Adventures with Julia

Monday, October 13, 2025

Sunrise and breakfast at 6am.

The captain motors slowly down river and into the Jari channel, an arm of the Amazon River, to a private home where the owner, a woman named Rosangela, gives us a tour of her forest preserve, which she called the Trail of the Sloth. She pointed out three sloths high in the trees but they were unphotographable. So we have included a photo of a Peruvian sloth you may remember from a post last year.

We also saw a couple of Potoo, nocturnal owl-like birds, though not related, that were asleep high in the trees. We were able to photo its backside. It feeds on insects and makes a very loud sound.

Of considerable interest were Sapucaia, Monkey pod trees, that are huge. The trees give great shade and produce huge fruits that are woody, pot-like and suitable for a monkey to use. Each fruit contains many edible nuts. The tree is a tropical hardwood used for making furniture, curing stomach aches and treating blood pressure problems.

Other things we saw include

Back on the boat I learned about the Brazilian flag. The words on the flag say “order and progress” in Brazilian. Green is for forests, yellow is for mineral wealth, blue is for the sky. The 26 stars below the text are for the 26 states and are displayed as they were on 11/15/1889 in Rio the day of the founding of the republic. The single star above the words is for the state of Pará, the last state added and the largest territory north of the equator. Interesting flag.

We spent more time on the beach and in the warm water trying to stay cool. Had a nice salad lunch and more beach time until 4:30 when we went ashore to visit the Coroca community. In this village there are 23 families with 70 people.

A middle aged man met us and told us we were about to visit a turtle conservancy, a stingless bee farm making honey and a small, palm frond industry making colored grasses that are then woven into crafts for sale. They also made tie dye shirts as a gift for us.

We walked to a small holding tank where 500 turtles are kept separate for several months while they grow. Each turtle produces 90 eggs a year, resulting in 3000 baby turtles per year. 80% are let go into the river and 20% are moved into a large pond where 5000 turtles are kept to reproduce. There are all sizes, with turtles up to 28 years of age. We watched the turtle keeper feed the turtles a bucket full of pellets.

From there another man led us to an area where stingless bees are kept in several boxes. He opened one box and extracted a syringe full of liquid honey for me to sample. It was delicious. Then he sealed up the box and told us the honey is harvested each year from September to November at the rate of half a liter per box per month. The bees extract sap from trees as there is very little flowering fruit growing in the forest.

The community makes crafts from a special palm tree called a Tucuma. The palm fronds are dyed different colors—primarily red, blue and yellow—to be woven into different objects for sale. Another man made tie dyed shirts in the vats of boiling dye for us. Mine will be red and Mark’s will be yellow. Meanwhile, we bought some soap and a small jar of honey. Hope we get it home without breaking it.

During our walks through the forest we learned about many different trees. The more important ones include:

Açaí, a tree which produces many tiny purple fruits that, when the pulp is boiled off the seeds, tastes like dirt, according to Mark. It tastes somewhat better with lots of tapioca popcorn and sugar. However, it is much better as ice cream, which we had after dinner.

Another tree is the Jungle Cacau.

Later in the day we visited another Community called Atodi. They are an industrious community as they run a hammock hostel, maintain a school for their children, cultivate medicinal plants and sell medicinal products, and operate a library project called, Vagalume, which means “firefly”. The community has 48 families and 143 people.

We met the management team of the community, toured the hammock hostel, visited the school and listened as the students reading to us from the book, “The Giving Tree” by Shel Silverstein.

One member of the team, Neucimar, stayed with me as we toured the community. At one point she put red dye from a plant called Urucun on my face and I wore it the rest of the day. She posed for me against a wall of indigenous art. At the end of the tour we all ended up near the beach at a table full of special cassava snacks and crafts. We tasted the snacks and gave the crafts a pass. The team prepared a flower shower ceremony that took us by surprise. We marched to the edge of the river and water with the smell of flowers was poured over our heads. It did smell like flowers, though there were no flowers in the water. Apparently flowers are allowed to soak in the water for hours and the removed. Fortunately, we were very hot and the water was cooling. It was time to say good bye and Neucimar and I gave each other a big hug.

Back at the boat, we had lunch and an hour to relax before visiting another community. This time it was to learn how cassava is processed.

In the community called São Marcos, which has 13 families with 50 people and is set up to manufacture cassava flour, as well as tapioca and tucupi sauce for community use. There are 2 species of cassava, one of which is poisonous, which is the one these people use to produce flour. The non-poisonous cassava is eaten without being processed.

The first step in making cassava flour is to peal the roots, wash and then grind them.

Next add water and squeeze out the liquid by hand into a pot that will eventually become, tapioca and tucupi sauce. Meanwhile, peel a batch of cassava root that has been soaking for 3 days and is about 1/3rd the size of the first batch.

Hand mix the two batches together and squeeze the mash into a tipiti, a long woven tube made of jacatana palm leaves.

