Monthly Archives: April 2018

We end in Paris

April 10, 2018 – 5:14 am

Here are 2 photos I missed from our time in Stuttgart.  Sent the post prematurely.  Sorry.

The park and public buildings behind our hotel in Stuttgart. It was the first warm Friday afternoon and everyone wanted to be outdoors.

A pretty garden in the Stuttgart park. Reminded me that our garden at home must be blooming too.

 

Saturday, April 7, 2018

We wake up to a free morning with no planned activity. Yahoo!! I get to work on the blog right up until 2pm, when we check out and retrace our steps to the train station.

The entrance to the Stuttgart train station.

We have now learned a thing or two and easily find our 2:54pm train to Paris on track 9, car 12, seats 83 and 84 and have time to kill.

We sit in the Stuttgart station in front of the Paris train. Soon we will board.

 

Waiting to board the train to Paris.

The French train to Paris was very smooth and much faster than the German train to Stuttgart. Mark clocked our fastest speed at 319 kilometers. Rather like flying low. Much faster than we went in the helicopter, which cruises at 120 knots. THe countryside literally flew by. There was spotty wifi however, so I looked at the scenery and did some writing.

Paris made Stuttgart seem slow. So many people traveling at top speed in every direction. We quickly left the station and hired a cab to take us to our hotel, the Relais Christine, near the left bank of the Seine. We arrived about 6:30pm and checked into room 51 on the third floor. We are in a small B&B suggested by our agent, Martina. The 2 rooms make a small, cozy compartment that affords a quiet view of a birch tree with song birds. We can have the windows open and not hear street noise.

 

The street entrance to Relais Christine, our B&B on a tiny street in the Left Bank.

The garden between the wall and the front door to our B&B, Relais Christine

There is a “Honesty Bar” in the B&B living room. We happily helped ourselves to a couple of scotch whiskeys. For dinner we ate at a small French restaurant, Le Caveau du Palais, 4-5 blocks from the hotel. We both went for escargot for starters. For mains, I had scallops with artichoke and Mark had shrimp and calamari risotto. Both dishes were just right. Bed was an easy choice for our next stop.

Sunday, April 8, 2018

We slept in this morning and had a leisurely breakfast in the hotel. Then we walked to the Notre Dame Cathedral for 10am Mass. It was a very traditional service, with strong organ music that sounded like Bach and Gregorian chanting by high pitched young voices. Incense was used excessively, but it was absorbed by the huge building before reaching the congregation.

Inside Notre Dam Cathedral looking out a rose window.

The long nave of Notre Dame Cathedral, during Mass.  Mark took this shot then walked outside, leaving me behind.

There were at least 200 people attending the Mass, and thousands of tourists parading around the interior sides of the building. I was in the congregation, while Mark was one of the tourists. We met at the end of the service and began walking.

A view of Notre Dame Cathedral

An unusual view of Notre Dame with buttresses all around.

We walked and walked. I had on sandals and was not really prepared for a hike. Also, the day was getting warmer and I was over dressed for the warming day. After making it up to the Louve, we walked back to the hotel so I could change shoes and tops. Much better. Mark, meanwhile, had come up with a plan.

Mark at the Arch de Triumph.

A selfie in front of the icon of Paris

Now we headed for the Eiffel Tower, with the idea of seeing the Arch of Triumph along the way, I wanted to walk on the Champs Elysees and see Tuileries Gardens. After walking many blocks, we realized the tower was still a long way, so we hailed a guy driving a golf cart “limo” and he drove us up the Champs Elysees, around the Arch of Triumph and stopped for a photo of it. Then he took us to the Eiffel Tower viewing point where we got a good photo, but were still not under the tower. I remembered being able to drive around the tower and walk under it. None of that was possible now. Between construction and police roadblocks, the scene is not appealing at all. I was very disappointed. Back down the Champs Elysees we went toward Tuileries Gardens. Before getting there we had the driver stop at a restaurant that looked appealing. We paid him and went to have a late lunch at L’Alsace on the Champs Elysees.  How uptown is that! Again we ordered a dozen escargot, then a bowl of mussels and finished off the meal with a pork dish that included a meaty ham hock, 3 different sausages, thick bacon, a slice of ham, potatoes and sauerkraut. It was way too much food, but we stuffed ourselves and decided to call it dinner too.

The permanent ferris wheel at Tuileries Gardens. We enjoyed a ride along with many others.

Now we were needing to walk off the meal. We continued back toward Tuileries Gardens and took a turn on the huge, slow moving, ferris wheel. It was a pleasant ride. Our short term cabin mates were a couple from Massachusetts.

A nice view of the Eiffel Tower and the Seine as seen from the ferris wheel.

Twice around and back on the ground, we continued through the gardens and along the Seine to the pedestrian bridge, Port des Arts. We stopped to sit on a bench for a few minutes and started talking to a young man from Mumbai. He was writing love notes on small locks he intended to attach to hundreds of others already adorning the light standards on the bridge.

Sheehan, an Indian from Mumbai, enjoying the moment with us about buying love locks for the bridge.  He took the diagonal photo.  New photo tips.

 

Our love lock on the pedestrian bridge, Pont des Arts, connected to Sheehan, our new Indian friend’s lock

I offered to take his photo as he attached the lock and before you know it, I am taking videos of him attaching each lock and talking about the love of his life as he does. We got to having a lot of laughs and he insisted on buying a lock for Mark and me to do the same. So, what the hay, we did, and have a video of us writing on a lock, installing it to the same light standard and tossing the keys into the river. With hugs all around, we sent him home to Mumbai happy.  Mark bought me a bunch of tulips from a bridge vendor and we have enjoyed watching the open in our rooms.

Yellow tulips we bought on the pedestrian bridge. The look nice in our compartment and remind us of home.

Back in our compartment, we relax, sip on another whiskey and settle in for the evening.

Mark relaxing in the tiny living room of our compartment.

Monday, April 9, 2018

Tuileries Garden with the trees in spring foliage.

Our last day in Paris.  We have another leisurely breakfast and walk through Tuileries Gardens to Musee Orangerie to see Monet’s lilies. I remembered them from years ago and wanted to see them again.  This was our only museum stop and it was not a large one.

Claude Monet’s Water Lilies in the Musee Orangerie in Tuileries Gardens.

The lilies were as wonderful as I remembered.  The 2 oval halls, which contain the 8 panels, have been built to Monet’s  specifications, including a vestibule to create a space between the noisy world outdoors and the peace the Lilies evoke.

Monet’s lilies are presented in 2 oval settings. This is the first.

 

Close up of the water lilies. The brush strokes can be seen.

There is no horizon, no sky, no people, no ground. The elements seem to merge in a composition without perspective.

Weeping willows with clouds

A close up in the willow oval.

The flowers create a rhythm, an image of nature evoking infinity, peace and harmony.  The First oval contains only lilies and water.  In the second oval room, Monet has included weeping willow trees.   Together the 2 rooms evoke a sense of the different times of the day-from sunrise in the east to sunset in the west.   Monet first conceived the work in 1909 and worked on the panels fro 1914 until his death in 1926.  He considered his Water Lilies the culmination of his life’s work and wrote: “Nerves strained by work would relax in its presence, following the restful example of of its stagnant waters, and, for he who would live in it, these rooms would offer a refuge for peaceful meditation in the midst of a flowering aquarium.”

We arrived early and had few people interrupting our view.  It is a sublime experience I encourage you to visit if/when you come to Paris.   THe museum has a lower level that house works by Renoir, Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, Derain and others.  It is a small museum, comfortable to visit without being overwhelming.

Having no other plan, we wandered about the city in the rain.  Each with our own umbrella, we were fine for some time.  Found a lovely outdoor restaurant with heaters and shared a French Onion Soup and Duck liver with chutney and toast.   Not too much food.  After lunch, the rain increased and we decided to go back to our compartment in the Relais Christine.   We enjoyed the cozy space with the cheerful yellow tulips we purchased the day before and settled in.  Mark read and napped and I worked on the blog.  Birds sang in the willow tree outside our third floor windows.

