BIKAtrek's Blog

Amboseli Day 2

bikatrek — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 10:28:21 +0000

We got up early and headed out. Minutes into the park we saw a baby elephant just born less than an hour before. It was so new it could barely walk, and on a slight hill it had to have its mom help it up with her trunk. Later we saw a hippo waddling across the plains to the lake. At the top of a lookout we met some people who lived in Saskatchewan and knew Papa Bal! – Alexandra

Even the afterbirth was still hanging from the mother, plus our guide hadn’t seen that in 20 years of touring! After lunch we went to a Masai village. They welcomed us with a traditional Masai dance. The part I liked best was when they lit a fire with a stick and another piece of wood. – Isaac

Hyena relaxing in the early morning

The Superb Starling – common and very pretty

Journaling out of the midday sun

Our huts

The huts are made out of “Masai cement” aka cow dung. Very effective because it’s warm inside when the weather is cold and cool in the heat

Moses (on the right) worked in our camp as security against the wild animals

Moses on his bed, made of woven sticks and a cowhide cover

The kitchen next to the bedroom

More muganga for the Masai

The Masai pen their cattle and goats in the village at night with acacia boughs- very effective because they are all thorns

Heading to Amboseli

bikatrek — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:58:39 +0000

As we were in our safari van to our camp we saw Mount Kilimanjaro’s peak. It’s an incredibly tall mountain as I could see. On our game drive we saw common zebras, Masai giraffes, a yellow speckled sapphire, a ground hornbill, Grant’s gazelles, wildebeests, and lots of elephants. We also saw Masai ostrich, Thompson’s gazelles, water buffalo, crown cranes, Egyptian geese, olive baboons and superb starlings. My favourite was seeing an elephant chase away two lions, trumpeting. We were all stunned by that. This is one of my favourite days of our trip. – Isaac

Our first safari day! We drove to the park near the Tanzanian border with Walter, our guide, and Julius, our cook. The camp was luxury, with soft beds in a peaceful area. On the game drive we saw probably 20 different animals. At the end we saw 2 lions and a family of elephants. One elephant went ahead and charged the lions, trumpeting and racing at them. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve seen on this trip! – Alexandra

Julius buying charcoal for our camp

Walter raising our van to get as much fuel in the tank as possible

Weaver birds make these crazy hanging nests you see everywhere

Not even in the park yet and we’ve already spotted zebras!

Mt Kilimanjaro is much bigger when you see it than it seems in pictures

One of many, many security stops along the highway

Ready to spot wildlife, with Kili in the background

We also had a pretty prime view of Kili from our camp

Doing muganga for the Masai in the park

Crested cranes

Elephant crossing

Kenya – First Impressions

bikatrek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:54:24 +0000

It was culture shock driving to our hotel because it’s a million times cleaner than India, and quieter too. – Isaac

Yay! Just outside the airport, and it’s obvious we’re in Africa!

Our hotel was next to the University of Nairobi and the National Museum of Kenya

Isaac slept on the plane so he had energy to play in the hotel pool.

Days of inadequate sleep finally caught up to Baruch a few hours after Alexandra

Delayed!

bikatrek — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:30:47 +0000

We ended up staying in Mumbai for a day because we missed our flight to Kenya. All we did was rest because we were up all night and our next flight was at 3 a.m. again. – Isaac

At the airport our flight from Delhi was delayed 2 hours and in Mumbai we missed our connection to Nairobi at 3 a.m. When we finally caught our flight the next night I pulled an all-nighter. You feel real great afterwards! During the flight Dad and I made friends with the flight attendants. It is way more interesting in the back than in your seat! – Alexandra

The sun salutation in Delhi International- fitting for us yoga types!

The people on Kingfisher Airlines were super helpful. They let us sit in first class so we would be first off the plane to try and make our connection, but to no avail.

Line-up to get into the Mumbai airport

The security in India’s airports is totally over the top. You need a printed ticket (electronic ticket is not good enough) and a passport just to get past the armed guards into the door. This made it a bit of a challenge for Baruch to get back into the airport in Mumbai to rebook our tickets after we missed our flight.

Finally here in Kenya! Someone just woke up. Guess who?

The all-nighter finally catching up on the transfer from the airport

Dilli Haat

bikatrek — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:24:34 +0000

Dad and I went to mail stuff home and to the Dilli Haat market. At the post office we were told to get a tailor to make a bag for our package before we could mail it. – Alexandra

We saw this lady on the way to the post office, heating up her irons for the day.

See, cows and garbage. Ubiquitous!

