DMac
D Mac Joined: February 16th 2005
Logged in: October 17th 2010
Logged in: October 17th 2010
Full new travelogue is at
http://www.travelpod.com/members/dmcnaught
Travel Blog Posts
A few people have been asking about my plans, if I have any. Here is what I have right now. Recommendations are welcomed, as are comments. June 9th-21st: Golden Key and Warriors Assembly at Shambhala Mountain Center Late June/Early July: Travel with Kristen to Mexico July 12th-August 16th: Shambhala Vajrayana Seminary & Rigden Abhisheka at Shambhala Mountain Center August 29th-September 5th: Burning Man Mid September: Fly to Kathmandu to head into Tibet for a few weeks. Early/Mid October: Annapurna Circuit Trek, Nepal Mid/November: Seminar with Chökyi Nyima Rinpoche. Late Novemb... read more
I've been in Boulder for a week and a half and things seem pretty much the same as when I left. It is a fun little town by the mountains - which got the "best party school" in the USA last year - in my absence! I plan to stay here until I get my traveling boots back on - which may not be too far away, but at least a year away. I just accepted a 3 month contract for Sony Recording Media in Boulder and that will keep me off the streets for a while. Kristen is checking things out here, and getting frightened by the prospect of living somewhere where it snows.... read more
Kristen and I unwound in Cambridge with my family for a while and went to see some tennis at Wimbledon. We had some great times in London with my family and chilled in Cambridge and had a lovely time. After a few weeks Kristen went back to Arizona to prepare for moving to Colorado and spend time with her family and I spent the rest of my "year off" making the most of the free time: I spent a week in Ibiza which was beautiful - seeing the sunset at Caf・ Del Mar and mountain biking around the quiet parts of the little Island. I even got to see DJ Tiesto at Amnesia which was pretty amazing. I did find the holiday makers there a little unfriendly compared to the travelers I have gotten used to ... read more
It was a long day of buses from Kabale to Jinja and the roads were dry and bumpy. It felt like the last long bus journey of ours in Africa and it wasn't easy. We sat on a bus in Kabale for about 3 hours since the very aggressive bus touts put us on the one that didn't go first. When we got to the minibus rank in Kampala we got onto a nearly full bus to Jinja which was smart since people were trying to get us into empty ones that would wait for a long time - once bitten and all that (If only it was only once). When we got to Jinja it was hard to get to the Backpackers - but we got a taxi there and then after waking up the ... read more
Silverback
We bummed around Kisoro for a day and then took a 2 hour taxi to the National Forest where we had booked to stay a night before our tracking. We were the only people staying at the Park entrance and things were very quiet. The next morning we got up and met our fellow trackers - a couple of professional photographers from Germany, and a Canadian tourist. There were 3 army guys with guns for our safety (we were quite close to the Rwanda border) and 3 trackers. The instructed us on the days activity: We would go to where the Gorillas had been seen yesterday and track them to where they were today (hopefully). We would then track them as they moved through the bamboo forest eating for one hour and then we would head ... read more
The roads in Uganda are terrible. The bus broke down at about 2 pm when we had been on it since 6 am and it took a few hours to fix. Luckily for the passengers a local happened to be cycling past with a box of delicious pineapples and a large knife. For a small fee he would prepare the pineapple which was so juicy and tasty. We arrived in Kisoro at dusk and found a reasonable guest house with help from one of the local boys.... read more
Kampala was a bustling city with a huge minibus park very close to where we were staying. We visited many travel agents in an attempt to get a cheap flight to London, but ended up with a not so cheap one flying in about a weeks time. We also booked our tour to go mountain gorilla tracking in Magahinga National Forest. $250 to track gorillas for an hour was the last splash of the trip and we couldn't pass up on the unique opportunity that many travelers before us had recommended highly. After taking a little break and going to the Cinema in Kampala to see Matrix Reloaded we got up infeasible early to get a bus to Kisoro. ... read more
We arrived in Mwanza having been told by the Safari company that there was a Hydrofoil across Lake Victoria. I didn't believe this for a minute, but the lonely planet did say that there were boats across to Uganda. When we got there we walked to the Lake and luckily met a very nice guy from Rwanda. He spoke very good English which wasn't very common in Tanzania and also turned out to be finding out about boats to Port Bell, Uganda. He explained that there weren't any ferries since the ferry (MV Victoria) sank a few years ago (after my 2001 guide book) - I then remembered the news story. Since Lake Victoria was land locked there was no way to get another boat there easily and a new one would have to be built ... read more
Eventually the bus showed up - which was a relief and took us out of the Park. David had told us the gate we were going to was half a day off but it turned out we left the park after about an hour on the bus. At the gate the guards summoned us from the bus and told us our permit had run out and had been "tampered" with. We told them the situation with the tour company and they let us travel on without trouble. They planned to take it up with the tour company I think which was cool for us since we had no idea. I guess it turned out that the tour company had agreed to spend three days in the park, but intended just to pay for two. I wonder ... read more
Momma Lion
The next day we entered the Serengeti National Park at about 10 am. As soon as we got into the park we saw massive herds of Wildebeest covering the whole of the ground you could see. It was the annual migration. (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/africa/tanzania/attractions.htm#serengeti). We drove to a picnic site and on the way saw a couple of lions inside a bush very close. Lots of Zebras also. After our picnic lunch we saw Elephants, a couple of bull Giraffes fighting - banging their heads against each others necks! Wildebeest are a very strange shaped animal with short back legs and long front legs. We also saw some Hyenas with some old pieces of bone running around quite close to us. The lodge was amazing in the middle of the park. It had a lovely terrace where we ... read more
