NAMIBIA 0902-morning on 090412

Hello Everyone
I'm sweating happily as I write to you all from the open-air dining room at the Imbabala Camp on the Zambesi River in Zimbabwe to tell you about our drive to a cool foggy vacation town on the Namibian Coast and our stay there.

German-built Swakopmund, where we spent two nights, and Walvis (sounds like "Val Fish) Bay to the south, the most important port for Namibia and interior southern Africa were the destination of our all-day drive north and west from the Namib Desert Lodge.

We stopped en route in Solitaire for a sample of the famous apple strudel and for us and fuel for our car. Stopping for fuel when ever you see a petrol station is good advice for anyone driving in the remote areas of Namibia where we travelled. The roadside scenery was of grazing land with a backdrop of dry mountain ranges to the east. We were advised to avoid the main road to Walvis Bay and were treated to relatively smooth gravel surfaces and the sight of this tame zebra with his horse pals at one corner. We also "had to stop" for a picture of the massive pink granite domes that appeared to the east of our route.

When we arrived in the town, we were eager for a walk and were delighted to see the German roots of the popular tourist destination reflected in the architecture including this imposing cream-colored mansion that graces a downtown corner. The ample and varied breakfast fare at the Swakopmund Guest House also can trace its roots to the land of my maternal great-grandpa Knapp, the son of a Buffalo New York wine merchant from Cologne. The picture show about 1/3 of the breakfast buffet table.

On 0903, after stuffing ourselves with cured meats and fruit and muesli, we were off for a catamaran tour of Walvis Bay. Our tour guide was an entertaining guy who treated us to on board visits by seals and pelicans whom he had trained to come for fish snacks. At the stern of the boat he attracted a eager flock to fill their bills and bellies from his bucket and a handsome youngster who posed for me on the cabin top. We visted the seal colony and laid on the "trampolines" between the hulls of the catamaran to thrill to the dolphins who came to surf in the bow wakes. The finish our tour we were served fresh oysters and sparkling wine as we motored back to the dock.

After our morning on the water, we drove along the road to the Walvis Bay salt works to enjoy the shore birds, took a welcome nap to soothe our windswept cheeks, and "dined in with cheese and crackers and an excellent South African red wine.

The next day we set off for Twyfelfontein with a wade with Paula in the Atlantic to sample the temperature of the Benguela Current. We pronounced it "not as cold" as the Japan Current that sweeps the northern California coast.

I'm glad all of you are smart folks, because it seems that, as I see the order of the pictures for this post on my trusty iPhone, good ol' Blogger wants to challenge your intellects with an order of images taht does not match the text. have fun!

Love from Zimbabwe and a view across the river to Zambia -- are we really here?

Love and hugs,
Marian

NAMIBIA 090912: Sossusvlei on 090112

About noon on August 31, we finished our Tok Tokkie Trek, showered, had some tea and cakes, and then loaded up to drive to the Namib Desert Lodge which was to be our home for two nights while we explored the sensual abstractions of the big red sand dunes of Sossusvlei. I could not take my eyes off these wondrous dunes because they have the shape of other appealing organic forms I love = sails filled with wind, boat hulls, and airplanes. . . I guess because they too are shaped by or must interact with a flowing element = in the case of these dunes, the onshore wind.

First I need to share with you my first Namibian cat photograph that will whet your appetite for my fabulous iPhone wide angle images of lions (drum roll please): a marmalade tabby in a tree in the lodge garden. Well, OK, the Blogger program has decided that the kitty-in-the-tree will not be the first picture, but I am certain that you can identify it wherever it appears.

OK, on to more serious matters. I took 48 dune pictures, but I am sharing only only three here because, when I "should" have been writing to YOU I was playing with 4-year old Wilhelm Van Wyk, an adorable and imaginative young fellow who speaks both Afrikaans and English. More giggles, fewer pictures.

The dunes rise to 1230 feet above the level of the access road and are found along 2/3 of the Namibian coast [though not all are orange-red like these] in varying widths. Here at Sossusvlei the pan is about 30 miles form the coast.

