Page 6 of Ron Darold Travel Blog Posts


Europe » Spain » Catalonia » Barcelona April 10th 2008

Geo: 41.3879, 2.16992We fly to Barcelona as the flight on Vueling is cheap ($133 CN) and wewould loose 2 of our 10 train trips on our Eurail pass plus take 2 daysto get here. We´re here to rendez vous with our dear friends Pauland Terry who are doing a whirlwind trip of Europe. Unfortunatelywe will only connect for about 30 hours before we have to get back onour train to Savona, Italy where we leave on an 11 day Mediteraneancruise with Costa Cruises.... read more
Tower on Sagrada Familia
Detail on tower of Sagrada Familia
In the church

Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome April 5th 2008

Geo: 41.8955, 12.4823We arrive in Rome exhausted after an overnight flight that left Nairobiat Midnight and arrived at 7 am. Brent and his friend Luca inviteus for lunch on the only day that we could connect - today. Itwas a wonderful home cooked Italian meal. Good company, good wine- we are spoiled rotten! We struggle to stay awake as we getaccustomed to our new time zone by walking around the amazing ruinsthat are scattered around Rome. Today the Colesseum, tommorrowfamous Piazzas and the Panthenon, Vatican the following day and thePalatino and archeleogical site of the Foro Romano on our lastday. A full 4 days to see the incredible bounty that Rome has tooffer.... read more
Colesseum at night
Inside the Colesseum
Fountain

Africa » Kenya April 1st 2008

Geo: -1.80652, 36.0444What a wonderful place! As we arrive in our small Cesna plane wecan see herds of Elephants, Giraffes, Ostriches and gazelles from thesky. Another great Safari experience - very different from SouthAfrica as the Massai Mara is so open with grassed plains while SabiSands was very bushy. Here we travelled solely with a guide,Charity with no need for a tracker as the animals are so plentiful andeverywhere. Charity was a good sport, a great guide and lots offun. We shared the first couple of days with Betty and Kerry fromMelbourne, Australia. Good Times!!!... read more
Water Buffalo
Elephant
Ron doing the Masai hop

Africa » Kenya » Nairobi Province » Nairobi March 31st 2008

Geo: -1.27975, 36.8126We arrived in Nairobi in the late afternoon too late to transfer to theMassai Mara National Park. We relax in the Holiday Inn which isquite lovely although the food was poor in the restaurant. Therewas an East Indian restaurant across the street but we were warned notto walk the streets at night. In Nairobi the crime rate is nearlyas bad as Johannesburg although typically they just rob you and notkill you as is common in Johannesburg. Sad state of affairs for acity.... read more

Africa » South Africa » Gauteng » Johannesburg March 30th 2008

Geo: -26.1538, 28.0389We drove back to Johannesburg after 2 very exciting days onSafari. What an incredible experience. Riding in 4 wheeljeeps with a guide and a tracker and a gun mounted acroos the hood ofthe vehicle. We would game hunt for 3 to 4 hours enjoying acoffee break in the mornings and a happy hour in the afternnoonsafaris. Getting up for a 6 am safari and watching the sun risecould become a habit. We arrived in Johannesburg in the early evening after a game drive anda bush walk with our guide, Marcus. It was finally nice to beable to walk around the private reserve and get a close look at theanimal tracks and flora that were pointed out from the vehicle as wedrove by. Johannesburg is known for its high crime rateespecially armed robbery. The Out ... read more

Africa » South Africa March 28th 2008

Geo: -24.9705, 31.5099We flew back to Johannesburg where we rented a car for 3 days. Weimmediately headed out to our game lodge in the Sabi Sands Reserve nextto Kruger Park. We had a tight schedule as it was a 5 hour driveand we had 6 hours from the airport to get to the Game Lodge in timefor our 4 pm Safari. We couldn´t believe that Thrifty Rent a cardid not have a map for us. We finally found a poor map at one ofthe other rental car agencies and promptly headed out on the hugefreeway that took us to our destination. What a maze of roads isthe freeways in Johannesburg - very confusing. We were so pleasedto finally get out of the city area and enroute on our freeway. The freeway narrowed down to a 2 ... read more
Happy Hour on Safari!
Ron, Darold and our guide Marcus
White Rhino

Africa » South Africa » KwaZulu-Natal » Durban March 21st 2008

Geo: -29.853, 31.0164We stayed on the 14th floor of this incredible condominium with abreathtaking view of the coast. The centre of Durban to theright, the beach in front and the Eastern Coast sprawling to theleft. Iny was so gracious as a host. We can´t thank her andher family enough for coming to our rescue with a home exchange whenour exchange in Cape Town feel apart. What a lovelysetting. We enjoyed some wonderful restaurants (Il Maurice, BeanBag Cafe & more) and took turns cooking gourmet meals, enjoying theincredible view from the balcony. We rented a car and took a dayto explore up to Zululand, learning about the Zulu culture and anotherday to Shakaland in Durban. Shakaland was a mix of a wild waterpark with an aquarium. The week flew by.Easter Sunday we enjoyed a champagne brunch on ... read more
Meeting new friends at our condo
Greeting the king at Zululand
Our dance teacher

Africa » South Africa March 17th 2008

Geo: -34.1072, 18.4706We moved to the coast for 6 days next to a wonderful beach. It was a great spot to launch our explorations of the Southern Cape and the Wine districts.... read more
Penguin Colony
Penguins everywhere!
Care to join me in a swim?

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Cape Town March 8th 2008

Geo: -33.979, 18.5102Cape Town is where we started our African Adventure.... read more
A view of Table Mountain from our guest house
The real Table mountain!
View of Cape Town from Table Mountain summit

Asia » China » Shanghai March 5th 2008

Geo: 31.23, 121.47We took a train trip after 3 incredible days in Beijing - packed with adventure and activity. The train was very modern and comfortable (2nd class) and travelled throughout the day so we could enjoy the Chinese country side. Watching the Chinese countryside was fascinating. Every inch of land was developed. We passed cities, villages, industry and agricultural areas. It was a challenge to figure out how the land allocation was done with the workers (it has been leased to worker groups as far as I understand). Take a look at some of our photos from our Shanghai adventures (cough, cough - that is the smog)!... read more
Fields enroute to Shanghai
Fields enroute to Shanghai
Workers in fields enroute to Shanghai




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