National Park – Traveling Epic!

Year in Review 2018 – Joel Oleson Adventure Traveler Fun Photos

January 8, 2019January 13, 2019Posted in Adventure, Africa, Europe, Family, Favorite, National Park, Nature, Road Trip, Tourism, TravelTagged 2018, Africa, Highlights, travel, Year in Pictures, Year in Review1 Comment

At the beginning of 2018, I started working at Blizzard Entertainment and visited a couple of offices in Europe as well and now two of my oldest sons started college. Great accomplishments for which I’m very pleased. As a result of supporting 2 in college, I’ve had to get good at cashing in airline miles. Our big family trip this year was to Ethiopia and Tanzania and it was awesome! The great migration and seeing the It’s one my wife has been asking to do for years. I finished the Western Hemisphere UN (North and South America). I started the year with 155 to go and ended with 163… but lots of great highlights as you’ll see below.

Screenshots above are from “App in the Air” based on Tripit. Reality is somewhere around 1.5 million miles, but who’s counting?

These stats are primarily based on flights alone since I left Microsoft about 11 years ago. It doesn’t count the visits by car or train.

8 New UN Countries

Roadtrip from Bissau to Dakar

Guinea Bissau
The Gambia
Senegal

Island hopping around Madagascar

Seychelles
Madagascar
Mauritius
Reunion (TCC)
Mayotte (TCC)

Weekend in the Caribbean

Antigua
Grenada

Revisits and some New Areas (Some selected photos below)

Italy – Verona, Ramona & Venice
Slovenia – Roadrip from Venice to Ljubljana
Tanzania – Serengeti and the Great Migration
Ethiopia South – Omo Valley Tribes
Zanzibar – Stone town, Plantations and South Beaches
Mexico – TJ x3, Mexicali and San Luis Rio Colorado
Portugal – Lisbon
France – Paris, Normandy, and the coast
England – London

The tribes in the Omo Valley were like visiting my ancestors from 5,000-10,000 years ago. Huddling in the grass huts and talking about their experiences was surreal. Having my son and nephew experience this ancient tribe was so fantastic. I do worry these days are limited. Life on this planet is changing quickly… There was a group of Chinese tourists complete with green screens and lighting equipment that beat us to one of the tribes and I struggled to not be heartbroken. Just when you think there’s no way you’ll see a tourist…

The Great Migration is one of the most amazing things on the planet, and is the largest mammal migration of it’s kind with more than 1.5 million individuals. I was told by my driver that I would cry I’d see so many wildebeests. I think my heart was full, but it was others in the group that voted to move on. I couldn’t get enough of these odd creatures.

Travel can be so much more interesting you see a place not how it is, but how it changes… our perspective changes… a place can be so different at different times of the year. Our driver was telling us about the different times of the year based on baby animals, the rainy seasons with the hippos and crocks, the dry season where the animals get close and the lions have an easier time. Imagine how the Serengeti looks if you’re standing in the middle of a meercats den… every day a different story. (Yes, I did see Meerkats and they did NOT dissapoint!) The Wildebeests were a testament to a creator. The creations of this planet make us think of organization on a massive scale rather than pure chaos.

Watching The Lion King… in Nature play out in front of my eyes… now that brings you to tears!

Watching the lions in the Ngorongoro Crater was fascinating. The density of large mammals is the most dense on the earth in the crater. (Minus the lemurs in Madagascar more on that later). It was incredible to see this lioness be first tracked by a male, then go hunting.

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This massive 49 meter tall bronze statue located on top of one of the twin hills known as Collines des Mamelles, outside Dakar, mixture of corruption, Stalinist architecture, and North Korean architecture.

I LOVED Madagascar… The Lemurs, the Baobabs, the surprise trekking of nocturnal night lemurs by flashlight… oh, so amazing… There is so much rich and unique biodiversity in Madagascar, and while it’s so difficult to get there, it ended up being more amazing than I hoped. Madagascar as a culture is still quite primitive and not without problems, but wow what an amazing experience. You can read more about my experiences with the lemurs and baobabs of Madagascar. I couldn’t believe I found covered wagons like those who crossed the plains to Utah in Madagascar. I’ve seen a lot of camels, donkeys, and horses, but true classic covered wagons with wooden wagon wheels… that was a first in Madagascar for me.

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Seychelles with the largest nut, the large rocks, the beautiful beaches… I had the opportunity to do some diving.

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Venice is a magical city. St Marcos Square with it’s looming tower and incredibly ornate frescoes, mosaics,and golden horses. It’s a must see for any traveler, and even better on this my second visit.

The Mosaics in Ravenna, Italy seem to capture lost mysteries. It’s super fascinating to study and wander the dozens of basilicas and churches in the surrounding areas.

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From underwater sculpture gardens, to waterfalls and sulfur hot springs, Grenada was a very green relaxing spice island.

Antigua is a beautiful island. It got quite a bit of destruction recently mostly on Barbuda. This dog followed me for over an hour. By the end of my walk I had 6 dogs following me.

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Christ the Redeemer in Lisbon was a gift from Brazil

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Mont Sant-Michel on the coast of France… very appropriate given the anniversary of the end of World War 1. Our visit to the coast included a walk along the beach in Normandy and a heavy heart.

Let me know in the comments if you’d like to see more blogs on some of my adventures last year… Thanks for your support! Here’s to travel in 2019!

Current Travel Plans for 2019…

Family Spring Break trip to China – Xian Terra Cotta Warriors, Heavens gate, Glass bridge, Huge Buddah statues, Avatar Forest, and Pandas (My youngest LOVES Pandas!)
Remote South Pacific island hopping for my birthday including Vanuatu and Tuvalu and possible diving in the Great Barrier reef
TBD

Hope you’ll like and subscribe for more in 2019! Let me know what you’d like to see!

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Where did life begin? Traveling to Ethiopia’s Omo Valley – Early Man

November 26, 2018November 27, 2018Posted in Adventure, Africa, Bucket List, National Park, Philanthropy, Photography, Road Trip, Tourism, Travel, UNESCOTagged ethiopia, Mursi, National Park, native, tribal encounters, Tribes, Unesco2 Comments

My passion for understanding the past through early man caves, paleontology, archeology, encounters with ancient tribes with connections to the past and life origins and what matters most… these strike directly at the heart of what I find meaningful in travel. Indiana Jones wasn’t just looking for gold statues… he was looking for answers.

If you’re trying to connect with the past, there really isn’t any place where you’ll find more diverse tribes in such a small area than in Ethiopia. Seriously. If you have found something more diverse and connected with the past, I’d really like to know. While the exact number is unknown, there are around 80 tribes and 86 living languages with an incredibly diverse ethnic groups living in Ethiopia. Most of the urban population belongs to the Amhara or Oromo tribes. Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest in the world. Ethiopia today is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, and yet has some of the best preserved untouched primitive tribal living in the world. What makes Ethiopia unique is the longevity of Ethiopia without much outside influence. Italy was trying to build an empire in Ethiopia had such a small impact, you’ll struggle to find anything Italian unless you visit Gondar where there are a few buildings that look Italian. Italians made an attempt to have Ethiopia as their share of Africa. They invaded in 1893 but were shamefully defeated by the Ethiopians to become the first European losers in a colonial war. This led to the Italy-Ethiopia war conducted in 1930’s. Ultimately Ethiopia was colonized by Italy from 1936 to 1941. Only 5 years, so you can understand how little impact would come from that. Things will change.

So, going back to it. Ethiopia has a lot of primitive tribes that continue to live the way they have for thousands of years… I was anxious to visit early man, and what an incredible experience I had making so many new friends and gaining insights about ancient life.

While it may seem like Ethiopia has always been the cradle of civilization it was not until 1963 that ancient hominids were discovered in Ethiopia where stone tools that were over a million years old at Kella. Since then many important finds have propelled Ethiopia to the forefront of paleontology. The oldest hominid discovered to date in Ethiopia is the 4.2 million year old Ardi found by Tim White in 1994. The most well known hominid discovery is Lucy, found in the Awash Valley of Ethiopia’s Afar region in 1974 by Donald Johanson, and is one of the most complete and best preserved, adult fossils ever uncovered. Lucy is estimated to have lived 3.2 million years ago. You can see Lucy and Ardi bones in the museum in Addis Ababa in the capital.

