Helen:

Yes I would do the falls over again, it's really a chance to unwind from the safari scheule, which does not give you much free time after the meals...

Andi:

We were here http://stanleysafaris.com/, it's a bit a distance from the action on the river. Sort of nice in that you are sort of still in the BUSH, we had one of the rooms that was only three sided (open with a great view of the falls spray)

Jan and Fred:

We went by the Royal Livingstone to pick up others for the Helicopter tour today, nice view from the front of the Helicopter, you can really see why there is so much spray from the water where the falls go into the canyon which is maybe 10% that size of the falls.

lovely

We had the most amazing final game drive en route to the airport from Lion Sands. First, we saw two lionesses and one large male. Then we rounded the corner and almost ran over a female leopard. We didn't really have time to stop and enjoy as we did not want to miss our flight but it was a wonderful farewell. The 16 hour flight to Atlanta was uneventful and we arrived back in time to pick one of our sons up from college late Friday and then a second one today. It was a wonderful trip and I am enjoying all the reviews and pictures.

I've just spent almost an hour enjoying your posts and the amazing pictures. My daughter, who is into photography, appreciated them as well. Thank you so much for posting, it looks like you had a fantastic trip.

Waiting for my ride to LAX, WooHoo!!! We arrive Capetown on Wednesday and I will post as able and try to live up to the reporting skills of those who have gone before me. My 7th continent, here I come!
---------
Helen

Helen, Have a safe trip and wonderful time!

gorillas????what's happening. We want details.

yeah Helen! Have a fabulous time!

So happy Helen I'll have your reports to enjoy - have a wonderful trip!!

We just got internet access so are happy to give an update. I'm doing this in two parts - starting with a general update.

The many faces of Rwanda, Land of a Thousand Hills

The sights and sounds of this country capture our attention. Outside of Kigali, it's a largely a rural, agricultural area. Foot power is the #1 source of movement, and women and men still carry awesome loads on their heads. A pair of shoes is a luxury in this part of the world. A bicycle is a real step up; those were laden with a massive number of goods when we saw them along the road. Our vehicles roll by, bringing out stares, smiles, and scowls (in that order) from the locals. Children were returning home from school for the week, tumbling and jumping down the roadside in their blue, green or gold uniforms, laughing and (in one case) hopping on the back of the vehicle for a lift. The road is being widened, all with manual labor. There is no such thing as a shoulder, so we drove very slowly past the workers in the trenches.

Nigel, acting manager at Sabyinyo, described it best. We look like extra-terrestials to the local population. They have the shirts on their back, a clean but tiny home, and perhaps an acre of land which requires a very long work day to feed the family. The lack of material wealth is more than made up for in hope, spirit and the desire to improve themselves and their country. The population is young and largely industrious. We could have taken 3 days (rather than 3 hours) to drive to the lodge, given the abundant photo opportunities.

Sabyinyo is a community owned lodge administered by the Governors' Camp group out of Kenya. It employs many in the community, and makes the connection for the community that conservation can be profitable. So far, it's been a successful venture (since mid 2007) in terms of employment and extra additional funds to build out infrastructure and educational.

It's built to minimize carbon footprint. For the hale adventurers among us, it's a most interesting visit. It is not on the electric grid; a generator runs for approximately 6 hours per day. Electrical backup is stored between the generator times, so one can charge batteries anytime but cannot keep all the lights on and expect to have power 24/7. Heat comes from a wood burning fireplace, which doubles as a water heater. Hot water bottles are nestled in our beds to keep us cozy during the night. You have to call the front desk (walkie talkies, not telephones) to ask them to turn on the hairdryer switch for you. The lack of self-sufficient conveniences is more than made up for by the willingness and exceptional service delivered by the staff. It's an all-inclusive resort (with a few exceptions).

We're about 1 degrees south of the equator, sitting at 8,250 feet above sea level. One arrives at the parking lot (Park at your own risk!) and is immediately greeted by staff, security people and one really awesome set of stairs, bridges and upward curved uneven rock walkways to the main lodge. The staff took our bags and we started up the walkway. It was one very fast dose of reality for us – we were all huffing and puffing and stopping on our way to the lodge.

Rooms were assigned – and that meant steep or steeper inclines and stairs to get there. Champ and I have the highest elevation. There's not much of a view, yet the sounds of the surrounding area (birds, buffalo, kids, singing) float up from the valley and add to the relaxing quality of this special place. The resident white necked ravens fly onto the patio and knock on the french doors with their beaks. They can be fed at breakfast time near the lodge. That means they grab the goods, fly off to secure them in a secret location, then fly back for a close up visit. The bulbars and yellow weavers come in next to scavenge the leftovers.

