africa
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Things I Learned in Africa
1) Every herd of zebra has to contain exactly one wildebeest. No less, and definitely no more. The zebra won’t drive off additional wildebeests, but the first wildebeest sure will. 2) Don’t drink the tap water. No, I really mean it. DON’T. Not even a drop. You will regret it. 3) Antelopes are a surprising…
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Catching Up to Now
Hi, everyone! Because I’ve been posting the Africa trip over our usual schedule, the last stuff you have from me was mostly written a month or so ago, with the exception of the little bit about my upcoming road trip. So I thought this time, I should catch you up on what’s going on since…
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Cut and Run
After all the animals I’ve seen in the wild here in Africa, it felt distinctly strange to be going to a zoo… but I wanted to see what a Ugandan zoo was like
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Impenetrable
It sounds so much like a fairy tale, doesn’t it? First there’s a long climb, high into the steep and scary mountains. Then you hack your way with swords into a place called the Impenetrable Forest. And it’s all in order to meet a kind of gentle giants who live nowhere else in the world……
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For a Woman
The attempt to find tree-climbing lions yesterday was, alas, a complete bust. First of all, the heavens opened up and it poured. The lions — along with nearly all of the other wildlife, apart from one new species of antelope called a topi and a lone, sodden bull elephant — took shelter from the torrential…
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Trip Diary: Breaking the First Rule
This post is going to be hard to write. I have to admit it. I broke the first rule, and it bit me, badly. What first rule, you wonder? Well, they do depend on who you ask. My mother’s first rule was always, “Never hit anything that’s harder than you are,” and a good and…
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On the Nile
We hit the road at six thirty on our first full day at Murchison Falls. From the beginning of this trip, I’ve accepted that getting up early is the price of being there when the wildlife comes out and does spectacular things. Innocent pointed out on our way back to the Lodge in the late…
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The Rhinos, the Road, and the River
We set out this morning at 7:30, leaving Entebbe for Murchison Falls. It’s a six or seven hour trip, but we split it up with a stop at midday. We also talked most of the way. It’s generally considered inadvisable to discuss politics or religion with somebody you barely know, but Innocent and I covered…
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Postcard from Uganda
In this special post I’ve put together some of the coolest photos from my two weeks in southern Africa, that somehow never made it into the write-ups.
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Transitions
It’s hard to believe that Nadine, the fantastic agent from Safari Specialists who has been helping me put together the nucleus of this trip for the last two and a half years, isn’t involved anymore. Her job is finished — I’ve gone all the places she arranged for me to go; I have had a…