Photos added

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Photos
It's taken awhile, but I've finally been able to add photos to the blog. I should mention that my camera died at Swakopmund, so I was without a camera for the next three days, until I was able to buy another one in Grootfontein. So the three photos of animals at Etosha are courtesy of Asha Thobani, one of the members of our tribe. Enjoy. I do have another 500 or 600 photos, but you'll have to come visit me to see them.

Continuing the blog
While it may be a little while before I'm personally on another trip (actually, it's only a month before I spend a week in Newfoundland), I've decided to continue to blog on this site--and probably do so more often. The blog will contain commentary/evaluation on tours and tour companies, and comment on various topics related to traveling. Look for a variety of new things in the next few days and weeks.

Mt. Everest
Currently, I'm following closely the spring climbing season for Mt. Everest, as I do every year. Like so many others, it was the book [i·Into Thin Air that got me interested in everything Everest, and now I follow closely every April/May as the hordes descend (actually ascend) on Everest with their great ambitions of standing on the roof of the world. As of yesterday, six people (five sherpas and one client) had made it up this year, when the fixed the ropes on the upper slopes. There has been one death, so far; a sherpa was buried in an avalanche on Friday that took out a bunch of the route through the Khumbu Ice Fall.

Many teams were ready to shoot for the summit around May 8-9, but bad weather forced almost all to delay. The teams have all done their acclimatization routines and are ready to go when the weather improves; they are currently resting and enjoying the thicker air at lower altitudes, but ready to go on a moment's notice. If you are interested in following, I refer you to Alanarnette.com, a site that I monitor daily during this season. Alan does a fantastic job of keeping us fully informed and interpreting to us peons what is going on up there. Click on the Everest 2009 link.

And, finally,
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Cheers!

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