The temperature is moderate and it's comfortably humid. I believe the only real weather difference is between the wet and the dry seasons. We are here at the very end of the rainy season, so everything is lush, green and growing. This is located in the Virunga region, comprised of a string of six volcanoes shared by Uganda, Rwanda and the Congo. Abundant hiking, mountain biking and community visits are available if the gorilla trek is not the sole reason for your visit.

I'd love to spend a little more time here to take advantage of the hiking opportunities and to mingle a little with the local communities.

We returned on Monday to Kigali. Our stop at the genocide memorial coincided with the national period of mourning (April 7 – July 17). The remains of the mass graves are incorporated into the memorial gardens. Lots of flowers, pictures and tears marked the loss of so many lives.

The Kigali Serena hotel has been a great place to stay. Free internet (yes!), a nice casual restaurant, excellent breakfast buffet and a central location make it most comfortable. We leave at 5 am today for Tanzania.

Cheers, Anne

They are moving ...

Saturday was our big day – bring on the gorilla trek! Nigel was a wealth of information as to what to expect and what not to wear for our adventure. The lodge provides gaiters (canvas waterproof covers from shoetop to kneecap), waterproof coats, water, a 'tuck box' (muffins, juice, fruit) for snacks and possibly backpacks or gloves. You need to supply a fleece, hiking shoes and preferably sturdy pants for this adventure. We were treated to staff properly zipping and clipping the gaiters on our legs and seeing to it we had all of our items as we walked out around 6:30 am.

This is probably the best time of year to take on the hike. It's just before June, when the place is packed with trekkers. The drier season means an easier footing, but it also means the gorillas move higher on the mountains to have adequate food, so you have to hike that much higher to find them.

Ngaire's weather juju (with your help) held out with a sunny start to our hike. Our driver successfully secured the hike to the Sabyinyo family, and Fidel was assigned as our lead guide. Sabyinyo is home to the biggest of the silverback gorillas, Guhonda. How cool is that? Even better, it is generally the shortest hike from the trail head. We asked how much elevation was involved on the short hike and got the answer in meters. By my calculation, the hike would likely involve 1,000 feet of elevation. We grabbed the walking sticks, returned to the cars and headed off to the trail head.

We had learned from reading a recent blog that the first road is extremely bumpy and takes about 45 minutes by car before you even reach the trail head. That was absolutely true. Champ wanted to know why we had to drive that stretch when we could have walked at least as quickly as the drive. Answer: All the local children were out in force along the roadside, smiling and jockeying for change, candy or (for the most entrepreneurial one) ANYTHING from us. Their parents and older siblings were busy clearing ground and tending to their crops. It was like running a gauntlet.

At the trail head, we joined our porters. The porters are contract workers, largely comprised of young men who made some or all of their living hunting (Rwandan term) or poaching (Western term) animals in the park. They carry backpacks and, most importantly, assist you by taking your hand, butt, arms and all the various permutations to get you through the trek's toughest patches. You are encouraged to hire a porter to cut down on the relative financial benefit of hunting for profit versus hiking support for profit. Gary got Emmanuel and I got John. Both earned their pay in getting us through this hike.

We entered the park through an opening in the rock wall (about 5 feet high) and stared at the sharp change in scenery. Open clearing changed to dense bamboo forest. Fidel, our guide, said it is the 'bamboo shoot season'. Translation: greenery grows at lightning speed horizontally, vertically, girth and at all elevations. Stinging nettle plants, thistles and strangulation vines were in abundance. Leaves averaged the size of rhubarb leaves. Thorny bush was all along the way, snagging our arms, legs and even hats. One had to step over fallen shoots and duck under branches that blocked the way – sometimes simultaneously. The 'well worn path' must regenerate itself every night, as the greenery choked off any easy access. In order to support all that growth, a lot of water is required. The path itself would have made any rhino proud .. the mud wallowing possibilities extended into infinity.

YIKES AND DOUBLE YIKES!! Another round of inquiry ensued .. exactly HOW FAR were those gorillas and HOW HIGH were they in the hill. We understood that the trackers (who double as gorilla location spotters and poacher deterrents overnight) thought we'd need ½ an hour to reach the family. We were decked out in clothing that covered our every inch of skin, minus faces, necks and throats. If it's 30 minutes, we can do this. A deep breath, and off we went. Fidel stopped regularly so we could catch our breath. The ascent of the volcano started almost immediately, in many places with only a single foot width along the path.