There have been many other notable fossil findings in the country. Near Gona stone tools were uncovered in 1992 that were 2.52 million years old, these are the oldest such tools ever discovered anywhere in the world.In 2010 fossilized animal bones, that were 3.4 million years old were found with stone-tool-inflicted marks on them in the Lower Awash Valley by an international team, which is the oldest evidence of stone tool use ever found anywhere in the world.In 2004 fossils found near the Omo river at Kibbish at 195,000 years old, the oldest date in East Africa for modern Homo sapiens. Imagine walking around in a valley where the bones you might stumble across could be an ancient ancestor.

You really don’t have to spend much time with the tribes to find their simple, but ancient traditions to be enlightening. You really don’t have to go to distant islands where you risk getting shot by arrows. You can come to the Omo Valley, and get a guide and scout who are provided for your safety and convenience to communicate with the chief and his warriors, who are really quite friendly.

Last summer I traveled to Mexico to see the Olmec heads. I was NOT expecting to see one in Addis Ababa outside the museum in Ethiopia.

The National Museum of Ethiopia is worthwhile. Even in just the last few years it has gotten a lot better. It was the Lucy bones that drew me the first time, but taking my 9 year old boy to put some context in paleontology was very worthwhile.

My friend Abeye who I met on a trip to Lalibella, Ethiopia 8 years earlier with his school friends. It was him and his friends who were our guides when we were trying to locate an orphanage. I had the biggest epiphany… everything you think you know about Africa is wrong. Everything you think you know about Ethiopia is also wrong. Giving money to the orphanages in Lalibela would have been a mistake. They were the only spoiled kids in the city. Who would have guessed? Instead I found a blind kid and his friend who helped us locate school supplies which we were able to distribute to as many kids as we could find. It was a life changing event. Bringing books and school supplies to a few schools along our route on our trips was a lot of fun for the whole family. Mission accomplished. My 9 year old and his cousin will never forget how they felt as they had many first contact type experiences with the kids at the markets. If you’ve never had the opportunity to be a minority, I highly recommend it. It’s important to get out of your comfort zone, and let a villager touch your freckles or softly pinch your skin and stare right through your blue eyes. You sort of feel like an alien. Imagine if everyone had the opportunity to feel like an alien. How much prejudice and bigotry would melt away to empathy?

No matter how much you try to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, you will still struggle to understand how someone could put such a large plate in their lip, but if you don’t try to connect with them and imagine life in a straw hut and attempt to connect with their present and your past… to see what life might have been like 3,000 or 30,000 years ago.

The Mursi tribe are a nomadic people known for their lip plates, they live in grass huts between the Omo River and its tributary the Mago, one of the most isolated regions of the country. They are animists. Lip plates are a well known aspect of the Mursi and Surma, who are probably the last groups in Africa amongst whom it is still the norm for women to wear large pottery, wooden discs, or plates in their lower lips.

I had a great time with my new friend. We were taking selfies and could keep a straight face. After traveling 3 days to get deep into the Omo Valley I was so excited to spend time with one of the most primitive tribes in Ethiopia. Clothing optional, this tribe could construct their grass hut village in less than 24 hours. They are a nomadic tribe.

As we drove by these zebra stripped kids I was struck. I was really on the edge of the planet. Our guide said, “don’t take their picture they’ll throw rocks!” It was too late. I caught this beautiful photo first. I hope it represents them well. For the most part prior to us arriving at a village there were terms on photos and we’d work it out with the chief. It’s true… sometimes they wanted money for each picture, but it was my preference to trade. If we could bring things the tribe needed, I felt a lot better…. school supplies, solar lantern, or simple toys.

This pole may look like a bunch of poles lashed together, but actually this is a clock. The tribe adds a new pole to this central point in the village every generation (18 years.) Konso, this ancient UNESCO heritage village is over 400 years old.

Tiya, a UNESCO site of large stones from an ancient burrial ground. No one recognizes the swords. They don’t match any on record in Ethiopia. I love it. The site is still being understood. You can be an archeologist and figure it out! The guides on site have some good ideas, but you can tell much of what they are saying is guestimates.

You can compare these swords from the museum… Doesn’t look anything like it. The 1600s was a pretty exciting time in Ethiopia with the royal courts, castles, and conquests. You wouldn’t believe the history. Gondar Ethiopia where the castles are is a must for a longer trip to Ethiopia.

Humans aren’t the only ancient thing in Ethiopia. Very old crocodiles and hippos in the lake. You can take a guide, captain and scout by boat and go trekking for animals in Lake Chamo Nechi Sar

Ancient stone churches are both in the North and in the South. Lalibella in the North has some of the best monolithic buildings in the world.

The only southerly rock hewn church Adadi Mariam… It’s like visiting a cave church carved out of rock, not unlike the cave churches in Cappadocia, but those churches don’t have a holy of holies and these are all fashioned after Solomon’s temple and often have a ark of the covenant replica based on the real one… just ask them. The religion runs very deep in Ethiopia, and there’s no doubt they are from lost tribes of ancient Israel… the DNA studies and the heritage back up the stories. The stories are fantastic and rich as the countries culture.

Breathtaking natural beauty outside the windows of the ancient village near Konso. This valley is coined New York for what look a vast city scape in dirt… like sky scrapers.

This Mursi Warrior may look tough, and they are, but they are also very sweet.

If you don’t stick to tourist food, you can try some amazing tibs. Tare tare may be a french term, but at this shop, they chop off cuts of fresh beef, seasoning optional. Strips of raw meat – Tere Sega. I LOVE Ethiopian food. It took some convincing my driver that I had an iron stomach, then I could get to the really good places where the locals eat. Tibs, Shiro, Kifto, Gomen, Doro Wat, Shiro Feces, served with a layer of Injira.

Incredible markets. Tribes would come to trade or sell their vegetables or clothes. Markets aren’t every day, but on market day it’s a treat to meet those that come from far away. I did find it annoying that some local government officials thought we needed a permit to go to the market. They were persistent.

Traditional ancient Konso tribal Hut. These are really the nice huts. There are much more primitive and temporary huts.

The hardest working women in the world. I believe. These women spend all day looking for sticks to turn to charcoal to sell or to use as firewood to feed their families.

The wise tribal elders of Konso

Those wooden seats double as a pillow and are one of the few items you might find in a hut.

The inside of a hut. This women was near the center of the village so she has some additional amenities.

The animals live in the stone walled in village for protection. The further outer rings of the village the newer but more risky.

The inside of the grass hut. Embers still warm.

In a spirit of transparency. I’m fine sharing what I got

Day 1 – Rock Hewn church, Tiya UNESCO site

Day 2 Trekking for Zebras, visiting crocks and hippos

Day 3 Jinka!!! Konso tribes the 400 year old UNESCO village including New York

Day 4 Mursi tribe and Mago National Park. This is the lip plate tribe. Dimeka Market…

Day 5 Turmi cultural tribal city in the middle of Omo Valley

Day 6 Dorze village

I ended up going back to Paradise Lodge. We loved that place. The view was incredible. So we elected for 3 nights there in Arba Minch.

For $75 a day for $525 we had a Toyota Land Cruiser driver and vehicle for about 7 days. I felt pretty good about what I negotiated. Our driver knew the route, and while he didn’t like driving in the dark. We were able to push him to put in 12 hour days and saw an incredible amount of Southern Ethiopia on this trip.

It was so great to get back to Ethiopia one of my favorite countries not only in Africa, but in the world.

If you enjoyed this post… you might enjoy my previous post on Ethiopia on Lalibela and the Rock Hewn Churches where I first met Abeye and fell in love with ancient Ethiopia. My friend Abeye is now building his own ethiopian tours.

Tracking THE Migration: Wildebeest Worlds Largest Migration in the World!

