try2seeitall

Our next stop in Botswana was another place within the Okavango Delta in the Moremi Game Reserve, only a twenty-minute bush plane flight to the southeast. Camp Xakanaxa is situated in a drier part of the delta, with most of the safaris done using purpose-built, large, four-wheel-drive vehicles typical in Africa. Here also, there was an option to take a boat. The lodge and our room were steps away from the banks of the Khwai River, but having experienced the delta by boat at Xugana, we opted to explore by land. Again, we had an excellent guide. His name was Taylor. He worked extremely hard to get us to see what there was to see. He was very good at taking into account that I like to take pictures. He did his best to give me a good vantage point to get the photo, and he always turned off the vehicle engine, so it wouldn’t shake the camera. Since I like to see it all, it probably made his job a challenge. Most of the game drives, we had him to ourselves, but there were a few that we did not. 

On one such drive, after seeing many different animals, we rounded a corner and another guest said, “Oh, look, there is an elephant.” We stopped abruptly. As you can see from the photo above, it was kind of hidden in the shade of a tree beside the road. Taylor (who probably saw the huge animal before the guest) knew we had already seen plenty of elephants, but realized the other woman had not.  The elephant was on the same side of the vehicle as my wife was and only a few yards away. My wife raised her binoculars. I snapped a few photos (I never know which ones will be good, or which might have a story behind them) and a few seconds later my wife declared, “I can’t believe I can’t see an elephant.” The elephant, practically within trunk’s distance of her binoculars, grumbled a little (as if to say, Let me help you get those silly binoculars out of your way, I am right here), and my wife replied as she lowered her binoculars with, “Oh, there you are.” She laughed at herself a little. 

When we first arrived at the airstrip, we were met by our guide, and he asked us what we were most interested in seeing at Moremi Game Reserve. I said something like, Whatever will make good photos for my website, but we have seen elephants, and I already have some good photos of them. Even so, I am glad we saw that elephant under the tree. My wife’s laughter and the expression on her face when she looked at me made me appreciate that I am a lucky guy. I have a wife that enjoys doing things with me. I had the pleasure of being together with her in a new country, sharing time with interesting people from around the world, who had different life experiences and perspectives. We were all fortunate to have the help of local people, who I believe genuinely loved their jobs and wanted to share their knowledge and hospitality with guests.

One more quick story about another elephant before I give you an opportunity to see better photos than the one above. Near the end of our time in Camp Xakanaxa, our guide saw a big bull elephant scratching his face on a fallen tree. He turned the vehicle off, so we could take some pictures. The bull started walking in our direction with his big ears flared out.  Preparing for a potential confrontation, Taylor started the vehicle. The elephant kept coming. Taylor revved the engine a little. The big boy kept coming our way, but not charging. Taylor put the transmission in gear, revved the engine hard and quickly let the clutch out, which spun the tires and kicked up a little dirt. That was enough; the elephant immediately turned around and quickly headed in the other direction. All I could think was, well played, Taylor, as I took another photo of the bull in retreat. For photos of elephants near Camp Xakanaxa, click here. I will try to get another post out soon.  

As I was saying in the previous post, the main reason for the adventure this October was to see Botswana and the Okavango Delta. Everything else on the trip was accessory (though I was pretty sure we would like the entire journey) to this destination. I have watched some fantastic documentaries that show how wonderful and unique the area is and for quite a few years I have really wanted to see it for myself. I knew it might be an easy place to convince my wife to visit because one of her friends, Diane, went with her husband some time ago. Diane had suggested that we would like it. She is also an avid photographer who likes to travel the world and spends a considerable amount of time researching and planning her trips, so her opinion matters to my wife. I would get my chance to experience the Delta and see what it is really like.

Remote destinations like the Okavango take some thought and careful preparation; and for most people, including me, expert help making the arrangements. Almost all the arrangements were done by Kim and her team at Extraordinary Journeys. They found the places that were available and right for us, and that worked within our time schedule. They coordinated all the flights within Africa to make sure we were making efficient use of our time. We had to fly from Cape Town to Maun, Botswana, and then we had to connect with bush planes to get to the remote airstrips at the three lodges in Botswana. EJ has partners in Africa that make this happen and they even have people meet you at the airport to facilitate the transfers. If I had unlimited time and was traveling alone, I might try to “wing it” myself, but it is probably not a great idea. My wife doesn’t like to be away from home for long periods at a time and she likes to be prepared. She is a good sport about most things, but prefers to have a good plan in advance and I want her to enjoy herself and keep traveling with me. She really appreciated the detailed itinerary, bound in a booklet, that was delivered to us just before we left home. Since the trip is already over as I write this, I can tell you that everything went according to plan. If it hadn’t, we had a bunch of people looking out for us that would have been able to help. 

Our first camp in Botswana was Xugana Island Lodge, deep within the Okavango Delta and the only camp on the trip where most of our travel would be by boat. At Xugana Island, we showed up at the airstrip, and we were greeted and transferred by boat to the lodge where well trained staff took excellent care of us. Everything was provided; food, drinks, clean and comfortable accommodations (but no air conditioning this far off the grid) and most importantly, expert guides.

