We have a 33 pound limit- check out the scale.
We could have fit in the kitchen sink with all that room to spare!
Thursday, August 11, 2011
We are off and underweight!
The East Coast Donnalleys have arrived at their gate and passed all the luggage weight restictions with flying colors.(well maybe flying is a bit of a stretch)
We have a 33 pound limit- check out the scale.
We could have fit in the kitchen sink with all that room to spare!
We have a 33 pound limit- check out the scale.
We could have fit in the kitchen sink with all that room to spare!
Saturday July 16th
We arrived in Nairobi and experienced our first sense of a change in pace. The airline decided to unload the milk crates before the luggage. Two hours later we left the airport and headed to our hotel called Macushala. The catch phrase is TAB (That's Africa Baby.)
The ride from the airport definitely made us realize we were not in the US. There are no traffic lights and people run across four lane highways, there are cows and goats walking along the road - everyone is carrying something on their head and there are as many people walking as there are cars on the road.
Macushula was a boutique type of hotel and it was the perfect place to get over jet lag.
We got our first taste of wildlife when dad went outside to test out the Nikon camera and came back with photos of the MONKEYS!
The Houston gang arrived around 8 pm and Grandpa Bob greeted them in his kikoy.
Sunday July 17th
We had a leisurely morning and then headed to Giraffe Manor at 10:30 where we were greeted with hot towels and fresh squeezed juice. They gave us a quick tour and then the staff went out into the brush to entice the giraffes in to allow us to feed them.
Even Grandma fed the giraffe because she was told their saliva is very good for your skin. (Tourists will believe anything.)
Later in the day they taught us how to let the giraffes take food from your mouth. Grandma did not participate in this particular activity.
Cooper got slurped!
We headed to the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage and this was the highlight of Grandpa Bob's trip.
We got to bottle feed the elephants and then watch them play.
This is an amazing undertaking that they are able to reintroduce these elephants into the wild in five years.
We highly recommend that you see the IMAX called Born to be Wild which was released in April and is about this orphanage as well as an orangutan orphanage. You'll see Wilson, the project manager, tell his tale.
Even Grandma fed the giraffe because she was told their saliva is very good for your skin. (Tourists will believe anything.)
Later in the day they taught us how to let the giraffes take food from your mouth. Grandma did not participate in this particular activity.
Cooper got slurped!
We headed to the Daphne Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage and this was the highlight of Grandpa Bob's trip.
We got to bottle feed the elephants and then watch them play.
This is an amazing undertaking that they are able to reintroduce these elephants into the wild in five years.
We highly recommend that you see the IMAX called Born to be Wild which was released in April and is about this orphanage as well as an orangutan orphanage. You'll see Wilson, the project manager, tell his tale.
Monday July 18th
Aunt Jen and the kids woke up to a giraffe in their window and leapt out of bed to feed him. They then ran down the hallway to get the rest of the family. Moral of the story: if your kids are hard to wake up in the morning, all you need is to get some giraffes outside your window.
At 7:00 breakfast begins. The waiters are trying to feed you and literally NO ONE has any interest in eating because the giraffes have all arrived for their own breakfast.
Greer shows off her skills by feeding a giraffe from her mouth.
We flew to Laikipia on a Cessna Caraven 12 passenger prop plane.
We were once again greeted with hot towels, fresh juice, and smiling faces. The "cottage" is spectacular and we're not sure if cottage is an accurate description.
We went for our first game drive and 5 minutes out we saw a herd of elephant playing and rolling around, then giraffes, zebra, elan and on the way to the leopard blind we saw a leopard in a tree before he quickly scurried off. The potato chips and coca cola in the dark blind will never be forgotten. We're not sure why they chose the loudest food ever when we were supposed to be silent.
If you told the Donnalley family that we were going to become birders no one would have believed it. Tim got Greer hooked first and then rest soon followed. That's how good he is! The kids were SIGNIFICANTLY better at remembering the names of the birds but we all enjoyed finding them and reading about them in the East African Bird book.
The one bird which we were introduced to at Loisaba that we could all recognize was the superb starling. What a stunning bird!
At 7:00 breakfast begins. The waiters are trying to feed you and literally NO ONE has any interest in eating because the giraffes have all arrived for their own breakfast.
Greer shows off her skills by feeding a giraffe from her mouth.
