Elephants - and elephant babies

Sunday 23rd June

Trying to fit some time into the day for writing this blog is a bit of a challenge. So much happening.

We are a group of 6 – nice size. There are Lyn and Ross from Perth, and Bruce and Boris from  Halifax, nova Scotia. We seem to have blended really well – all of similar age. Our guide and driver is Antony – he is wonderful; so knowledgeable about his  country and the wildlife.

Yesterday started with a game drive in Nairobi national Park which was only about 10 minutes from the hotel. We had fantastic sightings of rhinoceros  - both white and black. Only one black rhinoceros  seen – the black rhinoceros is endangered. We also saw ostrich, giraffe, impala, crocodiles and lots of birds. We made sure we were headed to the Sheldrick wildlife trust in time to see the orphan elephants getting their bottles. First though was a tiny rhinoceros who had been rescued after being attacked by hyena. Lot of injuries requiring multiple surgeries but now on the mend and starting to grow. So cute to watch him following his keeper (mum) around.

This was the little rescued rhino.

Then came a group of 10 younger elephants, all rescued, some from horrible stories. It was so funny to watch them coming down from the hill – they just ambled along until they got closer, then got a bit of speed up as they approached the keepers with their bottles of milk. The main keeper introduced each one with their rescue story. 

A few of them enjoyed a play in the mud puddle – some trying to push others out so they could have a go. A few tourists close to the fence ended up with a few splatters of red mud.

The second group of 12 elephants were the same – built up a bit of speed when they got closer to the milk bottles. One of them decided he was a big boy and old enough to grab the bottle and hold it himself. We watched another one being a bit of a bully; pushing one with his little tusks. The keeper stood there and wagged a finger at him, and he stopped. 

From there it was back to the hotel for lunch, spotting warthog and baboons on the drive back. 

Long drive then to Amboseli National Park. The roads were all bitumen but so many trucks and a lot of ripple strips and speed humps. It was a 5 hour drive  with a short break for toilet stop. As we got close to our destination we could see the top of Mt Kilimanjaro poking her head above the clouds (reminds us of the song by Toto - Africa - Kilimanjaro rising like Olympus above the Serengeti).

A beautiful African sunset as we arrived at our destination. (Photo to come when I get better internet)

Monday 24th June

7.30 am start for a game drive. Amboseli is known for its elephants and there is an elephant study centre in the park. Antony had a plan of attack – get to this place where the elephants crossed the road and we could get photos of the elephants with Mt Kilimanjaro as the backdrop. Fabulous. We sat there for probably 15 minutes as we waited for the perfect positioning. This herd had a mix of females and young elephants followed up by a huge bull elephant.

From there it was just animal sighting after animal sighting. Lots of herds of elephants, some with more elephants than others, and different numbers and ages of babies. Antony explained how the forming of a herd happens, how long babies stay with their mothers, how long male elephants stay with their mothers, formation of bachelor herds – all sorts of information. 

Lions, hyena, giraffe, wildebeest, zebra, impala, couple of different gazelles, hippopotamus,  flamingos, warthog, and many bird varieties.

All over, back to camp for lunch, then as we drove along the road to camp, one final treat – a huge bull elephant. An amazing mornings outing. What will this afternoon bring? 

Into the Wild

Time to wake up the blog for our next travels. We're not in Europe this time, but in Africa, more specifically Kenya and Tanzania.

It's a bloody long way - as far and as long as a trip to Paris. 24 hours after leaving Melbourne we touched down in Nairobi. Long, slow queues as we went through immigration. Don't know what it was about us, but everyone else had to do fingerprints, and for us it was stamp the passport and welcome to Kenya.

Our hotel is well and truly way above our normal French digs. I have a desk to sit at while doing my blog. We opted for dinner in the hotel last night as we were too tired to think about where else to go. 

Our first day and we decided to go to the Masai market in the city. This involved a taxi from the hotel, I don't think public transport was even considered as a real option for these European tourists.