One of the things that makes the Okavango unique is that rain that falls and makes its way into the tributary rivers, or into the delta itself, doesn’t make it to the ocean. The seasonal floods are pretty dependable; wildlife, including big game, have adapted their biological clocks around the annual cycle of rains and flooding. The seasonal rains flow from Angola through Namibia for many miles before entering Botswana where the flooding spreads out into a delta of lagoons and waterways, finally disappearing into the Kalahari Desert. Though many of the animals can be found elsewhere in Africa, the setting here is completely different. The plants have to be able to tolerate flooding. There are many different reed-like plants, including papyrus, that make up the habitat, instead of typical savannah. The water flows in narrow, mostly shallow channels that wind through the vegetation. The depth of the water fluctuates depending on the season. While we were there, the outboard engine propellers on the safari boats would occasionally get tangled in vegetation/muck on the bottom and stop running. Fortunately for us it was always a momentary stop, and then we were back on our way. The guides had to be on guard at all times, not only to avoid hazards in the water, but also because there was always the potential to round a bend and see elephants or hippos. That is not a good time to be without a functioning engine. 

On one early-morning safari, our guide, CK, noticed a wake in the channel that was not caused by another boat. He determined we must have scared a hippo and it was moving quickly to get away. CK didn’t slow down as he skillfully navigated the channel bends, until he pointed out the wake had subsided and there were fresh tracks in the muck and the reeds had been pushed away where the hippo left the main channel. We never saw that hippo, but we saw many others. When hippos, especially the big males, were in the larger lagoons, CK would give them a wide berth. Evidently, when they see you approaching they have more confidence and can be dangerous.

Another day on an evening cruise, we saw elephants from the boat, but the reeds were so high it was difficult to get a good picture. I was hoping to get a photo of them swimming, but that opportunity never presented itself to our group. I did get some good photos of brilliant sunsets with papyrus reeds and storm clouds. I also got plenty of photos of different birds for which the delta is famous.

The highlight of Xugana for us (as far as wildlife goes) was the walking safari. We spent one morning on an island, about a 20 minute boat ride from camp. It was situated on slightly higher ground than the surrounding delta swamp vegetation , and at least while we were there, the ground was dry. Walking among the big game is a much different feeling without the benefit of a vehicle to escape from a charging elephant or a hungry pride of lions. I would say, way more authentic and humbling. We were given plenty of instruction regarding safety. It was the number one priority. An additional guide armed with a high-power rifle accompanied us as we walked the island. Fortunately, he didn’t have to use it. This wasn’t our first walking safari; my wife and I did a gorilla trek in Rwanda, where one of the trackers fired his gun to scare away a forest elephant that wasn’t happy with us and charged the group. I also walked at night with researchers in Kenya doing scientific research on small mammals. In the same place, earlier in the week, I heard lions and saw elephants and cape buffalo. I guess you could also say, what I did in Madagascar last year might qualify as a walking safari, but there weren’t any poisonous snakes or big animals that could kill you there. We didn’t see any lions, though there was surely evidence they were there. CK showed us the evidence. He explained that the hippopotamus hide we found while on the walk, along with bones, still showed how it met its end. CK said there was a pride that frequented the island that specializes in killing hippos by paralyzing them by biting through the backbone, instead of suffocating them by clamping down on the trachea in the front of the neck in the manner that most lions use to kill their prey. If you look closely at one of the photos I took, you can see the hole in the dried out hide. While on the walk, I got plenty of photos of a herd of elephants doing what elephants do; and some of warthogs, hippos, and antelopes. 

We spent a little time fishing for tiger fish on the morning of the last day at the camp; without any luck.  We did a short trip in a fiberglass version of the traditional dugout canoe the locals call a mokoro. Again, it is a humbling experience to be sitting at water level in a small vessel that cannot move quickly, when potentially there are large creatures nearby. Our guides were good and kept us safe as we quietly slipped through the water taking photos of the smaller critters like reed frogs and dragonflies and getting close to plants like water lilies.  For photos from the vicinity around Xugana, click here. 

We were very pleased with the food, service, and the hospitality of the many kind people who made the stay go well. We only got a little taste of what the Okavango Delta is really like. I am sure we would have a different experience if we came at another time of year. The Delta is an ever changing place.  I hope to come back again someday to Xugana and maybe this time I will catch a tiger fish and photograph elephants frolicking in the water. We are happy with what we were able to see and do this time in the vicinity around Xugana Island Lodge…but there is still more to see and do at the other two camps in Botswana we still have scheduled on this adventure. It was a good choice for our first stop in the delta. At the next stop, I took so many photos I think I will have to break it up into more than one post.

It is a fact that I am not as interested in cities as I am in nature. I appreciate that cities are important and there are people that prefer them to being out in nature. I like to travel to places that have critters (even small ones and what some would consider creepy crawlies) and landscapes (especially beautiful ones) that are new to me and different from what I know. On this trip I planned to see and photograph new critters and landscapes, but to get there, we had to make the long haul to a place big enough to start the adventure. Cape Town was the city of choice.  Fortunately it was rated in a recent article in Travel+Leisure as one of the “25 Most Beautiful Cities in the World.” I had seen in a recent travel show that it is also highly regarded as a food and wine destination (something my wife and I both enjoy), so I did some research and planned to use Cape Town as our starting point for this Africa adventure. 

I worked with an American travel consulting group called Extraordinary Journeys (EJ). I used them when I took my wife on our first African Safaris in 2016. They did a great job then.  It was worth the money to have a consultant with connections and experience in the remote places I wanted to see at a standard that my wife could enjoy. (She has places she says she won’t go that don’t make me feel as uncomfortable. To be sure, I have places I won’t go too, but my bar is set pretty low. It is one of many reasons I won’t be able to see it all, but I am trying pretty hard.) The agent I used the last time was no longer with the company, but they referred me to another agent, Kim Green. She and her team were a pleasure to work with this time. It’s not that my wife doesn’t trust my planning skills, but having someone who specializes in this type of travel helps make her more comfortable. My wife had people telling her that South Africa wasn’t the safest place to travel. I wanted to make sure she was convinced that we were in good hands and we would be safe. 

