Tag: Nikon

Africa – On Safari (final)

Africa, Travel

The last two drives were amazing. It just keeps getting better and better. We saw a pride of lions sleeping from 25 feet, a solitary hippo sunning himself and two male elephants fighting at dusk.

On the final drive, we learned how the different lodges work together and communication on a clever series of radio channels. We had just left on the final morning (Monday April 18) and we got a call from Lion Sands, a neighboring property. Each property has its private land within Sabi Sands and owners have reciprocal rights with other properties to look for game.

The call was from Lion Sands Ivory Lodge on the Kingston “farm”. More on “farms” later :).There was a male leopard who killed an impala during the night and was high in a tree eating it.

We were standby 3. The person making the sighting organizes the order in which subsequent vehicles will pull close to take photos.

Twenty minutes later we arrived as standby 1. The vehicle left and we tried to get angles to take photos. First angle below, more on Facebook.

_AFR5803

Later we stopped as we always do at a spot for coffee in the bush. It was a beautiful watering hole. We were joined by a dozen hippos watering themselves as shown below.
_AFR5901

Then, to end the trip, we had a surprise breakfast in the bush with white linen, champagne and the typical (I know by now three cities later) breakfast of scrambled eggs, grilled half tomato, mushrooms and onions. It was a magical way to end a magical trip.
breakfast in bush

More photos on facebook here… Flickr large size upload still problematic. Next post from Addo National Elephant Park..

 

Africa – On Safari part 2

Africa, Travel

We have had a wonderful time so far. Its Sunday midday and we have two drives to go before we fly to Port Elizabeth to begin our tour of the garden route.

Each day has been up at 5:15 on first drive before 6 AM for 2.5 to 3 hours, return for breakfast and then rest till 3:30 and drive until sundown or a bit after. Then drinks with your ranger and dinner. Dinner alternates between family still in their boma and sit down plated meals. Food is fabulous, lots of local fruit growers.

The lodge is wonderful. We had elephants outside our room the first night (everything is unfenced). Someone walks you to your room every night as all the rooms are in separate out buildings from the main lodge. Monkeys and impala are all over the property.

Six drives down to go, we have seen more than we ever could’ve hoped for + a herd of 300+ Cape Buffalo.

Thanks for all of this planning to Ute Sonnenberg at Roho Ya Chui!!

Slow wifi. All photos posted on Facebook public album here.

 

 

Africa 2016 – In Transit

Africa, Travel, Vacations

April 21

Uneventful flight from Heathrow. Sleeper seats provided a good 6 hours of sleep helped by some champagne.

Three hour layover in Skukuza before taking a small plane to Skykuza Airodrome which is a single strip of tarmac with an open air terminal and a novel baggage claim.

Arrived at Kirkmans to a beautiful room and are waiting to go out on our first game drive after tea.

April 20

Arrived safely in London Heathrow. Both slept 5 hours which on a 7 hour flight is great. It’s just before noon here and our flight leaves at 7pm so the whirlwind sightseeing trip we planned is shelved.

The lounge here is spacious and has a spa and showers within it; both nice adds for a 35 hour trip.

image

April 19

Realized after our flight arrival was delayed to headwinds that we wouldn’t have any productive time to tour London on our layover. So we will take advantage of the BA Lounge and spa in Heathrow during our 8 hour layover.

Meanwhile the lounge in Dulles is quite good with sit down dinner seatings and hot and cold running free beverages.

Untitled

We made friends with Habib from Afghanistan. He left in 1979 and I was nearby in Karachi in 1980. Great conversations about handmade bokhara rugs I brought back! Always meet interesting people when traveling!

Turkoman Morning Light

Africa 2016 – Before We Leave

Vacations

More photos and videos on Facebook and Flickr!

April 19

Well, checking in last night took an hour (until midnight!!).

Checked in for Washington–>London–>Johannesburg. Lisa doesn’t have frequent traveler status so she has two choices. Pay $135 a leg to pre-select or select at checkin 24 hours out. So, you checkin for both flights but they want to charge $135 for seat selections on the connecting flights as it was more than 24 hours for London–>Johannesburg. This is after I called 5 hours earlier and explicitly asked this question and was told “no problem.” After 45 minutes and 2 supervisors they waived the fee.