Once all the cassava is in the tube, hang it from a post, slip a long pole through the loop in the bottom of the tipiti, secure the pole to a notch in bottom of the post and apply weight to the pole. Water will pour out of the tipiti for some time as more weight is applied.

When no more water comes out, remove the cassava from the tipiti, put it through a shaker to loosen the fruit, then cook it stirring constantly until it is completely dry. Finally, aerate the flour to remove the dust. At that point you have edible cassava flour and the poison is gone. The process took two hours and we were ready to get back to the boat, and the beach.

This was the last and special evening for us and the boat crew. It started at 7:30 when we walked off the boat in the dark and onto the beach, which had been transformed into an oasis.

Luminaries lit our path to a sofa excavated out of sand and covered with fabric and pillows. When we sat on it we were tickled to experience a sofa on the beach. Milena served us cocktails and we enjoyed the scene with palm fronds placed in the sand as trees, luminaries everywhere and our table prepared behind the sofa.

Soon we had dinner with a very delicious fish called Tambaqui that had been barbecued perfectly and was served with a variety of side dishes. Such an event is called a Piracaia, or “fish bar-b-que on the beach”. After dinner, Carlos started music playing and the dancing began.

Finally, the evening ended and we were off to bed.

Tomorrow will we have breakfast, enjoy the final leg of the boat ride, disembark and head for the Santarem airport.

Tuesday, October 7, 2025

Departed Salvador in mid afternoon and arrived in San Luis about 5:30. Hit the road in a 4-wheel drive truck for what we learned would be a 4 hour ride to Casa Oia, a hacienda near a town called Santo Amaro. Our driver spoke no English and our guide, Pedro, also known as Salim Rosa, made up for it as he talked non-stop. We did learn a bunch of information about his personal life as well as some details of interest to us.

Half way into the very dark drive on a fairly rough road, we pulled into a crowded truck stop and had a beer and a piece of pizza for $1.87. Cheapest food ever. Back on the road, Pedro kept talking, but refused to tell us about where we were going. So, at 8:45pm we arrived at a grass-covered, open-walled building and were met by the manager, who told us dinner was ready. So, without seeing the room, we had a tasty seafood risotto dish on an open veranda. To get to our air conditioned room in a separate building we trudged through sand. The outside air was very pleasant with a slight breeze. Mark suggested it felt sensuous. How nice. The room, however, felt cold. We were soon in bed with the lights off.

The history we learned from Pedro was that the French landed on a beach in San Luis Island in 1612 and started to build a settlement and a fort to honor King Louis XIII. In 1615 the Portuguese challenged the French, and, with fewer men but superior firepower, they beat the French in the battle called Guaxenduba that lasted only an afternoon. The area we are staying is east of San Luis and is called Lencois Maranhenses National Park, which is what our program says we have come to see. The park is 600 square miles in size and borders three towns including Santo Amaro, where we are staying. Maranhao state is part of the NE region of Brazil. It is mostly agricultural with soybeans and rice being the major products, 100% of which goes to China. There are 26 states and 1 federal district in Brazil.

In the top of the North East state of Maranhao, you will see the island of Sao Luis where the French lost the region to the Portuguese. Our adventure takes place just a bit east of Sao Luis near the town of Santo Amaro at a grass covered Hacienda called Casa Oia. We arrived at 8:45pm, met the manager and were escorted directly to dinner. I was not hungry, but could not resist the delicious seafood risotto. Then we walked through a sand pathway to our room and went directly to bed.

Wednesday, October 8, 2025

We were up early and out by 7am to see where we were. It looked like scrub brush to us and not interesting. After walking around a bit and enjoying a nice breakfast, we were told to wear our bathing suits as well as a cover up.

At 9am, we climbed into safari seats in the back of a pickup truck. Pedro joined us along with a driver and local guide. Off we went through the scrub land and grass plains, which eventually morphed into polar-white sand dunes, heading for a shallow, rain water lake. It took 40 minutes driving over the dunes to reach the pretty, warm water lake. By then the surprise was wearing off and we understood why our travel agent had sent us here. The scenery was otherworldly, never mind the intense wind that pelted our bodies with sand.

We waded in a good distance to get wet up to our waste, while the guys set up a shade cloth, chairs, towels and a table with snacks. They disappeared in the truck while we enjoyed the beach almost alone. An hour of sun and wind-swept sand pelting us was enough. The crew returned and we went back to the Casa Oia to cool down and get out of the wind. Lunch of local garden fresh greens and hake was served outdoors in the shade about 1pm.

In the late afternoon we rode ATV’s through the dunes and got some really nice images. Hard to decide what to keep.

Dinner was served at a table for 2 in the vegetable garden. The appetizer was a mini pumpkin stuffed with mushrooms, cheese and soft pumpkin and the entree was king prawns covered with tapioca popcorn, sautéed vegetables and black rice with mango. Delicious. Then—our usual routine—back to the room, get ready for bed and soon, fast asleep.

Thursday, October 9, 2025—our 32nd anniversary

Mark remembered our anniversary, while I thanked him for remembering. Oh well. Maybe I will remember one day.