It is thought that the sands in these dunes originated in the watershed of the watershed of the Orange River 3-5 million years ago and were washed out to sea, carried north in the Benguela Current, and blown inland by onshore winds. The Orange River drains a large area including eastern South Africa and the Kalahari desert. After Orlando told us this, I got to thinking, as I trudged over the dunes of the Tok Tokkie trek, that the sand I was treading could have come all the way from the area where my friend Paula and her children farm, and this idea made me shake my head in wonder.

We made slow progress along the 35 mile road between the dunes because we had to stop often for photographs. At the end of the two wheel drive vehicle road, there is a picnic area and 4WD vehicles to take you across the sand to the actual Sossus Vlei (pan in Afrikaans) itself.

We ate our box lunches that came in ACTUAL BOXES and climbed aboard for a ride in the slippery sand. This little pan is like the huge one that we were to visit in Etosha. It is the white salty area in the images with the tree on the left side. When there is a rainy period, water flows out of the pan and the whole area comes alive with green trees and grasses and flowering bushes.

We left the pan and returned to the 2WD road, We took fewer pictures this time, but enjoyed the colors of the dunes that were brought out by the evening's golden light. It looks like this is the last image in this post,

You may have noticed that we did not follow the advice of the guide books that the only way to appreciate the height of the dunes is to climb them. We thought that we had done enough "dune appreciation" already in Tok Tokkie and headed back to the lodge for a light meal of good South African wine and good Namibian beer with munchies.

Tomorrow we fly to Victoria Falls airport in Zimbabwe and will spend three days in the Imbabala Lodge on the Zambesi River where the borders of Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia meet in the town of Kazungula. We will be in a humid riverine environment in contrast to the beautiful desert that has been our home for two fascinating weeks.

I am Not sure when I'll meet up with WiFi again, but when I do I'll continue to tell you of our NAMZIMSA adventures.

HUgs, Marian

NAMIBIA 090912 More Tok Tokkie

Hello from the Nubuamis Equestrian Center at Brakwater, just north of Windhoek

We are here for a day of resting and reorganizing before we fly to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, tomorrow to meet Paula's daughter Titia. We have been in WiFi-free areas of western and northern Namibia, so I'll try to catch you up on what we have been doing.

I'll start with a little more about the Tok Tokkie trek. The best part of the hike over dunes and a mountain pass was to be outdoors and to sleep under the stars. OF course, dealing with sand was a feature of the two days, and to illustrate, I've included a picture of me dumping some of the red stuff out of my shoe and a picture of the terrain to remind you where we were walking.

We slept on cots in a heavy canvas bag with a duvet into which we snuggled with our hot water bottle and, on the second night, the poncho that was provided at dinner. Since our campsite was messier, I've included a picture of Roy and Charlotte in their "bedroom." We also ate al fresco, but we did not have to sit on a rock to eat or make our own meal. Two assistants to Chris took down our campsite after we left, drove to the next camping place and set up the camp, then cooked and served our meals, a bit like our teahouse trek inNepal. The "dining" picture is breakfast at out first camping site. Dick is on the right at the end of the table in the green T-shirt.

Along the way Chris explained the features that allow animals and plants to flourish in the intense desert environment, a place I found challenging to hike in = the temperature at our midday rest stop was 36 centigrade or 95-96 Fahrenheit, generally a temperature that sends me to the swimming pool rather than for a hike. In the picture you can see Chris in the foreground and on the other side of the shade tent Roy, Charlotte, and Dick at our afternoon siesta stop.

OUr last stop on this hike was at an environmental education camp where young people can learn about such basics as how much water they use to take a shower or flush the toilet and how much waste they create. They also demonstrated two kinds of solar cookers and how they make "firewood" out of old newspapers. Good knowledge for anyone.

We are all well and had an especially fabulous 3 days at national Park, the best wildlife viewing venue Dick and I have experienced.

I'll try sending this and if I succeed, 'll try another post after lunch.

Lots of love to all, Marian and Dick and Charlotte and Roy

NAMIBIA 0830-083112 Tok Tokkie?

You might have reasonably wondered, after reading my last post (or was it three posts as I edited typos?), "Marian, what is a Tok Tokkie Walk?" A Tok Tokkie is a Middle-sized, desert-dwelling, black beetle that makes a call that sounds to us human like knocking on a door. "Tok Tokkie" is Afrikaans for … you guessed it… knock knock. You can see a photo below of a Tok Tokkie in a boot print in the red sand. You will notice he is not quite black. He has some waxy green substance on his back to reflect the sun.