Apparently all international carriers have adopted this policy as another way to make money but it’s the worst customer experience in the world.

April 18

Today is the last work day this month and after today I only have 8 more before “retirement”. I say that in quotes as you never know what the future will bring.

Have to stay up late tonight to check in (24hrs before my 1020 PM departure tomorrow from Dulles) and get a British Air seat assignment for the Heathrow–>Joburg leg. Even at outrageous British Airways Club World prices they charge $135 to get a seat more than 24 hours before checkin. “WTF”. Since I have status on AA I was able to get a seat assignment for myself and now I have to stay up so Lisa and I can sit together on this 11 hour flight. For a $7,000 ticket, this is ludicrous (speed).

April 17

Packing complete 48 hours out. Had to “test pack” for weight on Airlink, SAAs regional carrier from Johannesburg to Skukuza (gateway to Kruger and Sabi Sands, the private reserve where we will be. 20kg each checked and 2 x 8 kg hand carry. Sounds easy until you get to my camera gear 🙂

S Mack Peters ( a less wild cat) is also ready to get rid of us as shown by the photo below. He realizes he can be packed and we are still under the 40kg limit.

IMG_1625

There had been a lot of planning on this trip as the 10 days after our safari ends I planned mostly myself with help of our Cape Town friends Mary und Karlheinz as well as booking.com and AirBnB.  I even purchased South African maps on microSD for our Garmin (US$99, don’t know how they stay in business) so we could navigate the Garden Route in our rental car without worrying about wireless data.

And of course making sure we had all the necessary accoutrements for our fun excursion with the Great Whites in Gansbaai.

Covered Bridges of Bucks Series – part 3 (Frankenfield)

Uncategorized

Location: Cafferty Rd., Tinicum Twp. (Google Map)
Height Limit: 9.5 ft. Width: 12 ft.
Length: 130 ft. Weight Limit: 15 tons

Frankenfield Covered Bridge

_dsc7144

This covered bridge was built to allow people, horses and wagons a dry passage across the Tinicum Creek, an area once known for an abundant turtle population, on a common travel route of the day. In the winter time workers would “snow” the bridges for the benefit of uninterrupted sleigh rides.  Historically covered bridges have been called “kissing” or “Wishing” because young couple used the shaded passages to steal a kiss or make a wish before entering a new bridge for the first time.  The bridge was made with a roof to protect the wood and timbers from rotting.  People were not to drive or ride over the bridges faster than a walk (about 3 to 4 miles per hour) and smoking was prohibited.  Ithel Town, an engineer and architect from new Haven, CT, Patented the lattice like design in 1820.  Timbers were held in place by wooden pegs know as “tree nails,” allowing the bridge to be built by less skilled workers.

 

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

According to a 1982 publication on covered bridges, the county had recently restored it.  It is in excellent condition with vertical plank siding, gable roof, inside walls in the portal area and cut stone abutments.  In 1984 it was one of thirteen remaining covered bridges in Bucks County of the 26 that had been built. Haupt’s Covered Bridge (Which bears the name of some of Simon Frankenfield’s descendants) was burned in January 1985 to bring the number of covered bridges in the county to 12.  In October 1991 arson destroyed the Scholfield Bridge in Tyler State Park.  hence Bucks county had only 11 covered bridges left in 2000.

Bing

Thanks to friend and fellow photographer, Mike Rubillo, for braving the cold to go take pictures! Additional thanks to John C. Frankenfield forthe history. 

Covered Bridges of Bucks Series – part 2 (Loux)

Uncategorized

Location: Wismer Rd., Plumstead Twp.
Height Limit: 11 ft. Width: 15 ft.
Length: 60 ft. Weight Limit: 15 tons

This one is also made of hemlock. It was built in 1874, and is one of two bridges to span the Cabin Run Creek.

Nestled in a scenic valley on Wismer (AKA Carversville) Rd., it was built when residents complained about crossing the Cabin Run Creek unaided. A popular local boy’s drowning precipitated the construction.

http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

Many think covered bridges were made to keep horses from being spooked when crossing. In fact, the roofs were designed to keep the decking and the weight bearing portions protected from the elements giving much greater life out of the structure. As you can see below, I used Loux Bridge to protect myself from a deluge in June, 2009

P6140025