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.

A picture says a thousand words

It is nearly 10 a.m. on Sunday morning. I have been up since somewhere around 2:00 a.m. I think. JB finally got up with me around 4:30. By 5:30 we were going on our first real run in six weeks. At 7:00 a.m. we drove Tara to the airport. By 7:30 a.m. I was getting some pancakes in a local breakfast joint (I really missed "American breakfasts" which include more than eggs and toast). By 8:30 a.m. we were in the grocery store but were so tired, we had a difficult time steering the cart and making any logical decisions. I do not think I will make it through today without a nap. I also do not think we left the store with any very good food options.

I plan to do a bunch of posting this morning so please make sure you scroll down to see everything I post. I have been wanting to post photos and details for so long. I also have some videos I want to post. It is easier to post in separate entries. In addition, JB is working on a blog of "all the animals we saw in two weeks" that should be quite educational and interesting. (And yes, you will learn more about birds then you ever thought you wanted to know. Tara finally asked that John preface each "look at that" with detail about whether the item of choice was a bird or a mammal!)
I loved Tara's blog this morning -- that no matter how hard she tried, the only people who would truly know what happened during these six weeks were her four travel companions. I feel that way too. I feel that I can try to post photos and explanations, but in the end, there is so much and no where good to begin. I am, truly, at a loss for words -- something that doesn't happen too often.
Here, for starters, are some of my favorite photos of our group.

The ladies in Capetown

Riding the last cable car of the evening up to Table Mountain.

Sisters from different mothers.

Our two men who hid their thoughts that "women are crazy" on more than one occasion.

The picture I will probably frame in our home. This is the warm springs in Yankuri in Nigeria. This photo is great and so perfectly captures how excited we were to be there!

This was at a restaurant in Capetown. I just love the background on this photo (and the guy sitting next to me.) I think this photo was courtesy of Kelsey. Strong work Kelsey! Well done!

Here is a favorite photo of mine -- Ajit and me in the gardens in Capetown.

Here is a rare group photo in wine country. Getting a picture of all five of us was always more work than I was interested in doing -- especially when everyone spoke different languages. However, Ajit was never timid to ask a stranger for help. He even had one lady get fairly upset when he asked her for a group photo. We aren't sure why. Anyways, this is one of my favorites of our gang. I love these guys!

Photo Jumping

Well here are some more photos for you all. I, at first, tried to go back and put these in order, but quite honestly, we have so many pictures that there is no way I can possibly do that. So here are some cool snapshots from our two weeks in South Africa. Don't worry, I have more coming! I also want to include more photos from Nigeria.

This photo is very typical of our trip. Smiles all around and JB focused on some sort of bird or other small wildlife.

Two days left before we head home. Not sure what else to say.

This picture includes some funny things. The first is that Tara is trying to eat a plum seed. JB told her that eating a seed (without swallowing it whole) was not possible. Tara wanted to prove otherwise, and, unfortunately, was unable to do so. In addition, this picture shows Tara in typical car fashion -- trying to eat the last little bit of scraps. Throw a jar away with some jam still inside?! Are you crazy?! Tara the great can get that jam out of the jar even if she has to DRINK it! :)

I loved the zebras!!!

JB eating dung. Okay not really, but how real does this look? That IS dung, however, the "bite" was not courtesy of my husband.

One of the trip highlights for me remains this picnic lunch in the woods of the Vergelegem winery. It was an amazing afternoon. The temperature on our whole two week swing was so perfect -- probably about the 70s the whole time. This was a fantastic afternoon.

Okay folks. Here is proof. My JB DID bungee jump. Only Ajit was going to jump. The rest of us took a zip line and met Ajit by the rest of the crazy people. Only after we got there did JB and Kelsey decide they too would jump. Tara and I had ZERO interest in participation.Close your eyes if you are afraid of heights. How insane is this?!?

JB on the downward swing. As I said that day, "This was the hardest thing I have ever done." This is in reference to WATCHING my husband bungee jump.

