Roughing it at Little Vumbura

After our camera fiasco, we reached the camp and were greeted with welcome drinks to soothe away the worries. Then we were taken to our fabulous honeymoon suite. It was the last of six tented rooms down a long deck pathway. Totally secluded and with a great private deck area, Chase and I were in heaven.

Here's the entrance.

The room had mosquito netting everywhere from the windows to the bed. Luckily, we weren't really bothered by them. But it was fun to sleep with the netting surrounding us. Felt like we were really out in nature, but not really.

A little celebratory champagne on our private deck looking out on to the reserve. We would hear animals especially in the early morning hours. We had a hippo visit us every morning chomping down on grub under our tent. Other times, as we were walking back from dinner or something, we would spot kudu, lizards, and various birds. In fact, we had to be escorted back and forth, for our safety, by the staff.

The lounge area with bathroom, writing desk, and reading nook.

The deck led out to a private outdoor bath that also looked out on to the park. Totally romantic.

Alright, so more to come soon on what we actually did and saw while at the Delta.

Day 4- Going to the Delta

The next morning we were off to the Okavango Delta. We were dropped off at the Kasane airport again and took this lovely six-seater to our next camp. Notice the ominous clouds in the background.

I was doing ok and wasn't getting any motion sickness. But it didn't help when Chase dozed off for a nap and I was left to my own devices a couple of thousand feet up in the air. The thunderstorms were far off so I was able to get a good shot of what it looked like from up there.

This is one of two runways we landed on before we reached our camp. The couple in the seats in front of us were dropped off and we continued on our way to the northeastern border of the delta. Both times, there were animals on the runway. The first time, the pick-up car ran the zebras off the track. The second time, our pilot made a low swoop to scare off the giraffes.

Here you can see how the landscape is changing. More marshy, more water, and definitely green and stunning.

This one is pre-nap for Chase.

Most of the roads in the delta were getting completely water-logged. We had a fun ride to our camp. And here's the view from where we were sitting. I can't say enough about the guides throughout our trip. These men and women (yes!) were experts in driving, in hospitality, humor, knowledge about the land, tracking, and storytellers. Growing up in the bush gives them such a different perspective than what we have. Oh, and they have hawk eyes. They can see the bush in such a different way and can spot animals, birds, and plant life like it's in their own backyard. And it is!

After the drive, which took about 45 minutes because we were literally driving in water most of the time, we hopped on a boat and were taken to a tiny island which housed just our camp, Little Vumbura. The entire camp has just 6 rooms, a dining area, lounge, library, bar, plunge pools, and gift shop! And then of course there's a whole back section which is out of sight for guests which is dedicated to the staff, guides, and management of the camp. It was really well run. I would highly recommend Little Vumbura. It was our little oasis for three nights. Here's the last picture taken on our wonderful Canon G11. We were greeting by the staff singing African folk songs and as we disembarked I handed the camera to Chase warning him that the strap was faulty. And as I was introducing myself to the staff I looked over my shoulder to see Chase lurching for a falling camera. Down it went into the delta. And one poor staff lady had to reach down in there while the other staff members were holding her body from falling off the deck and retrieved our camera. We tried our best to air everything out and give it time. It still works electronically, but the lens has water on it and so we suffered the rest of our trip without a real camera. Just our Iphones and a small point-and-shoot we brought as a back up. Needless to say I am finally glad that one of our cameras did not die on my watch (as the other two have). HA!

And Now This...

Chase and I just returned home from a wine tasting event at the local French restaurant. We were intrigued by many of the wines... from a muscat I really didn't like, way too sour... yes, muscats aren't sour, they are usually sweet, but this one was too tart for my liking.... to a chinon that was absolutely diving.

I was one of 15 people when I first arrived. One person was smoking. By the time Chase arrived 15 minutes later, we were the only two people besides the two barmen who weren't lighting up. The place was a chimney and we did everything from sitting at a table in the corner to opening windows, to finally moving to the 2nd floor, to get rid of the smoke smell.

And now, as we return home, this is what has been reported on the BBC.