Learning about how the animals and plants of the area -- a private reserve created by purchasing 20 neighboring ranches adjacent to the Namib-Nauklauft Reserve -- was a major part of our 11 km walk. Our very fine guide was Orlando Haraseb, pictured below discussing a "fairy circle" used as a nest by ostriches. He stood on the eggs to demonstrate their strength.

Off to drive from Swakopmund to Twyfelfontein to see the petroglyphs em route to Etosha.

More later.

NAMIBIA 082912-083012 early AM

Hello everyone :-)

A quick note from Swakopmund where we arrived late this afternoon to our first Internet since Zebra River Lodge where we began our beautiful drive through the desert to begin the Tok Tokkie walk and our first night sleeping out under the desert skies. Not sure why the pictures seem to have a mind of their own when it comes to ordering themselves. Maybe I'll figure that out later.

The first part of our drive was through cattle country where we saw lots of windmills to pump water from wells (called bore holes here). As you can see the mountains here can be quite stark and colorful.

We saw a lot of wildlife on the drive over gravel/rocky roads. I was able to capture these two springboks with a telephoto attachment for my iPhone. We also saw herds of sturdy Hartman's mountain zebras, the handsome Namibian oryx, and a lot more springboks.

The Namibian coast is known for its vast stretches of enormous red sand dunes, and we began to see them -- later we would hike over them -- on this drive. Remarkably, with global warming more rain has been falling on Namibia and in ten years and the dunes are increasingly vegetated.

We arrived at the beginning of the Tok Tokkie walk and loaded out suitcases onto the truck that would take them to our campsite while we walked there with our guide Orlando who identified the birds we saw and taught us about the desert ecosystem. After a meal under the stars -- well, actually, under the nearly full moon, we went to snuggle into the duvets on our cots and were happily surprised to find a hot water bottle to welcome us. The next morning we were treated to this fabulous landscape.

I thought that you might like to see where the sociable weaver birds enter their nest on the underside. The holes on the underside of the nest are the entrances for the weavers, other bird species that share their huge nest complexes, and predators looking for a meal.

Time for bed. I hope to write more tomorrow.

Love and hugs,

Marian and company

GOOD MORNING from Zebra River Lodge, Namibia

We are officially off onto our Namibian safari adventure. Paula and her husband's cousin picked us up at the airport in Windhoek and took us to his home. His wife raises gorgeous horses with the help of a fleet of grooms.


They treated us royally and sent us off eager to return to them at the end of our travels.

We drove through the desert on exciting dirt roads in a Toyota "van" the same size as we traveled in from Kathmandu to Pokara, Dick at the wheel. The terrain reminded us of the AZ NM desert and So. CA, except for the nests of the sociable weaver birds and the kudus and ostriches we stopped to marvel at. Zebras arrived at the lodge to our delight.

Today we go to Tok Tokkie for a two day hike, so the next post will be ???

Namaste from Zebra River Lodge Namibia,
Marian

At FRA, Soon off to WDH

Just a quick note now that I have a REAL GOOD WiFi connection to say that in 30 minutes Dick and I will be boarding our last flight = overnight 10 hours to Windhoek, Namibia. We are so excited I think we could fly there without the aircraft. In a few days we will be seeing these exquisite dunes with our own delighted and awestruck eyes.
Love and hugs to you all, Marian

NEPAL 032812 Elephant Bathing Action Pix

I just downloaded some pictures of me and Donna getting our elephant bath that were taken with her camera by our guide Gopal. He got some great shots. Have fun laughing with us. As you can see, ducking "so that Donna would get splashed" did not (ever) keep me dry :-).

Namaste, Marian

CHICO 081912 Two Cats in Suitcases

Well OK, this is actually another test post so that Marian, the cyberphobic blogger, can learn how the email alert process works.  So please just bear with her while she tries again.

For your amusement this time we have Pink and Black engaged in a little protest action here in Baldyland the the local, national, and international press has dubbed "OCCUPY SUITCASES." This is a little political protest with the goal to prevent their owners from filling the suitcases with clotes and toiletries, leaving town, and abandoning them as well as removing the body temperature furniture from the house yet again.