November 10, 2018November 10, 2018Posted in Africa, Animals, National Park, UNESCO, WonderTagged Crater, Manyara, Ngorongo, Serengeti, Tanzania, Zanzibar3 Comments

When I told my guide I wanted to see the the wildebeest migration he told me I’d see so many wildebeest I’d cry. I was up for the challenge. This wasn’t my first African Safari, so I knew I wasn’t going to be satisfied with a herd of a few hundred wildebeest. The family I was with was up for everything. The Serengeti and the Crater is clearly the best places in the world to see the diversity of the world’s last greatest animals like the lion, cheetah, elephant, hippo, rhino and so much more.

Spoiler. I got my moment. I was completely surrounded by a herd of migrating wildebeest who were climbing all over each other falling into ravines and it took me to a moment when I was in southern Utah and saw billions of crickets crawling and consuming everything in their path a mile wide. These wildebeests for a moment were the crickets and I was in that moment looking at them in god mode like they were a swarm of crickets. Incredible life experience.

What many don’t realize is it’s possible to see the Migration all year round. The river crossings are from July to November, the huge herds in Serengeti in April to June and calving season with babies and predators from December to March.

I was looking for moments where all I could see was wildebeest everywhere I looked.

It’s sad how after a couple of days you start rooting for the predators and are hoping a crocodile is in the water.

One major myth is it being hot. We went in July and needed jackets some nights. It was NOT hot, the weather was hotter at home. If you were hoping to go before it became a major tourist destination, with major international tour companies, and fees like you were in a top park. Too late. The fees were quite disappointing. Tanzania knows that the Serengeti is a major international destination and getting accommodations in the park for less than $200 per night are nearly impossible. Just pulling up a random date the cheapest per night is $500 for the 28 properties near Serengeti. Go check booking.com… I’m serious! There are primitive camping options at around $150, but for the most part I found most accommodations are only accessible at reasonable rates only through tour companies. These companies seem to have a monopoly on the prices. If you’re thinking you’ll skip the tour and do the drive yourself after 5 days in the park I can tell you they’ve tightened it up so it’s next to impossible to do yourself. The park fees are $50 per person per day, but included in trip costs if you go through a company. The crater entrance fees $200 per vehicle. Let me get off the topic of fees. It’s not cheap, but please do your research. This can be an epic trip, and very worthwhile. It was two days into the trip that I found out from my driver if I went direct I would have had a better price, and here I thought I had the direct price. We must have priced out 30 or more different outfitters. I’ve seen prices commonly between 5K to 30K for a week for a comprehensive inclusive package.

Ultimately there were 9 of us with my wife and our 9 year old, my brother in law and his son, and my other brother in law his wife and 2 kids. We elected to do 2 different big safari vehicles.

My African Safari family – In the back is our guide.

Yes those are hungry hippos in the background. No they don’t have access to us there’s a 30 ft cliff behind us.

06 Days/5 nights Tanzania Serengeti & Ngorongo Crater Safari

Day 1: Arusha – Lake Manyara National Park Pick up from Arusha
Drive to Lake Manyara with picnic lunch .Arrive and start game
viewing later check out of the park and drive to Karatu .
Dinner and overnight at Country lodge/Eileen tree in/Crater rim
lodge.

You never know when a young elephant might jump out of the forest and be a little upset that you cut her off from her mommy. Let me tell you… they aren’t afraid of cars.

Day 2- Karatu- Serengeti
Depart for Serengeti after breakfast, with picnic lunches, you
will drive via Ngorongoro conservation area. Arrive at the park and
start your game viewing. Later drive to Ikoma/katikati for dinner and
overnight.

Of course you start tracking the big 5. The Leopards are beautiful.

Driving nearly all day tracking animals went by quickly, and the sunsets were spectacular!

Even better when a giraffe would pose.

Day 3- Serengeti – Full day
Spend this day with game drives within the Great Serengeti.
Serengeti is the home to Africa’s Big Five. There will be picnic lunch.
Dinner and overnight at the ikoma Camp

This is Disney in REAL LIFE! Simba headed out on the edge of the rock. Circle of life! Hakuna Matata

(Contact me joel.oleson@gmail.com for use of any of the photos. A couple of them are my nephews.)

Day 4: Serengeti – Transfer to Ngorongoro After breakfast, depart
for Ngorongoro Crater passing through Olduvai Gorge. Enjoy an
introductory game drive as you arrive at the crater as you head to the lodge.
There will be no other game drive so spend the remaining hours at
leisure enjoying walking around the surrounding areas and exploring the
lodge’s facilities. Dinner and overnight at the Rhino
lodge/Country Lodge

Ngorongoro is quiet unique as its physical protection from man
natural beauty ranks it among the most pristine wilderness on the earth.
It has been also declared the world heritage and is the largest
intact crater in the world.

The crater didn’t disappoint on providing the illusive black rhino as well.

Day 5: Ngorongoro Crater – Full day
After breakfast, check out of the lodge with packed picnic lunch
and depart for a tour of the crater floor, which is home to numerous
plains game and the big five. Spend the day within the crater and
have lunch at one of the famous picnic spots in the park. In the
evening you will return to the lodge which is strategically perched on the
rim of the collapsed volcano, with the most magnificent views of the
crater floor.Dinner and overnight at the Eileen trees camp/Crate rim

For the most part by day 5 we were already saying we’ve seen enough of the antelope, elephants, and we’ve clearly found the big 5. Let’s track leopards, lions or cheetahs and see them land a kill. We weren’t disappointed, we caught a very interesting hunt of a four male lions tracking a female lioness who was hunting a water buffalo.

Day 6: Ngorongoro Crater – Arusha.
After breakfast at the hotel depart and drive to Arusha. Drop off.

No one told this young one she was in the wrong place.

PRICE BASED ON USE 4X4 SAFARI LAND CRUISERS.
Price per vehicle @ $ 2,150 x 2 vehicles = $ 4,300
Per per adult @ $ 950 x 6 adults = $5700
Per per child 16 yrs. old @ $ 780
Per per child 7, 9 yrs. old @ $ 595 x 2children= 1190
TOTAL $ 11,970

So for my share it was around $3,785 for the 3 of us for 6 nights and 5 days all inclusive.

SAFARI QUOTATION INCLUDES:
Accommodation on Full board basis on safari.
Ground transportation in a private 7-seater Safari 4×4 safari Land
cruiser in Tanzania driven by a professional driver/guide Game drives
and park entry fees.
Mineral water during game drives only – 1 litre bottle per person per day

EXCLUDES:
x Arrival Airport Transfer
× Visas (currently US$ 50 per person)
× Cost of international and Local Flights
× Inoculations and personal insurance
× Beverages unless stated otherwise

× Gratuities/guide tips to Hotel/Lodge staff
× Laundry and other personal expenses

Of course the animals don’t know where the wild ends and the homes are. In fact most of the lodges we stayed at warned us not to wander at night. There were no fences around the camps. In most camps we had armed guards who stayed up late chasing off animals or potential predators that wandered into camp, but the monkeys didn’t care.

Our vehicles do have the pop top which was extremely handy and we ended up using it A LOT!

Make sure you bring a good camera. The photos you see in my blog here are all from an iphone. Imagine what they’d be with an SLR.

You do get quite close to the wild life and the exhilaration you experience when you see a lion chasing it’s game is incredible!

Africa has some incredible animals and to imagine them all in such a short distance is pretty mind blowing.

Don’t let the animals be the only reason you want to visit Africa. As a traveler the cultures of the tribes are easily what keeps me coming back for more. There’s so much we can learn, and increase in our perspectives by learning from each other. The Masai tribes were extremely welcoming. They had a very formal way of receiving us into their village, with traditional greetings, jumping and dancing, and showing us their arts and crafts and then taking us into their homes.

It’s not without a price these days, but if you get past that part, it’s a fascinating journey and your funds are shared among the whole tribe. We were told our money was going to go for medicine for the cows. Having visited the school of the village, I was happy to share that and more. We left books and school supplies that we had purposely brought with us in extra bags.

If you end up planning a trip something like this. I highly recommend what I call a detox in Zanzibar. Go relax in Zanzibar, go to the night markets and relax on the beach. There’s the best food of Tanzania is in Zanzibar. Very easy to find great food on the island, and the pace is perfect for relaxing as well stone town has some fantastic culture, history, and feels a little less like that extremes of tons of tourists or primitive… lots of great deals to be had on Zanzibar. I really enjoyed taking in the culture and spices of the island.