At 7pm, we went out and wandered around the neighborhood in the rain looking for Italian food.  We found a place that had what we each wanted on the menu and went in.  We were the first customers of the day, and had a fun conversation with the waiter, who understood only a little English.  We settled on a rocket and artichoke salad, pizza for Mark and spaghetti a’rabiatta for me.   Just what our stomachs wanted, comfort food.

Back in our rooms, we packed for our 7:30am departure and went to bed.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018  My birthday

The yellow tulips Mark bought me.

Mark remembered and even gave me a card.  Very sweet of him.  I took the yellow tulips down stairs and left them at the front counter for other guests to enjoy.  We had breakfast and met our airport driver.  We enjoyed the  one hour drive through and out of the city to Charles de Gaulle Airport and checked in at British Airways for our flights to London and then San Francisco.   I will have a long, but mostly uninteresting birthday and arrive in SFO at 9pm still on the 10th.

 

 

 

 

 

By adventureswithjulia | Posted in 2018 (1) March: Chad / Cameroon / Democratic Republic of the Congo / Netherlands / Germany / France, Adventures | Comments (14)

Amsterdam and Stuttgart

April 9, 2018 – 9:01 am

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

Back in the first world at 6:30am, we stop for a quick coffee in the airport as we have a few minutes to kill before our driver arrives to takes us to our hotel, the Pulitzer, on one of the canals near the old part of Amsterdam. We have just enough time to clean up before meeting our guide for the day, Tricia Robbins, at 9am. It was a good thing we had slept on the plane as she kept up a running commentary about the history of Amsterdam that made my head spin.

One of 2 remaining wooden houses in Amsterdam from 1550.

Small entrance to a hidden Catholic Church, near the wooden house above. During the Protestant era from 1578 until 1848, Catholics were not allowed to worship in public.

Interior of a hidden Catholic Church. Still in use today, although no longer hidden.

I take lots of notes to help keep up, but there is way more to Dutch history than either of us really wants to remember.
Tricia was delightful, never the less, and we enjoyed her company very much.

A row of bent houses. Some lean forward to allow easier access for furnishing to the upper floors. Hooks protrude from the tops of the buildings to allow pulleys to provide assistance. Some lean sideways as the wooden
pilings under them have shifter.

We walked all through the old city looking at different buildings and neighborhoods in a light, but cold, rain during the morning.

The skinniest house we saw. Only about 6 feet wide and three stories high. Can’t imagine who could live in it. It exists because people pay taxes according to the number of meters that front on the street.

We learned there are 850,000 people in Amsterdam and 880,000 bicycles. She, for example has three. One for going for groceries and errands, one for carrying her child and one for pleasure riding. Most people do not own a car. People have become very creative in finding ways to keep their bikes from being stolen. One of which is to have a really old, rusty-looking bike. We see hundreds like that.
The water in the canals is very clear these days due to stringent sanitation, however it is still brown due to silt in the water and bikes. Apparently, people toss their old bikes into the canals as the easiest way to dispose of them. The city fishes out about 15,000 each year.

The Dutch were and still are merchants first and foremost. The 13th century city was founded by the Spanish and was Catholic until the 16th century, when Martin Luther and others began to protest the excessive wealth of the Church, while its members were largely very poor. The protests eventually led to Amsterdam becoming a Protestant city in 1578. Catholic churches were banned in the city and were turned into Protestant churches. The remaining Catholics were not allowed to practice their religion in public places. Thus began the formation of hidden churches, several of which still remain today. Tricia took us into a couple of them and walked us through residential neighborhoods where nuns had once lived and now were lived in by single women. In 1848 a new constitution was approved that allowed freedom of public religion. Catholics immediately began building huge churches, of which there are now several.

To warm up we stopped at a coffee house for some tea. That sure helped as my fingers were very cold. She suggested we try a traditional Dutch dish of raw herring. It was served with chopped onion and tangy sliced dill pickles at a fish vendor stand. It was delicious. If we lived in Amsterdam, I’m sure we would eat it often.

The Royal Palace on Dam Square. Until 1806 it had been the Town Hall. It became the palace when Louis Bonaparte and his wife Hortense move in. It is still used for state affaires.

Tricia told us much more about the history of the monarchy and how a French Prince, William of Orange, became the popular Dutch leader or Stadtholder and helped the Dutch fight against the over controlling Spanish King, Charles V. When Napoleon Bonaparte absorbed the Netherlands in the early 1800’s, he installed his brother, Louis Napoleon, as king in 1806. Louis became very popular and in 1810, Napoleon jealously replaced Louis with himself and was king until the Battle of Waterloo in 1915. At that point, the stadholder position was permanently replaced with a king, starting with William I. By then, we were standing next to the Royal Palace on Dam Square, where Louis and Hortense Bonaparte lived during his 5 year reign. It had been the Town Hall until the Kingdom was instituted and is now used for royal banquets and social affairs. The statue in the triangle above the building is the Amsterdam City Maiden.

In front of the house Anne Frank hid in for 2 years before her family was betrayed.

We walked by Anne Frank’s house where very long lines of people waited to see the inside. I was glad I had seen it years ago and Mark was happy with a photo by the front door. We also stepped into a small store called the Mouse Mansion. It contained multiple, large hand made constructions of imagined dwellings for mice, primarily a couple named Sam and Julia. It was very charming to see the various “mansions”, meet the daughter of the creator and see copies of the 11 or so mainly children’s books about the mouse characters, Sam and Julia, that have been written.

Then Tricia took us to a place to get some lunch. We selected a couple of hot cheese dishes she recommended. OK to try, but not our cup of tea. After eating, we walked several blocks through a heavy downpour to the trolly and rode it to the Van Gogh Museum.

Self-Portrait 1887. Very colorful with the paint colors laid side by side, but not mixed.

Purple Irises 1889. Although still lovely, the purple has faded to blue. Vincent was not always able to afford expensive paints that would not fade.

Gaugain’s Chair 1888. Vincent found elegant furnishings for the visit of Paul Gauguin to his house in Arles. Painting this chair with a nocturnal atmosphere in mysterious reds and greens was like painting the artist. In contrast he painted his own simple chair in yellows and blues. After 2 months of being together, they fought and parted for good.

1889. While in an asylum, having admitted himself, Vincent creates a scene that evokes the madness of patients with the contrasting red and green colors and inserting a tiny figure in the overwhelming landscape, reinforcing the sense of dread.

Symphony of Yellows. This is the only piece where Vincent painted the frame to go with the art.

Close up of Symphony in Yellow. Many other colors are visible close up.

Flowering Trees 1888.
This is one of my favorites. It does have a Japanese sense to it.

Close up of Flowering Trees

1890. Vincent’s final painting. Unfinished, especially in the lower left. The unrecognizable forms, powerful lines and vivid colors suggest he was a forerunner of abstract art.

It is quite a well laid out exhibition. Tricia kept me moving through the most important works and kept Mark entertained so, we ended up finishing at the same time. That is a first. Tricia was an excellent docent. She told us Vincent, born in 1853, used his 40 self portraits as ways to improve his skill as a portrait artist and to practice experimentation. He had no money to hire models and painting himself was free. His brother, Theo, born in 1857, managed to give Vincent an allowance for several years, which allowed him to continue his experimentation. From the age of 27 for 10 years, he painted over 900 pieces. It was Theo’s son, also named Vincent, who started the Van Gogh Foundation with most of Vincent’s art and all his letters and notes, which had been left to Theo. The Foundation now operates the Museum and manages the display of paintings and Vincent’s writings and letters. Vincent was shot and died two days later in 1890. It remains unclear how he became shot. Theo died of syphilis only 6 months later in 1891. According to Tricia, Vincent painted what he saw. He did not paint from imagination as his friend Gauguin did. This was at least part of the difference between the two contemporaries. Following are photos of several of Vincent’s paintings. Hope you like them as I do. We took a taxi back to the Pulitzer and bid Tricia farewell. If only every guide could be as interesting, educated and fun as she is.

