(Location: Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica) Getting to the Osa Peninsula isn’t easy. It was a very bumpy flight, in a very small plane, from San Jose to Puerto Jiminez. There was a bit of confusion at the airplane landing place (not really an airport, per se) – the lodge had arranged transportation but none of […]
Location: Socorro, New Mexico Bosque del Apache – unless you’re a birder, you’ve probably never heard of it. I don’t remember how we became aware of this National Wildlife Refuge located an hour and a half south of Albuquerque. The best time of the year to visit is from early November to mid-February, so it […]
For Christmas 2009, we traveled to Japan with two targets: snow monkeys and red crowned cranes. I’ll leave the birds for a separate post. We flew from Chicago to Tokyo on JAL, and got a screaming deal of first class tickets with points. It was Christmas day and the airport was deserted. We were the […]
In November of 2008, we traveled to Churchill, Canada hoping to see polar bears. We traveled with Frontiers North, and spent 5 days at their Tundra Buggy Lodge. Getting to Churchill from Chicago is pretty easy. We flew direct to Winnipeg, overnighted at the airport Sheraton, and then continued on the 1.5 hour charter flight […]
In July 2007 we visited the Alaska for one reason: bears. We wanted to go in 2006, but when we inquired in late February, they were already booked so we reserved a year and a half in advance. The six hour flight from Chicago to Anchorage did not provide a meal or snack, but the […]
We flew from Samburu to the Keekerok airstrip (via Nairobi, Kichwa Tembo, and Little Governors) where we were met by Timothy in a 7-seater Landcruiser. During the five minute drive to Keekerok, Timothy explained that the lodge is not fenced and it is very important to be on alert for animals and to not leave the grounds. […]
Getting There After a typical Serena breakfast (my favorite African meal of the day) we left Sweetwaters around 8:30. We passed through some villages – many shops selling hides & skins, butcheries prominently displaying their meat, mobile charging stations, and lots and lots of flower plantations. Mt Kenya loomed to our right the entire time, […]
Getting There The drive from Nairobi took about 4 hours and was on decent divided highway. We stopped at the equator for the obligatory photo op and swirling water demonstration (pretty much the same as we’d encountered in Quito, though hotter and more talk about Barak Obama). Sweetwaters Tented Camp Sweetwaters is part of the Ol […]
For Christmas in 2006 we travelled to Rwanda to (hopefully) see mountain gorillas. We departed O’Hare amidst utter weather chaos. Our inbound flight was delayed several hours, but American found a new plane and we departed right on schedule. Miraculously, we (each) packed everything into completely legal carry-on bags. Saturday, December 23 When we landed […]
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