Giant Mushrooms and Muddy Hyenas

This picture was taken on the side of the road in Zambia. All along the way there are people selling a variety of things:large sacksof coal, hand woven baskets, tomatoes, mangos, onions (the fruits and vegs all stacked in nice little pyramids).

Here you have me with the biggest mushroom I've ever seen.

We purchased this from 2 little kids for about $.60 on New Year's Eve and brought it with us to The Old Farm House in Iringa, Tanzania.

The Old Farm House is honestly one of the best deals for your money in Tanzania and a lovely place to spend the night en route (so nice we stayed coming and going).

It looks more like it should be in the English Country side than in Africa. We rented Stable 1 - a converted horse stable for $22 and had a lovely New Year's Eve dinner for $15 - total!

We also cooked up our giant mushroom with butter and garlic and shared it with a couple of brothers from Germany who had been traveling for the last 11 years!!

This photo was taken in a rocky area of the Serengeti National Park. It's a lovely spotting of a leopard which doesn't happen too often (I've only seen 3 in the 2 years I've been coming to Africa). Notice her camouflage, you could drive right by and not see her. Of course, not this day, there were five other vehicles who had spotted her before we did. In any case, we were happy to see her, despite the crowd.

On this hot sunny day in the Ngorogoro crater, this poor guy (and his mate) were doing everything they could to stay cool. For Hyenas a little mudbath will have to do since there isn't much tree cover to find any shade. I've never actually seen a spotted hyena during the day tho' many times I've seen pairs of their yellow eyes at night (indicating they are carnivores)within close proximity to our campsites, but never in the light of day.

I'm not sure what makes them creepier - the way their front legs are slightly taller than their back, making them look like they are hunching or skulking around OR their dark, vacuous eyes which make them look soul-less. It's a tough call. You decide.

Heading to Namibia

Well I've been attempting to organize pictures, prepare for my class, get my residency papers in, etc. before I head off to Namibia tomorrow to meet the students. Ten weeks, twenty students, and three countries. Am I ready?

Paul will come with me for a week and then he has to head back to work. He'll visit one other weekend while we're in Namibia (about a 13 hour drive one way) before I head off to South Africa. We'll be apart about a month before the group goes to Botswana. Not too bad.

This is at our "special campsite" in the Serengeti National Park. For this "special site" which has no facilities (no water, toilet, electricity) we paid $50/person (did I mention that prices in Tanzania were nuts!?).

You can see the vehicle with the tent on top and our dining area set up. You'll notice that I'm toasting you as part of "sun downers" (the nightly ritual of wine andsnacks before dinner).

I'm also totally covered up so those malaria ridden mosquitos won't get me but...they got me anyway.

This is one of only two or three pictures we have of both of us together. We met a couple from New York City at the top of the Ngorogoro Crater. Spotted a black rhino down in the crater (very rare) and asked them to take a picture. Notice the khaki colored clothes. Good for hiding the dirt. I'm not sure how many days it had been since we showered here.

Finally, many of you know I have a habit of photographing signs while I travel. This is one of my favorites. This was in the sleazy hotel we stayed in at Dar es Salaam. This heavily Muslim area is quite conservative (no alcohol in restaurants, 5 daily prayer announcements over loudspeakers from the mosques).

I wonder how they "test" to see who qualifies for this?