It was a long flight from Amsterdam and we arrived too late to realistically plan on using the day for anything but travel.  Still not adjusted to the time difference; we relaxed at the hotel for the evening and next day. We stayed at At Cloud 9 Boutique Hotel & Spa for four nights, and yes we both took advantage of the onsite spa.  The exchange rate made it too good to pass up (just as it did when we visited Bali) and the rest helped us get adjusted. The whole staff at the hotel went out of their way to make sure we were happy. A fresh healthy breakfast was served every morning. It had an interesting architectural vibe (Yes, I am interested in architecture.) and was vetted by EJ to meet their green travel standard, which I also think is important.

After a day of relaxation, we ate dinner at ëlgr Restaurant; within walking distance of the hotel. It didn’t look impressive from the outside. We had an early reservation and were the first in the door when they opened for dinner. Once seated, I ordered the Chef’s Choice Sharing Menu with Paired Wines for two. We were a little confused at first because so much food was placed on the table after we ordered that we were not sure if that was all we were going to get. It was all good and paired well with the wine. As soon as we had finished the first offering, we each got another plate and another glass of wine served by the sommelier with an explanation of the reason for the pairing. Service was excellent even though by now the restaurant was filling up. The process was repeated for at least two more courses. At the end of the meal we were both satiated and grateful. We certainly felt by now that South Africa was even better than we hoped it would be and we barely had begun the trip.

The next day we met our driver (I didn’t want to rent a car my first time in South Africa.) who doubled as our tour guide. His name was Jackson. He took us up the iconic Table Mountain to the cable car, but unfortunately it was closed unexpectedly because of high winds. (The view at the base was worth the drive and it literally gave us an overview of the city.) Without missing a beat, he altered plans and went on with our tour of the city; keeping us interested by educating us on the fascinating and complex human history, as well as the natural history and architectural history of his native land. He was well versed in many subjects (including Rugby– coincidentally, the national team: the Springboks, won the 2023 world cup in France while we were in South Africa) and old enough to have experienced apartheid. He was a very kind man, who was able to skillfully keep us out of traffic while carrying on conversations on difficult topics. At the end of a full day seeing city sites with the right combination of exercise and recovery, he dropped us off for a seafood feast at Codfather Restaurant, in Camps Bay. We made our own way back to the hotel. It was a very good day! For photos of this part of the trip click here.

After an early breakfast the next morning, we were met by our driver again, this time to explore the peninsula that includes the southwesternmost tip of the African continent. It is not geographically the southernmost, but they seem to make a bigger deal of The Cape of Good Hope than Cape Agulhas; which is the actual place where the cold South Atlantic current crashes into the warm Indian Ocean current. (If you want a better explanation, it might be “worth a Google ” after you finish virtually exploring here.) Prior to the trip, this was the area we planned to visit in South Africa that I was most excited about. I knew there would be the possibility to take pictures of natural beauty, unique ecosystems like the Fynbos (an area of low growing plants, many of them with beautiful flowers and many naturally found only in this ecosystem), penguins and maybe even my first Southern Right Whales. A single bontebok, Damaliscus pygargus pygargus, a fairly large antelope that I confess I had never heard of before the trip, did show up for a photograph in the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve. The landscapes were impressive with some of the clearest and freshest blue skies you can imagine. I took plenty of photos. We saw South African penguins as well as many other birds. Baboons were on the march; seeming to ignore the tourists. Probably the best surprise of the day was the lunch stop our driver had planned for us at Harbour House Kalk Bay, where we were seated at a table right next to the crashing waves below. The day ended at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens where we walked for two hours on the beautiful grounds and I saw many plant species I had never seen before in person. I was especially impressed by the many species of endemic Proteus that were in bloom, and also I saw for the first time a living plant indigenous to the Namib desert I learned about when I was studying botany in college. It is a very odd plant that is a member of the genus Welwitschia, represented by a single living species, Welwitschia mirabili, today. We returned to the hotel tired, but I was excited to look at the photos of the day. I have shared some of the better ones. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any whales. It was a little too late in the season. For photos of this part of the trip click here

After the fourth night at the hotel, we got an early start. We went with our driver to the wine regions of Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. We tasted wines from Meerlust Wine Estate and Kanonkop Wine Estate in Stellenbosch and after lunch at La Petite Ferme, Franschhoek (selected by our driver), we went to Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines for a tasting. After a full day our driver dropped us off at Mont d’Or Franschhoek where we stayed for two nights.  The following night I picked La Petite Colombe, on the Leeu Estate, Franschhoek, for a dinner experience that I was hoping would be second to none. I made the reservation months in advance. The multicourse meal with wine pairings did not disappoint and will likely never be forgotten. It was that good! I hope to bring friends with us again someday. The following morning we returned to the airport in Cape Town for the flight to the main event of the trip. For photos from the events of our stay including the artfully crafted, delicious meal click here.

We were treated well by all we met. We had a terrific time in Cape Town and the surrounding area. We had some of the best food and wine of our lives. It is truly an amazing place. A bonus of its southern hemisphere location was that a visit in October, becomes a time of lengthening days. My wife especially appreciated it. She didn’t care for the short days and long nights of Amsterdam.

