Matt, 28 June 2017
We wake up “late” at 7:30 and take care of some internet business in the comfort of Villa Tygany before Marigona, our guide for the day, meets us to take us on a day tour of Pejë, a city of 125,000 inhabitants. We began by transferring our bags to a fancy hotel in the center of town where we have a big breakfast guaranteed to keep our growing hiker hunger at bay, at least for the next few hours while we explore the adventure capitol of Kosovo. (more…)
Summer is upon us, and we are all set for another season full of fun adventures. As I write this, Matt is driving a group of high school students to an organic farm in the mountains of West Virginia for a service trip, and I am finishing tidying up our house for our summer renters who will be here in just a few hours. I still have one more week until school is out, so I am staying with one of our dear college friends for the next week. And then we are free!
So, where are we headed this year? (more…)
After visiting the N’gorongoro Crater, we packed our bags and headed back to the US. We had an amazing time in Tanzania—Meru, Kilimanjaro and a private, guided two-week camping safari … Continue reading To Drive or Be Driven? That Is the Safari Question!
Our stop in the N’gorongoro Crater was our last in this year’s trip to Tanzania, so we chose to splurge on our accommodation for our two nights in the Crater. All … Continue reading N’gorongoro Crater: In Pictures
When a lioness comes into estrus and is ready to mate, she and the pride’s dominant male will engage in a week-long love fest of sorts. Judging from the state of the royal couple we encountered, it just might have been Day 7 of their tryst. The two lovers looked exhausted, and the male had clearly let personal hygiene fall by the wayside. It was obvious that they weren’t enjoying each other’s company anymore, and they panted heavily as they rested between love sessions. (more…)
We admit that our posts about our visit to the Serengeti so far have been a bit cat-centric, but there is a lot more to see in the Serengeti besides felines. We had some good luck with birds and elephants on our drives, but some of our best shots were produced while Mansour was dealing with a curse of his own—flat tires! (more…)
So, our last post ended in the early afternoon of Day 4 of our 5-day Serengeti stint with this lioness carrying off a warthog she had just killed. Up to that point, we had seen lots of cats, but we just didn’t have any encounters that produced the great photos we hoped for. It seemed that our South African-induced “Curse of the Cat” was going to haunt us for our entire time in Tanzania, too.
But, just as we were headed back to camp that day, we witnessed the scene above, and suddenly things changed. It was if some offstage director in charge of the comings and goings of wildlife in the Serengeti yelled: “Cue the cats!” That’s right, our luck had finally changed. For our last 24 hours in the Serengeti, we saw cats everywhere. (more…)
As you know from reading our last post, we were quite anxious to get some close-up views of the Serengeti’s world-renowned cat population. With five full days to explore the park, we assured ourselves it would be nearly impossible not to run into at least one or two of the estimated 3000 lions living in the park. That is, unless we hadn’t yet managed to shake off that dreaded curse. Only time would tell. (more…)
Well, I am not sure if we have ever mentioned this before, but, for the past three years, Matt and I have been living with the “Curse of the Cat.”
Safari on a “Budget”
As teachers with way more time than money, organizing a budget camping safari was the only way we could afford to see Tanzania’s national parks for the length of time we wanted. In total, we had booked a two week safari with five glorious nights to spend in the Serengeti, so we decided to take advantage of this opportunity to try out a few different locations and camping options in the park. In this post, we’ll share what we learned, because, at approximately $300/person/day, you want every night of your “budget” camping safari to be as good as it can be, right?