The radio crackled and Linda, our eagle eyed travel agent translator, quickly deduced those gorillas were on the move. She further deduced they were not only avoiding our arrival, but also moving further up the mountain to make our arrival that much more delayed. Up we went and rested; up we went some more. The temperature was cooling yet we were soaked with sweat from the effort to keep up the climb. It was time to hunker down, suck it up and keep going. At one point, we had to slide sideways through bamboo trees. Our porters (mean, lean hiking machines) could easily get through but we of somewhat stouter build got stuck. We learned to steady our selves as we grabbed one tree after the other to continue the ascent. Michele turned and said, “We've all certainly become treehuggers on this hike”. I worked out an acronym to capture our experience: The Rwanda Experience: Extreme Hiking, Underbrush, Gunk, Gorillas, Endearing Rwandan Smiles.” Our guides, trackers and porters were encouraging, gentle, respectful and persistent. They were going to get us into that gorilla family area if it was the last thing they did.

After two hours of heavy duty slogging, we arrived at the family location. I figure we've hiked about 1500 feet in elevation during that time. We received our final instructions:

Stay together; stay calm; no flash photography; minimize talking; stay 7 meters (23 feet or thereabouts) from the gorillas; take a step back if a gorilla got near you; follow your guide and tracker instructions to move or stay; turn to the side if a gorilla was running towards you; we have one hour with the family; no water beyond the backpack drop off point.

Fidel forget the most important instruction: all of this is subject to the gorillas agreeing to abide by the same principles.

We grabbed all of our cameras to hand to the porters and guess what? The porters stop with the backpacks. Gulp – it still looks like a jungle up there.

Still naïve, I am thinking we will achieve National Geographic programming nirvana in a New York minute. You know .. the ones with the gorillas gathered in a clearing near trees and a lake in the distance, with the males chest beating for dominance, the mothers are nursing, the babies are playing and jumping on all the other family members and there's lots of preening and perfect light for pictures.

The reality – no such luck. These gorillas were in dense bamboo on a steep hillside, not interested in company, doing their best to make sure we got lots of butt shots and nothing else. The ledges for taking pictures were barely a foot wide, and there weren't too many handholds to stop us from falling. And let's not even talk about the light (or lack thereof) for pictures.

Boy, did the adventure get going at that point. Champ took a little too long on one camera shot, leading to the second ranking silverback jumping to his feet, grabbing a small tree and throwing it at Champ on the way to denser cover. The mother with the 5 month old baby was tenderly caressing, cleaning and feeding it. She grew a bit uneasy and left for a greater distance from us. Two trackers were whacking away with machetes to try to open the paths a little, explaining “they are still moving”. We caught a butt shot of Guhonda, who was tearing out of camera reach as we approached. The machete tracker was hacking and slashing his way to the gorillas while we went up, down, slipped, slid and finally arrived at Guhonda's feeding frenzy on a mid-sized bamboo tree. He likes to eat about 30 kilos (66 pounds) of food per day; he's weighing in these days around 600 pounds.

Fidel gently tells us our hour is up. Ngaire forcefully tells him we get a few more minutes given our arduous journey. He complies and we finish up our camera shots. We start to trek back but .. wait for it .. the gorillas can't figure out why we are leaving so soon. Linda and I are bringing up the rear with Machete Tracker (“MT”), and soon enough one of the teenagers decides to drop straight out of a tree and land within striking distance of Linda and MT. Teenager then crashes through, where it jumps out at Champ and Ngaire. Oh man .. and to think we paid for this privilege. Linda and I make haste while we've got an opening and head down further with MT. I look over to see one of the blackbacks (older male who hasn't started sporting the silver fox look) is coming around the corner. I calmly alert Linda and MT there's a huge gorilla on my tail heading straight for them. Meanwhile, back at the front of the pack, the female who felt really neglected by Guhonda sees the gorrilla of her dreams, Ken. She gloms on to him, right hand firmly placed on his right cheek and left hand on his thigh. Tracker #2 had to extract Ken from his newest lady love. OK then .. continue down while the gorilla family is crashing alongside of us. We finally heard them settle into a particularly juicy bamboo field, so we made our escape to the lower regions. Whew! Who needs Disney land when you can experience gorilla full frontal and on the move?