We had dinner in the hotel and were happy to dive into bed after a long day with not so much sleep on the plane the night before. Good thing we are not yet old. Hmmmm.

 

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Waiting for the 8:02 train to Stuttgart. It was freezing cold and windy. We wondered why the train doors would not open so we could go inside. Brrr.

Up and our early again. We catch the 8:02 train from Amsterdam to Stuttgart. Mark clocks our top speed at 178mph between Cologne and Stuttgart. The ride was quiet and smooth and the train very clean. We skillfully negotiated a train change in Mannheim. Then, off the train and out of the Stuttgart station at 12:30, a taxi driver tells us we should walk the short distance, even though it is raining. We do. However, it is several hundred yards and I am feeling bedraggled when we walk into what is billed as a 5 star hotel, the Am Schlossgarten, looking like drenched vagabonds.

The entrance to the Mercedes Benz Museum. The sight of the place filled us with anticipation.

After checking in we took a taxi to the Mercedes Benz Museum and spent 2 full hours walking down and around and through the well laid out exhibition in a very futuristic building.  We managed to stay together most of the time as we had audio guides that kept us in sync. I was fascinated by the overall presentation and enjoyed the walk.  Here are a few of our favorite cars.

1902 Mercedes-Simplex 40PS is the oldest Mercedes still in existence. Called Simplex because it was relatively easy to handle for the period.

 

1939 Mercedes-Benz 320 Stromlinien-Limousine was a streamlined sedan. They were the most stylish means of travel for comfort and safety.

The rear compartment opening of the MB 320 sedan.

 

 

One of several showroom floors in the MB Museum.

 

1936 Mercedes-Benz 500K Spezial-Roadster was the car of the rich and beautiful. It was the brand’s show piece of the 30’s and its most expensive, at $28,000 Reichsmark (roughly $98,000 Euro in todays currency.)

 

1907 Milner-Daimler Doppeldeckerbus.  The bus was used in London from 1904 on. By 1907, here were 400 in use including this one.

 

1954 Mercedes-Benz 300S Cabriolet A was launched as an exclusive top-of-the-range model with a sporty touch and a more powerful engine.

 

1955 Mercedes-Benz 300SLR “Uhlenhaut-Coupe” was to have been a racing car, but the company stopped its motorsport activities and instead, the car was used by the head of the Test Department, Rudilf Uhlenhaut, as a company car.

Later, for dinner, we stayed in our 5 star hotel, provided courtesy of Mercedes-Benz for buying a car from their factory, and dined in their Michelin Star restaurant, called Die Zirbelstube.  We called it our joint birthday celebration.   We are between our 2 birthdates, the trip has been an incredibly successful adventure and we are about to take delivery of a new car.   The restaurant was elegant with knotty pine walls and starched white linens on the tables along with crystal glassware and sterling flatware. We chose the 3 course meal rather than the typical 7 course dinner, similar to the one we had enjoyed in Croatia when we were there. We were not very hungry and we did not want to spend three hours having dinner. Our first course consisted of two kinds of raw Hamachi that were beautifully presented in two ways. Our main course was boneless pigeon served with mango wrapped around a soft filing we could not name and a delicious sauce. Dessert was fig served with goose liver pate, served three ways. It all tasted delicious and was quite enough for us.

Friday, April 6, 2018

At 8am we leave the hotel for our date at the Mercedes Sindelfingen Factory to pick up our new car. Everything goes smoothly and by 9am, we have seen the car and accepted it per our specifications.

The delivery area where 300 cars a day are handed over to their new owners. Mine is in the left foreground and looks splendid.

 

My new SL 550. Ain’t she a beauty! I hate to touch her and just walk around staring.

It is quite a beauty sitting in the large room where all the cars to be delivered this day are parked waiting for their new owners to claim them. After all the paper work is done, we wait for the Factory tour to begin at 10:30 and share the experience with way too many people, 40 at least. We get the most out of it that we can and I do pick a few factoids from the guide. In 2017, 310,000 of the E and S class model cars were made in this 3 square kilometer factory, along with a few other models such as the Maybach. The factory opened in 1915 and was bombed to bits in 1945 by allied forces before being rebuilt. 250-300 cars are handed over to people like us on a daily basis. Our car was brought here from a different factory where the model SL’s are made. It had 20 miles on it.

There are 35,000 employees in addition to 5000 robots, which do many different tasks. 28% of the work force is foreign, 33% are women, 5.4% are disabled and hired per German law. Mercedes has a training Center where 750 students study for 3.5 years to become employees of the company. They have over 3000 applications per year for the 250 annual openings. Employees do not leave, but can be repositioned within the company.

10% of the cars are right-hand drive, 10% are manual shift. Each car travels 45 kilometers within the factory from start to finish. 90 train cars and 1200 truck loads of parts arrive per day for a “just on time” delivery system. 80% of the 8-10,000 parts per car are produced in Germany. 30% are produced by Mercedes Benz and 70% by 1200 suppliers. The guide would not tell us the exact number of cars produced per day, but we calculated between 14 and 1700, based on other details he did share.

After the 1.5 hour tour we drove the car to the shipping handler about a kilometer away from the factory. We managed to get disoriented and put 5 miles on the car before finding the place. Am sure glad we did not choose to drive the car around the country.

The shipper ordered up a taxi. We took one last look at the car and headed for the Porsche Museum on the other side of Stuttgart. It was in a very futuristic looking building too. Inside, we had a nice lunch and a pleasant walk through the exhibition. There were a lot of racing cars that neither of us had any interest in and a number of 911’s from every year they have been made. That history was mildly interesting, but neither of us took any photos. We went through the museum in less than an hour and grabbed a taxi back to the hotel, arriving mid afternoon.

The futuristic Porsche Museum.

 

The only Porsche photo I took was this one out side next to the building.

Our hotel, it turned out, is very centrally located. Not only is it close to the train station, it is next to a city park, and a major shopping district along a main pedestrian street called, Konigstrassa. We started wandering toward the park and ended up walking to the end of Konigstrassa. Just to have a goal, we looked for the local Escada clothing store, but were distracted by a quality bedding store, learned that Escada had closed its Stuttgart location and purchased comforters and covers for them instead. Why bother you ask? Well we have found that we like having our own individual comforter, but have not been able to buy them in the states. We purchased our first set in Prague after appreciating separate comforters in Iceland and wanted a second set for our lake house. Here was our opportunity. Once we had made that purchase we had to buy a suitcase. So we found the local luggage store and bought a lightweight bag. We squished everything into it and rolled it back to the hotel, pleased with our purchases. Aside from a single strand of beads I bought at the street market in Chad, we have not purchased another souvenir or piece of art. We will make good use of these comforters and have a new suitcase
too.

For dinner, we walked back through the park to a very popular watering hole, called Carl’s Brauhaus and had German food and beer amid the crush and bedlam of so many people intent on having a loud, as well as good, time. To be seated timely, we agreed to share a table with 2 other couples. The food was just ok, but the beer was really good.

 

By adventureswithjulia | Posted in 2018 (1) March: Chad / Cameroon / Democratic Republic of the Congo / Netherlands / Germany / France, Adventures | Comments (2)

The last of our DRC adventures

April 7, 2018 – 12:59 pm

Continuation of Monday, April 2,  2018 

The public space at Mikena Lodge

Back at Mikena Lodge, we cleaned up and had breakfast and free time until 11am.  The neighborhood Blue and Colobus monkeys were very busy dropping fruit and shit from the trees overhead.  Our table was the recipient of the latter during breakfast.

A Blue monkey with full cheeks.

A Colobus monkey. They have long white tails that would make good dusters.

Our plan for the day was to fly north up the western Rift Valley to Lake Edward and go for a game drive.  We lift off at 11am and enjoy a fun fight up the valley. 

A lovely white water spring creek.

A clear spring water course with a small rapid.

Hamish flies low, banking tightly over small crooked rivers of fresh water from numerous springs and between the trees giving us close up views of crystal clear cascading waterfalls. 

We weaved our way along the water course.

Following the water below the tree tops.

