Summing up this trip

First of all, the part of this trip we were able to do was so amazing.  The places that were chosen, except for Madagascar, were the best part.  The things we got to see, the tigers, the leopards, the sloth bears, the lemurs were spectacular.  The people on the trip were all very excited to be there, were generally very nice and that made it very comfortable. Everyone wanted to have a good time. It was pretty amazing going to these many very remote parts of the world. Just driving from our last hotel in Madagascar there were native people walking everywhere. They walked miles to fill up a water their water jugs. Huts were made out of wood, bamboo or scrap medal. The ox walked in the streets with no fear of vehicles. Everything was very green. We saw school age kids walking home from school. They have half day classes due to lots of kids and only one school. We saw many younger children sitting around the homes. Our hotel internet was really bad. I could barely get a message out, certainly not pictures. The air conditioning was also sporadic and this made it hard for Betsey. Quite a contrast when you drive by a beautiful home owned by a European. They are big and solid!  We take so much for granted in the USA. Not that I didn’t know how good we had it before but this trip sure showed us that.  

On the other hand, although, or maybe because they don’t have a lot, there did not seem to be an issue with theft.  There were certainly no guns and the people did not go around shooting each other. This seemed to be true in India, as well. So while we may be ahead in many areas, we have many areas upon which we could improve.

Our trip ended  way sooner than planned when I (Betsey) tested positive for Covid.  I was actually the fourth of fifth person to test positive.  So far seven people have tested positive (that I know of) and 11 people have left the trip, either because they tested positive, they were with someone who tested positive or they did not want to contract the illness. It is a frustrating situation. But I won’t go into that here.

We are  at the Heathrow airport hotel waiting to fly home tomorrow. It will be good to be in our own space and in control of what we can and can’t do.

The end comes sooner than expected.

 Betsey writing here

We moved from the Maldives to Madagascar. The Maldives was beautiful and relaxing. In Madagascar the events are to see the lemurs and chameleons. The evening we arrived in Madagascar I was not feeling well.  I didn’t eat any dinner and just felt warn down. Three people had already had to leave the trip because of contracting Covid. Well, the morning after we arrived in Madagascar I tested positive for Covid. The trip staff had all been saying that if you had to test positive it was better to do so in the Maldives than in Madagascar. Leave it to me to do what is not the best. Doug went off to see the lemurs and I will let him tell you about that and share some pictures. 

We are holed up in a nicer “hotel” than the one the trip stayed in. The air conditioning in the original place was iffy and I was quite uncomfortable.  This place is more modern and very French. We will be here until tomorrow and then we will begin a looooong journey home. We have some 20+ hours of flying plus layovers and an overnight hotel stay in London. The vacation we have planned for for over a year has now ended 😢 only half way through the trip.

 We arrive in Nosy Be (pronounced - Nosey Bà) Madagascar.  Our plane landed at the Nosy Be International airport and we drove about an hour to our new home at the Rafintsara Welness Hotel.  The drive was through communities where the residents lived in very rustic (but nice) homes.  We had a dip in the pool and cooled off.  The air conditioning in our room was not working well at first but has cooled enough to be comfortable.  Betsey was not feeling well (not covid) so she went to bed a little earlier.  Our dinner, like many we have had, started with drinks and appetizers then on to a buffet dinner.  We ate with Susan and Rick and dinner was nice.  We left  a bit early from dinner so Betsey could rest.  I can still hear the music coming from the dinner area.  It actually sounds very Islandy with lots of drums and long chants.  Tomorrow we go touring to see the Lemurs and Geckos. 

                                        

                                        

Under water snorkeling and scuba diving…

 Jeez, they must be having fun, they haven’t been blogging….