It was thrilling and exhilarating to be part of that gorilla family for even one hour's time. all of us were glad we made the trek and got so much help to actually get here. We learned about 40% of the people who start the trek turn back before they reach the families.

We make our way to the bottom where we hike through open fields for close to another hour to reach the cars. We were exhausted & headed back to the Silverback Lodge. We slowly tackled the walk up to the main lodge, where the staff plopped us into chairs, handed glasses of mango juice with a smile, took our shoes & gaiters off & replaced them with bright green sandals and hurried off to make our muddy, soaked shoes as clean as the day we bought them.

The gorilla trekking permits are $500 per person per day, partially deployed to support the gorilla populations. Lots of the population also makes a living as part of the trekking business. We hire a driver, who arranges the guide with the park service and the specific walk you'll take to visit a gorilla family. The guide has trackers out on radio spotting the family. All told, including porters, the daily tip guideline means tips runs around $125 per couple.

Cheers, Anne

Anne As usual your writing is unbelievable. I can hear your voice in your writing. Hope there is a picture of Ken and his lady love.

Double or nothing?

Sunday's weather also cooperated. Four of our group (the lens lads Ken, Ron & Champ) and Linda decide to try once again, this time with a family that had moved further down the mountain. The other four of us donated our permits to Nigel, the manager and a few thrilled key staffers at the Silverback. Local folks have to pay the same $500 permit fee to see the gorillas, which is about a month's gross pay for the best paid park guides (a very cushy & lucrative job). We were really glad to see those permits used to help educatethe staff at Silverback.

Ngaire, Michele, Don & I slept in and took the other car to look at the local area & other places to stay that might be conducive to a trekking adventure. We drove to the end of the Virunga area, lined with terraced farming. Think the rice fields of Bali - only a whole lot steeper and made up of multiple crops. The soil is incredibly rich and fertile. At the end of our drive, we reached Virunga Lodge, with a setting to die for. It was in between twin volcanic lakes and offered 8 lovely cottages run solely on solar power.

The main lodge is rustic and toilets are 'eco' - meaning you have to be really desperate to use them. when the instructions start with 'men must sit down' and conclude with 'and don't forget to cover what you just left with a ladle of ashes', you just know lots of local insects are going to find those facilities a fertile feeding ground. It's an extra 1/2 an hour to the start of the treks on an even bumpier, steeper road than the one to Silverback. On the bright side, Jack Hanna rents out his cottage (sleeps 4) directly across from the park entrance. Not sure what the price is, but that had to be the most convenient choice in nearly all respects.

We got back to Silverback around 1 pm. Our trekkers returned about 2 pm. The trek was somewhat easier and, thankfully, the family was not moving so the photos were better. It was hotter, so the sweat factor went up commensurately.

We had permits on Monday for the golden monkeys. Permits are $100 per person and, unlike the gorillas, there are no limits as to how many people can go in a given day. Six of us made it out the door for that trek. It was cooler and cloudy with the definite hint of rain in the air. We trekked in about 40 minutes, where we were thrilled to see the monkeys jumping around just inside, on top of and over the walls to the park. Lots of photos and action for the first 1/2 hour, before the monkeys headed deeper into the park.

We went through the wall and were back into the bamboo jungle. The monkeys surrounded us in the canopy. It was surreal. A few crashed into the bamboo where we were standing but most stayed just out of camera reach. What a privilege it was to see them in both settings. Six trackers were needed to keep us near the monkeys, as they move so much faster than the gorilla families.

We slid out of the park after the hour was up and headed up another set of fields to reach the lands adjoining Silverback at the top of its property. We were rounding the corner to our property when a cow took considerable exception to our presence. She charged after us, and the little kid who was watching her gave chase. He managed to turn her around, but not before she gave Ron a piece of her mind. The little kid then played hide & seek with Ron's efforts to get a picture of him.

Have shaken off another animal intrusion, we saw home sweet home by 10:30 am. Fantastic - it meant we didn't have to climb up to our cottage again.

The camp left our rooms open so we could shower, change and get our bags moved down to the main area. Lunch was a tasty reward to our trekking activity. I liked so much about this property but recognize the very limited internet & electricity is a barrier. The steep steps are also only for the hale & hearty, given the 8185 foot starting point in altitude. It's also quite pricey, but I'm confident we were effectively supporting the local communities by patronizing that lodge.