We cannot wipe the smiles of delight off our faces.  Watching closely, we spot the odd hippo with just its nose and eyes breaking the surface.  The spring water gives way to a brown river and soon we are flying up the eastern side of Lake Edward. 

A parade of elephant leaving the lake shore.

A herd of buffalo.

Midway up lake we spot elephant and buffalo from the air and land in the far northern part of Virunga National Park, where we have now been since we left Goma.   

A male Cobb standing proud, curious and unafraid.

A female Cobb with three large wart hogs.

Eric, our  guide with a Land Rover picks us up and off we go looking for birds and game and a place to have the lunch we brought from Mikena Lodge.  

A fairly common Spur Lap Wing.

We spot water buck,

A male Water Buck

Spur Lap Wing birds and, a new one for me,  the little pale-brown shore bird with an orange head and bright, white eye stripes, called Burchell’s courser. 

A Burchell’s courser.

It is very warm in the valley and the spot we had planned for lunch had been taken over by a swarm of bees so the only other shade the guide would consider for a lunch sight is the Kyangoro Ranger Station, where 22 rangers live while they protect Virunga Park from poachers. 

A ranger guard keeping an eye on our truck.

Conditions are not very comfortable, but the rangers don’t seem to mind.  We eat a delicious lunch of medium-rare, beef tenderloin, potato salad, fresh greens and beer in a round, wooden dining structure.  Once outside the station enclosure, our guide drives off road looking for animals in the flat, open grassland.   

Topi. We have never seen so many in one place.

The most unexpected and prolific animal we see is a large, coffee colored antelope called Topi.  We have seen a few of them in our travels through African game parks, but never in large numbers.   Here we saw several herds of them with many babies.  They are a very pretty animal. 

Saddle Billed Stork. Good looking birds that are easy to spot.

We spotted a large saddle-billed stork standing in a small water hole, large herds of buffalo, several families of wart hog; groups of small, tan colored Cobb antelope and a few elephant in the distance. 

Cape buffalo keeping an eye on us.

We are surprised that the animals were not very disturbed by our vehicle. 

A baby surrounded by a protective family.

They did not run way from us the way they had in Zakouma National Park in Chad.  Gradually we make it to the Ishasha River, near the edge of the lake, in search of hippo.  We see well over a hundred of them lounging in small pods in the shallow water.  We get the hoped for grunts and groans from them and a few move about and pose for us.   

A hippo giving us the evil eye.

Wow! A hippo and a buffalo keeping company.

But not for long. This is the hippo’s domain.

Although we are told there are cats and other predators in the park, we see none.   The park is in a slow recovery after years of uninterrupted poaching during the war years. It is clearly a super place for Savannah animals and everyone hopes the game will return.  Back in the helicopter we return to Mikena Lodge with more up close and personal flying.  At one point Hamish flies us close, up the flank of an extinct volcano only to drop back down the side with a whoosh.  We all giggle in delight.  

We have been in Virunga National Park for five days and four nights with Hamish and the helicopter, 5Y CCP.  Our center of activity has been Mikena Lodge, from which all the park’s tourist accommodations are managed by a capable woman named Julie.  We stayed at the lodge 2 of the 4 nights.  Tchegera Island is also in the park and managed by Julie.  It is the only part of Lake Kivu in the park.  The shelters at the top of Nyiragongo Volcano are also under her management.  Based on our report of conditions there, she immediately sent a man up the volcano to make repairs.   

The four of us, Hamish, Noriko, Mark and I, share one last meal together and comment on how much we have enjoyed all our experiences and, most especially, our Congo adventures with Hamish and the helicopter.  Hamish tells us we will have about 20 flights for almost 12 hours of air time by the time we get back to Entebbe and that there is room for one additional flight, if we want.  We can either sleep in in the morning or go for a sunrise flight back over the active volcanos.  Silly question!  

Tuesday, April 3, 2018

We meet at 6am for our last fly about to the active volcanoes. 

Early morning mountains in the mist.

Unfortunately, the weather does not cooperate and we are unable to get to Nyiragongo at all. 

Nyrigongo Volcano still in the mist, but sending up steam.

Hamish flies us over some old volcanos and then over the moonscaped Nyamulagira.  It started erupting in 1882 and has erupted 34 times since then.  The last big eruption was in 1994.  In 2001 there was a flank eruption.  No more top eruptions are expected.   From there, we headed for the tallest volcano, Mt. Makina.  We had flown around it once, but not made it to the top due to cloud cover. 

THe top of Mt Mikena opens to us.

This morning the flanks are clouded up, but the top is clear and Hamish gets us up close and over the top for some wonderful images. 

We can see bits of snow clinging to the steep hillsides of Mt Mikena.

There are even patches of snow near the top of the 14,000 foot peak, where the temperature was 39 degrees.  Back down the mountain, we fly over lava fields and fertile countryside and spend 45 minutes in the air.  Back at Mikena Lodge, we have breakfast and pack for our last flight out of Mikena to Entebbe.

Good bye to our nice cottage at Mikena Lodge.

We have all taken turns being in the front seat and this time it is Noriko’s turn to be front.  We arrive at Goma at 11:45am.  Hamish leaves us at the helicopter while he negotiates the Congo departure procedures.  That took an hour.  Then we headed toward Bwindi.  We had hoped to fly low over Scott Kellermann at the Bwindi Community Hospital and wave to him, but the sky over the Impenetrable Forest was in total clouds and rain.  So instead, we flew 30 miles out of our way through heavy rain just to avoid the worst of the weather.  Then it was direct to Entebbe.  

After 2 hours we made our last landing and were met by Hassan, the friendly Entebbe Airport handler who had helped us on our arrival days earlier.  We took his information so we can use his services again when we come back in September.  We said our good byes to Noriko, who was headed for the lounge to wait for her flights back to Japan.  Hamish joined us at the Protea Hotel, 5 minutes from the airport.  We were assigned a day room in which to relax until 9pm.  Hamish was next door and staying overnight.  He planned to fly back to Kenya early the next morning.  We said good bye to him and thanked him profusely for providing us with such a wonderful experience and such masterful flying.   Then we showered and ordered room service.  Mark had a big fat hamburger and I had pasta and a salad.  Comfort food for both of us.  I finally had good wifi, uploaded several photos into the last Cameroon post and sent it off, as well as the Congo information post I had written weeks prior.  That felt good.  At 9pm, we headed back to the airport and our nonstop KLM flight to Amsterdam.  We slept nearly all the way and woke up in time for breakfast and landing.

By adventureswithjulia | Posted in 2018 (1) March: Chad / Cameroon / Democratic Republic of the Congo / Netherlands / Germany / France, Adventures | Comments (6)

More in Virunga National Park, DRC

April 7, 2018 – 4:27 am

Hopefully, this map will help you get oriented with our Congo travels.

The area of our DRC adventures. Lake Kivu and Goma are near the bottom.  The ink dot on the lake just left of Goma represents Tchegera Island.  Mikena Lodge is in Rumangabe, north of Goma on the red road.  Just left of that is Nyamulagira Volcano at 3299 meters.  To the right of the road, at 4437 meters with no name listed, is Nyiragongo Volcano.  We also flew up valley to the right shore of Lake Edward for our game drive, still in Virunga National Park.

Sunday April 1, 2018   Easter

Happy Easter.  Here on this tiny tropical island in Lake Kivu in the Congo, it does not feel much like our most religious event of the year, but I spend some time gratefully contemplating the Risen Lord anyway.  

Our tent on Tchegera Island with the helicopter in the background.

Then we are off for an early morning flight along the western side of  the very placid Lake Kivu, which is 80 miles long and 20 miles wide. 

A small fishing village with the three boat catamarans.

The land around the lake is very fertile, with small fishing villages doting the shoreline.  Home made, three hulled, catamaran style fishing boats provide stability and extra room for fish. 

An old Belgian estate home.

Here and there along the shore, are aging, once stately and grand, homes that belonged to rich Belgians when the country was a Belgium colony before independence in 1960.  

Another one of many fishing villages on Lake Kivu.