Chase and I had a good laugh.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12844671

And now I must go take a shower to wash off the 2nd and 3rd hand smoke from my body and clothes.

Honeymoon Part 3 - Chobe

You can't have a Chobe National Park safari without seeing oodles of elephants.

Two elephants in love. Maybe they were on their honeymoon too.

This young adult, we watched from a boat while cruising on the Chobe River. He was busy munching on the mud in search of mineral salts. The elephants really enjoy eating this particular salt only found along the Chobe River this time of year. He would use his front foot to push the dirt into the tip of his snout and then stick it in his mouth. He was so relaxed just spending the afternoon getting some good grub. After he was done, he slowly walked over to our boat which was fully on the shore and stared at us for almost a minute before slowly walking away. I was so petrified and wanted to hold Chase's hand so badly (the elephant was closest to me) but the guide told us not to move or the elephant might get spooked. The animals don't think anything of the boats and jeeps but if they see movement within the vehicle, they get scared. Anyways...

We enjoyed the occasional downpour on our trip, but I think the elephants enjoyed it more. They became more frisky as they cooled off from the rain. They would roll around on the ground, run through puddles, and generally enjoyed getting rinsed off. It's a good life, if you're an elephant!

Man our camera can take good pictures. I love the tufts of cotton white clouds and the way the sun shines on this elephant. I think this one is worth publishing!

The elephants really don't seem to notice the vehicles and they come up and greet you. We watched this one munched on the grass for a few minutes.

Three adolescent giraffes. They are so gangly and I love their beady eyes with the most perfect eyelashes.

These are Sable Antelope and a giraffe.

The jackal became the official mascot of our trip. More on that later...

Chase really got a kick out of warthog families. They have cute snorts and are easily frightened. They stick their tail up in the air when they are scared and that helps them find each other when the threat is gone.

Again another great picture because of the way the sunshine is hitting this impala.

Here I am checking out the hippos on the Chobe. We had the best binoculars thanks to Kirk and Allyson who gave them to us for Christmas.

Hippos make the coolest sounds when they chomp on their food. Chobe is one of the very few places that you can find hippos come out onto the land because they do not feel threatened. I think that says a lot about the park, rangers, and courtesy of people coming their on safari that they do their best to let the animals be and not get too close. We were warned that getting too close to hippos is never a good thing as they can easily topple boats and if that happens the likelihood of a crocodile attack is severe and life threatening.

So that sums up our days at Chobe. We really underestimated how good the birdwatching would be. I took many pictures of bird life but unfortunately they just don't do the birds justice. You have to see them in person. We saw the most amazing, colorful bee eaters, kingfishers, hawks, and other birds of prey. I was so enamoured by them all, that I now have a new nickname from Chase: Bird Nerd.

Honeymoon Part 2- Muchenje

So the first few nights we spent at Muchenje Safari Lodge which is situated right outside of the Chobe National Park in the Game Reserve itself. So it was convenient to all the driving areas without having to stay in the park. Every staff member welcomed us and made our stay very cozy.

Here's Chase on our front deck to our lodge. Every room has a view of the Caprivi Strip which is the narrow strip of Namibia that is on Bostwana's northern border. There were game that came into the lodge, especially a particular bull elephant almost every evening.

This is where we ate our meals and I thought it was a nice added touch that the staff members ate with us family style.

One of the pathways to the common areas. Look how green and lush everything is. We really miss the sunshine in China.

Another view of the main areas.

The swimming pool. We didn't have much time for leisure as we were more interested in going on drives but if we would have stayed a few days more, I think we could have made good use and worked on our tans. We did manage to fit in a yoga session one morning while we were still a bit jet lagged.

More to come with the game drives at Chobe.

