Don't Worry Be Happy

Unfortunately when you’re travelling, much as you might carefully plan, there are some things beyond your control. When Marj and I booked this trip last year we chose the tour with the beautiful wooden sailboat as I’d never been on one before. Apparently last week the boat had other plans as it broke down and is in for repairs. The tour company scrambled and managed to find another boat for us but it’s a bit disappointing.  The boat we booked: The boat we’re now on. It looks a bit like a run down pirate ship: I’m sure Plan B will be fine but it’s a bit of a downgrade.  Our first view of Greece didn’t disappoint - even though this photo was taken through the plane window the water is beautifully blue and clear. Yesterday we just kind of wandered around Athens getting our bearings. We watched the changing of the guards outside the parliament, at the tomb of the unknown soldier.They do a very strange slow motion kind of movement - lifting their legs high and wearing goofy shoes. ...

Zanzibar joined the rest of Tanzania (Tanganyika) in 1964 but until then had been under the rule of sultans from Oman, and later was a British protectorate. The Arab influence is clear to see, mostly in their architecture and religion (95+% Muslim).  We stayed a couple of nights in Stonetown, the old section of Zanzibar city. It’s basically a maze of narrow alleys, including markets, shops, hotels,etc. There are no cars and even a motorbike barely makes it through the narrow streets. Our hotel had some interesting design features. Our room was on the 3rd floor (no elevator - I think I counted 70 stairs) and you entered through the bathroom. The 'bathroom' had a bench and several chairs and we hosted drinks there one evening mostly because it had a large fridge for our beverages. The toilet is behind that curtain and the whole room was basically 'outside'. Fortunately the bedroom had air conditioning as it was hot and humid. Like all the beds we’ve been in this one had m...

Another fabulous lesson on a culture that has almost nothing in common with ours. The Hadzabe people are hunter gatherers and are in danger of becoming extinct. We had to drive quite a ways along a very rough road that resembled a dry river bed. There are only about 1300 Hadzabe spread over many small groups - some so remote the government doesn’t even know how many or where they are. The men mostly wear animal skins but had 'western' clothes as well. This group had about 30 men, women, children. Their homes begin as wood frames which are then covered in sisal (a type of agave).  During the rainy season they live inside the baobab trees which are naturally hollow. They are a very vocal, animated and gregarious people. Their language is one of the few click languages still surviving and really hard for us (me) to replicate. One member grabbed a two stringed instrument called a zeze and led the others in song. Their music is more polyphonous than the Maasai (blending melodies wi...

It’s impossible in words or pictures to describe the vastness and intensity of the Serengeti. The first day we arrived there had been a vicious rain storm the previous night. A lion had left these prints on the path to our tents. Yikes   During our drive that day we saw many lions in different groupings. These two young males had trouble getting comfortable in this tree and kept repositioning but I like this pose.  The Serengeti has large rock outcrops called kopjes not unlike Pride Rock (from Lion King) and we searched a lot of then until we found this guy. You’ll need to zoom in.  I used to think seeing a herd of 100 zebras would be impressive. Or even 1000. But looking out over the expanse of the savannah there were zebras as far as the eye could see. It was indescribable. I’m estimating tens of thousands. All migrating with the wildebeest. Just as we thought we’d seen it all a cheetah appeared by the roadside.  After dinner we were required to have an employee to...