Thanks for sharing my journey!

I’m not selling anything. If you are curious who I used reach out to Edward Massawe I asked Edward how people can reach out. He says “Hello Joel! Jambo? Hope all is good with you my friend!! Here is my email address edwardtz@ymail.com, or WhatsApp me at +255 763 122 626.” He was our driver who said he could even do better direct. He recently posted on Facebook how he saved the life of a baby rhino with some other drivers. He’s got some fascinating tales from Leopards inside the vehicle… stories you’d never believe!

(Note the photo above is from Edward’s friend posted to his Facebook page.)

Top 10 Activities in San Diego California

January 16, 2015January 16, 2015Posted in Adventure, Family, National Park, North America, Photography, Tourism, Travel TipsTagged Baby gorilla, Baby Panda, Balboa Park Centenial, Oceanside beaches, San Diego Zoo, Wild Animal Park3 Comments

I recently moved to Oceanside California, a suburb of San Diego, and this holiday season we had an opportunity to look at San Diego like tourists. Southern California is a tourists paradise. In Orange County you have Disneyland and Knottsberry farm. Go to the coast and you have world famous beaches Newport and Long beach. In this post, I want to focus on San Diego. San Diego is packed with some of the most popular activities.

Foreigners who think they want to visit Los Angeles when they come to the US would do well to come south a few hours to San Diego area. After seeing a little bit of Hollywood or Disney, you’ll have a lot better time

1. San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park – The world famous San Diego Zoo

Most of my life this was THE zoo. San Diego, California housing over 3,700 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies. Some of the highlights from my most recent visit were the baby panda who has been really growing, the baby gorilla. The lion was awesome.

Baby Panda eating Bamboo

Baby Gorilla right up against the glass…. so cute!

The Male Lion vocalizing… Serious Yawn! Amazing King of the Jungle.

After spending time at the San Diego, it made me wonder what are the best zoos. My favorite are the real animal parks in South Africa and Botswana, but when you can’t have that the Wild Animal Park in San Diego and the San Diego Zoo are really tops.

World’s Top 10 Zoos according to TripAdvisor

1. Henry Doorly Zoo (Omaha, Nebraska)

2. San Diego Zoo (San Diego)

3. Loro Parque (Puerto de la Cruz, Spain)

4. St. Louis Zoo (St. Louis)

5. Singapore Zoo (Singapore)

2. La Jolla – The Cove

My favorite place to relax in San Diego is in La Jolla. The beaches, the calm seas, the birds, the seals… I’ve done some snorkeling at the underwater park. What a wonderful place.

The Cove, Seals, Kayaks

This water arch is accessible by Kayak rental

Sunset at La Jolla Shores, bon fires along the beach

Flickr: 57108987@N00

Don’t miss the seals!

3. Legoland California + water park in Carlsbad and Aquarium

Kids love legoland. Rides, and entire cities and cityscapes including life sized Star Wars figures

Really… This Chewbacca is totally out of legos!

4. San Diego Harbor Cruise, Speed boat or Whale Watching

The San Diego skyline with a cruise ship. The harbor cruise, whale cruises, and even jet boats and duck boats are available for a ride out in the bay.

Battleships and navy battalions, the USS Midway is on the dock available for a self guided tour

5. Balboa Park – Science Museum

Balboa Park is a San Diego must-see, just minutes from downtown, and ranked as one of the Best Parks in the World. The Park is home to 15 major museums, several performing arts venues, lovely gardens and many other cultural and recreational attractions, including the San Diego Zoo. With a variety of cultural institutions laid out among its 1,200 beautiful and lushly planted acres, Balboa Park is the nation’s largest urban cultural park. Yes it is huge… and bigger than even central park in NYC.

The tower and the Museum of Man were designed by Bertram Goodhue, who was inspired by the churches of Mexico and Spain. Even though the tower and museum resemble a church, they’ve never been used as one. They’ve always housed exhibits, except when used as a Navy hospital during World War II.

Flickr: jimnix

Balboa park is definitely something to see. A huge collection of museums right off from the zoo which house great collections of science, natural history, and culture.

As a public service, Balboa Park organizations offer free admission on a rotating basis on the first four Tuesdays of the month to San Diego City & County residents (with ID), active military & their dependents.

Please note: Some museums may offer complimentary admission to their permanent collections only and charge admission to special exhibitions or films.

Also note: Some museums may require ID for minors

First Tuesday

Reuben H. Fleet Science Center
Centro Cultural de la Raza
San Diego Model Railroad Museum
San Diego Natural History Museum (Not valid for 3-D films)

Second Tuesday

Museum of Photographic Arts
San Diego History Center
Veterans’ Museum and Memorial Center

Third Tuesday

San Diego Art Institute
Mingei International Museum
San Diego Museum of Art
San Diego Museum of Man
Japanese Friendship Garden

Fourth Tuesday

San Diego Air & Space Museum (Not valid for special exhibitions)
San Diego Automotive Museum (Last admission 3:45 PM)
San Diego Hall of Champions
Select House of Pacific Relations International Cottages

Museum Month: Half-Off Admission 2/1/15 – 2/28/15

The Timken Museum of Art is always free.

Due to large crowds and for visitor safety some museums may restrict entrance to strollers.

For more information visit http://www.balboapark.org/visit/tuesdays

6. Oh yeah, there’s Sea World… or Tons of Beaches to explore (be a whale?)

Sure go see Shamu or whoever, or why not go to some of the best beaches on the planet. You could even catch a whale cruise. (The 3 day Go San Diego pass offers discounts to Sea World) See bottom.

Coronado (more below)
Ocean Beach
La Jolla
Mission Beach
Torrey Pines
Oceanside
Del Mar
Solana Beach
Moonlight Beach
…. So many choices!

Check out the list of Top 10 Beaches in San Diego

7. Old Town San Diego

Credits: SanDiego.org

San Diego Historical Society: Old Town State Historic Park

Old town San Diego is a favorite. Very easy walking to historic churches, homes, great authentic Mexican food, and markets, shops and fascinating history. I recommend the Mormon Batallion. I have an ancestor that made that longest march in US history from Missouri to San Diego for the Mexican American War. The visitors center has an 3D style interactive movie that puts you back in those times.

8. Day Trip to TJ

As a global traveler I can’t resist going to Tijuana for a day trip. My favorite excursion is the drive to Ensenada and the Blow hole south of the city by another 15 minutes to El Bufadorra, but most would want to spend the weekend in Ensanada and a little more planning. The day trip to walk along Revolution street complete with street tacos and a visit to one of the many markets and lots of cheap souvenirs. This last trip we caught a cab after walking across the border and took us to the cultural museum and walked back to the border. We got some street tacos, churros, and I got a very cheap TJ Harley Davidson pullover Mexican style hoodie. The border crossings can be a pain, but really you only have to wait coming back. The way to Mexico is just a turn style. Make sure you have your passports to get back!

Cultural Museum of the Americas in Tijuana

Fresh and Cheap Pomegrantes… just across the border!

And who doesn’t love all of your favorite characters made up into Piñatas! Yes that is Anna, Elsa and Olaf and a couple minions.. for the right price

The Famous Jai Alai stadium at one end of the Avenue Revolution

The Arch at the other end of the Avenue

I could do a whole post on TJ, and probably should. There are so many people who visit Tijuana the wrong way, and as well there are so many people who are afraid of the border for the wrong reasons.

9. Hotel and Beach Coronado – Mystery surrounds the Hotel Coronado

Coronado’s famous beaches are known for their fine white sand that sparkles in the sun thanks to the mineral mica

Parents Magazine named Coronado Beach one of the Best Beach in the U.S. for Families
A stroll through the historic Hotel del Coronado, a truly enchanting experience.

Flickr: 29541450@N07

“Coronado is home to the famous Hotel del Coronado, built in 1888 and long considered one of the world’s top resorts. It is listed as a National Historic Landmark and appeared in films such as Some Like It Hot and The Stunt Man.” Read more about the Historic Hotel Coronado and Beach… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronado,_California

If you decide to go for a drive swing by the Mission in San Diego or follow the beaches north to Oceanside to the mission there. Best time to stop by is during the Day of the Dead where over 5000 people come to celebrate the dead!