Honeymoon Part 1

Our honeymoon was amazing. It was the best, most relaxing, romantic, adventurous, just plain and simple, most superb honeymoon that anyone has ever been on. And I know it was because I just on cloud 9 the entire time. Everything that we had planned for went smoothly and even though we went during the rainy season and expected to be drenched, the occasional thunderstorm just, literally and figuratively, rolled off our raincoats. We were treated with such great hospitality, friendly fellow tourists, and excellent guides the entire time. We spent just enough time at each location to get an idea of the different regions of Botswana and in South Africa, wined and dined till we were in food comas. South African wine country has a lot going for it and I can't recommend it enough for anyone who wants to be around mountain scenery, fine dining, and an up-and-coming wine industry.

So that's the recap. Here are some pictures for you:

After our international flight to Johannesburg, we had a tiny layover for our flight to Kasane. Here we are flying over the Madgadikadi Salt Pans which are located in southeastern Botswana.

Here we are on the plane. The plane had room for about 50 passengers but there only about 12 of us on there.

Welcome to the tiniest airport ever. Here's Kasane's immigration counter. Oh, and baggage claim, well they just bring the bags right over to you in the waiting lounge.

We were picked up by our a staff member from lodge, Muchenje Safari Lodge, and on the road to the lodge we passed through the Chobe Game Reserve and even before we were on our first safari drive we were welcomed by the giraffes!

More to come...

Honeymoon, Spring Festival, and More

Well, I know you are anxious to hear about our trip to Africa and everything that's been going on the past month. So there are going to be many parts to this story. First off, our honeymoon was just amazing on so many levels...

I am going to try and break down everything in a few days ay a time.

So here goes....

Day One-

Chase and I made a trip on Saturday morning to drop Milo off at the premier kennel in Shanghai. It's called Paradise Kennel in a little suburb of Shanghai. We decided to rent a car so that we would be back on time to catch our flight the next morning. We had the opportunity to ride in an Audi A6 which was lovely. Milo also enjoyed it until we showed up at the kennel... and then he became antsy. We were showed to his heated room (more like a glass cubicle) and gave last minute instructions to the staff at the facility. In our efforts to deflect his attention from our departure, Chase and I took him to the play area which included an obstacle course that is used in agility training. Milo still had his cone on his head due to his recent toe infection and here's what happened....

Chinese New Year and the Lantern Festival

The world outside is blowing up. Literally. Fireworks in every direction. We have two balconies in our apartment, north and south, and we can see blazes of fire from each one. It's a whole fireworks show that's been going on for the past hour and should intensify as the night goes on.

Milo is about to have a nervous breakdown. He's pacing back and forth, on the couch, on the windowsill, out to the front door. He can see the lights but then there are certain sounds that he just doesn't know where they are coming from. He's getting a good work out at least.

Today is the 15th day of the lunar calendar in China and it's the last night of Chinese New Year Celebrations. (Can I get a What...What?!). It's the Lunar Festival where they light tons of red lanterns along the streets and light fireworks because it's the last night to celebrate. I mean power to the Chinese people and all that and congratulations that they seem to be the 2nd largest economy and yay for the Year of the Rabbit but I've been thinking....

You know how in the US, every year animal rights groups urge people not overdo it and impulsively buy a cute bunny for their child on Easter? Every year thousands of rabbits die because about two weeks later, the kid doesn't want it anymore... and Bop! on the head of a little Bunny Foo-Foo somewhere... and we have rabbit stew...

Ok, I am exaggerating a little...

But just imagine how many MILLIONS of rabbits were bought this year in China to fulfill the desires of little Chinese children everywhere this New Year.

Just food for thought... or is it thought for food?

Back from Africa

Well, it's been almost two days since we returned. We quickly unpacked on the evening of our return. Yesterday morning we headed to the train station to pick up Milo in Shanghai but we missed the train by literally seconds. The next train was two hours away so I reluctantly asked Chase to go by himself while I stayed in Hangzhou to get a few last-minute things done before I go back to work.

I went grocery shopping, answered a bunch of emails, and did some Spring cleaning. Boy, that felt good.

Chase returned with Milo in one piece after a big ordeal of sneaking him through security to get on the high-speed train. He was told several times by people that he was very lucky to have not been caught. And several police officers and guards were really cautioning him not to do that again. Milo will not be traveling by train in the future.

