Hi,
Sunny day here in Nairobi, ~75 degrees with sporadic clouds hinting at rain. Hope all is well there.
Attached are a couple of photos sent to me by my dive partner Drew Friesen, who had a new underwater digital camera he was putting thru its paces. He somehow found the patience to take a shot of me. There were many more interesting creatures there. The photos I included are taken from one of my Red Sea dives, a couple of weeks ago.
Meanwhile...
Just returned from a 9 day / 1200 kilometer safari to the Northern Kenya area where I saw rhinos, elephants, giraffe, antelope, springbok, dik-dik, water-buck, eland, jackal, garenuk, buffalo, warthog, monkeys, baboons, etc. Lots of bird life, too, which include many species. Ostrich on the large side to bee-eaters on the small side. Flamingos by the thousands feed in the shallow waters of Lake Nakuru.
Highlighting the birds was a rare "Greater Bustard" sighting. I found it off a long stretch of grinding road away from any parks or towns. So I felt no hesitancy to stray out toward it after a good viewing from 150 yards. It must have been 4 feet tall. Perhaps more. We had several bird watchers along on the safari but they thought this bird could not fly (like an ostrich). Naturally I walked out to scare it up to see if it could fly. It did. Huge wingspan, a grand sight. I'll have some Safari photos ready soon to share.
Answers to common questions (FAQs):
Where do you sleep?
Budget accommodations. Hostels, campsites, single or shared rooms. Availability differs from place to place but the world has opened up to budget travelers providing rooms from $2.75 in Egypt to $ $8.00 in Africa, $5 in the middle east, $17-20 in Europe (Western).
What do you eat?
Food can be found similarly cheap, good, and safe.
Sex?
Cannot can be found similarly cheap, good, and safe.
Most surprising thing?
How easy it is to travel once you take the first couple of steps.
Biggest disappointment?
Nothing is coming to mind...
Most difficult challenge?
Dealing with "touts" whom try to sway travelers to their services of offering / directing to: rooms, food, various services, etc.. they are aggressive sometimes, thieves sometimes, worse probably once in a while.
Hope all is well for you and the family!
Nomad Mike