JB's Photos

Here is just a sampling of some of the photos JB took with his good camera on our trip.

Market: Jos, Nigeria

Jos, Nigeria

Danladi "Papa", Jos, Nigeria

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Kirstenbosch Gardens, Cape Town, South Africa

Vergelegen Vineyards, Winelands, South Africa

Animals of Africa (that we saw): Part 2 - Birds (by JB)

Here is Part 2. The Birds that I saw. I would say "we", but the reality is that the other people in the group were not that impressed with the avian inhabitants of Africa. To be fair, each person did probably appreciate one or two of the more dazzling birds that I spotted, but I heard "birds, shmirds" one too many times. The other members of the group wanted me come up with a code word if I spotted a bird so they didn't have to look up from what they were doing. I know, I know, the birders that are out there reading this are agahst, and rightly so. I mean, where else in the world will you be able to see the world's largest bird and penguins less than 20 minutes apart, the beautiful blue waxbills and red-headed finches, the amazing African fish eagles and paradise flycatchers, kori bustards and malachite kingfishers, or birds with names like hammerkop and hoopoe and hornbills. It was absolutely amazing... well if you are not a "birds, shmirds" type that is. :)

These guys were constantly trying to outrun the jeep on the road.

Three very impressive birds each in their own right. And the penguin's other name is based on the call it makes - rather like a "bray".

An absolutely beautiful family of birds... also a popular dining establishment name.

The very, very large Goliath Heron. It's a fitting name.

The Saddle-Billed Stork is a very large, very vibrant bird (almost doesn't look real) that likes to walk on the very tops of trees. Rather unusual.

These three are pretty cool birds - did you see the size of the Jacana's feet?!

So the African Fish Eagle is one of the most impressive birds I have seen. Sleek and graceful - looks like a relative of the American Bald Eagle.

Again, three very impressive birds. The vulture is bald so that it can stick its head in a dead animals body cavity without getting blood and guts stuck in its feathers - that's so cool! The Bateleur is just beatiful. The Secretarybird is a bird of prey that pretty much just walks everywhere. It can fly (with a wingspan of over 6 feet), but it prefers to walk around hunting smaller birds, lizards, and snakes.

I always see the Pied Crow in commercials - now I got to see one in real life!

The Babbler, true to it's name, stays in groups and just chatters away. The Coucal hops through the trees looking for nests so it can eat the eggs it finds.

Notice the metallic patches on the Emeral-Spotted Wood Dove. Almost looks fake.

These guys (which some people think look like Toucans) were all over. They would fly out of the trees right in front of us and then land in a tree just a bit ahead. It was like they were keeping track of us where ever we went.

We saw a very large Trumpeter in Nigeria. The Ground Hornbills are very large and lived in South Africa.

Some very pretty birds. I love the length of the Mousebird's tail.

How amazing are these colors?

Awesome Hoopoe hairdo.

So the Shrikes will impale their food (insects, smaller birds and mammals) into thorns to help tear them apart. Hence the local name of "Jackey Hangman Birds".

The Bush Shrikes are beautiful birds with beautiful calls. You hear them more than you see them. The Brown-Headed Parrot was the only free parrot I saw. We did see a few wild caught parrots in cages that people were selling on roadsides in Nigeria.

Awesome little guys - will eat the ticks and other bugs off the animals.

Three amazingly beatiful birds.

As I said, this might be the most beatiful bird in the world. These photos don't really do them justice.

So there you have it. A bird-shmirds entry for all you bird lovers out there.

Back in the real world

I hope you all enjoyed JB's post about all the mammals we saw in South Africa. If you haven't read it, please scroll down. He put a lot of work into that post. As they say in Nigeria, "Well done JB."

As for me, I am having a harder time adjusting to our return to America then I did our departure to Nigeria. The last two nights I have been up from about 1 a.m. until 5 a.m.. Then, come mid-afternoon, I want to take a nap. JB let me take a nap yesterday, but then he made me get up two hours later. I was not a very willing getter-upper. The Rays also came by yesterday evening. It was wonderful to connect with them. I will really miss them when we move next month.

Both JB and I have also been having a lot of stomach issues. Our only guess is that we have returned to American food although quite honestly, other than my pancakes on Sunday morning, I have mostly been eating fruit and sandwiches. I actually lost about 12 pounds while I was out of the country. Since I didn't exercise at all while I was gone, this was very surprising to me. I thought that maybe, by the time I got back to the U.S., the weight would be back on, but sure enough, I stepped on the scale when we got home, and my weight was still way down. I felt like I was eating a lot of food in Nigeria, however, there were NO sweets to snack on whatsoever and the first week I was there, I had a sore in my mouth that made eating painful and slow. By tthe time we got to South Africa, I had some dessert, but I definitely wasn't craving them much anymore. Anyways, the question remains: will I be able to say no to desserts now that they are readily available again? So far, my stomach is being very picky which will work to my advantage.

I also returned to work at Mayo this morning. I am now back at home, figuring out how to jump back into the work at RLS. They came by and fixed our Internet which was good news! My inbox is currently trying to load the 95 messages that piled up while we were offline. We also got our parking spot returned to us.