A few things went into my decision to include Amsterdam into this journey. It was not the destination but rather a way to the destination that made it attractive as a stop. Since I like to talk to people about their travel experiences, I had been told the Netherlands is a lovely country to visit and I had never been before, excluding a brief layover at the airport where we didn’t even have to exit the plane. Two of my children who had been in Amsterdam recently recommended it as a worthwhile place to visit. With that in mind, I found I could book a flight to the southern part of Africa much cheaper and earn loyalty points with my airline alliance without paying as much as a nonstop, round-trip flight to Cape Town from the USA. The airline loyalty points have become important to me lately because, as many of my fellow travelers have suggested, having access to a good lounge makes the airport part of the travel experience less taxing. I don’t really mind sitting in the back of the plane (especially considering the price difference), but if I can keep my wife happy by maintaining lounge access, it is worth it. My wife is my favorite travel companion, but she is a reluctant traveler. She has expressed to me that waiting in line to check in, going through security (sometimes being treated badly), rushing and wondering if the plane will depart on time or at all, and carrying luggage through the airport are all difficult and stressful for her. I don’t like any of those things either, but arriving early helps both of us when a comfortable lounge awaits; with smiling faces that help ease the stress of getting there (and back). Anyway, adding this leg of the flight allowed me to get the points I needed to maintain status for another year. Let’s hope the upcoming year is full of new adventures and the lounge access comes in handy.

As you might guess from the name of this website, I like to travel as much as I can and since I am retired from teaching and coaching (since 2018), my options are much broader now than they were when I had to keep in mind the school calendar and sports seasons.  I wouldn’t pick October as the prime time of year to visit Amsterdam, but it would give me and my wife a chance to see if it could be a place worth returning to in the future. For sure you can’t see it all in a day, and with so many places to see in the world that really intrigue me (and I keep learning of more as I meet fellow travelers) and the fact that I will probably not be able to do as much exotic travel as I age; it makes sense (to me at least) to try to scout out potential future destinations that might appeal to both of us as we limit ourselves to places that are frequented by people in our age bracket and above. 

I generally prefer to eliminate airport layovers because I view every landing as an opportunity to explore, but also because it helps to relieve the stress of making a connecting flight.  Amsterdam Schiphol is the hub for one of the airlines that is in the alliance I travel with and it has a reputation as an easy airport to transit through. Making a stop rather than laying over, allows another day to adjust to the time zone of the primary location of our planned adventure. One of the problems of crossing time zones is the adjustment to the difference, especially as you age and sleeping becomes a challenge. Adding the stop also is a hedge against flight delays. Missing the stop in Amsterdam wouldn’t be good, but it is preferable to landing in Africa behind schedule for our busy itinerary.  So, it seemed prudent to add the “cushion” in the Netherlands for peace of mind.

Now that you know more than you probably wanted to know about the reasons for stopping in Amsterdam, let’s cover what we did with our time. We had a little more than 24 hours and as luck would have it, the weather was rainy. We stayed near the airport in the village of Amstelveen at a lovely Bed and Breakfast that used to be a train station, now called Hotel Station Amstelveen. It was highly rated and fairly priced. The owners were great to deal with and breakfast was wonderful. Since our flight and taxi to Amstelveen had us arriving before sunrise, we arranged to have breakfast and drop off our bags with our host, Johan. He also provided us with a wealth of information on things to do and how to navigate using public transport to get to the city sites. He made a reservation for us for dinner at The WineKitchen at Sea, which is only steps away from the front door of the hotel. 

After breakfast and a short walk to the bus station, we started our day visiting the highly regarded national museum of the Netherlands, the Rijksmuseum, where many of the works by Dutch masters can be found, including Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Jacob van Ruisdael; but probably my favorite Dutch painter exhibited in the museum was Vincent van Gogh. After a few hours walking the galleries, we made our way to one of the tour-boat docks to navigate the iconic canals of Amsterdam. They are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, and even though it was raining steadily during the tour, it was possible to stay dry in the covered vessel, learn some history, and take photos of the charming scenery and architecture. By the time we finished, it was time to head back to Amstelveen to make our dinner reservation. As the name suggests, the restaurant specializes in wine paired with fresh seafood. The service was great and the food was carefully prepared and delicious. 

We certainly didn’t see it all, but we saw enough to know we want to return someday. I hope we will get better weather next time. I highly recommend both the place we stayed and the restaurant! We felt welcomed at both.

To see photos of our short stay in Amsterdam click here. The last photo in the gallery is an early-morning photo of the place we stayed in Amstelveen, which I took while waiting for the taxi back to the airport. 

My daughter invited us to stay with her and her family in Corsica for a week. Because my wife and I are retired, we chose to extend our trip there to be able to see more of this lovely French Island in the Mediterranean. I did a little research and decided it would be best for us to meet them at their apartment in Paris (partly because we wanted to have the Eurostar under the English Channel experience, but mostly because we had not seen the grandchildren in five months) and then fly on to meet them again in Corsica. They were driving and taking the overnight car ferry from Toulon in the south of France. Since it was May we were ahead of the prime season in Corsica and things were less expensive and less crowded. We rented an economy car at the airport in Figari which is in the southern part of the island. The car was practically brand new and well suited for the narrow winding roads. Though we drove for something close to 20 hours while we were there, we spent less than 120 Euros on gas. 

Since we arrived a few days earlier than the rest of the family, we spent some time visiting the citadel and port of Bonifacio, Napoleon Bonaparte’s birth city of Ajaccio, and a day hiking and taking in the natural beauty of the south central highlands around the Village de San Gavino di Carbini. We stayed at three different B&B’s all of which were charming but in different ways. We stayed the first two nights at Chambre d’hotes Caseddu Di Poggiale, one night in Villa Alba Rosula and one night in Auberge U n’Antru Versu. The only regret was that we didn’t have enough time at any of these wonderful places. That is the problem with trying to see it all. 