I’m loving it here. I have to wonder if it has the best weather in the world…? Incredible number of days that are simply just right, but I don’t want to convince everyone to move here…. just that it’s a great destination, but apparently you probably already know that.

Even though I’m not getting a dime for this, let me see if I can save you some money. There is a Go San Diego Card that allows you to get into multiple places at once for a fixed price. I used the groupon San Diego deal to save even more. We did the two day and just bought the adult one ($97 for All Inclusive 2 day pass) and used the Legoland kids get in free coupon with full fared paid adult… We had to find someone who was paying full price to let our kid in with them from a $ perspective… It worked. Worked out wonderfully. We saved $50-60 on each day. Combining the activities into a string of events in a day is exhausting, but we had a great time!

Discovering Kyrgyzstan Land of Mountains

June 28, 2014March 9, 2016Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Culture, Favorite, Food, History, National Park, Nature, Photography, Road Trip, Tourism, Travel, UNESCOTagged Ala Archa, Bishkek, burana, issuk kul, Kyrgystan, kyrgz republic, lake, mountains, petrogliph5 Comments

Oh Kyrgyzstan, how I love thee. What an incredible culture. I really really enjoyed the people and mountains of this vast rugged territory. The loyalty and incredible friendliness of the people still strikes me. I really enjoyed visiting these amazing places that were important sites of the silk road and played an important part of the world’s history that has since been lost in much of the history books and easily overlooked. These former soviet republics have a history of their own and are very worth visiting as they each have their own cultures and traditions.

I didn’t really know what to expect when I discovered I’d have 4 days in Bishkek before we’d continue on to Almaty. At first I was a little worried by what I’d seen on simple image searches of Bishkek. As a city you can see it in a day or based on my drivers thoughts… an hour, but get outside the city and day trips and you’re in one of those lifetimes that you need to have to find the depth. I need to share some stories to help you really understand why Kyrgyzstan really captured my heart and became one of my favorites.

I want to help you understand how I saw this place which really reveals my formula. If you look at the pictures of what I saw vs. a quick image search of Bishkek or even a virtualtourist.com search of Bishkek and you see a big difference. On this trip, I took a traveler’s perspective. I did very little research before going. I made a reservation because I had heard from a friend who was there a few months prior that I might have a challenge in the airport. I personally have never allowed language to stop me from visiting a place, but I did once have to visit more than half a dozen taxis on an island in China to find one driver who could take me where I wanted to go. In this case, I like to build a home base. I like to make a connection with a local and a hotel to start my travel from.

On facebook I started with a search, “My friends who live in Kyrgyzstan” – 0 results. “My friends of friends who have friends who live in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan” – a handful of results. I reach out to Monica, and ask her if she could introduce me to her friend Azat. After being introduced, I discovered that not only did Azat live in Bishkek, but he spoke pretty good English and had even visited the United States. Monica had visited him while in Bishkek and with that introduction, I had a true friend. In the world of Kyrgyzstan that friendship I would find would be so profound. The people have a rich heritage and rich loyalty.

I was traveling to speak at a conference in Barcelona and planning a trip across Central Asia, but my friend Michael had already visited Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. He’s the one who had mentioned language may be a challenge. With Barcelona as my starting point I found a flight on Pegasus airlines a very discounted airlines that has some really fascinating destinations. For approximately $250 I could fly from Barcelona and connect in Istanbul to Bishkek on a flight that would take about 10 hours or so to arrive. For the price, I was crazy not to take it. In all my travels across Central Asia, this flight would save me about $1000 vs other routes. I did some searching and made a reservation with Booking.com at RIch Hotel.

Four stars and an 8.4 user rating for $70. I was pretty excited. I was pretty happy with Rich Hotel. The facility met my needs. Good bed, clean sheets, ok (free) hot personally made breakfast (eggs and toast) and juice, but it was the driver that I really connected with. He didn’t speak a lot of English, but over the course of the few days, we both got really comfortable with each other.

My driver would me on private tours of the city, take us to some fantastic places. Here’s the quick list of where we went and amazing must see places. I’ve been surprised how some of these fantastic places haven’t really been discovered.

Bishkek

Ala-Too Square

This square is the central square for the city and in the past has been a place of gathering for political protest it still is a great place to see the people gathering and children playing around the fountains. Across central asia, fountains are found in the centers of cities and the people go there to relax and socialize with their friends.

Ала-тоо аянты Площадь Ала-Тоо is the central square in Bishkek,Kyrgyzstan. The square was built in 1984 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Kyrgyz SSR. At one point it had a statue of Lenin that was later moved to a smaller square. Erkindik(Freedom) was installed in its place it has a statue of Chinghiz Aitmatov. You can read about it’s significance in the Tulip revolution for gathering and protest in 2005.

Interesting Soviet style buildings from 1984 surround the fountains.

It was at the square that I saw this wise man, I wanted to talk with him and ask him if I could take his picture. He didn’t speak any english, but my driver from the hotel helped us find out that he was from deep on the other side of Kyrgyzstan and he was visiting. He was anxious to talk with me and share. As my first real interaction with a local that wasn’t associated with airport or hotel, I was very impressed with how nice he was and how he was happy to let me take his photo and share his wisdom.

This little Kyrgyz girl was gathering dandelions and flowers. I couldn’t resist taking a photo to capture the memory. So innocent.

Old Russian Orthodox church in Bishkek was a quick pass by. I asked the driver to stop so I could take a picture. Going inside was even more fascinating. During the Soviet times, religion was repressed, and few of these buildings remain. The church on the right above is bombed out, but the domes remain.

It so happened while I was in Kyrgyzstan there were celebrations to honor the world war II veterans and remember… Never forget. With as much opposition as there has been it’s very interesting to think that the US and Russia were allies during both world wars.

Ala Archa

Less than an hour outside the city and for about $30, I full day trip to explore the mountains. Think Switzerland, but even more remote and unseen and unknown by western ways. Ala Archa is a national park that has a small fee, but has trails to falls and along glacial rivers with incredible views of the valleys.

Swiss Chalet? Looks like it, but here you can get fresh water or some soup or local horse or sheep milk yoghurt drink.

This is life in rural Kyrgyzstan. Simple, traditional, and living life the way the ancestors did. Huge respect for this type of natural living. Is there more green ways than the idea that no one should own the land and that we are simply transient and all of us will move on in our journey in life?

It wasn’t unusual to find shepherds tending their flocks of sheep, goats, and cattle. What was unique about this was my driver offering to talk to the shepherd to allow me to ride his horse. Sure enough he obliged and I had a great ride around the little hills.

I referred to my facebook friend Azat. He arranged to meet me after my excursion in the hills. He was getting off work and invited me to have a traditional meal with his family. I was very very excited to have such an authentic experience to really meet locals that I could talk to and better get to know what life was like in Kyrgyz. He was a technology guy like myself, so we already had that in common. He picked us up at our hotel and brought us to his apartment in the city of Bishkek. Azat has two little boys and an amazing wife who spent probably all day working on our meal. The food was amazing. What’s better than traditional Kyrgyz Home cooking? They made this traveler feel like I was a dignitary. Very special treatment. They were so nice and kind, and so willing to do whatever was needed. I wasn’t hungry for days afterward. I still get a big smile when I think about how incredible it was to make a local connection and meet a real family to experience the traditions and values. Even though I was only in Kyrgyzstan for a few days, this connection will last a lifetime. I hope I can return the hospitality some day Azat!

Azat and family were so cute. I had an amazing time getting to know them and sharing some of my life experiences with them. We shared stories and really connected. His wife played on her traditional instrument the komuz the national instrument.

At the top of the Yurt is the iconic symbol of Kyrgyzstan. At Ala Acha there was a family that was setting up their yurt and was happy to let us see it come together. There is much pride and honor in these portable homes. The history and family traditions run very deep.

The locals are very humble and extremely nice.

This is what the finished product will look like.

As we were hiking, I saw this group of Kyrgyz teens. They were making soup. Cutting up carrots and potatoes. Really.

Kyrgyz picnic spread

Cooking the soup!