After our experiences of the day before, we were ready for the day’s activities—A long drive to a different lake and a hour to swim and relax by the shore under a shade cover provided by our drive crew. We hoped for privacy on this lake, but, just like the day before, groups of other people appeared and took up space around the lake. I was feeling possessive, but realized that the lake was more than big enough for everyone there. We took lots of photos along the way and are struggling to keep only the best ones.

Back at camp for lunch at 2 under a cluster of cashew nut trees decorated with colored streamers, we were served a good beef stew along with rice, cassava, okra greens, fried egg and tapioca-coated plantain, my favorite part.

At 5pm we drove a short distance to a river and climbed into a 30-foot open boat for a ride to a sundowner on a sand dune. It was a 10 minute walk from where we got out of the boat to the sand dune where we watched the sun go down.

Unfortunately no alcohol is allowed in the park so Mark had put some booze in his water container and we had a real sundowner. We also got some nice photos. Back on the boat, the water was so shallow that we kept getting stuck in the sand. The boatman had to get into the water and push us several times. I felt sorry for him, but he seemed not to mind.

The day was not over. The manager told us dinner was to be a luau and to get ready for a 20 minute drive. Left camp at 7:40 and drove through the sand dunes in the dark. I felt very uncomfortable being in the dunes after dark, but the driver knew exactly where he was going and finally we saw lights in the sand. There was no luau, but a small table set for regular dinners. There was one other couple and ourselves. The meal consisted of crackers with baba ghanoush as a starter and mashed pumpkin with dried beef for the entree. We learned that this “luau” is served most evenings to different couples. While we ate, the waining moon rose over a tall sand dune. A nice, unexpected touch. there was just enough wind to keep us from relaxing and after an hour we were ready to leave. Fortunately, the other couple was ready to go also.

Friday, October 10, 2025

Travel day. Up 6, out at 9.

This photo should have been sent during our Rio segment, but I think it is important enough to send it now. It is a photo of baked heart of palm as it is presented in restaurants in southern Brazil. You cut it, pull a piece out of the stalk with your fork and eat. Quite delicious and very different than what we get from a jar in California.

Thursday’s October 2, 2025

We departed Paraty at 8am with new driver named Sassa, who had lived in the states for several years and spoke good English. As we drove along the coast headed for Rio we learned about him and other details he shared about Brazil. There are 27 states in Brazil. 17 million people live in the state of Rio and 5.5 million live in the city. 15% of the Rio population is very poor and live in more than 700 favelas, each of which consists of jerry-built shacks packed together on the outskirts of Brazilian cities. They have some electricity and water, but most often, no sewer. Pretty miserable conditions, compounded by drug gangs that steal, fight and hurt people. Sassa warned us to stay away from the favelas. Sounded good to us. He told us the minimum wage in Brazil is $300 per month and 27% of the population of the country live below the poverty line. Not even close enough to live on. Rio alone received 1 million slaves, while the entire US received only 800 thousand. Interesting statistic.

Soon we arrived at the home and gardens of Burle Marx, a famous landscape architect. On arrival we met our Rio guide, Mica, who joined us on our tour of the gardens. The garden guide was a man named Mateo. We learned much from him as we walked through the garden, park and buildings.

Turns out Burle Marx was a versatile fellow of many talents including painting, tile design and piano playing, as well as landscape design. He purchased 98 acres of land near Rio in 1949 and converted it into a lovely park and garden over many years. He was able to move onto the property in 1963 and lived there until his death in 1994 at the age of 84, without finishing his labor of love. He did give the property to the government, which has maintains the grounds and opened them to the public. His landscape talent and ideas spread around the country and he is famous throughout Brazil and internationally.

Brazil has 11% of the world’s 350,000 plant species, the most of any country.

The plants and names are listed here as best I can remember them.

In addition to the gardens we toured the buildings Marx used including his home and work spaces. We saw his ceramic collection, his piano and his own paintings.

Finally, we arrived at our hotel, the Fasano Rio de Janeiro. The room is not large, but it has a wonderful view overlooking Ipanema Beach and is interestingly laid out to take advantage of the tight space. In the triangular hallway is a stuffed chair in the shape of a woman. Mark took advantage of the opportunity.

After the garden tour, we had lunch a favorite place of Mica’s. The super dish we had was called Moquech, or Shrimp Stew. Excellent.

After lunch we drove to Sugarloaf mountain and rode 2 cable cars to the top for views of the city and The Redeemer. Mica paid $70 each for us to have VIP benefits. It was near dusk when we arrived and the platform was full of young people partying. We quickly checked out all the view locations using our VIP tickets to cut through the lines, and left. It was too crowded for our taste.