The highlight of the trip was spending a week with family while we were at a coastal villa near Figa in the southeast of the island. It had a heated pool, beautiful views, and easy access to beaches. The water at the beaches was still a little cold for me and my wife, but the kids didn’t seem to mind. We also went on an all day catamaran cruise with them to the idyllic islands of Lavezzi and Cavallo off the southeast coast of Corsica. After a week we said goodbye to family as they headed back on their return trip to Paris. We stayed three more days in Corsica covering ground we had not visited yet. We had planned to take a full-day boat trip from Galeria to the UNESCO Natural Reserve of Scandola (formally known in English as, Gulf of Porto: Calanche of Piana, Gulf of Girolata, Scandola Reserve) but the trip was canceled by our tour operator the night before it was scheduled to occur because of weather. (I suspect it was because there were not enough people signed up to make the trip profitable. It wasn’t sunny, but the seas were calm and there was not much wind.) As plan B, my wife chose to relax at our B&B, Résidence Casa Toga, while I chose to hike to the reserve to see what I could see. I am glad I did because it was good exercise, but the long scenic drive back to Figari the next day along the coast was even more scenic.

If you like good food, friendly people, a slower pace of life, and a fair amount of diversity of activities, then Corsica is a good choice. I highly recommend every place we stayed. They were all clean and comfortable with hosts that were kind and helpful. The breakfasts were great and we got good information about the local area from our hosts at each of the B&Bs. We cannot carry on a conversation in French, but with a little help from Google translate and a lot of help from our patient hosts we had a good time and felt welcome everywhere we went.

For photos from the first part of the trip click here. For photos from the region around the villa click here, for photos from the last part of the trip click here and for family photos (sign in required) of our May adventure click here. 

When I travel I like to get as much as I can for every dollar I spend. For this trip, I was price shopping for airline tickets to Paris (where we have family living for a few more months) and found the ticket prices to be high for our selected dates. I looked for alternative European destinations that would allow us to see something new and yet make our way to Paris and then on to Corsica with family. My search led me to a promotional flight with Virgin Atlantic to London that was less than half the price of direct flights into Paris. Since I had only spent a few days there fifteen years ago, and my wife had never been, I decided to book round-trip tickets to London. What I didn’t realize was that we would be in London at the time of the coronation of King Charles, the first coronation in the UK in my lifetime. When my wife (a follower of news about the Royal Family and at the same time a person who generally tries to avoid crowds) asked me whether our time in London coincided with the coronation, I checked. It did, and I hadn’t planned for this. Rather than change flight reservations, I decided to stay out of central London until things cleared a bit. We would try to make the best of it.

As you may know if you have read many of my posts, I like to try to see UNESCO World Heritage sites. After landing in Heathrow in the morning we went straight to the rental car agency and picked up our car. This time I chose an electric vehicle. The agent talked me into upgrading to a Tesla because it had a longer range. It was my first experience driving a fully electric vehicle and the upgrade was probably a good choice. For some reason renting an electric car was less expensive than a conventional car in England for the days we were going to be there and maybe always. I knew we would stay out of London with the vehicle. I wasn’t about to try driving on the other side of the road in a crowded city made even more challenging during the once-in-a-lifetime coronation. Our first planned stop was Windsor Castle, which is near the airport. If it was too crowded we would keep heading west. It wasn’t. We arrived before it was open and spent a couple of hours there. For photos from Windsor Castle click here. It is not a UNESCO site, but it certainly was worth the visit.

We were off to the first World Heritage site of the trip, Bath; a drive of couple hours in the Tesla from the Castle. Fortunately, the car knew the best way to the first hotel we stayed at; which I booked because it was outside of the old city and it had a charging station. The Bailbrook House Hotel also had a fine dining restaurant that was part of a package deal offer that looked interesting when I booked it. After an afternoon in Bath, taking photos and visiting the Roman Baths (You can’t swim there, but there is another modern swimming /bathing place in town.) we returned to the hotel. Dinner was excellent, and a good way to end our first day in England. Breakfast the next morning was outstanding too. Click here, for photos of Bath including some photos of our fine dining experience.

After breakfast, we departed on our drive for the day, scheduled to include two UNESCO sites: Fish and Chips and a pint in the historic naval city of Portsmouth, and sunset at the Seven Sisters Cliffs (part of the Sussex Heritage Coast). The weather looked iffy when we left Bath, but it turned out to be a beautiful day for photography. We packed a little too much into the day, but the drive was without traffic most of the time and the perfect time of the year to see the country roads of the south of England. Click here for photos from this beautiful day with some additional commentary.

The next day we got up early to return the Tesla to Heathrow and we met with our driver for the day who navigated us to and around London. It was the Sunday after the coronation. It was a rainy day and I knew we would have to be flexible. After a brief discussion with our driver, we headed towards The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; arriving just a few minutes before they opened. It is also a UNESCO site. I think because of the weather and the coronation, it was not crowded. After a few hours at the gardens, we headed towards city center. Much of the city was closed to cars, but we were able to make our way with the expert help of our driver to the Tower of London; another UNESCO site (which deserves far more time than we were able to give it). We tried to walk to Buckingham Palace but the streets were just too crowded and the time with our driver was limited, so we had him drop us off at our hotel, The Gyle, located near the train station. We would spend the rest of the time in London on foot. The photo above was taken on Monday and as you can tell, it was still a day of festivities with many people hopeful that they would catch a glimpse of somebody famous. We had a good time and I got a few good photos (especially of unusual flowers at Kew). To see the photos from our time in London, click here.

