bridge is Punakha Suspension Bridge.  At 525 feet, it is the longest suspenstion bridge in Bhutan.  

5  Festivals

One of the highlights of going to Bhutan is going to a festival.  We were lucky enough to go to two while we were there.  Festivals usually take place at the local monastery.  They are all day family affairs.  All the attendees wear traditional clothes.  They bring blankets and picnic near the main performance area.  Its good people watching territory.

The performances are traditional dance and singing.  It usually tells the stories and legands of the local area.

Sometimes you people watch.  Sometimes people watch you.

4 Dragons

Bhutan has a dragon on their flag.  Seriously, how cool is that?  They love the symbol of the dragon.  They don't call themselves Bhutanese, but rather People of the Dragon.

3.  Buddhism

I have been to 3 Buddhist countries - Bhutan, Cambodia and Laos.  Somehow, the feel of Buddhism is different in Bhutan than the other two.  While there are a lot of Buddha statues, and Buddhist monks, it feels like there are fewer.  Instead there are Prayer flags and  Prayer Wheels.

When Bhutanese spin a prayer wheel, they recite a mantra - Om Mani Padme Hum.  I asked our guide what it meant and he said its not a simple or short answer.  The overly simplified answer is that the words represent important ideas in Buddhism.

The flags represent the same mantra.  In fact, there are some prayer flags that have the words written right on them.

When spinning a prayer wheel, always go clockwise

This Buddha is 168 feet tall.  They told us it was the tallest in the world, but I found a list that puts it at #17,

There were 108 stuppas at this location.  Evidently, 108 is an important symbolic number in Buddhism.  We came across it regularly, including a special gift to honor the new crown crown prince - planting of 108,000 new trees.  

This is a bodhi tree.  The Buddha was sitting under the same type of tree when he achieved enlightenment.

We bought prayer flags that we hung right here, in full view of the Tiger's Nest (more on that later) 

Prayer wheels came in all sizes from huge ones 10 feet in diameter to hand held.

2  Things I Cannot Show You

I cannot show you some of the best things we saw in Bhutan.  Photography was not permitted in many places of worship.  This was another difference from Cambodia and Laos.  Inside the temples was colorful and interesting.  Lots of art - statures, paintings, tapestries, etc.

One of the most memorable was a temple were were told we could not go in because there were monks having their daily prayers.  But we were allowed to a room above it that looked down on the monks.  They were chanting, there were drums and horns.  It was fascinating to watch.  And I have no pictures or video.

1.  The Tiger's Nest

Without a doubt, The Tiger's Nest was the highlight of the trip.  It typifies many of the items on this top 10 list.  Its at high altitude.  Its very Buddhist.  There are parts I was not allowed to take photos.

Paro Taktsang (its real name) is located on a cliff wall at just over 10,200 feet.  It is a 3,000 foot climb to reach it, and it is well worth it.  It was built in the 17th century, and rebuilt a couple times due to fire.

I have rarely seen such a spectacular place.