After awhile we turn away from the lake and fly over huge lava fields, both raw and recent (2011 and 2014) and older (2001 and earlier), where vegetation is pushing through the lava. 

Lava flows from different eruptions. Easy to see which is new and which is old.

Hamish gently lands on an active shield volcano named Nyamulagira that is 10,033 feet high. 

The moonlike landscape on Nyamulagira Volcano.

It feels like we are aliens who have landed on Mars in our space ship.  No footprints anywhere, except ours. 

Us in a field of dead tree trunks.  And yes, we are cold in this high, windy scene.

Burnt remains of trees, black pumice and jagged rocks cover miles of undulating surface interrupted by small steam vents that warm us as we pass near them, until we reach the edge and peer into the abyss.  The crater walls are multicolored from different exposed minerals. 

Steam vents through the pumice and jumbled rock surface.

A rocky outcrop.

Up close the cold lava folded into interesting shapes.

 

We three musketeers, still together after 2 1/2 weeks of awfully wonderful adventures.

Steam rises from many large vents that interrupt our view.  We each head out in different directions to see what we can find, while, back at our space ship,

Coffee and biscuits on the moon.

Hamish sets out biscuits and hot, French press coffee on a small table. Together we share the other worldly experience.  

Our ship lifts off and we make one last circle around the edge of the crater so we can see the bottom.  There is no red lava, but many large steam vents.   Hamish turns us toward Nyiragongo, the 11,385 foot high starts volcano for a look at its awesome lava lake from every side and angle and the 12 cliff hanging A frame shelters where we will be spending the night. 

Approaching the rim of Nyiragongo Volcano.

Getting closer to the rim.

 

The “helicopter pad” landing sight. The shelters are high on the right corner.

It is pretty daunting to see how steep and jagged the climb will be even from the short distance to the top the helicopter pad will provide.  Soon we are back to the island for breakfast and time to relax and contemplate the coming adventure.  

After a large lunch of lamb chops with mashed eggplant, carrots and another dense chocolate mouse,  Mark and I went for a swim in the lake and prepared a small pack for our overnight adventure on Nyiragongo.  We can see the volcano from the island and watch for a cloud free window to open.  From the time we lift off the island at 4:10pm until we land on the volcano, berely 10 minutes pass. 

Coming in for our landing on the volcano.  Porters wait to help with our gear.

We climb from 5,200 feet to 11,000 feet and the temperature drops from a balmy 80 degrees to 50.  The landing sight had been painstakingly carved out of the jagged volcanic rock wall and is just large enough for Hamish to find a perch.  He admits to an adrenaline rush and heightened attention.  He is, for certain, an expert with the helicopter and makes his effort look natural and easy.  

We finally make it to the rim. It took two men and all their strength to get me up toe steep, rocky slope.

Once firmly in place we begin the short, but difficult hike up the rest of the mountain to the peak.  It took two porters more than 20 minutes to help me up the short, but steep rocky mountain wall to the jagged top. 

We enjoy piping hot mugs of soup in the canteen, in spite of the rain.  The wood is too wet for a fire.

After a brief look at the lava lake, we set up our sleeping bags in the shelters, one for Hamish and Mark and one for Noriko and me.  We were the last of the 23 people staying overnight to arrive.  Everyone else had made the 5 and a half hour hike up the mountain and already taken the good shelters, each of which was 6 by 9 feet with a small door at one end.  The door to ours was broken, so we swapped shelters with the boys. 

Me at the rim in the rain. The view is still incredible.

 

The world’s largest lava lake shows us its grandeur.

Back up at the peak, we enjoyed the view of the world’s largest lava lake, heard the pops and rumbles it makes and felt a bit of the tremendous heat it puts out.  Mark learned that there are 282 million cubic feet of lava in this crater.   For a brief time, the experience was sublime.

As we watched it began to rain.  We hoped it would be short lived, but it was not.  Hamish fetched ponchos he had brought and we put them on, although we were already wet.  There are 12 shelters on 3 levels, with the canteen being in the top row next to the ridge.  We carefully walked over the jagged rocks to it and received a large mug of very hot squash soup from the white-coated chef – a nice touch in spite of the outlandish location.   We, along with several others, huddled under the overhang of the shelter next to the canteen and tried, unsuccessfully, to stay dry.  Dinner was to come later, but only Hamish stayed up for it.  The rest of us went back to the ridge to watch the lake glow red in the dimming light.  We watched until it was totally dark and we were all soaked and getting cold.   We had our torches with us and Mark helped me down to our shelter on the 3rd and lowest level.  It was only 7:30, but there was nothing to do but get out of our wet clothes and go to bed. 

Noriko takes a photo of me in our small, leaky shelter. It was a long night.

Noriko and I considered the long night ahead on thin mattresses in strange sleeping bags in the cold, pitch black A frame shelter at 11,000 feet and accepted our fate.  Quickly, we peed near the shelter with our ponchos still on and used our torches to organize ourselves in the tiny space.  Once in bed, it took awhile to find a comfortable position and warm up.  Soon, I heard Noriko’s soft breathing and knew she was asleep.  I laid there listening to the rain.  Finally, there was a lull and I quickly put on my shoes and stepped out into the dark to find a place to pee again.  When I got back inside, it was 9pm.  Back in the bag, I settled onto my good ear and was soon asleep myself.  About 1am, Noriko was up and moving all around the space and finally woke me up to tell me the shelter was leaking and her bed was all wet.  She did not know what to do and I could only offer my extra pair of dry socks, which I had brought jus in case I needed them.  I, luckily, was not in the path of the leak and was snug as a bug in a rug.   As I drifted back to sleep, she was sitting up and trying to stay dry, though not warm or comfortable.  Eventually, she moved her mattress next to mine and curled up in the top half of her bag, which was not wet.  At 5:30, someone banged on our door and said breakfast was ready. 

We wasted no time in getting dressed in our still wet clothing and getting out of the shelter.  Gratefully, the rain had stopped.  

 

Monday, April 2, 2018  

 I hiked back up to the ledge and looked down into the lava lake one last time. 

Looking over the shoulder of a hiker. We share the experience one last time.

It was still reddish in the early morning light.  Then back at the canteen, I had a coffee and some toast with a piece of cheese.  Having gone all night with only a cup of soup, I was hungry.  Everyone was packing up to head down the hill. 

Bosco, the porter who helped me up the hill, showed up to help me down. Noriko’s porters have already started helping her.

Apparently others had also had unpleasant, wet nights and wanted to get to hot showers and clean, dry clothing as soon as possible. 

The hikers begin their long journey down the volcano. The helicopter looks far away.

As we negotiated the cliff face back to the helicopter, several folks wished they could fly away with us.  I could not blame them.  Once Hamish lifted us off our perch, we floated down the mountain and back to Mikena Lodge for hot showers, clean clothes and breakfast, all before the hikers were barely an hour from the top with 4 more hours to go.  Having a helicopter at our disposal is an incredible treat we will never forget.  

Mark makes it to our bird first.  The tail hangs off the edge.

By adventureswithjulia | Posted in 2018 (1) March: Chad / Cameroon / Democratic Republic of the Congo / Netherlands / Germany / France, Adventures | Comments (6)

We begin our awesome visit in the DRC

April 6, 2018 – 10:20 pm

Friday, March 30, 2018 Good Friday

Hamish Rendall, our pilot, Julia, Mark and Noriko, our companion since the beginning in Chad.

We make it into the Pretoria Hotel in Entebbe at 2:30am and fall into bed. Up again at 7:15 and look out our window at Lake Victoria. It would be lovely to relax by the pool and enjoy the view for a day, but we have a breakfast meeting with our pilot at 8am. As tired as we all are, we are also exited to be traveling by helicopter for the next 5 days. Our pilot is a young man named Hamish Rendall, who is from New Zealand and very experienced as a helicopter pilot.

In position for our first flight in 5YCCP.

The plan for the day is to fly to Goma, and immigrate into the DRCongo, the fly to Mikena Lodge where we have accommodations in Virunga National Park.

Flying over islands of papyrus in Lake Victoria as we fly south along its NE shoreline

The fertile Ugandan countryside.