Traditional meal after our hike. Carbonated yoghurt sheep milk and soup.

Kyrgyz Money – som, com, pronounced some or soums

All of this talk of nature and simplicity should also include some caveats. While the cities have plumbing, the more remote villages have out houses. This make shift outhouse has a hole and boards in a very traditional rest room out back behind the restaurant.

In life and in death there are many of the same symbols. Religious symbols and the national symbols that are incorporated from the Yurts are very common. Lots of symbols in the impressively ornate graves that celebrate the next chapter of our journey.

Burana Tower

80 KM from Bishkek on great roads. The tower, along with fascinating stone grave markers, some earthworks, is all that remains of the ancient city of Balasagun, but now there’s a yurt with souvenirs, and a little museum of odd things from the area. (Not much in English. Mostly Russian.) This area was at one point a large city established by the Karakhanids at the end of the 9th century.

The Tower is fantastic. It’s been restored, but it really is very unique and if you’re claustrophobic you’ll find a real challenge. It’s quite dark and daunting, but as you can see in my pictures, if these kids could make it up, I could. There is an external staircase and then a steep, winding stairway inside the tower allowing you to climb to the top.

The grave markers and stone carvings contain a fascinating mix of Buddhist, Islamic, and early man. It’s a fascinating area that gives you the impression that this place has been inhabited since the dawn of man and is a very important place.

All that’s left of the city is earthen mounds and rooms. It’s still amazing to feel like an archeologist to walk around and put together stories of the castle and mausoleums that once were here.

These mounts were once a great city in the 9th century. The ancient city of Balasagun also known as Gobalik (pretty city) by the Mongols who captured the city in 1218.

Balasagun was founded by Soghdians, a people of Iranian origin and the Soghdian language was still in use in this town till the 11th century. It was the capital of the Kara-Khanid Khanate from the 10th Century until it was taken by the Kara-Khitan Khanate in the twelfth century. The Khitans used this as their capital, but were a mix of buddhist nomads, and muslim people as well as traditional khitan.

Old Arabic in grave markers

The food in Kyrgystan is not to miss. The freshest meats you’ll ever find. Sheep, Chicken, Beef skewers called Shishka. The dinning is nice. Traditionally we’ll sit on the floor with cushions around a short table. It’s very family and socially oriented. It’s not about eating fast, it’s about enjoying the company you are with. The drapery helps you get some level of privacy if you want it. There are similarities in the food across central asia, but each country does their traditional rice dishes very different. Each tribe of people has their own way, so you’ll often find different cities have their own flavor. In Bishkek it’s traditional to have a little bit of horse meat with the Osh (regional rice dish).

Fresh food!

Lake Issuk Kul

One of the largest lakes in Central Asia and really what the locals consider going to the beach. There are even changing rooms and sand. Highly recommended to see what a Kyrgyz retreat is like. With the help of our driver we found a variety of small cheap hotels for around $20 even with wifi. I did end up jumping in the lake and swimming around with some Russians on vacation. They didn’t speak any english and my handful of words in Russian didn’t keep us from having a good time splashing around in the fresh, but freezing water as the sun set.

Beautiful and serene Lake Issyk Kul (Иссык-Куль) in the northern Tian Shan mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan. It is the tenth largest lake in the world by volume and the second largest saline lake after the Caspian Sea. (Wikipedia)

The lake is a very important region supporting life of all types and is recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve of Izzyk kul. The snow leapord is in the mountains surrounding this lake. Ladies sell dried fish and honey on the road near the banks of the lake. Also near the lake is a prehistoric tribal outdoor museum that contains many mounds, mausoleums, rock carvings, and petroglyphs.

Glacial Mountains in the background of the sandy beaches of lake Izzyk kul.

Kyrgyz Kids playing on the beaches on the coastline of the worlds 2nd largest high lake of Izzyk-Kul.

I dove into Kyrgyzstan and made some great friends and a new favorite place in this world. I highly encourage it you to visit Bishkek and surrounding. Don’t stay in the city, go into the mountains, and valleys, visit the lake. You must roam! Don’t let Kyrgystan be one of those places you’ve never been. It’s an incredible experience.

Inland Jamaican Island Adventures and Excursions

April 14, 2014April 21, 2014Posted in Caribbean, Culture, Falls, Favorite, Food, Island, National Park, Nature, Photography, Road Trip, Tourism, Travel, Travel Tips, UniqueTagged cruise stop, Curry Goat, Curry Lobster, featured, food, Island living, jamaica, Jamaican, Jerk Chicken, Jerk Pork, kingston, Mas Camp, Montego Bay, Night life, Ocho Rios, Scotchies4 Comments

I flew into Montego Bay (a fairly cheap flight from the east coast of the US), and while I had some commitments for work, I arrived early so I could see one of the most amazing islands in the world. World Famous Jamaica!!! Known for Bob Marley, Music, the Reggae movement (read more in my other Jamaica post on Reggae Jamaica), the amazing people and rich culture of friendly people. What an incredible island with so much to see. If Jamaica is a quick stop, you have to focus on what you can fit in. I understand that. I was luck to spend time in both sides of the island and see the best of Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, and Kingston. I hope this post gives you some great ideas of what to see and what to do!

First off let me tell you all of the bad things I heard that were so wrong!

– I heard they had horrible roads

– I heard I had to expect horrible drivers

– I heard it would take me forever to get from place to place

– I heard it would be dangerous for me and I should be really careful cause people would try to cheat me.

So wrong… Don’t believe everything you hear!

There were a few things that I learned for travel tips that I’ll cover at the end of this post. A few words of caution, but for the most part, I was so glad to embrace Jamaica and not be afraid. The people were amazing!

Driving

First stop was to pick up the car. Yes, despite everything I was told, I figured I would want a car. I’m that kind of traveller that driving on the other side of the road and even with crazy roads and drivers, I still feel great, so I took on the challenge of Jamaican driving. Reality is, the roads were great! I’ve driven in Barbados and Puerto Rico and these roads were better than what I saw on both of those islands. I kept saying, where are those bad roads? Where are those crazy drivers? I guess I fit right in. I admit I did get pulled over by the police twice. Now there is some advice and story to that. I drove across the island. In all I drove both ways across the island and logged at least 12 hours on the road and I admit I was looking for the best and worst of the island. I drove to Nine mile, and I drove into trench town and some of the shady area of Kingston and suburbs. More on driving at the end of the post

Rose Hall Great House

If you love history, you’ll love Rose Hall. If you love romance, architecture, tours… you’ll love Rose Hall. There is so much of the story of the island and it’s history that is locked up in the history of Rose Hall. As the first real attraction just 15 min outside of Montego Bay, I was happy to have made Rose Hall my main investment of time the first night I arrived. Rose Hall is one place during the day, and another during the night. In the night you can tour the great house by candle light. Constructed in 1770 the owners had over 2000 slaves and was one of the many great houses that existed. It is one of the few on the island that remain. During slave revolt most of the great homes on the island were destroyed. The history here is one of VooDoo and murder and the story of Annie the white witch as seen on World’s Scariest Places, and Ghost Hunters International. It was $20 USD to visit the hall. I found most of the attractions to land at about $20.

The bedroom of Annie Palmer. Who murdered all of her husbands and lovers.

The Tomb of Annie Palmer… Listening to a story from our adorable guide in period dress.

You can read more about the tours at Rose Hall on their website RoseHall.com.

As far as spending money, we really didn’t even need to exchange our money. Every place we went took both Jamaican dollars and US Dollars. In fact, we were getting a better rate by using US Dollars as the money I exchanged at the airport was a worse rate than I was getting on the street. Paying with US dollars worked great.

That first night we drove to Ocho Rios… A stop at the night market

Market in Ocho Rios (Great during the Day or Night!)

Jamaican Jerk Chicken cooked right on the street. Some are spicier than others. None of them were as spicy as I was expecting, but you could add your own Scotch peppers to kick it up!

The fruit of the night market. For the most part the night market was one for the locals. We really didn’t see any tourists as we visited the stalls and walked around Ocho Rios. I think many were surprised to see us as so many of the travelers simply stay on their resorts, especially at night. We had plenty of folks who wanted to show us around. While I was fine doing my own tour, we stayed out pretty late… 1am and didn’t mind spending some time really getting to know some of the locals and hearing their stories.