I think we did make the best of our time, but I think I have convinced my wife it is worth another trip at a slower pace. Maybe next time with her sister (my website editor) and her husband. I know I would enjoy it!

My dad was born on December 20, 1928, and he passed on April 23, 2023, in his 94th year. He was a remarkable man. He was both tough and kind. 

He was the son of a sheet metal worker who said he lost his father before he turned 10 years old; a statement that turned out not to be true when I found out through ancestry research that my grandfather listed his father as next of kin on his World War I draft card. Why my grandfather said that to his children is probably something that will always remain a mystery.

My father, like his father before him, worked almost all of his life in the Washington, D.C., area. Both were successful through hard work and determination. My father admired his father greatly, and though my grandfather (the person I was named after) died when I was young, I could see why. My father was very thankful for what his father was able to teach him and for the love he showed. My father was not the kind of father that told you he loved you, probably because he wanted his boys to be as tough and hard working as his father. I must say, I am very grateful for what both my parents did for me. My mother passed away in 2016, before I started this website and I would not be the person that I am without the cooperative parenting style that they used to raise their children.

My father was the last of his generation in our family. He was a good man, who will be missed. The photo above was taken by my mother’s cousin, MaryKay, back in the days before most people hired their own wedding photographers, and my mother made the dress she is wearing walking down the aisle.

I have to admit, before this trip I had never heard of the Island of Gozo. I could see it from the cliffs near the resort where we stayed in Malta, but from that vantage point it was hard to tell there was a channel that separated the cliff I was standing on from the striking limestone cliffs across the beautiful stretch of blue water to the northwest. Once we were in Malta, the general consensus of the people I consulted was that Gozo was definitely worth the trip across the channel and that the effort would be rewarded. I am glad we took the time. It was easy and affordable to ferry the rental car across the channel and we could see the smaller islands of Comino and Cominotto from the ferry as we passed by them. If the weather had been warmer, the Blue Lagoon that separates the two would have been worth the time too. But, it likely would have been crowded and we try to avoid crowds as much as possible. It was windy as we passed by and there were very few people from what we could see on that day from the observation deck of the ferry. We didn’t actually climb the historic Saint Mary’s Tower of Comino, or swim the lagoon; but we did see them, albeit from a distance.

The pace on Gozo is much more relaxed and if I had it to do over again I would have planned the trip so that we stayed a night or two. It would have been nice to have had the time to interact with the people a little more. The people call themselves Gozitans. It is clear from the few residents we spoke with, they are proud of that and consider themselves different. I found it interesting that on such a small place, you still have the feeling of rivalry.

One of the things I did on Gozo (while my wife sat in the sun and read her book) was visit Ġgantija, now included within the UNESCO World Heritage site: The Megalithic Temples of Malta. It is believed to be a temple from the Neolithic era which is older than the Egyptian pyramids. According to archaeologists, it is more than 5000 years old; making Ġgantija the world’s second oldest existing man-made religious structures after GöbekliTepe (located in present-day Turkey). To me, it was worth the time to visit the little museum on site and walk the grounds where people thought about paying respect to forces beyond themselves. As you can see from some of the photos available by clicking here, the stones are huge. It makes you wonder how they were able to cut and place the stones (though local legend has it that the stones were placed by a giantess nursing a baby). You can also see from the photo above, that the landscapes are impressive, even though we were too late to see the Azure Window, a Gozitan tourist attraction that collapsed into the sea in 2017. It is worth looking it up on Wikipedia, so for your convenience, I have linked it and you can compare it to some of my photos from the Dwejra Bay area from December 2022.

I didn’t do a lot of research. I knew I needed to take my wife to a place that would likely be warmer and brighter than Paris in December. She stayed there to help with the grandchildren while I was in Madagascar. We had to find someplace to go because my daughter and her family were going to be entertaining friends for a week at their apartment. It would be a good time for my wife to relax and enjoy some downtime. I also knew I had timeshare points that were due to expire. Neither of us wanted to spend a lot of time in the air and the travel budget for the year was already overdrawn. That formula pointed me to Malta. (My wife doesn’t enjoy planning trips. She likes to be pleasantly surprised. Fortunately, she is pretty easy to please, as long as the location isn’t cold and the accommodations have an American-style bathroom.) I was able to find a good deal on Air Malta; December being considered out of season, and there was availability to use our timeshare points at a nice resort. The cherry on top – Malta has many good, affordable restaurants with plenty of seafood options.

What neither of us expected was that there was so much to see and so many interesting things to learn on this little Mediterranean island between Sicily and Africa. I rented a small car, because our accommodations were not centrally located and someone on a review of the place we had booked suggested that it was a good idea. What they didn’t say was that all the affordable small cars came with a manual transmission. Since Malta is a former British colony, driving is on the opposite side of the road from what I am used to. I am fine with manual transmissions, but I am more comfortable with the stick being on the right and the turn signal being on the opposite side. Fortunately, the gas, brake, and clutch pedals are all in the same place relative to the driver as I am familiar with, but trying to scan for traffic using the mirrors and signaling for a turn without turning on the headlights was tricky for me at first. It took a while, but I got used to it. My wife kept going to the driver’s-side door just about every time we went to the car, and I would jokingly ask: “Are you driving today?” even though she hasn’t driven a stick-shift car in more than forty years and she has never driven a car on the left-hand side of the road. It would have been a new experience for her, but it wasn’t one of the interesting things she wanted to learn or do in Malta. One of the nice things about just showing up in a new country is that you find surprises around every corner, and with the roads in Malta there are many corners.