We flew to Laikipia on a Cessna Caraven 12 passenger prop plane.
We were once again greeted with hot towels, fresh juice, and smiling faces. The "cottage" is spectacular and we're not sure if cottage is an accurate description.
We went for our first game drive and 5 minutes out we saw a herd of elephant playing and rolling around, then giraffes, zebra, elan and on the way to the leopard blind we saw a leopard in a tree before he quickly scurried off. The potato chips and coca cola in the dark blind will never be forgotten. We're not sure why they chose the loudest food ever when we were supposed to be silent.
The one bird which we were introduced to at Loisaba that we could all recognize was the superb starling. What a stunning bird!
Tuesday July 19th
We had our first early morning game drive and went to a 45,000 acre ranch. We saw the big 5 (lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and buffalo). We didn't really feel like we earned the lion sighting because they are tagged and we used a radar device to find them. We were within 20 feet of the lions and still had a very hard time finding them out amongst the grass.
We had our first bush breakfast which was outrageous. They made us eggs and bacon in the middle of nowhere. We just drove along and came upon a beautifully set table with linens and all.
Our night drive was spectacular. We saw 21 giraffes within 5 minutes of departing Loisaba. Cooper's favorite part of the drive was seeing a dead elephant being eaten by a group of hyena. It was truly disgusting. Once again Tim showed his extraordinary skills by spotting the rock hyrax when it was dark and they are the exact same color as the rock. I asked how on earth he did it and he said he saw them moving. CRAZY!!!
Favorite bird of the day: Long Tailed Widowbird. When he is perched he looks like a bird, but when is flying you wouldn't have any idea what kind of creature it is.
We had our first bush breakfast which was outrageous. They made us eggs and bacon in the middle of nowhere. We just drove along and came upon a beautifully set table with linens and all.
Our night drive was spectacular. We saw 21 giraffes within 5 minutes of departing Loisaba. Cooper's favorite part of the drive was seeing a dead elephant being eaten by a group of hyena. It was truly disgusting. Once again Tim showed his extraordinary skills by spotting the rock hyrax when it was dark and they are the exact same color as the rock. I asked how on earth he did it and he said he saw them moving. CRAZY!!!
Favorite bird of the day: Long Tailed Widowbird. When he is perched he looks like a bird, but when is flying you wouldn't have any idea what kind of creature it is.
Wednesday July 20th
We left the cottage for our Star Bed experience. Somehow Jen snuck in a "camping" experience without anyone knowing. On our drive in the morning we stopped off at a farm to watch the cows being dipped. They do this every two weeks to keep the tics off the cows.
Everyone except grandma rode a camel to the star beds and she rode along in the car with Lawrence our guide who was fabulous. He and Tim were quite a duo.
We arrived at the Star Beds after about an hour camel ride. We were greeted by the Samburu in their traditional attire. The dining room overlooks the watering hole that happened to have some elephants in it.One of the animals on the checklist that Di gave us that is very hard to spot is the Greater Kudu. Tim told the gang working that if anyone spotted one to let us know and within 5 minutes a very excited Moses announced the great news. It took a long time for them to get all of us to see the Kudo, but eventually there was success.
Tim went back to the Loisaba lodge because there was no room at the inn and after the thunderstorm ended Lawrence took us to a village called Kimjo. The roads were not exactly maintained. It took us about an hour and a half to get there and Lawrence said it takes the same amount of time to walk. We were greeted at the village by a group of women singing. Jen danced with them and we recorded it and when we got back to the Star Beds and showed the men the video they all laughed and told us it was very funny.
The chief, David, gave us a tour of their homes which are made of mud and dung and obviously do not have any electricity. When we came out of the hut the villagers had all put their wares out and the shopping began. Most items were between 5 and 10 dollars. David takes care of all the finances and Jen was sad to see that he had a calculator.
We got back in the dark and there was a fire waiting for us. They served us some appetizers and then Moses (a different Moses) entertained us with a couple of songs he had composed on an instrument he had made from the steel from steel belted tires. I have no idea how he was tuning this instrument but he did.
We then had a candlelight dinner and were escorted to our starbeds which are outdoors but very high up so that the animals can't get to you. Luckily we got in bed just in time. We had about 15 minutes of stargazing before the clouds rolled in.