Now, we're back on the routine and Milo and I went on our weekly walk around the Westlake this morning. I have some work in my classroom this afternoon and besides that will be just enjoying my last day before school starts tomorrow.

By the way, Africa was great. I don't have any pictures yet because on the third day of our trip, Chase dropped our camera into the Okavango Delta and, well, .... at least we had a backup camera, but no pictures of the great wildlife we saw. He says the memory card is somewhere but I am weary of this. Hopefully we can find the memory card and retrieve what's on there because we saw amazing scenery, wildlife, and had many great memories.

Milo's Big Week

Recently, Milo's been in a string of mishaps. First his foot was stepped on, then he got a bad haircut again. Well, it was a good cut, but just a little too short for the winter snow we had recently. And so he's been freezing and refuses to come out of bed each morning dreading the cold living room. He's like his Dad and prefers sleep-ins. I literally have to drag him out, carry him, hold him for a few minutes while he shivers on my lap and I'm putting some clothes on him. But when we're outside he's fine. I think he just likes to be dramatic. HA!

Here's a pictures of how most Chinese people prefer to hold their dogs, especially poodles like Milo that look almost like teddy bears. There's literally no support under their hips and the dogs are just dangling. I've also seen people pick up their bunny rabbits by their ears.... I have no idea if this is good or not, but it seems to me that behind the neck would be the best. Anyways...

And then this happened..... Buddy's wearing the CONE OF SHAME! I kid. He really doesn't mind it all. It only bothers him when he has to make turns and bumps into furniture he can't see. It's quite funny really to hear him bonk around in the other room. So the reason why he's wearing the cone is because he has a a foot infection on one of his toes. Some sort of bacteria got to his skin and the vet said.... through my mediocre understanding of the chinese language... that it's a kind of bacteria. So I assume he meant fungus and so Milo has to wear this cone to keep him from licking his entire foot off... which he was attempting to do over the course of two days. He's on day seven of the medication and cone and has three more days left. I must say he's healed up very nicely and I'm glad we caught it before it spread to any other toes.

And finally today, we embark on a trip with Milo to Shanghai where we will drop him off at a boarding facility for the next two weeks while we are in Botswana and S. Africa for our honeymoon. (That was a long sentence). I have never boarded any of my pets and I really have been in denial that we are actually leaving him at a kennel. But I found what I have been told is the best kennel in Shanghai. You might be asking why didn't I find one in Hangzhou. Well, they don't exist. Chinese people who have dogs tend to be the older generation and if they go somewhere they have a large network of family and friends that could care for their pets. Expats who have pets, don't have such a great network tend to live in Shanghai anyways, so that's where the kennel is. Expats also tend to go on longer trips that need this kind of service. That being said, last night at the vet in Hangzhou, we did see their boarding facility, which is just a room full of cages, but they also have another empty room that they said they could board Milo in. We might consider it since we will travel a bit this spring for shorter trips.

The boarding place in Shanghai is in the countryside on a big piece of land so the dogs can be let out, run around, use the obstacle course, etc. They have different kinds of kennels. Some with an indoor/outdoor run and some just indoors with aircon/heating. Milo will of course be in a heated room. (See first paragraph of blog entry for clarification).

So in order to deal with my anxieties, it struck me this morning that I should just think of it as Milo's just going to Doggy Chinese New Year Camp! He'll have his own room (not just a cage), he'll get to play each day, use the obstacle course, eat with his buddies, be outdoors, etc. I even heard that there's a webcam of the play yard and you can go and see how your dog is doing. We won't have internet for the first 5 days of our trip but maybe I'll have to check up on him after that.

If this trial run goes well, we might think about sending Milo to Doggy Summer Camp this July when we are in the US. So that's Milo's big week. He's growing up, that little buddy of ours.

And.... We're Back!!!

It's been months! Finally I sat myself down, re-downloaded VPN software, read tutorials, went into places in my computer hard drive I didn't know existed and got back online into the real world of online... where there's freedom. This new service should be faster so I hope I won't lag behind on blogging.

So a big shout out and hello! to everyone.... if there is anyone who's out there reading my blog.