Pink occupies a piece of to-be-checked luggage

Black "sits in" to prevent the packing of a piece of cary-on luggage

CHICO 081912 Packing for Southern Africa

Hello from Chico

This Friday August 24, Dick and I will will leave to meet Roy and Charlotte Ekland in Windhoek, Namibia on Monday August 27.  We will travel with them in Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe (Victoria Falls), and South Africa with our friends Paula and Titia Van Deventer as guides.  We are getting REALLY EXCITED.

I've been playing with my blog and wanted to test the "subscribe by email" feature, so this post is as test of that, as well as a little -- hopefully humorous -- note about our packing and a couple of "things" I will miss in Chico.

Namaste, Marian

Pink glances left as Dick comes into the bedroom where she has been helping me pack

Dick cuts duct tape to secure the bottles of Hershey's chocolate Syrup in Bertha -- our faithful yellow thrift shop Samsonite -- so that they will not pulverize the gift boxes of western shirts

Something in Chico I will miss -- gazing at and -- sometimes even eating -- these colorful macaroons at the Tin Roof Bakery and sending pictures of them to my beloved granddaughter Lisa Pham

"Something" I will miss in Chico -- or is it "someone?" -- Black our other cat whose favorite lace to be petted is on the keyboard of my computer.  maybe that's why the F1 and F2 keys have "surprising new" functions?

A latte for here -- at Tin Roof.  So much for renunciation of the objects of the material world.  Next lifetime?

NEPAL 080312: Nepal in My Heart, a Reflection

OK folks.

Here it is August 2, and I am still trying to finish an email for you that I started on June 4^th.  It’s about why our trip to Nepal was so meaningful for me.  At this point I have been home for 3.5 months.

Marian, dear, what is going on? Where is your final email for us about Nepal?

Well, some of those 100 or so days since we returned I used to get over jet lag and the trek cold, re-write the lost trek emails, take a class on Chekov’s SEAGULL, go on a 5-night meditation retreat, throw parties for Dick’s mom on Mother’s Day and her Birthday, attend grandson Patrick Pham’s high school graduation in Kent, WA, show Paula van Deventer, her daughter Titia and grandsons Herman and Dirk around the northern Sacramento valley, celebrate my 68^th birthday 8 times, and “host” friends for theater in Ashland.

But still, one must ask, “Why are you still thinking and writing about Nepal?

NEPAL 050212: A Simple Question About Our Trek – How long was it?

Hi Patient Email Readers

Well.

 Here I sit at my desk two and a half weeks after our return from Nepal, and I‘ve still not written anything to all of you about our actual trek – beyond the description of trekking vs. backpacking and its addendum about “pony caravans.”  Oh my.  

I sit and muse,

“Is it jet lag?”

“Is it getting over the trip cold?” 

. . . spring allergies in Chico?

. . . that end-of-April weekend in Ashland?

. . . a lack of good editorial help?” (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1:  The bewildered author at work with her editorial assistant.

NEPAL 042112 Cats, Coughs, and Chaos

Dear Everyone

Greetings from 25 Oak Drive, Chico, CA :-)

We have been home in Chico since noon on Thursday 041912.  

We began our trip home Tuesday April 17 with breakfast with Maisie and Sky at the hotel followed by efficient transport to the airport in KTM with Jawane in a luxurious Toyota Corolla taxi.  Placing ourselves into the competent hands of Thai airlines, we arrived at LAX Tuesday at 7:30 PM PDT for an overnight of happy cuddling and snoozing in a QUEEN SIZE BED for four hours before being whisked to SFO by United, then bussed to Napa into the welcoming hugs of Dean Donaldson, his son Matt, and Matt's husband Steve Kyriakis.  They took us to the Bouchon Bakery in Yountville for coffee and French macaroons before delivering us to the Donaldson's home in Calistoga. [left to right below are Dean, Dick, moi, Steve, and Matt]

NEPAL 0415&1612: Last Days in Kathmandu

Dear Friends

Our last two days in Kathmandu were, I guess predictably, filled with somewhat domestic activity.  