Friday , October 3, 2025

We met Mica at 8am for a very long day of sightseeing. First we drove through the city to the foot of hill where the Christ the Redeemer is located. On the way Mica talked about the Portuguese coming to Brazil. The Portuguese king when the country was colonized was John VI. He was followed by Peter I who declared independence from Portugal. His son Peter II was the longest reigning king and was good for Brazil as he promoted science and the arts. It was a cultural time. However, on 11/15/1889, Peter II was overthrown and exiled to Paris by a Coup d’ etat. Frequent coup d. etats occurred over the next several years. Then Balsonaro was elected President. Today, Lula is president. Regardless of popularity, he and Balsonaro appear to be the only two electable politicians at the moment, even though Balsonaro has been banned from running.

At the bottom of the Redeemer hill is the platform for the cable car. We paid $40 each and managed to get good seats in the car with Mica’s direction. No VIP tickets were available. The cable car passed through the world’s largest replanted urban forest. 100 thousand trees were planted by 11 slaves over 13 years under the direction of Peter II between 1861 and 1874.

Mica is a musician who sings and plays drums, writes and records music. So it was no surprise that he believes black culture permeates the country and that “Samba music is the father of pleasure and the son of pain“ He made samba sounds all day long. Fortunately, samba is very pleasant to listen to.

At the top Redeemer platform we threaded our way through the crowds to get vantage points. At 6’4” tall Mica was very good at that. And he knew all the best places to take photos.

We learned that the body of the statue was completed in 1931 by a collaboration of people; the head and hands were made in France by a French artist and shipped to Rio; the workers signed their names on the back of the Redeemer’s heart that they you can see in the photos.

The statue is 98 feet tall, the pedestal is 24 feet and the span from hand to hand is 92 feet. The statue weighs 2500 lbs. It is hollow except for a staircase. A lightening strike nicked the tip of the long finger on the left hand. It is barely noticeable. It was last cleaned in 2010. 2.5 million people visit the statue each year, 6.8 thousand each day. The Catholic Church, which owns the property, is doing very well.

On the way down, we captured a photo of a nearby favela and a pretty yellow plant called a shrimp flower.

From the Redeemer, Sassa drove us by several lookout points looking over interesting neighborhoods, favelas, small neighborhood clothing stores and art galleries. We stopped in one gallery where we could not help ourselves and purchased a painting by a local artist. I also bought some clothes, for which I have almost no room. Eventually we stopped for lunch at Territorio Aprazivel, meaning Pleasant territory, and had a wonderful fresh heart of palm. Again, I forgot to photograph it. We had never seen an actual heart of palm in its casing and cooked to eat right out of the shell. Very unique. Hope I get another chance to photograph one.

At 3:30pm we arrived at the Carnival Experience Warehouse for a tour of the facility. Boy were we in for surprises and treats. Met by a professional lady dancer, we were told all about the history of carnival going back to 1932 and shown parts of the current construction for the next carnival. After giving us the information, she had us dress in last year’s costumes, participate in a dance with other professionals, learn to play some samba drum music and have hats made for each of us. Mica enjoyed watching us make fools of ourselves and took way too many photos. It was all good fun as well as informative. We watched snap shots of last year’s parade.

There are 5 different major groups, with 12 clubs in each group. Each club creates a theme, designs and builds 5 floats as part of their theme, hires 3000 costumed participants in addition to primary performers and people on each float. The parade lasts 1 hour and 20 minutes with participants traveling along a straight stretch of roadway with bleachers on both sides. The top winners on the first day, repeat the parade a second day with winners being announced at the end of the second day. The cost for each production is about $4.5 million.

I picked up a couple more flowers on the way back to the hotel. We grabbed a bite in the hotel bar on the top floor and went to bed. It had been a very pleasant, yet long, day.

Saturday, October 4, 2025

Our one day without guides or an itinerary. Slept in and hung out in the room watching the Ipanema Beach scene. Went for a walk in the afternoon and had an early and delicious dinner at Zaza Bistro, a few blocks down the street. It was another good recommendation by Mica. Walked back o the room and packed to depart early in the am for Salvador.

We never found Hope and Crosby. Guess they moved on.

Monday, September 29, 2025

I had no idea about the aquifer until we arrived in Iguacu. Hope you enjoy this image of it.

The Falls are spectacular in every way—size, volume, sound, area. No wonder my parents were impressed. We got to stand where I believe they stood for a photo.

We were so engrossed in our dinner last evening that I forgot to take any photos. The chef, Fabio Dall Antonia Taveira, met us upon arrival at his home, gave us a tour of his garden, and escorted us into his dining room overlooking his kitchen. All the while he was chatting away about the garden and asking questions about us. He was very charming from the moment we met him. We sat at the only table preset for us and sipped on our first drink, while he told us his personal history.

Born in São Paulo, he first studied music and still plays the sax, but eventually he transitioned into cooking, studied to become a chef and worked in many places before finally settling on catering private meals for tourists. His focus is on the history and preparation of Brazilian cuisine. While we tasted each creation he presented, he shared the history behind the food and the ingredients in each dish. He even shared how to make cassava palatable. Fortunately, he did not serve us much of that indigenous food, which was part of the first course. Other courses included a fish stew, a roasted Tucupi duck and a Portuguese dish called Feijoada, a bean dish which reminded me of the same dish served to us by Dad’s family when we visited the Azores with my parents in 1997. The dessert was a condensed milk flan that even Mark liked. After two and a half hours we finally finished our history lesson and dinner, complete with a musical performance by Fabio. Our driver was waiting and we departed.