Our lodging in Hlane Game Park. We actually rented two of these "homes" but soon realized that one was quite adequate. JB managed to actually cook up a nice dinner with very little of his normal cooking requirements.

I take no responsibility for the poses of Tara and Kelsey especially as our trip wound up. They got bored with the same old "smile and say cheese" and started to become quite creative. I think these are supposed to be elephants, but I am not sure.

Bed & Breakfasts (B & B's) are VERY popular across South Africa and very inexpensive. In addition, most people have pets who are very used to strangers. This cat may seem innocent enough, but take a look at Kelsey's plate. Within a few seconds after this picture was taken, our little Kitty had swiped Kelsey's eggs and was long gone. Who said cats are dumb!? :)

An attempt to get a picture at our dinner at Chrislin lodge. The strangers in the picture are an older couple from England traveling as we were. US travelers were not common. Most people were very surprised when they heard us talk and realized we were not from Europe.

Tara really looks afraid. Don't worry folks, the crocodile had just eaten and wasn't hungry.

JB focusing and Wendi losing focus. No big shocker there.

Ajit is a good photographer! We had no idea he was taking this photo but what a neat shot of one of the most beautiful places on the planet -- Kirstenboch Gardens.

Our group (minus Wendi the photo-taker) at our picnic lunch in Vergelegem -- an amazing winery and reportedly the most beautiful winery in Stellenbosch. This was at the start of week 5 of our journey. After nearly 800 photos, Tara especially was encouraging that we spice things up a bit.

Wine country.

African penguins on the beach near Capetown on the Cape Pennisula.

An African Studies major in college, Kelsey had always dreamed about visiting South Africa. Everything she saw nearly moved her to tears. I love this photo of her in Capetown.

Tara and Kelsey in Cape Point, South Africa.

Another thing I learned about myself on this trip? I am not very comfortable with heights. Here is the view from the cable car on the way down from Table Mountain.

Yes folks. This is a picture of an ostrich on the beach. Go figure.

Yes folks. This is a picture of JB with antlers. Go figure.

Kelsey our tour guide

Here is a video I took at Chrislin Bed & Breakfast outside of Addo Elephant Park. Kelsey gave a fairly impromptu tour while I tried to video and not laugh.

We are home

I write this email to you from Rochester, Minnesota. It is currently 7:15 p.m. Minnesota time. This is actually somewhere around 4 a.m. on Sunday South African time I believe. I think it is an understatement to say that we are tired and smell pretty bad!

We left our last lodging at 8 a.m. on Friday morning South African time (this is 11 p.m. Minnesota time). We then had an:

• 8 hour van ride to the airport
• 8 hour wait for our flight
• 10.5 hour flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam
• 2 hour layover in Amsterdam
• 8.5 hour flight from Amsterdam to Minnesota
• 1 hour drive from Minneapolis to Rochester