Sunday April 15 after moving to the Hotel Manaslu, we went shopping with Donna and Karma in Thamel, the tourist district in old town KTM.  I was looking for a women's cut trekking shirt, but was unsuccessful even with Donna's enthusiastic encouragement.  We must have gone into half a dozen "trekking gear" shops to find women's shirts in only the most hideous colors, and that I am, at size 14, "too big." Then it was "would you like to look at a men's small size, madam?"  No, actually :-)

Our other shopping task was a return trip to the New Tibet Bookstore, a treasure house of books about things Buddhist and everything you might want to know about Nepal.  Karma had suggested that I might enjoy BORN IN TIBET, the autobiography of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a member of the Kagyupa School of Buddhism in Tibet who was the teacher of one of my favorite western Buddhist teachers, the American nun, Pema Chodron.  Donna went in search of the name of a bird she had seen at our last trekking lodge, but the bird books were all wrapped in protective plastic.

NEPAL 041512 Dinner at Jawane’s

Dear Friends,

This evening our guide, Jawane Tamang, invited us all -- Karma, Donna, Maisie, Sky, Dick, and me -- to his home for dinner.  His home is a 15-minute walk from our hotel in the Lazimpat district of Kathmandu.  We were looking forward to meeting his wife and to see his son Bishal and daughter Benita again. Both speak English well and attend private schools, listen to Metallica, and are Facebook devotees.  

We walked out of the hotel compound and turned right, away from downtown, on busy Lazimpat Road, and then right again into their neighborhood.  The closer we got to the 4-story building where his family occupies the 3rd floor, the narrower and more potholed the dirt roads became.  It reminded me of the bumpy, dusty drive to our safari guide Chris Samuel's home in Arusha, Tanzania -- but there the roads were wider and the dirt was red and there were fewer shops = a more suburban environment.  

NEPAL 041512: Trekking is not backpacking – it’s better

Dear Friends,

Now  we are back in Kathmandu and the trek is over, I found myself thinking about the contrasts between backpacking and our "tea house" trek . . . 

My experience with hikes of many days duration has been from backpacking mainly California and Oregon.  These trips taught me to love the mountains, its broad vistas, snow and glaciers, lakes and streams, plant and animal life, but it did not prepare me for the things I came to appreciate on our short trek.  I'll explain.

First is being with the Nepali people -- meeting and greeting them on the trail with a "Namaste," staying lodges run by families, being cared for by our guide and porters and helpers, and living in and wandering about their long-established mountain villages.

This woman was the accountant and maybe a manager at the Grand View Lodge in Tadapani.  

NEPAL 0413 & 1412 Treks Days #8 & #9: Two Dawns with a Sacred Mountain

Hello Dear Ones

The first image we saw in Syauli Bazaar at dawn on Friday morning, and you can see above, was Machapuchare's handsome "fish tail" top as she appeared at dawn, before the sun burned off some of the clouds.  

The sacred mountain, Machapuchare, from Syauli Bazaar 041312

NEPAL 041212 Trek day #7 Ghandruk to Syauli Bazaar

Dear Friends.

            Today one of Life’s Great Questions was answered on the trail just a bit below Ghandruk.

The Annapurna Hotel’s fifth floor roof made an excellent perch for the dozen or so photographer-trekkers who emerged at dawn to record the sunrise over two of the five noble Annapurnas and the sacred, unclimbed Machapuchare. Although I made some photos with more sun on these massive mountains, this one captures more of the magic, if not the chill, of the peaks as they emerge from the darkness.

Dawn brightens the Himalayas East of Ghandruk

NEPAL 041012 Trek Day #5: Tadapani to Ghandruk

Dear Friends,

This morning we got up at first light, about 5:30 AM, and stepped just outside our rooms onto the deck of the Hotel Grand View to watch the sun light up Machapuchare and her neighbors Hinculi and Annapurna.  Here is my first shot of the day. 

Machapuchare at first light

NEPAL 04.09.12 Trek Day # 4 Ghorepani to Tadapani

Dear Friends

This day, which turned out to be our longest and most difficult, began with a knock on our door at 6:00 AM from Jawane, who urged us to come out in front of the Nice View Lodge to watch the sunrise light up the Himalayan peaks to the north.  We were already dressed, one of the benefits of an early bedtime. I grabbed my jacket, headlamp, and iPhone and hurried downstairs, through the dining room, and outside.  The sun had just begun to lighten the sky from behind Annapurna south.  Other huge peaks were being gradually revealed from west to east, with a pink light first illuminating the southeastern face of Dhaulagiri.   

The first morning light illuminates the formidable Dhaulagiri