Journey to Mother Africa!

Wings over Greenland, & headed for Africa

Can barely believe I'm going on a safari in Kenya and Tanzania. I have to get there first though, and therein lies the rub. I'm traveling with my long time travel buddy, Ila, and while she took an aisle seat on the opposite side of  the ten seat row, I'm at a window. Not sure that choosing a window seat isn't a tactical error on my part, but I'll see. 

Paris airport, all done up for the holidays

After my trip last year, though the gawdawful Amsterdam airport, for this trip both Ila and I did not hesitate to pull the 'old lady card' and opt for wheelchair assistance. Hate to do it, but if we hadn't used it on this trip, 2 weeks from now we'd still be roaming the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris, trying to find the right damned gate. And we were tired, as the flight from Seatac (Seattle) was a 9 hour flight - our pilot managed to trim a full hour off the flight - good tail winds I suspect. 

The flight down to Nairobi, Kenya would also take 9  hours. The cabin of the massive jet was dark. When I got up to hit the restroom, I was startled to see it was not dark outside the jet. The French jet had windows without shades, but that could go electronically go from clear to dark blue, simulating nighttime. The dark navy windows certainly fooled me.

desert sands

Having checked with the in-flight views on my seat's movie screen, looking out the clear jet porthole, I knew the jet was soaring over the Sahara Desert; white as Greenland's snow, but as frigid as snow? Uh... not so much. 

Three movies, a landing and a long distance taxing of the KLM jet,I stood just outside the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi Kenya. I was dazed and tired with a numb butt and my constriction socks were ready to drop. Exiting the airport there were dozens upon dozens of signs held up, showing company and customer names. We stood by our luggage and eventually someone from Gate 1 representative found Ila and myself. 

The Nairobi Airport

After a 40 minute drive we arrived at the Sankara Nairobi Autograph Collection - the unusual name of the hotel we would spend one night at before heading 'out to the bush'. 

Blinds, when closed, visually separated a the
sleeping area from the lush bathroom

The following morning we got up, repacked our luggage, then headed off to breakfast on the 2nd floor. Our meals are inclusive for the trip. This hotel offered what I've grown used to on the past few travels - a buffet breakfast. The offerings ran from basic, like fresh fruits, bread & butter pudding, Bircher Museli (whatever that is), smoothies, beetroot & cranberry detox drink, raw honeycomb(?) and a tower of breakfast bakery items.

Raw Honeycomb

Tower o' baked stuff

My breakfast, complete with African grown Arabica Coffee

Following breakfast, the entire group - ten total, plus 2 guides - met up with our Kenyan Gate 1 tour leaders. It was the first time we were all meeting each other. Our guide, and his assistant welcomed us all to our tour. Everyone introduced themselves. The only non-married couples were Ila and myself. Most of the group had previously traveled before with the Gate 1 company. 

Ila and I were the first ones to arrive, other than a guide

We were told what to expect all around, from road conditions (rough), to specific rules, that we should never, ever, ever photograph military facilities or persons, least we get carted away to a holding cell.

Looking up from our seating area - an atrium of hotel rooms

Finally, we were given free thingies for our trip. Our largess included each of us receiving our name tag lanyards, a metal water bottle with Gate 1 logo on it, and a rugged Gate 1 safari hat.  My favorite item, and contrarily Ila's least favorite item was a small bolt of Masai style tartan cloth, called 'Shuka'. I. Was. Thrilled to get it!  among us. So v. Happy! 

Pile of the goodies that were distributed among us.

Masai Lady

Viking Lady

Ila was not tickled with her Shuka cloth, feeling it was too much to expect people to have to pack and carry around the small bolt of cloth for the next 2 weeks. So, generous me, I did Ila 'a favor' by taking her Shuka. Now I have both of the tartans that were given out. True that as yet, I have no clue what to do with my Shuka. But I am so enchanted with them, I will be bringing home a bit of the Masai culture. It is rather a dream come true, as I've always admired the Masai people. How lucky am I. I wish I'd been that lucky in Norway last winter and I'd come home with 2 Lady Viking's dresses!

Now all of us in possession of instructions and goodies, it was time to load ourselves into the 2 vans we were to journey in, and head off to Lake Nakuru National Park. The journey begins!