The dense Bwindi Impenetrable Forest is aptly named. This scene is of the eastern edge.

This is typical landscape near Buhoma and Bwindi where the Kellermann Foundation has its facilities.

All goes well. We fly at 4500 feet most of the way until we need to climb to 10,500 to get over the volcanic hills near Goma. Unlike Cameroon, nearly every foot of the landscape below us is fertile, until we reach national forest preserves.

Approaching the international airport in Goma, DRC

At Goma, we receive visas and are stamped into DRCongo in about an hour. We do not even go into the building. Hamish takes care of the details and then flys us on to Mikena Lodge.

Close up of a street in Goma.

 

We land on a grass clearing near the lodge in time for lunch. The temperature is very comfortable, even though we receive an afternoon shower while eating.

In front of our cottage at Mikena Lodge

Mark and I have a large private bungalow with its own fireplace and sitting area.

Inside our cottage at Mikena lodge.

A large deck provides a view of the forest along with blue and colobus monkeys munching on fruit in the nearby trees. In the afternoon we walk to the orphan gorilla sanctuary near the lodge and are saddened at the conditions and lack of freedom the 4 current orphans experience. However, they would not survive if they were returned to the wild. Then we finally have time to rest. We all needed it. The shower is glorious with plenty of hot water and big towels. The food at the lodge is reasonably good, even if unremarkable. The bed wonderful.

Saturday, March 31, 2018 Holy Saturday

After a good night’s sleep, we were ready for our helicopter adventures. First up was a fly by of an extinct volcano called Mikeno.

Midway up Mt Mikena. The top is in the clouds.

At 14,547 feet high it is the second highest of the 8 volcanos in the region and the highest in the Congo. We spiraled our way around and up near the top, which was shrouded in a cloud, and saw stands of giant heather and lobelia at the higher elevations.

Then we continued to our date with the gorillas. Landed at the entry point called Jumba (which had been the M23 Headquarters during the Congo war), at the edge of the forest,

Landing spot at Jumba. Children watching us arrive to go gorilla trekking.

Noriko and I being briefed by he head gorilla tracker, Innocent.

got a briefing about how to behave around gorillas, then hiked only about 20 minutes to where the gorillas were hanging out for the day. Could not have asked for a better situation.

We were supposed to have only an hour with the 18 member Voiyukura Group, but they were so relaxed and so were we that the ranger allowed us to stay with them for an hour and a half. The trackers hacked away at the greenery around the animals and we were able to get some pretty nice photos.  Here is a gallery of several,  as I like them all.

The 500+ pound silverback strikes a pose.

There was one dominant silverback, several females, 2 small babies and several young and playful children. Several times we had to back away as they came very close to us. One even ran between my legs before I realized he was behind me. It was a delightful time for all of us. Even Hamish found the experience unusually pleasant.

Some of the children at Jumba station. These were the girls.

Back at Jumba, we found ourselves surrounded by children who had come to see the helicopter. Several photos later, we lifted off and headed back to Mikena Lodge, lunch and a couple hours of free time.

View from the air of the lave lake inside Nyiragongo Crater

In the late afternoon we flew to Nyiragongo volcano to have a look at the lava lake from the air and check out the landing and shelter situation.

Our first look at the shelters clinging to the cliff of the volcano.

I was not very comforted by seeing what is to come. However, I said nothing and on we flew to the tiny, crescent moon shaped, Tchegera Island near the NW end of Lake Kivu. There we spent the rest of the day and night in what felt like a rustic luxury resort. Very peaceful.

Tchegera Island in Lake Kivu. We land on the tiny grassy patch in the upper right of the image, where the halves of the island meet.

Our spacious tent is just a few feet from the lake’s edge, has a fully functioning bathroom and comfortable beds. That evening we watch the full moon rise over the lake while sitting next to a fire on the small black sand beach and sipping on a scotch. After lamb chops for dinner and a very dense chocolate moose, we happily trundle off to our cozy tent and a good night’s sleep.

The steaming Nyiragongo volcano as seen from our island retreat only 10 minutes away by helicopter.

 

By adventureswithjulia | Posted in 2018 (1) March: Chad / Cameroon / Democratic Republic of the Congo / Netherlands / Germany / France, Adventures | Comments (5)

About the Democratic Republic of the Congo

April 3, 2018 – 10:00 am

It is now April 3rd.  Mark and I are at the Protea Hotel in Entebbe, betting ready to leave Africa and head for Amsterdam.  I have nearly finished writing about our time in the Congo and hope to have it completed within a few days.  Meanwhile, here is the chapter about the country that will give you some background.  We are both well and sorry to be leaving Africa.  We have loved our experiences in these three countries in spite of the various difficulties encountered.  Hopefully, you are enjoying reading about them too.

 

About the Democratic Republic of the Congo

There is a lot to say about the Democratic Republic of the Congo and I will try to be concise. The country is located in south central Africa with a narrow connection to the Atlantic Ocean via the Congo River, which runs through the entire country and provided the country with its name. It is 1.59 times the size of Alaska and is the second largest country in Africa and the 11th largest in the world. It is bordered by nine countries: the Central African Republic and South Sudan to the north; Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania to the east; Zambia to the south; Angola to the southwest and the Republic of the Congo and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. With a population over 78 million, it is the most populated officially francophone country, the fourth most-populated nation in Africa and the 17th most populated country in the world.

It was first settled by humans about 90,000 years ago, as proven by found artifacts. Bantu people settled in the region in the 5th and 10th centuries. The Kingdom of the Kongo ruled from the 14th to the 19th centuries. In the 1870s, Henry Morton Stanley led the way for European exploration of the Congo under the sponsorship of King Leopold II of Belgium. Somehow Leopold acquired rights to the Congo in 1885 and made the land his private property. How rude was that? He named it the Congo Free State and allowed, or maybe hired, the colonial military Unit, Force Publique, to force the local population into producing rubber from 1885 to 1908. Millions of Congolese died from disease and exploitation. Finally, Belgium was embarrassed into annexing the Free State, which then became the Belgium Congo. In 1960 the Begium Congo achieved independence under the name Republic of the Congo.  The Belgians fled the country, leaving their large estates behind.

The first elected president and prime minister did not last long as the Army Chief of Staff, one Joseph-Desire Mobutu, gained de facto control through a coup d’etat the same year. In 1965, Mobutu officially took power through a second coup. He changed his name to Mobutu Sese Seko and, in 1971, changed the name of the country to Zaire. He ran the country as a one party dictatorship and received considerable support from the USA due to his anti-communist stance during the cold war. In the early 90s, his government began to weaken. Destabilization in eastern Zaire resulting from the Rwandan genocide and disenfranchisement among the eastern Congolese Tutsi population led to a 1996 invasion by Tutsi ruled Rwanda, which began the First Congo War. The war led to the end of Mobutu’s 32 year rule.

In May 1997, Laurent-Desire Kabila, a Tutsi leader, became President. He immediately changed the name back to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Tensions between Kabila and the Rwandan and Tutsi presence in the country led to the Second Congo War from 1998 to 2003. Ultimately nine African countries and 20 armed groups became involved in the war, resulting in the deaths of 5.4 million people. Kabila was assassinated in January 2001 and a week later his son, Joseph Kabila, succeeded him as President. He called for multilateral peace talks. UN peacekeepers arrived and negotiations finally resulted in a peace accord in 2003. By mid year all foreign armies except those of Rwanda, had left the Congo. A transitional government was set up, a constitution was approved and multi-party elections were held in July 2006. The election was disputed and fighting broke out in the capital, Kinshasa. The UN took control of the city. A new election took place in October. Kabila won and was sworn in as President in December, 2006. He set up a commission to reduce corruption and began implementing economic reforms. In spite of his efforts, very little improved for the people.