The market was an interesting experience. Charles nabbed us as soon as we got out of the car and became our 'guide' and 'personal shopper' for the morning. (Along with 3 other guys who followed us around.) He picked up what he called a 'maybe' bag and as we looked at stuff and expressed interest,  into the maybe bag it went. We had maybes, definite maybes, maybe maybes, and possible maybes. Was actually a fun experience with Rob laughing and joking with our entourage. I think we were the only 'white' men at the market (though we did see another couple later in the restaurant.) The masai are beautiful looking people and all seemed to have a lovely friendly nature. Sad though to see mothers with babies on hips begging for food. 

And finally came the 'bargaining' time. Needless to say it was far too expensive and some stuff just had to become definite nos. Spent far too much but we're still happy with our purchases.

We bought this painting.

The middle row of fabric is reversible -
they call them Monday/Tuesday shawls.
Tempted but maybe next shopping time. 

Stoneware - beautiful.

Hard at work.

Nairobi Nike's (thongs).

Beautiful beading everywhere.

This lady was the artist who painted the picture we bought.

Our entourage - main man, Charles, on the right.
Rob is holding our 'maybe' bag.

Left the market to go to CJs restaurant, just around the corner in a street behind the market. Well, it wasn't just around the corner, but about 1k away around a few corners. Was a great restaurant though and we were able to sit on the balcony upstairs and watch the traffic and people in the main street. This was right in the city and in no way did the behaviour reflect what we would see in Collins Street - double/triple parking, people just wandering aimlessly across the street, sort of keeping left on the street, but using whatever space there was. 

We were too full from lunch to even consider these.
I like sweet stuff but tried some of the desserts last night
and they were a bit too sickly sweet.

Looking at the Kenyan women - how long does it take them to braid their hair; I presume they don't do it every day, how often do they wash it? So many different styles. I also commented in a previous blog post from Africa about the women having large sticky outy bums. Seems to be more widespread than just Zimbabwe and Botswana.

 

Too pooped to party

Thursday 13th July

Mykonos today. The second most talked about island - the party island. We did a bus tour around parts of the island including a visit to one of the beaches.

A few interesting things to learn about Mykonos - the population is just over 10,000 permanent residents but increases to 50,000 in summer; Mykonos has no real agriculture, apart from some herbs and spices; houses in the city must be painted white and have rounded corners; drinking water is bottled - they have a desal plant but water is still salty; the island attracts plenty of the rich and famous which means accommodation is very expensive; some beautiful beaches, but you can pay anywhere from 70 to 450 euro for a deckchair (there are some free beaches).

We did a walking tour in Mykonos, primarily to see the windmills originally used for milling wheat, but now they are expensive air bnbs, and also to visit the area of Little  Venice. Our walk took us along what they call the main street - definitely only wide enough for one small narrow car and tourists need to step into a shop doorway to allow the cars to get through. The street is two way and when two cars meet, someone's going to select reverse. Little Venice was really lovely but again it was so crowded. Not enjoying the crowds on these islands I commented I'd rather visit in winter, but in winter everything is closed.

Monastery of Panagia Tourliani, founded in 1542.

One of their important religious icons.

Odette wanted to feel the sand in her toes.

And Rob got his boots full of sand. This was one of the free beaches. 

The whole family.

One of the 'rabbit warren' streets in Mykonos.
The white is really beautiful.

One of the famous windmills - there are seven.

This puppy was riding shotgun on the motorbike as they took the rubbish to the bins.

Heard a tour guide telling someone it was 2 euro for a photo with the donkey,
so this is a photo of the donkey and owner. 

Can't remember the details of this church, but it's no longer used as a church, and couples like to get their wedding photos here. It had copious coats of limestone whitewash. 

Rather than walk and then take the shuttle bus to catch the tender boat back to the ship, we decided to pay the 2 euro and take the water bus across the bay to the port. We had a quiet afternoon on the ship and attended the evening show which was only half full as a lot of the passengers were still ashore enjoying the party atmosphere. The boat didn't leave until 1.30am.