If you want to read more about Fabio and his cuisine, here is a link to try; http://www.brazilianfoodtales.com

Today we flew back to São Paulo. From there we took a flight on a King Air 200 to Paraty, which is on the coast slightly south of São Paulo on the map.

Arrived in Paraty approximately 2pm and were picked up by our next guide, Rodrigo. Our hotel was only 5 minutes away in this small colonial town of approximately 20,000. Our hotel is called Literaria Pousada. After checking in, Rodrigo joined us as we ate a light lunch. He told us about our activities for the next few days and then we went for a leisurely walk about the nearly deserted town. Apparently it exists exclusively for the tourist trade and we are here on the edge of the season. We have had perfect weather since we arrived in South America and it is wonderful this day too. Sunny, warm, a light freeze and no bugs.

The only problem for me is the uneven cobblestone steps that constitute the surface of every street and walkway. Thankfully Rodrigo held my arm the whole time. After a couple of hours we were ready to get off our feet and headed back to our room. Felt good to stop moving.

At 6:30 we walked to our recommended restaurant, Banana Da Terra. I had a delicious sea bass cooked in a banana sauce, while Mark had sea bass baked and served with risotto. We were both very satisfied. Walking back to the hotel, we found the streets finally busy and the stores and eateries all open. The town came to life. We stumbled our way back to the hotel and settled in for the evening.

Paraty is a Portuguese colonial town that developed next to a perfectly protected bay from which the Portuguese shipped the gold they found in Brazil back to Europe. It is also a port where slaves were brought from Africa. Brazil received the largest number of African people as slaves—4 million.

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

This Brazilian monkey, a Sanqui, tried to join us for breakfast.

After a stressful and frustrating start getting Ugandan visas, this month long adventure has worked out very happily. We had a good time visiting with Jonathan and staying at 2 of his properties. Connecting with our goddaughter, Juliana, was a delight. We are pleased to see her pursuing a medical career. We both deepened our relationships with her. We enjoyed the bit of time we had with Anivious, the young Batwa lady we sponsor, and we enjoyed spending time with Kellermann Foundation people, especially Scott, and meeting the Dental Vision construction crew. It was a pleasure connecting with some of the other donors and especially the bishop. Although the clinic is not finished, it will be reasonably soon and we will see it in action when we return in a year.

Kenya was full of people new to us, but several are now familiar friends. Our guide, Claire; our helicopter pilot, Andy; Claire’s husband, Rod, and their friends Wendy and Rob; property managers, Amory and Karina.

We hope to spend more time with all of them….again …..sometime.

It was difficult to download videos so I have chosen the two that would transmit plus some of our favorite stills. Hopefully you will enjoy them as much as we have.

Happy trails,

Julia and Mark

Friday, May 16, 2025

While staying at Mogwooni Homestead with Claire and Rod Jones, we learned a lot about them over the days we had together. Besides Rod’s rose business and his interest in lawn bowling, we learned Claire has a cheese business using the milk received from some 40 goats she owns. Her staff manage the goats and make a variety of feta cheeses, which she sells to commercial enterprises. She maintains a large garden for their household use as well as chickens. She hopes to sell the cheese business this year and have more free time. She loves her safari business and plans to keep doing that.

Friends of theirs, Wendy and Rob, came for lunch one day and stayed for the afternoon to play lawn bowling with us. They were delightful company and the six of us had a grand time.

Sunday, May 18, 2025

Finally, we began the helicopter portion of our Kenya trip. We lifted off from Claire’s Mogwooni home at 7:20 and flew an hour north to a clearing in the forest where a group of Pokot tribal people met us to perform a ceremonial dance. Claire had arranged the performance of a wedding ceremony and about 100 tribe members showed up.

They started with a blessing with everyone seated and shortly thereafter the dancing started and lasted for about an hour.

It was a delightful experience as we were the only observers and the dancers performed as if we were not there, which was perfect. We got many photographs. They all seemed pleased to be there and had fun dancing.

We learned that the Pokot are farmers and pastoralists. They have developed skills in pottery and metal work. Tribal elders make all the decisions for the tribe, including marriage. Women have no say in anything and circumcision is common. The Potoc clan is approximately 200 years old and clan history is handed down orally.

By 9:30 we were back in the helicopter and headed for a coffee break on the rim of the Silale crater in the Great Rift Valley. The temperature was heating up but was not yet unbearable.

After coffee, we continued up the Seguta Valley along the Seguta River and on up to Koros camp. The camp is about an hour south of Lake Turkana by car, if you are looking at the map.

Andy made a stop on a large sand dune in a dune field that was very interesting to see as it rolled on. The temperature was over 100 degrees and so hot our feet were burning through our shoes. Glad to be back in the AC in the helicopter, we flew over a Samburu village and then on to our next camp, called Koros.