Dilli Haat has crafts from all regions of India, but it is mostly pashminas

More swastikas for good luck

Baruch got a vest

They do Mehndi in the market

The tailor sewing up the package so we could mail it home

Lotus Temple

bikatrek — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:31:03 +0000

Me and Mom went around Delhi together while Dad and Alexandra did stuff. The first place we went was the Lotus Temple. It is one of the most visited sites in the world. I can tell why, because I could see a thousand people there. The architecture inside was incredible. It looks like the Sydney Opera House I think. Then we got on the subway to go to the Red Fort. When we got there it was total chaos. It started raining, there was a parade, and it was extremely noisy too. Unfortunately, it was five minutes to closing time, so we didn’t go in. On our way back we saw a famous jelabi place, so of course we had some and they were shockingly good. – Isaac

The Lotus Temple is a Baha’i temple where people of all faiths are welcome to come pray. It is very peaceful inside.

The Red Fort in old Delhi, which is even crazier than New Delhi.

Isaac is excited about getting his treat from Jelabi Walla

The Taj Mahal

bikatrek — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:33:35 +0000

We got up and went to the one and only Taj Mahal! What I thought about was that it’s incredibly, stunningly, amazingly, astonishingly beautiful. I could barely believe it, we were all speechless over it. We got an audio guide and I learned that it was built because of Mumtaz Mahal’s death. The Taj Mahal is built mainly of marble. It has a row of fountains and water. It shines brightly in the sun like the moon. No wonder why it’s one of the seven wonders of the world. I’m very glad mom chose India. The walls are filled with all sorts of gems, like ruby and sapphire. I didn’t think I’d be coming back anytime soon, so I made the most of it. – Isaac

It is stunningly beautiful, because you have seen pictures of what it looks like, but it is surreal. I found looking at it through the gate the best view. The inside is elegant but I found further back it looks like it was built as a heaven. – Alexandra

One benefit to paying 40x more than Indian residents is you don’t have to wait in this line

No crayons or fishing lures at the Taj please

The Pink City and Amber Fort

bikatrek — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:30:40 +0000

We went by taxi to the Amber Fort. It was breathtaking! On our way up the long and windy path we saw an old lady with a live cobra in a basket. I felt badly for the cobra because the lady was wacking it so that it would move. One of the facts I learned is that the Raja (king) learned troops were coming to destroy the grand hall. He was witty though and he stuccoed the pillars of the grand hall so it didn’t look grand. That is why it still lies here today. Then we went to a revolving restaurant. Dad said leave a note for myself, but we didn’t go around fully once, so I didn’t get my note! – Isaac

The Hawa Mahal, or the Palace of the Winds. It really is pink! Can you spot us?

The Amber Fort is very imposing, and behind it the Jaigarh Fort, with the worlds largest cannon on wheels. The Cannon has never been fired, nor was the fort ever captured.

There are walls along the ridges, somewhat reminiscent of the Great Wall we saw a few months back

The symmetrical patterns in the garden are an exact match to the doors of the palace courtyard

There are always Indian tourists visiting the sites, and they are always so much better dressed than we are. On average they pay 40x less for admission fees than we do.

The Jal Mahal (Water Palace)

The revolving restaurant is in the tallest building in Jaipur

Train to Jaipur

bikatrek — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:30:04 +0000

We all had an interesting experience on the train to Jaipur. While we were looking out the window at the station, a bunch of men went by, but when they saw us they immediately changed directions and came into our cart and sat in the seats right next to us. The whole train ride we had 12 strangers squished together just to stare at us. All I can say about that is CREEPY!! – Isaac

Before we left Pushkar we ate at our favourite restaurant, Honey and Spice, one last time. If you’re ever in Pushkar make sure you check it out!

We said goodbye to the cows and garbage of Pushkar, although we knew there would be more to come, since both are ubiquitous in India.

The kids said goodbye to Nina, the (male) turtle at our guest house

Courtyard of our place, the Athithi guesthouse.

We found train travel in India very comfortable (staring strangers aside), cheap and efficient

You see forts everywhere in Rajasthan

Unfortunately the picture does not convey this, but from the train windows you see women in the brightest saris working in the green fields. India is really colorful in so many ways.

Camels for Sunset

bikatrek — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:30:27 +0000

You probably won’t believe this, but we actually rode a camel!!! When I first got on I felt scared but I did eventually adjust to riding it. At one point one of the camels blew a bubble in its tongue, which was really weird and gross. It was extremely fun and interesting. The camels had a water break and drank 50 liters, I was very surprised how much they drank! We caught the perfect sunset on top of a hill, I thought it was spectacular. It was a good thing I chose to do that, because you don’t get to ride camels in Canada. – Isaac

Today I rode a camel with Isaac and Dad. When it got up, I nearly fell off. At first because of the way the camel walks you slide side to side. The guy who led our camel started to run with the camel. That is scary because you’re high enough to see in a tour bus, and if I didn’t use a death grip I could have fallen off. The sunset this night was beautiful over the top of the city. – Alexandra