Malta is a tiny country, which made me think I could see it all in a week. I think it is in the top ten in terms of smallest countries in the world and also in the top ten in population density; although it is way below Macau (if you consider it a country), Monaco, Singapore, and Hong Kong (if you consider it a country) in population density. I wasn’t successful in seeing it all, but I did learn a lot of things and both my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

One of the special things was the place we stayed. If all you set out to do was relax, Radisson Blu Golden Sands would be a good choice, especially considering that many hotel chains (apparently including Radisson) have a timeshare component and we were able to stay in a nice room, using points that probably would have expired. It was a good home base for our visit. My wife finished at least one book while poolside; taking in the sunshine with a great view. The outdoor pool looked beautiful, but the whole time we were there I only saw a couple of people get in because the water was a touch chilly and there was an indoor pool too. During December there is no feeling of being in one of the top ten most population-dense countries in the world. I won’t say we had the place to ourselves. We did meet many people from around the world; many of whom were on the staff. They had time to talk, because the resort was only one-third occupied. I like talking to people who have had different experiences from around the world and I enjoy hearing English spoken with so many different accents. We certainly got to do what I enjoy in a clean and well-maintained resort. There were also good hiking opportunities around the resort. On one of those hikes, I saw the island of Gozo and resolved to make it there too.

I knew that Malta had a strategic location, but really I had no understanding of how that figured into western culture. I like history, but mostly when I can actually visit the place and see things for myself. We didn’t travel much when I was growing up. Reading history books didn’t appeal to me then, but I did like geography, and I am sure the whole family looked at National Geographic Magazine. Once I looked at all the pictures and read all the captions, then I would decide which articles to read first. To encourage reading and further our education, my parents had a subscription to it; along with Time, Life, and a few other magazines. My dad appreciated history and encouraged his children to realize the importance of studying it and would say stuff like, Those who don’t study history are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past. The few trips we took usually had a historical underpinning.

So, getting back to Malta; when we arrived at the resort, I knew I wanted to see and learn as much as I could in the time that we had. For me, that meant finding a local guide. I have had good luck with GetYourGuide in the past. I put Malta into the search tab, to see what was available. A walking food and cultural tour showed up for the port city and capital, Valletta. From the tour description, it seemed to be exactly what I was looking for; so I clicked “book now”.

Our host Chris did an excellent job. My wife seemed to have a really good time, not only because Chris had a good itinerary with interesting food and drinks, but also because she enjoyed interacting with the other people on the tour. It took the pressure off of me to know where I was going and what we were doing. Chris was an expert in the history and culture of Malta, who has traced back his family history on the island for many generations. Everywhere we went, people seemed to know him. He was warm and welcoming, with a good sense of humor. You could easily tell he liked his job and was proud of his Maltese heritage. We learned so much on the short tour about ancient civilization, St. Paul and Christianity on the island, medieval history, the Knights of Malta, the invasion by Napoleon, British rule and the strategic position during World War II, Queen Elizabeth’s time on the island, all the way through modern politics in Malta. These were topics of discussion as we ate and met shopkeepers and restaurant folks. Of course in the short time we had we couldn’t go into depth, but Chris was able to answer every question that was asked of him. He was so good that we were eager to book another tour he offered in Mdina and Rabat, where Chris grew up. That walking tour was very good, too. It was similar to the walking tour of Valletta, without the tasting aspect. My wife and I both preferred the tasting tour, not only because the food was good, but also because it gave us an opportunity to sit and talk to other people. Both tours offered excellent value.

For photos around the resort where we stayed, as well as other places we went to in Malta with Chris, and on our own, click here. As you can see from the photo above, we had a bang of a good time in Malta and it is a very good place to go. I hope to post soon on our tour of Gozo, a sister island to Malta, visible in a few of the photos in the gallery linked above. Gozo is worth a post of its own.

After a short stay in Andasibe, we headed toward our next location on what Devin said was the best road in Madagascar. This road links the largest city and capital, Antananarivo, in the central highlands, to the eastern port town of Toamasina (also called Tamatave), which is just an hour or two past the turnoff to our next destination. The port handles more than 80 percent of the maritime cargo entering the country and therefore it would stand to reason that it should be the best road. A well built and maintained road designed to distribute the goods to the rest of the country should be a priority. Devin also said that because of all the truck traffic, the going can be slow. He was right. The road is two lanes, making it difficult and dangerous to pass. It was also bumpy and narrow in places as it winds its way through the mountains. Despite our driver’s skill, on many occasions we hit painful potholes that were hard on both the bus and the passengers. In some places people were working hard on the road to keep it maintained; but it is a nearly impossible task due to the frequent rains that arrive (mostly from the east) and dump the water as the clouds hit the mountains. This can wash out roads and destroy bridges. Little children, when they saw a busload of tourists coming, would pretend to be fixing the road and then beg/yell for a little money to reward their effort. This practice seemed dangerous to me. I think the point that Devin was making was that the people of Madagascar face many challenges. Traveling anywhere in the country can be difficult and time consuming, and sometimes because of bad weather and washed-out roads, it might even be impossible. We were lucky the day we traveled. We only saw one overturned truck (the driver appeared to be okay), and his vehicle was blocking just one lane of traffic.

