Belize

Iguana in tree top over the Sette River. 
Keel Billed Toucan
The Sette River
I just returned from a week in Belize which included attending a 5 day class on the Marine Ecology of the Reefs of Belize. We were going to spend three nights on Wee Wee Caye which is 9 miles off the coast, but the sea was so rough it was unsafe for us to travel out to the Caye in the small open boats we had. So we stayed at the Possum Point Biological Station and did one day trip to the caye in a large boat. The class turned out to be more about terrestrial rain forest ecology which was fine with me since we saw so many new birds, and walked through fabulous forests with trees that looked like they could pick up and start walking like those in the Lord of the Rings. We snorkeled in the rain in water warmer than the air. I saw amazing fan corals, brain coral, sea stars, fish, and sea anemones in just 3 to 4 feet of water. I also spend two nights at a lodge in Western Belize just a few miles from Guatemala and visited Mayan ruins.

From the International Airport in Belize City, which is the size of the airport in Long Beach CA, we flew on a 12 seat Cessna toward the Sette River.

One year ago today, Tanzania

One year ago today I greeted the New Year at a wilderness camp on Maasai land in the Serengeti.
The word Serengeti comes from a Maasai word Siringitu. It means the place where the land moves on forever. 

On New Years Eve, as we turned off the good dirt road onto “the road” to our camp, (which was really nothing more than where others had driven before us), I asked Sebastian, our guide how long it would take to get to the camp. He replied, “Four hours if we have no trouble.”
We were about 1 kilometer down the “road” and we got trouble. Flat Stanley is posing here with Carrie as we see just how far down the rear tires have sunk into the soil. It was quite an adventure as over a 3 hour period Sebastian jacked up the wheel, while we hunted and gathered on the grasslands for rocks to put under the tires for traction. After unloading all the luggage and pushing as Sebastian drove we were finally able to get the landcruiser out of the mud. Our happiness was short lived as about 10 kms further on we got stuck again. Fortunately Sebastian had sent text messages to the camp and Julius and Noel soon arrived. With their help we were unstuck in a matter of 15 mins. or so and on we went. By this time it was getting dark and as we sped along the Serengeti at 40-50 kms/hr Thompson gazelles would race along side the car and cut across in front of us. Sebastian was determined not to get stuck again since working to get the car out of the mud with lions around at night was something none of us wanted to do. This resulted in a great deal of fishtailing through the mud and calls from Sebastian to "HOLD ON", as if we weren't. We all were wondering if he had ever flipped a landcruiser... Finally at 11:30 at night we arrived at camp, and what it camp it was!
This was the most luxurious camping I have ever done. The photo above is of the dining tent and lounge area. The food was fabulous, and at night after dinner and conversation a staff member walked us to our tents since we were out in the wilderness with lions and leopards around. 
As you can see from the inside of my tent, I had a wash basin, there was a chemical toilet in the tent, and a gravity fed shower. Early in the morning one of the camp staff would come in through a side door in the tent and put warm water next to the basin, and leave coffee and scones or other goodies on the veranda outside. I could get used to this kind of "camping".

Since we were on Maasai land and not in the National Park we could get out of the landcruiser and go for walks. We went for walks every morning and afternoon. On our last night there we walked to a kopi (a rock outcropping) to find the staff had set up pillows, blankets and rugs for us along with food and drink so we could enjoy the sunset, and...
the rise of a full moon.

Happy New Year

Among those of us in the Land Trust, there has been a long standing tradition , started by my late husband Dick Le Grue, to meet on the Bolsa Chica Mesa at sunrise. We also recognize the recipients of the Kennedy-Kolpin Conservation Award on this morning, then meet for a pot luck breakfast nearby. This is what we saw this morning as the sun rose over Saddle Back Mountain.

From the Crater to the tented camp near Lake Ndutu Dec. 26, 2006

Dec 26 of last year was a travel day as we left the crater , stopped at Olduvai (from a misspelled Maasai name Oldupai) Gorge, then onto the short grass plains of the Serengeti. I only have time to post a few pictures from this leg of the trip, since I am off to San Felipe, Baja Mexico in a few minutes.

Last Christmas in Tanzania

Last Christmas was rainy and cool in the Nogorongoro Crater. We were lucky not to get stuck in the mud while down there, and while it was a bit cold for us, the hippos did not seem to mind the rain.

This Kori Bustard is the largest bird which can fly.
This is what most of the big cats we saw did during the day. A few days later, however we saw these two brothers who were a bit more active

These African crowned cranes are the national symbol of Uganda, and were displaying to each other in the grasslands in the bottom of the crater.

One year ago today

Last December I was at the beginning of a huge adventure. I was in Tanzania along with my friends Jim and Carrie. A year ago today I was at a lodge on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater. The Crater is an UNESCO World Heritage site. The road into the crater drops 2,000 feet from the rim to the floor. The floor of the crater is 9 miles across. Approximately 30,000 animals inhabit this area. If you saw the movie Out of Africa, the scene where Robert Redford's character takes Meryl Streep's character flying includes flying over the crater. You can read more about the crater here. Maasai people still herd cattle in the crater alongside elephants, rhinos, zebra, ostrich, lions, and cheetahs.There had been unseasonable long rains in December, and the roads were very muddy, and slick. Lions do not favor wet grass, and on the way down into the crater this young male was laying right next to the road in an attempt to avoid the wet grass.

This male baboon was sitting alongside the road as we drove along the rim of the crater.
We saw our first cheetahs in the crater. This one woke up, stretched, and walked away as we watched from the landcruiser. 
Zebras were plentiful in the crater, and due to the protection from poaching in the elephants here were the largest we saw. 


From my balcony at the lodge I could look into the crater and see elephants with my binoculars.
So on Christmas Eve, Carrie Jim and I spent our late afternoon gazing into the crater from our room. That evening we had a delicious dinner in the dining room. On Christmas night girls from the nearby Maasai village sang at the lodge, and men from the village danced in an evening performance. 

Joshua Tree National Park

It is downright cold in Joshua Tree National Park in December. That makes it a good time to go because the park and campgrounds are not crowded at all. Plus if you are like me, cold weather is perfect hiking weather. My camping buddies and I spent four days in the park at Jumbo Rocks Campground, and while we enjoyed the sunny days, we would have appreciated warmer nights. The coldest low was 22.
Joshua Tree is an especially interesting park because it encompasses two types of desert. The Joshua Trees are a dominant form of vegetation in the Mojave Desert section of the park, but are replaced by creosote shrubs, ocotillo, and cholla cactus as one desends into the Colorado Desert area of the park. The Colorado Desert is a part of the Sonoran Desert and is dryer, hotter, and lower in elevation than the Mojave.