Time for Pumpkins

Old timey truck, loaded up with fall harvest

 It's nearly Halloween and Pumpkin time! My exercise trainer Karina, suggested it is time we got out and hunted down some seasonal decor. So Karina picked me up and we visited a nearby neighborhood Pumpkin Patch, just off the Old Olympic Highway. 

Karina picking up a pumpkin. Last year we did an hour's worth of exercising using a pumpkin as a weight so this year

Last year for Halloween she had us exercising using pumpkins as weights. This year we won't be exercising with them, just picking them. The pumpkin patch had little wagons for piling on your pumpkins and toting them around. Karina and I each chose 2 or 3 pumpkins that seemed to 'call to us' to take them home. It was fun, wandering around the sunny field, finding just the right pumpkins. 

Come to think on it, I've never been in a pumpkin field before. I recall back in California one year, several Indian Museum docents and I walked - and got lost - in a Halloween corn maze. That was fun, and no pumpkins were josled or poked. 

The ginormous field today was full up with pumpkins great and pumpkins small. It wa also full up of people - the big and the small - all picking out pumpkins of their choosing. 

The largest of the pumpkins were rather tall. 

This is a baby pumpkin, all green and not ready for picking.

A nice assortment of different pumpkin varieties
 on a picnic bench under an old apple tree

The pumpkin patch is just a few hundred feet from the merchantiles. We had to go there to pay for our pumpkins. But just before we did that, we visited the little two little piggies. They were in a large wired pen, surrounded by pumpkin shells, apples and hay. I think by mid December they are going to be the piggies might reach the size of semi-trucks. 

Speaking of little piggies, When I brought home my pumpkins, they went right under the Flown Piggies Farm Sign, where I think they look pretty darn good.

Hula Returns to Sequim

Honored Elder & Dance Teacher, Mokihana Melendez on the right

OMG! So excited that like last year, a Hawaiian group graced Sequim with its presence. I get positively giddy with excitement hearing live Hawaiian music, and so close to home. I wonder if it's fair to say I'm homesick for Hawaii though I've never lived there, lol!

Honored Elder & Dance Teacher, Mokihana Melendez on the right

My head is spinning with all the interesting things we were told. Hula elder, Mokihana Melendez who hales from the Hawaiian island of Kauai. Her dance career began at the age of two. Her training in Hawaiian chanting began at the age of five. Now she is an honored elder, who teaches Hula. I wish she had a dance studio here in Sequim.

On to lively, non-traditional Hula

'I was today years old' when I found out that although the many Hawaiian islands share similar dances, songs, etc., each Hawaiian island has its own 'flavor' of culture and traditions. So today we heard one of the company give us an island chant, the meaning of which was explained to us. 

The young women performed one dance which the keiki - children - were taught refers to blushing cheeks. That is a double meaning because the alternate meaning of the song title,  refers to red cheeks, of the sort that can be sat upon!  The keiki may have been curious as to why their elders thought it was funny hear them perform the song, but the keiki would not ask why the laughter. That is because the  keiki were taught to do as they were told and not ask questions. Hum... sounds when I was a kid, I must have been a keiki too.

 

Just as last year, this year the show ended with anyone who wished to, could get up and have a Hula lesson. I LOVE dancing Hula. This was my 3rd ever chance to dance non-traditional Hula and I am chagrinned to say, unlike my previous lessons, this year I absolutely could not keep up with the dance! That rather surprised me, but oh well, there's always next year!

Touched by an Omen

Bald Eagles overhead

As I posted once before, I'm getting into a new hobby - book binding. Thus far I've only binded blank books with intent to figure out something interesting to go into the books later on. Recently I came across 2 of my old field notebooks and illustrations from  the summer of July, 2000. That was when I took part in a fantastic Passports in Time (PIT) project, called 'Follow the Smoke.  I decided my notes from that delightful and fulfilling adventure deserved to be combined and bound into a small book.

Pages from my 'soon-to-be-properly-bound' Book

First page from my 'PIT' diary

I gathered up all of my notes from the project out of notebooks and organized them. Then by chance I found a good method for binding them, via YouTube, i.e., America's classroom. 

I decided I needed an introduction to what the book chronicled. After writing up my intro in pencil on one page, I went outside on my 2nd floor patio to spray the page with the stinky fixative (which prevents the pencil graphite from smearing). 