Favorite bird of the day:
This little guy built a nest on the chandelier that was hanging over our dining table.
Everyone except grandma rode a camel to the star beds and she rode along in the car with Lawrence our guide who was fabulous. He and Tim were quite a duo.
We arrived at the Star Beds after about an hour camel ride. We were greeted by the Samburu in their traditional attire. The dining room overlooks the watering hole that happened to have some elephants in it.One of the animals on the checklist that Di gave us that is very hard to spot is the Greater Kudu. Tim told the gang working that if anyone spotted one to let us know and within 5 minutes a very excited Moses announced the great news. It took a long time for them to get all of us to see the Kudo, but eventually there was success.
Tim went back to the Loisaba lodge because there was no room at the inn and after the thunderstorm ended Lawrence took us to a village called Kimjo. The roads were not exactly maintained. It took us about an hour and a half to get there and Lawrence said it takes the same amount of time to walk. We were greeted at the village by a group of women singing. Jen danced with them and we recorded it and when we got back to the Star Beds and showed the men the video they all laughed and told us it was very funny.
The chief, David, gave us a tour of their homes which are made of mud and dung and obviously do not have any electricity. When we came out of the hut the villagers had all put their wares out and the shopping began. Most items were between 5 and 10 dollars. David takes care of all the finances and Jen was sad to see that he had a calculator.
We got back in the dark and there was a fire waiting for us. They served us some appetizers and then Moses (a different Moses) entertained us with a couple of songs he had composed on an instrument he had made from the steel from steel belted tires. I have no idea how he was tuning this instrument but he did.
We then had a candlelight dinner and were escorted to our starbeds which are outdoors but very high up so that the animals can't get to you. Luckily we got in bed just in time. We had about 15 minutes of stargazing before the clouds rolled in.
Favorite bird of the day:
This little guy built a nest on the chandelier that was hanging over our dining table.
Thursday July 21st
We had our morning wake up and they brought our hot drinks to our bedsides. We headed off at 9:00 for the airport and had some good game viewing along the way. We flew to Amboseli and the flight took about an hour. When we landed there were Wildebeast grazing by the runway.
We saw elephants sitting on the side of the road on the drive to Tortilas. Arrived around 1:00 for lunch and dad was one happy man. This place had his kind of food. As you can see from the "tent" picture, we aren't exactly roughing it.
Our evening game drive was incredible. We sat and watched a herd of elephant but then all of a sudden Tim said "Hold onto your hats, we gotta go." He didn't tell us where we were going but we could tell he was excited. We drove 50 mph for about 15 minutes and came upon a herd of about 50 elephants walking across the lake bed to get water. They would return once they quenched their thirst. It was the sight that dad came to Africa to see.
Once the elephants get organized they walk in a single file line and they are so quiet you honestly cannot hear them walking despite the fact that they weigh between 8 and 14,000 pounds. Look closely at the picture below and you can see a faint outline of the single file path.
There was a devastating drought in Amboseli in 2009 that killed off a huge percentage of the animals. We came upon the skeleton of a giraffe and we thought someone came out and arranged the bones, but Tim explained that this giraffe just laid down to die and because there were so many animals dying that many of them remained untouched.
Favorite bird:
We saw elephants sitting on the side of the road on the drive to Tortilas. Arrived around 1:00 for lunch and dad was one happy man. This place had his kind of food. As you can see from the "tent" picture, we aren't exactly roughing it.
Our evening game drive was incredible. We sat and watched a herd of elephant but then all of a sudden Tim said "Hold onto your hats, we gotta go." He didn't tell us where we were going but we could tell he was excited. We drove 50 mph for about 15 minutes and came upon a herd of about 50 elephants walking across the lake bed to get water. They would return once they quenched their thirst. It was the sight that dad came to Africa to see.
Once the elephants get organized they walk in a single file line and they are so quiet you honestly cannot hear them walking despite the fact that they weigh between 8 and 14,000 pounds. Look closely at the picture below and you can see a faint outline of the single file path.
There was a devastating drought in Amboseli in 2009 that killed off a huge percentage of the animals. We came upon the skeleton of a giraffe and we thought someone came out and arranged the bones, but Tim explained that this giraffe just laid down to die and because there were so many animals dying that many of them remained untouched.
Favorite bird:
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