Yes we are having a blast.  So we got back on the Jet from India and flew to the Maldives. We arrived at our resort, the Taj Exotica Resort and Spa, after a boat ride directly from the airport. Our room is a small vile that starts at the far end with an outdoor shower, then moves into as area with a shower stall and a tub.  Moving inside is our big closet, sinks and a separate toilet room.  Our bed room is like a living room that looks out to our porch, small pool and then the very white sandy beach and the blue, blue water.  The first full day, Saturday, Doug went scuba diving and Betsey went snorkeling with her new mask and snorkel. Betsey commented that it was so much better not using resort equipment because it just fit correctly. She saw lots of fish and was only one of a couple people who saw a small shark. After returning we had a wonderful lunch. Betsey had a facial and Doug relaxed using the room amenities.  After that we did a little shopping and went to a cocktail party and dinner.  Today, Sunday, we slept in, had a nice breakfast with our friends Susan and Rick and chilled until our 11:30 massages.  This afternoon we plan to go snorkeling where the sting rays and sharks are.  This resort is one of the most beautiful places we have been.  The staff’s goal is for you to enjoy the setting and just not worry about anything.  I will post some resort, stingray and shark pictures later. Another day in paradise…

By the way. We are both contributing to this blog. For some reason I (Betsey) do not have direct access to contribute so I always add to (and grammatically check) what Doug has written.

I posted a few more pictures.  We had a wonderful closing evening with a talk by our resident Geographer,  with cocktails, walked to dinner with cocktails first then a wonderful island buffet chock full of all kind of Asian cuisine.  As we leave this island tomorrow for Madagascar we take lots of fun memories of this amazing place.  

Leopard, Tigers and Bears oh my

 Thursday April 20, 2023

Did not get to post a blog yesterday so here goes.  Yesterday we arrived at our hotel, the Aman-i-Khás in Jaipur India.  Going through the small villages on the highway was tricky. Finally we turned into the entrance to the resort and it was a long dirt road, very dusty.  The bus was so big that we had to walk up the driveway to the resort, really not a bad walk. We went on a safari in an open Jeep with our friends Susan and Rick, a driver and guide.  We saw very quickly leopards, tigers, sloth bear (kind of like a black bear with claws like a sloth), some amazing birds including the peacock.  We drove off road through the dusty roads of the National Park.  It reminded me of driving the trails of Green Ridge State Park with the roads not being as good. The ride was very bumpy,  it was a real test for my back.  You can see from the pictures that we saw some amazing cats.  This morning we went again on safari and did not see any cats but saw owls and lots of deer, including ones with big racks.  The largest I counted was an 8 point. Last night we had an amazing dinner by the resort pool and met some new friends Abbie and Jeff from Erie, Pa. The food here has been really good. A mixture of Indian food, some Asian and some Americanized dishes.  Our room is a huge tent with three rooms.  You walk into the tent into the living room then into a big room with closets and sinks on one side and the toilet, bath tub (made out of stone) and a shower.  The next room is the bed room.  On either side of the bed are desks, just an amazing setting.  The tent has A/C making it very comfortable.  This afternoon we are off to a women’s craft market…. I will post photos later. 

Wednesday 4/19/23

Our trip started with a large breakfast at our hotel.  We stayed at the Palace Hotel in Jaipur India.  We took our busses (BTW lots of room to spread out on these busses). We went to the Pink City and entered the very large Hawa Mahal Palace of Winds. We visited a very old Royal Observatory (Jantar Mantar) which was built in 1728 and is still accurate to the minute!  This place is known for its artifacts and innovations and instrumentation that observed the stars and where some of the first sun based clocks were invented.  We drove through this very primitive and very sophisticated land of India.  You can see people getting a shave and a haircut, a root canal by a dentist!, buying produce, shopping open markets and shops and even some cows wandering.  The traffic is very heavy through the city and the circles are just a mad house, everyone pushing and driving any way possible to get through the traffic.  Driving out of this city is similar to driving through outlining cities of Mexico or other third world countries.  Women are sitting on beds with children waiving to our bus as we go by.  The density of people here is amazing.  There goes a Sketchers store… The main streets look some what modern but looking back on side streets it looks so primitive.  Lots of industry on the outskirts of the city. We are on our way to Ranthambore.   

The heat is intense and the temperature is over 100. Even in the countryside the air is hazy . Right now everything seems very dusty, as well. We’ll see when we get to Ranthambore to find tigers if things are different. 