One thing that I enjoyed in coming back to my condo was walking on our soft carpet with my bare feet. Carpet in Nigeria, if present, was the thin carpet like in church. All of our lodging in South Africa was hard floors if my memory serves me right. I do like our soft carpet. Another highlight: lots of green, green grass and trees. Everything was brown when we left! It also stays dark until sometime around 8 p.m. I love that! In Africa, sunset was 6 p.m., and when we left, it was close to that as well.

Otherwise, aside from carpet and greenery, I am a bit overwhelmed with my life here. There is a lot to do before we move in a month. We will be closing on our condo, doing an IVF transfer, celebrating JB's graduation, and moving across the country. But what is life without adventure.

I hope you aren't sick of me now that I am posting regularly again. If you are, please don't tell me. I haven't slept very much and I might start to cry. Just kidding.

Animals of Africa (that we saw): Part 1 - Mammals (By JB)

So, Wendi asked me to put together a post of all the animals that we saw during our 6 weeks in Africa. Yes I actually did keep track of them! :)

I'll start off with the mammals - these are what most people are interested in anyway. So let's get started - I know you are as excited as I am!

Please note: These are not our photos. We got some good ones, but I didn't have them all loaded yet. And no, these are not photos of our group either!

We saw the Vervet Monkeys all over the place, and there were signs up not to feed the Baboons at almost every park we went to. The reason had something to do with the possibility of a baboon attacking, blah, blah, blah. I don't see why that would be so concerning.

We saw one Jackal coming to get a drink at a watering hole at sunset. Every night drive, there were Scrub Hares hopping out of the way of our jeep. We even saw one of the most rarely spotted animals in the parks, the African Wild Cat. It is strictly nocturnal and looks almost like a house cat. It is one of the elusive "Secret Five" along with the porcupine, pangolin, bat eared fox, and something else I can't remember off the top of my head. :)

I think Tara and I are the only ones who saw the Dwarf Mongoose as it stuck its head out of its burrow. We also saw one Water Mongoose dart into the reeds by a small stream. As for the bats... Every night in Nigeria, the sky would be full of very large bats coming out to hunt high in the sky. Closer to head level would be very small bats zipping around eating insects. In South Africa there were bats out each night, but the darn things won't stay still long enough for me to identify the species. I was disappointed, but I don't think anyone else was.

There are many, many types of antelope species in Africa. We saw a few Duiker, a few Steenbok, and hundreds of Impala - those guys were everywhere.

We were able to see a few Nyala while we were in at the Hlane (the Royal hunting grounds) in Swaziland. We also had almost tame Bushbucks (mainly female and fawns) walking around our camp in Kruger. I think I was the only one to see a Reedbuck in a small marshy area on our drive to Addo Elephant park.

The Kudu is an beautiful animal - also makes tasty steaks! We also had a chance to dine on Eland (the largest antelope species - like a really nimble cow) in the form of biltong, a type of jerky. The Waterbucks were also pretty big and were all over the place.

We were able to see quite a few of the Blue Wildebeest. I think we only say one or two of the Red Hartebeest. And we saw quite a few Springbok (another animal we ate in the form of biltong) on our drive through the southern portions of South Africa.

Our experience with a Hyena was watching it try to steal pieces of a Duiker that the Leopard had killed. Awesome! The Warthogs were again fairly numerous in Yankari (Nigeria) and Addo Elephant Park (South Africa). The Hippopotamus - that large tub of lard - is responsible for killing more humans than any other animal in Africa. These guys get out of the water each night to graze in the fields and forests near their rivers. Just avoid getting between a Hippo and its water - unless you want to see it run 35 miles an hour and see their 14 inch long teeth up close. Our guide thinks the most deadly animal is the Crocodile, but there is not enough proof since the Croc eats the evidence.

The Plain's Zebra (formerly Burchell's Zebra) may have been Wendi's favorite animal. We were able to see a lot of elephants - even able to drive right into the middle of a large pack of females and babies foraging. We only saw a few Giraffes - they are a little more common north of where we were at.

Wendi already wrote about our encounter watching the Leopard stalk the Impalas then chase the Hyena from its Duiker kill. What an amazing animal. Weighs about as much as I do, and only slightly more athletic.

The lions were also very impressive, but fairly lazy. These guys doze like 18-20 hours a day! But these cats are pure muscle and can weigh a quarter ton! I've seen many lions at zoos and I've always been pretty impressed. But when you are sitting in an open jeep less than 10 feet from a lioness who regularly kills animals much faster than I am, and you are told not to stand up because then it may see you as prey, you gain a whole new respect and see why the lion is called King.

Finally we get to the Cape Buffalo. This is the fourth of the "Big Five" we saw along with the Lion, Leopard, and Elephant. We didn't see a Rhino. The "Big Five" are historically the 5 most dangerous animals to hunt in Africa. I know, you are looking at the Buffalo and thinking, "It's just a big cow, right?" Well, kindof, but when you realize the Cape Buffalo regulary maims and kills several people each year and it is capable of defending itself (and sometimes killing) against lions, you sort of have to rethink things.

So that is it as far as mammals go. I think I'll show you the birds we saw next.