I paused, looking up, and saw a pair of magnificent Bald Eagles. As they passed over my head, I called out, asking them to take blessings to my Mother, and to all of my recently deceased Aunts, Uncles and cousin. I'm sure the eagles will grant me that favor. I thought the sudden presence of the eagles, was a good omen for my new binding project. Omens don't get any better than soaring Bald Eagles.

A little Baldie aerial ballet

Sailing the Salish Sea

In 2019, when I was living in Port Angeles, I signed up for an Audubon sponsored 3 day sail trip, north into the island strewn waters. I signed on & paid up immediately. Then, guess what - COVID! Long story short, the trip was put on hold... for 3 years! This year the wildlife tour finally set sail. 

Girlie Belted Kingfisher on Rigging at Sequim Port

on the left, the Glacier Spirit

The 'voyage' was 3 days, 2 nights sailing around the San Juan Islands, in search of birds and marine mammals. I was a tad disappointed because back in 2020, the trip promised the 2 nights were to be at a Canadian Bed & Breakfast. This year we'd be staying in Washington state on San Juan Island. 

The Glacier Spirit was docked in the John Wayne Marina, only about 20 minutes from my house. In California I always had to drive some 3 or more hours to get to whatever boat I booked, often spending the night prior to the trip in a local hotel so I wouldn't have to leave Fair Oaks at 3AM to get to my ride on time. So that's points for convenience.

The inner cabin where most of my time was spent

I have to say, I was rather disappointed but that was on me, not the trip itself. I have been used to Jaunts on the Pacific Ocean, where you can find Albatross, Petrels, Shearwaters, exotic gulls, and don't get me started on the whales and other marine mammals! This however is the Salish Sea, inland from the Pacific Ocean and therefore I wasn't about to see any of the above mentioned pelagic birds. Duh, right?

I think the best time for birding the Salish Sea is in winter when certainly the great flocks of waterfowl and other species (I'm looking at you Ancient Murrelets!) are at hand. So there were birds, but they could just as easily be seen from shore. So I relaxed, and just enjoyed what birds were available for staring at. 

Western Grebes

Short-billed Gulls

Lonely Pelagic Cormorant

Bonapart's Gulls in rear, Short-billed Gull down front

Surfbirds, so hard to photograph from a pitching boat

There were about 16 Surfbirds on shell covered rocks, which was
a thrill as I've seldom managed to see more than one at a time, per decade

We were also on the lookout for marine mammals, and there were several species to see.

A snoozing mob of Stellar's Sea Lions

Sleeping Sea Lion with its body guard - a Black Oystercatcher on the right

Saw dozens and dozens of these 'sea puppies', i.e., Harbor Seals

On the first day we got one short look at a Harbor Porpoise, and I was astounded to manage this one photo that's not ready for prime time.  There were more marine mammals to come on the final day the voyage.

Headed away, 'natch

Orcas!

On the final day of the trip, the captain located a small pod of Orcas. The captain is quite familiar with the San Juan Island Orcas and their kin. He said what we were viewing was a pair of female Orca, accompanied by their large, yearling calves.

It's always a great day when I can watch whales

Mom Orca and her yearling calf

All of the above showcases the days at sea. Now for a little on the late day time spent on the island of San Juan, in Roche Harbor. 

Roche Harbor, seen from the docks

Both days on the island I took advantage of the proffered golf cart ride uphill to the condo where I stayed. Contrarywise, both mornings I hoofed it from the condo down to the dock to board the boat. 

The day on boarded started with a home cooked breakfast, and natch, later there was lunch. Around 3PM each day we were taken to Roche Harbor, a cute town on San Juan Island.   

View of the condo I roomed in

At the end of each morning's hike downhill, during which I birded, the hike's end wended down to the town's cobbled streets and pathways.

Cobbled walkway under arbor that leads down to to the piers

Buckets of Hyacinths and Daffodils 

Hellebore

I love spending as much time as possible on pelagic cruises. So I was a tad sad as the boat headed back to the docks at John Wayne Marina. But wait! There was one more surprise. There, as the boat pulled up to the pier, I spotted a small brown 'dog' lolling on its back, on the wooden deck. Then the 'dog's' long tail swung around I realized it was a wild River Otter quickly skittered off and dove into the water. A lovely last minute trip bonus, and somehow I was the only one who spotted the slick and slender marine critter, a lovely welcome home gift just for me.