Our destination, the last highlight of our tour, was a place called Le Palmariumin Akanin’ny Nofy (which I think translates to “nest of dreams”). It is an ecolodge on one of the largest lakes in a series of coastal lakes known as the Pangalanes. It is a place to relax and see native plants and  lemurs; including one of the strangest nocturnal primates, the Aye-Aye. It was a long journey. Not only did we ride in a bus on the “best road” for several hours, but we also traveled on a dirt road with four-wheel-drive vehicles, followed by a relaxing boat ride through the Pangalanes for more than an hour to get to the Palmarium. The journey was worth it! It was an excellent way to end our visit to Madagascar. It wasn’t better than the trek in Marojejy National Park, just different. The lodge is set up so that it is easy to see the animals–maybe a little too easy. I favor conservation by setting aside large tracts of natural habitats where the wild things remain wild and the primary effort is to maintain intact, healthy ecosystems. This is not an easy thing to do anywhere in the world, let alone in a developing country like Madagascar. I like the challenge and even the possibility that I won’t see what I set out to see. I wish the world could maintain more truly wild spaces like the parts of Marojejy that were beyond my reach. Maybe, some places should be extremely difficult to visit; only accessible to a few determined and responsible visitors. Once you arrive at the Palmarium, you are pretty much guaranteed to see plenty of lemurs, and as you can see from the photo above, chameleons too. For me, the animals are a little too tame. See for yourself by clicking here, to check out some of my images from the area.

Having said that, it still makes me happy when I see joy on the faces of the people I am traveling with as a lemur jumps on their back. It may be a better business model to have reliable animal attractions that bring tourists which generate jobs for the local people. The lodge is well maintained, the staff was fantastic, and the food was way beyond the expectations of anyone in our group. This kind of protected reserve is certainly worth supporting.

As chance would have it, some members of the BBC Studios Natural History Unit were staying at the Palmarium while working on assignment to get Aye-Ayes on video for an upcoming documentary. Though we did see some members briefly, we didn’t get to interact with the BBC team, which would have been awesome; but they had a job to do, and since Aye-Ayes are nocturnal, they had to work the night shift.

About twenty-five years ago, I was lucky enough to have dinner with another BBC team at a remote hotel in central Costa Rica, while they were there to get film on a specific tree frog that congregates to breed after a heavy rain. Since my family arrived on a sunny day and therefore, the team couldn’t do what they came to do (and we were the only other guests staying in the hotel) they graciously invited us to join them for some conversation. It was one of my fondest memories from that trip! This experience came to mind while at the Palmarium because I really like sharing my passion for nature with family and was very happy to see Devin was able to have some of that same joy with his family as they had a new experience in Madagascar. His daughter was going to be able to share the experience when she returned to school after the Christmas break. Devin’s daughter’s teacher had the brilliant idea of sending a class mascot. It was kind of like a “Flat Stanley,” only this one was a fluffy, black and white, stuffed cow that Devin’s daughter could be photographed with to help her tell her story when she returned. I am sure she will tell a great story!

On our last night, we traveled by boat across the lake from the Palmarium. Just before sunset, we went to a place to see an endemic species of tropical pitcher plant. For the botanists out there, we saw Nepenthes madagascariensis, one of two species of pitcher plant found in Madagascar. N. madagascariensis is only found on the east coast of Madagascar in low-lying, nutrient-poor soils. They are carnivorous. They use the pitcher to trap insects, which they “digest” to make up for the lack of nutrients in the soil where they grow. If you already looked, you may have seen them when you clicked on the gallery above. You may also have seen that our group did get to see not one, but two Aye-Ayes that came to a couple of viewing stations where fresh coconuts had been fastened to trees not too far from the location of the pitcher plants. The coconuts were prepared by drilling small holes through the husk, so that the animals could use their specialized thin fingers to work pieces of the raw coconut out to eat. Though the animals were wild, they had been habituated to people. As soon as it got dark, they showed up and entertained a small crowd from several of the local hotels. The strange looking creatures were difficult to photograph. Even though there was a full moon, there wasn’t much light in the thick jungle. We were not allowed to use flash because it would frighten the animals; so you had to use slow shutter speeds. The Aye-Ayes worked fast and were constantly moving, which meant most of the one hundred or so photographs I took were blurry.  I think a few turned out alright.

After our successful journey, we left the Palmarium happy, but a bit weary. On the return trip to have dinner near the Antananarivo International Airport, which took the better part of the day, we had one more bit of excitement. Somehow, a small hole in the fuel tank of the bus developed. Our driver noticed and tried to do a temporary fix. He decided that it would be possible to finish the journey by partially filling the tank and carefully monitoring the fuel gauge. Unfortunately, the road is hilly for most of the way back to Antananarivo.  A few times, depending on the angle of the tank, the engine sputtered to a stop. Our driver would let the bus coast for a little while, then the fuel tank would be at a better angle, so that fuel made it through the lines and the bus would eventually start. This went on for a few miles; each time the engine taking longer to restart and the battery getting weaker. Until finally, on the outskirts of the city, while on a gentle downhill slope, the engine wouldn’t restart. As we rounded a bend, we saw the lights of a service station and our driver coasted to the pump. He got out to put a little more fuel in the tank to make it to our destination, only to find the station had just closed and the pumps were off. In one more fortunate turn of events, we all noticed there was a guy leaving the building. Our driver noticed too. After some pleading, he was able to convince the man to turn the pumps back on so that we could get a few more liters of fuel. About twenty minutes later we were all sitting at a big table at the restaurant reminiscing about how lucky we were that everything went according to plan…sort of anyway. A good time was had by all and those of us who had a late evening flight to Paris made it to the airport and through security with time to spare. 

Again, many thanks to Mike and Devin. I haven’t seen all of Madagascar in two adventures, but I am willing to say I saw some spectacular things. I am not sure I will ever make it back again…but who knows what the future will bring. I hope all of my companions will keep in touch!