Conflicts and uprisings continued to take place. In 2009, The New York Times reported that people in the Congo continued to die at a rate of 45,000 per month, due mainly to widespread disease and famine. Reports indicated that almost half of the deaths were children under the age of 5. One study found that more than 400,000 women were raped every year in the DRC. The two wars devastated the country. Together they are considered the bloodiest war since WWII. By 2015, major protests broke out across the country and protestors demanded that Kabila step down. However, he did not step down at the end of his term, as promised, and insists on staying on until elections are held. The date for elections has changed and dragged on. Protests continue. Currently the election is scheduled for December 2018.  No one is optimistic that the election will actually occur or that the results will be satisfying, if it does occur.

Located on the equator, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has a tropical climate that produced the Congo River system which dominates the region topographically along with the rainforest it flows through. The river basin occupies nearly the entire country and forms the backbone of Congolese economics and transportation. The river has the second largest flow and the second longest watershed of any river in the world, trailing the Amazon in both respects. The river and a 23 mile wide strip of coastline on its north bank provide the country’s only access to the Atlantic. The volcanically active Albertine Rift passes through the very mountainous northeaster section of the country. Geologic activity created the Great Rift Valley and the chain of African Great Lakes (Albert, Kivu, Edward and Tanganyika). The Rift valley has exposed an enormous amount of mineral wealth throughout the south and east of the Congo, making it accessible to mining. Cobalt, copper, cadmium, diamonds, gold, silver, zinc, manganese, tin, germanium, uranium, radium, bauxite, iron ore and coal are all found in in plentiful supply. The Congo is considered the most biodiverse African country and one of the world’s richest countries in natural resources. You can begin to imagine the wealth this country possesses in natural resources that are mostly untapped and not providing jobs or infrastructure or health or education or anything else for the people of the region, whose per capita GDP is nearly the lowest in the world. Such a shame. Its untapped deposits of raw minerals are estimated to be worth 24 trillion, according to Wikipedia.

By adventureswithjulia | Posted in 2018 (1) March: Chad / Cameroon / Democratic Republic of the Congo / Netherlands / Germany / France, Adventures | Comments (3)

More of Cameroon

April 3, 2018 – 9:36 am

Monday, March 26, 2018, Mark’s 65th birthday.

We woke about 4am to the sound of barking dogs, of which there are 4 in this community. When they finally stopped, the rooster started in. We laid in bed until it was light enough to see. As we wanted to get back to our vehicle before the heat of the day kicked in, we packed up and ate a hurried breakfast of stale bread and hot water with Nescafe. Then we hit the trail without saying good bye to the Dupa, who were still in bed. We left the tents and bedding behind for the porters to pick up and made our way the 4 miles back to our bus. Mark and I checked the clock and noted that we did the walk in 1 hour and 15 minutes with others close behind. Don and Leslie, who both had walking problems, were brought out by motor scooter and arrived almost exactly when we did. By 7:45am we were back in the air conditioned bus and happily on our way back to the village of Poli to pick up fresh ice before heading south on the main road.

While driving we learn from Wandji that the Dupa were originally from Nubia in millennia BC. They moved south and into the hills to avoid Muslim missionaries. They did not want to submit to the Muslim belief system. They wanted to stick to their natural ways and continue with their own beliefs. As animists, they are ancestor worshipers. To them, God is the first ancestor and others have followed. To become an ancestor one must live a long life, have many children and die of natural causes. Women and men can become ancestors.

A road block on the way to Ngaoundere. This machine is cutting and picking up the old pavement to make way for new asphalt. We did not have to wait long, fortunately.

As we drive south we are still in hot dry desert sahel with occasional low hills, scattered trees and scrub. We pass many villages along the roadside. Most have no power. Bore holes with water are a good distance from many people.

Roadside vendors are in front of every village selling everything from tires to tooth paste, watermelon to batteries. Although we did not see any starving people, life in this desolate country does not offer much more than existence, no matter how hard one works to make a bit of money. During the heat of the day, most people can only sit in the shade.

Locally grown cotton waiting to be picked up. It is dirty and full of seeds.

We pass many small to medium sized fields of spent cotton and sorghum. Before the rains come in June, there will be a frantic effort to plant seeds for the next crops, and get the houses re-thatched. Already there is thatch leaning against most huts waiting for the time. As we are still in the northern half of the country, the people are still mostly Muslim.

We stop at the entrance to a National Park that has no animals — they have all been eaten — and share a watermelon and pineapple purchased from a roadside vendor. As we pull away, leaving what we did not eat on a concrete wall, we see boys racing to be the first to get to our dregs. Our empty water bottles are a treasure as well as the fruit. I wished we had left them more.

After days of being in the flats at about 1400 feet elevation, we suddenly begin to climb an escarpment and reach 4000+ feet quickly. Before starting down the other side, we stop to see the view and feel the air. There is no view, sadly, as the haze and smoke from multiple fires block the entire scene, however, the air is a bit cooler. South of the escarpment, we descend only to 3650 feet and level off there. Although we are still in the north, the scenery is beginning to change as we see palm trees, flowering jacaranda trees and other flowering plants.

The town of Ngaoundere, where we had showers in a local hotel, lunch at a place called the “Coffee Shop” and then boarded the train for the overnight trip to the capital city, Younde.

We enter the district and gradually the town of 1 million called Ngaoundere (pronounced Gan de re). The town has nothing of note to offer us, except for the hotel we stop at to take showers. The water was plentiful and hot and the towels were adequate. We all felt much better. Back in the bus we drove to a restaurant called Coffee Shop and had an excellent meal of the local fish called Capitain served in a mushroom sauce. Sounds bad, but tasted really good.

A street vendor peddling cell phones. Everyone is trying to make a buck.

 

.A street scene in Ngaundere with tired looking buildings everywhere.

Took a few pix in the area near the restaurant and then headed for the train station. Although we have First Class Cabins, there is nothing first class about the train. It is filthy everywhere, including the station. Fortunately, we can get into our cabin and shut the door. At least the sheets were clean and we did not have to share our 4 person cabin with anyone.

Walking to the train at dusk.

Unfortunately, there is no AC and we swelter until the train moves. It is packed. There are 2 toilets per car, but only one in our car has water. The good news is we sweat so much we don’t need to use the toilet until the middle of the night, when there is no line.

Muslims praying before boarding the train. We are still in the northern half of the country.

It takes hours before we cool down enough to be comfortable. So much for our nice showers. The train departs exactly on time, 7:15pm, and the ride is 15 hours to our destination, the capital city of Yaounde (pronounced Ya un de), thoroughly in the south. Somehow we got through the night. It was now our third night in a row with less than pleasant conditions and the wear and tear is starting to show.
Mark’s birthday started in a tent on the ground in a Dupa village and ended in a dirty train rumbling toward the capital city.  An unusual 65th birthday for sure.

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

When we looked out the window in the early morning light, everything was green and lush. What a contrast. The temperature was not as high as in the north, but the humidity was most unpleasant. Hard to say which was worse; very hot, dry air or medium hot, wet air.

At 7:15am we are served a hot omelet, bread and tea or coffee in our cabin. This was a nice touch that had been arranged by Abdul. It was not part of the regular train service. The timing was perfect as we were just beginning to feel hungry. At 9:30 the train stopped at Yaounde.

A crazy taxi lot in Younde, where the population is 3 million and there are more cars than the roads can handle.

The change from country to city was a bit shocking. There were taxis everywhere serving the population of 3 million.

A typical hilly street in Younde.

The city, with 7 hills, was very reminiscent of San Francisco. With many churches and the largest Basilica in Cameroon, the city was 75% Christian and most of that is Catholic.

A panorama of the inside of the Catholic Basilica.

We have a similar, if different bus that takes us on a city tour. First stop is a monastery high on a hill to see the view. However, the haze is still very bad and the view unnoticeable. We walk passed an outdoor set of the Stations of the Cross, with a few people praying. Then we visit the Basilica which was built in 1955 and is not only large, but quite lovely and clean. There is a lovely contemporary statue of the Black Madonna and a photo of JPII on the wall near the altar. He visited Cameroon in 1985.

