On 12/8/2024, we checked out of the Samburu Sopa Lodge and drove to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy. On the way, we stopped to visit the Samburu tribe and to learn more about their culture. They welcomed us with a welcome dance, gave us jewelry to wear (which we later had the option to buy), and then they started explaining their culture. Some highlights are: They…
While 12/7/2024 was technically our second day of safari, it felt like my first as I was incapacitated on my first day. But that was behind me, and having slept for 14 hours, I started the day feeling great! I had no idea what to expect – I knew that I’d see animals, but I didn’t know how many I’d see or how often. The…
Let me take a moment to describe how our safari worked. There were 14 people in our safari group, which required two land cruisers (so we had 2 drivers). Karen Cleveland lives in Seattle, but operates the safari company (she also attended the safari). One of the drivers (Geoffrey) is her brother-in-law and the other is a friend/business associate named Komora. Karen owns the land…
I awoke on the first day of the safari (12/6/2024) feeling sick as a dog and I had no idea how I’d manage to drive in a vehicle all day – I actually contemplated skipping the safari altogether. Fortunately, my body naturally (and violently) expelled most of my intestinal contents and with the help of Imodium, I felt well enough to risk the ride. I…
We arrived in Nairobi around 6am on 12/5/2024 and we had the whole day to kill before our safari started the next day. We were tired (I am unable to sleep on airplanes, and I only got a short nap the night before), but our room at the Hilton Garden Inn was not available until 3pm. So we dropped our bags off at the hotel…
This is a random list of things that I either learned in Madagascar or things that I already knew, but were reinforced. Life is hard and the Malagasy are survivors Madagascar is a poor country with very little social safety net and everybody works very hard to survive. For example: If hard work always translated to success, Madagascar would be way more successful than the…
Madagascar has very unique flora and fauna. My main goal in Madagascar was to have lemurs jump on me, whereas Amie’s goal was got see a giraffe necked weevil (a small weevil with a very long neck). Our local guide said that they were rare. On 12/4/2024 as we were checking out of our cabin at the Vakona Forest Lodge, a porter showed us another…
Madagascar is the only place on earth where lemurs live naturally. While you can find many lemurs in zoos, some types of lemurs cannot survive in captivity. Also, it is way more fun to see the lemurs live their best lives in their natural habitat. Day 2 in Madagascar (12/03/2024) was all about seeing lemurs. After a fantastic breakfast at the lodge, we met Charlie…
12/2/2024 was our first full day in Madagascar. We arrived late last night after a long flight with a short layover in Paris. My first impression while landing was that I did not see very many lights and figured that it must have been due to cloud cover, but that was not the case – it turns out that Antananarivo has frequent power outages. After…
My wife was raised with the belief that travel was primarily for visiting family, and as a result we’ve done very little recreational travel. In 2022 our close friends invited us to their wedding in India and we decided that life was too short not to (we also knew that this was the perfect excuse for us to make such a trip). It was our…
