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riceotto

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I'm 50% of a rice/risotto eating couple. One day I want to run on "The Amazing Race" with my other 50% (when they allow non-Americans).

I love to travel (but who doesn't)!?! I've been to Ecuador, Thailand, Egypt, India, Guatemala, parts of Europe, etc. and have tried keeping a handwritten journal (on and off again) but never go back and read it. If I commit to the world or whoever is reading this, I figure I will continue writing about my travels.

I was inspired by my cousin's father-in-law when he blogged about his trip to Africa.

Which one of us likes rice, and which one likes risotto is for you to guess!



Africa » Tanzania November 28th 2011

Day 22 Day at Tarangire National Park. Oh, I forgot to say where we stayed...it was at Roika Tarangire Tented Lodge close to the entrance of Tarangire. This place was different than the rest, as we had our own tent with two queen sized beds, and oddly, a blue whale bathtub. I'm not sure what the relation of blue whales is to an inland park in Africa, and why they didn't have a hippo bathtub or crocodile bathtub puzzles me. Since the lodge was close to the park, and each tent was from the restaurant, we had Maasai guards escort us at night to/from the restaurant and they seemed especially concerned about the elephants. I tried to ask him how I'm supposed to act when I encounter an elephant, as I doubt rolling into a ball, ... read more
Elephants
Lots of elephants

Africa » Tanzania November 27th 2011

Day 21 Our overnight stay was at the Ngorogoro Wildlife Lodge. The lodge is situated on the rim, and overlooks the crater. From the lodge, you can see the animals in the crater. Our room had a floor to ceiling window with a view of the crater below. Fabulous! We had a game drive that day until 2pm in the crater. By this time, I was a bit jaded with the animals and stopped taking many pictures, unless it was an improvement to a previous picture or an animal that we hadn't seen. I had my handy checklist and animal guidebook, and we had seen most of them already. The scenery in the crater is beautiful, surrounded by crater walls, and yet there seemed to be small representations of ecosystems within the crater. One part was ... read more

Africa » Tanzania November 26th 2011

Day 20 Early (6am) morning game drive in Serengeti. We saw a leopard in the morning and they are very difficult to spot; they look like part of the tree. Our very own leopard, and we did not have to share with other tourists! Went back to lodge for breakfast to pack up. Until 2pm we had a game drive and tracked some paw prints on the road to find a pride of lions consisting of 2 females, 3 males and 4 cubs. Again, we had these lions to ourselves and watched them. It was warmer weather, and in the afternoon, so they were mostly lying about. Our alone time did not last for long before another truck saw us, and made a beeline for us. They drove too close to the lions which disturbed them, ... read more
Lion cub

Africa » Tanzania November 25th 2011

Day 19 We had two game drives: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Cloudy morning and looking ominous! It started raining, and the roads turned muddy. There weren't many animals visible that day...perhaps they like rain just as much as people generally like rain. A truck driven by a less experienced guide followed our truck in search for animals. However, while driving on a side road, we got a flat tire. While Julius, our guide, was changing the flat, we all got out including the passenger in the other vehicle. Since we were in the middle of the Serengeti, we thought it best to stay by the truck, however, the other tourist starting walking around and we were joking that he would make great lion bait. YouTube here we come! Well, nothing happened ... read more

Africa » Tanzania November 24th 2011

Day 18 This was a tough morning! Well, I paid for eating the pink beef...it had briefly crossed my mind the night before, but the hotel seemed so classy, so I thought it would be okay. After pulling myself away from the toilet, we left from Lake Manyara to Serengeti (pronounced Seringit). Serenget is beyond Ngorogoro Crater and we had to pass through the rim of the crater. The Maasai are the tribe living in this area, and they are known for their colourful garments (resembling Scottish tartan). As we journeyed along, we could see them tending their cattle or sheep alongside wild zebras and giraffe. The Maasai villages dot the landscape, and their houses are no more than round huts constructed of wood, mud and straw. The Serengeti looks much like Saskatchewan except for the ... read more

Africa » Tanzania November 23rd 2011

Day 17 First day of game drive to Lake Manyara. We booked a tour for just the two of us and have our own driver/guide and a Toyota Landcruiser with a pop up roof. We drove to Lake Manyara and stopped at a craft shop along the way. The prices were double what we paid! That was a relief to know...at least our negotiation skiils aren't that bad. On the game drive we spotted giraffes and dik diks (mini deer-like animals that are as small as a dog) for the first time. I was very excited to see a dik dik...hmmm...any way I can bring one home and call it Sparky? We also saw lots of flamingos in the lake. The area around the lake was mostly forested, and we there were a few elephants eating ... read more
Lake Manyara WIldlife Lodge

Africa » Tanzania November 22nd 2011

Day 16 Now starts the "luxury" portion of our trip... We prebooked a shuttle bus (Impala Shuttle) from Nairobi to Arusha and arrived at 2pm. Lots of waiting around for the shuttle...but this is Africa and the schedule is more of a "suggestion" than a deadline. We crossed the border, and although we prepurchased our visas, visas could be bought at the border. There was noticeably more adults begging...pretty much the first we've seen since we visited Africa. We settled in our hotel (La Jacarenda) - not bad for $55 per night, only thing is that it's not near the centre of town. We then went to the tour company to pay the remainder and have an initial talk. Souvenir shopping at the Masai Market...lots of negotiation and bargaining. Ezio was having way too much fun ... read more

Africa » Kenya November 21st 2011

Day 15 - Day 14 of tour Early departure time at 5am since one of the travellers in our tour group had to be at the airport in the afternoon. We arrived in Nairobi at 11am, checked in the hotel (Hotel Boulevard) and relaxed a bit. Went souvenir shopping at City Market, went for a cup of coffee, and ate dinner of Portugese style chicken. Final thoughts on the Gap Adventures tour: there were some long travel days but it was a worthwhile trip. Even on the long travel days, I enjoyed looking out the window and observing as much as possible. Uganda is now a favourite country of mine, the scenery was gorgeous, and the people were friendly and did not ask for things for the most part. One of my favourite memories will be ... read more

Africa » Kenya November 20th 2011

Day 14 - Day 13 of tour Mostly a driving day from Jinja to Eldoret. We ate lunch at a truck weigh scale stop, and Kenyan children were watching us through a barbed wire fence. We had some bread left over after finishing our lunch and our guide picked the 3 smallest children to distribute the bread. The children ate the bread very quickly and I found it to be very emotional and sad. We stopped at Eldoret and went to Nakumatt (supermarket). Nakumatt is owned by an Indian-Kenyan and can be found at all major cities in Kenya and in some cities in other African countries. They have everything: clothing, food, furniture, basic household goods, etc. It was a Sunday so most stores were closed except for Nakumatt. We went back to Eldoret (Naiberi Camp) ... read more

Africa » Uganda November 19th 2011

Day 13 - Day 12 of tour Jinja is known as for it's adventure activities such as bungee jumping, quad biking and white water rafting. We signed up for a half day of white water rafting on the Nile and then a boat tour of the source of the Nile. There was a 1 hour delay for white water rafing due to a breakdown of one of the trucks used to haul the rafts. Also, they have recently constructed a dam, so this meant an additional 2 hour driving time to/from the starting/ending point. Before the dam, the rafting would start at the campsite (Adrift). They provided a breakfast of sausages and hardboiled eggs on a skewer and then broke us up into groups of 8 per raft. There were 4 rapids and lots of flat ... read more
Fourth rapid just as we are about to flip




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