We rolled promptly at 1 pm, reaching Kigali by 3:30. We stopped at the genocide museum, then had a brief city tour. the hotel remembered us so check-in was much easier at around 6 pm. Back to the bar for burgers & beer, then off to bed for a really early milk-run flight to Tanzania this morning. Linda & Ron left on a late night flight to Capetown via Ethopia to join their group.

all in all, Rwanda was far more than we expected in every respect. The companionship, accommodations, people, activities and sheer beauty of this place will leave a lasting impression, I think it is safe to say, for all of us.

Cheers, Anne

So PROUD of you all finishing the first day's trek! Sounds fantastic, but a wee bit daunting to say the least. Can't wait for photos!

WOW!


We're grateful for the great reporting of your great adventure.

OMG Anne, what experiences you've had. I would LOVE to see the gorillas and monkeys so much...but I want to go somewhere where they'll come to me :D
Your trip sounds a big grueling for me, but so exciting. :eek:
Hope we get to see some pictures soon...especially Ken with his new love.

Thanks for your excellent story telling skills, we felt like we were there.

Anne:

Thank you for your post! All I can say is, "WOW!"
Here I am..Just back from Roar 3. One of the best trips, ever! Great people, great experiences, etc.
And you, my friend, raise that green eyed monster in me! How I envy your experience. As short as it was and as expensive as it was (with all the fees, etc) it was truly a trip of a life-time.
I cannot wait to see your pictures.

BTW, I am shocked to hear that 40% fail to keep going long enough to see "the family". I think that is one (of the many) things about LCT'ers that I love....... there seems to be a general approach that we've come "this" far..let's keep on going to the goal!

Doug

Anne, this is a fascinating report.

What a wonderful report..... thank you so much Anne. I keep trying to tell Ken how females are about firemen.....now maybe he will believe me! ;) ;)

Incredible reporting from Anne!!!!

What a wonderful report..... thank you so much Anne. I keep trying to tell Ken how females are about firemen.....now maybe he will believe me! ;) ;)

Excellent report, Anne! I, too can't wait for the pictures!

Wow, Anne! You've totally outdone yourself this time! I was breathless reading about your gorilla trekking and the adventures, nevermind just getting to your cabin in the beginning.

And you're off to Tanzania - are you going to do Kilimanjaro also? Mind-boggling!

Thank you SO much!

Anne. Thank you so much for taking the time to tell us all about your adventure. It was gripping. You are a wonderful writer and story teller.

Sunday - Monday
Helicopter around the falls
LIV to JNB
JNB to LHR
LHR to LAX

lots of time to sort out all the pictures from the trip

http://www.brakefade.com/files/pics/Travel/AfricaMay2011/album/

Anne, I was captivated by your awesome report. You have an incredible gift for expression. WOW! Cheers to our determined "TREEHUGGERS"!! :)

Thank you for sharing your wonderful experience with all of us. Count me among those dying to see those photos.

Grant, your photos are terrific.

thank you all for your kind comments. Doug, I agree wholeheartedly. ROAR 3 was one of the best trips we've ever enjoyed. We owe a debt of gratitude to the entire Brown & Keene staff for making it happen.

In the spirit of my favorite all-time cartoon program, Rocky and Bullwinkle, I am thrilled to have a working internet connection. I will wait for the lens lads to post the photos while I embark on today's tale:

Today's Tanzanian Times or .. Emigration, Immigration, Consternation and Packing it all In

4:30 am was awfully early, but we managed to get ourselves checked out, in the car and on our way to Kigali International by 5:20 am.

The heightened security alerts from Bin Laden have certainly registered in Africa. I counted no fewer than 14 distinct steps between arrival at the airport and boarding our Coastal Air Caravan flight to Lake Manyara in Tanzania. We completed the departure passport controls and were on our way about 10 minutes late.

Our hotel provided a 'packed breakfast' which was enough food for about 20 people. We passed it around to our fellow passengers. Our flight took us southeast across Lake Victoria (one really huge lake) to Mwane International, Tanzania. We all debarked to clear immigration and customs in Tanzania. There's a space about 8 feet wide and 6 inches deep to fill in the paperwork. Tanzania has also upped their game for immigration processing, meaning it took 8 of us a full 40 minutes to get our passports stamped and the visas for our $100 of US bills dated 2006 or later. You can imagine our fearless leader (and the rest of us) were less than happy with the red tape involved in entering Tanzania.