Dunn’s River Falls

One of the most beautiful on the island, but one of many amazing waterfalls on the island. Dunn’s River falls is famous across the island. You can either bring your own water shoes or rent some for fairly cheap. I learned on another trip that climbing with socks gives you pretty good grip. So I hiked the falls in my socks and it worked just fine. I really enjoyed the hike up the falls. It was only as extreme as you made it. It costs $20 for adult foreigners enter the falls park. There were easy paths to climb. I would have been fine with my boys climbing it and may just have to bring them back soon.

The falls lands right into the beach. Beautiful beach. Since we weren’t on an organized tour we arrived early and had the entire beach to ourselves. Amazing turquois waters including a life guard and a roped off area to help you know the area that’s safe and protected. Of course, I tested the boundaries and even stood up on an old pier and jumped out into the beautiful waters.

Beautiful sandy beaches. So much warmer water than I’m use to on the West Coast of the US.

You can see the hand holds here on the left. I climbed the falls trying to take a medium difficulty route that I made up on my own. You could hire a guide to follow. I found that to be unnecessary. It wasn’t challenging, it was fun. I did try to put myself into some challenging positions.

Having arrived early, I had the falls to myself. One of my friends took pictures from a viewing area on the side. Lot of great pools, and amazing waters. This is a wonder of the island and one that should be appreciated. I understand there are different falls in the interior of the island and this one while it does have a local price for the islanders, they end up going to different falls.

Mystic Mountain Rain Forest Adventures

While we were on our way back to Ocho Rios, we saw the signs for Mystic Mountain. I’m a fan of ziplines and canopy tours, and still had fresh memories of my time in Costa Rica. It was a beautiful day and I felt like we had a little time to go. So we decided to do the Sky Explorer which would take us through the rain forest on a chair lift (like a ski lift). We also took the bobsled ride. We were limited on time or we likely would have done the full package. Honestly it was a bit pricey, but I’m sure it took a lot to put this together and while it was my intention to avoid the touristy areas, I felt like this allowed me to see and enjoy a lot in a short period of time. The Bobsled theme was pretty cool as well. We did find a moment to relax and enjoy the beautiful humming birds. Fantastic colors. If you end up doing this, I highly recommend slowing it down and enjoying nature and soaking up the rainforest and all it has to offer. The adrenaline rush of the bobsled ride and zipline is awesome, but be sure to slow down and relax. That’s really an important thing to realize that Jamaica is about. Enjoying life and appreciating what you have.

Sky Explorer – chair lift
Rainforest Bobsled – bob sled ride through the rain forest (additional cost)
Canopy Zipline – multiple ziplines through the rain forest (additional cost)
Butterflies and Hummingbirds – little areas setup with humming bird food (included once you’re up there)
Waterslide and Infinity pool (included with your purchase)

More info from Mystic Mountain (be sure to read the reviews on Trip Advisor as well)

Beautiful views from the chairlift of the amazing waters, beaches, and Ocho Rios off in the distance. Floating slowly over the tops of the trees on the chair lift.

Food – Eat Jamaican!

Up the road from Ocho Rios is a truly mystical place. Talking of taking a moment and enjoying nature… As the water would come in and go back it would swell and shoot up like a blow hole spraying a fine mist. We stopped here for lunch at Oracabessa. Momma took care of us. Incredible seafood, fish, and more. I included a few photos.

This is what you see from the road. A fun Jamaican reggae guy was working on the roof of the place, but we went further over next to the cliffs.

Conch salad

Curry Lobster!

Dishes you have to have while on the island after you eat the Jerk Pork and Jerk Chicken is… Curry Lobster, and bonus points for Ox Tail, and Curry Goat.

My Favorite Jerk Chicken on the Island is Scotchies… I ended up eating there in Montego Bay (the original) and in Kingston (in the bar area). There’s another near Ocho Rios, maybe others!?

Thursday is ribs! But you can get the chicken and pork every day. Go for the pork! It’s the best, but the Jerk Chicken is famous. You can tell it’s real by the corrugated tin.

We also ate at M10 in Kingston, a local place with great music and great food, and especially great seafood! Great ginger beer as well.

Bonus: More Nightlife and Carnival

Now for something that most travelers and tourists would miss. Though a friend we tracked down a party that was going on in one of the neighborhoods in Kingston. It seemed like it was going to go on all night, we ended up leaving at 4AM and the DJs were just changing to start a new set.

One other night we happened to be in Kingston for Mas Camp. It’s basically practice leading up to Carnival.

Carnival dancer at Mas Camp with a couple of my friends. High energy dancing… Kingston is where the best music and entertainment is on the island. I didn’t see any tourists at this event.

While I did end up staying on the island for 4 days, the first 24 hours of just soaking up the island was so incredible. I had an amazing time. I did mention that I drove across the island and spent more time than is spent in this post. Refer to my post on Bob Marley’s Jamaica and Reggae tour to see what else I saw with my time on the island. I do want to give you some balance to what else you’ll find on the island.

Some Warning and Caution

We did find a few hustlers and people begging, but for the most part when we asked them to leave they did. It wasn’t as aggressive as other islands or even close to what I’ve seen in much of Africa. This was less than what you’d see in big cities in the US. Don’t be so afraid to venture out of your all inclusive resort. Don’t believe the stories. Experience it for yourself.

There is still some corruption. I was pulled over by the police twice. The first time, I got a warning to slow down. There are basically two speeds on the ring road. 50 KM and 80 KM. The police were usually hanging out where it would transition to the slow speed and they’d be on the side of the road with their speed guns waving people over. By the time you see them or recognize, you’re likely going too fast. The second time I got pulled over, I got a different answer. The policeman asked me if I wanted to find a way to settle this. He asked me to be subtle, but to take the papers back to the car and put some money in it. Didn’t tell me how much. I think we ultimately put in about $10 and he didn’t even look, he just put it in his pocket and told me to slow down. I also got booted once. The guy was wearing a blue shirt. Everybody knew it was the guy in the blue shirt who was the one that booted the cars that weren’t suppose to leave their cars there. We were stopping to get our tickets before taking the car back and it looked like others had left their cars parked for a few minutes, but ours was the one that got the boot. $20 later, I was on my way. No other real problems. I grew up in Idaho and so I’m use to passing cars on two lane roads. What was different was the need to slow down a bit when people didn’t allow enough time when passing. It was much better driving than I experienced in Italy or especially than Naples, so I really can’t complain about the driving practices. Seemed pretty normal to me. There are some pretty narrow roads which go across the island, where you really need to be on watch. In Kingston itself there are the early numbered streets like first street and fifth street and streets around Trench town that certain streets aren’t designed to be through streets that don’t have the road blocks on the GPS or on the maps. For the most part you don’t need to be in there. Make sure the GPS is sending you to the actual street you’re looking for, some times it would fail to find it, but default to somewhere else and that’s where we’d be driving in strange roads, but for the most part, I enjoyed the challenge and the people were great. I would not compare Jamaica to most of the African villages. It’s one of the best islands in the Caribbean (easily one of my favorite) and the industry is really up and coming. The businesses and people really deserve your support. I see Jamaica as a great place to do outsourcing and a great place to work with hard working happy people.

Fresh coconut for $2 USD… Yes, Jamaica is paradise. While this photo catches me right after I survived climbing the Dunn’s River waterfall and isn’t flattering it shows off a bit of the natural beauty of the island. What an amazing place. Can’t wait to get back so I can go to the other parts of the island…. Negril and Blue Mountains and so much more to see!