The meadow was full of purple/blue flowers. After an hour we headed further north to the southern edge of Lake Turkana, where we landed on the shore next to Amory and Kaitlin’s boat. They keep it there to use with guests, primarily for fishing Nile perch, and had driven up early to provision it with lunch and drinks. We all jumped on board and Amory headed into the lake at a good clip. The water was rough and unpleasant for me, but he slowed down and Karina ran out two fishing lines. Soon Mark had one but it was too small at 4 kilo. Then he caught another one that was 25 kilo. We agreed to keep that one and have it for dinner. Amory found a pleasant lunch spot on South Island in Lake Turkana, under a shady tree next to a sandy beach. So we all went swimming, trusting there were no crocks nearby, and enjoyed individual chicken pies and drinks. While we fished, Andy relocated the helicopter to our lunch spot so we could fly away after lunch.

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

There are no bugs or mosquitos. In fact, we have seen very few bugs on the whole trip and no snakes, thankfully.

We learned that there are about 310,000 Samburu people, 826,000 Pokot, and 1 million Turkana people living on different tribal lands in northern Kenya. There are 50 million Kenyans in the country. Koros is in the Samburu region. The air is very hot, but the camp is in the trees and pleasant.

We watched birds from the dining area and chatted with the camp managers, Karina and Amory. They have managed this camp for 6 years and are happy living in the wild. They own several quad bikes and have a fishing boat on Lake Turkana, so they can provide activities for guests. There are 7 cabins, but only one party is allowed at a time. So we have the place to ourselves.

Late in the afternoon we went on a quad ride to a sundowner in the woods. Amory had us bouncing across dry mud fields at a good clip. It was a fun, but dusty ride.

Monday, May 19, 2025

We are in the helicopter at 6:40 for an early start to beat the heat. We headed for a section of rock wall that contains several ancient petroglyphs and get to see a few before the temp hits 100F.

From there we flew to the Lothagam Fault between 2 volcanic ridges. At the north Lothagam Pillar burial site, 42 human remains were found in one site. There are many burial mounds, but most have not been excavated due to cost.

We take several photos of the area and stop to look for fossils. We find several ancient fish bone fossils, but nothing human. The temp is only 98F at 10:30am.

Our next stop was the top of Mt Nyiru, which is at about 8,500 feet and much cooler. Andy landed on a pretty green meadow at 8,100 feet and we enjoyed a very pleasant coffee break.

It was so hot, we determined to go swimming in the camp dipping pool. It felt delicious so we stayed in the water a good while.

Dinner was served at 8pm and included very tasty Nile perch as well as several side dishes. Again, we went to bed directly after dinner.

Thursday, May 15, 2025

Coffee at 7 and in the Land Cruiser by 7:30 for a long game drive. Except for a coffee and biscuit break, we did not stop until returning to camp at 3.

We headed south to the only bridge over the Galana River and then north and deeper into the park. We were looking for anything of interest we might find and we ended up finding a lot.

First we stopped for some plants I was interested in identifying: caccia, small yellow flowers on a mid sized bush; triaspie niedenzuiana, which looks a bit like a snapdragon and comes in white, lilac or pink; and japvanica, a plant used for stuffing pillows.

After crossing the bridge we walked out to see Lagards Falls, which had been named in 1888 by Captain Lagard. Brown, but beautiful.

Soon we were seeing animals and identified: a gerenuk, a black headed lapwing, an Oryx, Grants Gazelle, a very dark giraffe, a bird and a shy female lion.

We stopped to have tea under a tree that we learned the tree was housing a monitor lizard in a hole five feet up the trunk.

In the far end of the pond were a maribou stork, a few wholly-necked storks, a couple of grey heron. Finally, we left that scene and passed by another watering hole filled with female elephants and their babies. By then it was getting late so we drove back to camp for lunch and a swim in the pool.

At 5:30 we were off again for our night drive. We were determined to repeat our path of two nights earlier where we had seen approximately 20 spotted eagle owls during our drive. Rollem drove really fast for a game drive and I wondered why until we reached a pretty sandy beach on the bank of the Galana River and saw an unusual sundowner set up with chairs, pillows, blankets and cushions next to a full bar with snacks as well as drinks.

We sat there until well after sunset thoroughly enjoying ourselves. Eventually we drove slowly back to camp watching for signs of life.

We spotted a flock of guinea foul and I managed a reasonable photo of this very elusive bird.

Unlike the other evening when we saw 20 owls, we only saw 7 spotted-eagle owls, all in the beam of our car lamp. The one on the left has a small animal in its claw.

One was eating a catch and another pair were getting on together. Then we saw another lioness on the hunt, 3 African wild cats (the size of house cats), and one elephant shrew (a small mouse). No photos.

All in all, a very good day. We were all satisfied at dinner and headed for bed by 9:30.