As we are driving along the highway (1 lane each way) we have to slow down every so often for a stray ox or cow walking in the road.  There is every kind of  vehicles on the road that you can imagine.  Trucks, vans, cars, motorcycles, tractors, three wheel vehicles and walkers. At the rest stop I walked out to the road and watched several busses with windows open full of people. It’s only 100° who wouldn’t want to be in a bus with no A/C.  Reminded me of some of the scenes in Romancing the Stone.  On the map below we are the blue dot.

TCS 2023 Wildlife & Natural Wonders

The opening dinner on Saturday night was, as usual, very enjoyable.  We began meeting new people during the pre-dinner reception and had a very good dinner.  As usual there were several speeches. 

Our hotel in Cappadocia is The Museum Hotel and is made from old monastic caves that were cut into the basalt stone of the mountains. It is an amazing warren of halls leading to the rooms and it has taken us several trips to our room with guides in order to be able to finally find it on our own.

This morning in Cappadocia we got up at 4:45 am to do our hot air balloon ride. This is one of the things we were looking forward to. It was AMAZING!!!. The view from the ballon was just incredible!! It felt wonderful to be up in the morning air.  We will add some pictures from the ride below. 

After the balloons we rode ATVs around the property near the fairy chimneys and almost back to the hotel. The ride was great. Bets and I each had a 4wheeled ATV.  We returned to our hotel for some R&R and lunch.

In the afternoon we went to a Turkish rug display house.  They had some beautiful carpets.  The one pictured below is the one that Betsey admired.  The map below shows where in the world we are. 

The unique and beautiful region of Cappadocia in Turkey is known for its original rock formations, balloon flights and cave towns where people have lived for millennia. The soft sandstone made it easy for the locals to carve out caves large enough to create their own homes inside. 

Walking around London

 Walking around Buckingham Palace. 

Today we spent the morning walking around London. We ended up near the theatre district and went to the The National Gallery.  Saw a show on impressionistic paintings by the masters. Interesting to see their work change over the years.  One of our favorite artist Kandinsky started painting scenes then into the more abstract work.  The theatre district features so many great shows including "Back to the Future".  We are hoping to see that on Broadway when it hits the states.  We registered with TCS our trip provider and tonight the trip kickoff with an opening dinner. 

 Today is Friday April 14th.  We arrived in London from Washington Dulles at about 5:50am.  We walked straight through immigration with no issues. Our driver was waiting for us.  We traveled about 30 minutes from Heathrow Airport to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in central London.  Wouldn’t you know it, our room wasn’t ready. We went for a comp’ed breakfast then met some other trip members in the lobby.  When our room was finally ready we went up and crashed for about 5 hours of sleep.  Bets, as usual was out like a light while I just tried to wind down and finally was out… After we woke up and showered we contacted our friends Susan and Rick. After lunch, since both of us had forgotten a couple of things, we went to Harrods and a drug store and we were all set.  Later Doug went for a massage and Bets met our friends and had a drink at the bar.  There she and Susan met one of the trip photographers and they talked about traveling and cameras. BTW Bets hates being in the middle of intense camera talk. Doug joined after an incredible massage and had more drinks and camera talk.  We had a 7:00pm reservation at an Indian restaurant called Amaya that was in walking distance of the hotel.  Boy was it good.  It’s now 9:43PM and we are going to bed. 

D&B

Wildlife and Natural Wonders of the World 2023

 Betsey and I leave on April 13th and head to Dulles Airport to begin our journey.  Our first leg is to London.  Here is the rest of the itinerary for the trip. 

April 15 - May 5, 2023

4/15 London, England-1

4/16-17 - Cappadocia, Turkey - Hot air ballooning-2

4/18 - Jaipur, India.-2

4/19-20 - Ranthambore, India Tiger reserve-4

4/21-23 Maldives-5

4/24-25 - Most Be, Madagascar -6

4/26-27 Grottos Private Nature Reserve, South Africa -7

4/28-29 Cape Winelands, South Africa -8

4/30-5/2 Okavango Delta, Botswana -9

5/3 Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe -10

5/4-5 London England.-11

We will try to write here each day and post some pics of the trip.  

Betsey & Doug