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Africa 2008!
Recent News
Adventure Overview The trip began on September 9, leaving from California. Their journey will take them to South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Madagascar, Tanzania and Rwanda. They will return on October 25, 2008. Check out the rest of this website for information on where they are, their itinerary (a better description of the areas they are visiting), their day-by-day e-mailed or FAXed acccount of their adventure, photos from the areas they are visiting (not from this trip, unfortunately), and a zoomable, scrollable satellite view of the areas they are visiting.
The last detailed report from Anita & Irene is for October 14 (Day 34). Use the arrows & menu items at the left to scroll through the days of their adventure. Or pick from the list below to jump to a particular day:
Previous contacts October 23: Received e-mail update for Days 35 to 37. October 23: Irene called from Johannesburg. She was calling in the wee hours of her morning (about 4:30pm California time). They had arrived at the hotel not long before calling. Their flight home isn't until about 8pm the following evening. She may have time to e-mail additional reports. She said that the gorilla trek was completely amazing! It was a tough hike (1.5 hours each way over up/down paths in the rain). She paid a porter to carry the camera bag (about 17 lbs). While they were supposed to stay 7 meters (21+ feet) away from the gorillas, they actually got within about 12 feet! (I'm not sure who approached whom). She didn't even need the telephoto lens. There was a silverback gorilla with 6 "wives" and 6 children, though not all of them were visible. October 20: Received FAXed reports for Days 32 to 34. October 19: Irene called from Tanzania. They just finished a week of safaris in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. Next they’re off to Rwanda and a trek to find and photograph the mountain gorillas. Internet is painfully slow and expensive (if it’s available at all). October 11: Irene called from Johannesburg, South Africa. Just back from Madagascar, headed to Tanzania (Serengeti) the following day. Again, she probably won’t have access to internet or phone until October 19. But she did send updates by FAX and e-mail on Days 13, and 17-31! Enjoy. October 4: Irene called from the capital of Madagascar. They had just arrived there. All is well. They had an absolute blast at Oddball’s -- a remote camp in the Okavanga Delta, Botswana. While there, they did many walking safaris. They learned the rules of how to handle contact with wildlife. Examples:
An elephant did get slightly closer to them than was comfortable. It was an incredible feeling to be in waist-high grasses with zebra, antelope and other animals nearby. They would very slowly approach birds, baboons or other animals until the animals started to move away. They will be travelling to a remote area of Madagascar and we will probably not hear from them in the coming week.
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