The Reunification Monument acknowledges the reunification of British and French parts of Cameroon on May 20, 1972

From there we stopped at the Reunification Monument and climbed to the top. Nice to be acting like a tourist for a little bit. The monument was built to honor the reunification of the British and French parts of the country on May 20, 1972. After independence in 1960, the French and British had ruled the country as a Federation between 1960 and 1972. Political positions are very traditionally religious. Paul Biya, is the Catholic President, Yan Philemon is the Catholic Prime Minister, the head of the National Assembly is a Muslim, and the Leader of the Senate is a Protestant, all by tradition.

A typical store in the Craft market.

Abdul, our logistics handler, takes a break while waiting for us to shop. He had a fun personality, even if he couldn’t speak English.

We stopped at a craft market, but the salesman were so pushy, that I got fed up and went back to the bus. There was a mask or two I was interested in considering, but the hassle was not worth the effort.

The craft vendors were relentless, even after I shut the bus door.

Next stop was lunch. We were all ready for something familiar and ordered pizzas and beer. They tasted pretty good, especially with cold beer.

Street vendors are prolific and accommodating. Choose your lazy boy as you drive by. Part of the city is in the background.

A street vendor peddling cell phones. Everyone is trying to make a buck and the streets can get pretty clogged.

It took some negotiating to get us out of the traffic in the city, but finally, around 3pm, we were on National Highway Number 3 headed for Douala, where the port is located. It is the largest and most commercial city in the country. The landscape along the way is lush green forest and even jungle in some areas. The temperature is warm, but bearable.

Along the way, National Route #3, we chatted among ourselves about travel operators and which ones are good for particular purposes. I made a good list to check out for future adventures. Brian, with 176 countries under his belt and an excellent memory, is a real wealth of information. He has been many places I had never heard of – tiny islands especially. Generally, the group is pretty companionable, in spite of the heat and exhaustion we have experienced.  We all noticed the intense 18 wheeler traffic on the road and soon realized we were on the main artery that connects  the port at Douala on the South Atlantic Ocean with the capital and interior of the country.  It is an endless line of trucks with huge tires.

Before getting to Douala, we stop at a hotel called Hostellerie de la Sanaga on the Sanaga River. Our room has a view of the river, is deliciously cold, mostly clean, has a good firm bed, clean sheets, good pillows, plenty of hot water and good pressure and even a box of condoms in the bathroom much to our amusement. We have dinner next door. It was a fish stir-fry that sounded good, but was not what my, stomach wanted and I could not eat it all. Oh well. We were all happy to slip into the first decent bed we had had in 4 nights.

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Out before breakfast, we went for a bit of a walk around the property. The river is very wide and large with greenery right up to the bank. The breakfast buffet was not much. Made due with a sweet roll and coffee.

On the way to visit the chimps, we pass a rubber plantation with every mature tree being tapped for its latex.

Waited for box lunches to be packed and finally drove off about 8:20 heading for a orphan Chimpanzee Sanctuary. We drove 1.5 hours over a poor dirt and mud road to get to the river boat that will motor us to the sanctuary. Along the road we passed many houses, all occupied, in various states of dilapidation. Then we came to a check point and entered private property owned by SAFECAM, a French Company that operates large rubber and palm tree plantations. We passed through several miles of palm and rubber trees. Stopped and took a few pix and learned that the Palm trees have 3 products; oil, wine and seed oil used for cosmetics. The rubber trees were being worked by several employees, who looked like colored shadows in the twilight of the vast numbers of trees.

A chimp went up to Mark and raised his hands to be held. Mark could not resist.

Finally we reached the boat launch. Just a small motor boat, but we did not go far up river before we arrived at the sanctuary. We were greeted by a handful of people who were mostly volunteers, who come for 2 week stints to help with spending time with the chimps and managing the facility. There are 9 young chimps currently in the sanctuary ranging in age from 1 to 4 years. At the landing where the volunteers sleep and hang out were two little chimps who hang out there all day.

I delight in a young chimp, named Tomat, hugging me and chewing on my chin.

The slightly older chimps are taken to a clearing in the forest a short distance from the river landing every day from 9am to 6pm. Then they return to the clearing where they are housed during the night.

Don, a member of our group, watches as a chimp methodically unbuttoned and rebutted his shirt.

After removing anything that might be grabbed by a chimp, including our glasses, we walked to the clearing where the chimps were and hung out with them for about 45 minutes. Does not seem like a long time, but it was more than enough for all of us. We had chimps crawling all over. They seemed to delight in unbuttoning our shirts and digging into our pockets to see what they might find. It was fun for awhile, especially hugging them when they came up to you wanting to be held. Very much like holding a furry baby.

Mark gets a surprised 65th BD cake while at the gorilla sanctuary. We all had a bite and left the rest for the chimp staff.

Back at the landing area, we had our box lunches: wonderfully simple ham and cheese sandwiches and fruit. Then, Wandji called me aside to show me the cake they had had made for Mark’s birthday, even though the day had passed. It was a nice touch, even with candles that made 65. We all sang the birthday song to Mark and he proceeded to cut the cake into pieces. We each had one bite and left the rest for the volunteer team. Sure hope they liked it.

Then we were back on the boat, and shortly back in the bus and longly driving to Douala. The highway is full of huge 18 wheelers in both directions 24/7. Several trucks are carrying huge old growth logs. We see log yards with huge piles of same and I realize that the harvesting of timber is happening at a great rate. Sure does not look sustainable to me. The government requires sustainable logging, but no one regulates the business.

Old growth logs being hauled to the port for shipment to foreign markets. Even I, a member of a timber family was saddened to see what appeared to be unsustainable harvesting.

We got stuck near the city and very slowly got around a truck stopped in the middle of the road. Finally, we arrived at the Hotel Sawa, our last Cameroonian home for the night. It is ok, but not as nice as the Sanaga, the night before, although it does have a swimming pool and pleasant grounds. We get to our room, put on our suits and head for the pool. It did feel good to cool off. Then we went back to the room and had a dirty clothes stomp in the bathtub. The place looked like a Chinese laundry when we had everything hanging around to dry. To speed up the process, we had snagged beach towels from the pool area so we could wring things out more.

While our clean things dried, we put on our only dry clothes and went to our farewell dinner with our head guide Willy, whom we had not seen for several days. He took us to a fun restaurant over the river and looking out toward the ocean, Le Dernier Comptoir Colonial. There was a lovely constant breeze. With his help we all ordered a really good meal of a fish called Bar. It was served grilled with plantains. I ate it like I would trout. Delicious. That and a scotch and I was set for a good night’s sleep.

Thursday, March 29, 2018 Holy Thursday

Even though this is our last day and all I want to do is relax and write, we meet Willy at 9am for a city tour and one last lunch.

Original German buildings from the years they were in power in the Congo before WWI.

We drove around the oldest part of the city where we say original German buildings and

Paintings of Heroes of the Resistance, both from the Germans and later from the French.

monuments to Heroes of the Resistances, both German and, later, French. Then we stopped at another craft market. At least we were not pushed around so much at this one, but still had no interest in buying anything.  Finally, we stopped at a restaurant Willy wanted us to try.

Our final meal of a traditional spinach, finely ground nuts and onion concoction served with plantains that Willy wanted us to try. I was not up to it, but others said it was good.

The lunch place was outdoors and unpleasantly warm. Willy planned a traditional Cameroonian meal for us. It consisted of a spinach-like green, with a mild taste, finely chopped, ground nuts and sautéed onions mixed and cooked together. Very tiny Camerones shrimp, which are found in the rivers around the city and from which the name, Cameroon, comes, were served on top of the dish. Mark and I did not stay to eat it, as my tummy was not inclined. Very unlike me. Later, Noriko told us it tasted good and she enjoyed the dish. Oh well.

Back at the hotel we packed up our dry laundry and relaxed in our cool room until time for Noriko and the 2 of us to head for the airport. We leave Douala at 4:30pm for a long, late and tiring trip to Entebbe, with a 3+ hour layover in Kigali. We get into Entebbe about 1:50am.

By adventureswithjulia | Posted in 2018 (1) March: Chad / Cameroon / Democratic Republic of the Congo / Netherlands / Germany / France, Adventures | Comments (7)