In total, we have been travelling for close to 48 hours. I am not sure when the last time was I changed my shirt or brushed my teeth. I have also had to be creative in remembering my medications as an 7 hour time change is quite substantial.
Our arrival back to our condo wasn't as smooth as I would have liked. First, there was someone parked in our assigned underground parking spot. This has never happened before so I assume it has something to do with the fact that we were gone for six weeks and they are doing garage construction (still!)
Then, when getting onto my computer, I realized we didn't have Internet. This was quite disturbing being as I had set my RLS email to deliver automatic email messages while I was gone. I looked and realized our Internet had stopped working about 5 days after we left! I called Charter. I probably should have waited to call until I had slept a bit. I was a little bit frustrated when the woman told us they had no record of us ever having Internet with their company. Huh? We've had it for FOUR years! Anyways, no idea right now why we don't have Internet. We are currently mooching off of the Jones' Internet as they are still in Bangladesh on their own mission trip. I really liking typing on the computer overlooking the downtown area! Thanks Jones' for being such good friends we had no doubt you would not mind.
I plan, tomorrow, to post some major pictures and details. Tara currently has all the pictures we took collectively as a group on her computer. She is going to put them on her external drive and since I am going to take her to the Rochester airport tomorrow (the girl has a flight to California at 8:30 a.m. Yikes!), I will get all the photos from her then and try, in some way, to reflect back on our trip. I seriously do not know where to start. There is so much, and my posting has been so scattered. Where do I begin?
For now I should say I am sorry that it has taken me so long to post. The last time we had Internet access was on the last day I posted -- April 26th. From there we hit the road and didn't look back! This "road hitting" included a two and a half day safari in Kruger National Park. For those of you that don't know, every person's goal on a Safari is to see the "Big 5". This includes the elephant, leopard, lion, cape buffalo, and rhino. We saw the "Big 4". We did not manage to secure a rhino sighting. (Although Ajit and Tara have previously had a rhino meeting). However, our leopard and lion experiences more than made up for that! We got to see a pride of lions (two females, a male, and four cubs) on two different occasions. We were literally only feet from the lions. Apparently, as long as we stay seated in our open vehicle, they see the people in the vehicle as one object and do not see us a threat. Go figure.
We also spent a half hour watching a leopard! Leopards are pretty elusive and sightings are not common. Our ranger "Andre" got wind of a sighting and broke away from the lion tracking to take a look. At first it was fairly routine. But then, some impala (a type of antelope) wandered over and our leopard, an "opportunistic" hunter, began to stalk. This was amazing!!! The group has teased me ever since because as the leopard stood and waited for his perfect opportunity, a blonde Floridian was rumored to have said, "We should warn them" in reference to the impala. That Floridian was me. I really did feel bad being as I knew that an impala would probably get eaten. Everyone knew it but them!
Good thing for the impala that they got "wind" of the leopard and perked up. In the midst of waiting ever so patiently, a hyena also wandered over, suddenly aware of the our leopard friend's previous impala meal stashed in a tree above. This sent the leopard up into its tree to keep the hyena at bay! It was an amazing scene and one of all of our favorite trip highlights! We also saw tons of zebra, elephant, and giraffes. Tara is a walking Lion King soundtrack! We got to see Pumba and Simba as well as the bird. Tara, what's that bird's name again?
We also took a swing through Mozambique putting our country total at 5! (Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Mozambique.) In hindsight, I could have totally done without this adventure. Getting into Mozambique and especially getting out, proved to be a tad bit difficult and not nearly as friendly as our other stops. By the time we had spent a few hours driving through, we were ready to get out and be done with that part of the adventure. Not my idea of fun. However, we do have a stamp in our passport.
I learned a lot about myself on our six week trip. I learned that I am capable of much more than I ever thought possible. I learned that I am able to take a shower with one bucket of water, sleep under mosquito nets, not have running water, and only have the use of scattered electricity. I am able to give up toilet paper and washing my hands before every meal. I am able to brush my teeth with a water bottle, wash my clothes by hand for over a month, and do without any toiletry items for over a week. I am able to travel to a foreign land and with the help of friends, have an amazing, life-altering experience. I learned that I can travel with three other individuals for six weeks and actually all get along. To spend nearly every waking hour with the same people and not want to strangle them upon debarking, is pretty impressive if you ask me.
I also learned that I have a lot to learn and work through with my anxiety and nervous tendencies. There were many situations that put me in a bit of tail spin. My four travel partners would be laughing and telling jokes and reminding me of the pointless task of worry, while I stewed away. My worry often stemmed from time concerns, confusion in travelling, or unfamiliar territory. This is something, in the weeks to come, that God and I will have a lot of good conversations about.
Oh, and while I am thinking of travel partners, it stunk to say good bye to Kelsey in the airport. She's off to Denver. I LOVE YOU LITTLE SISTER!!!!!
For now, I will say good night. I will now be back more regularly, and will especially be back with pictures and maybe some video tomorrow. Walking into our condo felt very weird. It truly doesn't feel like home anymore. I truly don't know where home currently is.
Until tomorrow ...