Thursday, May 8, 2025

After Jonathan departed River Station, we hung out until 11am and departed ourselves. We boated across the channel to Katunguru and transferred to a Land Cruiser driven by Julius, our driver for the next several days. After a very bumpy 4 hour drive on rain damaged dirt roads we reached Buhoma, the town where the Bwindi Community Hospital is located. We were booked into the BCH Guest House and glad to have the driving behind us for a while.

We were no sooner moved into our room, when we met up with other people arriving for the dedication of the Dental/Vision Clinic. We visited a bit and then headed to the clinic to see how it looked. It was disappointing to me as the place is decidedly unfinished. We walked through all the rooms in spite of the muddy and sticky floors. The ceilings were done, exterior window frames and doors installed and the terrazzo floors not quite finished. There was rough plumbing and electrical, but no finishing details inside or out.

The contractor showed up and told me that he expects to be done in a month. I am not convinced, but I cannot control the outcome.

Shortly before dinner, Juliana, our 21 year old goddaughter, arrived and we happily sat together for dinner and a good visit. She has just finished her first year of University and is volunteering at BCH for her break time. Unfortunately, the dining room is very noisy when full of people so we had a hard time hearing each other.

The room we were booked into, called Blacky Shacky, is very basic. Only cold water in the sink, trickle of water in the shower, no shampoo, 2 tiny pieces of soap, thin queen size mattress, windows with no screens, a toilet that does not accept paper and a bare stone floor. We knew it would be basic when we made the arrangements, but wanted to be near the other dedication attendees. And it is only for 4 nights. We were in bed early and drifted right off to sleep.

Friday, May 9, 2025

We joined other guests for breakfast and then all walked to the D/V Clinic to give it a thorough look. Having rained heavily during the night, the walk to the clinic was exceptionally muddy, and so the clinic was very muddy too. Ugh!

This was a work day for Juliana, so it was the perfect day to visit Anivious, the Mutwa girl we sponsor. She is the same age as Juliana, but she will be a sophomore in high school. The difference between them is significant. Juliana is average size, charming and outgoing and speaks good English. Anivious is a tiny person, very shy and speaks English poorly. They are both good students, however. Unfortunately we did not get a photo of her.

At lunch time, Mark and I walked to the street vendor,Susan, who sells samosas. We buy them from her every time we are in town and she remembered us cheerfully. We enjoyed a beef and a veg samosa each. Then Scott toured Mark and me through the pediatric department to show us his plans to improve that wing of the hospital.

The afternoon was very relaxed.

At 5:30, Scott, Juliana, Julius, our driver, and I went to a place new to us for dinner, called Buhoma Lodge. I had veg lasagne and the 4 of them had pork roulad. We had a good time together, but the dinner was mediocre in my book.

Saturday, May 10, 2025

Finally got my hair washed in our frugal shower and dressed for the Dedication. After breakfast everyone assembled in front of the D/V Clinic at 9:30.

The BCH choir sang How Great Thou Art and To God Be the Glory. It was lovely. Then Dr Charlotte welcomed everyone. Laura, the Kellermann Foundation ED, Rick lead Rotarian, Debbie from Isle of Man, Scott spoke about Lavonne, Stacey about vision care, and I said something, but can’t remember what.

After the simple dedication at the clinic, everyone walked to the graduation grounds for the 4th UNSB (Uganda Nursing School Bwindi) ceremony. 220 students were graduating and there was much falderal.

Many speeches by the bishop, ministers, professors and politicians. Scott gave a humorous talk. There was also a lot of singing and dancing and way too much rain. By the time we left, mud was everywhere and the graduates had not yet received their diplomas.

Everyone was served a boxed lunch of rice, matoke and chicken. I could eat only a part of it.

Spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on the guest house porch typing and chatting with other dedication attendees.

Scott, Juliana, Julius and I went back to the Buhoma Lodge for cocktails and visited with many other Kellermann folks who had the same idea. Finally we returned to the Guest House for a light dinner and bed.

Sunday, My 11, 2025

The church service began at 8am with the choir singing hymns. The minister arrived and began making comments while people filed into the BCH chapel. There were several speeches by different KF members including me. I chose to have Juliana join me and share the reading. It went very well and I learned that Juliana has a good public speaking voice.

The service went on for over 3 hours, but Mark, Juliana and I slipped away after 2.5 hours. Enough was more than enough.

Around 11am we joined a group of fellow muzungus, ie white people, on a Batwa Experience walk through the woods with periodic stops to learn aspects of Batwa life before they were expelled from the forest.

We learned about the different plants they used for medical problems and about the foods they ate, which included mostly small animals. We learned how they used traps and snares as well as bows and arrows to catch animals. They did not hunt gorillas, but sometimes a gorilla got caught in one of their snares.This was part of why they were expelled from the forest. They did not cook their food, but ate it raw and fresh. At one point we were invited to try out a bow and arrows to see if we could hit a target they wet. We all tried, but only 2 of us succeeded. By then it was raining again and Mark and I hiked back to camp at a good clip. We missed the musical part of the Experience.

