Geo: -22.6833, 14.5333Before I describe the journey to Swakopmund, please indulge me while I tell you about one of THE best experiences of the entire trip and maybe my life. For those who have seen my Facebook posts or who I have emailed about this already, it is old news. I have always wanted to do this and I finally did – I skydived!! I went up in a Cessna with no side door, joined by another jumper from our G Adventure group, as well as a photographer for him and an instructor for each of us with whom we jumped tandem. Flying for about 20 minutes to get to an altitude of 10,000 feet, I wiggled up to the open door with Alfred attached to me (thankfully, because he had the parachute) and with no ... read more

Geo: -19.0933, 22.4451The next few entries in our blog will be about our G Adventure overland trip. This one, the first of three or four entries, sees us travel by air from Arusha, Tanzania through Kigali and Johannesburg to Livingstone where Victoria Falls sits on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. After a day in Livingstone, we continued our 21-day-trip-in-a-truck and journeyed to Chobe National Park, the Okavango Delta and the Kalahari Desert in Botswana.In order to reduce the cost of our flight from Arusha to Livingstone, which should have been about a 3 hour flight, we flew for 18 hours through the night including two 5-hour stopovers. Upon arrival, we were as exhausted as our new travel-mates who had come from other continents! Our tour began with a preliminary gathering, meeting our fearless leader Wendy ... read more

Geo: -2.4492, 34.5932I am touched by this beautiful world and our exploration of it this past 7 months. As our friend expressed in one of our blogs, the universe is treating us with kindness.We had reports of other people who went on safari and whose experience was marred by the behaviour of one of their group members and/or the group dynamics. We were so lucky with our safari-mates: Jim, myself, Jackie and Irina - a compatible group who collectively valued sustained time observing and photographing wildlife and scenery.Day 1Those first glimpses of wildlife are indescribable! From the odd looking lizard-like ‘Go-Away' bird to that first sighting of the majestic lion, it just got better and better. We travelled from Arusha to Tanangire National Park, staying in a campground surrounded by a cement wall to keep the ... read more

Geo: -3.36, 36.67Well, with Jim taking so many photographs in Laos (over 2000!) and then needing to process them, we have got behind in our postings. Unfortunately this corresponds to us arriving in Tanzania to daily, and sometimes day-long, power outages and limited access to the Internet. We just wanted you to know that our posting will be sporadic over the next while.Here is our tentative itinerary:Mar 1-16 - volunteering in ArushaMar 16-22 - safari in Tanzania & travel to Victoria FallsMar 23-April 9 - a camping (yes, my friends, I will be camping for 3 weeks) overland trip from Victoria Falls, through Botswana, Namibia and down to Cape TownApril 10-May 9- traveling in South AfricaMay 9-10- fly homeWe continue to have fun, be surprised and enjoy the travel. Thanks for following our blog and keep ... read more

Geo: 13.7308, 100.521Part of our transition to Africa was a jarring three days spent in and around Khao San Road in Bangkok. This is an area for backpackers with music blaring until 5:00am, crowds of tourists, street vendors selling everything and anything and cheap accommodation and food seven days a week. We did none of the usual tourist activities because we have been to Bangkok twice before and lacked the motivation to see more temples, the palace, take a boat ride, etc. So, Jim took photos. I chose to spend two afternoons in two different meditation retreat centers and wished I had spent the three full days there. There was a huge Buddhist monk conference in the nearby park which offered an endless array of interesting sights.I wasn't even motivated to shop which is usually a ... read more