Friday 14th July

Today we were at the island of Milos. We spent the day on board after 3 days of excursions, and the increasing heat. Rob went ashore later in the day for a quick walk in the town. It was very warm so a swim on board before dinner was called for.

Saturday 15th July - Sunday 16th July 

It's over. Cruise is finished and so is our European holiday. The boat docked at 7am and we were ashore by 9am. We shared a taxi to the airport with 2 others (mother and daughter) from Melbourne. Our taxi driver very helpfully suggested he drop us off at the Sofitel right opposite the airport, where we could enjoy their free WiFi and air conditioning. Our flight wasn't until 7.40pm so we took our time over a coffee and snack until mid afternoon.

Flight to Doha was only 4.5 hours, but to Melbourne was 13.5 hours. Flight was choc a bloc full, but happily flight was pretty close to on time and we were back in Melbourne midnight Sunday.

So now we are home and this blog will go into hibernation until the next time. 

Stunning, stifling Santorini.

 Wednesday 12th July

Today was supposed to be the highlight of the cruise - a visit to the island that everyone talks about and everyone wants to visit. We set off on all our excursions nice and early in the morning - but so does everyone else. Today there were 5 cruise ships in town. Ours was a nice little ship but the others were much bigger. There was a huge line up of buses on the dock ready to take us tourists into Santorini. 

The first stop was to the village of Megalochori where we wandered from one side of the town, through the main street to the other end. Narrow streets, white houses, coloured doors and windows, narrow stairways. Lovely little village.

Then we moved on to the highlight of the day which was the village of Oia where you find all the blue domed houses. These were just amazing, but the crush of people in the heat made for a not very enjoyable experience. It was a slow shuffle, one-step at a time up the hill, then a wander down the main street (path?) to find the views of the domes. There were also magnificent views out over the ocean - the water was just vivid blue, beautiful.

After a wander around it was back on the buses and to the city of Santorini. Again crushes of people. Views again were spectacular. We popped in to a jewellery store to look at a necklace and the man there recognised we were Aussies. Where are you from he asked? And when we answered he told us he was from Geelong - parents Greek, moved to Australia, he was born in Australia and as an adult moved to Santorini and been there ever since (40+years). Small world!

We wandered the main street heading for the cable car to make our way back to the boat. There was a very long queue and we stood in the queue in the sun for 40 minutes waiting. We both got fed up with those trying to push in and didn't hesitate to tell them to get to the back of the line. We debated waiting till later in the day for the cable car because some people were saying it would get less later in the day, but we heard later that some people were waiting over an hour and a half. Our friends we met on the boat decided to walk down the 800 steps - hard work but only took them 25 minutes. 

The cable car was apparently built from a donation by a wealthy Greek couple. Now some of the proceeds from the ticket sales from the cable car go towards a free air ambulance on the islands. Our guide also told us that some of the proceeds from the cable car go to the donkey owners so they could still keep their donkeys, but not have to use them for carrying tourists.

The road up from the port. Very narrow, lots of buses and cars, always someone stopped waiting on a hairpin for someone else to get past, buses having to take two bites at the hairpin. Challenging!

These grape vines grow as little bushes where the vines are not grown on trellises, but rather the leaves droop down and protect the grapes.
The tour guide explained to us that they don't irrigate (no water) but a mist comes in from the sea and enough water drops from this to water the vines, and soak into the volcanic soil. 

Walking the streets of the village of Megalochori, where the houses don't have numbers, but are identified by the colour of their doors. No help at all for a colourblind postman! 😀

Church in the village of Oia.

The colour of the water is just stunning.

A bit of a symbol of Santorini. Donkeys are still used for some purposes (apart from carrying tourists up the hill from the port) like rubbish collection.
Thankfully use by tourists has become less and more people use the cable car.  

The blue domes in the village of Oia.

We passed this string of donkeys - the only person on board was the 'driver'.

The line up of buses ready to take the tourists away from the village of Oia.

View from the cable car.

Shopping in Santorini. 

5 cruise ships in Port.

Cable car - long way down; 800 steps.