At 12:30 we departed Buhoma with Julius and Juliana and followed Scott with the Lipperts. They were headed for the Kihiihi airport and we were headed for the Savannah Lodge next to the airport. After dropping the Lipperts at the airport, Scott joined us at the Savannah and we drove on to the Congo refugee camp near Kihihi, called the United Nations for High Commission Refugees UNHCR. Scott wanted us to see what a refugee camp looked like.

The people did not look much different than the Ugandans we had been around. They looked a bit lost, especially with nothing to do, but were not starving as they receive a modest meal. They did not feel safe to return home and said they would not go back. We were thronged, but not pushed or grabbed. Many smiled when we did and answered questions that Julius asked in Swahili, which he speaks fluently.

Finally, Scott signaled for us to leave and we piled into the Land Cruiser and drove away with many people looking as us forlornly. Very sad prospects for the thousands of refugees currently in Uganda.

Back at the lodge, we had dinner, talked awhile and went to bed.

Monday, May 12, 2025

At breakfast at 7am, the 5 of us enjoyed our last visit together and drove to the airstrip. The plane was on time and Mark and I flew to Nairobi at 9am.

Saturday, May 3, 2025

We arrived in Entebbe on Thursday, May 1 and were met by our friend and long time Ugandan guide, Jonathan Wright. After some hassle getting through immigration with our new visas, we sat at the airport another hour waiting for our rented Cessna 210 to be readied for our 1 1/2 hour flight to Bungugu airstrip in North Central Uganda. The pilot flew us over miles and miles of forested landscape, finally depositing us in the middle of the Murchison Falls National Park. A car was waiting for us and took us the last hour and a half to Pappa’s Camp on the White Nile River at an elevation of 2025 feet. Finally, after 3 days of delays, we are at our first destination on this adventure, a real tented safari camp, complete with a bucket shower.

The river is only a few steps from our tent and rages as it makes a bend just in front of our tent flap. Mark and I are in heaven with the rushing river drowning our tinnitus. A lovely hand made ravioli dinner was a satisfying meal after a long day even if we did not finish until 10pm.

Friday, May 2, Mark and I slept in, missing our first game drive opportunity. For once neither of us minded. It felt good to slow down. After breakfast, we watched about 16 hippo’s cavorting in the eddy next to the community tent. Late in the afternoon, Jonathon took us on a game drive in the park.

The park is populated with Ungulates called Uganda Kob, water buffalo, and several lions, which must be in heaven, their prey is so readily available. In addition to the large herds, we saw Rothschild giraffe, wart hog, hyena, side-striped jackal, and a variety of birds, including a favorite of mine, the night jar.

These are 2 of 4, month old cubs. Below are a boy and girl about 3 years old, who have been named Phil and Mimi.

The cats were most notable because we saw them in several small family groups—a mother with 2 one year olds, a mother with 4 babies, a brother and sister pair about 4 years old, and several single females.

But the dominant male was not to be found. During the drive we stopped for a sundowner drink and managed to get back to camp well after dark. The hope for a cat hunt did not materialized. The Kob here isn’t concerned about the sleepy lion.

A nice curry dinner was again served late, but we managed to get to bed by 10pm.

Good thing, because we were up at 5:15 for the morning game drive on Saturday, May 3. We saw all the same animals we had seen the day before, and we heard the male rumble, but could not find it. By 9am we arrived at a preset outdoor breakfast and were treated to wrapped omelettes full of goodies and called a Rolex. We learned that the Rolex is a very popular breakfast dish in Uganda.

As breakfast was served beside the Nile, it seemed like a good opportunity to do some fishing. I watched while Mark cast his line into the river many times before giving up. Finally we were back in our tent and had delightful bucket showers. Mark’s was cold, so I waited for hot water to be delivered and luxuriated under the warm spray while listening to birds singing in the tree above. We relaxed until a late lunch was served—tilapia for me and Jonathon and pasta for Mark. At 5pm we gathered for another game drive. The same lions and more were scattered about the countryside. They all looked very healthy and content in a world of thousands of easy to capture Kob.

Shortly before dark we encountered a group of giraffe, called a “tower”. We counted 15 animals of different sizes. They too looked very healthy. After dark, we passed a large porcupine lumbering along the road. Lightening and thunder threatened us most of the way back to camp, but we managed to get almost through an outdoor BBQ dinner before the storm drenched everyone. We grabbed our plates and drinks and finished eating indoors. Shortly after dinner, we grabbed a large umbrella and headed for our room and bed. I’m not sure which I like better, the sound of the river or the rain.

While at Pappa’s Camp, Mark and I met Marcia McIntosh and Nick Okeyo, seasoned safari builders who usually work their magic across Kenya. They’ve been in Uganda for a short stint working for Jonathon on a new game lodge next to Papa’s Camp and have joined us on game drives and kept us company at meal times.

Sunday, May 4, 2025.

Breakfast was served outdoors beside a fire pit on the bank of the Nile. We shared our last meal with Marcia and Nick, climbed into the land cruiser with Jonathon and headed for the Bungugu airstrip.