Exploring the Serengeti

Some more of our favorites during our time in the Serengeti.

Grant and Garrett outside of our tent in the middle of the Serengeti.

A beautiful lioness laying in the tall grass, posing for us.

A pond full of pink flamingos with a lone umbrella acacia tree in the background.  The colors were so vibrant against the plains of the Serengeti.

A crowned crane - weird but majestic.  We were happy that we stumbled across it.

Drive Into the Serengeti

We started our safari adventure in the Serengeti after our brief stay along the shores of Lake Victoria.  Within in minutes of entering the park, we were bombarded with wildlife.  We selected our favorites below to share, but this was just a taste of the huge variety of the game that we saw.  And this was just our drive into the park on the way to our campsite.  The safari hadn't even officially begun.

One of several shots with layers of wildlife.  The gabbing ostriches are of course the focal point, but make sure to look through the trees as well.

The Grumeti River with crocs basking in the sun, looking tough.  This is one of the major crossings for the wildebeest migration headed toward Kenya, normally occurring in June.  Just upriver, we had seen a crocodile take an amazing dive off of an 8-foot drop in the river bed.

A male lion escaping from the heat.  This was the only male lion with a noticeable mane that we had seen on our entire trip.

Lion cubs eating a chunk of zebra with the mom lioness laying next to them, paws up.  We were so fortunate to have seen this.  Zoos just won't be the same.

An enormous hippo yawning in the local watering hole.  We were mesmerized by their size.

A "Yellow Fever" tree full of storks along the edge of the watering hole.  One of our absolute favorite spots on the safari.

Tanzania, Lake Victoria

We arrived in Mwanza, Tanzania and was greeted by our safari guide, Bonny, (pronounced bone-ee) with a big smile.  Although our drive to Lake Victoria was rainy, we enjoyed the cool air, bustling villagers and beautiful scenery.  We stayed in a bungalow along Speke Bay.  We spent a very peaceful night playing along the shore, chasing birds, skipping stones, and soaking in the sunset.

Our visit to the nearby fishing village was a highlight of our trip.  We were unable to take pictures of the villagers but found ourselves very welcome as we walked through the village.  The children grabbed for our hands, hummed songs as we strolled along the muddy walkways.

Local villagers doing laundry along Speke Bay.

Market day for the fishermen.

Kenya

We started our adventure through Africa in Kenya.  A reasonable plane ride from Mumbai landed us in Nairobi.  This is where our adventure begins...

Nairobi gave us so many memories.  We had one day to fit as much in as possible and here is what we saw.

We met some of the artisans at a local gift shop.

They allowed us to take a picture for

 the price of one Coca-Cola.  We were happy to oblige. 

The whole family feeding the giraffes at the Nairobi Giraffe
rehabilitation center.  This one looks like she's licking
 Charlie's ear!  Fortunately not.  We found out their
tongues are very long, very purple and very rough.  Yuck.

Garrett and Grant taking a moment during our tour of the
 Karen Blixen home (author of "Out of Africa" and her life story).
Our tour guide was one of the children actors in the movie.  

Garrett reaching just high enough to feed the giraffe carrots.

Kazuri bead factory was an amazing visit.  Kazuri in Swahili
 means, "small and beautiful".  We found the whole tour and story
behind the Karzuri bead factory very beautiful. The factory
employs only single mothers while teaching them
a trade and offering health and medical benefits.  

The Sheldrick elephant orphanage was quite a sight.
Some may recognize these stars in the Disney
movie, "Born To Be Wild".  

Best Field Trip Ever!!!

Last week I, Grant, had the best field trip ever.  The entire middle and high school participated in this event.  We went into the foothills of the Himalayas to a place called Rishikesh.  We stayed at the snow leopard camp sight.  The tents were nicer than I thought.  They had three beds with nice thick comforters for the cold nights and a bathroom, half the size of the whole tent.  The activities we did were terrific!  We did three treks.  The first and third ones were just around the foothills.  The second one was up to a temple on the top of a hill.  Also, we went rafting on one the holiest rivers in the world.   The Ganga.   In America, we call it the Ganges.  Not only is it holy, it's FREEZING cold!  At the camp, we did rock wall climbing which was really hard because there were barely any notches to grip.  One of the last things we did was go cycling through a few small villages.  And boy was it exhausting!  The bikes looked new, but they were not well built for the extremely bumpy road.  Here are some pictures of my once-in-a-lifetime adventure:

This is us hiking to a stream

This is a statue of the god of destruction, Shiva

The Ganga river from the top of a hill

The sun shining over the mountains

Me in my rafting gear

Us rowing on the Ganga

Book Talk- "Saraswati's Way"

View Grant's participation in the 6th Grade Language Arts class in Winfield.  Thanks Mrs. Kersten!


Hello everybody,
Since most of you had the same questions, I'm going to answer them all at once.

Akash is just like any other boy who belongs in a poor family today. He thought he was being betrayed by the gods, Saraswati and Ganesha, because life for him isn't going too well. A family member dies, his family doesn't have enough money to pay for their farming land, and he almost gets arrested twice! Like I said, he's on a journey to get money for a good education and to keep his family's land. No one tried to stop him from doing this because Akash didn't tell anybody. I think my favorite character in this book is Ramesh.  Ramesh is a man that gives Akash a job at his magazine stall and teaches him english.  The reason I like him is because he is really nice to Akash. 

Hope this answers all of your questions,
Grant

P.S.  I didn't get this book at a book store. I got it on Amazon.com. How awesome, right?

Nash Hash and Hampi

Kim and the boys took off to visit Hampi via train with the Hyderabad Hash group.  The Hash House Harriers is the world's most eccentric running group.  In Hyderabad, they are known as a "drinking group with a running problem".  Fortunately, in order to make it a family event, the group also participates in walks and the drinking part is all in good fun.

We had a wonderful and memorable trip to Hampi.  The train ride was a full experience.  We shared our bogie with 60 Hash members and numerable cockroaches. We did great but were anxious to arrive in Hospet to begin our Hampi sightseeing.  Each day started with a sightseeing tour followed by lunch and then an afternoon hike.

Grant being blessed by an elephant outside the temple in Hampi

Holy men at the bazaar 

Street vendor selling Indian ingredients for sweets. 

Brave initiation to Hash.  Grant took a tumble on the hike and saw the doctor after completing a 5k.  

New members get to sit on the ice during circle.  

Grant and Garrett sitting among the sights.

Finding their niche.  

Going home after a long day.