The Coastal Air Staff was anxious to get us on our way, as we had a scheduled 15 minute stopover. Oh well .. we needed a toilet break. Yep, it was the squat style.

We finally reboarded and took off for Sasekwa (? what that heck is that?) and a 45 minute flight time. the best news was Tanzania is one hour ahead of Rwanda, so our actual flying time is shorter than we thought. I flipped through my itinerary. Wait a minute .. that's where we are going for our final stop. We paid keen attention to the surrounding landscape to get an idea of what we will see on our next stop.

We touch down and pick up one passenger. Jackpot! it's an employee of the Faru Faru lodge, and she's sitting next to Ken & Ngaire. Perfect! they get the scoop on what to expect while we head to the Serengeti - otherwise known as the Times Square of Tanzania. We are watching from the air and start to see the queues of wildebeest, zebras and other antelope forming and running as the migration is underway. Look at those animals go!! the queues were intermixing and swaying along the open landscape. Yes! We may get lucky and see the front end of the migration reach the Grumeti when we are there.

We drop off 2 folks in the middle of 12 caravan planes (so I guess this stop is a caravanaserie for Caravan planes) and at least 20 different camp land rover vehicles. Five minutes later, we add one passenger and head to our stop. The landscape goes from barren land to lush, green and cloudy vistas. We land 10 minutes early and hop out into our land rover.

Tanzania is already different from our other experiences. Instead of an early morning and late afternoon game drive, you take one really long drive from mid morning to mid afternoon. The tour company had a 'packed lunch' for us to go with our 'packed breakfast'. We could hardly move in the car for all the cardboard boxes floating round our feet.

Ami, our driver guide, took us into the Lake Mayanara National Park. There's no off road driving; one result is the animals are often willing to sit right next to the land rover. This is Olive Baboon Central. Lots and lots of baboons (and at least one in the making if you get my drift) were super active. We saw the white-bearded wildebeest, a rare saddle-billed stork, Syke's monkeys (a/k/a the blue monkey), a full pod of hippos out of the water at 1 in the afternoon, as the plains animals were intermingled with the water animals, who were intermingled with the bird life, who were ... you get the drift. That's a real difference in East Africa .. seeing so many species going about their business in the same immediate terrain.

Two packed meals, popped out roof panels letting the sun hit us full force and an early wake-up call hit all of us. It was time to head to our lodging. We were told 40 minutes to get here, so we all took turns napping along the drive.

We finally woke up when we turned off the main highway down a red dust road. We are headed for The Manor Ngorongoro, set amidst a large coffee plantation This place is drop dead gorgeous, but it took at least 45 minutes from the turn off road to get to the main entrance. That means 90 minutes in and out of here tomorrow for our exploration of the crater. It'll be another long day out in the sun for us tomorrow.

We settled on in to our rooms and will, I am sure, be eating an early dinner.

Cheers, Anne

Having Anne to write the reports is so WONDERFUL no way I could describe all we have experienced the way she can. Tomorrow we go to the crater and are full of anticipation for this and our game drives at Singita Faru Faru. This has been a true adventure some good things some very difficult things. THe actual Gorilla trek itself I am amazed we all managed to do to the end. Rwanda is a stunningly beautiful country the scenery is drop dead gorgeous.

I am going to sign off now so Ken can use the computer and hopefully get some pictures posted if we have time before dinner.

Wonderful reports!

Oh what to say, Anne? Thank you, thank you for giving us such a thrilling account of your adventure! Knowing full well that I could never, ever do this, it sure has been fun being along for the ride. Feel like I've been there.

Speechless.... :app:

Wow! You guys sure know to take a trip!Sitting in the lufthansa lounge at frankfurt waiting to board
What great reading while we wait!
-----------
Helen

The gorilla trip is fascinating......good for all of you to have accomplished that trek!

Amazing trip! Somehow I had missed this thread till today, so just read the whole thing. I am so jealous. George and I are really going to have to go to Africa.
Oh, the pictures are just outstanding too!

Andi with the lion cubs.



What an amazing trip this was.

Doug

Both of us with the lion cubs. How cool was that!!!



Doug

Ooooooooh how cute....you're killing me, I want to go there so badly.

Andi

That looks like so much fun

It was a highlight of the trip! I can't wait to do it again. Another goodie was walking with the 11 month old lions. They were like dogs...came when called...even when a zebra was around to eat!

Andi & Doug, what a trip you had! These photos are a treasure! Love them!