Don’t miss my post on my Reggae Jamaica

5 Incredible Alaska Adventures

August 26, 2013September 25, 2013Posted in Animals, Bucket List, Favorite, National Park, Nature, North America, Photography, Tourism, Travel, Travel Tips, UniqueTagged Alaska, Bears, birder, cruise, eagles, Fjords, Glacier, Hiking, Kenai National Park, nature, orcas, whales4 Comments

Alaska is amazing. Everything you’re heard and then some. My visit to Alaska was my last state in the US (50/50). For that reason alone I was excited to visit. I was debating doing a cruise from Seattle or from Vancouver, Canada but ultimately decided on a flight to Anchorage. It took me by surprise when I was trying to figure out what I should do with my Alaska Miles. I had 45,000 miles and after my move to Salt Lake City, I found my miles were going to expire. What I discovered in my searches, I could fly from SLC to anywhere in Alaska even as far as Borrow, AK for 25,000 round trip. That’s not the same case with Hawaii. It was 40,000 round trip, but flying from Salt Lake City to Boise Idaho was the same number of miles. At first I was thinking I should go with a friend to Alaska, but my wife expressed interest, and getting a multi day baby sitter to watch my 3 boys has never been easy, and they are all great travelers. Then I was talking to my parents, and they expressed interest. At first I thought I could go with my dad, but then my mom wanted to go as well. Why not make this a super family trip? With the partnership with Alaska I found a direct Delta flight from SLC to ANC (Anchorage.) I had to check to see how much the Delta points were for this same flight. 25,000 miles! With this discovery I decided to book 5 award tickets on Delta in addition to the 2 on Alaska. I even ended up buying 5,000 miles to make up the difference.

Lessons Learned:

Alaska/Delta miles let you book a flight to Alaska for the same price as a domestic (48 states) ticket – (Best Deal was 25,000 Award Miles)
Same number of miles for adjoining cities as it is for Miami to Alaska

One other thing that came in looking at the best way to book Alaska was in discovering that an Alaska Cruise would ultimately mean getting on a smaller boat to see the glaciers and getting closer to the wild life ultimately. I did find that both food and hotels are pricey in Alaska. So that was definitely points toward cruise, but I used some tricks to find a hotel in Anchorage for less than $100 using Priceline.com. Food was a different challenge. Most meals were about $5 more than in the states. The 2 for 20 deal at Chilis was 2 for $25. A large bowl of Pho soup was $12 in contrast to 6 or $7 in UT or WA. The IHOP average meal was around $12 vs. 7 as well. At fast food places, the $1 menu was $2. Anchorage did have a lot of choices for food, and out in the smaller cities the deli’s and sandwich shoppes could get you a meal.

Some of my best advice for the adventure traveler is to think outside the box. There are hostels that have much better rates, but also consider camping and cabins, some of the best deals and most flexible options are in this area.

5 MUST DO ACTIVITIES IN ALASKA

1. Glaciers and Fjords – The Glaciers and Fjords in Alaska are simply amazing. The size and scale of these things dwarf most things on earth. They sure seem like they are alive. Calving, Moving, Groaning, Shrinking, Growing, Cracking, Carving… There are multiple ways of reaching these amazing beauties.

The best way is to get right up to the Fjords of Kenai by cruise. Right out of Seward there are multiple cruise companies with multiple cruise options. I took the 10am Kenai Fjords Cruise with Salmon Bake Dinner on the island. I have no regrets. It was a great cruise, we saw a couple of Fjords up close, but also amazing wild life. I’ll talk about that later.

As well, you can hike up to the Glaciers. Exit Glacier has a great hike that starts with a flat handicap accessible viewpoint within a mile, or add another mile and hike up the mountain to view them up closer, and add another mile to touch the glacier, or add another few miles and you can hike up the largest snow field in the US.

or even Sea Kayak to the Fjords, not too close because these things are very active and can create amazing tides. I’m sure you could even dog sled in the winter. There are options to take a sled with wheels to help the dogs practice for the Iditarod.

2. Whale Watching – Some of the best viewing of whales in the world is right here in Alaska. On this short 8 hour Fjords and Nature cruise of the Kenai peninsula, Kenai National Park from the water, we saw a half dozen hump backs, a couple of pods of Orcas with many individuals covering a large distance, half dozen porpoises, hundreds of seals and sea lion and dozens of sea otters. Such a great feeling when you see these gigantic creatures of the sea. It’s not the same as watching National Geographic, because you’re seeing it and experiencing it first hand. I can imagine whale watching in a kayak or small boat would also be quite “wild.”

Orcas, Hump Backs, and Belugas are all within reach, I saw a couple of pods of Belugas driving along the Arm headed to Seward. I’m sure the population increases and changes based on the seasons, but the Orcas and Hump Backs and the Belugas all call it home. I’m sure they have additional whale friends who come and visit. I’m also sure it’s a different experience every time, but reading the reviews from the Kenai Fjords Cruise, I think you’ll be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t think it was incredible.

As a photographer, catching the tale of the whale, or the even more rare breach of a hump back whale is beyond exhilarating. These are wildlife memories that will ruin any future visits to sea world, or at least remind me when I saw it IN THE WILD.

While seeing large groups of seals and sea lions and the like, I am reminded of a number of encounters the docks in San Francisco or Seal Beach California, the docks in Ensenada or the elephant seals on the beach in Antarctica, but seeing them in their native habitat on rocks away from people is pretty darn cool. I can’t tire of seeing these amazing animals.

3. Encounter the Animals of the Forrest – With more than 3 types of Bears, and some of the densest and largest populations of large land mammals, Alaska is the best place to find bears, moose, elk, caribou and more in their natural habitat. You can go flight seeing and bear viewing they’ll take you right to where they are dinning on salmon. We saw a little brown bear chewing on a carcass on the side of the road.

While I can’t guarantee you will see a moose or bear while simply driving. There are plenty of signs to watch for moose. That’s a big concern. They are big animals and cause serious damage to your vehicle if you hit one.

If you are looking for guaranteed great sightings, I won’t send you to the Anchorage zoo which does have them, I would suggest going to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center which has decent rates (carpool for even better rates). You can definitely get up and close. With a simple fence separating you. While you don’t feed them, you can visit the Musk Ox or Reindeer center in Palmer (close to Anchorage) for even closer encounters. The good news is the money goes to rehabilitating animals and reintroducing and strengthening the population of endangered animals.

We saw…

Baby Musk Ox
Huge Herd of Wood Bison
Elk Herd
Black Bears
Moose
Caribou/Reindeer
Porcupine

4. It’s a Birders Paradise – Eagles, Swans, Cormerans, Puffins, and way more. If you love birds, you’re in paradise. Even if you aren’t you’re going to see some amazing examples of some of the most beautiful birds. Below this is one example. We’re watching this elk herd and noticed a bald eagle in the tree nearby. Incredible.

This pair of swans was swimming with their three ugly duckling swan babies in a pond just outside of Seward.

Seems like every where you turn, there’s some amazing majestic bird watching.

On our cruise we saw the funniest little puffins. The rare crested puffins, and the more common puffin were so funny to watch trying to take flight. Seeing them on their terms in these huge rock fortresses which seem designed for birds.

5. It’s a Fisherman’s Paradise – Every where we went people asked if we were doing a charter. No, we were there to observe, and observe we did. We started stopping at the streams to see the salmon. Amazing salmon jumping up their fish ladders and making their way to spawn. Huge fish, many with their humps out of the water, finding their way upstream. The rivers were teaming with life.

In addition as a sportsman’s paradise it wasn’t hard to find huge halibut and a variety of fish on the walls, and in boxes being shipped home. Lots of great finishing and amazing catches.

After such an amazing trip, I can’t answer why it took Alaska so long to get on my list. Amazing place… Highly Recommended. Yes, it does rain and it get’s cold in the winter and dark 22 hours of darkness, but in the summer you get 16 hours of light, and 2 months without much rain in June and July. Rain starts back up in August. While I didn’t see the Aurora Borealis, I can see reasons why the time of year has it’s benefits. It’s a different place with different experiences. Do you’re research and consider Alaska a great destination to make the most of your miles.

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Baby Panda eating Bamboo

Baby Gorilla right up against the glass…. so cute!

The Male Lion vocalizing… Serious Yawn! Amazing King of the Jungle.

Sunset at La Jolla Shores, bon fires along the beach

Kids love legoland. Rides, and entire cities and cityscapes including life sized Star Wars figures

Really… This Chewbacca is totally out of legos!

The San Diego skyline with a cruise ship. The harbor cruise, whale cruises, and even jet boats and duck boats are available for a ride out in the bay.

Battleships and navy battalions, the USS Midway is on the dock available for a self guided tour

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